05.04.2022, 19:40, "Flora little john" < floralittlejohn149@gmail.com > : Dear friend, Thank you for your answer and I want you to know that no friendship is a coincidence and I would rather go with my friend in the dark than in the light alone. without going too far below here all About me: Name and surname: Capt. Flora Little John Born: june 23, 1987. In the southeastern United States (Kentucky). Marital status free Country: United States of America Place: captain, USAF EDUCATION: He graduated from Parkrose Senior High School in Portland, Oregon in 1999. 2003 Bachelor of Science in the field of aeronautical engineering, USA Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. , Master of Science in aeronautics / astronautics, Stanford University, Calif. 2009 Flight Test Engineer Course, USAF Test Pilot School, Edwards AFB, California. THE MOST IMPORTANT ARMY FORCE AWARDS AND DECORATIONS: Defense Service Superior Service with two clusters of oak leaves Legion of Merit with three clumps of oak leaves Medal of Merit Service with a cluster of oak leaves Medal of Honor of the Air Force NASA Distinguished Service Medal I am currently in Syria for a peace-keeping mission in Syria , I have a good heart for peace and I am very sincere and faithful in every area of my life, I am unconcerned, respectful and kind. Woman, my religion is a Catholic Christian I never judge others and I am very sympathetic, I love to appreciate small things in life. Finally, dear, I want to tell you that I have good reasons to contact you because I have something very important to communicate to you in my next post and I will be waiting for your urgent e-mail correspondence and I want to build strong relationships with you in an atmosphere of trust and trust honesty to enter a business partner with my funds, which I need to invest there in your country with urgent help. Let me stop for now and I expect an immediate response from you. Your sincere friend, Capt. Flora Little John 31.05.2022, 12:11, "Flora little john" < floralittlejohn149@gmail.com > : Thanks for your message, Do you want to tell me that you did not see my message before you wrote the last message to me? Let me forward it again to you 31.05.2022, 14:10, "Flora little john" < floralittlejohn149@gmail.com > : Greetings once again my sweetheart, Thanks a lot for your mail response communication once again and I hope that all is well with you over there in your country by the special Grace of God. Darling i have gone through your message and noted everything which you said in your mail and my love as i informed you in my previous last mail i have decided to go into business partner with my funds which I needed to invest over there in your country with your urgent assistance because i want to quit this my military job and spend the rest of my life with you and i want to let you know that as soon as you receive the box from the Shipping company and inform me then i will terminate my job and join you together over there in your country home and when i come you will help me in investments purposes over there in your country with my own percentage of the total funds, i really care about you and i love you so much, as long as you trust me there's nothing to worry about the guarantee because the funds will be deliver to you as a family gift and i put some of my military belonging documents and some of my golden jualeries and my golden Ristwatches inside the box which i will like you to handle it carefully. sweetheart i understand that it is not going to be easy for you to accept this proposal because we have not know each other for a very long time neither have we met in life before but i want to assure you that this is 100% safe and how i choose you out of millions of people in around the world is a mystery but I can only say it is faith and destiny to be together that makes me to choose you. There is always a destiny, A divine force created you and destined you to live for me, Your destiny is to exist and to live the kind of nature that has given to you, And that destiny and faith has drives me to choose you and love you and i believe you will not and never betrayed me by any means. I hope I have made everything clear to you and I believe I am safe in your hands, Nobody knows about this matter, Please I am asking you for my safety to keep this matter as your top secret between us until the treasure box of the funds arrives over there in your country for security reasons. Okay. As I have taken time to explained everything in details how this matter will be executed, i will like you to send me your details address information as i listed below, then i will forward your details address information to UN diplomats agent office as to enable them to register the box with your name and deliver the treasure box to you at your house address through their official diplomatic courier agent. (1) your full names: (2) your Home address where to receive the treasure box: (3) Your Country (4) Your City: (5) your phone number: (6) your age: (7) Your Occupation: (8) your Scan copy of any government authorized identity like your international passport or driver's license: (9) Your nearest international airport. My love, you do not worry for any risk of receiving the box in your house, the UN diplomats are professionals and they are perfectly trained for this diplomatic assignment. Please, Every arrangement towards this matter is intact between both of us and on no account should you expose this information to anyone, I would like you to follow my instructions to avoid any mistake until the treasure box arrives to you in your house. As soon as I receive your reply with your above listed details, i will contact and forward your details address information to the UN diplomats Agent office to enable them to use it to proceed for the delivering of the treasure box to your house address over there at your country I am looking forward to reading from you soon and also to receiving your detailed address information as I asked you to send them to me for the delivery of the treasure box to your house and for proper identification. Take good care of yourself and remain blessed. I dream of you and it was so nice when you hold my two hand and kisses my lovely lips, i can't wait to have it real life, I love you so much and my love for you is everlasting love i promise Your sincere friend, Capt. Flora Littlejohn 03.06.2022, 17:04, "Flora little john" < floralittlejohn149@gmail.com > : Express Swift Delivery Company Ltd Office address: # 43 Clevedon Lane, Southwark City Council. Country: Great Britain, London. Email: Email: Phone: + 447451286670 I will be waiting to hear good news from you my sweetheart once you contact them, Take note of my few words, I will like you to write to them that your expecting some gift package from and your the rightful person to receive the gift package okay, Tell them that I Capt Flora littlejohn your belovely wife ask you to contact them and they should inform you the date of their arrival to your country home for the delivery okay Please always be in good contact with the shipping company and follow their instructions and whatever you discuss with the shipping company management board of their officials kindly let me know before we proceed further okay love you and remain blessed and have my big kisses Yours sweetheart Capt Flora Littlejohn Hi my beloved dearest, How are you doing once again my darling handsome husband? Hope you're in a good healthy situation my love? Miss you so much my lovely husband and am sorry for my late reply, Thanks for the contents that you sent to me my sweetheart and also thanks for your detailed information you have sent to me, I want you to know that I am doing everything possible to make sure you receive the trunk box successfully. I have contacted the courier service company (Xpress Swift Delivery Company Ltd.) because I was told they are more reliable and trustworthy. They will mark the box as diplomatic luggage and deliver it to your doorstep as personal and family artifact luggage. I have already handed the box over to them through the UN agent Diplomat here in Syria, You will receive it as personal items. They collect all parcels at their head office before departure and to other parts of the world. I selected this fast service so that you can receive the box successfully after their departure. They will deliver the package to your home address that you specified. Below are the Shipping Company contact Information, please write to them now for proper confirmation: Xpress Swift Delivery CompanyExpress Swift Delivery Company LtdOffice address: # 43 Clevedon Lane, Southwark City Council.Country: Great Britain, London.Email: info.deliveryservices2@gmail.com Email: expressswiftsss@fastservice.com Phone: + 447451286670I will be waiting to hear good news from you my sweetheart once you contact them, Take note of my few words, I will like you to write to them that your expecting some gift package from and your the rightful person to receive the gift package okay, Tell them that I Capt Flora littlejohn your belovely wife ask you to contact them and they should inform you the date of their arrival to your country home for the delivery okay Please always be in good contact with the shipping company and follow their instructions and whatever you discuss with the shipping company management board of their officials kindly let me know before we proceed further okay love you and remain blessed and have my big kissesYours sweetheartCapt Flora Littlejohn If you received a similar letter, please ignore it. Do not answer it. If you do, you will end up on more of the mailing lists used by the criminals behind this fraud. Read more.... Opinion on Ukraine's EU candidate status could be delivered next week: von der Leyen Xinhua) 09:41, June 12, 2022 KIEV, June 11 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said here Saturday that the commission will finalize the assessment on granting Ukraine European Union (EU) candidate status by the end of next week, the Ukrinform news agency reported. "The European Commission is currently preparing its recommendations -- the so-called conclusion for EU member states. We have been working on this assessment day and night," von der Leyen said at the joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. "Our discussions will allow us to conclude this work by the end of next week." On Feb. 28, Zelensky signed an official appeal to the EU asking for the accession of Ukraine via a new special procedure. Von der Leyen gave the EU membership questionnaire to Zelensky during her visit to Kiev in April. The first part of the document was submitted to the EU on April 18, while the second was delivered on May 9. However, observers say even with candidate status, it may take years, if not decades, for Ukraine to obtain EU membership. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji) KOLONSCHYNA, Ukraine As Russian tanks and trucks rumbled close to their village, a Ukrainian teenager and his father stealthily launched their small drone into the air. Working as a team, they took birds-eye photos of the armored column moving toward Kyiv and pinpointed its coordinates, swiftly messaging the precious information to the Ukrainian military. Within minutes, artillery batteries rained shells down on the invading forces, with deadly effect. Andriy Pokrasa, 15, and his dad, Stanislav, are being hailed in Ukraine for their volunteer aerial reconnaissance work in the early days of the invasion, when Russian troops barreling in from the north made an ultimately failed attempt to take the capital and bring the country to its knees. For a full week after the Feb. 24 invasion, the pair made repeated sorties with their drone risking capture or worse had Russian troops been aware of their snooping. These were some of the scariest moments of my life, Andriy recounted as he demonstrated his piloting skills for an Associated Press team of journalists. We provided the photos and the location to the armed forces, he said. They narrowed down the coordinates more accurately and transmitted them by walkie-talkie, so as to adjust the artillery. His father was happy to leave the piloting to the boy. I can operate the drone, but my son does it much better. We immediately decided he would do it, Stanislav Pokrasa, 41, said. They arent sure how many Russian targets were destroyed using information they provided. But they saw the devastation wrought on the Russian convoy when they later flew the drone back over the charred hulks of trucks and tanks near a town west of Kyiv and off a strategically important highway that leads to the capital. There were more than 20 Russian military vehicles destroyed, among them fuel trucks and tanks, the father said. As Russian and Ukrainian forces battled furiously for control of Kyivs outskirts, Ukrainian soldiers finally urged the Pokrasa family to leave their village, which Russian troops subsequently occupied. With all adult men up to age 60 under government orders to stay in the country, the elder Pokrasa couldnt join his wife and son when they fled to neighboring Poland. They came back a few weeks ago, when Andriy had finished his school year. I was happy that we destroyed someone, he said. I was happy that I contributed, that I was able to do something. Not just sitting and waiting. ___ AP journalist John Leicester contributed to this report from Kyiv, Ukraine. ___ Follow APs coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Instagram Celebrity While his smoking habit sparks concern among fans, the 'Rockstar' hitmaker, whose real name is Austin Richard Post, seemingly isn't worried at all about his health. Jun 12, 2022 AceShowbiz - Post Malone admitted he's such a heavy smoker. When speaking about his infamous smoking habit in a new interview, the "Insane" spitter divulged that the most cigarettes he's "ever ripped in a day" was 80. The 26-year-old made the revelation when appearing on the "Full Send" podcast. "On a really terrible day - there's a very fine line between a terrible day and a good day... 40, 45," he said. "By the time I ask Ben for that second pack, I'm like, Alright dude, chill out.' " "But then by the time I open that third pack, I'm like, 'I'm a total piece of s**t and I need to go to sleep,' " Posty, whose real name is Austin Richard Post, added. About the most cigarettes he's "ever ripped in a day," the "Rockstar" hitmaker said, "Probably, like, 80," or roughly four packs. The emcee went on to share, "I used to [smoke in my bed] but not really anymore. Now I have a special zone that has my PC in it and my Magic: The Gathering s**t, so I just go down there and f**king rip cigs and build decks and die in Apex Legends." While his smoking habit sparks concern among fans, Posty seemingly isn't worried about his health at all. "It definitely has [f**ked up my voice]," he acknowledged. "But I mean, Johnny Cash smoked his whole life. He sounded cool, you know?" That aside, Posty had something to celebrate recently as he announced that he and his girlfriend are expecting their first child together. "I'm pumped beyond beliefI think, as a kid, I was like four or five, and I had this little baby I would carry around everywhereit was a baby doll. And I thought that was the coolest thing. I would take him around everywhere. And I don't know how long that lasted. But my mom still has it. And I guess I'm so pumped up. I'm going to be a hot dad. DILF," he gushed. Celebrity The English native, who stars alongside the Hollywood icon in the 'Mission: Impossible' film franchise, notes that his co-star 'maintains his authority by never being to blame for anything. Jun 13, 2022 AceShowbiz - Simon Pegg explained how it is like to work alongside Tom Cruise. When speaking about the matter, the "Hot Fuzz" actor claimed Tom "maintains his authority by never being to blame for anything." The English native, who stars alongside the Hollywood icon in the "Mission: Impossible" film franchise, told The Times newspaper, "If something goes wrong and it's his fault, he'll flatly deny it." He added, "And then if someone corrects him, instead of saying sorry, he'll just say, 'Yeah,' and wink at me." "I admitted f**king up once and he said - with a wry smile, I hasten to add - 'Simon, don't do that,' " the 52-year-old recalled. "He maintains his authority by never being to blame for anything." Simon also believes that Tom is totally comfortable with his own fame. "He understands that's the price for the level of movie star he is. He's perhaps the only movie star left," Simon shared. Simon previously described Tom as an "incredibly generous performer". The actor hailed the attitude of his 'Mission: Impossible' co-star, saying, "It's always fun. He's an incredibly generous performer. He cares a lot about everybody else." "He's always hanging out around the monitor ... after hanging off an airplane, he's worried about me doing a fistfight which isn't particularly scary," Simon explained. He went on to reveal that Tom has high standards and an impressive work ethic. "I like it because there's a normal person there, there's a regular person that people tend to never see, and he's aware of who he is and what he's become," he said. "I've always had a good experience with Tom. You know you're working on something which is going to be executed with 100 percent commitment and enthusiasm. It's nice to have that as the standard." Instagram Celebrity The 51-year-old Academy Award winner makes her first public outing since Ian's death at an awards ceremony during the Filming Italy Festival in Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy. Jun 13, 2022 AceShowbiz - Regina King has returned to the red carpet. More than four months after his son Ian Alexander Jr.'s death, "The Harder They Fall" actress made an appearance at an awards ceremony during the Filming Italy Festival in Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy. For the event, the 51-year-old wore a sleeveless white top and matching leg slit skirt. The Academy Award winner completed her radiant look with a pair of matching colored high heels and a Louis Vuitton purse. This marked Regina's first public outing since Ian's death in January. When announcing her son's tragic passing, she said in a statement to the press, "Our family is devastated at the deepest level by the loss of Ian... He is such a bright light who cared so deeply about the happiness of others. Our family asks for respectful consideration during this private time. Thank you." Ian committed suicide a few days after he made alarming post on Twitter. "You know that episode of SpongeBob where they go inside his brain and it's a bunch of mini spongebobs just losing their s**t.....yea that one really hits home," he wrote in one of his last tweets. The deejay, who is Regina's only child shared with her ex-husband Ian Alexander Sr., also admitted that Instagram is not good for his mental health. "I don't think instagram is healthy for me," he penned in a separate post. Ian would sometimes appear on red carpet with Regina. When attending the 2019 Golden Globe Awards together, he reflected on having the "One Night in Miami" director as his mother. "Usually people will ask me, 'What's it like having Regina King be your mother,' " he told E! News. "She's just a super mom, really. She doesn't really let bad work days or anything come back and ruin the time that we have, so it's really awesome to have a mother that...I can enjoy spending time with and all that." Regina, meanwhile, gushed that Ian was someone who "makes me happier than anything in the whole world." She was an avid supporter of her son's music career, calling herself a "proud mom" on Instagram after he released his debut single in April 2021. In their previous years successful endeavour featuring Equality at the workplace above all, Saraf Furniture proudly announces the second instalment of this move. This previously initiated campaign will be fulfilled in full swing in the current financial year, starting immediately. The industry will consider the need for the job security of the LGBTQ+ community and will celebrate their efforts this Pride Month. Saraf Furniture, a leading manufacturer of Sheesham wood furniture, offers a diverse selection of home decor and furnishings. Furniture, lighting, accessories, rugs, and carpets are major product categories. Saraf Furniture hails from Sardarshahar, a small town in Rajasthan. They operate near the city to provide locals with employment opportunities. They've always been known to take the dreaded unconventional approach to run their business. In this announcement, they intend to strengthen and empower the industrys working standards. The company has announced to guarantee employment opportunities to 500+ individuals from the LGBTQ+ community. The aim is to lift barriers and prejudice that society in general hoards against the community. The company has huge expansion plans and this hiring will support its future plans of action. The individuals will be hired for all roles starting from operations to supervising to warehousing to the support staff. A list of new policies is to be implemented including- Gender Affirmation and Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy to name a few. They have also started construction for unisex washrooms. As a part of added protection, they will also be extending medical benefits to the employees. Speaking about the event Mr. Raghunandan Saraf, Founder and CEO- Saraf Furniture Says, It's been a long that we have been holding grudge against a particular community. We must recognize them as humans fully capable of contributing their efforts to the nation's growth. We must let go of the bias and start accepting them as individuals with similar needs as us. By incorporating equality among communities we can ensure equality in the workplace. Our move is a message to different industry leaders to accept the change towards a New India. Saraf Furniture has been in the spotlight for impactful innovations that make a mark right from providing period leaves to its women employees, flexible working hours for new mothers and baby care units and giving a 12-day holiday break to its employees in the past weeks. In addition, the company is discussing its future expansion plans. Saraf Furniture plans to expand its offline presence in major cities across the country in the near future. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. As the mournful notes of the cello brought the four minutes of The Dying Swan to a close at The Hague on January 24, 1931, the audience was in tears. Throughout the performance, there had been no dancer only a moving spotlight emphasizing the absence of Anna Pavlova, the ballerina the world loved. She had died the day before, of a mysterious lung infection that began almost immediately after her train had left Paris. She'd told doctors she suspected she'd been poisoned. Unable to reach a diagnosis, they treated her symptoms but failed to save her. For Soviet emigres of the time, the empty stage, the melancholic music, and the spotlight sans performer were poignant symbols of the hundreds of thousands of "liternoye" killings secret, disguised liquidations staged as natural deaths or suicides ordered by Joseph Stalin. His targets were not just rivals in the USSR, but also dissident writers, intellectuals, artists, and performers living abroad. In fact, from the 1920s to the outbreak of World War II, while Stalin was carrying out purges in the USSR, the emigre community witnessed several mysterious deaths and disappearances. Stalin worked by the dictum "communism must eliminate what it cannot control." "Liternoye" killings were different from the genocides and massacres he oversaw: the liquidation of kulaks, the Holodomor deaths caused by famine-related decisions in Ukraine and the purge of nationalities. Unlike those, "liternoye" killings resulted in deaths from seemingly natural causes. They would be followed by hasty disposal of bodies and either advantageous glorification (as for Lenin, a presumed victim of Stalin) or damnatio memoriae (complete erasure from the records and history). Quite often, hard-to-detect poisons and bioweapons were used for these murders. In their fast-paced book, The Dancer and the Devil: Stalin, Pavlova and the Road to the Great Pandemic, authors John E. O'Neill and Sarah C. Wynne make the startling but plausible connection joining Pavlova's death (note that it was from lung disease), communism's century-old obsession with bioweapons, and the recent development of poisons and pathogens by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that culminated in the worldwide COVID pandemic. The psychopathic Stalin's fascination with torture and bioweapons can be gauged from two facts. He set up Lubyanka as the headquarters of the secret police, with a prison and torture cells. Lubyanka was also where the gulags and purges were planned. Not far from it, he created Laboratory One, a sophisticated center for research in poisons and bioweapons. Stalin's rise to leadership was through conscienceless, expedient actions. By 1922, he had become one of Lenin's closest lieutenants, judged trustworthy and capable of carrying out the liquidation of rivals. Eventually, after facing an assassination attempt, Lenin came to suspect Stalin of having targeted him, for Stalin was known for a talent in stealth and for betraying or killing friends without qualms. So Lenin then favored Leon Trotsky. He dictated a testament for his wife to share with the Communist Party. It recommended Stalin's removal. But Stalin learned of it and had the document suppressed. Shortly thereafter, Lenin died, and a little later, his family members, too. It was widely suspected that Stalin had hastened their departure with poison. The authors painstakingly build their case for the Stalinist ideological lineage of the COVID pandemic and how Pavlova's death is surely (if tenuously) connected to it. "Stalin" (translated as "man of steel") was a self-given alias, modeled on his guru's alias, "Lenin." The choice reflects, and perhaps influenced, his unbending materialism and heartless actions. Marxism, a materialistic philosophy, is based on class warfare and control of the means of production. But Stalin extended it into a dictatorial control by the party meaning himself of all aspects of people's minds and existence. Language, literature, music, art, history, culture everything must be subservient to the state. The Soviet state reduced the arts to agitprop and the glorification of the revolution. Many intellectuals and artists went abroad to avoid persecution and find the freedom in which creativity thrives. These emigres among them Pavlova and impresario producer Sergei Diaghilev epitomized free, unbroken spirits. This displeased Stalin immensely, and he ordered many of them killed by his secret police. The book makes the death of the ethereal, swan-loving Pavlova as much a tragic icon of communism's murder of the spiritual, artistic side of humankind as of Stalin's "liternoye" killings. About the same time as Pavlova was dying, Stalin planned the destruction of two cultural icons of pre-Bolshevik Russia: the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Gate of Resurrection. For he had sworn he would kill G-d, end the Orthodox Church's hold over the minds and souls of the Russian people, and firmly establish a materialistic worldview. Thousands of clergymen and believers were shot or sent to gulags. Meanwhile, Laboratory One and the Special Task Groups responsible for carrying out killings in and outside the USSR were perfecting a variety of methods using "untraceable" bacterial and viral material. Stalin had the top security echelon, Laboratory One operatives and their families, and many others who knew of these secret ops eliminated, to be replaced with a fresh crop of executioners and scientists. Despite all his paranoia, Stalin was poisoned in 1953, ending his plan for a nuclear strike on the West, a war that would have destroyed civilization. It also halted many more purges he had planned. But evil has a life of its own, and thrives in a world that rejects the spiritual. Laboratory One grew in power, reach, and danger under newer generations of communist leaders. Several bioweapons labs were opened, producing weapons capable of killing millions. "Liternoye" killings were perfected, too, as demonstrated by the 1978 murder of dissident Bulgarian journalist Georgi Markov with a poisoned pellet shot from a pneumatic device rigged in an umbrella. Though the Soviets pledged not to develop bioweapons under the 1972 Biological Warfare Convention, they spent billions on them through the 1970s to the 1990s. President Vladimir Putin pursues the poisoning of opponents and the development of biological weapons of mass destruction with zeal. When the CCP took over China in 1949 with Stalin's help, a slow osmosis of Stalinism, and with it, the ideology driving Laboratory One, began. Chairman Mao Zedong imitated the Soviet slaughters with his Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. The People's Republic of China, which worshiped Stalin, began a biowar program that has developed deadly toxins and viruses. With Russian cooperation, the program was thriving by the 1960s. Since then, China has weaponized Marburg fever and the Ebola and SARS viruses. The world first became aware of China's bioweapons capabilities in 2005, when it offered assistance to Iran's bioweapons program. Now, with at least fifteen identified facilities, it is believed to have the world's largest and most sophisticated bioweapons capability. Five months before the COVID outbreak, the Pentagon had warned that China had a vast chemical- and bio-warfare program. The outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever and COVID have been characterized as inadvertent leaks, but who trusts China? Or trusts its supreme leader, Xi Jinping, who, like Stalin and Putin, has initiated purges, has ordered genocides (of Falun Gong, Uyghurs, and Tibetans), has murdered dissidents, and won't hesitate to use bioterror? China's COVID cover-up has included the destruction of forensic samples, the mysterious deaths or disappearances of scientists who exposed the Wuhan lab's work, and an iron control of the narrative. Xi joins the ranks of the greatest killers and cover-up artists in human history. Stalinism inspires inhumanity in its worshipers, as it has in Putin and Xi. The Dancer and the Devil traces the length of that dark and demonic reality from Pavlova to the COVID pandemic. Image via Flickr, public domain. The political left, all those who aren't Christian, conservative, Republican, or any combination of the three, are fond of accusing Christians, conservatives, and Republicans of, among other things, extremism, white supremacy, and something called "radical individualism." I have to admit the last one was a bit difficult to get a handle on the first few times I encountered it. In all honesty, it still is, in large part because there's no agreed upon definition for it. Some thinkers use the words "individualism" and "radical individualism" interchangeably, as if they were identical; others do the same with "rugged-radical individualism." Many posit it as the antithesis of a supposedly beneficent and caring socialism or communism. Still others acquaint it with the destruction of morality. The only thing all the different thinkers and writers have in common is that they accuse Christians, conservatives, and Republicans of being guilty of it, as if it were some heinous crime, a blasphemy against all that is good and true in the world. The left tries to pretend that radical individualism describes Americans who care more about protecting their personal liberty than the health of their communities. If you want to be left alone to make your own decisions about vaccinations, masks, guns, morality, how to take care of your children; if you think abortion is murder; if you refuse to bow down to the claims of the LGBTQ-whatevers; if you insist there are only two sexes in short, if you disagree with anything the left supports, you're engaging in dangerously radical individualism. Furthermore, they claim that radical individualism harms everyone, even those who practice it. But, as is frequently the case with those on the political left, they're indulging in the art of projection, accusing someone else of the very thing they're guilty of themselves. For one thing, the word radical means "very different from the usual or traditional, extreme." Conservatives are absolutely dead set against anything very different, extreme, or non-traditional. It's kinda their reason for existing Christians even more so, as our morals and values, individual or otherwise, come from an unchanging God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Grassroots Republicans are mostly the same, although big-city Republicans and those in elected office tend to be more of the RINO persuasion and will do anything to avoid being ostracized by the left and their Mafia media lapdogs. Left Not Right Any honest person would be forced to admit it's not those on the right who are involved in radical individualism, but those on the left. In the Bible, in the Book of Judges, there's a phrase that is repeated several times and captures perfectly the zeitgeist of the modern left: everyone did what was right in his own eyes. While most people picture the left as a single entity all moving in lockstep like walking hammers in a Pink Floyd video, the truth is somewhat different. The left is more like an amoeba. Although it has boundaries, they're constantly changing, moving, and adapting. They're never the same twice. It flows over, under, and around everything it encounters, absorbing everything like the science fiction monster in the 1958 movie The Blob. The left refuses to acknowledge anything good outside itself and insists on forcing everything to join it or die. Inside that leftist amoeba is an underground rave, complete with earsplitting music, strobe lights, sex, drugs, rock-n-roll, and everyone doing his own thing i.e., doing what is right in his own eyes. No two people are on the same page indeed, they're often in direct conflict with each other. Witness the recent dispute between radical lesbian feminists and the men calling themselves women. Lesbians are outraged that men pretending to be women are being treated as if they were women, even going so far as to alter a rape victim's quotes to avoid "misgendering" her rapist. The borders of the amoeba are constantly changing because the contents of it are constantly changing. Victim groups are continually being added, new causes are being discovered, and language is always evolving to meet the needs of the hive and keep the opposition off balance. Within the cell walls of the metastasizing blob attacking our civilization, it's the left that's engaging in radical individualism. Anything and everything is allowed, even encouraged, except God, Christianity, family, love, and law and order. No perversion is too extreme, nothing is too grotesque, there's no evil too debauched for the left to celebrate. Murder babies in the womb or even outside it? Sure, go right ahead. Pretend to be something your biology isn't and expect and force everyone around you to pretend right along with you? Absolutely. Outlaw freedom of speech on anything you don't like or don't want to hear about? Not a problem. Steal elections, then accuse anyone who objects of being a traitor? Go for it. Disarm the people so they can't defend themselves against criminals or tyrannical governments? Hallelujah, brother/sister/they/them/it. Groom innocent children to become Sodom-and-Gomorrah sexual perverts who've turned their backs on God for all eternity? Whoo-hoo! Think they've gone as low as they can go? Don't kid yourself. At the rate they're going, in less than five years, incest and bestiality will be added to the list of behaviors you can't object to without being denounced as a hater who deserves to be canceled, fired, harassed, arrested, and thrown in prison. I'll take any bet on that at any odds anyone cares to name. Then, as a friend of mine with bad grammar used to say, "After it gets worse, it gets worser." Rejecting God and doing what is right in your own eyes that's radical individualism. Michael V. Wilson is a Christian, author, freelance writer, curmudgeon, and husband who writes for the joy of it at Scribe of Texas. Image via Pxhere. Nobody expects an inquisition, except maybe in the catacombs of The Science, where one may hear among the screams: "If you torture the data long enough, it will confess." Career pressures of publish-or-perish coupled with the bonanza of fast-tracked manuscripts associated with COVID-19 produce remarkable (unsettling? hilarious?) examples of a Data Inquisition. Peer-reviewed publications establish with precision that anywhere from 5 to 80 percent will suffer some form of Long COVID regardless whether they actually caught the virus or not. Meanwhile, the media magnify fears over the mystery of Long COVID. One third of all infected will suffer chronic and debilitating symptoms! Niggling details didn't make it to press, though, such as how most subjects were the vulnerable elderly and hospitalized for severe acute infection. One in five may develop Long COVID, says the CDC, and vaccination will protect you! Yet the article buried how vaccination can also increase risk of Long COVID and lead to worse outcomes than hospitalization for influenza. Marvel in horror as people lose ten I.Q. points to Long COVID! Never you mind all subjects were severe and critical cases. Long COVID can even lead to death! Actual underlying causes may have nothing to do with Long COVID, but let that not stand in the way of sensational headlines magnetizing clicks. Nevertheless, actual SARS-CoV-2 infections can lead to actual chronic conditions, but nailing down the prevalence is elusive. Government analysts with the U.K. Office for National Statistics grappling with this issue found that overall, 11.5 percent on average suffer longer-term symptoms out to 5 weeks that falls to around 3 percent at 12 weeks improving afterward. Women and elderly are more vulnerable, including those with the well known comorbidity obesity, itself a "pandemic" estimated to kill 2.8 million per year. Imagine the lives saved if government policies focused on nutrition, exercise, and general health instead of, well, other things. But what exactly is Long COVID? The U.K. report struggled with three different definitions and three different analyses for the condition. Typical symptoms include difficulty breathing, cognitive decline or "brain fog," chronic fatigue, malaise, headaches, and runny nose. Yet these things plagued humanity long before the now-vindicated pangolas of Wuhan wet markets unleashed their "never could happen" gain-of-function-in-a-laboratory viral strain on a world bristling with triggers for these symptoms including, of all things, isolation. Curiously, social stressors such as isolation are linked with inflammation, particularly in the brain, or "neuroinflammation." Brain physiology is altered by inflammatory mechanisms and implicated in fibromyalgia and Gulf War Illness. Research into this issue predates the pandemic, showing rising risk for mental illness, fatigue, depression, withdrawal, and mood disorders symptoms that strikingly overlap Long COVID descriptions by the CDC. Consider these marvels, then, dear reader, chronicling the first few days of our locked down lives, when an eerie quiet blanketed human civilization. Wildlife pensively explored urban landscapes. The World Economic Forum ironically celebrated the extraordinary "improvement" of silent cities across the globe. One may ask, then: Could the social stress of lockdowns and symptoms of Long COVID be linked somehow regardless whether one caught the virus or not? A recent study investigated precisely this issue. With lockdown survivors confirmed non-infected by SARS-CoV-2, they observed increased markers for inflammation associated with physical and mental fatigue and mood disruptions. Results were consistent across age groups, genotypes, sexes, and vaccination status, but with a small sample size and calls for further research. Announced back in February, the study curiously received little if any media attention. Perhaps another link exists between lockdown policies failing to consistently improve health conditions and the media instead focusing on, well, other things. Meanwhile, bestowing nearly half a billion dollars on its RECOVER initiative for the study of Long COVID, the NIH is determined to torture the issue and its growing list of some 200 symptoms. Nowhere is this lockdown link even mentioned, however. Searching the NIH grant repository for awards this year with the terms "neuroinflammation" and "social stress" finds only three mentioning COVID and nothing on lockdowns. It seems the Long COVID funding bonanza is focused on, well, other things. Anywhere from 5 to 80 percent of all people everywhere will suffer Long COVID symptoms regardless whether one caught the virus or not. Otherwise, at most, about 12 percent will for around 5 weeks if actually infected with SARS-CoV-2. Conveniently, the $500 million in NIH money ignores the impact of ineffective policies isolating people, disrupting economies, and fracturing society. Perhaps The Science awash with cash torturing Long COVID long enough will finally defeat the plagues of malaise, headaches, and runny noses bedeviling humanity for millennia whether one has caught the virus or not. Sean A. Means, Ph.D. is a research fellow in mathematical biology who enjoys doing Christian apologetics, which you can see samples of at his Rumble channel here. Image: qimono via Pixabay, Pixabay License. On June 9, the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol of the U.S. House of Representatives held a rare evening hearing. As predicted in the run up news leaks, the Committee repeated the myth that Donald Trump told Proud Boys to stand by. That is, Trump critics have claimed for years that Trump asked the Proud Boys to stand ready to pounce. Prosecutors in indictments and court motions and also the civil lawsuits repeat this same lie. In reality, this comes from the September 29, 2020, presidential debate in Columbus, Ohio. Joe Biden not Donald Trump -- mentioned the Proud Boys. The moderator of the debate, Chris Wallace, asked Trump: CHRIS WALLACE : Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups DONALD TRUMP : Sure CHRIS WALLACE : And to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha, and as weve seen in Portland DONALD TRUMP : Sure, I'm willing to do that. CHRIS WALLACE : Are you prepared specifically to do it? DONALD TRUMP : I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing not from the right wing. CHRIS WALLACE : But what are you saying? DONALD TRUMP : I'm willing to do anything. I want to see peace. CHRIS WALLACE : Well, do it, sir. JOE BIDEN : Say it. Do it. Say it. DONALD TRUMP : [pause, thinking] What do you want to call them? Give me a name. Give me a name. Go ahead and who do you want me to condemn? CHRIS WALLACE : White supremacists and right-wing militias JOE BIDEN: Proud Boys DONALD TRUMP : Proud Boys Stand back and stand by. But Ill tell you what, somebodys got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem. Via C-SPAN, September 29, 2020. C-SPAN video screengrab Notice how Trump calls this a problem. Trump makes clear he is being asked to condemn someone. Who do you want me to condemn? Trump asks. Trump says, I want to see peace. Thus, the oft-repeated allegation is knowingly false. There is no indication that Trump was ever thinking about the Proud Boys. When Joe Biden suggested that Donald Trump should condemn the Proud Boys and tell them to stand down, Donald Trump agreed but only after Joe Biden chose the target. In the video, Trump visibly hesitates before asking What do you want to call them? Give me a name. indicating that he doesnt know specifically who Chris Wallace is talking about. The following day, Trump explained to the news media: "I don't know who the Proud Boys are. You'll have to give me a definition because I really don't know who they are. I can only say they have to stand down and let law enforcement do their work," Trump told reporters at the White House. The president then echoed his comments from Tuesday night, insisting that the "real problem" is antifa, the broad, far-left militant anti-fascist movement. "Whatever group you are talking about, let law enforcement do the work. Now, Antifa is a real problem. Because the problem is on the left. And Biden refuses to talk about it," Trump said. * * * When asked by a reporter if he welcomed support from white supremacist groups or would denounce them, Trump said that "law and order" was important to his campaign, and added, "I have always denounced any form any form of any of that, you have to denounce. But I also Joe Biden has to say something about antifa." Unlike December 12, 2020, only about 50-100 Proud Boys came to protect demonstrators in D.C. on January 6, 2021.They did not organize or inspire anyone but themselves to attend.They came with no plan but to serve as protective security details.Watch, for example, the unplanned indecision by Zachary Rehl and other Proud Boys here (embedding disabled). The Proud Boys began as a male drinking club, reminiscent of Als friends on Married With Children. The Proud Boys get together, drink adult beverages, and watch sports. A very few of them, started to provide security to conservative rallies and demonstrations to prevent First Amendment rights from being denied by Left-wing violence. The Left, the establishment, and the news media have proclaimed one conspiracy theory after another against Donald Trump and other conservatives.Since in the past conservatives rarely pushed back, the Left and journalists have grown increasingly perplexed and frustrated that their old tricks arent working these days.They insist that Trump must have a vice like grip on the Republican Party because Republicans never did believe the establishment even long before Trump ever became a candidate.Common sense voters just arent buying what the Left is selling. Kim Foxx is the States Attorney for Cook County, Illinois, which is another way of saying that shes the District Attorney for Chicago. Shes made a name for herself for allowing genuine criminals to go free while bending over backward to coddle Jussie Smollett. Last weekend, though, Foxx got a look at being on the other side of the law when her own husband called the police on her, accusing her of battering him as part of a domestic dispute. My guess is that the experience will cause her to double down on her theory that criminals are abused and misunderstood. Most people, when they think of Kim Foxx, think of her initial refusal to prosecute Jussie Smollett for something that even someone of the meanest intelligence could recognize as a crude racial hoax. But while that was the headline story regarding Foxx, theres so much more to the woman and all of its been terrible for Chicagoans. Foxx has held her position since the end of 2016. During her first term in office, she made a name for herself espousing the positions we associate with hard-left prosecutors: Bail reform (which means that most criminals are back on the street within hours of being arrested), reductions in incarcerating people for the crimes they committed (to the point of no prison time at all), and turning the weight of her office against the police. During her second term (which was made possible in significant part by George Soross Democracy PAC transferring $2 million to the Illinois Justice and Public Safety PAC which, in turn, funded Foxxs campaign), Foxx continued in the same vein. She supported legalizing marijuana, something thats strongly associated with an increase in violent (even psychotic) crime and, during the George Floyd / BLM / Antifa riots, she decriminalized protesting. Her departments default position was that low-level charges should be dismissed and that the police should be harshly scrutinized. Image: Kim Foxx (edited). YouTube screen grab. That summary doesnt do justice to Foxxs effect on Chicago. Here are a handful of stories from the past two weeks to give you a sense of the revolving door that is Chicago justice: Were not even halfway through 2022, and 1,342 people have been shot in Chicago, with 252 killed. In addition, another 25 were killed in ways other than gunshots. If you check Hey Jackass, youll find an overwhelming number of violent crimes in Foxxs city. And last weekend, there was another violent(ish) crime, although it didnt lead to an arrest: The husband of Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx summoned police to their south suburban home to report that she had battered him during a domestic incident last weekend, according to Flossmoor Police Department records that CWBChicago received through a Freedom of Information Act request. [snip] While en route to the address, dispatch informed us the domestic was physical and there were no injuries yet,' an officer wrote. Kim and Kelley Foxx were standing on their homes front steps when police arrived and officers separated them to being an investigation. Kelley Foxx said his wife got mad about something that was posted on Facebook that he did, an officer wrote. Kim Foxx became physical when he refused to leave, the report continued. Kim Foxx blocked his exit from a bathroom, grabbed his collar, and threw his video game controller, Kelley Foxx alleged. Kim admitted that her husband was telling the truth, up to a point. However, she asserted that his claim that she slapped him was false. Instead, she said, she put her hands on him only to help guide him out of the house, wrote the responding officer. As much as anything, it seems that Kelley Foxx was trying to humiliate his wife. Still, after watching what happened between Will and Jada Pinkett Smith at the Oscars, you know that some marriages have really weird bullying dynamics. The police didnt arrest Foxx but it really isnt a good look for the county prosecutor to be accused of domestic violence. Nor is it a good look to get an insight into the details of her marriage. The world would be a better place if peoples private lives were kept more private. Ultimately, its unlikely that this experience will change Foxxs approach to her work. Chicago will continue to disintegrate under her care and shell feel more self-righteous than before about the victimhood of those whom the police bring into the system. Do you feel as though you've seen this movie before? A terrible shooting followed by every Democrat reading his last gun control speech. The media saying that this time we have to do something. Do what? That's the problem. We hear that the latest proposal is moving in the U.S. Senate, according to a Politico story. Will it reach the president's desk? I'm not betting on that. So let me suggest these two ideas: 1) Guarantee school safety. Every parent must know that the school is safe, the doors are permanently locked, and there is an armed guard capable of killing anyone trying to attack the premises. We protect airplanes, banks, federal buildings, etc. So why can't we guarantee schools? 2) Let's guarantee to the citizens that information will actually end up in background checks. For example, the young Buffalo shooter had a mental health evaluation. This is from news reports: The white gunman accused of committing a racist massacre at a Buffalo supermarket made threating comments that brought police to his high school last spring, but he was never charged with a crime and had no further contact with law enforcement after his release from a hospital, officials said. The revelation raised questions about whether his encounter with police and the mental health system was yet another missed opportunity to put a potential mass shooter under closer law enforcement scrutiny, get him help, or make sure he didn't have access to deadly firearms. So why didn't someone put a note about this in the background? It would have stopped him from buying a gun legally. What about social media posts like the Uvalde shooter's? Why aren't we holding these social media outlets responsible for not reporting this to the police? Or the school principal, at the very least? Doing something will result in doing nothing. Guaranteeing school safety and getting serious about background checks may prevent the next one. PS: Click for my videos and podcasts at Canto Talk. Image via Pexels. Now that Chesa Boudin is out on his ear as district attorney for San Francisco, not surviving his June 7 recall, it looks like the Soros crew is anxious to say they never knew him. Sure, defeat is an orphan and victory has a thousand fathers. But Chesa is little different from all the other district attorneys that the Soros-funded organizations have sought to embed in power. They all create the same telltale chaos and out-of-control crime in the solid-blue cities foolish enough to elect them, based on their criminal justice "reform" agendas, which is shorthand for 'let 'em all out.'. But the Washington Free Beacon did notice something weird anyway in the wake of San Franciscans' decision to throw Chesa out: Representatives for George Soros no longer want to be associated with disgraced prosecutor Chesa Boudin now that he's been rebuked by the liberal voters of San Francisco, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. Hours after Boudin was recalled by double-digits on Tuesday, representatives for the liberal billionaire contacted the Free Beacon to reject its characterization of Boudin as a "George Soros darling." The Soros representatives from public relations firm BerlinRosen say he never contributed to Boudin, and that it is wrong to label Boudin a "Soros prosecutor." "We disagree with any analysis that labels any prosecutor as a Soros prosecutor'each candidate stands on their own," said the BerlinRosen representative. "Justice & Public Safety PAC, the political action committee through which Mr. Soros supports prosecutor candidates, has not supportedin the past or in the present, directly or indirectlyBoudin." The Soros-paid public relations operative, Alex Navarro-McKay, contended to the Beacon that despite the long list of circumstantial and indirect associations cited by the Beacon here, as well as Chesa being featured at numerous Soros events, the connection was too distant to be considered credible, calling it a "ridiculous contortion." The Beacon believed that the timing of the note from Navarro-McKay was significant, coming on the heels of Chesa's booting, but actually, it isn't. Navarro-McKay seems to have the unlucky job of having to comb through the media every day and look for references to Boudin as a Soros district attorney. We've certainly heard from him -- last December -- when he wrote: Re: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/12/chesa_boudin_faces_recall.html This article states: "SFs political culture and a bundle of George Soros money played a major part in setting this all up." "Of course, Boudin is not alone. Hes just one of several George Soros plants in our dystopic urban cores." I am a representative of Justice & Public Safety PAC, the political action committee primarily funded by George Soros. Mr. Soros has not -- directly or indirectly -- backed or supported or contributed to Mr. Boudin. For reference, please see this list -- published by a conservative research organization -- of prosecutors and district attorneys that Mr. Soros has directly or indirectly supported. https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2021/04/Soros-Attorney-Funding.pdf Mr Boudin is not on that list: Please revise the article to remove the references to Mr. Soros. Well, that is one argument. The Beacon shows that the connections are there, despite Navarro-McKay's denials. Whatevs. The question is: Why would Soros pay good money for someone to go through the press and demand corrections on every single reference to Chesa as a Soros D.A.? That's weird stuff. It can't be because Chesa was such a failure as a D.A. or that he was thrown out by voters-- all of the Soros D.A.s are comparable failures same as Chesa was. Every place a Soros D.A. darkens a city door, the city becomes a socialist hellhole and a pit of crime and disorder. Why would there be an exception for association with Soros, given that Soros is associated with other human disasters such as Kim Foxx, George Gascon and Larry Krasner. Was Chesa really different? He was a bird of a feather. It sounds like there was a rift between the Soros groups, and the Chesa/Bill Ayers political machinery that must have gone back far earlier. It wasn't just Chesa's defeat that triggered this crusade to distance Soros from Chesa. Was it Chesa's nakedly communist and terrorist background? Hard to say, Soros claims he isn't a communist, but on the other hand, look at who he supports. Could it have been something negative in Chesa's background dating back to his Hugo Chavez's translator days in Caracas, such as the claims by Venezuelan exiles that he has been seen with politically connected Chavista gangs and guns in the filthy slums of Caracas? Maybe, but it seems the issue would need to be bigger. Did Chesa, who won a Rhodes scholarship, take it away from a Soros favorite and the grudge has remained ever since? Was there some sort of political calculus that Chesa couldn't cut it in the grand Soros vision for chaos in America's cities? Again, hard to say. Just spitballin' here, none of this is anything but speculation, but it seems weird, very weird, that Soros would want to distance himself from Chesa, and that this distancing effort has gone back much further than the election, and it involves actual money spent on public relations professionals. The only thing interesting here is that maybe it's a rift that conservatives can dig further on -- lookin' at you, James O'Keefe. What is this rift and how can be used to break up the monolithic lefitst death grip on the U.S.? Whatever the reason may be, it's got to be something big. What could that big reason be? Image credit: World Economic Forum. swiss-image.ch/Photo by Sebastian Derungs (cropped) // CC BY-SA 2.0. Image filtered with Graphite by BeCasso Joe Biden couldn't care less about Latin America, hasn't visited the place, hasn't visited even the border to the place, and now has a monster 15,000-strong migrant caravan heading to the U.S. which he will undoubtedly bow to, and let in. But here he was, host at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, and his lack of preparation pretty well made him, and America, beggars to the hemisphere's locals. And sure enough, it was accompanied by the stench of urine, more about later. Please clap. Start with the earliest controversy -- the invitation list. The past practice, and it's not a good one, but it is the precedent, is to allow socialist hellholes to attend what the 2001 Lima Declaration calls a club for democracies. As a result, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua were not invited. Two of those dumps became dumps based on election fraud. The third is led by a brutal longtime military oligarchy that shot its way to power. Perhaps the election fraud issue is just a little sensitive for Old Joe? The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, prior to the summit, pointed that uncomfortable detail out. If Venezuela and Nicaragua are not democracies owing to election fraud, how is the U.S. is all that different? The hypocrisy was obvious. It wasn't just Bolsonaro who pointed this out. In the past, Mexico's socialist president, Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador, has also cast a jaded eye on the legitmacy of Joe's election, because he, too, was once on the receiving end of what he was sure was electoral fraud, too, complete with ballot machines stopping in the middle of the night and changing directions. The exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua triggered a chain-reaction of refusals to attend, from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, plus Bolivia, all or most of which are major shippers of illegals, along with the huge socialist failures Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. How exactly a migration accord could be discussed without these major players, which was the highlight of the summit, is strange stuff. More to the point, why the hell didn't he allow the socialist dictatorships in? He would have had a golden opportunity upbraid places like Cuba for their failures, failures that have driving millions of their citizens to flee as migrants. If this were President Trump, he'd bring the leaders of these places in and then deliver a knockout blow about their socialist records, putting these hellholes on the spot, and forcing them to admit their failures, if not come up with a laughable panoply of excuses. Instead, Biden just ended up begging. According to a very good account in Politico, Biden only got Brazil to come by agreeing to not to criticize its rainforest policy -- which Joe obeyed. He must have wanted them there bad. Bolsonaro not only questioned Biden's electoral legitimacy, he also mocked his age. Biden, though, just begged, and had to throw in the sweetner of a bilateral summit, too. He begged a lot. And that kind of matched the scenery the heads of state were subject to -- which according to Politico, the attendees noticed. It started with the usual boosterism about the wonders of America -- along with this detail: Officials heralded Los Angeles as a beacon not just for America, but the nearly two dozen heads of state and their entourages who gathered here. You are in one of the most diverse cities LA in the most diverse region in the most diverse state California in the worlds most diverse democracy, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said in welcoming the assembled travelers. Outside, however, the unmistakable smell of urine wafted through the warm night air. The deteriorating condition of downtown Los Angeles where rows of tents housing the homeless lined the streetdidnt go unnoticed by the foreign dignitaries. Nor did the 7-Eleven where store clerks keep the door locked during operating hours because theyve been robbed so often. Eeew. Welcome to Joe Biden's America. The Summit's big achievement was called "The Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection." It was an anodyne, non-binding declaration in which countries made tiny promises to take in a few more migrants (Spain promised to double its refugee count -- from 250) to help out on the monster migrant surge. In the past, summits focused on trade and prosperity agendas like this. Now it's all about migrants and bennies. The nonbinding declaration on migration was actually load of nothing (Spain takes 250 people) with Jill whining about an 'unfair' New York Times piece: The Biden administration has committed to a three-fold increase in resettling 20,000 refugees from the Americas over the next year. Other pacts revolved around addressing climate change and driving clean energy, advancing food security, mobilizing new investments in the region and incentivizing increased trade, though they lacked major funding and many specifics. "I heard uniformity," Joe crowed. When your standards are that low, and the declaration is nonbinding, sure, anyone can get uniformity. Left unsaid was what Joe was ignoring, but the heads of states undoubtedly weren't: That Biden has incentivized illegal immigration and already let more than a million illegal border crossers into the U.S. each uttering the magic word "asylum" as their ticket to entry along with free transport to their destination of choice, free hotels, free cell phones, free baby formula Americans can't get, free welcome packets, and the like. Taking in a few "refugees" is kind of a joke, given the flood who have already found their best deal in just coming on over to the states without papers. Laughable. A million illegal border crossers let in and he's taking in 31,500?: The agreement, called the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, commits the United States to taking 20,000 refugees from Latin America during the next two years, a threefold increase, according to White House officials. Mr. Biden also pledged to increase the number of seasonal worker visas from Central America and Haiti by 11,500. Biden actually tried to spread the blame for the migration crisis by calling it everyone's problem. Speaking of begging: The agreement announced on Friday is an attempt by Mr. Biden to find other ways to confront repeated surges of migrants at the U.S. border by casting the issue as a problem for the entire region, not just the United States. Not a word about Joe's dinner triangle to migrants. It's just COVID. COVID and climate change did it, see: We acknowledge that addressing irregular international migration requires a regional approach, and that ongoing health, social, and economic challenges of the pandemic exacerbate the root causes driving irregular migration, including the vulnerabilities of many migrants and their communities. Naturally, some of these nations correctly read Joe for a sucker and didn't offer a thing: But a news release from the White House listing the specific commitments by each country did not include any from El Salvador and Honduras, which contribute heavily to the flow of migration to the United States and elsewhere. He just held a new goodie bag out for more illegal migrants, effectively begging more to come. The goodie bag: We support efforts that allow all migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and persons in situations of vulnerability to integrate into host countries and access legal identity, regular status, dignified employment, public services, and international protection, when appropriate and in accordance with national legislation, to rebuild their lives and contribute to those communities. ...and...portability? Sending Social Security checks to every illegal back in his mansion in Honduras? The U.S. paying big pensions to any illegal who left one behind in the homeland? Certainly will incentivize illegal immigration, won't it? Who demanded that? We intend to promote, in accordance with national legislation, the recognition of qualifications and the portability of social benefits. The Politico piece noted that for the migration declaration to work, the U.S. will need to follow up and pay sustained attention, quoting an analyst. Anyone think Joe will do that? He hasn't even gone to the border, and certainly not Latin America. Bolsonaro said Biden passed him by at G20 'as if i didn't exist.' Biden only talks to these places when he wants to beg them for something. He begged. Image: Screen shot from Globe News video, via YouTube "What if they gave a war and nobody came?" That was an anti-Vietnam War slogan from 5060 years ago. That slogan could be updated and paraphrased for the dog and pony show that was the recently concluded the ninth "Summit of the Americas." The summit was billed as a summit for all the nations of the Western Hemisphere, but at the outset, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua were expressly not invited. This provoked Mexico not to attend. This was major and disabled the entire summit, because Mexico, not the United States, is the most important nation in the Western Hemisphere, at least for the stated purposes of the summit, because Mexico not only is the second or third largest country by population in the hemisphere, but is also the gateway border country that separates the Latino portion of the hemisphere from the Anglo portion. By not attending, Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as much as said, "Mi casa no es su casa!" In addition, President Biden has managed to offend a number of other Latino countries by snubbing them for not being sufficiently "democratic" and other reasons, all of which provoked Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Bolivia also not to attend. And reportedly, Brazilian President Bolsonaro had to be bribed to attend, securing beforehand a promise for a private meeting with Biden, who also had to promise to say nothing that might insult Brazil for example, talk about how Brazil may be damaging the climate with its activities in the Amazon basin. Biden launched the summit on Day 1, Wednesday, June 8, with the truest words he has ever said: "I probably should stop right here." He shoulda stopped, and quit right there, while he was still behind. It only got worse from that point. Given that one of the most important topics for the Summit was democracy itself and how to advance it, Biden at the very least should have made sure he could pronounce the word itself correctly. 1:24 ...Democacy is a hallmark ... captures our unique commitment to democacy as a region ... it affirms the right of people, throughout the Americas to democacy, and our obligation as a (singular) governments (plural), to promote and defend democacy ... in a moment when democacy is under assault, around the world and renew our commitment, that democacy is not only the defining feature ... It wouldn't be a genuine Biden event without some new malapropisms... 2:26 At this Summit, we have an opportunity for us to come together [some of "us," anyway], around some bold ideas and VICIOUS actions... On Day 2, at the morning session for various Western Hemisphere CEOs, the malapropisms continued. 0:26 Well, it's wonderful to be with you this morning. I really mean it. I want to thank the Chamber of CONGRESS ... Brandon's opposition to "Trickle-Down Economics" is well known; he works it into many of his speeches. This time, it backfired. 3:14 It's time to put a nail in the coffin into my view of Trickle-Down Economics. It dudn't work. It keeps you in a conv in a increasingly smaller smaller world ... In other words, if now is the time to put nails into the coffin of his own views on Trickle-Down Economics, then now must be the time to support Trickle-Down Economics. I doubt whether the other leaders knew what he was talking about, anyway. But getting back to democracy, there was this stunningly dumb remark: 12:28 And we have more democracies in this hemisphere, than any other, th-hemisphere ... As if there were more than two hemispheres. The remark is easily rebuttable. According to this site, there are four "full democracies" and 18 "flawed democracies," including the United States itself, in the entire Western Hemisphere, and some 55 in the Eastern. All the leaders in attendance knew this. How must they feel when they hear Biden speak such gibberish? And for that matter, what must they think when Biden sits down with any of them for a short, informal, televised chat, and Biden has to read from his note cards to know how to say "hello" to them? So far, on these first two days, the only harm that Biden the clown inflicted was on himself. But it got more serious by far on Day 3, when the subject turn to migration. 1:14 Twenty countries, coming together to launch the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration, and Protection ... But given the absence of Nicaragua; Guatemala; El Salvador; Honduras; and, much more importantly, Mexico, this declaration is worthles, ab initio, because these countries lie on the northern end of Latin America and are the gateway to the rest of the region. This next Bidenism was notable as a study in sheer incoherence. 1:51 'Past few years, the global economic crisis, triggered by COVID-19 pandemic, has now made worse by Russia's war in Ukraine, and the political turmoil, from, auto, efinal, ah to excuse me, autoteh, au tack art (he whistles), autocracies in ah, in our region ... And now come the lies. 3:48 And we'll secure our borders, including through innovative, coordinated actions, with our regional partners ... The most important of whom is Mexico, which did not participate in this farce of a summit. Biden not only hasn't secured America's border; he doesn't need permission or agreements with any other countries to do so. The mendacity of this next Bidenism is breathtaking and Goebbels-esque in its sheer grandeur, in its shameless willingness to tell a Big Lie that is so huge that its very size tries to intimidate people from calling it out as the Big Lie that it is. 4:20 And that's why so many nations, again, 20, representing the entire migration route from Chile to Canada (which isn't part of the migration route), were eager to sign up to be part of this shared solution, and have stepped up, with their own major commitments ... But it's not "the entire migration route" since, of course, the upper several hundreds of miles of that route, from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans, are controlled by the several nations that lie at the northern end of Latin America, mentioned about, who weren't part of the summit or its declaration. Finally, perhaps to cap it all off, in this last Bidenism, Biden claimed that the United States consists of several countries: 4:53 And like many others, countries in the United States are stepping up with significant commitments as well. So there you go. A farce of a summit, indeed. Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0. Andriy Pokrasa, 15, lands his drone on his hand during an interview with The Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, June 11, 2022. Andriy is being hailed in Ukraine for stealthy aerial reconnaissance work he has done with his dad in the ongoing war with Russia. They used their drone to help the country's military spot, locate and destroy Russian targets in the early days of the Russian invasion. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) KOLONSCHYNA, Ukraine (AP) As Russian tanks and trucks rumbled close to their village, a Ukrainian teenager and his father stealthily launched their small drone into the air. Working as a team, they took bird's-eye photos of the armored column moving toward Kyiv and pinpointed its coordinates, swiftly messaging the precious information to the Ukrainian military. Within minutes, artillery batteries rained shells down on the invading forces, with deadly effect. Andriy Pokrasa, 15, and his dad, Stanislav, are being hailed in Ukraine for their volunteer aerial reconnaissance work in the early days of the invasion, when Russian troops barreling in from the north made an ultimately failed attempt to take the capital and bring the country to its knees. For a full week after the Feb. 24 invasion, the pair made repeated sorties with their drone risking capture or worse had Russian troops been aware of their snooping. "These were some of the scariest moments of my life, Andriy recounted as he demonstrated his piloting skills for an Associated Press team of journalists. We provided the photos and the location to the armed forces," he said. They narrowed down the coordinates more accurately and transmitted them by walkie-talkie, so as to adjust the artillery. His father was happy to leave the piloting to the boy. I can operate the drone, but my son does it much better. We immediately decided he would do it, Stanislav Pokrasa, 41, said. They aren't sure how many Russian targets were destroyed using information they provided. But they saw the devastation wrought on the Russian convoy when they later flew the drone back over the charred hulks of trucks and tanks near a town west of Kyiv and off a strategically important highway that leads to the capital. There were more than 20 Russian military vehicles destroyed, among them fuel trucks and tanks, the father said. As Russian and Ukrainian forces battled furiously for control of Kyiv's outskirts, Ukrainian soldiers finally urged the Pokrasa family to leave their village, which Russian troops subsequently occupied. With all adult men up to age 60 under government orders to stay in the country, the elder Pokrasa couldn't join his wife and son when they fled to neighboring Poland. They came back a few weeks ago, when Andriy had finished his school year. I was happy that we destroyed someone, he said. I was happy that I contributed, that I was able to do something. Not just sitting and waiting. ___ AP journalist John Leicester contributed to this report from Kyiv, Ukraine. ___ Follow APs coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Nadhim Zahawi has praised the UKs strong ties with Europe in higher education as he met the president of Portugal. The Education Secretary visited Imperial College London alongside the president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. During the visit, they explored the universitys data observatory, where they saw images of the Mars Rover, science laboratories and Imperials ocean wave basin where different waves are simulated as part of research into renewable energy. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi and the President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (Victoria Jones/PA) Mr Zahawi thanked the president for the visit, adding: For those of you that dont know, I am also a fan of Manchester United of course the great Ronaldo tried to carry us this season but unfortunately, they werent able to do it just on their own here is hoping for next year. He said it was an absolute honour to be part of the delegation and praised the incredible work carried out at Imperial College and said the tour was incredibly informative, especially for a chemical engineer like myself so you will hear many stories at the dispatch box in days and weeks to come. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi with the president of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa during a visit to Imperial College London (Victoria Jones/PA) He praised the research collaboration between Portuguese students at Imperial and said international higher education was one of the Governments priorities. He added: Im extremely proud that almost 2,000 Portuguese nationals currently work in the UK higher education ecosystem and there are over 8,400 Portuguese students studying here in the UK. He said that international students bring fresh ideas and new perspectives to a host country like ours and of course here we want to encourage as many young people as possible some of the benefits of our fantastic higher education. Mr Zahawi said the Governments international HE strategy aimed to increase the number of international students in the UK to 600,000 in 2030, but that this ambition had been met 10 years early, with more than 605,000 students in UK universities in 2020/21. He wished the president Feliz dia de Portugal which was held on June 10 and alluded to the 650-year-anniversary of the Treaty of Tagilde between Portugal and Britain, which he said was the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world. He said this came at a time when it had never been so important that countries came together in solidarity and friendship so that we can solve challenges together constructively and I hope peacefully on our continent of Europe. Mr de Sousa said Portugal had sent several hundreds of Cristian Ronaldos to your scientific community and I am sure many of them will help you a lot in your country, and they are the best of our best. He said the alliance between the two countries was not an alliance just of the past but of the future. He told the PA news agency: Science is transnational, its global, and in a way in a period of war and of lack of dialogue, of fight between global and regional powers, science is above thats so important to have something that is above those wars, building peace and responding to the needs of the global population. Thats the mission of science, of knowledge, of education. Not to create wars but to overcome all the fights and the wars and the disputes in the world. A former British soldier has been shot and killed in Ukraine, his family said. Jordan Gatley was named in a social media tribute post by his father, who described him as a hero who will forever be in our hearts. Dean Gatley said his son had left the British Army in March to continue his career as a soldier in other areas. He went to Ukraine to help after careful consideration, his father added, saying that on Friday the family received the devastating news of his death. Mr Gatley said his son had been been shot and killed in the city of Severodonetsk, in eastern Ukraine. In the Facebook post, he said: After careful consideration, he went to the Ukraine to help. We have had several messages from his team out there telling us of his wealth of knowledge, his skills as a soldier and his love of his job. His team say they all loved him, as did we, and he made a massive difference to many peoples lives, not only soldiering, but also by training the Ukrainian forces. Jordan and his team were so proud of the work they were doing and he often told me that the missions they were going on were dangerous, but necessary. He loved his job and we are so proud of him. He truly was a hero and will forever be in our hearts. A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: We are supporting the family of a British man who has died in Ukraine. In April, tributes were paid to Scott Sibley, a British military veteran reportedly killed in Ukraine while fighting against Russian forces. At that time the Foreign Office confirmed a British national had died in Ukraine. The world faces a worsening global food crisis as the Russia-Ukraine war drags on and the West should act accordingly, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Admiral James Stavridis told Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer during an episode of Influencers (full interview above). "We are edging into serious global food security issues," Stavridis said. "And that's not just a humanitarian concern. That can lead to civil unrest, waves of refugees, particularly in North Africa and the Middle East are very pragmatic reasons for us to avoid that. As well as the obvious and overarching one of avoiding humans starving to death." Russia's blockade of ports on the Black Sea prevents Ukrainian wheat exports, which are imported by Middle East countries including Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, Libya, and Somalia. A Ukrainian serviceman attends at wheat field on the front line near the city of Soledar, Donetsk region, on June 10, 2022 amid the war with Russia. (Photo by Anatolii STEPANOV / AFP) (Photo by ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images) Admiral Stavridis, author of the new book "To Risk it All," added that action would need to be taken at some point. "That grain needs to get out of Ukraine," the retired four-star U.S. naval officer said. "It's not going to go by land, there's too much of it. You've got to move bulk things in the world and the world trade 95% of global trade moves by the sea." Wheat prices (ZW=F) surged after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Futures are currently up 41.5% year to date, reaching levels not seen since 2008. (And that is not the only commodity flow being strained: Ukraine is also an exporter of corn, barley, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil.) The U.S. and its allies, according to Stavridis, should consider helping secure food shipments out of Ukrainian ports. "This blockade is illegal," he said. "And by the way, it's not being conducted in Russian territorial seas. This blockade is blockading Ukrainian waters and international waters. The United States and all of our allies, we have a vested interest in keeping those high seas freedoms. So you could conduct a Maritime escort operation to get the grain out, going through strictly Ukrainian and international waters." How that would actually happen would be a high stakes debate. "Is it provocative to Russia? I suppose," Admiral Stavridis said. "On the other hand, it's not like we're sailing ships into Russian waters lifting a blockade that is effectively in Russian territorial seas. ... I would argue we are certainly very close to the point where we have got to get the grain out. And this is a viable way to do so." The UK intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine for June 9, 2022. (UK Ministry of Defence) As for the actual details of this kind of international operation, Stavridis explained how exactly the U.S. would go about planning and deciding. "It would start with, OK, how many mines are in the water already? How do we get rid of the mine threat? Where are those minesweepers going to come from?," Stavridis said. "Then it would be, 'OK, who will participate with us in this exercise? Will we ask NATO to do it? Will we do it ourselves? Will we ask the United Nations to do it? Number three would be: How are we going to inform Russia? What are the legal mechanisms we're going to use here? Fourth would be strategic communications. How are we going to portray this to the world?' Then you get down to the granular decisions. ... You build that whole plan, then you'd go over to the White House and brief it, and the President would make a decision as to whether this was a go or a no-go decision. I suspect I don't know but I suspect that set of conversations is happening at some level at this moment." Check out the full interview above. Ines is a markets reporter covering equities. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance Download the Yahoo Finance app for Apple or Android Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and YouTube The Government has said foreign actors will not be able to have undue influence over UK universities, in amendments to its Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill. The tabled amendments call for UK higher education institutions to report any financial arrangements they have with individuals or organisations overseas to ensure that UK values cannot be compromised. Universities and student societies will also have to share details of overseas funding from specified countries, and would face fines or other sanctions over perceived risks to freedom of speech or academic freedom because of their funding routes. The proposed threshold for reporting is 75,000, and will exempt countries such as Japan and Australia, listed in the Academic Technology Approval Scheme, as well as countries in the European Union and Nato. The Department for Education opened applications on Monday for its new director for freedom of speech and academic freedom on the board of the Office for Students. The director will have the power to sanction universities over cases of no-platforming or unlawfully restricting free speech. Higher and further education minister Michelle Donelan said: We are home to some of the best universities in the world and for decades students have travelled thousands of miles across the globe to study here because of our values of free speech and academic freedom. It is right that we are taking new action to protect our universities from undue foreign influences that work against British values this is a Bill that the rest of the world will take note of. She added that she looked forward to working with the new director to tackle these important issues and ensure we remain one of the most academically free countries in the world. The Commons will also debate a further amendment to the Bill on Monday to make sure security costs for visiting speakers at universities are not passed on to student societies, to prevent no-platforming by the back door. The amendment says that security costs should be covered by the relevant body, rather than being passed on to societies or event organisers. The Government said that this amendment followed cases where a student society at Bristol University had faced a 500 security charge from the student union to invite the Israeli ambassador to give a talk, while reportedly charging nothing for his Palestinian counterpart to speak. The Union of Jewish Students has reported that some Jewish societies have been billed for security costs for a stall at student fairs. Amendments will also set out that the legislation must include students unions at individual colleges, known as junior or middle common rooms, for example those based within colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. On Friday, Tory MP Alicia Kearns warned that the Chinese government held too much sway over UK universities, adding that education is being weaponised by those against us. She said that Confucius Institutes public language and cultural education programmes funded by an organisation linked to the Chinese government were undermining the integrity of the Mandarin education in our country. Legislation giving ministers power to scrap parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol will not breach international law, Brandon Lewis has insisted. The Northern Ireland Secretary has said the new legislation, to be introduced in Parliament on Monday, would be lawful and correct. However, the claim has been challenged by both the Labour Party and Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald, who said Mr Lewis was talking through his hat. The Government has confirmed it will table the legislation to override parts of the protocol, which was jointly agreed by the UK and EU as part of the Withdrawal Agreement to keep the Irish land border free-flowing. The arrangements instead require regulatory checks and customs declarations on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Unionists in Northern Ireland are vociferously opposed to the protocol, claiming it has undermined the regions place within the United Kingdom. The DUP has blocked the formation of a new power-sharing government at Stormont following last months Assembly election in protest at the protocol. The Bill due to come before Parliament will see the Government move without the consent of the EU to change the terms of the international treaty in a bid to reduce the checks on the movement of goods across the Irish Sea. The EU has made clear that such a step would represent a breach of international law and could prompt retaliatory action from the bloc. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves speaks to the media as she arrives at BBC Broadcasting House in London (Yui Mok/PA) Asked if the new legislation will be in breach of the law, Mr Lewis told Sky News Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: The legislation well outline tomorrow is within the law. What were going to do is lawful and it is correct. We will be setting out our legal position on this. People will see that what were proposing resolves the key issues within the protocol that dont work. Mr Lewis accused the EU of being disingenuous about offering flexibilities on the protocol. He told the BBCs Sunday Morning programme: What theyve been saying consistently across the media and have been reported as saying is that theyre offering flexibilities. Well, theyre not. What the EU are offering is some flexibility based on a fully-implemented protocol. That would be, actually, worse than the situation weve got today. He added: So, I do think theyve been disingenuous in suggesting theyre being flexible when in fact theyve not shown the flexibility thats required to resolve these issues for the people of Northern Ireland. Mr Lewis said he hoped the legislation would persuade the DUP to give their backing to the restoration of the powersharing institutions at Stormont. If the DUP are true to what they have said is the reason they withdrew the First Minister in the first place, around wanting to see positive progress on fixing the problems of the protocol. This legislation will do that and I hope they will respect that and deliver on that. Mr Lewis would not be drawn on whether the new legislation will include plans to scrap the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald insisted the NI Protocol was working in its current form (Liam McBurney/PA) He told Times Radio: Im not going to prejudge, its right that we allow Parliament to have first sight of the legislation. We have been very clear from the beginning that the governance issue, we understand is an issue. It is a problem for people in Northern Ireland. Its particularly a problem in the unionist community because its part of the issue about identity and, again, part of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement is respecting both the core communities of Northern Ireland. The unionist community do have an issue with identity, which I think sometimes our colleagues and friends in the EU struggle to understand. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told Sky News it does look like the Government plans to break international law. She said: This Government seems to be developing a record for lawbreaking and it is not one that the Labour Party can support. We helped bring in the Good Friday agreement, we are deeply, passionately committed to it. We want the Northern Ireland Protocol to work but we know to get it to work we have to negotiate and work with our European partners. Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald insisted that the protocol is working in its current form. She added: What the Tory government is proposing to do in breaching international law is to create huge, huge damage to the northern economy, to the Irish economy. They propose to breach international law and are on an agenda of undermining, attacking and damaging the Good Friday Agreement. Mrs McDonald continued: Brandon Lewis is talking through his hat, and not for the first time. Brandon Lewis should know, the Tory government should know, that where there are issues to be resolved with the protocol, issues of smoothing out its application, there are mechanisms through which that can happen. There is a willingness here, a willingness to engage by the European Commission. But the British Government has refused to engage, has not been constructive, has sought a destructive path and is now proposing to introduce legislation that will undoubtedly breach international law. And against the expressed democratic wishes of people in the north of Ireland who went to the polls, who made their democratic decision and who have returned a majority of members that support the protocol. There should be the greatest possible transparency over the legal advice that has led the Government to determine new legislation on the Northern Ireland Protocol will not breach international law, opposition parties have said. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis committed to publishing the Governments legal position on the matter on Monday, when the Bill is due to be introduced to Parliament, but insisted governments dont publish details behind advice given to ministers. Downing Street has said it will share only a summary of the legal advice it received with the public, which has led to accusations of a cover-up. The legislation will give ministers powers to override parts of the protocol a move the EU has warned could prompt retaliatory action. Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis (Yui Mok/PA) A No 10 spokesman said on Friday: The Bill has been agreed by the relevant cabinet committees and will be introduced to Parliament on Monday. We will, alongside the Bill, publish a summary of the legal advice. Labours shadow Northern Ireland secretary, Peter Kyle, said it is incumbent on ministers to release the maximum possible legal advice, with transparency about its origins. This Bill could have an elevated impact on Britains relationship with global partners, and has potential for malicious and rogue governments to interpret it as a green light for unilateral action against international treaties to which they are bound, he said. Given this, it is incumbent on ministers to release the maximum possible legal advice from the start, with transparency about its origins, so the legal basis upon which they make their case to Parliament can be judged. Liberal Democrat Northern Ireland spokesman Alistair Carmichael said the public deserves full transparency over the plans legal basis, saying he suspects a cover-up. The Government must come clean and publish what legal advice was received and who from, in full, he said. The public deserves full transparency over the legality of plans to rip up the Northern Ireland Protocol and risk a trade war with our closest neighbours. If Conservative ministers have nothing to fear, they have nothing to hide. Mr Lewis told Sky News Sophy Ridge On Sunday the new legislation to be outlined on Monday is within the law. What were going to do is lawful and it is correct, he said. We will be setting out our legal position on this. People will see that what were proposing resolves the key issues within the protocol that dont work. Asked why Downing Street was publishing only a summary of the legal advice, and not disclosing it in full, he told Times Radio: Well, governments dont publish details behind advice given to ministers, thats part of we have to have that free and open discussion as theyre formulating policy. But we are going to set out the Governments legal position and our methodology for that. I think, again, when people see the legislation rather than some of these, people have picked up in titbits over the last few weeks, when they see the detail of the legislation, theyll see we are acting within international law. Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, right, greets NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a news conference Sunday at the presidential summer residence Kultaranta in Naantali, Finland. (Markku Ulander / Lehtikuva) NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday that Turkey has legitimate concerns over terrorism and other issues that need to be taken seriously. Turkey has accused Finland and Sweden of supporting Kurdish militants and says it will not back the two Nordic nations joining NATO until they change their policies. Speaking at a joint news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Stoltenberg stressed that no other NATO ally has suffered more terrorist attacks than Turkey and pointed to its strategic location with neighbors including Iraq and Syria. These are legitimate concerns. This is about terrorism, its about weapons exports, Stoltenberg said. We have to address the security concerns of all allies, including Turkish concerns about the terrorist group PKK. Turkey has been battling the militant Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK and considered a terrorist group by the U.S., since the 1980s. Stoltenberg spoke at Finland's presidential summer residence Kultaranta in western Finland. After decades of military non-alignment, Finland and Sweden applied in May to join NATO, pushed by Russia's war in Ukraine. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, accuses the Nordic nations of supporting Kurdish militants deemed by Turkey to be terrorists and has vetoed their entry into the 30-member alliance. When a vital key ally as Turkey raises concerns on terrorism then of course we have to sit down and take them seriously. And thats exactly what we do, Stoltenberg said. The demands from Ankara to Helsinki and Stockholm also include lifting restrictions on arms exports to Turkey and extraditing members of certain Kurdish organizations that are opposed to Erdogans government. In the past weeks, NATOs chief has been trying to resolve the dispute, but he did not disclose Sunday whether any progress has been made. He was to attend an annual discussion panel in Kultaranta later Sunday together with Finnish and Nordic politicians, foreign and security policy experts and military representatives. Stoltenberg will visit Sweden on Monday for talks with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. WASHINGTON (AP) Senate bargainers announced a bipartisan framework Sunday responding to last months mass shootings, a noteworthy though limited breakthrough offering modest gun curbs and bolstered efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, the accord was embraced by Biden and enactment would signal a significant turnabout after years of gun massacres that have yielded little but stalemate in Congress. Biden said in a statement that the framework does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades. Given the bipartisan support, there are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House, he said. Leaders hope to push any agreement into law rapidly they hope this month before the political momentum fades that has been stirred by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. Participants cautioned that final details and legislative language remain to be completed, meaning fresh disputes and delays might emerge. In a consequential development, 20 senators, including 10 Republicans, released a statement calling for passage. That is potentially crucial because the biggest obstacle to enacting the measure is probably in the 50-50 Senate, where at least 10 GOP votes will be needed to attain the usual 60-vote threshold for approval. Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities," the lawmakers said. The group, led by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., produced the agreement after two weeks of closed-door talks. The compromise would make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 available when they undergo background checks. The suspects who killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde were both 18, and many perpetrators of recent years' mass shootings have been young. The agreement would offer money to states to enact and put in place red flag laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns from people considered potentially violent, plus funds to bolster school safety and mental health programs. Some people who informally sell guns for profit would be required to obtain federal dealers' licenses, which means they would have to conduct background checks of buyers. Convicted domestic abusers who do not live with a former partner, such as estranged ex-boyfriends, would be barred from buying firearms, and it would be a crime for a person to legally purchase a weapon for someone who would not qualify for ownership. Congressional aides said billions of dollars would be spent expanding the number of community mental health centers and suicide prevention programs. But they said some spending decisions are unresolved, as are final wording on juvenile records and other gun provisions that might prove contentious. Yet underscoring election-year pressures from Buffalo and Uvalde, the parties shared desire to demonstrate a response to those shootings suggested momentum toward enactment was strong. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the accord a good first step to ending the persistent inaction to the gun violence epidemic" and said he would bring the completed measure to a vote as soon as possible. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has supported the talks, was more restrained. He praised the bargainers' work and said he is hoping for a deal that makes significant headway on key issues like mental health and school safety, respects the Second Amendment, earns broad support in the Senate, and makes a difference for our country. The agreement was quickly endorsed by groups that support gun restrictions including Brady, Everytown for Gun Safety and March for Our Lives, which organized rallies held around the country on Saturday. The National Rifle Association said in a statement that it opposes gun control and infringing on people's fundamental right to protect themselves and their loved ones, but supports strengthening school security, mental health and law enforcement. The group has long exerted its sway with millions of firearms-owning voters to derail gun control drives in Congress. The agreement represents a lowest common denominator compromise on gun violence, not a complete sea change in Congress. Lawmakers have demonstrated a newfound desire to move ahead after saying their constituents have shown a heightened desire for congressional action since Buffalo and Uvalde, but Republicans still oppose more sweeping steps that Democrats want and Sunday's agreement omits. These include banning assault-style firearms such as the AR-15 style rifles used in Buffalo and Uvalde, or raising the legal age for buying them. AR-15s are popular and powerful semi-automatic weapons that can fire high-capacity magazines and have been used in many of the nations highest-profile slaughters in recent years. One of them, the killing of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, occurred six years ago Sunday. Democrats have also wanted to ban high capacity magazines and to expand required background checks to far more gun purchases. None of those proposals has a chance in Congress. Highlighting that, the Democratic-controlled House approved sweeping bills this past week barring sales of semiautomatic weapons to people under age 21 and large-capacity magazines, and giving federal courts the power to rule when local authorities want to remove guns from people considered dangerous. Currently, only 19 states and the District of Columbia have red-flag laws. Those measures will go nowhere in the Senate, where Republicans can block them. The last major firearms restrictions enacted by lawmakers was the 1994 assault weapons ban, which Congress let expire 10 years later. For years, congressional Republicans representing rural, pro-gun voters have blocked robust restrictions on firearms purchases, citing the Constitutions Second Amendment. Democrats, whose voters overwhelmingly favor gun restrictions, have been reluctant to approve incremental steps that they have thought would let GOP lawmakers argue they have tried stemming the tide of violence without meaningfully addressing the problem. Protesters chanted no Rwanda as they rallied outside an immigration removal centre in opposition to Government plans to start sending migrants to the east African country from next week. Demonstrators shook the outer fence of an immigration removal centre on Sunday in protest at the Governments Rwanda policy and people inside the facility appeared to be shouting back. Scores of activists marched to the Brook House Immigration Removal Centre, close to Gatwick Airport, near Crawley, West Sussex. Demonstrators condemned the Governments plans (Victoria Jones/PA) Dozens of activists shouted we are with you, set them free and deportations no more Britain is a racist state. Some activists banged the outer fence of the immigration centre and people inside the compound sounded like they were chanting back. In unison with protesters, people inside appeared to chant: No Rwanda. The plans would see some people who have entered the UK illegally flown to Rwanda to seek asylum there. A High Court ruling means the first flight to the east African country could proceed on Tuesday but campaigners are due to challenge this in the Court of Appeal on Monday. At the protest, teacher Jane Fisher, of Croydon, south London, who volunteers with Care for Calais, which delivers emergency aid to refugees, told the PA news agency: There is a young boy called Sami and he was from Afghanistan, his parents and his sister were blown up in a car bomb and he is 17 and he has come across. He is really frightened he is going to be sent to Rwanda. He keeps asking about it because the refuges dont know what is happening. I meet some amazing people and all of them have got horrible stories. Abbas Artan, 24, an asylum seeker originally from Somalia who crossed from Calais to the UK in a small boat in October, says he has been living in limbo at the Radisson Red hotel near Gatwick Airport for the past eight months. People protested outside the gates of the immigration removal centre (Victoria Jones/PA) On the Rwanda policy, he told PA: The Government must stop this because the people suffer a lot. Someone comes here to change his life, to send them back to Rwanda when there is nothing there some people have said I will kill myself if Im sent there. He said he fled Somalia because the militant jihadist group Al-Shabaab tried to recruit him as a soldier and knocked out his teeth with the butt of a gun when he refused. His journey to the UK saw him cross from Somalia to Ethiopia, then Sudan, Libya, Italy, Sweden, Germany and France, before crossing the Channel. Christian Hogsberg, 42, a history lecturer at the University of Brighton, told PA he was at the protest against the Governments Rwanda policy to show solidarity with refugees who are facing the danger of deportation to authoritarian regime Rwanda at the hands of a Tory Government that is playing the race card in the most shameful manner. He accused ministers of trying to get Britons to blame people who are some of the poorest and most powerless people in the world rather than those who are really responsible for the cost-of-living crisis in our country. Up to 130 people have been told they could be deported, and on Friday the High Court in London heard that 31 people were due on the first flight, with the Home Office planning that more planes will go later this year. The first claim against the policy was brought by lawyers on behalf of some asylum seekers alongside the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), as well as groups Care4Calais and Detention Action, which are challenging the policy on behalf of everyone affected. The Prince of Wales is reportedly more than disappointed by the Rwanda policy, allegedly privately calling it appalling, according to reports in The Times and The Daily Mail. The Prince of Wales has reportedly made private comments criticising the policy (Hugh Hastings/PA) On Sunday, Rwandas lead negotiator for the deportation agreement with the UK said the country is ready to accept people in tens of thousands but will start on a gradual basis. Doris Uwicyeza, chief technical adviser to the Rwandan Ministry of Justice, also defended Rwandas human rights record and said it was not illegal to be homosexual. She told Tom Swarbrick on LBC: Actually, based on our history we understand the importance of protecting anybody from hate speech and discrimination, this is not tolerated in our society, the freedom from discrimination due to sexual orientation of a person is guaranteed in our constitution and the rule of law is there to enforce that. A bandh was observed on Saturday in Ranchi, on a call by Hindu outfits Kolkata, Berhampore, Ranchi: Two persons died of gunshot wounds in the Jharkhand capital Ranchi while fresh violence was reported in West Bengal's Howrah on Saturday as tension prevailed in several parts of the country a day after the protests against the remarks by BJP's former functionaries on Prophet Mohammad. A bandh was observed on Saturday in Ranchi, on a call by Hindu outfits against the violence and internet was suspended in the district. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren formed a two-member committee to investigate the violence that left two persons dead and at least 24 injured. Mohammad Mudassir Kaifi, 22, who had gunshot wounds on his head, and Mohammad Sahil, 24, with bullet injuries on neck, died during treatment at the state-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences. Both were residents of Ranchi. Blaming the BJP for the violence in Howrah, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee removed two IPS officers from their posts to control damage of their apparent failure in tackling the obstructive agitation and clashes since June 9. Ms Banerjee tweeted, "As I said earlier, violent incidents are being orchestrated in Howrah by halting public life for two days. There are some political parties behind this and they want to trigger riots but these will not be tolerated and strict action will be taken against all of them. Why would people suffer for the sin committed by the BJP?" The transfer of the police officers came after a patient, Chitta Sinha (48), died after falling ill in a stranded train at Kharagpur station due to a rail blockade in Howrah-Kharagpur section and died on Friday. Lashing out at Banerjee, state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar alleged, "The CM did not act on time to stop the violence in contrast to her counterparts in many BJP and non-BJP ruled states including Jharkhand did." He was arrested by the police for forcibly trying to enter the district. In Uttar Pradesh, police arrested nearly 240 persons on charges of violence and clashes with the police, Cases were also registered in Delhi, Maharashtra and other states. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi accused the BJP of not taking timely action against ex-spokesperson Nupur Sharma. He said that nobody should indulge in violence over the issue and police should also not take the law into their hands. Congress edged out in Haryana, Sena candidate loses to Maharashtra BJP New Delhi: In a major embarrassment to the Congress, the party's Ajay Maken lost to media baron Kartikeya Sharma, an independent backed by the BJP, in Haryana, while in a major setback to the Maharashtra's ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, the BJP won three of the six Rajya Sabha seats in the state. In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, 31 votes were required to win. The strength was reduced 88 as an independent MLA abstained and one vote was declared invalid and the cut-off fell to 29.34. The BJPs Krishan Lal Panwar secured 31 votes. Maken polled 29 votes while Sharma polled 28. After the BJPs requirement was deducted, the remaining 1.66 votes got transferred to Sharma as second preference votes. He scraped through with 29.66 votes while Maken remained at 29. Insiders claimed party MLA Kiran Chaudharys vote was declared invalid, a charge she vehemently denied. Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi did not vote for Maken, and was later suspended. After the results were announced, Bishnoi tweeted, I have the capability to crush snakes hood, as I do not leave the jungle for fear of snakes. Late on Friday, Sharma and the BJP demanded disqualification votes of two Congress MLAs, Kiran Chaudhary and B.B. Batra. They alleged that the Congress MLAs showed their preference of votes to several people other than the party agent. The matter went upto the Election Commission of India who only allowed voting post midnight and one vote was declared invalid. Makens loss will have serious ramifications not only in Haryana Congress but also in AICC as he is seen to be close to senior leader Rahul Gandhi. General secretary Randeep Surjewala who is from Haryana was given a safe seat in Rajasthan while Maken was made to fight it out. In Maharashtra, the counting got delayed as the BJP and its Opposition filed complaints and counter complaints after which the vote of Shiv Sena MLA Suhas Kande was declared invalid. Two NCP members Cabinet minister Nawab Malik and former home minister Anil Deshmukh who are in judicial custody were not allowed to vote. Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Lake had passed away last month. In this backdrop, the Sena, which had fielded two candidates managed to only get Sanjay Raut elected. Its second candidate, Sanjay Pawar, lost. At the end of the second round of counting of votes, Dhananjay Mahadik pulled off a victory with 41 votes to Pawars 33. The other BJP winners were Union minister Piyush Goyal and former state minister Anil Bonde. The NCP's Praful Patel and Congress' Imran Pratapgarhi also won the fiercely-fought elections. After the stunning setback, Congress leaders admitted shortcomings in coordination the in the ruling alliance. Maharashtra revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat told reporters in Vidhan Bhavan that it is a matter of study as to what went wrong. BJP was cunning in holding up the counting and getting one vote declared invalid. We were confident that all four of our candidates will win comfortably, the Congress leader said. Haryana BJPs Krishan Lal Panwar elected, transfers second preference votes to get media baron Kartikeya Sharma elected. Congress Ajay Maken, Rahul Gandhis aide, lost by 0.66 votes. One MLA cross-voted, one vote disqualified. Maharashtra Union minister Piyush Goyal and former state minister Anil Bonde of BJP, NCP's Praful Patel, Congress' Imran Pratapgarhi and Shiv Senas Sanjay Raut won. For the sixth seat, two Shiv Sena alliance voters were unavailable and one more declared invalid after BJP protests. BJPs Dhananjay Mahadik pulled off a victory over Senas Sanjay Pawar I have the capability to crush snakes hood, as I do not leave the jungle for fear of snakes. Kuldeep Bishnoi Congress MLA who defied party, suspended Devendra Fadnavis succeeded in working the miracle of weaning away independent MLAs from rival camps using different means. - Sharad Pawar, NCP chief Elections are contested not just for the fight, but the victory. Jai Maharashtra, - Devendra Fadnavis, Maha former CM At the Angelus Francis "apologizes" to the people of the DR Congo and South Sudan whom he will not be able to visit in July: "We pray that with God's help and medical care I will be able to come as soon as possible." Speaking of 10 nuns killed by the Red Army proclaimed blessed yesterday in Poland, he recalls the witness of faith of persecuted Christians even today. The invitation not to forget the Ukrainian population wounded by war and the millions of children forced into child labor. Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "Celebrating the Trinity is not so much a theological exercise, but a revolution in our way of life." Pope Francis said this today while addressing the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square for the Angelus prayer. Taking his cue from today's solemnity that invites us to contemplate the mystery of God in the unity between His three Persons, Francis recalled that "the Holy Spirit speaks, but not of Himself: He proclaims Jesus and reveals the Father. And the Father, who possesses everything, because he is the origin of all things, gives to the Son all that he possesses: he withholds nothing for himself and gives himself entirely to the Son." The pope went on to invite the faithful to carefully consider, "what we talk about and what we possess. When we speak, we always want to be spoken well of and often we speak only about ourselves and what we do. And, about what we possess, how jealous we are of it and how hard we struggle to share it with others, even those who lack the necessities. In words it is easy, but then in practice it is very difficult." The mystery of God "in which each Person lives for the other" therefore provokes us "to live with others and for others. I, who profess faith in God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit," the pontiff invited to ask, "do I really believe that in order to live I need others, I need to give myself to others, I need to serve others? Do I affirm this with words or with life?" For Francis, the Trinity "is transmitted less through books and more through the witness of life. Let us think of the good, generous, meek people we have met: by remembering their way of thinking and acting, we can have a small reflection of God-Love. In short, the Trinity teaches us that we can never be without each other. We are not islands, we are in the world to live in the image of God: open, in need of others and in need of helping others." In this sense, the pontiff concluded by inviting people to ask themselves, "Does the sign of the cross I make every day remain a gesture as an end in itself or does it inspire my way of speaking, of meeting, of responding, of judging, of forgiving?" At the end of the Angelus prayer Pope Francis then addressed the African populations of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, who were expecting him in early July for the apostolic journey he was forced to postpone due to knee pain. "I really feel great regret," the pontiff told them, "I apologize for this. Let us pray together that with God's help and medical treatment I can come to you as soon as possible. We are hopeful." The pope then remembered Sister Maria Paschalis Jahn and her 9 sisters of the Congregation of St. Elizabeth who were killed by the Red Army in 1945 in Poland and proclaimed blessed yesterday in Wroclaw. "They stayed by the side of the elderly and the sick despite the dangers," he commented. "May their example of fidelity to Christ help all of us and especially persecuted Christians in so many parts of the world to witness to the Gospel with courage. Francis finally urged not to forget the people of Ukraine afflicted by war. "The time that passes," he admonished, "does not cool our pain and concern. Let us not get used to this tragic reality, let us pray and fight for peace." As well - on the International Day against Child Labor, which is celebrated today - he recalled this dramatic reality that continues to afflict millions of children around the world: "Let us all commit ourselves," he concluded, "to eliminate this scourge, so that no child or girl is deprived of his or her fundamental rights and forced or compelled to work." by Stephen Chow Sau yan In the face of the increasingly evident shrinking of spaces of freedom in Hong Kong, the bishop's reflection published in the diocesan weekly: "God's love and light are found in all things, even in the cracks. Accepting change does not mean approving of it, but learning to discern new possibilities. The tougher the conditions, the more resilient life will be." Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - The recent complete ban on all forms of gatherings in Hong Kong on June 4 - the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre who's which victims are commemorated annually - was further evidence of the increasingly heavy-handed restriction on spaces of freedom imposed by Beijing. In this situation even the Masses that were being celebrated on this anniversary were suspended, lest they run the risk of falling under the axe of the draconian National Security Law. All this after the shock created by the arrest of Bishop Emeritus Cardinal Joseph Zen ze kiun, who was released on bail but still with the prospect of a trial in front of him. With what attitude to live as a Church within such a situation? That is the question Bishop Stephen Chow Sau yan of Hong Kong tried to answer in this article published in recent days in the diocesan weekly Sunday Examiner. I recall the beautiful images of flowers and small plants breaking through the cracks of cobblestone streets or old stone walls. The charming pastel colors of the Spring flowers or the rich rustic colors of the Fall foliage coming from mere cracks are just wonderful. They are proofs of the amazing power of life that comes from the Creator. How can they grow up in such a tight and awkward environment? I can feel that Hong Kong, including our Church, are becoming more like an existence within cracks. We used to enjoy much space and freedom of expression when we could express our opinions in any way we like. Of course, as Christians, we should guard our tongues against immorality and self-righteousness. But that spaciousness for our freedom and expression, which we had taken for granted, seems diminishing. With that narrowing of space, we start to feel like living in cracks, which makes us nervous, anxious, disappointed, upset, frustrated, and angry. Some have chosen to settle in other countries. Some are observing, while some have little choice but to stay. As for me, I made my choice when I accepted my episcopal appointment, like many in Hong Kong who have chosen to stay. I want to share with you that the love and light of God can be found in all things, even cracks. Remembering the flowers, shrubs, and even trees that have germinated from cracksthey have demonstrated that nothing can prevent life from flourishing, adding colors, beauty, and hope to our world. The tougher the condition, the more resilient life will be. Cracks can even widen in some cases. Our religious faith is an amazing engine that empowers our lives, individually and collectively, if we positively live out our faith. However, if we only want to stick to the past, not ready to find Gods guidance in the changing context, our lives will become bitter and sour. Darkness will take hold of us. Accepting the changing context as reality does not mean endorsing it. But learning to discern new possibilities with a creative mindset amid tensions from the changing context is the way forward. And the future still holds its promises beyond our understanding. Discernment requires us to reflect and respond, not react. Alas, our present culture seems to be a reactive culture. We seem to be pushing each other to react almost instantaneously. We will not be able to discern Gods will if we allow ourselves to be carried along by this force. Instead, we will be enabling the pushers to be our gods. I am reminding myself of this, especially when the push gets stronger. Allowing ourselves the inner space to discern is essential and beneficial in the long run. Stephen Chow Sau yan, bishop of Hong Kong 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. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. I'm talking about the 413-cubic-inch (6.8-liter) Max Wedge V8 . You see, the Savoy spent most of its life on the market as a mid- or entry-level full-size automobile. As a result, it did not get any high-performance options in the 1950s.That changed in 1962 when Plymouth gave the nameplate its final major redesign. On top of adding a 383-cubic-inch to the lineup, Mopar also introduced the Max Wedge on the options list.Based on the race-spec engines that powered the Dodge Ramchargers and the Plymouth Super Stocks that dominated the drag strip at the time, the road-spec Max Wedge found its way in many midsize Mopars from 1962 to 1964. The Savoy, which had been downsized for the 1962 model year, was among them.And the Max Wedge turned the awkward-looking two-door coupe into a full-blown muscle car . Rated at up to 420 horsepower in 413-cubic-inch, the Max Wedge was just as potent as the 426 HEMI that debuted a few years later. However, the expensive option wasn't very popular, so these cars are hard to come by in 2022.The black 1962 Savoy you're looking at is not a full-fledged Max Wedge car, but it comes pretty close. What's with the Max Wedge reference, you ask? Well, this Mopar popped up for sale, and the owner claims it's powered by a "440 Max Wedge."That's a mistake since Chrysler did not offer such a mill back in the day. Does it have any Max Wedge-related components? The ad doesn't say, but since it's a rebuilt 440-cubic-inch (7.2-liter) V8 of the RB variety with modern components, this mill should be at least as powerful as an authentic Max Wedge.Either way, this Savoy is further described as a "stunning nut and bolt restoration," and the pictures confirm the claim. What's more, it's a two-door post car, which is pretty rare regardless of what's under the hood. Making things that much better, the black exterior is paired with a blue and gray interior that looks downright fabulous.Yes, the 1962 Savoy isn't the prettiest classic Mopar out there (I actually love the design, though), but this black coupe is one fine sleeper. As long as you ignore the exhaust pipes popping from under the front fenders (yet another hint to the Max Wedge cars).This Max Wedge tribute is currently up for sale on eBay, where "classiccarsofsarasota" is looking to get $69,750 for it. That's a lot of dough for an early 1960s Savoy, but it's definitely cheaper than original Max Wedge cars, which usually fetch more than $100,000. Just like Android Automotive, this new version of CarPlay is pre-installed in new cars and gets access to more vehicle functions, including air conditioning, seat settings, and so much more. In other words, its a greatly evolved version of the current CarPlay software that will turn the Apple ecosystem into the central point of the driving experience.In order for this new CarPlay flavor to succeed, Apple must work together with carmakers and convince them of its benefits. And the iPhone maker says the majority of companies have already decided to fit their upcoming models with the new CarPlay, with a slide presented at WWDC indeed confirming that most of the big names are already on this list.However, not all carmakers seem to be impressed with this new version of CarPlay.BMW, for instance, isnt necessarily in a rush to adopt it in its future models, with the German carmaker recently explaining in a statement that, for the time being, its just evaluating its capabilities before making a final decision. BMW also emphasizes that its full focus is on iDrive right now, though, given its relationship with Apple (the Germans were the first to adopt the digital keys powered by iPhones), theres a chance itll still end up embracing the evolved version of CarPlay anyway.Currently, we have placed a clear focus on further enhancing our iDrive user interface system and, as part of this development, will continue the seamless integration of Apples ecosystem. Integral to these efforts will be an evaluation of how the latest innovations announced at WWDC can be integrated into our solutions, the company reportedly said.The first cars with CarPlay pre-installed will launch in late 2023, so BMW has all the time in the world to decide if the system is worth adopting or not. Demand for the most popular vehicles has led to price increases and unfair behavior from dealerships and customers alike. Many car buyers resold their newly purchased vehicles for a hefty profit. At the same time, dealers have attached market adjustment fees to the MSRP of the most in-demand cars on their lot. The dealers still have the upper hand despite the carmakers stepping in to prevent dealerships from making more money than they do from selling cars.In the case of the Ford F-150 Lightning, weve seen some crazy markups before, sometimes equal to the vehicles MSRP , which is bonkers. Ford mandates dealers that 75% of the cars they sell match the actual customers who ordered them. This is meant to limit markups and the dealers ability to sell a vehicle to another customer willing to pay more.Recently, a Ford F-150 Lightning sold on a car wholesales auction platform for $110,400, as weve learned from the f150lightningforum.com forum . This is much less than the Lightning with markup as high as the MSRP we spotted a few days back. But, and theres a big but, this Lightning was listed as damaged. According to the listing, the truck had loose trims in the front left and on the running boards.It was the kind of platform where you and I cannot sell or buy cars, so its safe to say this is sold by a dealer to another dealer. Dealerships are supposed to be able to fix such a minor issue as a loose trim, and yet the truck was auctioned. It also got a lot of attention, with 262 bids placed on it. Considering this truck is now free from Fords strings, it can sell for at least $140,000 from the dealer who bought it. Well, it already sold with $30,000 above the sticker price once, so it certainly made the selling dealer happy. NHTSA EV Full Self-Driving Remember the investigation about Tesla cars using the system that hit emergency vehicles? From a Preliminary Evaluation (PE),turned it into an Engineering Analysis (EA), the step that precedes a recall. More specifically, the PE21-020 turned into EA22-002. To the initial 11 cases that launched the PE, NHTSA included six more situations and excluded one, ending up with 16. In its detailed summary, the safety regulator says this (the bold is on us):The agencys analysis of these sixteen subject first responder and road maintenance vehicle crashes indicated that Forward Collision Warnings (FCW) activated in the majority of incidents immediately prior to impact and that subsequent Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) intervened in approximately half of the collisions.The way NHTSA describes this, Autopilot may have been designed to disengage whenever it senses an imminent impact risk. That would be a way for the system always to present flawless numbers and never to be blamed for anything. Elon Musk frequently said that Autopilot was not turned on when he talked about a wreck involving one of Teslas cars. What if it was until less than one second prior to the first impact? What if it aborted vehicle control in these circumstances by design? Multiple outlets tried to hear what themaker had to say about this, and it did not bother to answer.If Tesla configured Autopilot to work like this, it might be comparable to the cheating software Volkswagen used in its EA-189 turbodiesel engines to make them seem less pollutant than they really were you currently know this scandal as Dieselgate.Should this be confirmed, all claims that the system makes cars safer immediately lose credibility and they already lack it. Teslas safety reports have been under scrutiny for a while. Cade Metz wrote for The New York Times (NYT) on June 8 that the numbers they present are misleading.He quoted a Virginia Transportation Research Council study that explains that in more detail. According to the researcher Noah Goodall, much of the crash reduction seen by vehicles using Autopilot appears to be explained by lower crash rates experienced on freeways. When he corrected for age demographics, the estimated crash rate actually increased by 10% when Autopilot was used. As some features can only be used in clear weather, that also makes them look safer than they really are. And this was before NHTSA realized that Autopilot disengaged in a way that did not give drivers enough time to react.Before NHTSA revealed this, Metz wrote that older technologies such as AEB provide drivers with a safety net. However, new ones use drivers as their moral crumple zones, as Philip Koopman describes this situation and promotes the expression coined by Madeleine Clare Elish . It would have been premonitory if it was not already expected. The shocking bit is that Tesla may have gone beyond the disclaimer saying the driver is in charge at all times.If Autopilot is programmed to disengage less than one second before crashes, it is actively fleeing responsibility. Suppose Tesla must inform whether the system was active when any given impact happened. Autopilot conveniently shutting down allows Tesla to say it wasnt. Case closed: blame the driver. That worked until very recently, even if previous warnings showed only the whole picture could tell the truth.In October 2021, the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) revealed at the European Association for Accident Research that it had decrypted Teslas data storage system. That allowed its investigators to retrieve more information about crashes than Tesla was willing to share.Curiously, one example they presented about how crucial it was involved a Tesla on Autopilot rear-ending another car. NFI said the driver was attentive and regained control of the vehicle immediately when Autopilot warned them to do so. However, Tesla did not disclose that Autopilot was tailgating the car ahead, something they discovered by decrypting the data. If the system follows a vehicle so close and disengages when there is no time to do anything but brace for impact, whos to blame?NHTSAs move shows it is not willing to let Tesla choose what to say and what to do anymore. The preliminary evaluation raised 191 more crashes not connected with emergency vehicles. All of them had an Autopilot feature activated, and the safety regulator includesamong them. Of these 191 cases, 85 were excluded from the analysis because of external factors, such as actions of other vehicles, or the available information did not support a definitive assessment.In about half of the remaining 106 cases, the driver was not sufficiently responsive. That indicates Tesla does not monitor driver behavior enough, something that Consumer Reports and other specialists have been warning about for a long time. In a quarter of these events, Autopilot was activated in situations where the company warns it may present limitations, such as roadways or low-traction environments. In other words, Tesla would have a strong line of defense in these cases, right? This is what NHTSA has to say about that:A drivers use or misuse of vehicle components, or operation of a vehicle in an unintended manner does not necessarily preclude a system defect. This is particularly the case if the driver behavior in question is foreseeable in light of the systems design or operation.The irony here is that this is the case only because Autopilot and FSD are labeled as Level 2 driver assistance systems, which demand driver supervision. For NHTSA, ensuring the system facilitates the drivers effective performance of this supervisory driving task presents an important safety consideration. Tesla used this classification to escape what autonomous driving testing demands: trained test drivers only and regular reports to authorities, among other obligations.Interestingly, it seems it would not have made a difference if all drivers followed what Tesla told them to do with Autopilot. Still in the EA22-002 detailed summary, NHTSA stated that only 2 of the 16 drivers involved in crashes against emergency vehicles got driving engagement strategy warnings five minutes before the impacts. For the agency, that suggests all others were playing by Teslas book which did not prevent them from crashing. NHTSA concluded that it had enough elements to turn the PE into an EA. Theres a strong possibility that a correction will require more than a simple software update. If one could fix everything, the PE would have died, and 765,000 Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y units would have been considered perfectly fine. Instead, the safety regulator upgraded it and included 65,000 more EVs in the investigation for a total of 830,000 vehicles.That would be Teslas worst nightmare. Although eventual new components and the already crowded Service Centers having to cope with more services would represent a hit, it may be nothing compared to the reputation damage that may follow. Just remember how much Volkswagen had to pay (and is still paying) for Dieselgate. Jaguar Land Rover is one of them, and thanks to a recent update, the company is making a very good reason for dropping the likes of Google Maps for the native navigation solution available in its cars.The automaker has worked together with HERE, the company that provides the brand with navigation software for the vehicles it sells worldwide, to integrate support for what3words, a location service that pushes the accuracy to a completely new level.In other words, Jaguar Land Rover models will be provided with always-on support for what3words, the first time a carmaker offers access to this system without a data connection.Released as an OTA update available for all Jaguar and Land Rover models equipped with the Pivi Pro infotainment system, the support for what3words will be making navigation as accurate as possible. But to better understand how the whole thing works, its important to know how what3words works in the first place.As compared to traditional navigation software, which uses street names and building numbers for addresses, what3words has divided the entire world into squares, each measuring 3 meters x 3 meters.So when you launch what3words, the entire world appears as a grid full of squares, and each of these squares is given a unique address made of three random words. Using these words, you can therefore input the location of the square in the navigation app, eventually being directed precisely to the generated address.Thanks to this integration, JLR drivers can enter the three random words right in the navigation software in their cars, without the need for installing any other app. The way the whole thing works is as straightforward as possible, with no further configuration required on the vehicle side once the update is installed. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @_ishanidesai on Twitter. Seaside to Get Traffic Improvements - Other Oregon Coast Projects Published 06/12/22 at 5:25 AM PST By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff (Seaside, Oregon) An area of the north Oregon coast known for its sometimes significant traffic jams will be getting some help from Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) soon. (Photo above courtesy Seaside Aquarium) ODOT spokesman Angela Beers Seydel said new signals and turn lanes are coming to U.S. 101 and Broadway at Seaside, an extremely busy intersection that can back up traffic for miles at times. The improvements come as part of eight projects selected for the 2024-2027 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) and a part of it that utilizes enhance funding. This category of ODOT projects take aim at improving safety and reducing congestion in Oregon's busiest of roadways. This project 101 and Broadway will replace the old signals, create more turn lanes and install a transit stop. ODOT said it will be adding other improvements to help traffic flow along this section of the Oregon coast's main highway. Supporting a modern transportation system is a priority in ODOT's 2021-2023 Strategic Action Plan. Various other improvement projects are going along the Oregon coast. At Astoria, the New Youngs Bay Bridge is getting some major repairs. Lane closures are not likely to affect travelers to the Oregon coast, however, as these are being done at night. In the Lincoln City area, the bridges at D River and Schooner Creek are going under the knife. These include installing concrete surfaces and striping, with the work being done at night. Near Florence, the Cape Creek Bridge is still undergoing some work. On the southern Oregon coast, the Chetco River Bridge over the California border at Brookings is getting some projects finished up. In Coos Bay, Bunker Hill area is receiving better sidewalks and ADA compliant curbs, and there's a new signal going in at Flanagan Street. Oregon Coast Hotels in this area - South Coast Hotels - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours MORE PHOTOS BELOW More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on Oregon Coast Beach Connection All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright Oregon Coast Beach Connection. Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted LOS ANGELES (AP) Three people were killed and three others were wounded in a shooting early Sunday at a warehouse party in Los Angeles, police said. The summer kick-off event at the warehouse in Boyle Heights was advertised on social media and featured a performance by the rapper Money Sign Suede, CBS Los Angeles reported. Bill Chizek // Shutterstock In 1963-1964 I served in a U.S. destroyer that took its turn patrolling the Taiwan Straight, a 110-mile wide passage between Communist China and Taiwan, aka Formosa. The U.S. Navy kept a destroyer 24/7/365 in those waters as a sonar-and-radar early warning in case Communist China launched an attack on Chiang Kai-Sheks government in exile in Taipei. We patrolled out of the harbor of Kaoshung. It had submarine nets across the harbor entrance and anti-aircraft guns on top of buildings around the harbor all prepared for an attack from Communist China. The swamps, marshes and waterways of East Texas are loaded with snakes and they are on the prowl right now. In most cases every dark-colored snake encountered in these realms is labeled a water moccasin or cottonmouth. In reality the vast majority encounter by local hunters, anglers and nature lovers are simply nonvenomous watersnakes are even other species like the hognose snake. The fact is there are only four types of venomous snakes in all of North America. These are cottonmouths, copperheads, rattlesnakes and coral snakes. There are numerous varieties of each but those are the types. In other words, everything else is nonvenomous. Cottonmouths are the most frequently misidentified. A true cottonmouth is not a snake to be toyed with. They can deliver a deadly bite of hemotoxic venom that destroys tissue. Unlike their reputation of being super dangerous most cottonmouths simply prefer to be left alone. If you encounter one giving you the cottonmouth consider yourself lucky. That is a warning before biting. The diamondback water snake is the largest water snake in Texas, growing (confirmed) up to six feet long but they might get even larger according to some reports. These snakes are often mistaken with cottonmouths and sometimes called water rattlers because of the diamond pattern on their back but they are nonvenomous and have no rattler. They do however have lots of attitude. When cornered they may strike out and flatten their head. Unless you pick them up and get a nasty bite (will just require cleaning and bandage) they are harmless. The yellowbelly water snake looks a lot like a cottonmouth from the top view. Their belly is yellow and has no pattern unlike the cottonmouth. These snakes have extreme musking abilities and are usually the moccasin most people claim they can smell before seeing. Hognose snakes can grow up to 2.5 feet long and when they are in the black phase like most found in our area, they look a lot like a cottonmouth. These snakes will puff up their bodies and hiss. They will also flatten their heads out like this one is doing and will strike with their mouth closed and play dead. Finally, they will play dead. In fact, they are so adamant about convincing you they are dead that they will turn back over if you turn them right side up. Something to keep in mind is that nonvenomous water snakes have round pupils. Cottonmouths like this one have slit pupils. That is a sure way to tell if the snake you are looking at is venomous or not. Renowned snake expert and television host Austin Stevens Snakemaster has had some interesting cottonmouth experiences. The cottonmouth, or water moccasin as it is also known is indeed reputed to be a bad-tempered snake when approached. Generally speaking I have found this to be true, though one must also take into account that though a species may have earned a particular reputation, individual snakes may differ within a species, Stevens said. In Florida, in one morning, I came across two specimens within 50 feet of each other. The first immediately deployed the typical defense strategy, with head pulled back into its body coils, mouth wide open with tongue flickering in and out while its tail vibrated noisily amongst leaf litter, producing a sound almost like a rattler. Moving closer with my camera, the snake immediately responded with numerous short, quick strikes in my direction. Stevens said not 20 minutes later and just a little further along, he came across a smaller specimen of the same species, basking on a log. This cottonmouth showed little interest in my approach and only moved when I attempted to pick it up with my snake tongs, which I eventually did with little complaint on the part of the snake. Two completely different displays of attitude, but generally speaking, cottonmouths are quick to show their displeasure when approached. I have worked with a cottonmouth on video that would strike at any movement and have literally stepped on one while dragging a deer out of the river bottoms in Newton County that did not even move, much less bite me. Always be mindful of where you walk or put your hands in the wild and chances are you will never come out on the bad side of a cottonmouth encounter. And remember how I said looking into their eyes can distinguish the cottonmouth from its mimics? Please dont try that at home. Cambodian Minister of Defense Tea Banh and Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian bathe in the sea after a groundbreaking ceremony for the Ream Naval Base in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. No one in Southeast Asia batted an eyelid when Gen. Tea Banh, Cambodias defense minister, joined Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian for a dip in the sea earlier this month. The two were photographed bathing in the Gulf of Thailand after taking part in a ribbon cutting for a naval base, which China is building for Cambodia in Sihanouk province. U.S. news reports about Phnom Penh being prepared to give Beijing exclusive use of part of the future Ream Naval Base have added to tensions between the United States and China, rival superpowers vying for influence in the region. As Sino-U.S. frictions become more intense, Phnom Penh seems to have tilted towards its big neighbor, which has been offering cash and assistance to not only Cambodia but other Southeast Asian nations. Cambodia and China arent good at hiding their relationship, said Virak Ou, president of Future Forum, a Cambodian think-tank. It's obvious that we are choosing sides. Yet most Southeast Asian countries so far remain reluctant to pick sides, and analysts say it is crucial that Washington recognize the need to engage the regions nations in its Indo-Pacific strategy, or risk losing out to Beijing. At the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore that wrapped up on Sunday, Tea Banh lashed out at what he called baseless and problematic accusations against the Cambodian government in relation to the naval base that Phnom Penh is building in Ream, with help from Beijing. The Ream Naval Base would effectively be Chinas first naval facility in mainland Southeast Asia and allow its military to expand patrols across the region. Unfortunately, Cambodia is constantly accused of giving an exclusive right to a foreign country to use the base, the minister said, adding that this is a complete insult to his country. Cambodia, he said, is a state that is independent, sovereign, and has the full right to decide its destiny. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in his speech at the Shangri-La forum on Saturday, stated that the Indo-Pacific is our center of strategic gravity and our priority theater of operations. But questions remain on where smaller Southeast Asian nations feature in that grand strategy of the United States. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (left) and Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe (fourth from right) attend a ministerial roundtable luncheon at the Shangri-La Dialogue meeting in Singapore, June 11, 2022. [AFP] Lopsided cooperation The region, Indonesian Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto said in his remarks here, has been for many centuries the crossroad of imperialism, big power domination and exploitation. We understand the rivalry between the established world power and the rising world power, he said, referring to the United States and China. Southeast Asian countries are the most affected by big powers competition, Prabowo, who joined the military in the thick of the Vietnam War and retired with the rank of Lieutenant General, told the audience at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday. Despite divisions and differences between member countries, weve come to our own ASEAN way of resolving challenges, he said. It may seem that were sitting on the fence, Prabowo said, but this apparent inaction reflects an effort of preserving neutrality by ASEAN countries. Indonesia opted to be not engaged in any military alliance, the minister said. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (left) stands with Vietnamese Defense Minister Phan Van Giang during a bilateral meeting ahead of the Shangri-La Dialogue forum in Singapore, June 10, 2022. [AFP] The same stance has been adopted by another ASEAN player Vietnam whose White Paper on defense policy stated three nos including no military alliances, no basing of foreign troops in the country and no explicit alliances with one country against another. Yet its unlikely that Hanoi will embrace the U.S. to counter Beijing, even though Vietnam often is viewed as anti-China because of its experience with Chinese aggression on many occasions in its history. Its better to nurture a relationship with a close neighbor rather than relying on a distant sibling, Vietnamese Defense Minister Phan Van Giang explained, quoting a Vietnamese proverb. Two of ten ASEAN nations the Philippines and Thailand are treaty allies with the U.S. But even in Manila and Bangkok, there have been signs of expanded cooperation with China. Southeast Asia and China are neighbors thanks to the geography, and their cooperation is natural, said Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. Koh suggested that in order to maintain the foothold in the region, the U.S. needs to embrace and appreciate local cultures and not try to force regime changes. The cooperation between the U.S. and the region has been too one-dimensional and lopsided, too security focused, and needs to expand, he said. Gen. Wei Fenghe, Chinas defense minister, attends the opening reception at the Shangri-La Dialogue forum in Singapore, June 10, 2022. [AFP] Limited leverage Southeast Asia is a difficult region for the U.S. to grasp, said Blake Herzinger, a Singapore-based defense policy specialist. The region needs to foster ties with China and Washington needs to accept and work with that, Herzinger said, adding its time to recognize that U.S. leverage is limited in a competitive region where the opposite number is China. According to Southeast Asia analyst Koh, its not too late for the U.S. to adjust its policy towards Southeast Asia. There are still demands for an American presence here and a reservoir of goodwill that the U.S. has built over the past, Koh said. But, he warned, this may risk running dry if Washington doesnt truly recognize the importance of engagement in the region. The U.S. and allies should also bear in mind regional geopolitical calculations, he said. Southeast Asian countries dont want to pick sides but they find themselves being sucked into the super power competition and being pragmatic as they are, some of them are making efforts to try to benefit from it, Koh said. I think the Biden administration has done a good job in relation to Southeast Asia in the last six months. Before, not so good because they had a lot on their plate, said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. In her opinion, to try benefitting from U.S.-China competition is short-sighted. Countries in the region should consider a long-term strategy to hold up a rules-based world order where smaller countries also have rights to speak as they dont want China to dictate to them what to do, Glaser said. On the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue Austin, the American defense chief, met with Southeast Asian counterparts on June 10 to discuss ways to deepen cooperation, especially in maritime security. In May, President Joe Biden hosted the first U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit and the U.S. has lately announced a new initiative to permanently deploy a Coast Guard cutter in the region. This is a good sign that theyre listening and trying to adjust, China expert Glaser said. China's Defence Minister Wei Fenghe salutes from the podium at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore, June 12, 2022. Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe delivered scathing remarks about the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy in a speech in Singapore on Sunday, calling it an attempt to form a clique to contain China. In his speech on Chinas vision for regional order at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum, Wei hit back at U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austins remarks a day earlier, saying China firmly rejects Americas accusations and threats. In his keynote speech on Saturday, Austin said that China had adopted a more coercive and aggressive approach to territorial claims and that Beijings moves threaten to undermine security, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. Wei said that to us, the Indo-Pacific strategy is an attempt to build an exclusive small group to hijack countries in our region to target one specific country China. It is a strategy to create conflict and confrontation to contain and encircle others, said the minister, who is also a general in Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). This is the second time Wei has attended the major regional security forum, hosted by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). This years conference, which resumed after a two-year suspension due to COVID, was taking place amid the war in Ukraine, increased tensions around Taiwan and in the East and South China Seas. Say no to bullying The forum once again highlights U.S.-China rivalry in the Indo-Pacific, with both sides trading criticisms, while at the same time calling for the rule of law to be upheld. We should respect each other and treat each other as equals and reject a zero-sum game in which the winner takes all, General Wei said. We should seek peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation rather than hegemony and power politics. Hegemony seems to be the word of choice when Chinese officials talk about the United States and its foreign policy. As the U.S. defense secretary insisted that his countrys military would fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, the Chinese minister called the U.S. freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea a navigation hegemony. Wei said the U.S.-China relationship is at a critical and crucial juncture but to improve it depends on Washingtons efforts. We require the U.S. side to stop smearing and containing China, stop interfering in China's internal affairs and stop harming China's interests, Wei said. The bilateral relationship cannot improve unless the U.S. side can do that, he said, adding: If you want to talk, we should talk with mutual respect if you want confrontation, we will fight to the very end. At the same time, the Chinese minister called on regional countries to say no to bullying. Only the one who wears the shoes knows if they fit or not, he said, implying that countries should pick their own paths and resist what he called interference from outsiders. Two Su-35 fighter jets and a H-6K bomber from the People's Liberation Army air force fly in formation during a patrol near Taiwan, May 11, 2018. [Xinhua via AP] Chinas only choice The Chinese defense minister resorted to forceful words when speaking about Taiwan, insisting: Taiwan is first and foremost Chinas Taiwan. Reiterating that Taiwan is a province of China, Wei said the islands reunification with the mainland is a historical trend that no one, no force, can stop. This is the only choice for China, he said. The minister accused Washington of violating its promise on the One China principle by supporting the separatist forces in Taiwan and playing the Taiwan card against China. China is firmly opposed to such acts the pursuit of Taiwans independence is a dead end, Wei said, adding we will not hesitate to fight to defend Chinas core interests. This year the PLA celebrates the 95th anniversary of its foundation and the Chinese defense minister dedicated a segment of his remarks to speak about the PLA which he called a force of peace. We have never proactively started a war against others or occupied one inch of others land, Wei said. The Chinese defense minister said those who question the factual truth behind this statement should re-read history. If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom. Bennington, VT (05201) Today Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 62F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 62F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Bennington, VT (05201) Today Mainly cloudy. A few peeks of sunshine possible. High 81F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 61F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. When police raided a pair Pittsfield homes late last year, they found not only loaded firearms, but unassembled gun parts and tools for a home workshop. Tools to make guns. Pittsfield police arrested two men on weapons charges and reported recovering scopes, Dremel tool accessories, a gun sling, and a box from Polymer80, a company that manufactures what authorities have come to refer to as ghost guns. It followed an investigation into the firearms in Pittsfield, Berkshire Countys largest community. These kinds of weapons are privately manufactured guns that skirt traditional supply chains. Nationwide, the federal government said that roughly 20,000 of them were recovered last year during criminal investigations and reported to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to the White House, thats a tenfold increase since 2016. The gun parts can be purchased online, sometimes in prepared kits, and then assembled at home by people who need only minimal knowledge and skill, Pittsfield police said in a statement announcing the 2021 arrests and seizures. The untraceable firearms havent been a problem so far in Great Barrington, said police Chief Paul Storti. But in North Adams, Chief Jason Wood said theyve turned up during arrests. In addition to weapons used in crimes, Wood said the term ghost guns can refer to those put together by hobbyists. Im going to guess that more people have them than we know, he said. There could be some gun enthusiasts that make them and theyre responsible with them, and we would never know. On our side, we see them when we arrest somebody, but I dont think its just criminals that possess them, Wood said. The weapons lack serial numbers and therefore cant be traced. They are not registered with government authorities. Thats one reason why, in a state like Massachusetts, ghost guns may be made or possessed by people who otherwise wouldnt be able to access firearms legally, because they wouldnt pass a background check due to criminal convictions, or because of their age, said Ari Freilich, state policy director for the Giffords Law Center, a gun control advocacy organization. This market [for ghost guns] has really shown up in states where theres strong gun safety laws like Massachusetts, like California, like New York, he said in a recent interview. Its in many ways a testament to the strength of those states safety laws, because in some neighboring states, we dont see the same market. That leads to untraceable firearms being among the leading sources of guns used in the commission of crimes, he said. Companies sell parts such as barrels and receivers online and market them as kits. A receiver is the part of a handgun that receives the ammunition and fires it. Typically, online companies sell gun kits simple enough for amateurs to assemble. Just like you build an IKEA desk, Freilich said. Tightening laws Ten states have passed legislation to broaden or clarify the definition of what is covered by gun laws to include frames and receivers, whether or not theyre marketed as a kit, said Freilich. Legislation pending on Beacon Hill would regulate ghost guns and could require manufacturers to place serial numbers on gun parts and address penalties for possessing one. State Reps. William Smitty Pignatelli, D-Lenox, and Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield, are co-sponsoring the bill. Quote The gun play in the Berkshires has to be taken more seriously. This is getting out of control. State Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox Pignatelli said that while he supports the rights of legal gun owners, he opposes the illegal possession of weapons, whether it is ghost guns or firearms that have had their serial numbers removed. The gun play in the Berkshires has to be taken more seriously. This is getting out of control, he said. Were not immune to this. We need to get ahead of it and be smart about it. Farley-Bouvier said state law must be modernized to address the what she said is the growing issue of privately made, unserialized firearms. Like anything we do, we need to keep up with the times and we have to respond to the current technology, she said. We need to regulate these ghost guns. We cant just have people being able to 3D print them or order the parts online and assemble them themselves, without the serial numbers. Without being being able to have the background checks. In April, the Biden Administration proposed a new rule that would, in part, require that only licensed manufacturers produce the kits, which would be required to include serial numbers on the frames or receivers. Unserialized firearms already in the community would be required to have serial numbers added when obtained by a licensed dealer or gunsmith. A bill passed by the U.S. House last week seeks to ban the manufacturing or sale ghost guns, though the AP reported the proposed legislation unlikely to clear the Senate. Local cases In Pittsfield, Emmanuel Kodjo, 23, and Taylor Bartlett, 18, face gun charges and were ordered held without bail following the investigation into ghost guns that was led by investigator Thomas Bowler and Officer John Virgilio. Illegally owned firearms and ghost guns are an ongoing problem in Pittsfield and beyond, a department official said at the time of their arrests. In North Adams, a 32-year-old man was arrested after allegedly brandishing what police determined to be a ghost gun during an argument at the Brayton Hill Apartments. Richard C. Smith allegedly pulled that weapon gun on a man on Feb. 14 after an argument about his daughter hanging out with the mother of Smiths child, according to a police report. Through surveillance footage and witness interviews, North Adams police connected Smith to a black handgun that an officer found in the back of an apartment. Police said the handgun was loaded with a single round and lacked a serial number and manufacturers insignia. The police report said authorities believed the weapon was of the type whose parts can be purchased online and assembled at home. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close A former reporter for The Berkshire Eagle who went on to advise Republicans on national election issues is expected to testify Monday to the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. Benjamin L. Ginsberg was in his mid-20s when he reported on the towns of Lee, Becket, Otis and Tyringham for The Eagle, from 1975 to 1977 then married a local girl, went to law school and within two decades helped George W. Bush edge out Vice President Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election. CNN is reporting that Ginsberg will testify before the panel formally known as the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol when it holds a second public hearing, starting at 10 a.m. Monday in the Cannon House Office Building. After turning to law, Ginsbergs career came to focus on elections. After years advising the Republican National Committee, Ginsberg, and joining the firm Patton Boggs in 1993, he played a key role in the dispute over hanging chads in the 2000 Florida election recount. CNN reports that Ginsberg is expected to tell the House committee that claims of fraud in the 2020 election are unjustified. He said just that in a Nov. 1, 2020, Washington Post commentary two days before the 2020 election. The headline: My party is destroying itself on the altar of Trump. Quote These are painful words for me to write. I spent four decades in the Republican trenches." Attorney Benjamin L. Ginsberg, in a Washington Post essay President Trump has failed the test of leadership, Ginsberg wrote. His bid for reelection is foundering. And his only solution has been to launch an all-out, multimillion-dollar effort to disenfranchise voters first by seeking to block state laws to ease voting during the pandemic, and now, in the final stages of the campaign, by challenging the ballots of individual voters unlikely to support him. This is as un-American as it gets, Ginsberg wrote. It returns the Republican Party to the bad old days of 'voter suppression' that landed it under a court order to stop such tactics an order lifted before this election. It puts the party on the wrong side of demographic changes in this country that threaten to make the GOP a permanent minority. These are painful words for me to write. I spent four decades in the Republican trenches, representing GOP presidential and congressional campaigns, working on Election Day operations, recounts, redistricting and other issues, including trying to lift the consent decree, he wrote. Ginsberg has been a frequent commentator on cable news programs. At the time of his Washington Post essay, Ginsberg had practiced election law for 38 years, following his 1982 graduation from Georgetown Law School and long career with the D.C. firms. In 2000, The Eagle interviewed Ginsberg about his ultimately successful work in Florida on behalf of the Bush campaign. He reflected at the time that during his years as a reporter for The Eagle, he covered everything from municipal meetings to bowling leagues. He had worked for the University of Pennsylvania student newspaper while an undergraduate in Philadelphia. In August 1978, Ginsberg became engaged to Jo Anne Talbot, whose parents lived in Stockbridge. (That notice erred in reporting that Ginsberg had been with the paper for 21 years.) Ginsberg noted in the 2000 interview that his father-in-law, Stockbridge selectman Eugene Talbot, was a proud Democrat. After reporting for The Eagle, Ginsberg worked for the Riverside Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif., according to his 1978 engagement notice. His family had a summer home in Monterey. BIG RAPIDS Big Rapids American Legion Post 98 has selected its 2022 class for the Boys and Girls State program. Boys and Girls State is a week-long summer civics seminar that teaches hands-on governmental processes on how to effectively run a city, county and state, using constitutional democracy as its guide. High School juniors are selected from schools all over Michigan and are nominated by their local high school social studies departments as worthy candidates. The participants are sponsored through local American Legion posts. Boys State is held on the campus of Grand Valley State University and Girls State is conducted on the campus of Michigan State. This year, Girls State will be virtual. Delegates selected this year for Boys State include Harrison Mishler, Quingyao Li, Isaac Hughes, Kaden Dubreuil and Nathan Lebel. Girls State delegates include Emmalyn Doering, Emma Mondrella, Jenna Williams, Riley Brigham and Leia Ray. Mark Brejcha, Post 98 commander, said the program representatives are a fitting group. Take a look at the alum from this program and tell me that it's not a difference-maker for these high school juniors," Brejcha said. "It's America's premier civics program, and we are honored to offer this every year to MOISD students who qualify to attend. America's finest youth pass through these portals of democracy and go on to do great things for our society. After all, that's the point of the program, to create responsible, free-thinking citizens." Famous State program alumni include Neil Armstrong, Michael Jordan, Nick Saban, Bill Clinton, Jane Pauley, senators Peters and Stabenow, and 2020 Michigan senator candidate John James. Mock positions that participants can take on include governor, lt. governor, comptroller, mayor, school board, attorney, city planner or engineer, parks and recreation, supreme court, public affairs, house of representatives, senate, and several others at the city, county or state level. During the program, students are grouped in cities and learn to govern a fictitious state starting with elections at the city and county level culminating with an elected governor and state representatives. Delegates learn to lead, follow, compromise, and work as a team. The dates of the "Week That Shapes a Lifetime, the official slogan of the State program, are June 12-18. If you're tired of censorship, cancel culture, and the erosion of civil liberties subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Former US President Barack Obama made a fresh push for online censorship during an appearance at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit by calling for crackdowns on content that he deems to be disinformation, hate, or a conspiracy theory. Before Obama took the stage, 2022 Obama Foundation Leader Sarah-Josephine Hjorth hinted at what was to come by railing against fake news and misinformation. While the increase in use of smartphones and social media first came with the whisper of renewed democratic participation, fake news and misinformation dominate the digital landscape and result in an erosion of the fabric of truth and polarization, Hjorth said. Shortly after taking the stage, Obama continued this theme by invoking the January 6 Capitol riot and tying it to misinformation and conspiracy theories. In my own country, the forces that unleashed mob violence on our Capitol are still churning out misinformation and conspiracy theories, Obama said. Towards the end of his speech, Obama made a more direct call for censorship of content thats branded as a conspiracy theory, disinformation, or hate. We have to take steps to detoxify our discourse, the former President said. Particularly the scourge of disinformation and conspiracy theories and hate online that has polluted our political discourse. Obama continued by demanding that technology companies accept a certain degree of democratic oversight and accountability and noting that he spoke at length about these issues during his April 21 speech at Stanford University. In his Stanford speech, Obama called for solving the disinformation problem, welcomed social media censorship of hate speech, and said that content moderation doesnt go far enough. After finishing his speech, Obama invited three 2022 Obama Foundation leaders, Tudor Iulian Bradatan, Selvije Mustafi, and Federica Vinci, to the stage. He then complained about the increased amount of misinformation since he left office and the difficulty of sorting between whats true and whats false, whats journalism and whats fabrication. Obama continued by claiming that the politicization of COVID issues, such as getting vaccinated or wearing masks, was driven just by misinformation that was out there. Im wondering howits [misinformation] affected you and whether youve seen some solutions tohelp young people distinguish between whats true and false in making decisions about how to participate and what to support? Obama asked. Mustafi, a national grassroots organizer at the biggest Roma movement in North Macedonia, said there are big concerns also in our movement about howfalse information and misinformation is spreading on the internet to influence decisions by some political actors or political sides. She added that the challenge of this kind of fake news and misinformation is that it makes people have a different kind of opinion which is not necessarily relevant or truthful. Vinci, the Deputy Mayor of Isernia, Italy, described the spread of false news and false noise as scary. Obamas Copenhagen Democracy Summit and Stanford University speeches are some of the many pushes hes made for rules that would chill online speech. Earlier this year, the former President proposed modifications to online anonymity when people are rude, obnoxious, cruel, or lie and suggested that social media algorithms should be audited by federal inspectors to deal with misinformation. And in previous years, Obama has called for social media regulations that curb crazy lies and conspiracy theories and pushed internet platforms to reduce the influence of hate groups. Prominent Trilateral Commission member Eric Schmidt is leading the charge to dominate the U.S. Defense department and hence, the Pentagon and all military branches. The Trilateral Commission is the original architect of the New International Economic Order, now known as the Great Reset. What could the Technocrat cabal do with control over the biggest military complex in the world? Dont overthink it. The answer is obvious: forced compliance for the coming Technocracy. TN Editor Former Google head has assembled a secretive fund with Washington insiders to help direct US national security investmentspotentially to his own benefit. Eric Schmidt has been quietly building an investment vehicle blending public and private funds that could grant the former Google CEO unusual influence over U.S. national security policy and, potentially, the opportunity to steer taxpayer money to his own bets. The blandly named Americas Frontier Fundwhich has so far received no media attentionwill be led by a whos who of the defense establishment combined with close associates of Schmidts ventures in business, finance and public policy. The high-powered investment vehicle appears to be modeled on In-Q-Tel, a nonprofit venture capital firm with close ties to the Central Intelligence Agency that has faced allegations of serious conflicts of interest among its trustees. In fact, AFF will be helmed by the former chief executive of In-Q-Tel, Gilman Louie, and a former executive at Schmidt Futures, Jordan Blashek. A roster of well-connected defense insiders will populate the board and serve as its anchor funders, including Michele Flournoy, former undersecretary of defense under President Barack Obama, former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and H.R. McMaster, U.S. national security advisor at the Trump White House. Also listed among the new groups Board of Directors and anchor funders: Eric Schimdt himself, according to a draft press release briefly published on its website, which suggested it was preparing for an official launch as soon as this week. The draft release was viewed by TTP before it was taken down. The exact source and amount of public money involved remains unclear. However, the draft press release acknowledged AFFs unusual nature, referring to it as the nations first public-private fund able to leverage public, private and philanthropic capital for defense-related tech investments. This structure enables AFF not only to raise and deploy long-term private capital, but also to invest government funding designated for technology development, it stated. Other publicly available documents shed some additional light on the funds plans. A job posting noted that AFFs primary government clients would include the departments of Commerce, Defense and Energy and, in the future, state-level clients. Blashek, AFFs president, has described AFFs average investment range as between $500,000 and $10 million, with a sweet spot of $1 million. (Similarly, In-Q-Tels investments typically range from $500,000 to $3 million.) It is unclear whether the new fund and its principals will be subject to any governance controls to prevent abuse. One concern is that AFF could confer a special seal of approval by the U.S. government on highly speculative investments by its well-connected principals. The prospect of a government contract, especially in the lucrative area of defense, could generate outsized gains for early investors. Another concern is that many of those involved in AFF are extremely well-connected in the U.S. government, in venture capital and in tech startups. It is unclear if any safeguards could prevent the principals from profiting from their inside knowledge and ability to direct public investments. It is more than a theoretical issue. According to a 2016 report in the Wall Street Journal, nearly half of In-Q-Tels trustees had a financial connection with companies backed by the CIA fund. The risk is particularly serious for Schmidt, who is reported to have invested millions of dollars into more than half a dozen defense startups, and could use his influence over AFF to direct public funds to startups in which he is an investor. According to the draft press release, the funds initial areas of focus include microelectronics, artificial intelligence, and advanced networks (5G/6G). Schmidt invests in a number of startups that could benefit from AFF investments in these areas. The new fund is the latest sign of Schmidts unusual and far-reaching influence in technology, investing and national security matters. Schmidt stepped down as Googles CEO in 2011 and, four years later, as its chairman. During his time at the company, however, he amassed an estimated $19 billion fortune, which he has deployed in a wide array of investments in technology startups with potential military and intelligence applications. At the same time, Schmidt has carved out an unusual role for a private citizen in shaping U.S. defense policy. From 2016 to 2020, he chaired the Defense Innovation Board, which provided advice to the U.S. defense secretary and other senior Pentagon brass on emerging technologies. Schmidts role in suggesting technologies and vendors to the Pentagon reportedly stirred the concern of at least one government ethics official. Underlining the close web of relationships, then Defense Secretary Carter, who will serve on the board of AFF, tapped Schmidt to lead the DIB. From 2018 to 2021, Schmidt also chaired the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), which advised Congress and the White House on ways AI could be used to address U.S. defense needs. That work appears to have set the stage for the creation of AFF. In late 2021, as the work was concluding, several of Schmidts close associates formed AFF. The fund appears to fill a role suggested by the Schmidt-chaired NSCAI: In its final report, released in March 2021, NSCAI recommended the establishment of a joint emerging-tech investment consortium modelled on In-Q-Tel. As envisioned by Schmidts NSCAI, the consortium would spur investment by the United States and foreign partners in early-stage companies to further development of AI technology that advances and/or protects democratic values. A current listing of the board on the AFF site does not include Schmidt. But the organization includes several individuals with longstanding ties to Schmidt. They include Eric Braverman, the CEO of Schmidt Futures, a Schmidt investment fund, who is an AFF board member. Flournoy, another AFF board member, is a co-founder and managing partner of WestExec Advisors, a well-connected Washington consulting firm. Schmidt and Flournoy have worked closely together in recent years. WestExec Advisors has worked with Schmidt Futures, as well as Googles think tank Jigsaw, which Schmidt also founded. Flournoy appeared on a 2019 NSCAI panel and the commissions final report repeatedly cited her writings and public comments. Schmidt and Flournoy also appeared together on a 2021 Washington Post panel on the digital transformation of the military, and they co-hosted a virtual fundraiser for Joe Biden in September 2020. Several other members of AFFs leadership also have close ties to Schmidt. AFFs CEO, Gilman Louie, was a member of Schmidts NSCAI and a consultant to the Defense Innovation Board. Louie was the original CEO of In-Q-Tel, the nonprofit strategic investor that is funded by the CIA and other agencies in the intelligence community, and his relationship with Schmidt may date back to the early years of that organization. In 2003, In-Q-Tel invested in a satellite mapping company called Keyhole. In 2004, Keyhole was purchased by Google, and it eventually became part of Google Earth. Read full story here George Soros has begun quietly buying up Spanish-speaking radio stations across America ahead of the upcoming midterm elections this fall. A group of Hispanic investors funded by Soros have purchased 18 radio stations across 10 cities for over $60 million dollars. The group was founded by former Obama associate Stephanie Valencia and campaign veteran Jess Morales Rocketto, who worked for both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Nationalfile.com reports: Acquired stations will now form the Latino Media Network (LMN) and will be led by Valencia. LMN stated it has secured financing from leading Latino investors as well as Lakestar Finance, an investment group associated with George Soros. Now, after securing more than $80 million in funding, the project is set to launch. We believe in the power and reach of radio and it remains a main source of media for a significant number of our community, Rocketto told NBC News. We hope to create relevant content for radio and other audio platforms with content that our community can trust and rely on. One of the stations included in the deal is Radio Mambi, a conservative talk radio station in Miami, Florida, that Democrats have long accused of spreading misinformation among Hispanic communities, according to The Washington Examiner. Radio Miambi has long been known as a staunch anti-communist network, particularly among Cuban exiles. The newly Soros-acquired AM and FM radio stations are located in 10 of the countrys largest Latino markets, including Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Houston and Las Vegas. Latinos are constantly trying to navigate the ocean of information. In some cases that is disinformation, in some cases that is very one-sided communication, Stephanie Valencia said in a statement. The sales must still meet Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval before LMN can fully operate the stations. That process could last well into 2023, Floridas WLRN reported. China earmarks 360 mln yuan to support disaster relief Xinhua) 10:11, June 12, 2022 BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday allocated 360 million yuan (53.74 million U.S. dollars) in advance from its central natural disaster relief funds to help local governments with flood control and disaster relief, the Ministry of Emergency Management said Saturday. Some 340 million yuan was earmarked for 12 southern provincial-level regions, including Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou, to help them with the search, rescue and relocation of affected people, emergency treatment, secondary disaster detection and the repair of damaged houses, the ministry said. The remaining 20 million yuan was allocated to northeast China's Liaoning Province to solve the water shortage there. Several rounds of rainstorms have battered the country's southern areas this year, triggering floods, landslides and mud-rock flows. In May, floods damaged over 1,000 houses and affected 2.52 million people in 15 provincial-level regions, leaving 10 people dead or missing, according to the ministry. Floods caused a direct economic loss of 5.09 billion yuan last month, up 35 percent from the average during the same period over the past five years. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji) In the course of investigating Brandon City Councils off-the-record informal meetings, it came as a bit of a surprise to discover there had been a conflict between council and the Brandon School Division that had never been mentioned publicly. In the course of investigating Brandon City Councils off-the-record informal meetings, it came as a bit of a surprise to discover there had been a conflict between council and the Brandon School Division that had never been mentioned publicly. In a batch of emails sent and received by Mayor Rick Chrest on the subject of councils formal, informal and special meetings between January and April of this year, there was one from Linda Ross, chair of the BSDs board of trustees. Since 2015, the city and the division have had a joint use of schools agreement where in recognition of the communitys use of school fields, the city would contribute an annual minimum of $20,000 toward their maintenance and upkeep. So when the citys 2022 budget removed that funding which had been raised to $30,000 in the intervening years without consulting the division, it became a bone of contention. It has come to the attention of the Brandon School Division Board of Trustees that in your budget deliberations you removed the $30,000.00 for field maintenance from the city budget, Ross wrote in an email to Chrest on Feb. 16, 2022. We have been very proud of cooperative arrangements between the City and the School Division, which are the source of much admiration from other jurisdictions. Needless to say the Brandon School Division is very disappointed that this agreement has been broken with this years budget for the City of Brandon. This disappointment has been further compounded by the absence of any prior consultation with the Brandon School Division. We pride ourselves on our collaborative relationship with the City of Brandon, and sincerely hope that this funding will be re-established in future budgets. In his response, Chrest said the relationship with the school division is important and it was hoped that we could find other ways to continue to assist in the grooming of the school fields and that is being investigated as we speak. On April 7, the city and the board of trustees held a joint meeting which was held behind closed doors like the rest of councils informal meetings and the issue of the fields was the first item on the agenda. No resolution to the issue was documented in the emails this newspaper received, but both Chrest and Ross informed Sun reporters this week the funding had been restored and the relationship repaired. Chrest also told a reporter that the absence of the funding was a simple oversight and one that has been fixed in the spirit of the close relationship between the school board and the city. We dont have an issue with either of those things. The fields are a community asset worth keeping in good condition. A close relationship between the city and the school board is worth maintaining in the spirit of community growth. What we take issue with is that this whole affair and its resolution would never have been known had the Sun not stumbled into it. Director of parks and recreation services Perry Roque wrote in an email that the funding is being restored out of the parks operating budget and will show up in the departments April budget review. Just like that, this whole affair would never have been known about by the public, save for a single change to a ledger item in a document few people will likely ever read. It might only be $30,000, a drop in the bucket compared to the millions being moved around in Brandons annual budget, but if small items like this are being dealt with in complete secrecy, it leaves open the possibility that bigger ticket items are as well. Despite what Minister of Municipal Relations Eileen Clarke told us earlier this week that informal meetings like these are a regular part of doing business this is another example of a lack of transparency. Her reaction, which included an extremely narrow reading of the part of the Municipal Act that outlines what meetings of a municipal council actually need to be held in public, leads us to believe there is a severe deficiency of transparency among this provinces municipalities. Or, as University of Winnipeg professor Aaron Moore who specializes in municipal politics put it in an email to one of our reporters: I suspect the issue you uncovered in Brandon isnt that uncommon in many smaller municipalities in Manitoba, and it may be that the provincial government doesnt want to get dragged into anything at the municipal level. This was the milquetoast answer sent to us by the NDPs municipal affairs critic Matt Wiebe this week when asked for comment on the situation: The decisions that city councillors make impact Brandon families. We value the work of local leadership and support transparent access to information. Given that response, we have to believe the opposition has no intention of ruffling feathers at the municipal level either with a chance to assume power next year. We have to give credit to the Manitoba Liberals for being the only party that seemed to care when reached for comment. The Municipal Act says that by default, meetings should be open, and that private meetings should be the exception, leader Dougald Lamont wrote in a statement. Process does matter, and meetings that educate councillors presumably would benefit the public too. Public engagement takes work and can slow things down, but its about a better result in the end. The public cant hold elected officials accountable if they dont know whats going on. Public participation in a democracy like ours is a feature, not a bug. When it comes time to elect new municipal councils, we hope the process reminds incumbents of their duty to the people who elect them and encourages constituents to vote for people who embrace that duty. Otherwise, well continue living in the dark. Media executives have called on the Albanese government to urgently reform defamation laws, warning expensive legal battles are crippling the industry and investment in public interest journalism. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age last week successfully fought a second attempt by a cosmetic surgeon to force award-winning journalist Adele Ferguson to hand over drafts of an investigation before publication. The investigation has since been published by the mastheads and aired on 60 Minutes. Mike Sneesby, the chief executive of the Herald and The Ages parent company Nine, and ABC News boss Justin Stevens, said the legal battle highlighted why the current laws governing defamation are no longer fit for purpose. Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby: This weeks example is a sign that we need to move on this, and we need to move quickly. Credit:Anna Kucera In comparison to the rest of the world, Australia obviously has very unfavorable legislation in terms of defamation as it relates to media businesses being able to report on public interest journalism, Sneesby said. The way it reflects in a media organisation is significant costs ... when were trying to deliver public interest journalism effectively. Melbourne singing duo Vika and Linda Bull have been recognised in the Queens Birthday Honours for their contribution to the performing arts. The four-time ARIA-nominated siblings, who were born in Melbourne, are no strangers to awards, having been inducted into the Music Victoria Hall of Fame in 2019 by fellow musician Kate Ceberano. Vika and Linda Bull performing. Credit:Rick Clifford Vika and Linda began their singing careers in church with their mother, Siniva, who came to Australia as a nursing student in 1959. The pair have released six studio albums after three classic albums with the Black Sorrows. Throughout their illustrious career they have sung everything from gospel to rock and maintained a close connection to their rich Tongan heritage, even performing for the king of Tonga. Earlier this year, Mooroolbark Grammar opened as a small new school on the site once occupied by Yarralinda, a loss-making primary school. Yarralinda disclosed its use of Hubbards Applied Scholastics curriculum and had 27 students in 2021, with most of its income coming from federal and state funding, or $17,334 a student. The new Mooroolbark Grammar has prominently advertised links to a Montessori early education program taught on site, which prompted concerns the school was using that as cover to hide its Scientology links to prospective parents. Screenshot from the updated Mooroolbark Grammar website where they have now confirmed their links to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard after previously hiding them. That was Kates experience. There was no apparent mention of links to Scientology by staff, although she said she would not have recognised any mention of Hubbard, a science fiction writer who founded the religion in the 1950s, or Applied Scholastics. The school insists all parents are told of the schools background and teaching methods. In an email to Kate, a staff member said Mooroolbark Grammar was independent and non-religious and followed the Australian curriculum. The email, along with other documents sent to Kate, made no mention of Hubbard or Applied Scholastics. Montessori Australia, meanwhile, said it had no oversight or responsibility for schools that say they teach its curriculum, as they were independently run. It lists Mooroolbark Grammar and another school linked to Scientology, Sydneys The Athena School on its website. Loading Montessori Australia provides a listing service of Montessori programs on the website and encourages prospective parents to contact them directly, a spokeswoman said. A Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) spokesperson did not directly answer questions about Mooroolbark Grammars links to Scientology and whether it should receive public funding. Mooroolbark Grammar is a non-government school, not operated by the Department of Education and Training, a spokesperson said. All Victorian schools registered must meet five minimum standards including good governance, effective curriculum and a safe environment for children, the spokesperson said. Beyond the standard curriculum, non-government schools are permitted to teach subjects, including religious subjects, of their choosing. Prominent former Scientologists said the use of Montessori techniques by the two Australian schools was highly unusual. A bust of L. Ron Hubbard at the Ascot Vale centre I dont understand this Montessori connection at all. That, in the world of Scientology, is squirrel any system other than Hubbards is not acceptable, said Mike Rinder, an Australian who rose to become one of Scientologys most senior international executives and an official spokesman. They must be very desperate to try to distance themselves from any affiliation with Scientology because the stench of Scientology abuses is just too great these days. Applied Scholastics uses a teaching method called Study Technology which was developed by Hubbard. It says it aims to teach students how to learn and apply what theyve learnt to their everyday life, rather than rote learning and memorising content or concepts. One of the techniques they use is to encourage students to look up definitions of words they dont understand in the dictionary. Montessori is a style of teaching that has an emphasis on children learning at their own pace and developing natural interests and independence. Mooroolbark Grammar in Melbournes outer east Credit:Joe Armao A Consumer Affairs Victoria spokeswoman said that they did not comment on individual cases or businesses, but warned that under Australian Consumer Law, a business must not engage in misleading or deceptive conduct and must not make false or misleading representations. Consumer Affairs Victoria takes breaches of Australian Consumer Law seriously and will investigate allegations of wrongdoing and take action where necessary, she said. Australian Education Union Victorian branch president, Meredith Peace, said the union was deeply concerned at the amount of public funding the school received and said all students should receive evidence-based teaching and learning programs and called for greater funding for public schools. Mooroolbark Grammar principal Gabriella Agosta, 29, was born into a family of prominent Scientologists, the Caligiuris. She claimed the links to Hubbard had not been previously disclosed as it was a new school and the website was under construction. Agosta has been a provisionally registered teacher with the Victorian Institute of Teaching since November last year. Provisionally registered teachers include graduate and early career teachers, as well as those who are returning after five or more years to the profession. Kates experience with Mooroolbark Grammar was short-lived. She was told that the school was about to expand into childcare and to cater for 130 children, and they were not able to keep the Montessori kindergarten open while they were renovating. I hope Montessori starts listening to it because Im shocked. They have a well-known and highly respected brand, I thought this was going to benefit my son and our family. Donna Hay, the bestselling cookbook author and television personality, says she is overwhelmed and humbled to be awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia. Hay received the honour for her service to the food and hospitality industry. Its the icing on the cake of a long career in the food industry, no pun intended, she says. Donna Hays cookbooks have sold more than 27 million copies worldwide. She pioneered a simple and stylish approach to cooking in Donna Hay Magazine, a bimonthly publication that inspired a new generation of home cooks. The magazine ran for 100 issues, between 2001 and 2018, propelling Hay from food editor-in-chief to household name. At its height, the magazine boasted a readership of more than half a million Australians, earning her an induction into the Australian Magazine Hall of Fame. The superannuation sands are shifting yet again, courtesy of decisions by both the former and possibly the new federal government. Having said that, we dont yet know whether paid parental leave will soon attract super payments on top. However, new financial services minister Stephen Jones says: We want to do it. It will be contingent on the governments other financial commitments. New financial services minister Stephen Jones says the government wants to introduce the payment of superannuation on top of paid parental leave. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Still, there has been, and will be, several significant changes to super at the end of this month. You need to be aware of them... and act accordingly. Alleged criminal behind bars after being found in Thailand Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss Life was looking pretty good for Mount Colah resident Wade Habkouk. He was the CEO and director of his own construction firm, a married father of an 18-month-old daughter living with his in-laws on Sydneys rural northern fringe and a masters graduate of prestigious Sydney University. But police allege that beyond his legitimate business interests, Wade and his brother Guy Habkouk were in cahoots to import 347 kilograms of heroin into Australia. Wade Habkouk Habkouk has pleaded not guilty to attempting to import a commercial quantity of heroin. Wade Habkouk was allegedly responsible for importing about 175 kilograms, but the enterprise fell apart when authorities became suspicious of two vertical construction mixers imported from Kuala Lumpur and launched Sydneys biggest heroin bust in decades. An X-ray when the machines arrived in Sydney two days before Christmas 2020 allegedly revealed two metal cases inside, each containing more than 100 kilograms of heroin. Plans to build towers as tall as 22 storeys near the White Bay Power Station have triggered concerns that views towards the heritage-listed site in Sydneys inner west will be blocked by offices and apartments. The NSW government is restoring the heritage-listed power station at Rozelle as it forges ahead with plans to redevelop the Bays West, in the most significant reshaping of a harbour-front site in Sydney since Barangaroo. Residents say the towers proposed for the Rozelle area should be lower than the roof of the power station. Credit:NSW government People who live in Balmain, Rozelle and Glebe seized an opportunity to comment on the draft master plan for the first stage of the project around White Bay and Robert Street, which will incorporate the power station, a two-hectare waterfront park, offices, cultural spaces, eateries and apartments around the future metro train station. More than 300 residents attended a public meeting, organised by Balmain MP Jamie Parker, and used more than 600 submissions to vent concerns about the development, including that it will encroach on the power station and worsen traffic. Hyderabad: Out of 1.67 crore bilingual textbooks, only 40 lakhs have been dispatched even as schools are set to reopen. Officials claimed that remaining textbooks would be ready by June end. Bilingual textbooks will be available only to students studying from class II to class VIII. As the government decided to introduce English medium in state-run schools, textbooks are being printed in English and Telugu. The English content is printed on the left and the Telugu version of the same will be printed on the right. Except for the first and second languages, all other subjects will have textbooks printed in bilingual format. "All the 33 districts in the state will receive 100 per cent textbooks by July. A total of 40 lakhs textbooks have been dispatched and by June end, another 80 per cent of the students will get the textbooks," said S. Srinivasachary, director, textbooks. He added that by July 15, all students in the state would have textbooks. Books are sent to districts from where they will be sent to mandals and then to schools. The process got delayed as the printing costs increased and we had to get approval from the government, he said. Government teachers said that they would officially start teaching the syllabus for the upcoming academic year from July 1. The teachers who are going to schools since June 3 have prepared a bridge course for the students containing concepts from the previous years syllabus that are important for the upcoming academic year. We teachers have prepared a plan and for the month of June, our focus is to brush up important concepts through T-SAT programmes and we will also teach them the concepts in classes which will include a part of the new syllabus, said R. Sharada, in-charge headmistress, of a government school in the city. According to the school education department, many students have enrolled in various government schools in the city from private, Anganwadi schools and through direct admission through the Badi Bata programme. As of June 10, a total of 70,698 such students have been enrolled under the Badi Bata programme, of which 1,812 students are in Hyderabad. An official also said admissions would continue till September 31 for all classes. A doctor who shifted north to Queensland as a single mother to pursue her medical career ultimately to become one of Queenslands most photographed faces during the COVID-19 pandemic has been awarded one of the nations highest honours. Queenslands Governor, Dr Jeannette Young, who to most Queenslanders was the calming face of advice seen every day during the worst of the 2021-22 COVID-19 pandemic, has been awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia in the Queens Birthday honours list. Young became Queenslands chief health officer in August 2005, a role she continued for 16 years until she was appointed Queensland Governor on November 1, 2021. Dr Jeannette Young PSM AC has been made a Companion of the Order of Australia in the 2022 Queens Birthday Honour. Here she is sworn in - by the Chief Justice of Queensland - as the 27th Governor of Queensland. And while as Queenslands Governor, Young may bestow ceremonial honours on other Queenslanders, she will be made a Companion of the Order of Australia in Canberra by Australias Governor-General David Hurley in September. It was 3am and Professor Mary-Louise McLaws was awake working, waiting for another online meeting to start with experts at the World Health Organisation, when she developed a sudden strange headache. I was so tired, the highly respected epidemiologist said. The next day, my husband knew that I was really unwell. Thank God hes the perfect husband, and he rang the ambulance because I couldnt make any sense out of any question. Mary-Louise McLaws with fellow infectious diseases experts Sanjaya Senanayake and Robert Booy at the National Press Club in February last year. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen When she got to the emergency department on Sydneys north shore, an MRI was arranged. Later, a doctor came to see her. McLaws took one look at her face and knew exactly what she was going to say. The woman was gorgeous, she looked so sad. I said, Oh my God, Ive got a brain cancer, and she nodded. Missing con artist Melissa Caddick used funds she received from victims of her Ponzi scheme in a brazen attempt to perpetrate another fraud. On Christmas Eve, 2015, Len Wallis, who runs a high-end audio visual store, received a furious call from Melissa Caddick complaining that her familys newly installed sound system wasnt working, Caddick refused to pay the last $12,000 of Walliss $122,000 bill. Not only that, she told Wallis she was leaving for Aspen the day after Christmas and, because the audio wasnt working, she claimed shed been forced to cancel bookings for two tenants who planned to rent her house while she was away. No one believes [the war] will end very quickly, Kaminski said. We want to be ready ... for the future. The history of 3D printing traces back to the 1980s, when American engineer Charles Hull patented a process called stereolithography, which uses ultraviolet light to shape objects. Over the years, that process was refined and became cheaper and quicker, and machines were able to use software-created designs to print out objects such as medical devices, spare parts, toys and jewellery. Loading 3D-printed supplies often help in times of crisis. They provide medical workers, military personnel and aid organisations the ability to design what they need and print the items quickly, removing the difficulties that come with international shipping and manufacturing delays. But the quality of printed goods can be poor, and creating supplies with a 3D printer often takes more time than other methods, such as manufacturing with injection moulds. In 2010, during the devastating earthquake in Haiti, medical devices were printed quickly, allowing doctors to provide health care without waiting for equipment to ship from abroad. In 2018, an organisation called the Glia Project came to the aid of Palestinian civilians injured in the Gaza Strip while protesting against Israel, creating and shipping them a 3D-printed Gaza tourniquet. But in February, as Russia invaded Ukraine, the 3D-printing community was put to the test. The fighting in Ukraine was fierce, many were injured, and the countrys stores of basic medical supplies were dwindling. People in the 3D-printing community talked with Ukrainian military officials, hospital administrators and charity organisations, trying to gauge what they could print quickly that would be most helpful. Tourniquets and bandages were repeated requests. Loading Mykhailo Shulhan, the chief operating officer of a Ukrainian 3D-printing company in Lviv, said that as soon as the invasion began, he started researching how 3D printers helped in other conflicts. His company settled on providing trauma bandages - pieces of wide cloth that cover large wounds - and churned out roughly 2000 per month. But now, Shulhan said, different things are in short supply. In the early days, he said, when paid military troops represented most of the fighting force, medical supplies were in dire need. But over the subsequent months, as more volunteers joined the Ukrainian resistance, weapons components and accessories became necessary to meet the rise in troop numbers. These days, his company, 3D Tech Addtive, develops and prints an array of weapons accessories: AK-47 holsters so soldiers have a way to rest their guns; bullet magazines since empty cartridges often get thrown away instead of reused; carrying bags for grenades; and most recently, anti-reflective lenses for sniper scopes to reduce glare and prevent Ukrainian snipers from being seen. (All together, they have provided over 5000 components to the front lines, Shulhan estimated.) Meanwhile, the pace of production exacted a toll. In the early days of the invasion, there were large shortages in printing filament [the plastic material the object is made from], mostly because local suppliers were in war ravaged areas. Those suppliers have since shifted to Western Ukraine and have resumed supply. Now the challenges are different. Nearly all of his companys 30 3D printers come from China, he said, and theyve broken down occasionally and needed spare parts. Its been hard to get them because they are expensive and getting them shipped has proved difficult. There are times when a 3D printer is broken and we cant do anything with it for two or three weeks, he said. While most 3D printers create supplies to stop death or ease fighting conditions, others are focusing on rehabilitating soldiers. Brett Carey, a physical therapist in Hawaii, designs 3D printed splints that can be sent to fighters. Hand fractures are very common in war and when poorly treated they can cause long-term issues. You need your hands for so many basic hygiene and survival type tasks, he said. If the soldiers are splinted properly, they should be able to have full use of their hand again within eight to 12 weeks. Carey has created two digital designs for splints that have been uploaded online and 3D printed over 1500 times. If injuries are advanced, he has people send him images of their injuries using EM3D - a 3D imaging app - which allows him to make a custom made splint which is then shipped to Ukraine. And going forward, he said, supplies that improve long-term medical outcomes will be likely be needed. There is such an emphasis right now on life saving technology, he said. But theres definitely a need on the rehabilitation side, so that after the injury, people can start to get their lives back. Kaminski, who posts his tourniquet designs online, said he worries about some 3D printers sending over supplies to the battlefield. In the beginning of the war, he noticed many with printers wanted to help, but they created designs of medical supplies that resulted in poor quality goods. He also noticed off-the-shelf tourniquets made in China were being deployed in the field and breaking. Seeing that, Kaminski and a group of volunteers worked for weeks to redesign their tourniquet to meet the highest medical standards. Kaminski filmed the device being rolled over by a firetruck to show durability. Volunteers at laboratories in Poland stress tested the 3D-printed tourniquet to prove it could withstand over 150 pounds of pulling pressure. Ultrasound testing was done at Worcester Polytechnic Institute to show the tourniquet could completely stop blood flow. Now, Kaminski has sent a batch to a volunteer at Johns Hopkins University for testing. It is unethical to just come up with a totally new tourniquet design and deploy it during war, he said. The country's largest carmaker India (MSI) has shipped 2.33 lakh units through last fiscal, its highest ever dispatch in a financial year so far, since commencing the initiative eight years ago, as per a senior company official. The company's dispatch in 2021-22 was 23 per cent up from 1.89 lakh units it transported using in the 2020-21 financial year. Cumulatively, the auto major has transported close to 11 lakh vehicles through Indian in the last eight years, helping avoid over 4,800 MT of carbon dioxide emissions. The move has helped save over 1,56,000 truck trips and over 174 million litres of fuel. "Railway logistics offers a significant potential over road logistics to lower carbon footprint and reduce road congestion. Over the years we have consciously increased the share of car dispatches from our factory to dealers using railways," MSI Executive Director Rahul Bharti told PTI in an interaction. From around 66,000 units in 2014-15, it has reached an all-time high of 2.33 lakh units in 2021-22, he noted. "To further increase the share, we are taking several steps. As an industry first initiative, we have formed joint ventures with the governments of Gujarat and Haryana to set-up in-plant railway sidings at Hansalpur and Manesar manufacturing plants," Bharti said. The company remains committed to increase its share of rail transportation from the current level of 15 per cent, he said. Realising the environmental benefits, the auto major said it has worked with Indian Railways to increase the use of rail transport for vehicle dispatch. Among several other benefits, railway transportation helped the company reach its customers in Southern and North-Eastern states much faster, it added. The company stated that during the period, Indian Railways extended immense support with operational logistics like efficient rake availability and priority transit enroute. MSI was the country's first automobile manufacturer to obtain an Automobile Freight Train Operator (AFTO) license in 2013. This license allowed the company to fabricate and operate high-speed, high-capacity auto-wagon rakes on the Indian Railways network. The company has 41 railway rakes, with a capacity of over 300 vehicles per rake. Currently, MSI utilises six loading terminals across Delhi-NCR and Gujarat (Gurgaon, Farukhnagar, Kathuwas, Patli, Detroj and Chharodi) and 16 destination terminals (Bangalore, Nagpur, Mumbai, Guwahati, Mundra Port, Indore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Farukhnagar, Siliguri, Coimbatore, Pune, Agartala and Silchar). With the addition of Agartala (in 2019) and Silchar (in 2021), cars dispatched for North-Eastern states now reach in nearly eight days. This is 50 per cent faster than road transportation, which would normally take 16 days, MSI noted. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In 1948, four young women, all close friends, met in the Lyons tearoom in Oxford to discuss philosophy. In a talk that grew out of that conversation with Iris Murdoch, Elizabeth Anscombe and Mary Scrutton (who in two years would become Mary Midgley), Philippa Foot would explain that the whole of moral philosophy, as it is now widely taught, rests on a contrast between statements of fact and evaluations. Very simply put, all four women believed that morality had some kind of reality outside of individual feelings and choices and that this reality existed somewhere beyond, behind or beneath the observable facts of the physical universe. This conviction put them at odds with the prevailing trend of philosophy at Oxford, a trend pioneered by A J Ayer, a logical positivist who insisted that statements that cannot be verified by logic or measurement are statements of value and therefore essentially meaningless. Clare Mac Cumhaill, an associate professor of philosophy at Durham University, and Rachael Wiseman, a lecturer at the University of Liverpool, recount the history of this remarkable friendship in Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life the second of two about the quartet (after Benjamin J B Lipscombs The Women Are Up to Something) to be published in less than a year. In the chapter on the tearoom gathering, it explains Foots insight about the word rude, which is most certainly employed in value statements, but also, Foot pointed out, cant be applied to just any action, such as walking up to a front door slowly or sitting on a pile of hay. Rudeness for example, simply walking away from a person offering a friendly greeting refers to the violation of a shared norm of a human community: It is polite to acknowledge and return such greetings. Human beings will instantly recognise that rudeness as a fact, even if it has no material existence and isnt inherent in the act of walking away. The least well-known of the four friends, Midgley survived the longest. She died at the age of 99 in 2018, an influential figure in the area of animal rights, but not before writing a letter to The Guardian in which she asserted that women philosophers flourished in Oxford during and just after World War II because there were fewer men about then. Furthermore, she added, the womens style of philosophizing was less aggressive and competitive, and also less likely to degenerate into a set of games built out of simple oppositions. Mac Cumhaill and Wiseman write that the interviews they conducted with Midgley at the retirement home where she lived became the springboard for the book. As this origin story suggests, the heart of this book resides in the friendship among the four women and the ways they supported and influenced one another. Anscombe, the most brilliant and gifted philosopher of the group, was a protegee and friend of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Married to a conscientious objector who had difficulty finding remunerative work after the war, Anscombe was so poor that Wittgenstein paid for her stay in a maternity hospital after the birth of her second child and insisted on furnishing her spartan lodgings. Many people did find Anscombe rude, especially the university authorities who objected to her delivering lectures in trousers instead of the required skirts. Foot, who would become Murdochs lifelong best friend, endured a loveless upper-class childhood in a milieu where one of the worst things a woman could do was appear intelligent. She would go on to become a professor of philosophy at UCLA and is considered one of the inventors of the trolley problem, a thought experiment that poses the question of whether it is ethical to deliberately sacrifice one persons life to prevent the accidental deaths of five others. During the time when they were both employed in the war effort, Foot and Murdoch shared a peculiar but beloved attic flat near Whitehall. It had no running water in the kitchen, and became even less comfortable when each woman took up with one of the others ex-lovers, a situation, the authors note, providing Murdoch with the archetype of a tangled erotic muddle for her novels. The biographical material in Metaphysical Animals is evocative and sparkling. Whats less persuasive is the books overall thesis that the four friends somehow redirected the course of British philosophy or even that they shared a distinct cause or approach. Anscombe, for example, was a committed Catholic who opposed both birth control and abortion. Foot was an atheist who told Anscombe that she saw no good reason to believe otherwise. Murdoch was drawn to existentialism and published the first English-language book on Sartre. Midgley became increasingly interested in the similarities between human beings and animals. Many of the ideas touched on are too challenging to summarize in a book with so many other balls in the air. The four unconventional friends are delightful enough company that their story doesnt require the How X changed the world overlay. To impose that theme on their story is to reduce it to one of those simple oppositions that Midgley herself complained about, a form that could never do justice to these four fascinating women. 2022 The New York Times News Service Given the state of the nation today, it would do good for national unity and integrity, and for domestic social peace and stability, that the next President should be someone capable of healing the nations many self-inflicted wounds. (Representational Image/PTI) The Election Commission of India has set the date for the election of the sixteenth President of the Republic. There is some doubt, though, about whether President Ram Nath Kovind should be referred to as Indias 15th or 16th President. The answer depends on how one would consider one of the many instances when Justice M. Hidayatullah served as acting President. Justice Hidayatullah served as Rashtrapati on three occasions. On two of those three it was only for a day, when he was vice-president. However, between July 20, 1969 and August 24, 1969, for over a month and including the Independence Day of 1969, he had served as the acting President, in his capacity as the Chief Justice of India. If Justice Hidayatullahs odd case is not considered then President Ram Nath Kovind would indeed be the 15th President, and his successor the 16th. There has already been some speculation in the media on potential candidates for the countrys top job, but I would venture to suggest that there is no reason why President Kovind should not be given a second term. He has discharged his constitutional role with utmost dignity and has endeared himself to a wide cross-section of society. For someone who came out of virtual political obscurity, after having served as a low- profile governor of Bihar, President Kovind has earned for himself the reputation of being wise, dignified and a learned occupant of the Presidents palace. If not Mr Kovind, there is vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu. There is no reason why he should not be elevated. So, all the media speculation about the other names is quite redundant. None of the governors whose names are currently doing the rounds have adorned their constitutional office with the grace that President Kovind has come to be associated with. Politically oriented governors are not new. In the 1980s Hyderabad was home to one such in governor Ram Lal, whom the Telugus finally got rid of. It is once again home to a partisan busybody. But such governors are not presidential material. Indeed, governorship has not been an important qualification for the nations top constitutional post. The only two predecessors of President Kovind who served as governor were Shankar Dayal Sharma and Pratibha Patil. The professional background of the republics 15 Presidents has been very diverse. While most were active political leaders, a philosopher, a diplomat and an engineer also made it to the top. Almost always it is the political context that has determined the choice of the winner. However, whenever the Prime Minister has been in a politically commanding position capable of securing the support of a clear majority of the electoral college, the PMs choice has been a person who could be personally trusted. Enjoying the PMs trust is a primary qualification for the job. Having regard for constitutional values and conducting oneself with dignity and decorum is an equally important qualification. While the Constitution makes it very clear that the final word on matters of state is that of the Union council of ministers headed by the Prime Minister, and that the President must accept their views as duly conveyed, there are often situations in which a strong-willed President can make life difficult for the PM. Rajendra Prasad was known to have had several differences with Jawaharlal Nehru and Shankar Dayal Sharma often argued with Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. In 1969 Indira Gandhi went to great lengths, even splitting her political party, to prevent the election of Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy and secure the victory of V.V. Giri. The more infamous spats were between President Zail Singh and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the mid-1980s. Given this background and the fact that the next President will be in office at the time of the next general election, in the summer of 2024, one should expect Prime Minister Narendra Modi to play it safe and seek a candidate who is not merely a political and an ideological fellow traveller but someone he can personally trust. Mr Naidu must wonder why there is all this speculation about names! On the other hand, it is difficult to guess who might be the consensus candidate of a united Opposition. It has to be an inspirational figure who may genuinely be able to unite the entire Opposition and stand for principles that can help isolate the BJP and bring political parties sitting on the fence on to the side of the Opposition parties. A tough call. The idea that a political partys choice of nominee for the Presidents post can deliver electoral benefits is highly exaggerated. While the choice of a dalit, like K.R. Narayanan and Mr Kovind, or a Muslim, like Zakir Hussain or Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, may have had some symbolic value, the electoral dividend is minimal. As a believer in Hindutva, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee may have won praise for opting for a Muslim President, but that choice offered no electoral dividends for the PM. Why should any voter care who occupies the palace on Raisina Hill when power resides in the streets below. Some people seem to think that the BJP would like to put a woman in Rashtrapati Bhavan as a demonstration of its commitment to gender empowerment. That cause would be better served placing more women in positions of real power, both within the government and the party organisation. The Congress Party has anyway earned the distinction of electing the first woman PM and President. Given the state of the nation today, it would do good for national unity and integrity, and for domestic social peace and stability, that the next President should be someone capable of healing the nations many self-inflicted wounds. Someone who can be a friend, philosopher and guide to the Prime Minister, capable of taking a non-partisan view, protecting the best interests of all and not promoting a sectarian political agenda. After all, the President of India is also the supreme commander of the nations armed forces, and so must be capable of earning the respect of every soldier, sailor and airman who wears the uniform and who may be called upon to make that ultimate sacrifice for the nation. The government has lost its appeal in the English High Court against a USD 111 million award in favour of Ltd and in a cost recovery dispute in the western offshore Panna-Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields. High Court judge Ross Cranston on June 9, 2022 ruled that the government should have brought its objections over the tribunal not meeting the required thresholds, when issuing the 2021 award earlier, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Rejecting the government's arguments, the court said the objections are barred by an English law principle whereby a party cannot raise matters in new proceedings that could have been raised in earlier proceedings. While an email sent to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for comments remained unanswered, officials said the government will study the court order and look for appropriate forums for remedy. A separate email sent to Reliance for comments too remained unanswered. Reliance and Shell-owned BG Exploration & Production India on December 16, 2010, dragged the government to over cost recovery provisions, profit due to the State and amount of statutory dues including royalty payable. They wanted to raise the limit of cost that could be recovered from sale of oil and gas before profits are shared with the government. The government of India also raised counter claims over expenditure incurred, inflated sales, excess cost recovery, and short accounting. A three-member arbitration panel headed by Singapore-based lawyer Christopher Lau by majority issued a final partial award (FPA) on October 12, 2016. It upheld the government view that the profit from the fields should be calculated after deducting the prevailing tax of 33 per cent and not the 50 per cent rate that existed earlier. It also upheld that the cost recovery in the contract is fixed at USD 545 million in Tapti gas field and USD 577.5 million in Panna-Mukta oil and gas field. The two firms wanted that cost provision be raised by USD 365 million in Tapti and USD 62.5 million in Panna-Mukta. Royalty, it said, had to be calculated after inclusion of marketing margin charged over and above the wellhead price of natural gas. The government used this award to seek USD 3.85 billion in dues from Reliance and BG Exploration & Production India Ltd (BGEPIL). The two firms challenged the 2016 FPA before the English High Court, which on April 16, 2018, remitted one of the challenged issues back to the Arbitral Tribunal for reconsideration. The arbitration tribunal ruled in favour of the two in a January 29, 2021 award. "The Arbitral Tribunal decided in favour of the Claimants (Reliance and BGEPIL) in large part vide its final partial award dated October 1, 2018. Government of India and Claimants filed an appeal before the English Commercial Court against this 2018 FPA," Reliance had said in its annual report last year. "The English Commercial Court rejected GoI's challenges to the 2018 Final Partial Award and upheld Claimants' challenge that the Arbitration Tribunal had jurisdiction over the limited issue and remitted the issue back to the Arbitration Tribunal," it added. The final award on the issue came in January 2021, it had stated. Subsequently, both sides filed clarification applications before the tribunal, which on April 9, 2021 granted minor corrections requested by Reliance and and rejected all of the government's clarification requests. Thereafter, the government challenged the award before the English High Court. The court gave its ruling on June 9, 2022, they said. The government had used the 2016 partial award not just to raise a USD 3.85 billion demand on Reliance and but also sought to block Reliance's proposed USD 15 billion deal with Saudi Aramco on grounds that the company owed money to it. Following this, the court asked company directors to file affidavits listing assets. Reliance and Shell had countered the government petition in the Delhi High Court saying the petition is an abuse of process as no arbitration award has fixed any final liability of dues on the company. "GoI has also filed an execution petition before the Delhi High Court... seeking enforcement and execution of the 2016 FPA," the annual report had said. "The Claimants contend that GoI's Execution Petition is not maintainable." The government's Execution Petition is currently sub judice. "Claimants have also filed an application for recall /modification, challenging the Orders of Delhi High Court wherein directors were directed to file affidavits of assets. The matter is listed on July 13, 2021, for hearing," it had said. The Panna-Mukta (primarily an oil field) and Mid & South Tapti (gas field) are shallow-water fields located in the offshore Bombay basin. Discovered by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), they were bid out in 1994 to a consortium of ONGC (40 per cent), Reliance (30 per cent) and Enron Oil & Gas India Ltd (30 per cent). In February 2002, BGEPIL acquired Enron's 30 per cent stake in the joint venture. BGEPIL was subsequently taken over by Shell. The production sharing contract (PSC) for the fields stipulated deducting costs incurred on field operations from oil and gas sold before sharing profit with the government. Disallowing certain items in the cost would result in higher profit petroleum for the government. Reliance and BGEPIL sought raising of cost recovery limit through arbitration. (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.) Elest, a subsidiary of gold retailer Rajesh Exports, will be setting up the country's first display fab facility in with investments worth Rs 24,000 crore. IT Minister along with Chairman of Rajesh Exports Rajesh Mehta announced setting up of Generation 6 AMOLED Display FAB, an official release said here on Sunday. The government signed an MoU with Karnataka-based Elest for the proposed fabrication unit which will manufacture next generation displays for smartphones, tablet computers, and laptops. Rama Rao tweeted: "Historic day for Telangana. Rajesh Exports (Elest), a Fortune-500 company, to setup India's first Display FAB to manufacture the most advanced AMOLED displays, with an investment of Rs 24,000 crore, making it one of the largest investments in high-tech manufacturing sector in India." Elest, incorporated by the promoters of Rajesh Exports, a global Fortune 500 company, would be setting up the Display FAB in technological association and with technology inputs from some of the most advanced and finest research centres across the world, the release said. Rama Rao further said having a display fab in Telangana would put India on a global map at par with select few countries such as China, USA, and Japan. "Since the announcement of India Mission, the Telangana government has been working on a mission mode to have a Fab in the state and this investment will provide us further encouragement to continue our efforts," he said. The government is confident that having a display fab in the state will be a major boost to the thriving electronics and IT ecosystem in the state and its ancillaries, he said. Telangana puts India on the world map of advanced high-tech manufacturing. What was hitherto possible only in Japan, Korea & Taiwan, will now happen in Telangana. To create large scale ecosystem of partners & ancillaries, supplying to world class TV, smartphone & tablet makers KTR (@KTRTRS) June 12, 2022 With the announcement of this investment, Telangana emerges as a front-runner in the and display fab sector, the release said adding it is one of the largest investments in the country's electronics sector and the largest ever investment by size in Telangana state. The display fab would be set up under the India Mission programme of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India. Chairman of Rajesh Exports Rajesh Mehta said the display fab in Telangana would attract some of the finest global talents in the next generation technology and would generate direct opportunity to more than 3,000 people, including scientists and advanced technology professionals. "It would create a much larger ecosystem of partners, ancillaries, suppliers, generating thousands of jobs. Elest is confident that the setting up of the Gen6 AMOLED Display manufacturing facility will generate a global interest and would ensure future technology growth in our country, he said. Elest would also be setting up a research and development centre for research in the next generation areas of advanced display technology, the release added. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinese tech giant had bought a stake worth $264 million (about Rs 2,060 crore) in Walmart-owned e-commerce firm from its co-founder, Binny Bansal, through its European subsidiary, according to the sources. The transaction was completed on October 26, 2021. However, it was shared with government authorities at the beginning of this financial year. is registered in Singapore and has operations in India only. now holds about 1.84 per cent in after selling part of his stake to Cloud Europe BV. The story was first reported by agency PTI. is an early investor in Flipkart and this transaction happened last year when SoftBank along with various sovereign funds invested $3.6 billion in Flipkart, said a person familiar with the matter. That time diluted some of his stake to Tencent. After this transaction, the Tencent arm holds 0.72 per stake in Flipkart, valued at around $264 million. The government had brought press-note 3 (2020 series) during the initial days of the pandemic in April 2020. It was an immediate reaction to the concerns of Indian being vulnerable to opportunistic takeovers during the pandemic. Press-note 3 requires that all investments from entities, which are based in a land-bordering country, or when the beneficial owner of the investment is based in a land-bordering country, will have to be made under the approval route and will require a security clearance. However, the Tencent-Bansal deal does not fall under the purview of 'Press Note 3', according to the sources. This is because Tencents stake is less than 1 per cent and also Flipkart has been a Singapore-registered entity, said a person. Last year in July, Flipkart Group carved a niche for itself in the global league by raising $3.6 billion, including from SoftBank, which had exited the firm, valuing the company at $37.6 billion, which was more than a 50 per cent rise in a year. In July 2020 Walmart led a $1.2-billion round in Flipkart, valuing the e-commerce firm at $24.9 billion. In September 2020, Tencent invested $62.8 million in Flipkart, according to a report by business intelligence platform Paper.vc. The investment comes amid Sino-India tensions, including the Chinese app ban and the changes to the foreign direct investment (FDI) norms and pre-clearance mechanisms on investments from China. The funding, by far the largest by any in the Indian start-up ecosystem, was led by financial investors GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Walmart, along with investment from sovereign funds DisruptAD, the Qatar Investment Authority, and Khazanah Nasional Berhad. Other marquee investors are Tencent, Willoughby Capital, Antara Capital, Franklin Templeton, and Tiger Global. This fundraise is giving enough firepower to Flipkart to counter competition from Amazon, Reliance JioMart, and Tata Digital. A Flipkart spokesperson declined to comment on this development. Walmarts acquisition of Flipkart for $16 billion in 2018 not only provided blockbuster exits to its investors but also turned the founders Sachin and into billionaires. Both Sachin, as well as Binny, are now active in the Indian start-up ecosystem, backing several of the promising start-ups through their personal funds and family offices. Chinese investors, such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Xiaomi, are also active in the Indian start-up space, and have collectively invested billions of dollars. Tencent has invested over $2 billion in Indian startups since 2016. Last year it also invested over $200 million in the Indian social media platform ShareChat. India is considering easing scrutiny on certain foreign direct investments, after rules mainly aimed at China created a bottleneck for inflows, according to a Bloomberg report. The report said that currently, government scrutinizes all investment proposals from that are either based in countries that share a land border with India or have an investor from one of these nations. The report said that the government is now considering exempting proposals where the so-called beneficial ownership is less than 10 per cent, which means the investor may be from a neighbouring country but holds only a small stake in the firm proposing the investment. Top investments of Tencent in Indian companies Company Line of business Byjus Edtech Dream Sports Gaming Flipkart E-commerce Ola Mobility Swiggy Food *Ibibo Group Travel KhataBook Fintech MyGate Home security Practo Digital healthcare ShareChat Social media * Merged with MMT; Source: Various reports Over 400 people have been arrested so far in a clampdown on those involved in the violent protests on Friday in several states against the controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad by two now-sacked BJP functionaries, with authorities in razing "illegal" houses of the accused for the second day. There were a few sporadic incidents of violence and protests, with a group of people attacking and damaging a local train at Bethuadahari railway station in West Bengal's Nadia district on Sunday evening. Among those arrested, 304 were held in eight districts in and 100 in Howrah and Murshidabad districts in West Bengal, while the Ranchi police registered 25 FIRs against "thousands" of people for the clashes that left two dead and scores of others injured in the capital, and stepped up security in other parts of the state also. Political parties, including the Samajwadi Party, and activists have accused authorities of high-handedness in the aftermath of the protests. Senior Congress leader and former home minister P Chidambaram said the prime minister should have spoken and acted immediately after the offensive utterances. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, however, said that law and order is a state subject and they should take strict possible action against the rioters. "There is no place for violence in a democracy. Everybody should get an opportunity to put his point of view in a democracy. And when the problems can be resolved through talks, then there is no place for stone-pelting, arson and unruly behaviour," he said. Leaders and organisations should not add fuel to the fire, he stressed. Authorities had strengthened security and clamped prohibitory orders in many districts after people took to the streets following Friday prayers, indulged in stone-pelting and clashed with security personnel, demanding the arrest of Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal. While Sharma was suspended by the BJP and Jindal expelled from the party amid backlash from many Islamic countries, several cases and court complaints continue to be filed against them and also against others in related cases of allegedly hurting religious sentiments in various parts of the country. The Bhiwandi police in Maharashtra has now summoned Sharma to record a statement on Monday, while Jindal has also been summoned on June 15 in the case registered against them on a complaint lodged by a representative of the Raza Academy on May 30. Earlier, the police in Thane asked Sharma to appear before them on June 22 while the Mumbai Police had summoned her on June 25. In Uttar Pradesh, where Chief Minister has vowed to act tough on rioters, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said 13 cases have been registered and 304 people have been arrested in eight districts. "91 persons have been arrested in Prayagraj, followed by 71 in Saharanpur, 51 in Hathras, 34 each in Ambedkar Nagar and Moradabad, 15 in Firozabad, six in Aligarh and two in Jalaun," he said. In Prayagraj, where mobs went on a rampage, the civic body on Sunday demolished the house of the alleged mastermind of Friday's violence amid heavy police deployment. Under Adityanath, the state administration has been cracking down on criminals and riot accused, seizing or razing their illegal properties A day earlier, the properties of two others accused of rioting were demolished in Saharanpur where stone-pelting had taken place as well. "Javed Ahmad's house -- JK Ashiyana -- is located in the Kareli area of . Police personnel and a JCB machine reached the Kareli police station around 10.30 am and demolition commenced around 1 pm. "The house was built without getting its map passed by the PDA. For this, he was issued a notice on May 10 and was told to present his side on May 24. On the given date, neither Javed nor his lawyer turned up. No document was presented as well, and hence on May 25, demolition orders were issued," an official of Development Authority said. Police had said on Saturday that Javed Ahmad, alias Pump, had been arrested. In Ranchi, internet services were restored in the district after nearly 33 hours even as Rapid Action Force, anti-terrorism squad, special task force and district police remained deployed at strategic locations, including 38 identified vulnerable pockets. Police staged a flag march in East Singhbhum and imposed prohibitory orders in adjoining Seraikela-Kharswan as a precautionary measure to prevent any communal flare-up, officials said. Family members of Mohammad Mudassir Alam and Mohammad Sahil, who were fatally shot during Friday's clashes, claimed they were not a part of the protest procession. In reply to queries regarding police firing, Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police Surendra Kumar Jha , however said that the standard operating procedures were adhered to. "Firing is the last resort. We followed all norms before resorting to firing, as the crowd was aggressive and uncontrollable. I don't want to talk much on this as the matter is under investigation," Jha said. Ranjan said prohibitory orders under Section 144 have been lifted from six of the 12 police station areas. In West Bengal's Bethuadahari, a large number of protestors put up a road blockade and when they were chased by the police, some of them entered a railway station and threw stones at a local train which was on a platform. Train services on the Lalgola line have been affected due to the attack, police said, adding there was no immediate report of any casualty. More than 100 people have been arrested in West Bengal's Howrah and Musrdidabad districts district for the violence since Friday while prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPc has been clamped in some areas and internet services suspended. "The overall situation is peaceful at present as there have been no reports of any fresh incident in Howrah and Murshidabad districts. A total of 100 people have been arrested so far. Our force is on alert and any attempt to create disturbance will be dealt with strongly," a senior police officer told PTI over the phone. In Kolkata, security was tightened in areas "considered sensitive" such as Park Circus, Kidderpore, Rajabazar and Mallickbazar. An FIR has been lodged at Kanthi Police Station against Nupur Sharma, an officer said. Meanwhile, the West Bengal Leader of Opposition (LoP), Suvendu Adhikari, was prevented by police from visiting violence-hit areas in Howrah, where several BJP offices were also targeted by mobs. He was later allowed to proceed after a two-hour-long stand-off on the condition that he would go straight to Kolkata, without making any pit stop in violence-hit areas in the adjoining Howrah district. Adhikari said he would move the court on Monday over being prevented from visiting the areas affected by the violent protest. Upon reaching Kolkata, Adhikari straightaway went to the site of party colleague and state BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar's sit-in. Majumdar was arrested on Saturday afternoon when he was heading towards Howrah district and later released. In Jammu and Kashmir, one person was arrested for allegedly stoking communal tension as curfew and strict restrictions under prohibitory orders remained in force in parts of Chenab valley. The accused Aadil Gafoor Ganai was arrested from his house during an early morning raid on Sunday by police at his residence at Chinar Mohalla locality for allegedly delivering an inflammatory speech from Markazi Jamia Masjid Bhaderwah on June 9 during a protest rally against remarks on Prophet Mohammad. On the basis of the provocative speech, police have registered a case under sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. A police official said there was no untoward incident reported from anywhere in both Doda and Kishtwar districts. There was no relaxation in curfew in Bhaderwah town, while strict restrictions under section 144 Cr PC also continued in Gandoh, Thathri and Doda towns besides Kishtwar town. Similarly restrictions under prohibitory orders were lifted from Ramban district on Saturday, the official said. Prominent citizens of both the communities are actively engaged with police and efforts are on to normalise the situation, the official said. a complaint lodged by a representative of the Raza Academy on May 30, he said. A peaceful protest was staged in Jammu at Gujjar Nagar, a Muslim-dominated locality, against Nupur Sharma, officials said. In the national capital, two men have been arrested for allegedly disrupting communal harmony and holding the protest without permission in the Jama Masjid area. The two were arrested on Saturday night and have been identified as Mohd Nadeem (43), resident of Jama Masjid area, and Faheem (37), resident of Turkman Gate area, the police said. An investigation is on to identify other persons involved and footage from CCTVs is being scanned, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shweta Chauhan said. The Delhi Police has registered an FIR against 31 people, including AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand, and filed a separate case against Sharma for allegedly spreading hate and hurting religious sentiments. Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram said. In UP's Bareilly, an FIR was registered at Premnagar police station against one Rehan on Saturday night on the complaint of local BJP member Shalini Johri for allegedly posting an inflammatory message on a social media platform with an edited picture of Nupur Sharma. Another FIR has been lodged against one Kuldeep who sent an objectionable message about the Prophet to one Furkhan. In Ballia, one Muhammad Yakub Ansari, a resident of Revati town, had arrested after he posted an indecent and objectionable post against Sharma on Facebook on Saturday, the police said. A lawyer has also filed a complaint in the court of the chief judicial magistrate of Srinagar against Sharma and others for the alleged "blasphemous" remarks against Prophet Mohammad. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Home Minister inaugurated development works of more than Rs 80 crore and the Khukri museum at Diu in . He added that "Achhe din abhi aur bhi achhe hone wale hain". He addressed a public meeting in presence of State Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi, Union Territory (Daman and Diu) administrator Praful Patel and State Revenue Minister Rajendra Trivedi. Shah said in his address, "I came to Diu for the first time after becaming the Home Minister. Today, for the first time, a meeting of the Chief Ministers of the western states was held in Diu. They went back happy with so much appreciation for the arrangements made by Praful Patel. Earlier when development projects were being distributed, only a miniscule amount finally reached Diu and other Union Territories from Delhi. Now, Praful Patel has cascaded development over here." "The world celebrates the Ocean Day on June 8, raising awareness about marine life, cleaning up islands and eliminating single-use plastics. This was discussed all over the world. We have already done this in Diu, which is the only region that runs entirely on solar energy," he added. "The Khukri Museum will be a centre of attraction for everyone who loves the land of India. Development is not possible without vision. Praful Patel implemented the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Diu, Dadra and Silvassa. I urge my young friends and students to visit this museum and understand the history of Khukri." The cable car facility from Diu to Ghogha was inaugurated on Saturday at a cost of Rs 40 crore. Work on the Smart City Mission has begun at a cost of Rs eight crore, with the construction of a public plaza outside the Diu Fort at a cost of Rs five crore. The redevelopment of Pani Kotha, redevelopment of a bus terminal and creation of a beautiful monument at both the entrances to Diu was inaugurated. Therefore, seven welfare schemes at a cost of Rs 80 crore were launched on Saturday. The Union Home Minister said, "The Khukri monument, which is being unveiled here today, is a tribute to the soldiers of our Army who sacrificed their lives for the country. My advice to the youth and students is that they should understand the history of Khukri by visiting this museum." Shah added, "Modiji's government has completed eight years recently. I have come to you today as a close observer of the government, the first five years as party President and three years as a Cabinet Minister. I have closely watched the hard work by PM Narendra Modi in the last eight years. I have had the opportunity to get a closer look at his planning and vision, by which not only India but the whole world is amazed." "In eight years, he (Modi) has done the work of re-establishing India's honour in the world. The Prime Minister used the technology in such a way that 130 crore people got vaccines and certificates without any hassle. In case of such an epidemic in future also, not a single litre of oxygen has to be imported. Today, we have provided so much facility and help to the athletes that we will soon qualify the Olympics among the top five countries." Through the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, 2,59,200 people get five kg of free foodgrains every month in this Union Territory, the Union Home Minister said. PM Modi has helped millions of people in the country with houses, toilets, electricity, food, etc., with uplifting their living standard, he added. "During the previous Congress-led government, the country was producing countrymade guns, today Modiji has started making missiles in the country," Shah said. Slamming Rahul Gandhi, the Union Home Minister said: "Rahul Baba used to criticise PM Narendra Modi. So I want to ask him you have ruled the country for 60 years. If you had worked for four generations, why didn't you remember delivering electricity, grain or houses to the poor? Congress has worked to eradicate the poor in the name of poverty alleviation and Narendra Modi has worked to eradicate poverty." Shah praised Praful Patel, the Administrator of Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Silvassa. (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.) police on Saturday arrested one more main accused behind the violent that broke between two groups in the city, after the Friday prayers on June 3, over the issue of the market shutdown. The police have identified the arrested accused as the President of Jamiatul Quresh, Nizam Qureshi from . According to the police, Qureshi was often seen with other accused persons Hayat Jaffar Hashmi and Hafiz Faisal Zafri Qureshi was appealed to stop meeting with Hayat during a meeting at Akbar Azam Hall on June 1, said the police. Recently on June 8, a special investigation team visited the violent site and collected evidence. All accused, including key conspirator Hayat Zafar Hashmi, were sent to 14-day judicial remand on Sunday in connection with the incident. They were taken to District Jail in by the police after they were sent on a 14-day remand. Earlier on Saturday, the Uttar Pradesh Police had said the main accused in the Kanpur violence case, Hayat Jaffar Hashmi was arrested along with three other masterminds. "We will investigate if they had any links with PFI. Action will be taken under Gangster Act, and NSA and their properties will be seized," Kanpur Police Commissioner Vijay Singh Meena had said. Four people who were arrested were identified as Hayat Jaffar Hashmi, Javed Ahmed Khan, Mohammad Rahil and Mohammad Suffian. "All of them are associated with Maulana Ali Jauhar Fans Association. We will further ask the court to send them on a 14-days remand," Meena added. Earlier on June 5, the district police had sent all the accused, including key conspirator Hayat Zafar Hashmi, for a 14-day judicial remand to the District jail. The violence started after some people tried to shut down shops which were opposed by the other group, said the police. Two persons and one policeman were injured in the aftermath of the . Further details into the matter are awaited. (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 submitted a memorandum to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday seeking the deployment of paramilitary forces in the state over the violent protests in Howrah and Murshidabad against the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad made by suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled leader Naveen Jindal. "The deployment of mobile squads of Central paramilitary forces in affected areas, including route marches in extra-sensitive zones. If the grave situation persists, the deployment of the army should be seriously considered", stated the letter. "Those who organized the mobs and delivered inflammatory hate speeches have been identified on CCTV. They should be booked under relevant sections of the IPC", added the . According to them, the attacks on BJP offices in different parts of the state were orchestrated and aimed at intimidating the Opposition. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday expressed concerns over the worsening law and order situation in the state, days after protests erupted in parts of . In a tweet today, Dhankar wrote, "Since June 09 in particular there has been awful administration failure that took no preventive and precautionary measures. Lawbreakers were allowed to have free for all. Only prompt exemplary action can be deterrent. Over a month, the situation has been a cause of concern." Protests erupted in several states across the country over remarks made by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma on the Prophet Muhammad. Demonstrations were carried out in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Jharkhand and West Bengal after Friday prayers. The protestors carried placards demanding Nupur Sharma's arrest. Incidents of stone-pelting were reported in several States as protestors clashed with police. For the second day, protests in Murshidabad took a violent turn with protesters hurling bricks at cops when they tried to disperse the crowd near NH-34. The West Bengal police resorted to lathi-charge and firing tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. Few cops were injured in the stone-pelting. Notably, a controversy erupted over suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma's remarks against the minorities. Some Gulf countries have also lodged their protest. However, India on Thursday reiterated that the controversial remarks concerning Prophet Muhammad do not reflect the views of the Government and added that action has been taken by concerned quarters against those who made the comment. (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 the national capital facing water shortage, Delhi leaders on Sunday met Chief Minister here and urged him to supply water to the city from his state. State president Adesh Gupta, who was part of the Delhi delegation, said Khattar assured them of full cooperation in the issue. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also on Friday had urged to release water in the Yamuna River that had dried up. After the meeting with Khattar, the Delhi BJP president tweeted, "In a meeting with CM ML Khattar along with Delhi BJP, urged him for supply of water due to growing shortage in Delhi during intense heat. Haryana has been for years supplying water to Delhi and Haryana government has also assured full cooperation on our request." In a memorandum submitted to Khattar, the Delhi BJP expressed gratitude to the neighbouring state for supplying water to Bawana and Haiderpur water treatment plants during summer. Haryana supplied 84,000 MGD water in 2015, 88,000 MGD in 2016, 88,500 MGD in 2017, 88,000 in 2018, 89,500 MGD in 2019, 92,000 MGD in 2020, 92,500 MGD in 2021 and 85,500 MGD so far this year, said the memorandum. "I urge you in the behalf of Delhi people to provide some more water to Delhi so that they can go about their lives normally," said the memorandum signed by Gupta. The ruling AAP has been accusing the BJP-ruled Haryana of not releasing enough water to Delhi during the summer season. AAP MLA and Delhi Jal Board vice chairman Saurabh Bhardwaj on Friday demanded that Haryana release Delhi's share of water, claiming only six inches of water was left in the Yamuna. "Yamuna is almost dried up in Delhi because the Haryana government is refusing to release Delhi's share of water despite the sweltering heat," he had charged. The depth of water at the Wazirabad barrage has reduced from its normal eight feet average to this year's lowest level of 0.5 feet, he had said. "In Delhi, there is a severe water shortage. In this scorching heat, the Haryana government should provide water on humanitarian grounds to quench the thirst of Delhiites. The Haryana government is being asked to provide water to the citizens of Delhi, as they are entitled to it," Bhardwaj had said. Delhi receives most of its water supply from the rivers in neighbouring states. Uttar Pradesh supplies water from River Ganga and Haryana supplies water from the Yamuna. Some water is also supplied from the Bhakra Nangal of Punjab. Out of these, the maximum water supply comes from Haryana. (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 huge fire broke out at a shoe market in Central Delhi's area early Sunday morning, the Service said. It said 39 fire tenders were rushed to the site and the blaze was brought under control. "A serious fire call was received from a shoe market in Gaffar, Karol Bagh, at 4.16 am and 39 fire tenders were rushed to the site," Service Director Atul Garg said. Nobody was trapped or received any injuries, he said. The cause of fire is not known yet, he added. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Development Authority (PDA) on Sunday demolished the house of Javed Ahmad, alias Pump, the alleged mastermind of Friday's violence here, amid a heavy police deployment. A day earlier, the properties of two people accused of rioting were demolished in Saharanpur where stone-pelting had taken place as well. Superintendent of Police, City (Saharanpur), Rajesh Kumar had said two accused who created ruckus have been identified through CCTV footage as Muzammil, a resident of Rahat Colony, 62 Futa Road, and Abdul Vakir, a resident of Khata Khedi. Municipal corporation teams bulldozed their illegal properties, he said. In Prayagraj, a senior PDA official said, "Javed Ahmad's house -- JK Ashiyana -- is located in the Kareli area of . Police force and a JCB machine reached the Kareli police station around 10.30 am and demolition commenced around 1 pm." "The house was built without getting its map passed by the PDA. For this, he was issued a notice on May 10 and was told to present his point of view on May 24. On the said date, neither Javed nor his lawyer turned up. No document was presented in this regard, and hence on May 25, demolition orders were issued," the PDA official said. #WATCH | Heavy security force deployed in front of the residence of violence accused Javed Ahmed. Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) had earlier put a demolition notice at his residence, asking him to vacate the house by 11am today as it is "illegally constructed". pic.twitter.com/sk0KCEVVdm ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) June 12, 2022 Senior Superintendent of Police of Prayagraj Ajay Kumar had on Saturday said alleged mastermind of stone-pelting Javed Ahmad had been arrested. In a tweet in Hindi on Saturday, Mrityunjay Kumar, the media adviser to the chief minister, had said, "Unruly elements remember, every Friday is followed by a Saturday" and posted a photo of a bulldozer demolishing a building. On Friday, people pelted stones at police personnel in Prayagraj and Saharanpur during protests after Friday prayers in mosques. At least four other cities witnessed similar scenes during the marches that were carried out to protest the controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad made by now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. In Prayagraj, the mob set on fire a few motorcycles and carts, and also attempted to set ablaze a police vehicle. Police used tear gas and lathis to disperse the protesters and restore peace. A policeman was injured, according to officials. Sharma was suspended by the BJP as several Islamic nations denounced her comments on the Prophet during a TV debate. (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.) News Details Huge demand for EV automotives drives electric motor market Date: 13-06-22 Reliable market researcher Yole reported the electric motor market to exceed US$13 billion by 2027, with major technical innovations and a supply chain reorganization. The other market findings, comments and facts and figures shared by Yole includes: The traction motor market is dominated by big OEMs: Tesla, BYD, and Volkswagen shared more than 40% of the market in 2021. The full-electric vehicle market is expected to represent more than 17% of the total passenger and light commercial vehicle market by 2027. Multi-motor adoption and motor power evolution are two other trends expected to increase the EV traction motor market. Today, one of the main drivers for power electronics is vehicle electrification. The vehicle electric motor is a key part of the powertrain and any change in the motor will impact the characteristics of the other components of the powertrain, such as the battery and inverter. Abdoulaye Ly Technology & Market Analyst, Power Electronics at Yole comments: Four technologies are mainly used in traction motors in full EV s. They are PMSMs ; PMaSynRMs , Ims and EESMs . Today, PMSM technology is widespread in the EV industry. At Yole, we expect it to remain the primary technology in the coming years thanks to its high power density and efficiency at normal speeds. Also, China is the biggest EV market, and almost all Chinese vehicle makers use PMSM. One key point for electric motor manufacturing is that the magnets used in PMSM are made with rare-earth materials, with refineries mainly in China. The magnets can account for up to 40% of the total PMSM cost. Non-Chinese vehicle makers that use PMSMs may suffer severely from magnet shortages or cost fluctuations if one of the following scenarios happens: The Chinese government imposes restrictions on rare-earth material exports to satisfy local demand. China enters a conflict with Taiwan, and American and European governments impose commercial sanctions on the Chinese government. Considering both scenarios, Yoles analysts expect non-Chinese vehicle makers to reduce their dependence by developing new technologies or improving existing magnet-free technologies. Vehicle makers mainly use one of three business models for traction motors: in-house manufacturing; outsourcing; and a hybrid business model that combines in-house manufacturing and outsourcing. The traction motor is part of the powertrain. There is also a definite trend toward integrating all the powertrain elements, with vehicle makers adopting a holistic approach that considers the powertrain as a single item. This holistic approach completely reshapes the motor supply chain: Vehicle makers have a single supplier for the powertrain or manufacture their powertrain in-house. Motor and inverter manufacturers increase their competencies by acquiring other companies or investing to offer complete solutions to their clients. The traction motor market is led by three vehicle makers: Tesla, BYD, and Volkswagen. In the Motors for automotive Focus on full electric vehicles report, Yoles power electronics team reviews what the leading Tier 1 part suppliers are doing, such as Nidec and Vitesco. They are very aggressive players in this highly competitive landscape, with impressive investments in motor manufacturing and numerous partnerships with vehicle makers. Applauding the for their accomplishments in almost every walk of life in the United States, India's top Ambassador to the US said Saturday their achievements are a reflection of the bilateral relationship between the two countries. Addressing a gathering of eminent Indian-Americans from across the country, the first-of-its-kind since the COVID-19 pandemic, at India House in Washington DC, India's Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu applauded the achievements of this influential ethnic community, which constitutes just one per cent of the population of the US. "All you have played a very significant role in transforming the India-US relationship, especially in the last two-and-a-half decades. Your achievements are actually a reflection of the India-US relationship today," he said. "The most wonderful part of this evening is that we have people across the United States, across the spectrum, who have come here," he said. The largest gathering of Indian -Americans at the India House in recent years included people from the Biden Administration, from the US State, Capitol Hill, to those heading professional organisations, and also top entrepreneurs, scientists, academicians, civil servants, civil society, artists, and many students. "I can see that there is hardly any sector which has not been represented here today. We have with us the cybersecurity czar of the White House. We have the global health security czar at the White House. We have the drug control czar of the administration,all Indian-Americans," he said. "We have a number of CEOs of multinational companies this evening, hardworking professionals, spirited entrepreneurs, self-made farmers from California and other states, members of the think-tanks, leading academics and scientists. We also have even nonprofit workers who are helping women in distress," he said. "All this shows the strength of the Indian American diaspora in the United States. And we are very proud of your achievements," Sandhu said amidst applause from the gathering. The reception was also attended by the Indian Consul Generals from its other diplomatic missions in the US in Houston, San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago and New York. In his address, the top Indian diplomat praised the community leaders for their support towards India. Sandhu said the India-US relationship has solid bipartisan support. "I've seen this relationship closely for the last 25 years. Whether it was President Clinton or President George W, and President Obama, President Trump and now President Biden, there is a steady upward trajectory," he said. "In the last one-and-a-half years, despite all the challenges and difficulties, Prime Minister Modi and President Biden have met in person twice, seven times virtually. The most recent last month had the bilateral and the QUAD summit in Tokyo," he said. India, he said, has joined the Indo-Pacific Economic Partnership Framework. Several ministerial interactions have taken place. "In fact, two months ago, three of our top four ministers within the span of 10 days visited the United States. These are among the top four top members of the Cabinet Committee on Security. We had the External Affairs Minister, that Defense Minister and the Finance Minister visiting here," he said. Sandhu said the bilateral trade has reached an all-time high. "Of course, it's still the tip of the iceberg. It's USD160 billion despite the supply chain constraints, despite the pandemic, despite not having an FTA between our two countries," he said. "The pandemic has not slowed down the pace of our engagements and activities," he said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi [India], June 12 (ANI): On International Yoga Day, 75 ministers of the Central Government will perform Yoga at 75 historical and cultural sites in the country. On the eighth International Day of Yoga which will be celebrated on June 21, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will perform Yoga at Mysore Palace in Karnataka, while 75 ministers from his cabinet will do Yoga at 75 historical and cultural sites in the country. "As many as 75 ministers have been designated to participate in the Yoga programs at 75 historical and cultural places to mark the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav that is being celebrated across the country," sources said today. Home Minister Amit Shah will participate in Yoga programs at the famous Jyotirlinga Trimbakeshwar temple complex in Nashik, Maharashtra on Yoga Day, while Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will participate in a Yoga program in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu on Yoga Day. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will perform Yoga at Delhi's Lotus Temple. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari will perform Yoga at Zero Mile Stone, Nagpur. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will perform Yoga at Delhi's Jantar Mantar. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will perform Yoga at Kangra Fort in Himachal Pradesh and Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur will do it at Nalagarh Palace in his home state Himachal Pradesh. Union Minister Smriti Irani will perform Yoga at Lucknow Residency in Lucknow and Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav will participate in Yoga program in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar will do Yoga in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh. Minister Arjun Munda will do Yoga in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand. Union Minister Piyush Goyal will do Yoga at the Marine Drive area in Mumbai. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi will do Yoga at the Group of Monuments at Hampi, Karnataka. Union Minister Narayan Rane will do Yoga at Pune Metro Station in Pune, Maharashtra. Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will perform Yoga at the famous Fatehpur Sikri Fort of Uttar Pradesh and Union Minister Virendra Kumar will do Yoga at Amarkantak, the origin of Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh. Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia will do Yoga at Gwalior Fort in Madhya Pradesh Gwalior and Union Minister Giriraj Singh will do Yoga at Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. Union Minister RK Singh will do Yoga in the famous Nalanda Mahavihara in Bihar and Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will do Yoga in the famous Sardar Patel's Statue of Unity in Kevadiya, Gujarat. Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will do Yoga at Sam Sand Dunes, a famous tourist spot in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, while Union Minister G Kishan Reddy will do Yoga at the Anand Sagar Lake site in Telangana Union Minister Anurag Singh Thakur will participate in a Yoga program at Nalagarh Fort in Himachal Union Minister RCP Singh will do Yoga at the famous Mahabodhi Temple in Gaya, Bihar and Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav will do Yoga at the famous Konark Sun Temple complex in Puri, Odisha. Union Minister Purushottam Rupala will do Yoga at Dholavira, a famous historical Harappan civilization site in the Kutch region of Gujarat. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri will do Yoga at Red Fort, Delhi. June 21 is observed as the International Yoga Day, recognising the benefits of the ancient Indian practice of Yoga. (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.) India logged 8,582 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 4,32,22,017, while the active cases increased to 44,513, according to the Union data updated on Sunday. The death toll climbed to 5,24,761 with four fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. The active cases comprises 0.10 per cent of the total infections, while the COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.66 per cent, the ministry said. The stage is all set for a face-off between the developing and developed countries at the 12th (WTO) ministerial meeting in the Swiss town of Geneva. The stage is all set for a face-off between the developing and developed countries at the 12th (WTO) ministerial meeting in the Swiss town of Geneva. Union Minister for Commerce and Industry will lead the Indian delegation which will begin on Sunday. A clear divide emerges as try to negotiate an agreement on fisheries and India has categorically said that it is the developed world which is responsible for the depletion of marine resources and it will not compromise on subsidies to its fishermen. Ahead of the formal start of the 12th ministerial meet, a permanent representative of India to WTO, Brajendra Navnit said, "We are committed to protecting rights of our traditional fishermen, we will not let any impact on their livelihood, there will be no stoppage in subsidies they are getting, this is India's commitment and India will not bend on this." On the sidelines of the 12th (WTO) ministerial meeting in the Swiss town of Geneva on Sunday, Union Commerce Minister held discussions with the Director-General WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala pertaining to prospects of a permanent solution to public stockholding for . At the G33 Ministerial Meeting, a coalition of developing countries of which India is a key member, Minister also held extensive talks with his counterparts from developing and least developed nations. Taking to Twitter, Goyal wrote, "Fighting for rights of our farmers within an hour of landing at WTO, Geneva at the G33 Ministerial Meeting. Discussed prospects of a permanent solution to public stockholding for with DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and my counterparts from the developing and least developed nations." Moreover, the Commerce and Industry Minister Goyal will also meet with the Trade Representative of the United States of America, Katherine Tai. The ministerial meeting began in Geneva, Switzerland on Sunday, after a gap of five years. The Indian delegation at the meeting is led by Commerce and Industry Minister . "India has a vital stake in protecting the interests of all stakeholders in the country as well as the interests of the developing and poor nations that look up to the leadership of India at multilateral forums including WTO," the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said earlier in a statement. The key areas of discussions and negotiations at this year's conference include WTO's response to the pandemic, fisheries subsidies negotiations, agriculture issues including Public Stockholding for food security, WTO reforms and moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmission. WTO Director-General in May 2022 brought three draft texts on agriculture, trade and and exemption of the World Food Programme from export restrictions for negotiations. "India has reservations about some of the provisions in the draft decisions and has been engaging in the process of discussions and negotiations in order to be able to preserve the rights under the agreement on agriculture without undermining the existing ministerial mandates," the Ministry of Commerce & Industry added. An important issue under negotiation at the WTO relates to the protection of India's food grain procurement programme at Minimum Support Prices (MSP). Such programmes involve the purchase from farmers at administered prices and are key to supporting the farmers and consumers in the country. WTO rules limit the subsidy that can be provided to such products being procured. This issue is being negotiated at the WTO by the G-33, a coalition of developing countries of which India is a key member and the African Group which has come together along with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP group) in submitting a proposal on a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes on 31 May 2022. India co-sponsored a G-33 proposal for a permanent solution on PSH for food security purposes at the WTO, on 15 September 2021, which had the co-sponsorship of 38 Members. In the negotiations, improvements are being sought by developing countries over the ministerial decision adopted at the ninth ministerial conference of the WTO in Bali in December 2013 where members agreed to negotiate a permanent solution on the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes by the 11th Ministerial Conference of the WTO. It was agreed that in the interim, until a permanent solution is reached, Members would exercise due restraint (commonly termed as 'peace clause') in raising disputes in respect of public stockholding programmes for food security purposes instituted before 7th December 2013, even if countries exceeded their permissible limits. Consequent to the firm stand taken by India at the WTO, this peace clause was extended by a decision of the WTO General Council (GC) in November 2014 until a permanent solution was agreed and adopted. Thus, it was ensured that the 'peace clause' would be available in perpetuity. At the Nairobi Ministerial Conference held in December 2015, WTO members agreed to engage constructively to negotiate a permanent solution. India neither wants to link public stock holding (PSH) issue with other agriculture issues nor a work programme as negotiating a permanent solution has a standalone mandate at the WTO, the ministry 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 BJP on Sunday authorised its president J P Nadda and Union minister to hold consultations with different political parties, including those in the opposition, on the president's election, in what is being seen as an outreach by the ruling party to arrive at a consensus on the choice for the top constitutional post. In a statement, the (BJP) said the two senior leaders will talk to both ruling NDA and opposition UPA constituents, besides other political parties as well as independent members. They will soon begin holding these consultations, the party said. Opposition parties had accused the BJP during the last presidential polls in 2017 of reaching out to them at the last moment, after it had already finalised the choice of Ram Nath Kovind, who went on the become the president. The opposition had forced a contest by backing Meira Kumar, who lost to Kovind. The presidential polls will be held on July 18. (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.) Police arrested two persons on Saturday in connection with the protest that took place on Friday over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad made by suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled leader Naveen Jindal. "Two persons have been arrested last night under section 153A of IPC. Friday namaz always has a crowd, so we were alert that something could happen. But the way people came after offering namaz with banners and placards denotes that there is some kind of planning behind it," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Central district, Shweta Chauhan. Section 153A of IPC is charged for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc; and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony. "We are investigating the matter and the messages circulated on WhatsApp over it. The initial probe has identified 4-5 locals. But most of the people are not locals," added the DCP. Earlier on Friday, a massive protest erupted after Friday prayers at Delhi's over alleged inflammatory remarks of suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma and expelled leader Naveen Jindal. "Almost 1,500 people had gathered in for Friday prayers. After the prayers, nearly 300 people came out and started protesting over the inflammatory remarks by Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal," DCP Chauhan had told ANI. Police had said they removed the protesters and the situation was brought under control. All this came as the row over the alleged remarks on the Prophet Muhammad by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma led to global outrage. Nupur Sharma made comments during a TV debate, and another leader Naveen Jindal posted a controversial remark on social media. Police registered two FIRs-- one against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and the other against 31 people, including AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand - for allegedly spreading hate and hurting religious sentiments, officials said on Thursday. Former Delhi BJP media unit head Naveen Kumar Jindal, who was expelled from the party over alleged remarks against Prophet Mohammad, and journalist Saba Naqvi, are among the people named in the second FIR. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) has been known as an educational hub at the national level. Educational clusters have been established across the state. People from across the country prefer to study in reputed educational institutions of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Mysuru, Dharwad and Belagavi districts. However, the controversies surrounding textbook revisions followed by political slugfest between BJP, Congress and JD(S), agitation by litterateurs, protests registered by religious seers over the differential treatment to great personalities has again put the state in to the spotlight at the national level. Experts are fearing that the events have dented the image of the state as an educational hub. After the hijab controversy, the textbook revisions row has hit the state's education sector hard. As the hijab crisis made international headlines, the controversies over textbook revisions have already taken a communal turn and seems to be evolving as major crisis causing concern among parents and children. Recognised Unaided Private Schools Association (RUPSA) President Lokesh Talikote talking to IANS stated that the whole process of textbook revision has completely dented the image of the state as an educational hub. "There used to be sanctity and respect towards textbooks. Universally acceptable chapters were chosen. There used to be 180 experts as members for the textbook revision committee earlier. Each subject, lesson are carefully dealt with by experts. The ruling with 9 to 10 members committee got the revisions done. It is impossible for such a committee to revise 160 to 170 chapters," he explained. The ruling government has constituted the textbook revision committee under the Chairmanship of Rohith Chakrathirtha to revise Kannada textbooks of Class 1 to 10. The committee also revised Social Science textbooks of Class 6 to 10. Opposition leader Siddaramaiah has launched a scathing attack on Chakrathirtha. He called him a "troller" and a person with a "perverted mindset". Siddaramaiah also slammed the Education Minister B.C. Nagesh for backing Chakrathirtha. The Opposition leader has demanded legal action against Chakrathirtha for "insulting" great personalities and martyrs. Minister Nagesh maintains that the opposition and commotion is "due to the inclusion of the speech of RSS founder K.B. Hedgewar in the syllabus". He also said that the opposition is also due to "dropping glorification of Muslim kings" including Tippu Sultan. The revision exercise gives due respect to the culture and religion of the land, which is not tolerated by leftists and Opposition parties, he said. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced that he would look into lessons on which concerns have been raised and assured of rectification. He also announced the dissolution of the textbook revision committee headed by Chakrathirtha as its job of revision is complete. Nagesh later announced that the revised lesson of History textbook of II PUC (Pre University Colleges) by the Chakrathirtha committee would not be accepted to pacify the dissent voices. The Opposition has intensified its agitation and warned the government that the revised textbooks should not be distributed to the students. Sources explain that if the ruling decides to distribute books, there is going to be a crisis situation in the state. RUPSA President Talikote has given a call to private school managements to choose books of their choice. "Out of 1.6 crore children studying in schools in between Class 1 and 10, more than 50 lakh children study in private institutions and they won't read the revised textbooks," he says. "...There is great demand for private schools. The parents are migrating from government schools to private schools after the syllabus row. About 15 lakh students have joined private schools," he explained. S.R. Raghavendra, President of Human Rights Preservation and Corruption Eradication Forum and social activist, while speaking to IANS, accused the ruling BJP of "attempting to falsify what is eternal truth in the education system". "It is trying to prove that education imparted all these days was a farce," he claimed. "If the political parties take up the work of textbook revision for promoting their ideologies, where will it lead to? Earlier, litterateurs, scholars and researchers use to decide what the children should read. It is sad that now politicians are deciding over the issue," Raghavendra added. "If lessons on minorities are being dropped, it must be replaced with better content which has not happened. The government has not bothered to take opinions from all sections. The revision exercise has caused a dent in the emotions of people of and dent in the education process of the children," he said. Experts fear that political slugfest apart, the whole controversy has resulted in students and the teaching fraternity looking at the textbooks with suspicion. The sanctity and pure clean mindset of knowledge exploration has been lost in the din. As the elections are nearing, the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress as well as the JD(S), "lost in their strategies", do not seem to be bothered about the dent the issue is making on student fraternity and on the image of Karnataka as an educational hub, experts say. --IANS mka/arm/shs (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) on Saturday said the in in which two lives were lost was the outcome of weak leadership and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister "in the interest of the state". In a statement here, national vice-presdent Raghuabar Das said alleged that the Jharkhand government was not at all prepared despite the union home ministry cautioning it following protests against comments made by suspended leader Nupur Sharma and Navin Kumar Jindal on Prophet Muhammad. Taking advantage of the state government's unpreparedness miscreants went on the rampage and attacked religious places of the majority community for hours at on Friday, Das, a former chief minister of the state, claimed. The police has failed to control the unruly mob, he said adding the involvement of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) behind Friday's cannot be ruled out. Das demanded a probe in this regard. PFI had been banned in the state in Februray 2019 when Das was at its helm to curb its anti-national activities and for keeping links with terror outfits like ISIS. Terming Soren as "inefficient and inactive", Das demanded his resignation as "ruling the state is not his cup of tea". Soren should resign in the "interest of the state", the BJP leader said and suggested that he hand over the baton to an efficient MLA of the ruling JMM in the state. "I myself took to the streets and tackled the situation when anti-social element tried to disturb the tranquility and communal harmony in during my tenure," he claimed and regretted that such incidents mostly affects poorer section of the society. The anti-social elements have been indulging in such acts of ever since the 'maha-gathbandhan' (grand alliance) government came to power in the state, Das alleged. Two people were killed and several others including the senior superintendent of police of Ranchi were injured in the violence at Ranchi. The district administration has clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC in parts of the city and suspended internet services till further 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.) Amid a big push for the Aatmanirbhar Bharat scheme by the PM Narendra Modi-led government, the is planning to acquire 114 fighter jets of which 96 would be built in India, and rest 18 would be imported from the foreign vendor chosen for the project. The has plans of acquiring 114 Multirole Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) under 'Buy Global and Make in India' scheme under which Indian companies would be allowed to partner with a foreign vendor. "Recently, the held meetings with the foreign vendors and asked them about the way they would carry out the Make in India project," government sources told ANI. As per the plan, after the initial 18 aircraft are imported, the next 36 aircraft would be manufactured within the country and the payments would be made partially in foreign currency and Indian currency, the sources said. The last 60 aircraft would be the main responsibility of the Indian partner and the government would make payments only in Indian currency, the sources said. The payment in Indian currency would help the vendors to achieve the over 60 per cent 'Make-in-India' content in the project, the sources said. Global aircraft manufacturers including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Saab, MiG, Irkut Corporation and Dassault Aviation are expected to participate in the tender. The Indian Air Force has to rely heavily on these 114 fighter jets for maintaining its superiority over the neighboring rivals Pakistan and China. The 36 Rafale aircraft procured under emergency orders helped immensely in maintaining an edge over the Chinese during the Ladakh crisis which started in 2020 but the numbers are not enough and more such capability would be required by it. The force has already placed orders for 83 of the LCA Mk 1A aircraft but it still requires a higher number of capable aircraft as a large number of MiG series planes have either been phased out or are on their last legs. The fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft project is moving ahead at a satisfactory pace but it will take a lot of time to be able to be inducted in an operational role. The IAF is also looking for a cost-effective solution for its requirement as it wants a plane that is low on operational cost and gives more capability to the service, the sources said. The IAF is highly satisfied with the operational availability of the Rafale fighter jets and wants similar capability in its future aircraft. (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.) India on Sunday called upon the G-33 group of developing countries to work collectively and reach out to other like-minded nations to secure their support in getting a fair, balanced and development-centric outcome at the WTO, which must include a permanent solution for the public stockholding and special safeguard mechanism. Commerce and Industry Minister said the group has long been calling for an accessible and effective special safeguard mechanism (SSM) to address the destabilising and crippling effects of import surges and downward price movement largely due to huge subsidies by the developed members. "Let me stress that all of us must work collectively to retain the cohesion of this coalition and strengthen it further by reaching out to other like-minded countries, (and) secure their support for a fair, balanced and development-centric outcome, which must include the permanent solution to public stockholding and the SSM," he said. The minister was speaking at the G-33 Ministerial Meeting on the sidelines of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference here. India is pitching for SSM, which aims at protecting poor and marginal farmers from any surge in imports or a steep decline in prices. He also said that it would have been better if the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was present at this meeting to hear the concerns of the developing world. "I feel it is unfortunate that in her brief comments, she referred to a decision that has been made not once, not twice but thrice, as a mere iteration and I would urge the Chair to convey if it is agreed by all my friends here, that it was not a declaration but a decision that was made in 2013, again in 2015 and then again in 2018 that we are sitting down here to discuss," Goyal added. The G33 group includes 47 developing and least developed countries. The minister said that the Agreement on Agriculture of the WTO -- which is already riddled with deep imbalances -- favour the developed countries, which have created the rules against many developing countries and that is quite evident from what is happening in different parts of the world today. "It is important that as the first step of agricultural reform, the historical asymmetries and imbalances must be corrected in order to ensure a rule-based fair and equitable order. "We must level the playing field and give our farmers a chance to provide security to our people. We must continue to preserve the existing special and differential treatment for the developing countries, which will help our struggling farmers, particularly those who are keeping out the subsistence living," the minister noted. Later briefing the media, he said India is here to strongly protect the interests of farmers, poor people and fishermen. "The public stock holding should be allowed permanently in the WTO and it should be included in the WTO rules," Goyal added. The minister said he also discussed issues related to agriculture, fisheries and temporary TRIPS (Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) waiver to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic during his bilateral meetings with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, South Africa Trade Minister Ebrahim Patel and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai here. When asked about the TRIPS waiver, he said that it was "very unfortunate" that few developed member countries of the WTO are protecting the interest of some big pharma companies and hurting the interest of poor people. "In a situation when the COVID pandemic was impacting people across the globe, the stand of certain nations was shameful. It feels sad that in such a situation the developed world did not help developing and less developed countries," Goyal added. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At the G33 Ministerial Meeting in Geneva, a coalition of developing countries of which India is a key member, Union Commerce and Industry Minister expressed his concerns over the stalemate in reaching a permanent solution on the issue of public stockholding and special safeguard mechanism for food security. Goyal stressed that the decision related to the public stockholding and special safeguard mechanism are the key areas of concern for the developing nations. "It is clear that the two items primarily...this time...public stock holding and special safeguard mechanism...I feel it is unfortunate that in her (Director-General WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala) brief comments...She referred to a decision that has been made thrice as a mere declaration and I would urge the chair to convey...that it was not a declaration but a decision that was made in 2013, 2015 and 2018 that we are sitting here to discuss," he said. The minister added that India has had an experience in transiting from a food deficit nation to a largely self-sufficient food nation. "Subsidies and other govt interventions played a very role to achieve this. All of us must work collectively...towards a permanent solution," he added. Notably, in the ongoing negotiations, improvements are being sought by developing countries over the ministerial decision adopted at the ninth ministerial conference of the WTO in Bali in December 2013 where members agreed to negotiate a permanent solution on the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes by the 11th Ministerial Conference of the WTO. It was agreed that in the interim, until a permanent solution is reached, Members would exercise due restraint (commonly termed as 'peace clause') in raising disputes in respect of public stockholding programmes for food security purposes instituted before 7th December 2013, even if countries exceeded their permissible limits. On the sidelines of the 12th World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting in the Swiss town of Geneva on Sunday, Union Commerce Minister held discussions with the Director-General WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala pertaining to prospects of a permanent solution to public stockholding for food security. At the G33 Ministerial Meeting, Goyal also held extensive talks with his counterparts from developing and least developed nations. Taking to Twitter, Goyal wrote, "Fighting for rights of our farmers within an hour of landing at WTO, Geneva at the G33 Ministerial Meeting. Discussed prospects of a permanent solution to public stockholding for food security with DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and my counterparts from the developing and least developed nations." Moreover, the Commerce and Industry Minister will also meet with the Trade Representative of the United States of America, Katherine Tai. Goyal held a meeting with South Africa Trade Minister Ebrahim Patel in Geneva. The key areas of discussions and negotiations at this year's conference include WTO's response to the pandemic, fisheries subsidies negotiations, agriculture issues including Public Stockholding for food security, WTO reforms and a moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmission. The ministerial meeting began in Geneva, Switzerland on Sunday, after a gap of five years. The Indian delegation at the meeting is led by Commerce and Industry Minister . "India has a vital stake in protecting the interests of all stakeholders in the country as well as the interests of the developing and poor nations that look up to the leadership of India at multilateral forums including WTO," the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said earlier 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.) Irans state-run shipping company said it started its first transfer of Russian goods to India, using a new trade corridor that transits the Islamic Republic, an Iranian port official said. The Russian cargo consists of two 40-foot (12.192 meters) containers of wood laminate sheets, weighing 41 tons, that departed St. Petersburg for the Caspian Sea port city of Astrakhan, the state-run Islamic Republic Agency said on Saturday, citing Dariush Jamali, director of a joint-owned Iranian-Russian terminal in Astrakhan. The report didnt say when the cargo, which it described as an initial pilot transfer to test the corridor, left or give any more details about the goods in the shipment. From Astrakhan, the cargo will cross the length of the Caspian to the northern Iranian port of Anzali and will be transferred by road to the southern port of Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf. From there it will be loaded onto a ship and sent to the Indian port of Nhava Sheva, IRNA said. Jamali said the transfer was being coordinated and managed by the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines Group and its regional offices in Russia and India and is expected to take 25 days. Since Russia was sanctioned over its war on Ukraine, Iranian officials have been keen to revive a stalled project to develop the so-called North-South Transit Corridor that uses Iran to link Russia to Asian export markets. The plan involves eventually building a railroad line that can transfer goods arriving at Iranian Caspian Sea ports to the southeastern port of Chabahar. Commerce and Industry Minister on Sunday said the 12th ministerial conference (MC12) of the (WTO) must send a strong message that the rich care for the poor. He also said that all member nations have come together to deliver solutions towards the polycrisis the world is facing. Speaking at the plenary session of the MC12, Goyal lashed out at rich nations. He said that they need to introspect for letting down the poor and developing countries amid lack of consensus on the issue of Covid vaccine equity. The pandemic reinforced the importance of One Earth One Health, calling for global solidarity and collective action. My country ramped up supplies of medical products to provide medical and health items globally. Unfortunately, the WTO could not respond with alacrity. We need to bow our heads in shame for our inability to respond to the pandemic in time, the minister said. Goyal further said that finding a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding for food security should be the top-most priority of the MC12. The world is witnessing high food prices, threatening the survival of millions and subjugating the poor and vulnerable nations to imperfect markets, he added. Our collective moral obligation is to ensure that no person, anywhere in the world, goes to bed hungry and WTO rules should facilitate this. The Covid-19 pandemic has reinforced once again the need and efficacy of food stockholding for public good, he said. An important issue for India at the WTO pertains to protection of its food grain procurement programme at minimum support prices (MSP). is the price at which the government buys crops from farmers if the market price falls below it. The WTOs agreement on agriculture rules limits the subsidy that can be provided to the products that are procured. This issue is being negotiated at the WTO by the G-33 a coalition of least developing and developing countries of which India is a key member. These countries, along with other nations, are submitting a proposal for a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding for food security. India co-sponsored a G-33 proposal for a solution to the permanent stock holding for food security at the WTO, on September 15, 2021. It had the co-sponsorship of 38 member nations. On the sidelines of the ministerial meeting of G-33 nations, Goyal said that the group has been calling for an accessible and special safeguard mechanism to address the destabilising effects of import surges and downward price movement largely due to huge subsidies by developed nations. Let me stress that all of us must work collectively to retain the cohesion of this coalition and strengthen it further by reaching out to other like-minded countries. We must secure their support for a fair, balanced and development-centric outcome, which must include a permanent solution to public stockholding and the special safeguard mechanism (SSM), he said. India is pitching for SSM that aims to protect poor farmers from rise in import or sharp decline in prices. He also said that the agreement on agriculture is riddled with deep imbalances and favour developed nations. Goyal feels this created the rules against many developing countries, which is evident from what's happening in different parts of the world. The World Trade Organization's (WTOs) 12th ministerial conference (MC) is set to kick-start today, looking to reach a consensus on a variety of issues like food security, regulating fisheries subsidies, as well as intellectual property waiver for Covid-19 vaccines. The MC generally takes place once every two years, but trade ministers are meeting after four years this time because of the Covid-19 pandemic. A committee for negotiations on fisheries subsidies on Friday finalised the draft to be taken up by the ministerial which is not in line with Indias demand to put an end to non-specific fuel subsidies. The draft specifies a transition period of seven years for developing nations, instead of 25 years as proposed by India, for exempting some developing countries from subsidy cuts. The transition period was being negotiated by member nations in the past few weeks. India's priority is safeguarding the long-term interests of farmers and fishermen. We will continue to be the voice of developing and less-developed countries and work for fair outcomes, an official statement released by the government said. According to reports, India's permanent representative to WTO, Brajendra Navnit, on Sunday said India would protect the rights of its fishermen, not stop the subsidies they are getting, and not relent on this at the MC12. The global trade body is looking to build a consensus on an agreement aiming to eliminate subsidies for illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and promote sustainable fishing. India is keen to finalise the fisheries agreement at the ministerial because irrational subsidies and overfishing by many countries are hurting and their livelihood. India strongly believes it should not repeat the mistakes made during the Uruguay Round, which allowed a few members unequal and trade-distorting entitlements in agriculture. It unfairly constrained less-developed members who did not have the capacity and resources to support their industry and farmers. Any imbalance in the agreement would bind India to current fishing arrangements, which may not meet everyones future requirements. Indias stance is that for sustainability big subsidisers must take greater responsibility to reduce their subsidies and fishing capacities. Any agreement must recognise that different countries are at various stages of development and that current fishing arrangements reflect their current economic capacities. Needs will change with time as countries develop. Any agreement will have to provide for balancing current and future requirements to exploit fisheries in marine waters and the high seas, the statement said. India has sought special and differential treatment to protect the livelihoods of poor fishermen and address the nations food security concerns, besides having the necessary policy space to develop the and sufficient time to put in place systems to implement disciplines for over- and under-fishing. India believes that the fisheries agreement has to be seen in the context of existing international instruments and the laws of the sea. Some of the other important issues from Indias perspective that will be addressed include the WTO's response to the pandemic which will include the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) issue, agriculture issues, including public stockholding for food security, WTO reforms, and e-commerce. The Sri Lankan government plans to introduce a fuel rationing scheme from next month, under which registered consumers at filling stations would be guaranteed a weekly quota, a senior minister said on Sunday. The island nation has been experiencing long lines for fuel refilling since mid-February with pressure coming on the diesel supplies for thermal power generation. By early April, the island was experiencing 10-hour power cuts due to shortages of diesel and furnace oil for power generation. We have no choice but to register consumers at filling stations and give them a guaranteed weekly quota until we are able to strengthen the financial situation, restore 24 Hour Power and a steady Supply of fuel. I hope to have this system in place by the 1st week of July, Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera tweeted on Sunday. The minister said that the supply of fuel should be managed until there is a round-the-clock 24-hour uninterrupted supply of electricity and fuel. This paucity has led to reports of stockpiling and hoarding of fuel. Wijesekera hoped that this measure of imposing a fuel quota would go a long way in addressing the crisis. With the financial restrictions in place, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation imports fuel to manage for a week, but some consumers stockpile fuel for a month or more for their machinery and generators, he said in another tweet. He said that 24-hour power supply costs an additional $100 million monthly for diesel, furnace oil and naptha. The shortage in gas supply has increased the demand for electricity and kerosene, and the monthly fuel bill that was $200 million four months ago, now stands at $550 million, the minister added. Meanwhile, the last of the fuel shipments due under the Indian Line of Credit are arriving in later this month, with no indications on the sustenance of future supplies, which are dependent on India's assistance. We are expecting the last diesel shipment under ILC (Indian Line of Credit) on June 16 and the last petrol shipment on June 22," Wijesekera told reporters on Saturday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned the incident where a Chinese fighter plane forced its plane while on routine surveillance into a dangerous manoeuvre over the South Sea. On May 26, a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) "P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft was intercepted by a Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft during a routine maritime surveillance activity in airspace in the South Sea region," the Australian Department of Defence said in a statement. "The intercept resulted in a dangerous manoeuvre which posed a safety threat to the P-8 aircraft and its crew," it added. Addressing the presser, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said, "What occurred was that the J-16 aircraft flew very close to the side of the P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft," Marles said. "In flying close to the side, it released flares, the J-16 then accelerated and cut across the nose of the P-8, settling in front of the P-8 at a very close distance. At that moment, it then released a bundle of chaff which contains small pieces of aluminium, some of which were ingested into the engine of the P-8 aircraft. Quite obviously, this is very dangerous." But this is not the first time when the Chinese plan showed unprofessional behaviour. Last week, Canada accused Chinese air force pilots of unprofessional and risky behaviour during encounters with Canadian planes in airspace, while Ottawa was enforcing UN sanctions against North Korea, reportedly in the East Sea, Taipei times reported. Donald Rothwell, a professor of law at Australian National University, over this incident said, "The P-8 could have been flying adjacent to a Chinese claimed artificial island over which does not recognize any Chinese entitlement to a territorial sea and, as such, the freedom of overflight would apply. China would counter by saying this is an area where they can assert a legitimate territorial sea and Australian aircraft cannot enter. So the matter could be a simple issue of an Australian versus a Chinese interpretation of the relevant airspace." Meanwhile, Euan Graham, a maritime security expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore thinks that China might be testing the resolve of US allies. He further said that Beijing was "making life difficult for unarmed surveillance aircraft both from Canada and Australia" but was "not reacting in the same way to US aircraft when they are doing their surveillance operations." Graham further said the actions sent "a very clear message that China doesn't want foreign militaries operating on, under or above the waters around its coastline, especially the waters that it claims sovereignty over in the South China Sea." According to the publication, that was consistent with Beijing's long-term strategy to weaken the US alliance system. Over this incident, the Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister on Monday evening said that Beijing would not allow any country to violate China's sovereignty and security, and harm peace and stability in the South China Sea by using "freedom of navigation" as an excuse. A separate editorial cited "data" stated, "that from February 24 to March 11, Australian military aircraft have visited the East China Sea north of the island of Taiwan six times this year to conduct close-in reconnaissance activities." Even the Chinese-state-run 'Global Times' editorial section said, "No one can act as Washington's 'goon' while making a fortune from China. (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.) British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has pledged to continue providing military aid for Kiev while meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart in Kiev, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said. During the talks held on Friday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov urged more defensive aid from Britain, saying that "we need more heavy weapons to continue the struggle as quoted by Xinhua news agency report. Wallace said Britain's support for will continue, noting that cooperation between the two sides "will be as effective as possible". In May 2022, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the British government will provide 1.3 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) in military aid to . (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday expressed full support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite condemnation for Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The Russian people have "achieved great successes in accomplishing the just cause of defending the dignity and security of their country, while braving all sorts of challenges and hardships", Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted Kim as saying in a message to Putin on the occasion of Russia Day. "The Korean people extend full support and encouragement to them." Kim's apparent reference to the unprovoked attack against Ukraine as a "just cause" for defending Russia's security is the latest sign that illustrates decades-old close bilateral ties between the two countries, reports Yonhap News Agency. Pyongyang has recently stressed its close ties with Moscow despite growing criticism from the community on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kim also expressed conviction that the friendly relations will continue to strengthen in all areas and in the "journey for defending the justice and ensuring the global security", the KCNA reported. In 2019, Kim held his first summit with Putin in Russia's far eastern city of Vladivostok. (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.) China and India are neighbours and maintaining a good relationship meets the interests of both countries, Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe said on Sunday, stressing that the two nations are working together for peace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue here, Wei also called for peaceful means for settling territorial disputes including those in the South China Sea. China and India are neighbours and maintaining a good relationship meets the interests of both countries. And that is what we are working on, he stressed. On a question about conflict on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India, Wei said: We have had 15 rounds of talks at commander level with the Indians and we are working together for peace in this area." Wei was responding to a question by Dr Tanvi Madan, director of The India Project at the Brookings Institution, a US think tank. Madan had asked the minister to explain why the People's Liberation Army (PLA) two years ago had unilaterally moved to change the status quo at multiple points at the LAC with India, reasons that led to a military clash, the first in 45 years between the two countries, and steps that were in violation of agreements that Beijing-Delhi had carefully negotiated over 25 years. The Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a tense border standoff in eastern Ladakh since May 5, 2020, when a violent clash between the two sides erupted in the Pangong lake area. China has also been building bridges and constructing other infrastructure such as roads and residential units in the border areas with India. India and China have held 15 rounds of military talks so far to resolve the Ladakh standoff. As a result of the talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process last year on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area. However, each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the LAC in the sensitive sector. India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the LAC were key for the overall development of the bilateral ties. (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.) An expert virologist reinforced the need to avoid intimate contact as the number of Monkeypox cases in reached 366. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published its first technical briefing on Friday on the ongoing Monkeypox outbreak following detailed interviews with patients which are helping health experts to understand transmission and to determine how to target interventions, Xinhua news agency reported. Professor Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia told Xinhua on Saturday the briefing by the UKHSA highlighted the risks of the being spread. "Transmission of Monkeypox seems to be almost exclusively being transmitted by close and intimate contact," Hunter said, "so people should avoid contact with people who could be infected, especially if they have a rash." In its end of week update, UKHSA said a further 43 additional cases of Monkeypox in England, one additional case in Scotland and one additional case in Wales have been identified. It brought to 366 the total number confirmed of cases in as of June 9. There are currently 348 confirmed cases in England, 12 in Scotland, two in Northern Ireland and four in Wales. The agency said of the cases interviewed, 81 per cent were known to be residents and 99 per cent were male. The average age of confirmed cases in is 38-years-old. In the exercise 151 of the 152 men interviewed identified as gay, bisexual, or men who have sex with men, or reported same sex contact. Recent foreign travel, within 21 days prior to symptom onset, was reported by 75 cases, with 59 reporting travel within Europe. Meera Chand, Director of clinical and emerging infections at UKHSA, said: "We are working, both in the UK and together with global partners, to progress the investigations that we need to help us better understand the virus, its transmission and the best use of mitigations such as vaccines and treatments." In Britain people are being told to contact a sexual health clinic if they have a rash with blisters and if they have been in close contact, including sexual contact, with someone who has or might have monkeypox, even if they've not been tested yet. Earlier this week the British government used legislation to make Monkeypox a notifiable disease, requiring doctors to inform health authorities if they diagnose any cases. --IANS int/khz/ (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.) Russian shelling has caused a huge fire at a chemical plant in Ukraine's Severodonetsk city where "non-stop" fighting rages, the regional head says. Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian TV that Saturday's blaze started after a leak of tens of tonnes of oil from damaged radiators at the Azot plant. Hundreds of civilians are reportedly sheltering at the plant. Severodonetsk has become the focal point of Russia's efforts to advance in eastern . Fighting has lasted more than three months. Russia's early attempt to capture major cities including the capital Kyiv faltered and is now instead trying to capture the Luhansk and the Donetsk regions a vast mostly industrial area collectively known as Donbas. Seizing Severodonetsk and its twin city of Lysychansk would move Russia closer to its goal as it would give them control over Luhansk. In his statement, Haidai admitted most of Severodonetsk was now in Russian hands. The Russian military says that all of Severodonetsk's residential areas are now under its control. "The Azot chemical plant has been under heavy shelling for hours," Mr Haidai said on Saturday. He did not say whether there were any casualties and whether the blaze was later extinguished. Ukrainian officials estimate that as many as 800 civilians are hiding in underground bomb shelters at the Azot plant. Describing the current situation in Severodonetsk, Mr Haidai said it was "difficult, but under control". "Our soldiers are winning in street fights, but, unfortunately, the enemy's artillery is simply dismantling - floor-by-floor the houses used by our troops as shelters. "So, when we push the enemy out of one street, they start using their tanks and artillery to destroy the area house-by-house," the Luhansk regional head said. "No one can say whether and how many victims there have been in the last 24 hours in Sievierodonetsk, where intense fighting continues," Gaidai said on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian troops have suffered "very significant" casualties in Donbas. He also said Ukrainian forces had recaptured villages and towns in the south-eastern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. has been pleading for more weapons from its allies, warning that Russia has at least 10 times more artillery pieces. Russia is using its overmatch in force ratio and artillery to "gradually seize territory in and around Severodonetsk" from Ukrainian control, the UK's defence ministry says in its latest update. It says Russia continues to seek to generate combat units to deploy to . In recent weeks, Russia probably started preparing to deploy the third battalion from some combat formations, the ministry says, while most brigades normally only committed a maximum of two of their three battalions to operations at any one time. Third battalions within brigades are often not fully staffed, the MOD notes, and Russia will probably have to rely on new recruits or mobilised reservists to deploy these units to Ukraine. "Deploying all three of their battalions simultaneously will likely reduce formations longer term capacity to regenerate combat power after operations," the UK defence ministry says. After being forced to scale back its initial campaign goals Moscow has turned to expanding control in the Donbas, where pro-Russian separatists have held a swathe of territory since 2014. may be compelled to buy more oil from Russia as the island nation hunts desperately for fuel amid an unprecedented economic crisis, the newly appointed prime minister said. Prime Minister said he would first look to other sources, but would be open to buying more crude from Moscow. Western nations largely have cut off energy imports from Russia in line with sanctions over its war on Ukraine. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Wickremesinghe also indicated he would be willing to accept more financial help from China, despite his country's mounting debt. And while he acknowledged that Sri Lanka's current predicament is of its own making, he said the war in Ukraine is making it even worse and that dire food shortages could continue until 2024. He said Russia had also offered wheat to . Wickremesinghe, who is also Sri Lanka's finance minister, spoke to the AP in his office in the capital, Colombo, one day shy of a month after he took over for a sixth time as prime minister. Appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resolve an that has nearly emptied the country's foreign exchange reserves, Wickremesinghe was sworn in after days of violent protests last month forced his predecessor, Rajapaksa's brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, to step down and seek safety from angry crowds at a naval base. has amassed USD 51 billion in foreign debt, but has suspended repayment of nearly USD 7 billion due this year. The crushing debt has left the country with no money for basic imports, which means citizens are struggling to access basic necessities such as food, fuel, medicine even toilet paper and matches. The shortages have spawned rolling power outages, and people have been forced to wait days for cooking gas and gasoline in lines that stretch for kilometers (miles). Two weeks ago, the country bought a 90,000-metric-tonne (99,000-tonne) shipment of Russian crude to restart its only refinery, the energy minister told reporters. Wickremesinghe did not comment directly on those reports, and said he did not know whether more orders were in the pipeline. But he said Sri Lanka desperately needs fuel, and is currently trying to get oil and coal from the country's traditional suppliers in the Middle East. If we can get from any other sources, we will get from there. Otherwise (we) may have to go to Russia again, he said. Short-video-making app TikTok's parent company is most likely preparing to join the (VR) space, media reports say. According to a source close to the issue, aims to invest "tons of money" in VR-related content, citing a report from Protocol, The Verge reported on Saturday. Over 40 job listings have popped up for Pico, the Chinese VR headset maker acquired last year, the report said. Most openings are for Pico Studios' west coast-based branches in California and Washington, ranging from a head of VR game strategy to a game operation manager, the report said. Other open positions suggest an increased focus on Pico's VR hardware, including an optical engineer and a systems design electrical engineer, it added. The report also points to Pico's head of consumer sales listing as a potential indicator that Pico is looking to establish a presence in the US. The job description noted that candidates will be "responsible for the sales and marketing of Pico's overall product in the US consumer market". Pico still has a lot of growing to do, and ByteDance certainly has the bandwidth to give it the push it needs to compete with the handful of mainstream headsets offered by Meta, HTC, Valve, and PlayStation in the US. The company's flagship all-in-one headset, the Pico Neo 3 Link, launched in Europe in May and costs 449 pounds ($472 approx). --IANS vc/ksk/ (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) TotalEnergies SE became the first foreign company to win a stake in a multi-billion dollar project to boost Qatars gas exports. is expanding production of liquefied natural gas amid a worldwide energy crunch. Global demand for the fuel is soaring as European nations race to wean themselves off Russian gas supplies in the wake of Moscows attack on Ukraine. TotalEnergies will get a 6.25% equity stake in the first phase of the plan, state producer Energy said on Sunday. Known as North Field East, it will cost almost $29 billion and include the construction of four LNG liquefaction units, or trains. It will increase Qatars annual capacity to 110 million tons by 2026 from 77 million. The French firm will own 25% of a joint venture with Energy, with the venture in turn holding 25% of North Field East. Another partner will be announced later this week, Saad al Kaabi, Qatars energy minister and head of Qatar Energy, told reporters in Doha. Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips are also poised to win stakes, Bloomberg reported last week, while Shell Plc put in a bid. Those three and TotalEnergies all have stakes in Qatars existing production facilities. Suddenly, because of the tragic events in Europe, everybody is rushing to get LNG, TotalEnergies Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said. Appetite is strong. The roughly three-year negotiations went on a little long, to be honest, he said, without disclosing how much TotalEnergies will invest. The energy minister and his team were very good defenders of Qatari interests in this process. Kaabi previously said Qatar Energy might look for investments to fund around 30% of the expansion. The country received bids for double the equity on offer, he said on Sunday. No company will get a stake larger than TotalEnergies, he said. Pouyanne said the deal would strengthen Europes energy security and aid the continents long-term goal of using less coal and oil. While gas emits carbon when burned and methane leaks are common in the industry, its a cleaner fossil fuel. It is good news for the fight against climate change as gas and LNG are key to support the energy transition, the CEO said. Drilling Started Qatar Energy has started drilling development wells for the North Field East project. It chose Chiyoda Corp. of Japan and London-based TechnipFMC Plc to do the main construction work. Kaabi, the energy minister, said Qatar would announce partners for a separate expansion, known as North Field South, by the end of the year. That, to build an additional two trains, will increase the Persian Gulf states LNG capacity to 126 million tons a year, and wont be finished until 2027. Most of Qatars gas is contained in the North Field, an offshore behemoth extending into Iranian waters. The shallow waters and plentiful reserves mean Qatar can pump gas more cheaply than just about any other country. Its easy to produce, Pouyanne said. Qatar is considering further expansion projects due to the sheer demand for LNG in the wake of the Ukrainian conflict, Bloomberg has reported. Still, the multi-year length of the plans mean European buyers will have to look elsewhere for alternatives to Russian gas in the meantime. Most of Qatars LNG is shipped to Asia under long-term contracts that Doha has said it wont cancel to help Europe. European officials, including Germanys Economy Minister Robert Habeck, have visited Qatar in recent months in the hope of securing more supply commitments. The war in Ukraine prompted Germany to push ahead with a previously shelved plan to construct two LNG import facilities at Brunsbuttel and Wilhelmshaven. Qatar is ready to invest in those terminals, Kaabi said, without giving further details. US Competition North Field East is Qatars first gas project since it ended a self-imposed ban on further development, which lasted 12 years. While Qatari LNG production stayed flat, flows from the US and Australia surged as new plants started operating. The three compete to be the worlds biggest LNG exporter, though the US is likely to build a significant lead this year, according to Goldman Sachs and research firm Kpler. Gas prices rose to record levels in Europe and Asia soon after Russias invasion. Theyve since fallen but remain far higher than a year ago. The tightness in the LNG market is now, Kaabi said. But with North Field East and North Field South we should have a lot of extra volumes. A lot of buyers are talking to us, whether its in Europe or Asia. Qatar will probably increase the proportion of its gas sales to Europe to 40%-50% once the extra gas is flowing, he said. Pouyanne said North Field East would help offset revenue lost by TotalEnergies retreat from Russia, where its stopped funding the major Arctic LNG 2 project. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday that has legitimate concerns over terrorism and other issues that need to be taken seriously. has accused and of supporting Kurdish militants and says it will not back the two Nordic nations joining until they change their policies. Speaking at a joint news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Stoltenberg stressed that no other ally has suffered more terrorist attacks than and pointed to its strategic geographic location with neighbors like Iraq and Syria. These are legitimate concerns. This is about terrorism, it's about weapons exports, Stoltenberg said. We have to address the security concerns of all allies, including Turkish concerns about the terrorist group PKK. He spoke at Finland's presidential summer residence Kultaranta in western . After decades of military non-alignment, Russia's war in Ukraine pushed and to apply to join NATO in May. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, accuses the Nordic nations of supporting Kurdish militants deemed by Turkey to be terrorists and has vetoed their entry into the 30-member alliance. When a vital key ally as Turkey raises concerns on terrorism then of course we have to sit down and take them seriously. And that's exactly what we do, Stoltenberg said. The demands from Ankara to Helsinki and Stockholm also include lifting restrictions on arms exports to Turkey and extraditing members of certain Kurdish organizations that are opposed to Erdogan's government. In the past weeks, NATO's chief has been trying to resolve the dispute but he did not disclose Sunday whether any progress has been made. He was to attend an annual discussion panel in Kultaranta later Sunday together with Finnish and Nordic politicians, foreign and security policy experts and military representatives. Stoltenberg will visit on Monday for talks with the Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. (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.) Ambitions to join North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), announce on Friday that it would be sending more military equipment to Ukraine as the military bloc considered the country's application to join the alliance. " will not forget Ukraine and the Ukrainians. We will continue to help: We will send a new package of defence material," Finnish Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen said, adding that the decision on what equipment to send was based on the needs of Ukraine and its military, The Hill reported. The support for Ukraine comes after Sweden and applied to join NATO, a move that has been massively slammed by Russia. Their applications came after Russia threatened the countries against applying for membership and violated Finnish and Swedish airspace with fighter jets. During an appearance with President Joe Biden last month, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said, "We are ready to contribute to the security of the whole alliance, making the commitment to mutual security guarantees that being a NATO ally entails." "Now that we have taken this first decisive step, it is time for NATO allies to weigh in. We hope for strong support from all allies and for swift ratification of our membership," he added. According to The Hill, Finland's defense ministry said that the government voted to approve sending additional defense equipment to Ukraine. However, what equipment Finland will provide, how it will be delivered and when it will be shipped to Ukraine will not be announced, according to the ministry. The US has put its full support behind Finland's and Sweden's bids for membership, with a Senate panel unanimously approving a resolution to urge NATO to accept the countries this week. NATO should "quickly" approve the two countries' membership, said Biden in a statement amid Russia and China's clever moves. "While their applications for NATO membership are being considered, the United States will work with Finland and Sweden to remain vigilant against any threats to our shared security, and to deter and confront aggression or the threat of aggression," The Hill reported, quoting the president. Finland and Sweden started discussing the possibility of abandoning long-term neutrality and joining NATO amid the Russian military operation in Ukraine. The head of the alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, said in March that NATO would gladly welcome Finland and Sweden and could fast-track their membership applications if they decided to join. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ukrainian President has called on the (EU) to impose a seventh package of sanctions against Russia due to its continued war against Kiev. He made the remark at a joint press conference in Kiev with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday, Ukrayinska Pravda reported. "The war continues, so a seventh package of sanctions is needed," the President said. He believes sanctions should be imposed on all Russian officials and judges who are working on repression. "Sanctions are also needed against companies that are helping the Russian state in one way or another, whether in the military sphere or in suppressing democracy," Zelensky said. He also insisted that the EU should completely abandon Russian energy resources. "The EU must work for its own benefit to completely eliminate Russian energy resources. This is a fundamental security issue for all." Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has already signed a letter to the EU setting out Ukraine's vision for the seventh package of sanctions. Zelensky's statement came just days after he signed a decree on June 9 to impose personal sanctions on his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, and a number of other high-ranking officials in Moscow. The sanctions list comprise a total of 35 Russian figures, and some of the important ones include Secretary of Russia's Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Sanctions include bans on entry to Ukraine; revocation of visas and permits; revocation of state awards of Ukraine; revocation of all issued licences and permits; blocking of financial assets; and a ban on transportation of property belonging to the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine. In addition, Zelensky also signed a decree imposing sanctions on 236 Russian universities. (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 UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has arrived in Kiev to investigate Russian war crimes in the wake of its continued invasion. In a social media post on Saturday, deputy head of Ukraine's parliament Olena Kondratiuk said: "The UN Independent Commission has arrived in Ukraine to investigate the crimes related to Russian aggression. Erik Mose is the head of the commission; Jasminka Dzumhur and Pablo de Greiff are also members of the commission." Kondratiuk stated that the Commission was created in order to record human rights violations, violations of humanitarian law, and other crimes in the context of the aggression against Ukraine by Russia, reports Ukrayinska Pravda. The Commission's main goals are establishing a list of suspects, gathering evidence, and preparing relevant materials. The members of the commission have noted that their task is to conduct an independent investigation of the violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law in Kiev, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Sumy that took place in late February and early March. The investigation will be conducted according to international standards. The head of the commission said that the members will gather information about war crimes committed in Ukraine and in turn report it to the UN Human Rights Council. The Commission will also deliver a report to the UN General Assembly at its 77th session. In a report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that it had documented several cases of Russian military forces committing laws-of-war violations against civilians in occupied areas of the Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Kiev in the period between February 24 and March 14. The crimes included rape, executions, unlawful violence and threats against civilian and looting civilian property. (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.) Before invading Ukraine, was the worlds biggest exporter of oil, at about 8 million barrels a day. In addition, about a third of Europe's gas supply came from . There is regret among European leaders about mistakes made in energy policy in the past, where pipelines were built to the Russian oil fields. While is sometimes thought of as a superpower, its gross domestic product (GDP) is of Spains size, with strengths in two fields: Natural resources and food. The energy export cash flow is critical to the Russian economy and funds the war in . Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Samajwadi Party (SP) president on Sunday slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying that it is doing of hate on instructions of RSS, its parent organisation. In a statement, Yadav said, It is not hidden that the BJP's is of hatred and division of the society conducted on the instructions of its parent organisation . He said it is the same that is behind incidents of horrific unrest that is wrecking the state, with a large community hurt by the words of a member. "The government has not taken any concrete steps to resolve this unfortunate dispute and the crisis is taking a terrible form," he said. The SP chief said BJP's attitude still does not appear to be "just". "How is it just that the person whose statement disturbed peace and drew flak from across the world, gets security, while Ram Rajya is being crushed by a demonic bulldozer'? the leader said. The former CM said that our culture, religion, and constitution, do not allow the government to bulldoze someone's house or shop without any statutory provision, or arrest innocent people, or to blame a particular community. Yadav said that Uttar Pradesh stands ashamed before the whole world under BJP rule, as the people's democratic right to peaceful protest is being ignored. "It is the responsibility of the state government to maintain law and order in which it has proved to be a complete failure. In order to hide his failure in every field, the Chief Minister keeps on misleading the people by fabricating false stories," Yadav said. He demanded that the state governor takes immediate cognizance of the situation and order strict action against the government's arbitrariness and misuse of power, in favour of peace and mutual trust in the state. Uttar Pradesh has been rocked with protests across its several districts over remarks against Prophet Mohammad made by now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. First such major protest took place in Kanpur on June 3, which saw the demonstrators trying to shut down markets and clashing with people with hurling of petrol bombs and stones. Since last Friday, similar incidents of violent protests have been witnessed in eight districts of the state. So far, 316 people have been arrested in connection with the violence with registering of 13 FIRs, police said in a statement on Sunday. The cases have been lodged in nine districts of the state, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said in the statement. Meanwhile, the authorities resorted to bulldozing of many buildings which, they claimed, belonged to the accused or their relatives or associates. The state bulldozed properties in Saharanpur, Prayagraj, and Kanpur district drawing opprobrium from opposition parties and civilians alike, which termed the move extra-legal. (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.) Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) MLA Shyamsundar Shinde on Sunday refuted Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut's charge that he did not vote for the MVA and likened the Sena MP to the Sanjay of Mahabharat who could see the Kurukshetra war without being present there through "divyadrishti" or divine vision. Calling himself an associate member of the Nationalist Congress Party, Shinde said he had voted for MVA candidates as per the instructions of the party. Shinde is the second MLA after Swambhimani Paksha's Devendra Bhuyar to refute Raut's allegation that at least six MLAs did not vote for the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (comprising the Sena, NCP and Congress), despite assuring to do so in the recently-held Rajya Sabha polls for six seats in . Shiv Sena's second nominee Sanjay Pawar lost the keenly-watched contest for the sixth seat to BJP's third nominee Dhananjay Mahadik. Even Raut managed to get 41 votes, the minimum number of preferential votes needed to be elected as a Rajya Sabha MP in Friday's polls. The MLAs of major parties were supposed to show the votes cast by them to their respective representatives. The rest were not supposed to show it to anyone," Shinde told reporters. While Sena's second nominee Sanjay Pawar lost to BJP's third nominee Dhananjay Mahadik, other MVA partners- NCP and Congress- won one seat each. The BJP bagged all the three seats it had contested. Taking a dig at Raut, the PWP MLA said, If he knows which of these MLAs votes for whom then he is the Sanjay of Mahabharat. I have voted only for the MVA candidates in the Rajya Sabha polls". He, however, did not elaborate which candidate he voted for as the first, second and third preference in RS polls. After Sena's Pawar lost to Mahadik in a cliffhanger, Raut said three MLAs of the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), an independent MLA from Karmala Sanjaymama Shinde, Swabhimani Party MLA Devendra Bhuyar, and PWP MLA Shyamsunder Shinde did not vote for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) despite assuring to do so. Some horses were up for sale at a higher price and shifted sides despite the assurance of their votes to our candidate, Raut had said. Earlier in the day, MLA Bhuyar claimed he had voted for the Shiv Sena in the RS polls. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) and have stepped up their defence cooperation by reaffirming on Sunday their "strategic partnership in the challenging times" as Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, accompanied by top defence officials, held talks with the Chinese team led by Vice Chairman Central Military Commission General Zhang Youxia. The tri-service military delegation of visited from June 9 to 12 where it held wide ranging discussions with senior officials of the Chinese military and other government departments, according to a statement by Army. The Apex Meeting was held on June 12 wherein the Pakistani side was headed by Gen Bajwa, while the Chinese side was led by General Zhang. "Both sides discussed their perspectives on the and regional security situation, and expressed satisfaction on defence cooperation between the two countries, according to the statement. "Pakistan and reaffirmed their strategic partnership in challenging times and agreed to continue regular exchange of perspectives on issues of mutual interest. Both sides also vowed to enhance their training, technology and counterterrorism cooperation at tri service level," it added. The visit was part of Pak-China Joint Military Cooperation Committee (PCJMCC) its apex committee is the highest military cooperation body. The committee has two sub committees that include Joint Cooperation Military Affairs (JCMA) and Joint Cooperation Military Equipment & Training (JCMET). Relations between the two countries have grown steadily in all fields despite concerns by the west regarding China's growing influence in the region. Pakistan relies on China for military equipment and recently Beijing provided J-10 fighter jets to counterbalance the strategic edge India gained after buying Rafale jets from France. Their multifaceted cooperation has gained more importance in the context of fast changing regional situations. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russia deeply cherishes its "equal and respectful" relations with India, and the multidimensional cooperation between the two strategic partners is among the world's "most elaborate" ones, Russian Ambassador Denis Alipov has said. The envoy has also said the positions of the two countries on "core issues remain similar or coinciding" and that there are plenty of new opportunities for the Indian business in the Russian market, especially against the backdrop of the withdrawal of many western companies from the country. A significant number of western business entities are leaving Russia over its attack on Ukraine as well as the subsequent economic sanctions imposed against it by the United States and Europe. In a foreword in the Russia Digest magazine on the occasion of the 75th year of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Russia, Alipov said both sides are for upholding the central role of the United Nations (UN) towards "just and equal multipolarity" and "opposing unilateral and confrontational approaches". He said Russia and India continue to successfully implement flagship initiatives, which make the cooperation "unparalleled". Among those, the envoy said are the Kudankulam nuclear power plant project in Tamil Nadu, the AK-203 rifles manufacturing programme and the production of the main battle tanks as well as frigates, submarines and Brahmos missiles. He also said the delivery of S-400 air defence missile systems to India is proceeding well in accordance with the schedule. "Russia deeply cherishes equal and respectful relations with India. Our cooperation plays the role of a defining factor for global peace, stability and sustainable development," Alipov said. "We are confident in the future of our bilateral ties and are ready to move forward in utilising their potential and exploring new horizons for the benefit of the people of our two friendly nations," he added. Alipov's comments came in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. India is yet to condemn the Russian action and has pressed for the resolution of the crisis through dialogue. Referring to 75 years of the India-Russia ties, Alipov said both countries succeeded in building a "true friendship and mutual trust" in these years. "Today's Russia-India multidimensional cooperation is one of the world's most elaborate ones with regular meetings of the two intergovernmental commissions, sector-wise ministerial, security advisors' and senior officials' dialogue, foreign office consultations and coordination in the global arena," he said. The envoy said Russia and India were among the first countries in the world to establish the practice of annual bilateral summits. "Our positions on core issues remain similar or coinciding, stressing the need to uphold the central role of the United Nations towards just and equal multipolarity and opposing unilateral and confrontational approaches," Alipov said. He said both India and Russia continue close coordination on the agenda of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as well as G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). "With the increased volumes of bilateral trade by more than 45 per cent in 2021, this positive trend is supplemented in 2022 by intensified cooperation in energy and fertilisers," Alipov said. He said priority is being given to the implementation of the North-South transport corridor project and an early conclusion of the free trade pact between the Eurasian Economic Union and India. "Along with ongoing projects in connectivity, diamond processing, healthcare, tourism, railways, metallurgy, civil aviation, shipbuilding, oil refinery and petrochemicals, there are plenty of new opportunities for the Indian business in the Russian market, especially against the backdrop of withdrawal of many western companies," Alipov said. He also said Russia will strive to "strengthen peace and ensure global security and stability with a view to establishing a fair and democratic system that addresses global issues on the basis of collective decision-making, the rule of law, indivisible security and the generally accepted principles of equal rights, mutual respect and non-interference in domestic affairs". (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinas Defense Minister Wei Fenghe explicitly warned the United States on Sunday that it will go to war to defend its sovereignty over Taiwan if anyone dares try to split the island from the Chinese mainland. Addressing the Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore, Wei said that If anyone dares help Taiwan to secede from China, we will not hesitate to fight, we will fight at all costs and we will fight to the very end. Continuous downpours across the region have killed 30 people and forced many more to relocate since late May. On Tuesday, the rain triggered a landslide in Jiangxi and caused the collapse of a building in Fujian, killing at least three. Neighborhoods were submerged as rivers, including the Pearl River, broke their banks. More rain is expected in the southern and eastern parts of China until late next week Jun 15, 2022 03:32 PM 7 June 2022 On 6 June 2022, the WHO Representative in Somalia Dr Mamunur Rahman Malik was joined by the UNICEF Country Representative Ms Angela Kearney, the Governor and Mayor of Mogadishu HE Omar Mohamed Mohamud Flish and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General and the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia Mr Adam Abdelmoula to officially launch the national immunization day for polio in Somalia. They visited a camp for internally displaced persons in Manahijta and Waberi health centre in Banadir city, to officially launch the national immunization day and vaccinate children against polio. The ongoing immunization campaign for polio is targeting close to 3.5 million children under 5 in the country, except Puntland and Somaliland. The first round of the campaign against polio was held in March and close to 95% of the 3.5 million children under 5 received an oral polio vaccine during the first round. Somalia has remained free from circulation of wild polio virus since 2015. However, the country was affected by another type of polio virus called circulating vaccine-derived polio virus type 2 (cVDPV2) that has continued to circulate in Somalia since 2017 causing paralysis and disability to a number of children in the country. The outbreak of polio caused by vaccine-derived type 2 and type 3 virus has led to permanent paralysis and disability to 32 children so far. This means that these children cannot run, walk or play as they should be able to. It also means that 26 families have been going through immense suffering both socially and financially. Ending polio in Somalia and the rest of the world is a moral imperative for us. We aim for every child being born today to lead a healthy life and have equal access to health services. In this interconnected and globalized world, the threat of polio in one country is a threat everywhere, said Mr Adam Abdelmoula, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General and the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, after vaccinating the children against polio and formally opening the national immunization day for polio. The vaccine-derived poliovirus circulates in a setting where the routine immunization of childhood vaccination for polio is low and as a result the immunity of children against polio remains low. The transmission of this new type of polio virus is entrenched in the central and southern parts of Somalia, with spillover resulting in cross- border transmission in northern Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. Inaccessibility is also a significant constraint to reaching every child in the country. There are some other compounding factors like regular population movement within and between the inaccessible areas and refugee camps in Somalia and neighbouring countries (mainly Kenya) that are pushing back progress. The main problem in not being able to stop the circulation of this type of polio virus in the country is the inability of the fragile health sector to reach and vaccinate all children, especially the zero-dose children who have never been vaccinated and have no immunization shield to protect them. These national immunization days provide an opportunity to look for every last child and vaccinate them with an oral polio drop. We are hopeful that the country will be able to defeat this virus and the debilitating disease it causes by working together and making sure we use speed and precision to vaccinate all children targeted for such campaigns against polio and measles, said Dr Sk Md Mamunur Rahman Malik, WHO Representative in Somalia. WHO and UNICEF are supporting the Government to organize these national immunization days as an accelerated way and means of reaching and vaccinating every last child against polio. All districts in the south and central parts of Somalia, except Somaliland and Puntland, are being covered by the second round of national immunization days using monovalent oral polio vaccine type 2 (mOPV2) from 5 to 8 June 2022 as a part of interrupting cVDPV2 and stopping the outbreak. After much groundwork, including microplanning, team training and logistic preparation, more than 20 664 polio vaccinators with registers traversing the country on foot, and by car, camel and donkey, knocking on doors and working tirelessly to reach as many children as possible during the campaign. More than 4090 supervisors from the Ministry of Health, WHO, UNICEF will be monitoring the quality of the campaigns while 10 333 social mobilizers, together with 146 regional and district social mobilization coordinators, will be visiting house to house to explain the immense benefits for children when they receive the polio vaccine and encourage parents to bring their children to a nearby health centre to vaccinate against polio if they are not reached by vaccinators moving house to house. Note to editors Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that mainly affects children under the age of 5. It invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis or even death. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the only effective way to protect our children from the crippling disease. Every time children under the age of 5 get the polio vaccine, they are more protected. Such repeated immunizations have protected millions of children from polio and made many countries polio free. The national immunization days for polio and keeping countries polio free are supported by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which is a public-private partnership led by national governments with 6 core partners the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi - the Vaccine Alliance. Its goal is to eradicate polio worldwide. For additional information, please contact: Dr Ali M. Bin Break Medical Officer and acting Team Lead Polio Eradication Programme WHO Somalia This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Kyle DeFreitas, Lead External Relations WHO Somalia This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Fouzia Bano Communications Officer/Chief of Staff a.i., WHO Somalia This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe If Hyundai wants to make a big splash here in the Philippines, they should consider this: the first-ever Creta N Line. Confirmed to be a glo... Photo: Associated Press Sen. John Cornyn, along with Sens. Chris Murphy, Kyrsten Sinema and Thom Tillis, is a lead negotiators on the proposal. Senate bargainers announced a bipartisan framework Sunday responding to last months mass shootings, a modest breakthrough offering measured gun curbs and bolstered efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, if the accord leads to the enactment of legislation, it would signal a turn from years of gun massacres that have yielded little but stalemate in Congress. Leaders hope to push any agreement into law quickly they hope this month before the political momentum fades that has been stirred by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. In a significant development, 20 senators, including 10 Republicans, released a statement calling for passage. That is potentially crucial because the biggest obstacle to enacting the measure is probably in the 50-50 Senate, where at least 10 GOP votes will be needed to attain the usual 60-vote threshold for approval. Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities," the lawmakers said. The compromise would make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 available when they undergo background checks. The suspects who killed 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde were both 18, and many of the attackers who have committed mass shootings in recent years have been young. The agreement would offer money to states to implement red flag laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns from people considered potentially violent, and to bolster school safety and mental health programs. And it would take other steps, including requiring more people who sell guns obtain federal dealers' licenses, which means they would have to conduct background checks of purchasers. Biden said in a statement that the framework does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades. Given the bipartisan support, there are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House, he said. The announcement underscored the election-year pressure both parties have felt since 10 Black people were killed at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teachers were killed at an elementary school in Uvalde. Those massacres prompted two weeks of closed door talks among groups of senators led by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz. The agreement represents a lowest common denominator compromise on gun violence, not a complete sea change in Congress. It comes with lawmakers determined to show they are responding to voters revulsion over Buffalo and Uvalde, but with Republicans still blocking more sweeping steps Democrats want. These include banning assault-style firearms such as the AR-15 style rifles used in Buffalo and Uvalde, or raising the legal age for buying them. AR-15s are popular and powerful semi-automatic weapons that can fire high-capacity magazines and have been used in many of the nations highest-profile slaughters in recent years. One of them, the killing of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, occurred six years ago Sunday. Democrats have also wanted to ban high capacity magazines and to expand required background checks to far more gun purchases. None of those proposals has a chance in Congress. On Friday the U.S. Attorney and the FBI issued a joint statement that said - yes - we are committed to the First Amendment and the American right to peacefully demonstrate, which is planned for Monday in Washington. But - no - We will not tolerate violence, destruction, interference with government functions, or trespassing on government property, which is also a distinct possibility as well-organized and quite determined protesters plan to block the entrances into The Supreme Court building tomorrow morning.. The idea is if protesters can block access to the building, they can disrupt the court and somehow stave the decision of Roe v. Wade. Since early May, when a decision by one of the nine Justices was leaked, it has been believed a womans right to abortion might be decided on the state level rather than the federal. If this were to change, about 25 mostly conservative states have indicated they will not allow legal abortions, Tennessee being among them. The rare joint statement, issued by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. DAntuono of the FBI Washington Field Office, read, The U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia and the FBIs Washington Field Office are committed to protecting the First Amendment rights of all Americans to express their views peacefully during demonstrations that take place on a regular basis in the nations capital, including at the Supreme Court. We also have a responsibility to ensure public safety and the orderly conduct of government business, the statement continued. We will not tolerate violence, destruction, interference with government functions, or trespassing on government property. We are committed to working closely with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to stop any individuals who intend to commit violence or criminal activity under the guise of carrying out a demonstration. The protests thus far, in front of the judges residences, have become increasingly ugly and with the distinct chance the Roe decision could come tomorrow around 10 a.m., law enforcement has become increasingly stiffened. I think there is a lot of vitriol, said Capitol Police chief Tom Manger in an interview with CNN several days ago. Somebody would even say there is hate speech going on between the two sides and that is concerning to me. Of equal concern to law enforcement is the arrest of an armed gunman at the house of Associate Justice Bret Cavanaugh last week. A 27-year-old identified at Nicholas John Roske flew from California with enough implements and deranged mind to kill Kavanaugh and then commit suicide. This is a lawmans biggest fear since such a lone wolf is nigh impossible to predict. As it were, two U.S. Marshals were guarding the Kavanaugh home at about 1 a.m. Wednesday after nightly protests and their presence apparently spooked Roske, causing him to call 9-1-1 and turn himself in to Maryland law enforcement. He has been booked on attempted murder and, if found guilty, could serve up to 20 years in prison. The Capitol police, Washingtons Metro police, and several other agencies admit they are ramping up their forces for tomorrow. The protest organizers plan to meet about 7 a.m., split into three groups, and block the three automobile entrances to the Supreme Court property. DC Metro will launch a Civil Disturbance Unit tomorrow and the Capitol Police are adding overtime shifts, beefing up security, and staying in near-constant contact with local, state, and national law enforcement. THIS FROM CNN: The increased security comes as the Department of Homeland Security is warning that threats in the U.S. could become even more volatile throughout the summer and the midterm election season, fueled by election-year misinformation and potential violence surrounding a final Supreme Court opinion in a case that stands as a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade's holding of a federal constitutional right to an abortion. Capitol Police recently warned officers about an abortion-related "Shut Down SCOTUS" protest slated for Monday that's organized by the activist group ShutDownDC. Intelligence officials are particularly concerned about social media posts urging violence against abortion rights protests, according to the Capitol Police memo. "Like recent large pro-abortion rights demonstrators, counter-protestors are likely, although there are no indications of organized counter protests," the memo said. The memo notes ShutDownDC has not committed violence in the past, but instead uses nonviolent civil disobedience, which has resulted in arrests at protests. The group has also protested at the homes of members of Congress and Supreme Court justices, the memo said. The Department of Homeland Security previously warned that the impassioned abortion debate presents risks to protesters, lawmakers, Supreme Court justices and others, and it warned the threats could come from both sides of the issue. In addition to the pending abortion opinion, the Supreme Court is poised to issue a ruling in its first major Second Amendment case in more than a decade. Within hours following the leak of a draft opinion from the Supreme Court that would strike down Roe v. Wade, protests broke out at the court, and within days materialized at the homes of several justices. Security officials at the court responded by erecting a tall, non-scalable fence around the building two days after the leak. The small police department also has leaned on its law enforcement partners to help fill in the gaps in security, especially for justices. The US Marshals Service has said it is assisting. * * * You will want to follow this story. And pray everybody involved behaves. royexum@aol.com Tennessee's fairytale season ended Sunday afternoon in Knoxville with a 7-3 loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Notre Dame will advance to the College World Series at Omaha, while top-ranked Tennessee goes home. The Vols led 3-1 at the end of the sixth inning, but Notre Dame delivered a knock-out punch with a double and back-to-back home runs in the top of the seventh. After a Carter Putz double to deep center, David LaManna and Jack Brannigan hit long balls to put Notre Dame ahead 4-3. Putz had another double in the eighth to knock in two more runs. He scored later in the inning. Notre Dame won the opener, then Tennessee captured the second game in the best of three Super Regional. 90 Day Fiance fans are eager to find out if season 9 couple, Yvette Yve Arellano and Mohamed Abdelhamed will get married. Do Yve and Mohamed overcome their religious and cultural differences and walk down the aisle? Heres everything we know. Warning: This article contains spoilers for 90 Day Fiance Season 9. Mohamed and Yve, 90 Day Fiance Season 9 | TLC Yve and Mohameds 90 Day Fiance journey so far 25-year-old Mohamed started talking to 48-year-old Yve on social media. After two months of talking and falling in loved online, Yve traveled to Egypt to meet Mohamed for the first time. During their trip, Mohamed asked Yve to marry him. Despite being a devout Muslim, Mohamed gave Yve his virginity and they were intimate. Now engaged, Mohamed is moving his entire life from Egypt to New Mexico to be with Yve. Mohamed is having trouble adjusting to his new life away from his family, as well as stepping into his new role as step-dad to Yves 12-year-old special needs son, Tharan. Do Yve and Mohamed get married in 90 Day Fiance Season 9? There was some speculation that Mohamed and Yve get married. However, it was difficult to prove, until 90 Day Fiance blogger, John Yates Instagram account provided proof that Yve and Mohamed were in the same car in the United States. On June 9, @johnyates327tv posted two side-by-side photos. On the left, Yve posted a photo of herself in the front passenger seat of a car with red leather seats. In the right photo, posted to Mohameds story, shows him in the backseat of the same car with the same seats. Check out the post below: In the background of Yves photo, theres a glimpse of a blurry figure which resembles Mohamed and the green patterned shirt. The connection between these photos proves this 90 Day Fiance couple is still together. Since Mohamed is still in New Mexico, it also is proof that the couple got married within the 90 days. Relationship hurdles Yve and Mohamed have to overcome There have been many red flags in Yve and Mohameds relationship so far. So many, in fact, that many 90 Day Fiance fans were doubtful that they would even get married. It appears that this couples 23-year age gap is the least of their concerns. The biggest struggles of their relationship so far are religious and cultural differences. As a devout Muslim from Egypt, Mohameds culture requires women to dress modestly. So when he comes to the United States for the first time, there is some culture shock. Also, Yves friends dont like how controlling Mohamed is with Yve. However, Mohamed doesnt see anything wrong with telling her what to do and how to dress, regardless of her faith. Many 90 Day Fiance fans were shocked to find out that Mohamed and Yve are in fact still together. However, how they get there is going to be interesting. Fans will have to continue watching their journey to find out how they overcome their many differences and find their happily ever after ending. New episodes of 90 Day Fiance Season 9 air Sundays at 8 pm EST on TLC and to stream on discovery+. RELATED: 90 Day Fiance Fan Confirms This Controversial Season 9 Couple Is Still Together When actors shine in a particular role, its easy for them to get typecast. But most would rather avoid being assigned the same type of part repeatedly. Christopher Walken has expressed annoyance at scripts that tweak his characters to make them quirkier. The actor even coined a verb to describe the phenomenon. Christopher Walken is often pigeonholed into weird roles Christopher Walken in 2019 | STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images Walkens first few film roles included a rage-filled rebel soldier, a car-crash-craving suburbanite, and a warped Vietnam vet, Vulture reports. It didnt take long for the actor to find his type and stay there. He has gone on to play countless wackos and weirdos. A few of Walkens most notable bizarre roles: The Prophecy: Archangel Gabriel, a heavenly being who comes to Earth to seek out an evil soul. Archangel Gabriel, a heavenly being who comes to Earth to seek out an evil soul. Sleepy Hollow: Hessian Horseman, a brutal mercenary with an affinity for decapitations. The Deer Hunter: Nick Chevotarevich, a Vietnam POW whose captors drive him insane. The Deer Hunter is especially known for its brutal depiction of a game of Russian roulette. A View to Kill: Max Zorin, a super-crazy Bond villain who is a former KGB agent and the product of Nazi genetic experiments. Max Zorin, a super-crazy Bond villain who is a former KGB agent and the product of Nazi genetic experiments. True Romance: Vincenzo Coccotti, a pure evil Sicilian mobster whos ruthless in an interrogation. Typecasting irritates Christopher Walken TV tonight: The Outlaws is back but is Christopher Walken bowing out already? https://t.co/JCIY7W7nHa The Guardian (@guardian) June 5, 2022 Christopher Walken is so firmly set in his type that writers tweak scripts to accommodate his type in movies. Quite often, Ill be sent a script for a movie and I find that I like it, so I say Ill do it. But then they rewrite it for me. They make it quirky. Odd. I find that rather annoying. I call it Walkenizing,' Walken told The Guardian. He also shared an experience on a flight while sitting next to a fellow actor. I once sat next to Walter Matthau on an airplane. And for a very long time, we didnt say anything. Then, suddenly, he turned to me and said, I know who you are! Youre the guy who plays the crazy guys! You know, you got to have your feet on the ground to play crazy guys all the time, Walken recalled. Christopher Walken's quirks shine bright in comedy-thriller 'The Outlaws' https://t.co/EgnzEjNWU4 Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 1, 2022 Walken may be accustomed to playing certain a kind of character, but he isnt exclusive to them. In 2012, he starred in the movie A Late Quartet, in which he plays a part far from a neurotic hitman. He portrays a gentle cellist who faces a diagnosis of Parkinsons disease. Yes, it was different for me, Walken said of the part. I dont usually get to play fathers or grandfathers or uncles. Now that Im older, maybe I can play people closer to myself. Id like that. The actor will appear in Dune 2 News recently broke that the 79-year-old will join the cast of the highly anticipated Dune: Part Two. Walken will play Emperor Shaddam IV in the sci-fi/adventure sequel. If the director of Dune: Part Two hews close to the Dune novels, Walken wont get much screen time. In the book series, Emperor Shaddam uses House Harkonnen in his mission to destroy House Atreides. Interestingly, Walken once worked as a lion tamer, and now hell portray a powerful ruler looking to tame the opposition. Filming for Dune: Part Two will begin this fall in Hungary. Other filming locations could include sites in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The movie is set for an October 2023 U.S. release. RELATED: Christopher Walken Politely Requests Less Cowbell, According to Will Ferrell Barbeque season is here and many are looking to grill master Bobby Flay for tips on grilling the perfect meal. The famous Food Network chef and cookbook author is known for making some of the best burgers around. And on his show, Bobby Flays Barbeque Addiction, Flay shared a secret method for creating burgers with amazing flavor. This Bobby Flay burger recipe utilizes cedar planks Chef Bobby Flay attends the 25th annual Keep Memory Alive Power of Love Gala benefit for the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health honoring Smokey Robinson and Kenny Babyface Edmonds at Resorts World Las Vegas on October 16, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images) Many people are familiar with cooking fish like salmon and Chilean sea bass on cedar planks. But according to Flay, the aromatic wood also serves as a great base for grilled burgers. This recipe proves that cedar plank cooking is not just for salmon anymore, Flay suggests in his recipe for Cedar Plank Burgers via Food Network. Cooking burgers over cedar planks creates amazing flavor, infusing every bite with smoky complexity. This is a fun and creative way to serve hamburgers at your next outdoor barbecue. Bobby Flay first cooks mushrooms and onions on cedar planks On an episode of Food Networks Bobby Flays Barbeque Addiction, Flay seasons large portobello and shiitake mushroom caps and sliced sweet walla-walla onions, and brushes them with oil. He places them directly on the grill, alongside soaked cedar planks. Flay explains that toasting the cedar planks on the grill first helps bring out the natural oils and aromas of the wood. With the mushrooms, onions, and cedar on the grill, he pulls down the cover and allows them to cook. Once the veggies begin to char, Flay places them on the cedar wood and lets them soak in the flavor and aroma. Bobby Flays grilled burgers are finished on the cedar wood While his veggies are on the grill, Flay shapes burgers using a mixture of 80 percent meat and 20 percent fat. He seasons them with salt and pepper and makes a small dent in each, so they dont plump up. He then throws the burgers directly on the grill. And after cooking them for a short time, Flay places them on the cedar planks and tops them with his spicy red wine barbeque sauce, mushrooms, onions, and aged white cheddar. Bobby Flay adds a kick to his Cedar Plank Burgers with a spicy sauce To add zing to his grilled mushroom, cheddar, and onion cedar plank burgers, Flay makes a Red Wine Barbeque Sauce. For the base of the sauce, he uses ketchup, water, molasses, honey, Worcestershire sauce, and red vinegar. And to give it a spicy, southwestern kick, Flay adds Dijon mustard, brown sugar, paprika, ancho chile powder, chile de Arbol powder, and some canned chipotle chiles. He covers the sauce and lets it simmer for about half an hour. In a separate pan, Flay reduces red wine. He then adds it to the barbeque sauce and seasons with salt and pepper. The sauce is then smothered on the burgers just before serving. RELATED: 3 of Bobby Flays Most Popular Burger Recipes, According to Food Network Lauren Sorrentino showed another side of herself in the first half of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation Season 5. She lashed out at a few of her roommates during their trip to the Florida Keys. Now, the reality TV star is speaking out and addressing the edit she got in those episodes of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. Lauren Sorrentino | Instagram/MTV Jersey Shore: Family Vacation fans saw a new side of Lauren Sorrentino In The Not So International Vacation episode of JSFV, the roommates make their way to the Florida Keys with their families. Lauren and Mike The Situation Sorrentino welcomed their son Romeo in May 2021 this trip took place in October. During the episode, Mike and Lauren have a romantic dinner on the beach, then rejoin their roommates. Lauren wanted to go back to their room, tired from traveling and wanting to be with the baby. After some grief from the roommates and a less-than-short exit from Mike, Lauren lashed out. We have a f***ing five-month-old to deal with, OK? she told Vinny Guadagnino. [Hes a] 24-hours a day human so we have to go to bed. Lauren also reminded Deena Cortese: You also have a baby to go to. Im not pushing it because I brought people to take care of him, Deena replied, upset. The way you said it, I didnt like it. In another episode, Lauren and Deena go head-to-head again about the murder mystery dinner Deena organized. Believing there was really a dead body in the pool, Lauren was visibly shaken. You would be really upset [if we did this to you], Lauren told Deena. Im a terrible person, Deena said in response. Someone should put me over a fire. NBD just the fam partying on a house on stilts in the middle of the ocean. #jsfamilyvacation pic.twitter.com/3rD48dmLrA Jersey Shore (@JerseyShore) March 11, 2022 In another clip from their Florida trip, Lauren snaps her fingers to get the attention of a server and return her spicy margarita. Fans were quick to attack Lauren, who labeled the ordeal a spicy situation on social media. They referred to her actions as snobby, rude, and drama. Lauren reflects on her polarizing edit in Jersey Shore: Family Vacation Lauren takes full accountability for the way she came across in those episodes of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation Season. Remember this footage gets edited to make the show entertaining, which means most of the drama is fabricated for TV. Regardless, Lauren is grateful for the opportunity to reflect. I feel like I am lucky to be able to watch back some things, she said in the June 7 episode of the Heres the Sitch podcast. I dont wanna see so much of it, but certain things Ive learned lessons from. New Episode Alert Heres The Sitch has dropped a new episode this week. Tune in to hear all about Romeos First Birthday and what weve been up to. Listen now wherever you listen to podcasts https://t.co/wu4PwXQSuS pic.twitter.com/drOShCFNMJ Lauren Sorrentino (@lauren_pesce) June 7, 2022 I think it was extra hard for me to go through that feedback when I did because of the sensitivity of being a new mom, Lauren added. Laurens actions were out of character, so showrunners leaned into t hat narrative . This l ed many fans to call her actions polarizing. However, as she revealed on the podcast, L auren was post-partum and handling an emergency home renovation their kitchen flooded at the time of the Florida trip. Overall, she takes time to reflect on what MTV airs and learn from it, as does her husband. It was really important for me to take a step back and say, I was going through this, that was out of character for me,' she concluded. Watch new episodes of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation Season 5 on MTV beginning June 23. RELATED: Jersey Shore: Family Vacation Renewed for Season 6, Mike The Situation Sorrentino Reports Key & Peele is one of the best comedies of its time. The show satirized Americas racial tensions while simultaneously making room for hilarious sketches. Neither Jordan Peele nor Keegan-Michael Key was a household name before the show hit the airwaves. But like most overnight success stories, their journey was decades in the making. Both climbed the industry ladder before persuading Comedy Central to greenlight Key & Peele. Jordan Peele was a burgeoning comedian in the early 2000s Keegan-Michael Key (left) and Jordan Peele at the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2016 | Dan MacMedan/WireImage In a 2015 New Yorker profile about the two creators, Jordan Peele details his focused rise in the comedy world. Growing up with a single mother on Manhattans Upper West Side, he found an interest in sketch performance during a workshop at the Metropolitan Opera when he was in fifth grade. He was initially given the job of assistant stage manager, but after one of the actors called in sick, Peele filled in onstage for a few performances. As a child, he was a shy lover of genre movies and fantasy books, but the experience showed him how much he loved working in front of an audience. He enrolled at Sarah Lawrence College to study puppeteering before joining an improv troupe with his roommate and future Key & Peele writer Rebecca Drysdale. They ironically called their act Two White Guys even though they were a mixed-race man and a Jewish woman. Their troupes success led Peele to join Boom Chicago, an Amsterdam-based improv troupe, where he made his name playing Ute, a ditzy Danish supermodel. How did Key & Peele happen? Key and Peele met for the first time in 2003 when they performed at the Second City Theatre in Chicago on consecutive nights. They became friends quickly after that and worked together on Mad TV a year later. They were initially cast against each other, but their chemistry was so apparent that they combined their talents, riffing on some of the same ideas they later explored in Key & Peele. But after a few years on the show, they became frustrated with the layers of interference from producers and the general broadness of Mad TV. Peele attempted to join Saturday Night Live in 2008 but wasnt allowed because of his contract with Mad TV. He got out of his deal in 2009, and after a pilot failed to gain traction at Fox, he and Key began making plans for their own sketch show. Figuring out the fine details of the show with Comedy Central took some time. During the early stages of production, Comedy Central imagined the show as Key vs. Peele, but the duos partnership was such that they couldnt find enough topics where they disagreed enough to play off the concept. The studios first choice for directing the series dropped out, so Key and Peele suggested Peter Atencio, whom Key had known from a series they made together for MySpace. The actors have worked together since Key & Peele ended After five seasons and 53 episodes, Key & Peele ended in 2015. In the New Yorker piece, Peele describes their connection as a total brother understanding, so it makes sense they collaborated on another project soon after ending their show. In 2016, they made Keanu, which marked the first starring role in a movie for both actors and Peeles first film-writing credit. (He co-wrote the movie with Alex Rubens.) Much of Keanu feels like a Key & Peele sketch extended to the length of a feature film. It follows Rell (Peele) and Clarence (Key) as they search for the formers pet cat named for the star of The Matrix, and their quest leads them into increasingly absurd, action-movie hijinks. Thats the last live-action project the two have collaborated on, but they have brought their buddy act into two animated movies. The first was Storks, also in 2016, where Key played Alpha Wolf and Peele played his sidekick, Beta Wolf. The two have a similar dynamic in Toy Story 4. Their performances as Bunny and Ducky are essentially G-rated versions of the valet characters from Key & Peele, this time set in a carnival where they hope to be won and taken home. The actors paths have diverged since then. Key continues to act in TV series and movies, while Peele has primarily become an exciting filmmaker and producer. RELATED: Key & Peele: The Comedy Duo Once Shared the Inspiration Behind Substitute Teacher Comedy Skit Rulon Jeffs, or Uncle Rulon, served as the Prophet and President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) until he died in 2002. The story of the religious sect and its subsequent leader Warren Jeffs is documented in Netflixs four-part series, Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey. How many wives did Rulon Jeffs have? FLDS female members | Netflix How many wives did Rulon Jeffs have? Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to David Willliam Ward Jeffs, a first-generation Mormon fundamentalist, Rulon Jeffs used Jennings as a last name until age 10 to hide his familys illegal polygamous lifestyle. Raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his father introduced him to Mormon fundamentalism at the age of 28, which preached the importance of polygamy if one wanted to attain the highest level of salvation in the afterlife. .@rebecca_musser shared this pic w/ me. She and her sister-wives with their husband, #FLDS leader Rulon Jeffs. pic.twitter.com/uiZVX8wyL5 Ben Winslow (@BenWinslow) May 9, 2014 RELATED: Sister Wives: How Does Divorce Work in Polygamy? Paedon Brown Explains Already married to Zola Brown, the great-granddaughter of LDS President Brigham Young, he wholly embraced the teachings and secretly took another wife in 1940. However, Brown divorced him. After relocating to Idaho, where he worked for a few years, Jeffs returned to Salt Lake City, where he was appointed a High Priest Apostle in 1945. A student of the Mormon fundamentalist group in Short Creek, leader Leroy Sunderland Johnson, the Utah native, assumed leadership of the religious sect following his death in 1986. He remained the Prophet, affectionately referred to as Uncle Rulon, until he died in 2002 at 92. When Jeffs died, its estimated he had at least 60 wives, some as young as 14-years-old, and 60 children. Warren Jeffs took over as FLDS leader after his fathers death One of his sons, Warren Jeffs, previously served as a counselor to the FLDS church leader but assumed the Prophets role following his fathers death. He asserted his position by taking on all but two of Rulons widows as his own wives. Jeffs encouraged his followers to marry at least three women by adhering to their beliefs that polygamy or plural marriages resulted in a higher place next to God in the afterlife. (CW) As @chrislhayes notes, Tucker Carlson defended Warren Jeffs then on the FBIs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for his involvement in arranging illegal marriages between adults and underage girls. Elsewhere, Carlson defended statutory rape. pic.twitter.com/2OMA3oDolK John Whitehouse+ (@existentialfish) April 7, 2022 As Prophet, he held the sole right of assigning wives to husbands and would discipline members by reassigning their families to other men. Eventually, he relocated his flock to Eldorado, Texas, where they built the Yearning For Zion (YFZ) Ranch. The community and Jeffss practice of marrying underage women to older men were put into the spotlight, resulting in the FLDS leader going on the run. Jeffs is currently serving a life sentence in prison Financially supported by his followers who thought they were donating money to the ranch, the President reportedly visited several gentile places, including Disney World, before his arrest in August 2006. Following his conviction as an accomplice to rape, the authorities raided his temple at the YFZ compound and found records of the underage marriages he performed. In 2008, the world learned about a secretive polygamous sect inside the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey is a four-part documentary that digs deeper into the rise of self-professed prophet Warren Jeffs. Now on Netflix. pic.twitter.com/2uPnaYXSX4 Netflix (@netflix) June 8, 2022 Additionally, recordings of Jeffs reportedly assaulting the teenagers he took on as brides were discovered, leading to his 2011 conviction on two felony counts of sexual assault of a child. He was sentenced to life in prison and is still behind bars at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Jeffs becomes eligible for parole in 2038. He is said to have at least 70 wives, with 24 who are underage. Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey is streaming on Netflix. 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: Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey: How Much Time Did Warren Jeffs Get in Prison? Netflix docuseries Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey details the rise and fall of Warren Jeffs, the President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He controlled the religious sect that preached the importance of polygamy if one wanted to reach the highest level of exaltation in the afterlife. After becoming the Prophet following the death of his father, Rulon Jeffs, Warren held the sole right of assigning wives to others. The authorities eventually discovered that he married underage girls to older men and would take young brides as his own wives, some as young as 14-years-old. With the help of a couple of former FLDS members, including one of his fathers widows, they were able to find evidence that led to his 2011 conviction on counts of sexual abuse of a child. He is currently serving a life sentence behind bars. At the end of the series, a tribute to Diane Weyermann appeared on the screen. Who is she? The building where Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey subject Warren Jeffs previously lived | Netflix Why is Diane Weyermann featured in Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey? Executive Diane Weyermann is featured in a tribute at the end of Netflixs four-part docuseries, Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey. However, she wasnt a former FLDS member or had anything personally to do with those involved. RIP Diane Weyermann, the prolific producer of Oscar-winning documentaries such as AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, CITIZENFOUR, and so much more. Weyermann was also the CCO at Participant, where she helped champion projects from female filmmakers. Thanks for all you shared with us, Diane. pic.twitter.com/8p5aQjK6Bl The Black List (@theblcklst) October 15, 2021 RELATED: Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey: How Much Time Did Warren Jeffs Get in Prison? Known for creating and producing socially aware documentaries, Weyermann, a former public interest lawyer, served as an executive producer of Keep Sweet. Unfortunately, she died in October 2021. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a Lutheran minister and stay-at-home mom, Diane Weyermann attended the George Washington University, where she studied public affairs. After graduating in 1977, she went to the Saint Louis University School of Law, where she received her law degree. Diane Weyermann creates socially aware documentaries Weyermann then became a legal aid lawyer before deciding to study film, graduating in 1992 from Columbia College Chicago with a Master of Fine Arts in film and video. Following her documentary that followed seven Russian women and another about her fathers hands, Weyermann began helping others make films. Diane Weyermann, a champion of documentary & international film, has passed away. For the last three decades, Weyermann played an influential role in shaping the documentary landscape with her profound work on the Oscar-winning "An Inconvenient Truth." She will be deeply missed. pic.twitter.com/xUcpdj0Iat The Academy (@TheAcademy) October 15, 2021 She then launched her Soros Documentary Fund, which supports international documentaries that center on social justice issues, and took it to the Sundance Institute in 2002, where it fostered a supportive community for documentary creators. In 2005, the first president of eBay, Jeff Skoll, hired her for his film production company, Participant, which focuses on creating content to inspire social change. She previously worked for award-winning production company Participant Media The company has since produced or financed over 100 films and has received 73 Academy Award nominations, winning 18. For example, it won Best Picture awards for the 2018 biographical comedy-drama Green Book and 2015s drama Spotlight. It also produced An Inconvenient Truth, which revolves around former US Vice President Al Gores attempts to educate the public about global warming. I attended Diane Weyermann's memorial service yesterday. It was devastatingly sad. She is gone. But the songs and memories recounted at the NY Society of Ethical Culture! lifted up all of us. Diane's powerful spirit lives on in all those who were lucky enough to know her. pic.twitter.com/rlBTVvbOtD Alex Gibney (@alexgibneyfilm) November 12, 2021 The documentary won two Academy Awards Best Documentary Feature and Best Original song and has become the 11th highest-grossing documentary film in the country. She served as the chief content officer of Participant Media until her death due to lung cancer in October 2021 at the age of 66. Weyermann never married or had any children. Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey is streaming on Netflix. 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: Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey: Is Warren Jeffs Still Alive? TL;DR: A famous writer depicted on Sgt. Pepper was there while Paul McCartney composed The Beatles Eleanor Rigby. The writer explained why he was a fan of Eleanor Rigby. The song became a much bigger hit in the United Kingdom than it was in the United States. The Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band | SSPL/Getty Images A number of famous writers are visible on the cover of The Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. One of the writers knew Paul McCartney while he was writing The Beatles Eleanor Rigby. Subsequently, Paul revealed what the author said after he heard the classic track. Paul McCartney befriended a famous novelist during his time with The Beatles William S. Burroughs was a novelist who wrote unorthodox books. His most famous work is the novel Naked Lunch, which David Cronenberg adapted into the 1991 cult film of the same name. During a 2021 interview with The New Yorker, Paul discussed Burroughs attitude toward Eleanor Rigby. [An] early admirer of the song was William S. Burroughs, who, of course, also ended up on the cover of Sgt. Pepper, Paul recalled. He and I had met through the author Barry Miles and the Indica Bookshop, and he actually got to see the song take shape when I sometimes used the spoken-word studio that we had set up in the basement of Ringos flat in Montagu Square. William S. Burroughs | STORMI GREENER/Star Tribune via Getty Images RELATED: The Beatles Sgt. Pepper: Paul McCartney Gave Different Stories About Who Wrote This Song William S. Burroughs was impressed by the narrative of The Beatles Eleanor Rigby Paul revealed what Burroughs said after he heard the song. Eleanor Rigby ended up on the Revolver album, and for the first time we were recording songs that couldnt be replicated onstage songs like this and Tomorrow Never Knows. So Burroughs and I had hung out, and hed borrowed my reel-to-reel a few times to work on his cut-ups, Paul continued. When he got to hear the final version of Eleanor Rigby, he said he was impressed by how much narrative Id got into three verses. And it did feel like a breakthrough for me lyrically more of a serious song. RELATED: The Beatles: Paul McCartney Changed the Lyrics of Eleanor Rigby Because of His Dad How Eleanor Rigby performed on the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom Eleanor Rigby became a modest hit in the United States. The track reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for eight weeks. The song appeared on the album Revolver. The album topped the Billboard 200 for six of its 85 weeks on the chart. The Official Charts Company reports Eleanor Rigby became even more popular in the United Kingdom. There, it was No. 1 for four of its 13 weeks on the chart. Meanwhile, Revolver topped the chart for seven weeks, staying on the chart for 34 weeks altogether. Eleanor Rigby is a classic track and it even impressed Burroughs. RELATED: The Beatles Sgt. Pepper: Paul McCartney Gave Different Stories About Who Wrote This Song Moscow says the UK foreign fighters caught by DPR are not covered in the articles of the Geneve Convention. These UK nationals volunteered to fight as mercenaries, and the death sentence is legal. Britain aired its objection to the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) sentence. Still, the Kremlin rebuked the reaction of London that the captured Britons violated laws and could not be prisoners of war. London Shamed by Capture of British Mercenaries Release of a statement from the Russian foreign ministry shut down London's protest that Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, who were willing fought for Kyiv, should be treated as prisoners of war is not covered by the Geneva convention, reported RT. Another Moroccan national, Saadun Ibrahim, got the death sentence as part of the captured trio. These mercenaries were tried by a DPR supreme court and sentenced as guilty of several crimes as pro-Ukraine soldiers. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called the sentences a sham and not legitimate; the UK has been actively against Putin, citing the Press United. The Russian foreign ministry's reaction is that the UK was illogical and hysterical, considering their citizens knowingly trained their weapons on Russian soldiers. The Kremlin calls the DPR judgment correct. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated what the Kremlin thought of the situation. These individuals are mercenaries, not prisoners of war, who were intentionally sent by western nations to assist the Kyiv regime, not combatants, noted Post of Asia. Moscow stressed that London did not go through proper diplomatic channels to discuss their concerns about what happened to the UK foreign fighters' Pinner and Aslin', especially after the death sentence. Read Also: Vladimir Putin: 3 Facts You Didn't Know About Russia's President - From His Judo Records to His KGB Pseudonym Ms. Zakharova remarked that London did not talk to the DPR government about the involvement of the two UK mercenaries with Ukraine. She added that London is resorting to loud statements to address the DPR, not solve them. West Ignored the Donetsk People's Republic The DPR formed as a rebel force and was established in Ukraine's Donetsk region that did not support the 2014 armed coup in Kyiv. This region fought against the Kyiv regime that sent its forces to control Donetsk, with other rebels in the Lugansk region, they have been fighting a bloody conflict against pro-Kyiv forces that controlled parts of the DPR and LPR later. Vladimir Putin gave recognition to the breakaway republics as independent states due to the resistance of Kyiv to allowing the two regions to have full autonomy. The Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky says that his government ignored and denied a peace process to end the bloodshed. At this time, the Kremlin got information about a major offensive allowed by Zelensky to attack Donetsk and Lugansk by force, followed by the February 24 rollout that took Kyiv and the US neocons by surprise. Although the DPR said, an appeal of the death sentence could be done before the death sentence is in force by next month. An appeal for clemency can be done, said their lawyers. Moscow maintains the UK foreign fighters are not covered by the Geneva convention due to their actions, despite the UK trying to bluster the DPR tribunal, which gave the death sentence via their guilt. Related Article: Militant British National Captured in Mariupol Claims That Pro-Ukraine Soldiers Abandoned Civilian Welfare as the Russians Stormed the Port City @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Ree Drummond has always loved spending time with her kids; shes made them a big part of her Food Network show, The Pioneer Woman. Now that theyre almost all out of high school, she cherishes the times when theyre home for a visit. Drummonds daughters, Alex and Paige, have always been so close. After college, Alex moved down to Dallas, Texas, with her now-husband, Mauricio Scott. And a recent comment from Alex might suggest that her younger sibling Paige is about to follow in her footsteps. The Pioneer Woman star Ree Drummond poses in 2019 | Tyler Essary/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank Alex and Paige Drummond have a close relationship Growing up, the Drummond kids spent plenty of time together on the ranch. They were often out helping Ladd tend to the cattle, which Drummond highlighted on her show. The kids also made frequent appearances at Drummonds lodge to help her cook. Plus, they were homeschooled, so they certainly had plenty of interaction with each other that way, too. As the children got older, Paige and Alex developed an even closer bond. Once Alex moved to Dallas after college, Paige would frequently go visit her sister. And when the pandemic hit in 2020, the two daughters helped their mother film her Food Network show, since camera crews had canceled filming on location. Alex and Paige have always been each others biggest supporters, often leaving loving Instagram comments on one anothers posts. Plus, Paige was Alexs maid of honor at her wedding in May 2021. Alex Drummond just hinted that Paige Drummond is moving to Dallas The Drummond kids are growing up quickly. On May 4, Paige announced via Instagram that she had graduated from the University of Arkansas. Plenty of people commented, shocked at how fast the time flew. Alex also left a comment saying she feels so old watching her sister graduate. In another set of Instagram photos, Paige posted her graduation pictures wearing a white dress. And thats where big sister Alex might have spilled the beans that Paige is preparing to make a move to Texas. Cant wait to have u [sic] in dtown, Alex commented, seemingly referring to Dallas, where Alex and Mauricio currently live. The comment appears to suggest that Paige has plans to move to Texas now that shes done with school, though no one has confirmed the news. Paige introduced her new boyfriend to the world in 2021 Those who have watched The Pioneer Woman have also watched Paige grow up. Drummonds younger daughter also introduced a new boyfriend to social media last September, and though its unclear exactly how long theyve been dating, its at least been for the better part of a year. His name is Mitchell Adams, and he appears to be a University of Arkansas student as well. Though his age is unknown, Paige did post a photo of the two attending senior prom, so it seems that he might have recently graduated alongside her. Time will tell if Paige makes the move to be closer to her sister or if she ends up settling down near the ranch or somewhere else. RELATED: The Pioneer Woman: Ree Drummonds Daughter Paige Drummond Admits Shes Jealous of Sister Alex for 1 Hilarious Reason Satanic Temple removed from 'pride' event featuring 'unbaptisms' amid backlash The Satanic Temple was stripped from the roster of an Idaho pride event on Saturday after sponsors, who were seemingly supportive of an event that also targeted impressionable children, started bowing out amid backlash for including a group that has Satan in its name. Billed as family-friendly and sponsored by nationally and locally recognized groups the Idaho chapter of the ACLU, Citizens Climate Lobby, a local library, the state police for District 1 and the Ecumenical Catholic Communion Church the Satanic Temple Idaho (TST) participation was to include something it calls unbaptisms. According to the Pride in the Park event website, "family/childrens activity area" was part of its celebration in downtown Coeur dAlene on Saturday and lauded TST as one of its sponsors before removing the group. Screenshots posted by the LibsofTikTok account, including an Idaho Tribune headline that said sponsors were fleeing after learning that TST was involved. A TST Idaho member acknowledged in a Twitter post that organizations were removing their sponsorships in response to its inclusion. In a Facebook post advertising the event that has since been removed, TST Idaho said that its members would still be attending the event and would have merchandise for sale, be offering support to our community and performing unbaptisms for those interested! Just know, Satan loves you for you! Hail Satan! The sacrament of baptism is a rite within the Christian faith wherein believers in Jesus make a public proclamation of their faith and are submerged under the waters signifying their old life dying and being raised to newness of life in Christ. In Christian traditions that practice infant baptism, also known as paedobaptism, water is poured over the head of the child and represents the seal of Gods covenant. TST's promotion of so-called unbaptisms is reminiscent of a phenomenon that emerged several years ago in a practice known as debaptism. As The Guardian reported in 2009, in the U.K., the National Secularist Society sold certificates of debaptism for those seeking to renounce their christening and wanted something tangible to show for it. At the American Atheists Convention in 2010, Edwin Kagin, who likens religion to child abuse, performed so-called debaptism rituals for those wishing to reject the faith into which they were baptized by turning on a hairdryer labeled Reason and Truth, blowing the hot air in the persons face to symbolically dry up the baptismal waters that were once poured over their heads. More recently, Religion News Service reported in November that the phenomenon was growing in popularity in Italy, a historically Catholic nation. Though technically impossible to erase, as each baptism is a historical event, what the process of debaptism yields is the formalization of the persons open abandonment of the church. [F]or many, abandoning the church is a statement against its positions on LGBTQ rights, euthanasia, and abortion, RNS reported. The Idaho drag festivities as part of so-called pride month comes on the heels of viral footage of an event in Dallas called Drag the Kids to Pride in which children were seen giving dollars to drag performers at a nightclub. Illuminated in pink neon letters in the background was a sign that read: Its Not Gonna Lick Itself. In response, Texas state Rep. Bryan Slaton tweeted that he would put forward a bill prohibiting taking minors to such shows. Protecting our own children isnt enough, and our responsibility as lawmakers extends to the sexualization that is happening across Texas, he said. The Dallas drag show where children were seen in the audience was but one such event, however. The LibsofTikTok account was suspended and then reinstated after it exposed that numerous drag shows aimed at children were being held across the country. Critics like Slaton and others say the events are tantamount to grooming and that the shows are not appropriate for children. Pride just isnt meant for children to celebrate and be part of, especially these really young children like we were seeing in these videos that came out of the event, said Kelly Neidert, executive director of Protect Texas Kids, in an interview with The Christian Post. They have no idea what theyre involved in. They dont know what any of this means," she added. "In my opinion, a lot of these pride events, especially the drag queen stuff, is inherently sexual, and kids just shouldnt be exposed to that. This week in Christian history: SBC's conservative resurgence, Charleston shooting Throughout the extensive history of the Church, there have been numerous events of lasting significance. Each week brings anniversaries of impressive milestones, unforgettable tragedies, amazing triumphs, memorable births and notable deaths. Some of the events drawn from over 2,000 years of history might be familiar, while other happenings might be previously unknown by most people. The following pages highlight anniversaries of memorable events that occurred this week in Christian history. They include the beginning of the Southern Baptist Conventions Conservative Resurgence, the mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Charleston, South Carolina, and a group of ministers expressing concern over the Salem Witch Trials. 1 2 3 4 Next Amazon Prime streams testimony of Pulse survivors who now preach freedom in Christ for LGBT Pride Month At the launch of what some observe as LGBT pride month in America, the testimony of two Pulse survivors was released on Amazon Prime, titled More Than A Victim: The Angel Colon and Luis Ruiz Story. More Than A Victim is the exploration of Colon and Ruiz's survival of the horrific Pulse Nightclub Massacre, the emotional turmoil they endured and the miraculous way God stepped into their lives, brought them freedom from sin and redefined their identity. Colon and Ruiz are now Christian ministers who run the outreach Fearless Identity in which they help expose others in the LGBT community to the love of Jesus. The Jason Holmes-directed documentary does not bash people over the head with the Gospel message. It testifies of the transformation that took place in both Colon and Ruiz. Both young men were present at Pulse Night Club on June 12, 2016, when a gunman opened fire during Latin gay pride night and killed 49 people. Colon was shot several times and Ruiz was trampled resulting in both men being hospitalized. The film recounts their experience and features firsthand testimonies from them as well as former police officer Omar Delgado, who developed PTSD after the trauma, Florida Senator Dennis K. Baxley and others. Ruiz, a pastor's kid, said following his experience at Pulse night club, he no longer chases freedom. I chase Jesus and He is my freedom and He becomes my God," Ruiz told The Christain Post on Tuesday. "For a long time we tried this pray the gay away and we've tried all these things to pursue freedom. We'll put our faith in church and books and resources, and they're all great. But at the end of the day, they're not Jesus, they're not that intimate place where you can be free. Because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, he declared of his newfound identity. Since leaving his former lifestyle, Ruiz has dedicated his life to ministry. He is looking forward to one day experiencing the true definition of sexual relations when he finds a godly wife. "I'm now getting to understand the meaning of sex. God created sex. Sex was good. He gave it to us, something from Him. Of course, we've perverted it, he noted. I never knew sex, I've known sin. As per feedback to the faith-based documentary, Ruiz said the response on social media has been overwhelmingly surprising. "The reactions that we've been getting from this have been amazing, intense. I'm very surprised! I'm very surprised that we have not gotten any kind of backlash, he told CP. Both Colon and Ruiz are also gearing up to shoot another documentary about their full Christian transformation with former lesbian and filmmaker M.J. Nixon. The next documentary will be proceeded by a feature film. Ruiz, an Army veteran, is thanking God for the response hes getting for More Than A Victim. "I've been getting a lot of parents that have been reaching out to me and it has just given them hope. Even my own parents. My mom was in tears seeing it live on prime TV, he explained. Sitting there and seeing it on TV and hearing what I went through and even the prophetic message she gave me as soon as it started, it started with my mom's prophetic message, she started bawling, in tears. Ruiz said he and his family watched it on the anniversary of the shooting. "I've been getting a lot of people reach out to us saying thank you. All I've been getting from people, it's just put them in tears. People from my church, came up to me on Sunday and they were like, I heard your story behind the microphone, but to see it on TV and to see the news clip articles and it just coming to life with you and Angel, it just it put me in tears.' I was getting a lot of hugs, he added. Ruiz encouraged everyone who will stream More Than A Victim to review the film and help keep the movie on the mainstream streaming service. "The reviews are super vital right now because that's going to be the make it or break it, if they take it off of Amazon because of our message, he said. Ark Encounter opens virtual reality experience taking people 'back in time' to Noah's Ark The creationist theme park Ark Encounter in northern Kentucky has launched a $3 million virtual reality experience that aims to show visitors what it would be like to travel back to see Noahs Ark and the Genesis flood. The park, owned by young earth creationist organization Answers in Genesis, officially opened its first virtual reality theatre called Truth Traveler to the public on Monday with the showing of its first virtual reality show titled A Flood of Reality. It is a very high-tech experience, said Answers in Genesis CEO Ken Ham, a Christian apologist and author, in an interview with The Christian Post. The seats are the highest-tech seats you can get. When you put on the virtual reality glasses and then the program is underway, you actually feel like you are flying. While the Ark Encounter theme park doesnt have any rides, Ham said the new virtual-reality attraction makes users feel like they're on an actual ride. The program itself starts at the Ark Encounter and then takes you back in time, he said. You see them building the ark. You fly around the ark and you actually see the floodwaters and you see the ark at the end with a rainbow. You fly through the ark as well and see animals in the cages, he added. It gives you a sense of being there and experiencing it. At the end of the 11-minute virtual tour, the video shows a holographic image of Ham, who gives a Gospel presentation to the audience. It is different from some of the [other parks] you go to where you sit in the seats and you have everything on the screen, Ham explained. This is within the virtual reality glasses. It even gives you more of a virtual reality experience. To experience the virtual reality show, visitors need to purchase a timed ticket for $14.99 as an extra cost on top of the parks admission fee. Ham said the added cost to participate in the Truth Traveler experience is to help offset the cost of construction and development, which was funded by an outside supporter of Answers in Genesis. It was a supporter who is a businessman who funded all this, which is why there is actually an upcharge for it because we are paying back the construction cost and all the rest of it, Ham said. It is a $3 million experience. The Ark Encounter worked with the owner of a company called Virtual Truth Experiences, who is passionate about utilizing VRs potential to share biblical truth. The organization also engaged two leading virtual reality experience companies to develop the interactive program. Those companies are MediaMation, which made the special motion seats; and Groove Jones, which created the programs animation and technology structure. The animation is based on a script provided by Ark Encounter staff. The virtual reality attraction is housed inside a new building on the parks campus. While A Flood of Reality is the first show to be presented at the new Truth Traveler attraction, Ham said they plan to create more virtual reality shows in the future. It just costs a lot to get one show going and working. We plan on doing future shows as well, he said. It costs like $1 million or more to do programming for a show and everything else. Ham said that Answers in Genesis was approached about 18 months ago about the idea of virtual reality experience. In all, he said it took about 12 months to complete the project. In between uses, the Ark Encounter has a special clearing apparatus that sanitizes the virtual reality glasses. Additionally, the seats are cleaned between each use. We are very diligent about it, Ham said. The Ark Encounter, which initially opened in 2016, reopened in June after shutting down during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. While the park has seen some reduction in attendance since its reopening, Ham said the Ark Encounter has fared well compared to a lot of other amusement parks around the country. [There are] days where we are up to 70% or 80% of last years attendance, he said. The Ark Encounters sister attraction, Answers in Genesis Creation Museum just down the road in Petersburg, Kentucky, has also added exhibits, which include a $1.2 million planetarium that uses laser projection. Both the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum are following a 45-page COVID-19 preparedness plan to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, such as temperature tests of staff and regular cleaning of facilities. Creation Museum launches 'most powerful pro-life exhibit in the world' The Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, has launched a groundbreaking new pro-life exhibit addressing the question: When does human life begin? The $1.2 million exhibit, titled Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, opened Sept. 25 and features life-like models depicting a babys development in the womb, 4D ultrasound videos, and biblical and scientific evidence that human life begins at fertilization. Creation Museum CEO Ken Ham told The Christian Post that he, along with the staff at Answers in Genesis, the ministry behind the museum, wanted to build a pro-life exhibit that would impact people from all walks of life. As a ministry, we're all about biblical authority and a Christian worldview, he said. Abortion is one of the key social issues of today, and we knew it would be an even bigger political issue this year because of the election. We wanted to make something that was powerful and stunning and would help people be more informed about this issue. The name of the exhibit, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, comes from a phrase in Psalm 139:14: I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. The Bible is clear that all humans are made in the image of God and have inherent value and worth, Ham said. We go through the biblical relevance of all of that. The exhibit not only focuses on what the Bible says about life, but also examines the science behind genetics, human reproduction, and sperm and egg fertilization. It offers evidence that an unborn baby is not merely an extension of a woman's body, but a unique individual. We explain that scientifically at fertilization you have a unique combination of information for both mother and father, Ham said. In other words, you are not just a part of a womans body. You are scientifically a unique individual at fertilization. The research and text for the exhibit was overseen by AiGs anatomist, David Menton, Ph.D., who served as an award-winning professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis for 34 years. Visually, the exhibit is exquisite, Ham said. With the models on display, guests can see how the baby develops over the nine-month period, along with 4D footage of babies growing in the womb. Associated signs present the biblical and scientific evidence that life begins at fertilization. The models, Ham said, are breathtaking. Our artists and designers couldn't find models that were anywhere near the quality that we wanted, so they used computer programs to design models from a fertilized egg all the way through to a baby, Ham said. Each stage corresponds with certain aspects of human development such as when the heartbeat starts, when the fingerprints appear, and so on, all the way through to a baby just before birth. The exhibit also deals with difficult issues like miscarriage and abortion, reminding attendees that Gods love covers pain, sorrow, and guilt. As part of the exhibit, the Creation Museum provides resources to pregnancy and counseling centers and adoption. We explain that abortion is killing a human being made in the image of God, and that it certainly is against God's Word, Ham said. We explain the reality of what a child is, scientifically and biblically. Yet, the exhibit stresses hope, he said, adding: We focus on Gods love and forgiveness, and thats important. We give viewers an understanding that God is a God who forgives, and He's a God of love so that they can be assured of that. It's a very positive exhibit. Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, he stressed, is not an anti-abortion exhibit. We do take a stand against abortion, but the exhibit really focuses on the biblical relevance that were fearfully and wonderfully made and details from the Bible, what God's Word says about humanity, and how humans are made in God's image, he explained. Its not attacking anyone, but we do deal with the reality of what abortion is. Fearfully and Wonderfully Made is phase one of a two-part exhibit, Ham said. Currently, designers are building a much bigger exhibit with a lot more information, including the incredible design of the placenta and other aspects many people arent aware of. Theres going to be a lot more information coming when we get phase two done, he said. But I believe personally, 'Fearfully and Wonderfully Made' is the most powerful pro-life exhibit in the world. Ham added that in an election season and with President Trump's nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court the issue of abortion has become pretty emotional for many people. I would like to see this exhibit have an impact in regard to that, he said. I hope people will see it and become more informed and educated and know how to talk about this issue. Its a very timely exhibit. I hope it will be used to speak into this issue in our culture. Former trans-identified man slams suicide narrative in Netflix film Pray Away: 'Not the truth' In the new Netflix film Pray Away, corporate media and LGBT activists slam the idea that it's possible for people to leave that lifestyle to follow Christ. One man who once lived as a transgender woman is standing in the gap to declare that he found true freedom through a relationship with Jesus. Pray Away centers around former leaders and followers of the ex-gay movement who used conversion therapy and faith to discourage people from leading same-sex lifestyles. Since then, the individuals featured in the film have renounced their past thinking and now openly affirm the LGBT community. Contrasting such individuals is McCall, who is featured in the film as the minority voice who declares that Jesus transformed him and hes not turning back to what he believes is a life of sin. I think that it's definitely possible for there to be transformation in people's lives and I think that it's something the Holy Spirit does," McCall, founder of the Freedom March, told The Christian Post in an interview following the premiere of the film. "People also need to be reminded that the Gospel is not just praying that something just leaves you forever, and you never deal with that temptation again. Jesus said, 'If you want to follow me, you will pick up your cross, deny yourself' and follow Him. So I think that it's way deeper than just prayer and wanting everything to change. I think it's a surrender to Him. 'This was me' The film opens with McCall in his hometown in Georgia asking if people need prayer. He then shares his testimony with those who stop to talk to him. This was me, he is heard saying while showing shoppers a photo of himself dressed as a woman. I lived transgender. Drugs, alcohol, homosexuality I was really deep in sin, and I left everything to follow the Lord. The film goes on to share the stories of those who were once a part of the ex-gay movement in the 90s. These include Michael Busse, co-founder of Exodus International, an organization founded in 1976 that preached that sexual orientation could be changed; former Family Research Council spokeswoman Yvette Cantu; and John Paulk, who was once considered the face for the former homosexual movement. Paulk and his wife at the time, Anne, were once featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine in 1998 to highlight their change. Paulk later also joined Exodus International, which disbanded in 2013. The film also features a woman named Julia Rogers, who marries a woman in a church at the end of the film. Rogers used to be a part of the now-defunct Exodus International along with another featured speaker in the movie, Randy Thomas, who is now engaged to a man. Because of the movies overtly pro-gay message, the secular media is equating McCalls "freedom marches" with conversion therapy. However, McCall says Freedom March is meant to share testimonies of transformation in Christ while equipping the body of Christ to deal with the LGBT community and offer a safe place for same-sex attracted individuals to come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. With Freedom March and what the new current movement is doing is more about wanting to see people born again, wanting to see an internal spiritual transformation, McCall said. "Later on, yes, that affects things we do and our actions, but I think that we're more focused on the spiritual transformation instead of like rules and obligations. When approached by director Kristine Stolakis to be a part of the film, McCall said it was really organic. Stolakis sought to investigate the movement because her late uncle, who she described as a second dad, was a conversion therapy survivor. "We were actually in Los Angeles, California, having our Freedom March in November of 2018 and [Stolakis] reached out and she asked if she could film the Freedom March. I told her that she could, he revealed. "It grew from there, where she asked if she could come to my hometown in Georgia and film me ministering. Then, they came in started filming me speaking at churches, and then they came and filmed my book signing. They just came and filmed a lot of things, and just worked it into the story, the For Such A Time author continued. However, Gabriel Pagan, an associate pastor at Love Revolution Church in Columbus, Georgia, who also serves as an armor-bearer for McCall during the marches, said he felt the production team of Pray Away were not honest about their intentions of filming McCall and their team. Filmmakers said they wanted to film the documentary, but they never pitched it in that way, Pagan told CP. He said filmmakers never revealed their intention to highlight the idea that telling people they could be free from a lifestyle of homosexuality leads to suicide. "It was just interesting that there's nobody [in the film] who's like, 'Hey, I used to be in the lifestyle, I left. I'm not suicidal. I'm happy. I might get temptation, but I'm actually happier now. I'm not as obsessive. I'm not as narcissistic and focused on my image. There are not multiple viewpoints, it's just one, Pagan, a former homosexual himself who found freedom in Christ, noted. Though McCall and his team were shown in the film, none of them were asked to respond to the film's pervasive narrative. "I don't mind being in the film. But it feels manipulative to play like weird background music as if I'm in a cult, Pagan stated. I wouldn't just immediately put on like gay bop or something [to show] 'Oh, wow, these guys are extra LGBTQ.' It just felt like, obviously, there's an agenda. But if you're for equality and for different viewpoints, you don't have to enhance or monopolize, or go above and beyond to make somebody that you disagree with look evil. And this definitely demonized people more than it brought any kind of reconciliation. McCall said the filmmaker told him that there "were people that didn't really want to show his side," adding: "But she felt it was essential if they're going to share those stories to share about the current former LGBTQ movement. After watching the film a few times, McCall stated that he feels like in these former ministries the goal was, 'You need to become straight and heterosexual you need to get married and have children and you need to dress like this and you need to look like this. However, he stressed his message to the LGBT community is more about transformation in the heart through Jesus Christ. With the exception of McCall, Pagan pointed out that, "if you look at the documentary almost nobody talks about their own personal relationship with God outside of getting what they wanted." "So everybody in the documentary talked about themselves," Pagan remarked. "Jeffrey is the only one who was like, 'Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.' McCall also took issue with the fact that Pray Away highlights current Christian churches that openly affirm the gay, lesbian and transgender lifestyles. "I just think there's a huge difference [between] following Jesus, or when you just know about Jesus, McCall contended. "I think having an intimate relationship with Him, knowing what He wants for you and just obeying Him, it's just such a difference from knowing about Jesus as this historically good-man-figure that you like some of the stuff He says, but you don't listen to all of what He says. So I think there's a clear-cut line drawn in the sand of people that really know Him and follow Him and obey Him and people that just know about Him. 'I just chose to follow Him' Pagan said he never had any Christian guidance, let alone conversion therapy, when he chose to surrender to God. I just chose to follow Him. I didn't have anybody telling me, 'This is what it looks like.' Nobody around me had had my experience. I was the only person in my church who had what I had and I didn't even talk to anybody, except my pastor, until I started sharing my testimony, Pagan said. The only reason I became vocal about it is because so many people, after I shared my story, were like, I'm struggling, I'm married, and I'm struggling, how do I deal with this? Pagan argues that the documentary pegs Freedom March as just bad pseudo therapy. But the movement is the opposite, he said. Rather, it is a community that brings people together who were always in need of connection but sought out sinful practices to get them. The Netflix documentary highlights a phone conversation McCall had with a woman who revealed her 20-year-old child is now transgender. He warns the concerned parent there is a spirit that wants parents to bow to misgendering their own children. "I definitely explained to the mother that there's a spiritual side of the transgender part that she was addressing, that wants the person to want other people to bow down to it, McCall detailed. "There's actually spirits behind this deception, and they want to push you into calling that person something that they're not. There's definitely a spiritual oppression that comes on people. "It's almost like a crime now to misgender somebody, but somebody in the gay community can tell me I'm gay and misaligned my sexual identity because they have pain from religion or a church, Pagan added. I know it's projection. I know it's anger. The minister revealed that several people online have accused him of faking his deliverance from homosexuality, but stressed that he's "not making money" in being vocal about his freedom. But at the same time, I met Jesus, He didn't make me do a mantra over my body until my genitals responded a certain way," he detailed. "He didn't make me do anything weird. I just felt His presence. He said He had a plan for my life. He said He loved me, that He was always with me. I asked Him where I was when I was molested. He showed me, He gave me the heart for somebody who hurt me. He asked me, would I be willing to give Him everything? To that question, Pagan said he responded, Sure. "Why is it okay for you to step on my relationship with God? Why is it okay to literally tell somebody who they aren't just because you disagree with them? Like, isn't that what you get offended [by]? he questioned his critics. Freedom March to host intercessory weekend of testimonies, prayer for revival among LGBT across the US A movement of men and women who once lived and identified as LGBT will be hosting an intercessory prayer next weekend amid an uptick of people reaching out to them saying they, too, want to follow Jesus. Jeffrey McCall, the co-founder of the Freedom March, said in an interview with The Christian Post on Friday that while they originally hoped to hold a rally in the Atlanta, Georgia, as they have done previously in other major U.S. cities the first one being in Washington, D.C., in the spring of 2018 they were unable to obtain the necessary permits. Instead, they will be hosting a prayer and testimony event for those who've left homosexual and transgender identities behind and tell of their newfound freedom in Christ. McCall has been hearing from increasing numbers of people, complete strangers, who've managed to find the Freedom March online and reach out to express their desire to deny themselves and walk in obedience with the Lord with regard to their sexuality. "Probably around June or July we started, both in the Freedom March email inbox and in my ministry, For Such a Time, hearing from people that we did not know, saying that they wanted to leave the LGBTQ lifestyle. Several of them said they had supernatural encounters with God and they heard the Lord speak Scriptures to them. Others just heard Him say 'Leave the life,'" McCall told CP. "We've had the most activity that I've ever seen in my years of ministry," he said, estimating that there has been a 70% increase in correspondence. The event, which is being called Freedom Family Weekend, will be held at New Bridge Church in Lawrenceville, Georgia, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Oct. 16 and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 17. Freedom Family Weekend will be open to the public, particularly those with an interest in interceding for revival among LGBT-identified people. It will also be live-streamed on Facebook. McCall believes the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to this notable rise in interest. "I believe that the coronavirus has been this season of so much chaos and turmoil in this country and it has driven people to just question things, to take an evaluation of our own lives and to realize that with all that's going on in the United States of America that there is way more to life than what they previously thought," he continued. McCall said he was buoyed by a recent prophetic word that was given by Kent Christmas, founding pastor of Regeneration Nashville, at The Return, an intercessory prayer and repentance event that was held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 26. In that message, Christmas said a great revival was coming soon, and that part of it was God moving among the homosexual community and setting them free by the Spirit of God. "I was so excited when I saw it because it correlated with so much of what I'm seeing. People can say things are going to happen all day long, but when someone is saying that something is happening and you're seeing it happen, and hardly anyone knows because they don't know about what's going on in the LBGTQ community. It was amazing to see because it was the Holy Spirit speaking through him what has already begun. It's already started," he said. In addition to sharing testimonies, the weekend will focus heavily on intercession for the nation, praying specifically that the veils of deception be lifted from those within the LGBT community and for those who've left that life behind to be strengthened and walk in faithfulness, McCall said. "The main thing we want to do over everything is to uplift the name of Jesus Christ and what His sacrifice did and that we honor Him. That's our main objective. Seeing the war in the heavenlies shift, and seeing the power of God lifted up and what this can do. Because the Bible says that they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony," he said, referencing Revelation 12:11. "One of the things that is happening in the United States right now is an open clash of good versus evil. We're seeing it in politics. We're seeing it in churches. It's clashing publicly. And so with the coronavirus and all the things going on in our country in so many different spheres, the clash of good and evil is stirring up people's hearts. And when good and evil is battling all around you it makes you draw a line and people are either going to have to step on side of the line of truth and grace and righteousness or they're stepping on the side of lies, deception, falsehood and sin. It's time for people to wake up," he said. Last spring during his quiet time he sensed the Lord say to him that "the days of not standing up for righteousness are over." "And when He said that I knew He wasn't talking about the world but the Body of Christ. This business of sitting on the fence, not saying anything, those days are over. That's not what God is going to have before Jesus Christ returns. So I think it's about making righteousness brighter." U.S. sanctions detrimental to Iran's health care system: envoy Xinhua) 10:12, June 12, 2022 TEHRAN, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Iran's envoy said that U.S. sanctions have adversely affected the health care system of the Islamic republic, Press TV reported on Saturday. Zahra Ershadi, Iran's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said Friday at a UN General Assembly session on HIV and AIDS that "regretfully, unilateral coercive measures, including unilateral economic, financial and banking sanctions against Iran, have seriously violated the right of access to health care for Iranians, and those facing HIV-related problems are directly suffering from this situation." The sanctions have blocked the ordinary channels of international cooperation and hindered the Iranian patients' timely and effective access to medicine and medical equipment, she was quoted as saying. The official called for "immediate and practical steps" of international community to remove corresponding barriers caused by the U.S. sanctions. Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with the world powers in July 2015, agreeing to put some curbs on its nuclear program in return for the removal of the U.S.-led sanctions. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to reduce some of its nuclear commitments under the JCPOA. Iran has denounced the sanction pressures as an act of "economic war" which affects the health care system of the country. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji) Scientists discovered a bipedal dinosaur armed with massive sword-like claws that lived millions of years ago. The creature lived in the cretaceous period in the Asian continent, where it roamed, using its claws to slash vegetation instead of killing prey. Fossil Reveals Dinosaur Not Carnivore It is part of a dino group called therizinosaurs which ate plants and were three-toed from 145 to 66 million years ago, reported Science Alert. Researchers from Japan and United States stated it is the youngest therizinosaur fossil in Japan. The fossil is the first from Asian marine sediments. They call it a new species, and its given name is Paralitherizinosaurus japonicus, which means in Greek and Latin 'reptile by the sea' after found in Japan, cited Livescience. This fossil has a hooked shape and includes a partial vertebra and a partial wrist and forefoot, discovered by another group of researchers in 2008. It was later kept in the collections of Nakagawa Museum of Natural History in Hokkaido, Japan. In Nakagawa district, Hokkaido is found in the northern part of Japan's main islands and is known for abundant fossil deposits. The ancient fossil was in a concretion that is a hardened mineral deposit when it was found, and paleontologists said it was a therizinosaur. Due to scarce fossils, the discoverers had no way to know, according to the Hokkaido University statement. Other newer fossils of this bipedal dinosaur describe it had made it easier to identify the forefoot claw, which led to a new study. The massive sword-like claws are unique adaptations that make it very different. Read also: NASA Hubble Image Shows Stunning View of Farthest Star Seen; Is it Also the Oldest? The new study's authors went through the evidence and decided the fossil smaller than 4 inches long belongs to the dinosaur discovered, which lived about 80 million to 82 million years ago. The foot bone is where the claw was connected and used like a sickle for cutting plants. Researchers' New Discoveries The claw used for a definite purpose is a derived therizinosaur that evolved later, not a basal or early example with claws for generalized, not the specific use. Lead author Anthony Fiorillo, affiliated with Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, says the claws are for foraging and bringing food closer to its mouth, not for aggression. He added that when it died, it ended up in the sea. The study concludes that this menacing herbivore is spread out in Asia and North America, specifically in the Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska. These dinosaurs adapted to coastal environments. Scientists found another set of therizinosaur fossils, not described yet for now. Fiorillo told Live Science that the specimen could not determine how big these ancient reptiles were. The University of California Museum of Paleontology added that the dinosaur is enormous and similar to a hadrosaur in size, which can be 30 feet long and weigh 3 tons. Also, the fossil is preserved well, and more parts could be found at the original site. Paralitherizinosaurus japonicus, a bipedal dinosaur with massive sword-like claws, is discovered in Japan, opening a new chapter in how scientists will know more about this unique dinosaur. Related Article: Paleontologists Discover Largest Carnivorous Dinosaur That Existed During the Cretaceous in Europe @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. God is unifying Body of Christ in ministry to LGBT people, Freedom March leaders say WASHINGTON Declaring their testimonies of how Jesus has transformed their lives, formerly LGBT-identified young men and women gathered in Washington, D.C., Saturday for the Freedom March. Gathered at the Sylvan Theater next to the Washington Monument for what has become an annual event in the nation's capital, the hosts of the march continue to see the Holy Spirit doing remarkable work in the lives of people who reach out to them. Under mostly cloudy skies Saturday afternoon, Luis Javier Ruiz, a co-founder of the Freedom March and a survivor of the 2016 terrorist attack at the Pulse gay nightclub, recounted how the National Park Service had double-booked the Freedom March with another group called the Foundation for Creative Cultural Expression, an LGBT pride group. Though the double-booking was an accident on the part of the Park Service, Ruiz regarded it as a strategic God-move. A group of overcomers, free from the LGBT identity, now coming into a place where everybody here was for gay pride. I just love seeing the hand of God. Sometimes church is just too churched. This is part of evangelism, to bring people out so everyone can hear the Gospel, Ruiz said in an interview with The Christian Post. Live-streamed online to thousands and attended by 100 people, the ecumenical Christian event featured joyous worship music, prayer and the declaration of testimonies from those who once lived and identified as LGBT. Some described traumatic experiences from childhood and wounds from relationships that contributed to confusion about their bodies and sexuality. One man who shared from the podium described how he was sexually abused as a young child and was even trafficked. Through Christ, he was able to transform his life and he's now married to a woman. Though statistics from reputable surveys have shown that many young people have fallen away from their faith what some call "The Great Falling Away" Ruiz believes God continues to be at work, drawing people into His family. What I love about this is that there are Baptists, Pentecostals, Catholics, all types of people coming together in the name of Jesus, saying that change is not only possible, but its real through Jesus. I get excited when I see an Adventist brother, a Church of God brother it brings me so much joy to how the Lord is unifying the Body of Christ. Jeffrey McCall, who founded the Freedom March, said he's amazed by how the Lord is stirring among younger people. Since 2018, when the first march took place, their growing tribe of formerly LGBT-identified people has become especially close. We call each other, do Bible studies together, encourage each other it has built a family, and its a young family, McCall told CP. McCall, who once lived as a trans-identified person named Scarlet and led a promiscuous homosexual lifestyle before encountering the Holy Spirit, said after he found Christ, he threw all of his women's clothing and makeup into a dumpster. In the past five years, he's observed how transgenderism and gender identity has consumed nearly everything, even among the LGBT groups. But he believes God is moving supernaturally and changing the minds of people. We were warned thousands of years ago [in Scripture] that the world is going to get darker, and so we have to be that light, McCall said. He added that while praying, he sensed God speak to Him about how the enemy mobilizes large groups to carry out his will, but the Lord can use a small remnant of people to execute His plans. Sharing the story of Gideon, whose army of 300 men defeated the Midianites in the book of Judges, he said of the Freedom March: Were a small remnant doing the Lords will. Kim Zember, a board member of Freedom March, senses that the Holy Spirit has been drawing more people to hear about how Christ has transformed them and said churches are starting to do a better job of reaching people who identify as LGBT. As confusion is spreading throughout the nation and the world, not just within the LGBT community, but really just as a whole, people are seeking. Asked to describe what she sees God doing among the LGBT community and the Freedom March tribe, she replied: To love His children back to His heart. She believes that a later shift has taken place within many churches. Until recently, Zember recounted that the moment she went to a church she was going to be told that what she was doing was wrong. But I already knew that, but how do I walk this out? Ive seen a massive growth within the Church desiring to be taught too. Leaders are saying: 'Can you help us?' "This is not rewriting the Bible," she assured. "This is How can we walk with you? The Scripture says to bear one anothers burdens, not fix one anothers burdens. And so the Church is learning to bear one anothers burdens as we learn to do the same. Thats never celebrating sin, thats never condoning sin. Its bearing burdens because we know that when there is a heaviness that comes were supposed to bear that together." McCall has long said that the march was partly inspired by the passage in Colossians 2:15 wherein the Apostle Paul explained how Jesus made a public spectacle of [the demonic powers and principalities], triumphing over them by the cross. In that same vein, following the worship and testimonies from the stage, those gathered marched from the Sylvan Theater and looped the reflecting pool near the Lincoln Memorial. World Evangelical Alliance dedicates 'Philadelphia House' at New York Evangelical Center The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), representing more than 600 million evangelicals in 143 nations, is celebrating the importance of brotherly love among the body of Christ with a new office building at the Evangelical Center in New York. The new "Philadelphia House" is based on the 3,300-acre property belonging to World Olivet Assembly and Olivet University, located about 70 miles north of New York City. Inaugurated in 2016, the Evangelical Center has provided space for WEA offices, meetings and trainings. While the WEA has had offices in London and Singapore, the Philadelphia House marks the first time in this century that it has its own building not shared with other institutions, according to WEA Secretary General Bishop Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher. Preaching about the letter to the church in Philadelphia in Revelation 3:7-10, Schirrmacher delivered a message Monday at the building's dedication ceremony. He spoke of the importance of believing in Jesus Christ and revealing one's faith in the deeds of everyday life that follow God's Word. Schirrmacher told The Christian Post via email that the Philadelphia House is more than simply a building. "Philadelphia House is the symbol of a growing focus of WEA on helping its members, the national evangelical alliances, which needs a growing number of staff people to reach out to them with our many different ministries," said Schirrmacher. A number of departments will be housed in the Philadelphia House, including WEA's communications and financial departments and fundraising efforts for national and regional ministries. The dedication service for the WEA's new office space this week coincided with a visit by the Communion of Churches in Korea (CCIK), WEA's national member body in South Korea, to discuss closer cooperation between the Korean Church and the global body of evangelicals. Schirrmacher met with the Rev. Joseph Kim, the first president of CCIK; current CCIK President Rev. Taeseop Song and CCIK General Secretary Rev. Kwisoo Choi to discuss strengthening ties between the churches in Korea and the global evangelical family. "As the WEA, we are very pleased to have CCIK as our national member body that seeks to fulfill the same purpose that the WEA was founded for in 1846: to unite evangelicals across different denominations for prayer, sharing the gospel, standing up for religious freedom for all, and responding to the needs in society," Schirrmacher said. Since 2016, the WEA Evangelical Center has served its 600 million evangelical constituents, joining the Vatican in Rome and the Ecumenical Center in Geneva as one of three main centers for Christianity in the world. Featuring a chapel, residential halls, office buildings, classrooms, auditoriums and a cafeteria, the Evangelical Center replaced WEA's former Evangelical Center that opened in Binghamton, New York, in 2010. Behind the recall in San Francisco: A failed socialist youth rehabilitation program The recently recalled District Attorney Chesa Boudin and the successful recall of three socialist-leaning members of the San Francisco elected public-school board show that SF voters realize socialism doesn't work in practice. I never thought I would say this but I applaud SF voters, who threw out three socialist-leaning school board members weeks ago and a socialist DA this week. Based on this weeks successful recall vote, SFs voters are saying: We have buyers remorse after the election. Socialism sounded good on paper, but it didnt work for us. Socialist promises were appealing before the election but life under socialist governance is horrible. Where did the DA go wrong? Chesa Boudin's high-profile failure stems from his thought that he could rehabilitate criminally-minded youth by letting them loose after each criminal incident without bail, without jail time, and without a criminal charge. In the process, he frustrated the police, who arrested the law breakers and were faced with arresting them again and again after repeated crimes. His policies appear to assume that being nice to criminals would change them and end their life of crime. The reality defied his assumptions. If people are not held accountable for their crimes, why would they change their criminal conduct? A DA is expected to hold people accountable that is the DAs job description. After the DA recall, San Francisco Mayor London Breed was quoted as saying, voters are really frustrated about a lack of accountability for crimes being committed in San Francisco... But if Boudin's criminal justice policies didn't work, what other options do we have? The true rehabilitation of the criminally minded After Boudin was voted out, I spoke to a pastor friend in Philadelphia who was a former police officer. I asked his opinion about San Franciscos recalled DA and his be nice methods to rehabilitate young criminals, which backfired. The former police officer was clear in his answer, one needs a change of heart before quitting a life of crime. He has seen it as a police officer and as a pastor for decades. The truth is, to rehabilitate youths who are committing crimes, one must seek a change of hearts and minds. Faith-based ministries rehabilitate errant youth by conveying the following: The need for confessing sin and criminal conduct in ones past. The need for repentance. The need for seeking Gods forgiveness for past sins and crimes through Jesus Christ. The need for living a life consistent with the promise of eternal life through faith in God and His mercy and grace. There is no substitute for faith-based solutions for rehabilitating youth engaged in repeated crimes. Cities must seek help and programs from churches and pastors. In addition, cities engaged in true rehabilitation of youths must seek policies that will keep families together and end fatherlessness. Looking into your soul at the cross You have looked at your body thousands of times over the years, but how often do you take a good long look into your soul? How would one even go about doing such a thing? When your eyes look in a mirror, you see a reflection of your physical appearance. And when your mind is presented with the message of the cross, your response to the Gospel reflects the condition of your soul. Here is how it works. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). The apostle who penned those words spoke with experience having lived on both sides of the fence. Saul of Tarsus hated Christians and despised the message of the cross. After his conversion, however, Saul was named Paul and became an apostle who faithfully served Jesus. Faith in Christ led Paul to write, May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:14). When your spirit is dead, the message of the cross seems foolish and means nothing to you. When your spirit is alive, you view the cross with deep appreciation as your lifeline to forgiveness and eternal salvation in Heaven. A person is saved, redeemed, justified, born again and forgiven through faith in Christ, and the message of the cross instantly becomes the power of God in your life the moment you are converted. Dont look for truth by examining your feelings; instead, look to the cross and believe the good news. Jerry Bridges said, If we want proof of Gods love for us, then we must look first at the cross where God offered up his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Calvary is the one objective, absolute, irrefutable proof of Gods love for us. Do you cherish the cross as the ultimate demonstration of how much God loves you, or is the cross of Christ not even on your radar? Do you adore your Savior who endured excruciating agony to pay for your sins, or is the cross nothing more than a religious symbol to you that carries little or no meaning? Martin Luther said, Is it not wonderful news to believe that salvation lies outside ourselves? If you desire to be saved and forgiven of your sins, dont look inside yourself; look outside yourself to the cross where Jesus paid the full price for your sins. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2). Billy Graham said, God proved his love on the cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, I love you. God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from Gods wrath through him! (Romans 5:8,9). Either your body became a temple of the Holy Spirit the moment you trusted Jesus to forgive your sins, or you remain lost in your sins and in desperate need of spiritual conversion. Jesus said, I tell you the truth, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). Have you been born again at the cross? Do you view the crucifixion of Christ with apathy, or do you rely upon the cross for the forgiveness of your sins and a fantastic future in Paradise? (Revelation 2:7). Until you embrace the cross as the payment for your sins, your soul will remain lost and separated from God. And as long as you keep trying to earn your way to Heaven by your deeds, you will never get there. All who rely on observing the Law are under a curse (Galatians 3:10). A common trait among those heading in the wrong direction is that they seem oblivious to the horror that awaits them when they die (Matthew 13:37-43). That is unless they repent and believe the good news (Mark 1:15) as Jesus declared in His first sermon. And the most widely-known statement Jesus ever made was the good news of the Gospel presented in John 3:16: God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. Phillips Brooks said, Love was compressed for all history in that lonely figure on the cross, who said that he could call down angels at any moment on a rescue mission, but chose not to because of us. At Calvary, God accepted his own unbreakable terms of justice. In order to look into your soul today, you will need to look back 2,000 years to the cross where Jesus of Nazareth was crucified. Do you believe Jesus is your Savior who shed his blood to rescue you from sin and death? And if not, will you place your faith in Jesus? Will you come to Christ today and believe in the One who was sacrificed for your sins? God calls people to faith in the cross and faith in his Son. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart (Hebrews 3:7). God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe (1 Corinthians 1:21). Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God (1 Peter 3:18). When you look at yourself in the mirror, remember the most important part of you is invisible. Your soul is immortal. It is the real you. So what do you see when you look into your soul at the cross? What Christians should do to prevail in this perilous time There is no doubt that we are living in the perilous time. We cannot pray away or wish away this time. Understanding the time and season will help us to navigate through this period and remain steadfast. So many of us have been hoping that this season will pass away but the ugly scenarios associated with the eschatological era continue apace. It takes spiritual know-how and wisdom to understand the times. This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, un-thankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despiser of those that are good. Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away (1 Timothy 3:1-5). The vices associated with this perilous time are evident everywhere. There is now a high degree of moral decadence and apostasy. The world has permeated the Church and the love for God has waxed cold while worshipers of God are now searching for pleasurable things and moments. There are now cosmetic form of godliness in our churches with a glaring absence of the power of God. Christians should be conscious that every single day gets us closer to the end of time and the second coming of Christ. We should be aware and more conscious of the warnings and specifically take note of the conditions associated with this eschatological perilous time and stay away from such as advocated by Paul to Timothy (1 Timothy 3:5). Avoiding people and environments manifesting the wickedness of our times will go a long way in helping us navigate and prevail in a time like this. The widespread deception going on in the Church these days is alarming, and the emergence of numerous false prophets has made it possible for even the elects of God to be deceived. God is calling His people. For us to prevail in a time like this, we must recognize the operation of false religious systems in our worship and avoid worldly schemes like a rattlesnake. Every Christians should be prepared to face challenges and difficulties. This is not a time to fantasize, this is a season in which we must be vigilant. It is important to note that obedience to Gods commands is a sure way of prevailing. And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Mathew 24:14). And he said unto them, go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). All the signs of the end time have been fulfilled except that the Gospel of the Kingdom has not reached all nations. Believers must be ready to finish the task of world evangelization. There is no time more suitable than now and keeping ourselves busy with this task will galvanize and strengthen us to navigate through the dangers, tragedies and difficulties of these dark days. Spreading the Gospel to all nations should be of a top priority to every believer. In the last days, it is not only wickedness and disasters that will increase. It is important to recognize the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the eschatological era. In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams (Acts 2:17). Every Christian should expect the outpouring of the spirit of God on all flesh in this last days. We should covet this privilege of being led by the Spirit of God. If we are to prevail in the world, we must live for the glory of God. Secular intolerance of Christians' views is leading to self-censorship, report warns Secular intolerance has a chilling effect on Christians who are having to practice various forms of self-censorship as they're finding it difficult to express their faith freely in society, according to a new report detailing accounts from four countries. Secular intolerance has a chilling effect on Christians, which directly affects their capacity to express their faith freely in society and is leading to various forms of self-censorship, says the report, titled Perceptions on Self-Censorship: Confirming and Understanding the Chilling Effect, which includes case studies from France, Germany, Colombia and Mexico. Some people do indeed fear being subjected to legal proceedings or being criminally sanctioned on charges of discrimination, while others fear being subjected to disciplinary proceedings in their work or places, notes the study, compiled by the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Latin America and the International Institute for Religious Freedom. With some exceptions, the majority chose to keep its expressions of faith or its opinions on issues related to life, marriage and the family from a Christian doctrine perspective private because they had witnessed sanctions or prosecutions to which colleagues or peers had been subjected, it adds. Many incidents cited in the report might seem insignificant, the authors say, but these many small things together cause death by a thousand cuts. A few cuts do not kill you and barely hurt. But continuous small strikes eventually have an impact. We posit that the accumulation of seemingly insignificant incidents creates an environment in which Christians do not feel comfortable to some degree to live their faith freely. Indeed, Western Christians experience a chilling effect resulting from perceived pressures in their cultural environment, related to widely mediatized court cases. Further, the study observes, Because of the subtle and generally non-physically violent nature of the chilling effect, it is often misunderstood or even ignored and therefore largely remains invisible. This is the main reason why the phenomenon is not recognized in religious freedom datasets such as the Pew Research Center indexes, the authors add. The report also warns this form of censorship is not only limiting peoples exercise of religion or their right to manifest their convictions, but also that these violations to the right to religious freedom can cause the disappearance of religion in a given context. Madeleine Enzelberger, executive director of OIDAC Europe, said the study raises the legitimate question of: how is it possible in a mature, liberal democratic society that stands for tolerance, diversity, and inclusive and open discourse, that people are frightened to freely speak their minds? according to Christian Today. Many Christians interviewed as part of the study did not realize they were self-censoring. In some cases, they had self-censored to the extent that they now stop seeing the characteristics related to self-censorship as a problem. As one of its conclusions, the study laments that the Church has allowed itself to be self-censored Christian religious leaders have more freedom to express themselves freely (but they do not always take advantage of it). To remedy this form of censorship, the authors suggest there's an urgent need to educate policymakers, public servants (including the police) and judges about religion to increase their religious literacy. We have seen that a high degree of religious illiteracy leads to misunderstanding of how religion informs behavior in different spheres of society and what the legitimate role of religion in the public domain is. Illiteracy therefore can consequently be the cause of practical intolerance against Christians. In the interest of complete transparency, I should disclose that I am not American and I am getting into territory that I am at risk of not understanding fully. But I do have a point of view that I feel is certainlynot being paid too much attention to. That is understanding the importance of freedom especially in the United States. I have to say I was a little disappointed with certain Australian attitudes towards freedom, I felt like we had viewed anyone who viewed their freedom or celebrating their freedom as selfish, which is not true. In Australia it seems to me that the more control the Government puts on us the more we seem to like them, we saw this particularly in Western Australia with the supremacy of Mark McGowan who subjected his citizens to very tight Covid controls and in Victoria where the state had one of the harshest lockdowns in the world but still supported overwhelmingly the Labor Party of Victoria during the Federal Election eventhough they were the proponents of the worlds longest lockdown. We dont seem to understand the American idea of freedom because frankly in Australia we are willing to give it up, we simply dont get it. But in the US it endures and only gets stronger with the greater the opposition It started back in the American Revolution . In Australia we have never had to fight for much. We have never been invaded, we did not have to fight the British to get our independence, it was virtually handed to us. Basically, Australia was formed by agreeing to unite the colonies into a federation, we would be independent and just agree to keep the British Monarch as your head of state. I know there was other factors but that was virtually it in a nutshell. The point is theYanks violently went to war to achieve their independence from the British and they did it with guns. Ordinary citizens rose up formed militias and with the help of the French managed to defeat the British Empire And when the declaration was signed so was the right A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms,shall not be infringed Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. You see we might view guns as a privilege here, in the US it is viewed as a right such the right to your religion or right to an education. Any moves by the United States Congress or the State Legislatures to restrict the control of guns represents a threat to their freedom. Your gun is linked to your freedom, take it away or restrict it, so it would be too your freedom. With the country having developed from revolution to what it is now and given the amount of guns in circulation the argument that it is not the weapon that is bad but the people using the weapon is common thinking. The truth is the vast majority that own guns never do a wrong thing with them. They would be right to think thatas a responsible gun owner why should I be subjected to further controls? Which would only give more power to criminals. However, we know that society does not operate that way, one persons freedom can kill or tear apart a community there needs to be controls. The Church is far from innocent in this? Lets not pretend that the Church is not involved somehow in this. Richard Nixon who was seeking to win votes back in the 1960s was looking to appeal to freedom of religion voters which included the freedom to bare arms, this political move gave people of faith tacit cultural permission to own guns. In 2008,Democratic Party Presidential hopeful Barack Obama took aim at white-working class voters in old industrial towns decimated by job losses. They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to the people who are not like them, Although I feel those comments were unhelpful he may have stumbled upon issue that is no doubt uncomfortable for the Church. The link between our freedom and guns. Is the Church possibly complicit in this culture due to our will to keep our freedoms over the expense of everyone else. Certainly food for thought for us all. STAMFORD The Tony Spadaccini Memorial Fund has awarded its second set of scholarships for college-bound students in honor of its namesake a former city representative and longtime youth sports advocate who died of COVID-19 in March 2020. This year's awards went to Stamford High seniors Jeremy Young and Nina Tongtong, who will split the $7,500 endowment from the foundation. The scholarship has focused on Stamford High students for the past two years, scholarship founder James Lyman said, but next year were spreading. Lyman worked alongside Spadaccini for a decade at a media distribution company. The scholarship fund has plans to make its scholarship open to students from all local schools, including the private King School, where Spadacciniss sons attended, he said. / Contributed by Jim Lyman Spadaccini was one of the first city residents to die of COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic. Selecting recipients has been an experiment in honoring people who embodied Tonys spirit, according to Lyman. Like many scholarships for high school students, the Spadaccini Fund looks to recognize well-rounded students with a penchant for community service. But the process itself getting together, reminiscing, marking the passage of time has helped Lyman and the Spadaccini family in the two years since the death. Its solidified the bond we have, Lyman said, ultimately creating regular opportunities to get together and memorialize Spadaccini. Were going into the third year of this all, Anthony Spadaccinis wife Stefanie Spadaccini said, referring to both her loss and the pandemic as a whole. With every scholarship they award, Lyman and Spadaccini and her two sons, Anthony and Paul get to process their grief together instead of leaning into the denial of his death, she said. / Contributed by Stefanie Spadaccini Its all about embodying the value of giving back, Lyman and Stefanie Spadaccini explained. They said Tony Spadaccini tried his best to prop up Stamford. Even in death, the foundation wants to make sure Spadaccini can accomplish that. The efforts of the family to honor those who work for the betterment of their community extend past the scholarships. The Stamford American Little League, in part, bears Spadaccinis name because the foundation sponsors a team. And through VSL Fighting a fighting equipment company Lyman and Spadaccini partnered on in recent years that funds the bulk of the foundation the Spaddaccini Memorial Fund will donate $5,000 to mixed martial arts fighter Bryce Mitchell. In turn, Mitchell will donate the $5,000 to a childrens hospital in his native Arkansas. veronica.delvalle@hearstmediact.com HONG KONG (AP) Chinese authorities arrested nine people on suspicion of violently assaulting several women at a restaurant after surveillance footage of the attack sparked widespread outrage. Footage from a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan in northern Hebei province, time stamped 2:40 a.m. Friday, showed one of the men approaching a table where a party of four women were seated and placing his hand on a womans back. She rebuffed him several times before he flew into a rage and slapped her, prompting her to fight back. A brawl ensued, with a group of men entering the restaurant and brutally attacking the woman and her dining partners, including shoving them to the ground, kicking them and even throwing a chair at them. Footage taken from outside the restaurant also showed the attackers dragging the woman who had rebuffed the mans advances out of the establishment and beating her viciously while most passersby and patrons looked on. Photographs of her lying on a stretcher, with a swollen and bloodied face, as well as footage of the attack, went viral online. The assault and the public outcry renewed a conversation about misogyny and mistreatment of women in China. Earlier this year, a viral video of a woman being chained to a wall in a hut drew public backlash after authorities initially denied that she was a victim of human trafficking. She was later found to have been sold as a bride. All nine suspects were arrested Saturday, according to a statement by authorities issued on microblogging platform Weibo. Two women had sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were receiving treatment in a hospital. Their condition was reported to be stable. Two others were slightly injured. The footage of what happened both inside and outside the restaurant was just under five minutes. The Weibo user who was among the first to post the videos said in a post that it was heartbreaking to watch. Does that mean that dining out is so unsafe now, do we have to bring men with us everywhere we go? the post read. (These men) are no different from thugs. When reached, the user declined to reveal the source of the videos, stating that it was inconvenient to do so. By Sunday, the video of footage filmed inside the restaurant had garnered over 68 million views, while the footage showing the graphic assault outside the restaurant had been taken down. Social media users have condemned the attack and criticized Tangshan police for being slow in arresting the suspects. Im a woman, and I have a daughter, said one Weibo user with the handle BaobaomaoDaren. I wonder as Im creating value for society and spreading positive energy, will this society protect me and my child? State broadcaster CCTV said in an online commentary that the suspects must be arrested as quickly as possible and punished severely in accordance with the law in order to account to the victims and the public. ___ Associated Press news researchers Caroline Chen and Henry Hou in Beijing contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The children who did not die are young adults now, and on a Wednesday morning in Washington, they gathered just before 9 inside a hotel conference room on Capitol Hill. The school shooting survivors had come from all over the country, each of them hoping that this time would be different. "Are you Zoe?" Alexa Browning asked Zoe Touray, who was standing alone by the door, nervously fiddling with a cell phone wrapped in a Mickey Mouse case. "Yes," the 18-year-old answered, smiling and extending her hand. This was her first trip away from home without an adult. She'd just graduated from Michigan's Oxford High, where four students were killed in November, including one of Touray's closest friends. She'd gone to funeral after funeral, staring into open caskets at swollen faces that looked nothing like the kids she knew. Browning opened a black folder and removed a packet of documents that on one side read, "MARCH FOR OUR LIVES," and on the other, "IT ENDS WITH US." But none of the people being handed the packets knew whether that was true. Many of them had been here before. In 2018, survivors of the rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla., had organized a demonstration that drew tens of thousands of protesters to D.C. One teen after another took to the stage in front of the U.S. Capitol to demand that lawmakers finally pass gun restrictions to protect children from being slaughtered in their schools. Among the most memorable to appear was Sam Fuentes, then a senior at Douglas who a month earlier had been shot in the leg and struck in the face with shrapnel. At the time, Fuentes thought she was lucky. With tears and blood streaming from her eyes, she had watched two of her friends die. "Our mission is simple, and our ambitions unbeatable," she had shouted to a roaring crowd, so overcome with nerves that she vomited on stage before finishing her speech. She'd recited a poem she'd written entitled "Enough." But, of course, none of it was enough. The lawmakers they had begged to listen ignored them, and the school shootings continued. Now Fuentes, 22, had come back for a second march, but she'd long ago shed the naive hope of those early days. Meaningful progress, she knew this time, would not come easy, if ever. Standing just outside the conference room, she watched Browning explain their schedule to Touray, who'd been recruited to help lobby members of Congress and give a speech at an event that afternoon. In the four years between the massacre that led Fuentes to stand on a D.C. stage for the first time and Touray's intention to do the same, there had been at least 130 shootings at schools, another 57 people killed and more than 115,000 children admitted to the circle of survivors. Browning, a March for Our Lives policy associate, skimmed through the pages of the packet, detailing all the items they wanted Touray and the others to pitch to lawmakers: universal background checks for gun purchasers, the Protecting Our Kids Act, an assault weapons ban. Touray chewed on her bottom lip. She didn't really know about any of those things. "I won't talk too much. I'm nervous," said Touray, who was both intimidated and inspired by the other activists. They were all so smart and determined. She couldn't imagine that the people in charge wouldn't listen to them, especially after 19 fourth-graders in Uvalde, Texas, were shot to death in May. Fuentes could imagine it, though. She'd given so many speeches to approving crowds, lobbied in so many offices bedecked with U.S. flags and promises of American exceptionalism. "I try not to be jaded," said Fuentes, who still had shrapnel embedded in her leg and behind her right eye. But she'd come to D.C. despite her growing cynicism, because she needed this community of survivors and the activism that helped her manage the trauma. Fuentes has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. On some nights, she wakes up sweating, thrashing, screaming. Touray had just started seeing a therapist, because fear had changed who she was, too. At the Detroit airport the day before, she began to panic over what she would do if someone drew a gun. She didn't see any exits. She imagined being shot, dying alone. But, like Fuentes, she'd found that doing something helped soothe her anxiety. So she ignored her dread and got on the plane. Now, at the hotel, Fuentes headed off to change into her blue "March for Our Lives" T-shirt, her black folder of talking points still unopened, and Touray found a quiet space on the other side of the room where she could study all of them, hoping to come up with a question that would somehow make a difference. Touray paced behind the stage, her forehead beading with sweat. She had been invited to speak at an event hosted by Moms Demand Action in front of the Capitol Reflecting Pool, but she hadn't understood until she and Fuentes arrived that hundreds of people and dozens of cameras would be watching her. "I really need you to hype me up this rally is huge," she texted her mother from behind a tall black sign that read: "DON'T LOOK AWAY." At the microphone was Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who had followed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had followed Sen. Chris Murphy, who had followed Moms Demand's founder, Shannon Watts. They were among the most important figures in the fight for reform, Touray had just learned. And now it was nearly her turn. "I just got here and there's so many people and now I'm speaking," she wrote in another text, before her mom called. "Just calm down. It's okay," Vickie Brent-Touray told her. "You were meant for this." Six months ago, she was grief-stricken and adrift, struggling to sleep, despite the melatonin and Benadryl. Touray hadn't thought much about school shootings before her own. As a child, she rarely paid attention to the news and was only allowed to watch PBS Kids on weekdays. She'd heard of Parkland, but knew almost nothing about it. Then, after Oxford, Touray was invited to talk about what she'd been through at a state event. Her mother encouraged her to speak up, so she did. Touray, who plans to study anthropology at North Carolina A&T State University, considered herself a courier of a message that her schoolmates would never get the chance to deliver. And that was why, as the summer heat climbed above 80, she refused to take off the black sweatshirt that listed each of their names: Hana St. Juliana, Tate Myre, Madisyn Baldwin, Justin Shilling. "I want them with me up there," Touray said, after someone suggested that she change clothes. Fuentes understood. At the end of her speech on March 24, 2018, she led the crowd in singing happy birthday to Nicholas Dworet, one of the two friends who'd died in her classroom. He would have turned 18 that day. As Touray readied to go on stage, rehearsing the lines in her mind, Fuentes sat in the distance, beneath the shade of a white oak. The shrapnel buried in her muscles made it hard to stand for too long. She needed to take breaks. Everything about these gatherings left her conflicted. Seeing young new activists like Touray was both refreshing and dispiriting, because they were joining a movement that hadn't been able to end the crisis. She felt the same about seeing old friends from other gun safety organizations. She loved reconnecting, but what almost always brought them together was another massacre. "I think, as a collective, we're all very tired," she said, between drags on a vape pen. Fuentes was studying film at Hunter College in New York and worked at a jewelry wholesaler in Manhattan, but activism had long felt like her real job. She was represented by a speaking agency and, before the pandemic, traveled a couple times a month to speak at colleges and nonprofits. Just hours before she flew to D.C., she did an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America," which she referred to only as "GMA," because she'd been on it so many times. Now a young woman holding a sign that said "Pro-Life Is Gun Laws" walked up to her and stared. "Are you Sam?" she asked. "Yes," she said. "You're from Parkland, right?" "I am, yeah." "Thank you so much for all your work," she said. A few minutes later, a man with a clipboard and a headset ushered Touray toward the stage. She stood at the lectern and glanced down at the speech on her phone. "November 29th was the last good day," she said. "November 30th is the day that haunts me." She described heading to class after lunch and her friends hearing a sound that reminded them of balloons popping. It was gunfire. We sit in the back of the room," she remembered. "We talk, we text, we call, we cry. We wait in terror fearing for our lives until the gunfire comes to an end." What Touray didn't say: they'd escaped through a window and ran. "Nothing about this has been easy. I was drowning. Now I'm floating. I want to be able to swim... not in a sea of grief," she continued, before asking Congress to pass the new laws that March for Our Lives staffers had helped her work into the speech. "Save the next Madisyn. The next Justin. The next Tate. The next Hana. Save them before it's too late." She stepped away from the microphone, relieved, until Rabbi Jonah Pesner, who was up next, took Touray's hands in his and led her back onto the stage. "Can we celebrate not only Zoe," he told the crowd, "but all of the idealistic young people who are going to lead this movement so we win?" Touray and Fuentes had just made it through security at the Hart Senate Office Building, passing inside a metal detector monitored by three armed guards, when a roller on the X-ray machine came loose, slamming against the tile floor. Touray flinched; Fuentes didn't. She used to, until she taught herself to brace for the triggers before they came. It was why Fuentes tried to keep her back to the wall whenever possible, scanning for threats. Accepting that bad things were inevitable made them easier for her to manage, and Fuentes knew that made her sound like a pessimist sometimes, but she rejected that label. "I'm just a realist," Fuentes explained, and she was thinking about her sense of reality again during a meeting with Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat who had long championed new firearm restrictions. On the TV outside Murphy's office, broken families from Uvalde and a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., were testifying in front of a congressional committee. The House was just hours away from voting for sweeping new gun legislation that many believed had no chance of passing in the Senate. But Murphy urged Fuentes, Touray and the other activists to keep doing what they'd been doing. Rallying, lobbying, demanding change and maintaining the momentum. Fuentes was skeptical. "I don't think the same thing is necessarily going to work," Fuentes said afterward, sitting on a stone bench outside Murphy's office as Touray listened. Demanding that conservative lawmakers acknowledge a moral obligation to protect children from guns hadn't succeeded, Fuentes realized, so maybe that was the wrong approach. She had learned over the past four years that guns were central to many Americans' identities, but she'd also learned that lots of gun safety laws could protect those people and their children from harm without stripping them of something they cherish. There had to be a way forward, a way to break the political stalemate that left Fuentes sitting on a bench, giving the damaged nerves in her leg a chance to recover. Congress's refusal to act had shaped every aspect of her life. She suffers from tinnitus in her ears and could eventually go blind in one eye. At least three of her schoolmates have died by suicide since the slaughter that left 17 dead inside Stoneman. She will never again talk to her friend Helena Ramsay about their favorite musicians or joke with Nicholas Dworet in a Shakespearean accent. To Fuentes, being right didn't matter much, not anymore. Only making a real difference would. Fuentes's message was on Touray's mind that night in her hotel room, where she left the bathroom light on because in Michigan she shared a bedroom with her younger sister and was sleeping alone for the first time since she was 4. Touray didn't like saying so little during the meetings with lawmakers, so she laid in bed trying to come up with a good question. The next morning, her chance to ask it came at the base of the U.S. Capitol steps during a meeting with Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Democratic congresswoman from Massachusetts. "Just in terms of, like, helping, what else do you think that we could do other than what we're already doing?" Touray asked, holding a pink notebook that on some pages had her new gun violence notes - "this time HAS to be different the #1 cause of death in children is guns" - and on others had food ideas for her upcoming graduate party - "banana pudding!" Standing in front of her, Pressley thought for a moment. "You can focus on your healing and take care of yourself, honestly," Pressley said. "And also - don't lose hope." Touray smiled, gratified that her question had elicited a thoughtful response, but she was also distracted, because a belligerent man on the steps behind her was screaming about government brainwashing. She started trembling. Pressley's words left Touray feeling hopeful, even after a more somber meeting with Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, who told the group that he wasn't sure whether the Senate would pass any new legislation, and if they did, it wouldn't include many of the items they wanted most. "This package will come together quickly, or it won't come together at all," said Blumenthal, who was helping lead negotiations with Republicans. "It has to happen in days, not weeks." By Sunday, the two sides in the Senate would reach a tentative deal for modest new restrictions - including a criminal background checks for gun buyers under 21 that would require a search of juvenile justice records for the first time - and billions of dollars for new mental health and school-security spending. Touray believed progress was possible, in part, because of the person she was scheduled to meet next, David Hogg, Parkland's most famous survivor and one of March for Our Lives co-founders. They were scheduled for a joint interview on CNN the next morning, but she was nearly as nervous about speaking with him as she was about appearing on live TV for the first time. A staffer guided her to a bench beneath the 51-foot-tall black steel sculpture in the atrium of the Hart building, where Hogg was finishing up a photo shoot for an upcoming magazine profile. Afterward, Hogg sat next to her. He looked her in the eyes. "I'm sorry that you're part of the club that none of us want to be part of," he said. "I thought we could change things and make it so that things like what happened at Oxford don't happen anymore. Unfortunately, so far I've been wrong." "I'm hoping that you do it this time, though," Touray said, sensing Hogg's exhaustion after what had already been a frustrating week of discussions with lawmakers. "We have the most valuable thing on our side that anybody can have in politics besides an enormous boatload of money, which is time," he told her. "We're going to outlive almost everybody in this building, hopefully." Touray laughed, but Hogg was serious. "At least you're doing something about it," she said. "I'm not. We are," he said. "I get a lot of the credit, but I don't deserve it. It's people like you." It was nice of him to say, Touray thought, but she didn't really agree. He was the face of the movement she'd just joined. He had 1.2 million Twitter followers. She had 18. But Hogg wanted her to understand that he meant it. He was just one survivor from one shooting. "I can't speak for you or what happened at Oxford," he told her, his tone serious. "You need to." "Okay," she said, nodding. Touray would try. "How'd the interviews go?" Fuentes asked Touray, the two of them standing together in a gated VIP section next to the March for Our Lives stage, where Hogg was midway through his speech. "So many," Touray marveled. "I know," Fuentes replied, and both of them laughed. It was just past 1 p.m. Saturday, and, combined, they had already talked to NBC, CBS, NPR and MSNBC, along with a batch of other news outlets. Thousands of people were packed onto the hill behind them leading up to the Washington Monument, and a layer of gray clouds lingered overhead, but the rain had stopped. This year's rally wasn't meant to be like the one in 2018. There were no Hollywood celebrities leading chants, no pop stars belting anthems. This time was about "rage," as one March for Our Lives staffer put it, but that's not what Fuentes and Touray were feeling. They were happy. Fuentes had spent the day exchanging hugs and jokes and silly memories with friends from Parkland she hadn't seen in months. Touray had reconnected with a fellow Oxford survivor and hung out with new friends who had lived through the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary, including Jordan Gomes, a teen who'd joined her in the meeting with Blumenthal. Touray had talked about lipstick options with Parkland survivor X Gonzalez and danced to nearly every beat booming through the towering overhead speakers. "This is my song," she'd said to at least three different songs. Touray had arrived in D.C. unsure of whether she was meant to be an activist, but by Saturday, she felt convinced of it. "This time is different," Touray had heard people she admired say over and over last week, and she believed them. Now Touray and Fuentes decided to get a photo together in front of a blue background adorned in March for Our Lives logos. Suddenly, as they were walking over to it, hundreds of people rushed by the metal fence in front of them, screaming as they sprinted toward Constitution Avenue, away from the rally. "Why is everyone running?" Fuentes asked, voice quavering, her eyes wide and watery. "Why is everyone running?" Touray leaned against a chain-link fence and closed her eyes, placing a hand on her forehead. Fuentes staggered toward her. She was fighting not to pass out. On stage, a speaker announced that people needed to stop running. Everything was fine. Nobody was in danger. "I'm freaking out," Touray said, leaning on her knees. "What happened?" Fuentes said. They'd hear later that a man in the crowd had shouted something that sounded like "gun" during a moment of silence for Uvalde, sparking a stampede. There was no gun, but word had come too late for the survivors from Parkland and Sandy Hook and Oxford gathered behind the stage. Within seconds, terror had swept from one to the next, and now each of them had returned to the worst day of their lives. "I think I'm going to throw up," Touray said, rushing into a white tent nearby. She stood in the corner, facing the wall, and called her mom. "I need help," Touray told her, tears trickling down the side of her nose. She was too shaken to say anything more. "Calm down," her mother said, again and again. Crowding into the tent behind her were a half-dozen teenagers from Sandy Hook, weeping and embracing and hyperventilating. "Were you watching the live-stream?" one of them was saying on the phone. "Someone started yelling, and then people started ducking, and so we started running, because we thought somebody was trying to kill us." Touray rejoined Fuentes, who put her hand on Touray's shoulder. "You can cry," Fuentes told her. Touray buried her head in her hands, until at last she looked up. Fuentes stared into the teen's vacant eyes, her heart aching for Touray's anguish and her own and for all the others who'd been scarred by school shootings and would never entirely escape what they'd endured. "Take deeper breaths," Fuentes told her. Now the rally was nearing its end, and Gonzalez was about to take the stage. A group of survivors, including Fuentes and Touray, had been asked to stand behind her in a show of solidarity. "God, why am I still crying?" Touray asked, embarrassed, as she followed the group toward a waiting area near the stairs. "I feel like I cannot breathe right now." Gomes, the Sandy Hook survivor, told Touray she would stand next to her. They could hold hands. She asked Touray to breathe with her. Inhale for four seconds, she instructed, hold for seven, exhale for eight. "You're okay," Gomes said. "Are you sure you want to go up there?" Touray nodded. "Enough is enough," the crowd was chanting. "Enough is enough." Then it was time for them to join the others on stage. Fuentes walked up first, and Gomes went behind her. Then Touray ascended with the rest of the activists, stopping and steadying herself in the middle of the stage. She was one of them now. Chinese authorities have arrested nine men over a brutal attack on a group of women at a restaurant in Tangshan City in northern China. CCTV footage of the incident widely circulated online shows a man placing his hand on a woman's back as she shares a meal with two companions at a barbecue restaurant in the city within Hebei province in the early hours of Friday, The Guardian reported. After the woman pushes him away, the man strikes her before others drag her outside and deal a barrage of blows as she lies on the ground. Another woman is also knocked to the floor. Video Sparks Public Outrage The video quickly went viral on China's internet and renewed a debate about sexual harassment and gender-based violence in a country where the conversation around women's rights has grown in recent years despite pressure from a patriarchal society, internet censorship, and patchy legal support. Last year, when Xiao Meili, a well-known Chinese feminist, requested a man to stop smoking, he threw a boiling liquid at her in a restaurant. Despite being the target of the assault, Xiao claims she was regularly mocked on China's internet, with many accusing her of provoking trouble. After a wave of women accused university professors of sexual harassment in 2018, internet censors blocklisted keywords related to the MeToo movement. Domestic violence, according to campaigners, is nonetheless widespread and underreported. Even at a time when male aggression against women is frequently in the news in China, the clip went viral almost immediately and struck a chord with many Chinese women, as per a report from SupChina. Read Also: Thousands Rally for US Gun Control Measures After Deadly Mass Shootings An Epidemic of Gender-Based Violence in China The attack's arrogance, mixed with the spectators' apparent indifference, sparked a new surge of dread and rage among them, driving them to resort to social media to demand a stop to what they called the country's "epidemic of gender-based violence." One Chinese woman expressed in Chinese that watching the video made her feel despair. "She was just hanging out with friends and didn't want to be disturbed by some random guy. This is something that could happen to me one day," she said. The lack of action by law enforcement agencies added to the resentment. According to sources close to the situation, local police were called to the location when the incident occurred on Thursday evening. The attackers had already fled when they arrived. The authorities did little in the hours after the woman, and one of her friends were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. Although sexual abuse is now more legally punishable, the mood on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo is gloomy. Many believe the case will end with a minor penalty and a minimal fine. Meanwhile, the two victims were brought to a hospital to be treated for their non-life-threatening injuries. According to a report from The Guardian, authorities claim they are "in stable conditions." Women in China have had little success in recent years in holding abusers accountable. Few cases have been decided in favor of the victim unless there is video evidence. China's persistent lockdowns have intensified domestic attacks in the previous two years, per a BBC story. Related Article: Johnny Depp Verdict: Amber Heard Has 4 Options If She Cannot Pay $8.35 Million @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ATALAIA DO NORTE, Brazil (AP) Search teams found a backpack, laptop and other personal items that belonged to Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and freelance British journalist Dom Phillips, who went missing in a remote area of Brazils Amazon a week ago, Federal Police said Sunday night. Phillips backpack was discovered Sunday afternoon tied to a tree that was half-submerged, a firefighter told reporters in Atalaia do Norte, the closest city to the search area, which is near the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory. It is the end of the rainy season in the region and part of the forest is flooded. Officers with the Federal Police brought the items by boat to Atalaia do Norte later in the afternoon. In a statement a few hours later, they said they had identified the belongings of both missing men, such as Pereiras health card and clothes. A tarp from the boat used by the men was found Saturday by Matis volunteers, members of an Indigenous group of recent contact, one of them told The Associated Press. We used a little canoe to go to the shallow water. Then we found a tarp, shorts and a spoon, said Binin Beshu Matis. After that find, the search teams concentrated their efforts around that spot in the Itaquai river. On Saturday, police reported finding traces of blood in the boat of a fisherman who is under arrest as the only suspect and organic matter of apparent human origin inside the river. Both materials are under forensic analysis, and no more details were provided. Pereira, 41, and Phillips, 57, were last seen June 5 near the entrance of the Indigenous territory, which borders Peru and Colombia. They were returning alone by boat on the Itaquai river to Atalaia do Norte but never arrived. That area has seen violent conflicts between fishermen, poachers and government agents. Violence has grown as drug trafficking gangs battle for control of waterways to ship cocaine, although the Itaquai is not a known drug trafficking route. Authorities have said that a main line of the police investigation into the disappearance has pointed to an international network that pays poor fishermen to fish illegally in the Javari Valley reserve, which is Brazils second-largest Indigenous territory. One of the most valuable targets is the worlds largest freshwater fish with scales, the arapaima. It weighs up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) and can reach 3 meters (10 feet). The fish is sold in nearby cities, including Leticia, Colombia, Tabatinga, Brazil, and Iquitos, Peru. The only known suspect in the disappearances is fisherman Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, also known as Pelado, who is under arrest. According to accounts by Indigenous people who were with Pereira and Phillips, he brandished a rifle at them the day before the pair disappeared. The suspect denies any wrongdoing and said military police tortured him to try to get a confession, his family told The Associated Press.. Pereira, who previously led the local bureau of the governments Indigenous agency, known as FUNAI, has taken part in several operations against illegal fishing. In such operations, as a rule the fishing gear is seized or destroyed, while the fishermen are fined and briefly detained. Only the Indigenous can legally fish in their territories. The crimes motive is some personal feud over fishing inspection, the mayor of Atalaia do Norte, Denis Paiva, speculated to reporters without providing more details. AP had access to information police shared with Indigenous leadership. But while some police, the mayor and others in the region link the pairs disappearances to the fish mafia, federal police have not ruled rule out other lines of investigation, such as narco trafficking. Fisherman Laurimar Alves Lopes, who lives on the banks of Itaquai, told AP that he gave up fishing inside the Indigenous territory after being detained three times. He said he endured beating and starvation in jail. Lopes, who has five children, said he only fishes near his home to feed his family, not sell. I made many mistakes, I stole a lot of fish. When you see your child dying of hunger you go get it where you have to. So I would go there to steal fish to be able to support my family. But then I said: Im going to put an end to this, Im going to plant, he said during an interview on his boat. Lopes said he was taken to local federal police headquarters in Tabatinga three times, charging he was beaten and left without food. In 2019, Funai official Maxciel Pereira dos Santos was gunned down in Tabatinga in front of his wife and daughter-in-law. Three years later, the crime remains unsolved. His FUNAI colleagues told AP they believe the slaying was linked to his work against fishermen and poachers. Rubber tappers founded all the riverbank communities in the area. In the 1980s, however, rubber tapping declined and they resorted to logging. That ended, too, when the federal government created the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory in 2001. Fishing has become the main economic activity since then. An illegal fishing trip to the vast Javari Valley lasts around one month, said Manoel Felipe, a local historian and teacher who also served as a councilman. For each illegal incursion, a fisherman can earn at least $3,000. The fishermens financiers are Colombians, Felipe said. In Leticia, everybody was angry with Bruno. This is not a little game. Its possible they sent a gunman to kill him. MACON, Ga. (AP) Deputies have charged a middle Georgia inmate with murder after an autopsy determined that another inmate found dead in their cell was strangled. Bibb County deputies say that they found Carlos Delmara Shelley, 48, unconscious in his cell around 9 p.m. on June 3. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate PARIS (AP) French President Emmanuel Macrons centrist alliance is expected to keep its parliamentary majority after the first round of voting Sunday, but will likely have far fewer seats than five years ago, according to projections. Projections based on partial election results showed that at the national level, Macrons party and its allies got about 25%-26% of the vote. That was neck-and-neck with estimates for a new leftist coalition composed of hard-left, Socialists and Green party supporters. Yet Macrons candidates are projected to win in a greater number of districts than their leftist rivals, giving the president a majority. More than 6,000 candidates, ranging in age from 18 to 92, ran Sunday for 577 seats in France's National Assembly in the first round of the election. France's two-round voting system is complex and not proportionate to the nationwide support for a party. For races that did not have a decisive winner on Sunday, up to four candidates who got at least 12.5% support each will compete in a second round of voting on June 19. Following Macrons reelection in May, his centrist coalition was seeking an absolute majority that would enable it to implement his campaign promises, which include tax cuts and raising Frances retirement age from 62 to 65. Yet Sundays projection shows Macrons party and allies could have trouble getting more than half the seats at the Assembly, much less than five years ago, when they won 361 seats. Polling agencies estimated that Macrons centrists could win from 255 to over 300 seats, while the leftist coalition led by Jean-Luc Melenchon could win more than 200 seats. Sundays turnout reached a record low for a parliamentary election, with less than half of Frances 48.7 million voters casting ballots. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said "we have one week of action, one week to convince, one week to get a strong and clear majority. Faced with the situation in the world and the war at Europes doors, we cannot take the risk of instability, she said, urging voters to gather behind Macron's alliance in the second round. Faced with extremes, we will not yield. Melenchon, who had hoped the election would vault him into the prime minister's post, did not accept the preliminary projections, insisting that his coalition came in first. Projections in numbers of seats at this hour make quite no sense, he said. Melenchon urged the French to choose his coalition's candidates in the second round and "definitively reject the doomed projects of the majority of Macron. His platform included a significant minimum wage increase, lowering the retirement age to 60 and locking in energy prices, which have been soaring due to the war in Ukraine. Even though Macron beat far-right rival Marine Le Pen in the presidential runoff, France's parliamentary election is traditionally a difficult race for far-right candidates. Rivals from other parties tend to coordinate or step aside to boost the chances of defeating far-right candidates in the second round. Projections showed that Le Pen's far-right National Rally party could get 10 to 30 seats up from eight five years ago. If it passes the threshold of 15 seats, it can form a parliamentary group and gain greater power at the assembly. Le Pen, who ran for reelection in her stronghold of Henin-Beaumont, in northern France, praised Sunday's results. Next Sunday, it is important not to let Emmanuel Macron get an absolute majority, which he will abuse to implement his self-centered and brutal methods and impose his anti-social project, she said. Le Pen called on voters to vote blank or not go to the polls in districts that have only Macron's or Melenchon's candidates. Outside a voting station in a working-class district of Paris, voters debated whether to support Macron's party for the sake of smooth governance and keeping out extremist views, or to back his opponents to ensure that more political perspectives are heard. When you have a parliament thats not completely in line with the government, that enables more interesting conversations and discussions," said Dominique Debarre, retired scientist. "But on the other hand, (a split) is always in some way a sign of failure." ___ Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris, Daniel Cole in Marseille and Alex Turnbull in Le Touquet, France, contributed. In early March, Jakub Kaminski was at home in suburban Boston when a grim message arrived from his friend, a surgeon in Ukraine: Tourniquets were in short supply, and without them, many Ukrainian soldiers could bleed out and die. Kaminski, a robotics engineering graduate student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, thought his 3D-printing skills could help. Over the next two months, Kaminski and volunteers he recruited designed and refined eight versions of a tourniquet - pieces of cloth connected by buckles and plastic fastening clips - until they made one that was durable enough for war. It was easy for a soldier to tie and could be printed with consistently high quality. Now, they've uploaded their best design to the internet. Around 120 individuals and companies worldwide with 3D printers have accessed the design. Together, they have made roughly 5,000 reusable tourniquets that are bound for Ukraine, where they will be stitched and sent off to the battlefield, Kaminski said. "It's a beautiful thing," he said. "If you make people in Ukraine feel better, and enable people to help. ... This is something really special." Nearly four months into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, critical shortages of medical supplies and weapons accessories persist. But help has come from an unlikely source: Those with 3D printers. Using digital files, people are designing supplies such as bandages, tourniquets, splints and add-ons to AK-47 guns. Using computer-aided design software, special printers create three-dimensional objects with plastics or biomaterials, enabling a large crowdsourced effort to produce supplies and ship them to the battlefield. But the invasion has provided the 3D-printing community a challenge with little comparison, one that highlights the impact the technology has in plugging real-time shortages and underscores the dangers of having to rely on goods created in an ad hoc way. And though the fighting in Ukraine has declined from its peak, the community is continuing to create needed items as the war continues to drag on. "No one believes [the war] will end very quickly," Kaminski said. "We want to be ready ... for the future." The history of 3D printing traces back to the 1980s, when American engineer Charles Hull patented a process called stereolithography, which uses ultraviolet light to shape objects. Over the years, that process was refined and became cheaper and quicker, and machines were able to use software-created designs to print out objects such as medical devices, spare parts, toys and jewelry. 3D-printed supplies often help in times of crisis. They provide medical workers, military personnel and aid organizations the ability to design what they need and print the items quickly, removing the difficulties that come with international shipping and manufacturing delays. But the quality of printed goods can be poor, and creating supplies with a 3D printer often takes more time than other methods, such as manufacturing with injection molds. In 2010, during the devastating earthquake in Haiti, medical devices were printed quickly, allowing doctors to provide health care without waiting for equipment to ship from abroad. In 2018, an organization called the Glia Project came to the aid of Palestinian civilians injured in the Gaza Strip while protesting against Israel, creating and shipping them a 3D-printed "Gaza tourniquet." But in February, as Russia invaded Ukraine, the 3D-printing community was put to the test. The fighting in Ukraine was fierce, many were injured, and the country's stores of basic medical supplies were dwindling. People in the 3D-printing community talked with Ukrainian military officials, hospital administrators and charity organizations, trying to gauge what they could print quickly that would be most helpful. Tourniquets and bandages were repeated requests. Mykhailo Shulhan, the chief operating officer of a Ukrainian 3D-printing company in Lviv, said that as soon as the invasion began, he started researching how 3D printers helped in other conflicts. His company settled on providing trauma bandages - pieces of wide cloth that cover large wounds - and churned out roughly 2,000 per month. But now, Shulhan said, different things are in short supply. In the early days, he said, when paid military troops represented most of the fighting force, medical supplies were in dire need. But over the subsequent months, as more volunteers joined the Ukrainian resistance, weapons components and accessories became necessary to meet the rise in troop numbers. These days, his company, 3D Tech Addtive, develops and prints an array of weapons accessories: AK-47 holsters so soldiers have a way to rest their guns; bullet magazines since empty cartridges often get thrown away instead of reused; carrying bags for grenades; and most recently, anti-reflective lenses for sniper scopes to reduce glare and prevent Ukrainian snipers from being seen. (All together, they have provided over 5,000 components to the front lines, Shulhan estimated.) Meanwhile, the pace of production exacted a toll. In the early days of the invasion, there were large shortages in printing filament, mostly because local suppliers were in war ravaged areas. Those suppliers have since shifted to Western Ukraine and have resumed supply. Now the challenges are different. Nearly all of his company's 30 3D printers come from China, he said, and they've broken down occasionally and needed spare parts. It's been hard to get them because they are expensive and getting them shipped has proved difficult. "There are times when a 3D printer is broken and we can't do anything with it for two or three weeks," he said. While most 3D printers create supplies to stop death or ease fighting conditions, others are focusing on rehabilitating soldiers. Brett Carey, a physical therapist in Hawaii, designs 3D printed splints that can be sent to fighters. Hand fractures are very common in war and when poorly treated they can cause long-term issues. "You need your hands for so many basic hygiene and survival type tasks," he said. "If the soldiers are splinted properly, they should be able to have full use of their hand again within eight to 12 weeks." Carey has created two digital designs for splints that have been uploaded online and 3D printed over 1,500 times. If injuries are advanced, he has people send him images of their injuries using EM3D - a 3D imaging app - which allows him to make a custom made splint which is then shipped to Ukraine. And going forward, he said, supplies that improve long-term medical outcomes will be likely be needed. "There is such an emphasis right now on life saving technology," he said. "But there's definitely a need on the rehabilitation side, so that after the injury, people can start to get their lives back." Kaminski, who posts his tourniquet designs online, said he worries about some 3D printers sending over supplies to the battlefield. In the beginning of the war, he noticed many with printers wanted to help, but they created designs of medical supplies that resulted in poor quality goods. He also noticed off-the-shelf tourniquets made in China were being deployed in the field and breaking. Seeing that, Kaminski and a group of volunteers worked for weeks to redesign their tourniquet to meet the highest medical standards. Kaminski filmed the device being rolled over by a firetruck to show durability. Volunteers at laboratories in Poland stress tested the 3D printed tourniquet to prove it could withstand over 150 pounds of pulling pressure. Ultrasound testing was done at Worcester Polytechnic Institute to show the tourniquet could completely stop blood flow. Now, Kaminski has sent a batch to a volunteer at Johns Hopkins University for testing. "It is unethical to just come up with a totally new tourniquet design and deploy it during war," he said. KYIV, Ukraine - More than three months of occupation by Russian soldiers has left much of Ukraine's southern Kherson region isolated, without access to basic medicines and cut off from Ukrainian cellphone and internet service. The Russian tricolor flag is displayed at most of the main government buildings. There are whispers of a coming referendum that would formally make Kherson part of Russia, at least in the Kremlin's eyes. The armed occupying forces patrol the streets, while the blasts of artillery shells crashing in the distance can be heard daily - signs of the ongoing fight between the Russian and Ukrainian militaries for control of the area. Interviews by The Washington Post with people who live in Kherson, evacuated recently or are in regular contact with residents there painted a grim picture of prolonged life under occupation, in an area that marked Russia's first major land grab of this war. More than 100 days have passed since Russian tanks rolled into the region from the neighboring Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow invaded and illegally annexed in 2014. Stores and pharmacies have been closed during that time, and people don't have access to money while their local Ukrainian banks and ATMs are not operating. There are markets with goods sold out of the trunks of cars - a scene one woman likened to the days after the fall of the Soviet Union. Supplies of medicines such as insulin and saline solution, which is used in everything from cleaning wounds to storing contact lenses, are critically low, she and others said. "Very many people are in deep depression or suffering from nervous breakdowns," said the woman, who asked to be identified as "Tatyana" for security reasons as she continues to reside in Kherson. "And taking some pills or a shot of vodka doesn't help," she said. "There are feelings of uncertainty. We don't know what will happen. We're just waiting and unequivocally believe it will get better and really look forward to that." Ukrainian troops are posted just 20 miles away at a front line that has barely moved since the start of the war but is heating up after a series of successful counteroffensive operations by Kyiv's forces. While Ukraine has been steadily losing ground in the eastern region of Donbas, where the fiercest fighting is concentrated in the city of Severodonetsk, gains in the Kherson region have been the rare good news these days. The Ukrainian military this month reportedly advanced to the strategic settlement of Davydiv Brid, which sits along a main highway. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said a counteroffensive on Davydiv Brid could hinder Russia's ability to support units north of there, where it also faces Ukrainian counteroffensives. "Kherson is critical terrain because it is the only area of Ukraine in which Russian forces hold ground on the west bank of the Dnipro River," the analysts said. "If Russia is able to retain a strong lodgment in Kherson when fighting stops it will be in a very strong position from which to launch a future invasion. If Ukraine regains Kherson, on the other hand, Ukraine will be in a much stronger position to defend itself against future Russian attack." The area has other importance to Moscow. The Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region includes the port city of Kherson, which had about 300,000 people before the war, and the 250-mile-long Northern Crimean Canal, linking Crimea with the river. The canal was the main source of water for Crimea until Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014 and Ukraine then hastily built a dam to block the canal's flow. The resulting water shortage in Crimea has been a point of tension between Russia and Ukraine for eight years. Control of Kherson also gives the Russians a key "land bridge" from their military bases in Crimea, along Ukraine's eastern Sea of Azov coastline and into mainland Russia. Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of Ukraine's Kryvyi Rih Military Administration, said the Russian military does not allow people in Kherson to leave the occupied area and move north toward Kryvyi Rih. Some people still manage through back roads, but it's a perilous drive. Others try to exit northeast to Zaporizhzhia, a trip that would typically take five hours but can now stretch to a week because of holdups at checkpoints. There is often shelling along the route that also causes delays. "A month and a half ago, 15 settlements had been liberated in the area, and now there are 25 liberated villages," Vilkul said. "But there are counterattacks from our side, and there are also counterattacks from their side." Tatyana said she rarely leaves her home because the sounds of explosions have become louder and more frequent lately. If she does go out, it's because she's desperate to get some bread and vegetables - foods still readily available in the farming region. She tries to make her grocery runs at 10 a.m., when it tends to be quieter. Otherwise, "we live in constant fear," she said. "I cry sometimes," she said. "You can't, for example, mark your birthday the way you might want to, or even just go out for a walk during the weekend with friends." There are indications of resistance from inside the occupation, too - an explosion this week at a cafe near the headquarters of the new Moscow-installed government. Kherson Mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev, who has stayed in the city but no longer has full governing authority under the Russians, said agents from Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, drive cars with Ukrainian license plates and walk around in plainclothes, listening to locals' conversations. Many pro-Ukraine activists have disappeared, he and others said, adding to the fear among the population. Making matters worse is a news blackout due to the lack of cellphone and internet service for the past week, he said. People in Kherson can connect to the Crimea network provider, but it's blocked by Ukrainian news sites. That means the only news accessible for most is Russian state-owned media - a propaganda vehicle for the Kremlin that highly censors news of the war. Vladislav Dyachenko, 38, who left Kherson last month, said that even though people are desperate for the humanitarian aid the new Russia-installed authorities are offering, some are hesitant to turn over the passport information that is required to receive it. They worry that their identities will be used to falsify results if there's a referendum on joining Russia, Dyachenko said. "People there hate, hate, hate" the Russians and their chosen officials, said Hennadiy Lahuta, the governor of the Kherson region, who is now outside the occupied territory. "They absolutely despise them," he said. - - - Stern reported from Mukachevo, Ukraine. The Washington Post's Paul Sonne and Serhiy Morgunov in Kyiv contributed to this report. Monkeypox had arrived in Salt Lake County, with two men testing positive after returning from Europe, the epicenter of a global outbreak concentrated in gay and bisexual men. Officials in the Utah county faced a dilemma. They wanted to warn men who have sex with men that they were at higher risk for exposure to the virus. But they feared unintended consequences: heterosexuals assuming they're not susceptible, closeted men in a heavily Mormon community avoiding care so they're not seen as gay, and critics exploiting the infections to sow bigotry. It's not just Utah officials who are struggling to find the right message. As the United States confronts its largest-ever monkeypox outbreak, with nearly 50 probable cases, public health authorities navigate a delicate but familiar balancing act. In the 17 U.S. cases in which the sexual behavior of the patient is known, all but one involve men who have sex with men, mirroring trends in Europe. It's something never recognized before in outbreaks of the virus. In Salt Lake County, health officials consulted with advocacy groups and decided to get the message out to gay and bisexual men without making the message about them. At a booth during the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City this month, Health Department staff distributed business-card-sized monkeypox warnings urging people to avoid close or sexual contact with anyone experiencing a rash or flu-like symptoms. The warning didn't say anything about the gay community. "We don't need to put rainbows all over and make clear it's only for [men who have sex with men] because it's not," said Nicholas Rupp, who oversees public outreach for the Salt Lake County Health Department. "The virus, of course, doesn't see sexual orientation." Officials nationally want gay and bisexual men to be alert for symptoms, particularly rashes and lesions on or near the genitals, as they travel, party and congregate in June for LGBT Pride month, which commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York that marked a seminal moment in the fight for LGBT rights. But they also want to avoid creating a false impression that monkeypox is a gay disease. The early days of the AIDS epidemic weigh on public health and LGBT advocates responding to monkeypox. Activists say public health officials failed to act with urgency as HIV decimated gay communities in the 1980s and gay men were blamed for the epidemic. The strain of monkeypox driving the current outbreak is rarely deadly and causes an illness lasting several weeks, unlike AIDS, which is incurable and was often lethal before effective treatments emerged in the 1990s. Even if monkeypox does not pose a mortal threat akin to HIV, health officials don't want to ignore any emerging disease threat disproportionately affecting gay men. "It's really important from the public health perspective for us to make sure that populations that may be more in harm's way because of how this started are aware of the risk, as well as how to keep themselves healthy," said Demetre Daskalakis, who leads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's division of HIV/AIDS prevention and is involved in monkeypox outreach. LGBT organizations are mobilizing to deliver the message themselves. Staff members from a clinic serving gay men in Chicago added monkeypox prevention to their usual public health outreach at the International Mr. Leather festival in May. The hookup app Grindr issued two alerts about monkeypox in recent weeks. An LGBT community center in South Florida scheduled a town hall meeting on monkeypox ahead of next weekend's Stonewall Pride Parade and Street Festival after local authorities identified multiple cases. The organizations are mindful of not creating panic. Monkeypox is easier to contain than highly contagious strains of the coronavirus circulating because it is comparatively difficult to spread. Many of the cases identified in people in the United States have been linked to travel to Europe, where most infections have been detected, although the CDC warns that the virus appears to be spreading locally, too. Monkeypox had never been associated with men who have sex with men until the latest outbreak, when Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom and disease trackers in other nations noted infections were heavily but not exclusively concentrated in that group. Experts said they believe it reflects the virus spreading first through gay social networks and at locations frequented by men who have sex with men, including European saunas and festivals. They also cite two factors that might be making it more likely that cases are being detected in the gay community: regular testing for sexually transmitted diseases and health providers being on alert. "In a way, maybe we are a victim of our own success that people are coming forward and our sexual health services are picking it up," said Andrew Lee, professor of public health at the University of Sheffield, in the United Kingdom. The virus usually spreads through close contact with someone with rashes or lesions, which includes sex but can also include hugging, skin-to-skin contact while dancing or sharing contaminated clothing and bedding, or through droplets over a prolonged period, such as among people living in the same house. Federal officials said the virus is unlikely to spread through passing interactions in a store or bar. Officials see a parallel to an outbreak of the infection caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - known as MRSA - about a decade ago. It was first reported among men who have sex with men before being detected in locker rooms and health clubs; the bacteria spreads through shared equipment and skin-to-skin contact. "There's so many infections that at some point were thought to only exist in one population, and it ends up being pretty misguided," said the CDC's Daskalakis, highlighting the stigma cast upon Asian people early in the coronavirus pandemic. The World Health Organization has repeatedly stressed that monkeypox is not a gay disease, and it has encouraged Pride celebrations. Advocacy groups have condemned news organizations that emphasize gay and bisexual men in their headlines and coverage. "One of the things most strikingly wrong about the initial message about AIDS is it was gay-related immune deficiency or not transmitted heterosexually or from mother to child," said Daniel R. Lucey, a fellow at the Infectious Diseases Society of America who started his medical career treating AIDS patients in San Francisco. "It's clear everyone wants to call attention to avoiding the trap of blaming a certain population, in this case, men who have sex with men." But some cultural observers worry about an overcorrection that leaves gay and bisexual men in the dark about the viral threat. "Early in the AIDS crisis, public health officials and news reporters didn't raise the alarm about a new disease because they didn't care about gay or bi men, they didn't care whether we lived or died," sex columnist Dan Savage recently said on his podcast. "Now, they are failing to raise the alarm because they care about us too much, so much so they don't want to hurt our feelings or accidentally hand ammo to anti-gay bigots." Jim Downs, a gay historian who has written about the history of infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, said a fixation on avoiding stigma could undermine efforts to raise awareness. "Worry about allocating the resources to the gay community so they can get the word out," Downs said. "We have a history where the community has been an efficacious force in the promotion of public health." The legacy of AIDS has created a robust network of public health organizations in the gay community, a reflection of how the community often stood alone in promoting condoms and in pressuring drug companies to develop AIDS treatments. Bowls of condoms and STD literature are fixtures at gay clubs, and so are HIV outreach teams at gay spaces known for sexual activity. On Grindr, it's routine for users on their profiles to list their HIV status and whether they use prevention pills to reduce transmission risk. The International Mr. Leather - known as IML - convention in Chicago during Memorial Day weekend presented one of the first tests for organizations adapting to monkeypox. The LGBT-oriented Howard Brown Health Center routinely sends workers to the annual event to distribute condoms and offer rapid HIV testing. In response to monkeypox, outreach workers urged people at the festival to examine themselves for lumps, bumps and redness around the genitals and to consider examining partners before having sex in the dark. "Telling people to avoid IML? That's ludicrous, and it will never work," said Anu Hazra, Howard Brown's co-medical director. "People are already at IML, so what can we do is to make them mindful." The White House held a call this month with advocates and nonprofits that work with gay men to discuss messaging and outreach. "What a painful contrast it was to 1981 and HIV," said Peter Staley, a longtime AIDS activist who was on the call. "If the White House had reached out to the gay community like this with the first reported cases in June and July of 1981, we certainly had a chance to make it an epidemic that's the fraction of the size it ended up being in the U.S." Some organizations say the small number of monkeypox cases so far does not warrant a full-fledged response at the same time that HIV and the coronavirus are more prevalent. "The interventions that work for both covid and HIV are going to go a long way for preventing the spread of monkeypox," said Alexis Sanchez, director of advocacy and training at the Sacramento LGBT Community Center. Five cases have been detected in Sacramento County, including close contacts of an international traveler. Those cases come against the backdrop of the CDC designating the county as having high coronavirus levels, which triggered a mask mandate in some schools. "Especially in Sacramento with there being a surge of covid, a person is more likely to contract covid. Which isn't to say [monkeypox] is not within our radar, but it's not our main priority," Sanchez said. Some activists want HIV prevention and LGBT organizations to do more to spread warnings about monkeypox symptoms and to help quell the outbreak. "This is a nascent crisis, and we can contain a virus that is now spreading in its early days in the United States in our community. There's no reason to sit on the sidelines," said Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health and a longtime AIDS activist. Some have used the monkeypox outbreak to condemn Pride and other aspects of gay life. In the United Kingdom, an organization called the LGB Alliance urged the shutdown of saunas and leather bars during Pride month to limit the spread of monkeypox, prompting an outcry from mainstream LGBT groups that have often criticized the alliance for espousing anti-transgender views. David Bath, a 43-year-old health economist in London who contracted monkeypox in May, was among those rejecting that view, saying it would only fuel stigma and make people less likely to report symptoms. He said his experience with monkeypox testifies to the value of a free public health system that does not ostracize gay men. Bath sought care at a clinic where he routinely is screened for infections after he noticed symptoms that included a fever and spots on his body and after hearing about monkeypox from a doctor friend and reading an article that noted cases were concentrated among men who have sex with men. When health authorities investigating the spread of the virus contacted him, Bath had no qualms about filling out a spreadsheet with information on 28 contacts, including friends he had hugged, his therapist and a sexual partner. Some were offered vaccines that can stop the virus from causing illness. He worries this would not be possible in an anti-gay society. "Reticence to talk about sex and stigmatizing communities and their practices which are part of life is not just wrong and unethical, but counterproductive," Bath said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate After the arrest of more than two dozen members of a white supremacist group near a northern Idaho pride event, including one identified as its founder, LGBTQ advocates said Sunday that polarization and a fraught political climate are putting their community increasingly at risk. The 31 Patriot Front members were arrested with riot gear after a tipster reported seeing people loading up into a U-Haul like a little army at a hotel parking lot in Coeur dAlene, Idaho, police said. Among those booked into jail on misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to riot was Thomas Ryan Rousseau of Grapevine, Texas, who has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as the 23-year-old who founded the group after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. No attorney was immediately listed for him and phone numbers associated with him went unanswered Sunday. Also among the arrestees was Mitchell F. Wagner, 24, of Florissant, Missouri, who was previously charged with defacing a mural of famous Black Americans on a college campus in St. Louis last year. Michael Kielty, Wagners attorney, said Sunday that he had not been provided information about the charges. He said Patriot Front did not have a reputation for violence and that the case could be a First Amendment issue. Even if you dont like the speech, they have the right to make it, he said. Patriot Front is a white supremacist neo-Nazi group whose members perceive Black Americans, Jews and LGBTQ people as enemies, said Jon Lewis, a George Washington University researcher who specializes in homegrown violent extremism. Their playbook, Lewis said, involves identifying local grievances to exploit, organizing on platforms like the messaging app Telegram and ultimately showing up to events marching in neat columns, in blue- or white-collared-shirt uniforms, in a display of strength. Though Pride celebrations have long been picketed by counterprotesters citing religious objections, they haven't historically been a major focus for armed extremist groups. Still, it isn't surprising, given how anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has increasingly become a potent rallying cry in the far-right online ecosystem, Lewis said. That set of grievances fits into their broader narratives and shows their ability to mobilize the same folks against the enemy over and over and over again, he said. The arrests come amid a surge of charged rhetoric around LGBTQ issues and a wave of state legislation aimed at transgender youth, said John McCrostie, the first openly gay man elected to the Idaho Legislature. In Boise this week, dozens of Pride flags were stolen from city streets. Whenever we are confronted with attacks of hate, we must respond with the message from the community that we embrace all people with all of our differences, McCrostie said in a text message. Sunday also marked six years since the mass shooting that killed 49 people at the Orlando LGBTQ club Pulse, said Troy Williams with Equality Utah in Salt Lake City. Our nation is growing increasingly polarized, and the result has been tragic and deadly, he said. Authorities in the San Francisco Bay Area are investigating a possible hate crime after a group of men allegedly shouted homophobic and anti-LGBTQ slurs during a weekend Drag Queen Story Hour at the San Lorenzo Library on Saturday. No arrests have been made, no one was physically harmed, and authorities are investigating the incident as possible harassment of children. In Coeur dAlene on Saturday, police found riot gear, one smoke grenade, shin guards and shields inside the van after pulling it over near a park where the North Idaho Pride Alliance was holding a Pride in the Park event, Coeur dAlene Police Chief Lee White said. The group came to riot around the small northern Idaho city wearing Patriot Front patches and logos on their hats and some T-shirts reading Reclaim America according to police and videos of the arrests posted on social media. Those arrested came from at least 11 states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia, and Arkansas. Though there is a history of far-right extremism dating back decades in northern Idaho, White said only one of those arrested Saturday was from the state. The six-hour Pride event generally went on as scheduled, including booths, food, live music, a drag show and a march of more than 50 people, the Idaho Statesman reported. We have been through so much, so much, Jessica Mahuron of the North Idaho Pride Alliance, which organized the event, told KREM-TV. Harassment, and attempts to intimidate on the psychological level, and the truth is if you allow yourself to be intimidated you let them win and what we have shown today is that you will not win. The group is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday. __ Whitehurst and Metz reported from Salt Lake City. Associated Press writer Martha Bellisle contributed to this report. RIVERDALE, Ga. (AP) A missing 1-year-old child who authorities issued an Amber Alert after she was kidnapped by her father was shot to death early Sunday morning behind a church in Georgia, investigators said. Darian Javaris Bennett, 38, also killed the mother of his child and wounded the grandmother at a home in Covington before kidnapping the baby, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation told media outlets. WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of senators announced Sunday that it had reached a tentative agreement on legislation that would pair modest new gun restrictions with significant new mental health and school security investments - a deal that could put Congress on a path to enacting the most significant national response in decades to acts of mass gun violence. Twenty senators - 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans - signed a statement announcing the framework deal. The move indicated that the agreement could have enough GOP support to defeat a filibuster, the Senate supermajority rule that has impeded previous gun legislation. "Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities," the statement read in part. "Most importantly, our plan saves lives while also protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans." Under the tentative deal, a federal grant program would encourage states to implement red-flag laws that allow authorities to keep guns away from people found by a judge to represent a potential threat to themselves or others, while federal criminal background checks for gun buyers younger than 21 would include a mandatory search of juvenile justice and mental health records for the first time. Other provisions would prevent gun sales to domestic violence offenders beyond just spouses, closing what is often called the "boyfriend loophole"; clarify which gun sellers are required to register as federal firearms dealers and, thus, run background checks on their customers; and establish new federal offenses related to gun trafficking. The agreement does not include a provision supported by President Joe Biden, congressional Democrats and a handful of Republicans that would raise the minimum age for the purchase of at least some rifles from 18 to 21. Handguns are already subject to a federal 21-and-older rule. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the lead Democratic negotiator, said in an interview Sunday that the compromise would have detractors on both the right and the left but that it would ultimately make a "meaningful difference" in combating gun violence."This is also the moment where we break the logjam. This is the moment where this 30-year impasse is broken," Murphy added. "I think folks are really anxious about the state of violence in this country, and they really want Washington to show that it can deliver." Other provisions would funnel billions of new federal dollars into mental health care and school security programs, funding behavioral intervention programs, new campus infrastructure and armed officers. One cornerstone of the deal is legislation sponsored by Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., to establish a nationwide network of "community behavioral health clinics," though the framework does not yet include an agreed funding level for that program or others. The announcement Sunday represents the fruit of a crash bipartisan effort launched in the days after the May 24 killing of 19 children and two teachers inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which itself came 10 days after a mass shooting at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket. It also comes one day after thousands attended pro-gun-control rallies across the country organized by the student-led March for Our Lives group, including a Washington event on the National Mall. And Sunday was the sixth anniversary of one of the country's deadliest mass shootings, the 2016 killing of 49 people inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Ahead of Sunday's announcement, senators had publicly sketched out their negotiating positions in general terms. Murphy, who has led Democrats' efforts on gun legislation since the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Conn., said during an anti-gun-violence rally Friday that he was determined to break congressional stasis on gun legislation, but not at any cost: "I'm not interested in doing something unless that something is going to save lives, unless that something's going to be impactful and meaningful." Meanwhile, lead GOP negotiator John Cornyn, R-Texas, who has an A-plus rating from the National Rifle Association, said last week that he was interested in forging a compromise, but only if it preserves gun owners' rights under the Second Amendment. "This is not about creating new restrictions on law-abiding citizens," he said. "It's about ensuring that the system we already have in place works as intended." Key pitfalls remain: The framework announced Sunday amounts to a statement of principles, not a fully written bill. While people involved in the process said last week that significant chunks of the legislation have already been written, new points of friction frequently arise in Congress as the drafting process plays out. Red-flag laws, in particular, have raised many conservative Republicans' hackles, though negotiators said last week that they thought there would be sufficient GOP support to pass a deal. The boyfriend loophole and firearms licensee provisions have also been subject to previous bipartisan talks that did not produce agreements. "The details will be critical for Republicans, particularly the firearms-related provisions," said a GOP aide familiar with the talks. "One or more of these principles could be dropped if text is not agreed to." Money also stands to be a sticking point. The framework released Sunday proposes funding commitments that could easily run into the billions of dollars, and Republicans want any new spending to be offset with cuts elsewhere in the federal budget, people involved in the negotiations said. Those details have not been finalized, Murphy said Sunday but he said the framework represented a "pretty good, firm agreement" that would not easily unravel. Murphy, Cornyn and others had set an informal goal of passing a bill before June 24, when senators are set to leave Washington for a two-week recess, but with the legislation still not fully written, it remains unclear whether that goal can be met. Doing so, Murphy said Sunday, would require "herculean work." The Republican signers of Sunday's statement were Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who led the talks for the GOP, as well as Sens Blunt; Richard Burr of North Carolina; Bill Cassidy of Louisiana; Susan M. Collins of Maine; Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina; Rob Portman of Ohio; Mitt Romney of Utah and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania. Democrats in the group included leaders Murphy and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, as well as Richard Blumenthal of Conneticuit; Cory Booker of New Jersey; Christopher A. Coons of Delaware; Martin Heinrich of New Mexico; Mark Kelly of Arizona; Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, also signed. Biden also indicated his support: "It does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades," he said in a statement released by the White House on Sunday. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said he planned to "put this bill on the floor as soon as possible" once the legislative drafting is completed, a process that aides said could take several days or longer. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., did not formally endorse the deal in a statement Sunday but offered encouragement to the negotiators: "I continue to hope their discussions yield a bipartisan product that makes significant headway on key issues like mental health and school safety, respects the Second Amendment, earns broad support in the Senate, and makes a difference for our country." The framework also won plaudits from gun-control advocates, including the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and Everytown for Gun Safety, which cast the agreement as a historic breakthrough, even though it does not include the tougher measures those groups have long advocated. Everytown President John Feinblatt said that, if enacted, the framework would be "the most significant piece of gun safety legislation to make it through Congress in 26 long and deadly years," while Brady President Kris Brown called it "a 30-year breakthrough in the making" and "a historic, new beginning that breaks the stranglehold of the gun industry." "In a less broken society, we would be able to require background checks every single time someone wants to buy a gun, and we would ban assault rifles outright," said March for Our Lives co-founder David Hogg. "But if even one life is saved or one attempted mass shooting is prevented because of these regulations, we believe that it is worth fighting for." An NRA spokeswoman said Sunday that the group "will make our position known when the full text of the bill is available for review." "The NRA will continue to oppose any effort to insert gun-control policies, initiatives that override constitutional due process protections, and efforts to deprive law-abiding citizens of their fundamental right to protect themselves and their loved ones into this or any other legislation," said the spokeswoman, Amy Hunter. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., signaled that the Democratic-controlled House would move to enact whatever bill the Senate might pass. "While more is needed, this package will take steps to save lives," she said. The House has already passed four gun-related bills that go considerably further than the tentative Senate deal. Last year, lawmakers passed a bill expanding federal background checks to all commercial transactions, including those conducted at gun shows and over the internet, as well as a measure extending the period the FBI has to complete background checks of prospective gun buyers. Also last week, in response to the recent shootings, the House passed bills that banned sales of many semiautomatic rifles to those younger than 21, banned high-capacity magazines and promoted red-flag laws in both state and federal courts. None of those bills has the Republican support to pass the Senate. The last substantial new federal gun control laws were passed in the mid-1990s - the Brady bill of 1993, which created the national instant background check system, and assault weapons ban of 1994, which outlawed some military-style semiautomatic rifles and handguns. The latter bill expired 10 years later and has not been renewed. In recent decades, Washington has acted mainly to expand gun rights. In 2005, for instance, Congress immunized the firearms industry against product liability lawsuits, and in 2008, the Supreme Court enshrined an individual's right to possess guns in the landmark case D.C. v. Heller. A 2013 push after the Sandy Hook massacre to expand background checks to cover more gun transactions, including gun-show and internet sales, fell six votes short in the Senate. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North Korea test-fired what appeared to be artillery shells toward the sea on Sunday, South Koreas military said, days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for greater defense capability to cope with outside threats. South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected several flight trajectories believed to be North Korean artillery on Sunday morning. It said in the statement that South Korea maintains a firm military readiness in close coordination with the United States amid boosted surveillance on North Korea. During a national security council meeting convened to discuss the launches, South Korean officials expressed concern that North Korea is upgrading weapons systems that pose a direct threat to South Korea and reaffirmed they would sternly deal with such North Korean efforts, according to South Korea's presidential office. The Norths artillery tests draw less outside attention than its missile launches. But its forward-deployed long-range artillery guns are a serious security threat to South Korea's populous metropolitan region, which is only 40-50 kilometers (25-30 miles) from the border with North Korea. The suspected artillery launches were the latest in a spate of weapons tests by North Korea this year in what foreign experts call an attempt to pressure its rivals Washington and Seoul to relax international sanctions against Pyongyang and make other concessions. South Korean and U.S. officials recently said North Korea had almost completed preparations for its first nuclear test in about five years. In March, North Korea test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland U.S. in breach of a 2018 moratorium on big missile tests. In a speech at a ruling party meeting last week, Kim underscored the need to strengthen his countrys military capability, saying the current security environment is very serious. Kims speech carried by state media didnt mention the United States or South Korea. But he still set forth militant tasks to be pursued by his armed forces and scientists, a suggestion that he would press ahead with his high-profile arms buildup plans. A possible new nuclear test by North Korea would be the seventh of its kind. Some experts say North Korea will likely use the test to build warheads to be mounted on tactical nuclear weapons aimed at hitting targets in South Korea. When you search the Real Life Movies genre on Netflix, you'll immediately find a plethora of movies that are based on a real event. See? Finding a true-to-life film on a streaming platform is not difficult! However, finding GOOD real-life movies is the tricky part. The good news is that we're here to help you select films that are worth your time! Here are the top true-life films available on Netflix in 2022. Starring: Maxwell Simba, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Aissa Maiga The story is about a young boy who is expelled from school due to his parents' inability to pay tuition. His village is plagued by a variety of natural disasters, putting them in danger of drought and starvation. The young lad sneaks inside the library in the hopes of building a windmill and saving his community, and the title gives away what happens next, as per A Good Movie to Watch. Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Since the Civil War, the American culture wars have raged, and they erupted once more in the 1960s. The clash between "social justice" advocates and those committed to "traditional values" was at the heart of these conflicts. "The Trial of the Chicago 7" is an engrossing historical drama that illustrates the breadth and complexity of the struggle between traditional and countercultural Americans to define what America stands for, according to Spirituality Practice. Starring: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland A heartfelt tribute to natural disaster victims that is full of sadness, anguish, and hope. And it wouldn't be nearly as awful if it wasn't based on a true story of the disaster that killed over 230,000 people, as per A Good Movie to Watch. Read More: 7 Best Action Movies You Can Watch on Netflix This 2022 Starring: Monica Del Carmen, Raul Briones, Maria Teresa Hernandez Canas Director Alonso Ruizpalacios combines reality and fiction, documentary and narrative in the A Good Movie to Watch mentioned that the Mexican film "A Cop Movie" to portray the story of Teresa and Montoya, two police officers whose ambitions are shattered by the corruption of their profession and who eventually find love and consolation in one other. Starring: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Charles Dance In 1940, as per NPR, a bedridden Mank settles in to create the script from a rented ranch house, and in flashbacks to various stages in his former career working within the Hollywood studio system, the plot unfolds. It's also beautifully shot in black and white by cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt and colorist Eric Weidt, using several of Kane's signature visual methods. Starring: Amy Adams, Glenn Close, Gabriel Basso The film adaptation of Vance's memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" arrives on Netflix laden with cultural baggage and expectations. Roger Ebert noted that it's not a brilliant or even very unique film, but it's emotional and simple enough to appeal to viewers whose families have suffered with addiction and recovery, domestic abuse, financial hardship, and other issues addressed in the plot. Starring: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay After fleeing the Cracow Ghetto through a breach in the barbed-wire fence as a boy in Poland, film director Roman Polanski hid from the Nazis. He has spent the years after the battle looking for a story that would portray some of the events he witnessed. Then, as per Spirituality Practice, he came upon Wladyslaw Szpilman's autobiography, a Polish Jew who survived the Warsaw ghetto. Related Article: 7 Best Horror Movies on Netflix You Can Watch in 2022 CAIRO (AP) Libyan officials returned to the Egyptian capital Sunday for a third round of talks on constitutional amendments for elections. The North African nation once again finds itself at a political impasse with two rival administrations claiming legitimacy. The talks in Cairo come on the heels of clashes between rival militias that caused residents of the Libyan capital of Tripoli to panic and revived nightmares of previous bouts of fighting in the chaos-stricken nation. Lawmakers from Libyas east-based parliament and the High Council of State, an advisory body from western Libya, began the U.N.-brokered negotiations amid concerted international pressure on the two chambers to put their disputes aside and agree on the elections legal basis. The U.N. special adviser on Libya, Stephanie Williams, said talks in a Cairo hotel will continue till June 19 with the aim of establishing a constitutional framework required to take the country to national elections as soon as possible. After eleven long years of division, dysfunction, conflict, chaos and polarization, the Libyan people are exhausted," shetold attendees at the opening session. "You have a real opportunity, indeed a solemn responsibility, to give them hope, to provide a pathway towards elections within a firm constitutional framework. In the previous two rounds of talks, the parties came to an initial consensus on 137 articles of the constitutional draft, including on rights and freedoms. They would continue discussing a handful of disputed articles on legislative and judicial authority, Williams said. The dispute over the constitutional framework of the election was among major challenges that caused planned national elections to fail in December. The failure to hold the vote was a major blow to international efforts to end decade of chaos in Libya. It has opened a new chapter in its long-running political impasse, with rival governments now claiming power after tentative steps toward unity in the past year. On Friday, clashes broke out in Tripoli between rival militias, spurring residents to take shelter and women and children to flee a busy park as artillery shells flew across the night sky. It was not clear what cause the clashes. Authorities in Tripoli said an investigation was opened. Williams, the U.N. adviser, condemned the fighting, saying in a Twitter post, Enough is enough! She called for those responsible to be held accountable. The U.S. ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, threatened to sanction those responsible for the fighting, saying they will pay a price with the Libyan people and the international community. The violence was the latest bout of infighting in recent weeks between rogue militias, especially in the western region, which is ruled by an array of militias loosely allied with the Tripoli-based government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. East and south Libya are controlled by forces of military commander Khalifa Hifter, who is allied with a rival government led by parliament-appointed Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha. The oil-rich country has been wrecked by conflict since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. The country has for years been split between rival administrations in the east and west, each supported by different militias and foreign governments. WFO LAS VEGAS Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Sunday, June 12, 2022 _____ EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 234 AM PDT Sun Jun 12 2022 ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM PDT/MST THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions. * WHERE...In Arizona, Lake Havasu and Fort Mohave. In California, San Bernardino County-Upper Colorado River Valley. * WHEN...Until 8 PM PDT/MST today. * IMPACTS...Extreme heat will significantly increase the potential for heat-related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities and those consuming alcohol and/or drugs. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible, reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening hours. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose-fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air-conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. ...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM PDT THIS MORNING TO 8 PM PDT/MST THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Southwest winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts 40 to 50 mph expected. * WHERE...Portions of northwest Arizona, southeast California and southern Nevada. * WHEN...From 11 AM to 8 PM PDT/MST today. * IMPACTS...Tree limbs could be blown down from gusty winds and a few power outages may result. Reduced visibilities on area roadways possible due to blowing dust. Use extra caution when driving, especially if operating a high profile vehicle. Secure outdoor objects. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO SACRAMENTO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Sunday, June 12, 2022 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in Sacramento has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Central Tehama County in northern California... * Until 1230 PM PDT. * At 1141 AM PDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Blossom, or near Red Bluff, moving east at 25 mph. HAZARD...Quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Damage to vehicles is expected. * Locations impacted include... Red Bluff, Blossom and Dairyville. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather Country singer Dallas Smith returned to the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, Thursday night, for a night of high energy entertainment. The Canadian performer had a banner year in 2021 winning the Country Music Awards entertainer of the year, as well as the single of the year. The band is cu Results from the latest PNP draw in British Columbia Provincial Nominations can give Express Entry candidates a higher CRS score and offer alternative pathways to Canadian permanent residence. Results from the latest PNP draw in British Columbia Provincial Nominations can give Express Entry candidates a higher CRS score and offer alternative pathways to Canadian permanent residence. Results from the latest PNP draw in British Columbia Provincial Nominations can give Express Entry candidates a higher CRS score and offer alternative pathways to Canadian permanent residence. Edana Robitaille Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A British Columbia has released the results of the latest Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) invitation draws that took place this past week. PNP invitation draws in British Columbia typically occur on a weekly basis, making it one of the most frequent PNP draws in Canada. The most recent rounds of invitations under the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) were held on June 7. More than 141 candidates received invitations to apply for a provincial nomination. This is fewer than the 167 invitations issued on May 31. Discover if You Are Eligible for Canadian Immigration In order to be eligible for a provincial nomination in BC, candidates must meet the requirements of one of British Columbias Express Entry BC or Skills Immigration categories, which are managed through the Skills and Immigration Registration System (SIRS). Minimum score between 60-85 Invitations in this draw were issued to candidates from the Skilled Worker, International Graduate, and Entry Level and Semi-Skilled subcategories and needed a minimum provincial score between 60 and 85, depending on the stream. The province has recently been holding rounds of invitations for candidates in specific occupations to meet the increased labour needs in certain sectors of the economy. This week, the province invited the following: 125 tech occupations with scores of at least 85; 16 early childhood educators (NOC 4214) with scores of at least 60; less than five healthcare occupations with scores of at least 60. The Provincial Nominee Program Canadian provinces and territories (with the exception of Quebec and Nunavut) operate their own PNPs. Although provincial nomination is different from permanent residence, it can significantly increase the chances of obtaining permanent resident status from Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). There are over 80 PNPs in Canada through which potential candidates can gain permanent residence. This can be done by directly applying to the province or through an Express Entry profile. Further, candidates with Express Entry profiles may receive a provincial nomination and get 600 points added to their Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score. A high CRS score can increase the chance of receiving an Invitation to Apply (ITA) to IRCC. They also become eligible to be invited to apply for a PNP-specific round of invitations. In the latest Express Entry draw held June 8, Canada invited 932 PNP candidates to apply with CRS scores of at least 796. This was the largest PNP draw since March 2 when Canada invited 1,047 PNP candidates. Discover if You Are Eligible for Canadian Immigration CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options. Sorry, no valid subscriptions were found for this Publication. Please select from an option below to start a subscription. SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 24 Hour Access Google Keep is a straightforward and versatile app in the Google ecosystem. As we evolve into modern times, our note taking has also become easier. Note-taking apps have become our companion for setting reminders, brain-dumping ideas, creating a to-do list for things we need to do and making a checklist of things we need to remember. Google Keep is a specialized note-taking tool that was first released by Google in 2013. It includes a few helpful tools that can be used to manage your notes. However, it is capable of much more than managing simple checklists or jotting down fleeting thoughts whenever they come to mind. You may access it from any device where you use your Google account, whether it be a computer, a phone, or a tablet. Since his app is part of the Google ecosystem, this means that it immediately syncs into your Google Drive. This allows you to access it whether you are using your phone, tablet, iPad, or computer anywhere. As a quick notice, you should remember that Google Drive only gives out free 15GB of storage data. Google Keep Features According to Android Police, there are five different kinds of notes that can be made in Google Keep. When you open the app, there will be five icons displayed at the very bottom of the screen. They are, in order, from left to right: First is List. This option will put a checkmark in front of each item on your list. Second is drawing. You can use this if you want to write something handwritten or you could make some drawings. The third is audio. This one is perfect for those who have an idea for a song or those who are easily forgetful. The audio note will be ideal for those who want to record their voice. Fourth is Photo. Adding an image to your note is one feature Google Keep has. Lastly, users can just create regular simple text notes of whatever ideas are floating in their mind. Read Also: Frustrated About Your Full Samsung Galaxy Storage? 5 Ways to Free Up Space and Get Your Phone Running Smoothly Again How To Use Google Keep on Android and iPhone According to Google, here's how to download and use your Google Keep on a computer, Android, iPhone, and iPad. Step 1: Download the Google Keep app On an Android-powered tablet or phone, you just need to head to the Google Play app Play Store, go to the search bar, type Google Keep, then click Install. If your device is an iPhone or an iPad, you just need to go to the App Store, go to the search bar, and search for the Google Keep app. Then click to install, whether you want it on your Apple Watch, iPhone, or iPad. Step 2: Create Notes With this app, you can create, organize, and archive past notes or edit them. You have the ability to generate, modify, arrange, and store notes. You can create a note or make changes to one. You can make a list. You can also create a sketch in the note and save it. You can also access and set up reminders on your notes. Aside from that, the notes in your app can be labeled, colored, or pinned. Furthermore, to access Google Keep on a computer, you just need to first sign in to your Google account and then go to keep.google.com. From there, you can create new notes or access your previous notes. Another tip: if you have an Apple Watch, it can give you the ability to see, create, pin, and check off tasks on your to-do lists. On the watch, you have the capacity to see up to 20 different notes. Related Article: Update Google Chrome Now: How To Download Chrome Security Update on Mac, Linux, Windows, Android Hello and welcome to yet another This Week on iTP rundown where we list the top stories from the past week! This week's top five stories largely revolves around vulnerabilities, exploits, and cybersecurity. The online world can be a pretty scary place if you do not how to protect yourself and, well, you will see what happens when things go south in that regard. Without further ado, let's get started with our rundown! Coming in at number five is our story about an online marketplace that has victimized 24 million Americans being taken down by law enforcement. SSNDOB, the online marketplace in question, was selling personal information of their victims, including their names, social security numbers, and dates of birth. The site was taken down thanks to the joint operation involving the Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Cyprus police. We regularly cover stories about zero-day vulnerabilities, exploits, and their patches here on iTech Post. This story coming in at number four is one that is about an exploited zero-day vulnerability that has allowed attackers to target local governments in the United States. The zero-day vulnerability is known as Follina has also been used to target governments in Europe, according to our report. Stellantis, best known as the parent company of automobile brands Dodge and Jeep, has pleaded guilty "to criminal conspiracy charges stemming from its efforts to hide the amount of pollution created by its diesel engines." The company has been accused of planting illegal software that is meant to evade emissions testing. Stellantis has agreed to play $300 million in fines as well as to submit compliance reports related to the Clean Air Act. Related Article: #ThisWeekOnITP: Google Embraces Woke Culture, What You Need to Know About the iPhone 14, and More! Atlassian Confluence has fallen victim to attackers who have exploited the the CVE-2022-26134 vulnerability. Products that are said to be affected by this include the Confluence Server and Data Center, A patch has already been released and users have been highly encouraged to make the security update to avoid further breaches and exploits. The past week has been a huge week for Apple as the tech giant hosted WWDC 2022. One of the company's products that featured heavily in WWDC 2022 is its M1 chip. However, a group of security researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have shared that they found a security vulnerability in the M1 chip. Unfortunately, the researchers have described this flaw as unpatchable. Read Also: #ThisWeekOnITP: Canon Pixma Printer Reboot Loop, Hubble's Photo of Grand Design Spiral, and More! Colorado Politics is published both in print and online. Our website features subscriber-only news stories daily, designed for public policy arena professionals. Member subscribers also receive the weekly print edition of our award-winning newspaper, containing outstanding features and news stories, in their mailboxes every Saturday. In only a couple of decades, Milan has grown into one of the most diverse places in Missouri. A scene from the film, "Lightyear" / Courtesy of Walt Disney Company Korea By Kwak Yeon-soo "Lightyear," which follows the origin story of Buzz Lightyear, a legendary space ranger in the "Toy Story" franchise, boasts all-ages storytelling with boundary-pushing animation. In the film, Buzz (voiced by Chris Evans), along with his robot companion cat, Sox (Peter Sohn), and three cadets, embarks on a dangerous mission to find his way back home through space and time. However, he is confronted by a mysterious conqueror named Zurg who threatens the universe. Two Korean animators layout artist Chun Sung-uk and 3D animator Lee Chae-yeon at Pixar Animation Studios participated in creating the "Toy Story" spin-off. Both said they were honored to join the project as they grew up watching the "Toy Story" film series. Layout artist Chun Sung-uk at Pixar Animation Studios / Courtesy of Walt Disney Company Korea "I am so proud of the movie. I'm happy with the way it turned out. We completed the movie from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It's kind of overwhelming to see the full scale of what computer animation can do on the big screen," Chun said during a recent Zoom interview with The Korea Times. Like a cinematographer in a live-action film, a layout artist places the camera in a 3D space and comes up with the overall design of the scenes. For "Lightyear," the studio created its own virtual IMAX camera to shoot scenes on a bigger scale compared to previous animated projects. Chun revealed that he used sci-fi movies, including "Alien," "Star Trek" and "Star Wars," as references for creating characters in "Lightyear." The team also made a research trip to NASA to inspire the look of spaceships, spacesuits and overall set pieces. "We wanted everything to look like a live-action film rather than an animation. We had to transform Buzz from a toy-version to a 'real' human," he said. 3D animator Lee Chae-yeon at Pixar Animation Studios / Courtesy of Walt Disney Company Korea Lee, a 3D animator, discussed the working style of director Angus MacLane, who also served as an animator on "Toy Story" 2 and 3. "It was really inspiring to work with such talented animators. The director wanted to make a film that felt true so he asked for a much more toned-down version of Buzz's personality. Being part of the team required an enormous amount of responsibility, but it was really exciting for me professionally," Lee said. Chun and Lee said they are both very happy to be working at Pixar, a dreamland for many aspiring animators across the globe. "The studio gives a fair chance to all workers here. Working with great colleagues and learning from them is inspirational," he said. "For those who wish to work at Pixar, I'd like to encourage them to follow their dreams. I majored in business management in college but later flew to the U.S. to study 3D animation at the Academy of Art University. It wasn't easy, but it was so much fun." "There's only a handful of Koreans who work at Pixar, but the number is growing. Even if we don't know each other well, it's very reassuring to know that Koreans are performing well," Lee said. Lee also went on to mention the target audience for this animation. "Fans of the Toy Story franchise, sci-fi action adventure movies and Pixar-Disney animations will enjoy our new film. And of course, fans of Chris Evans will love it," she said. "Lightyear" will hit local theaters on June 15. ACSC issues alert over Atlassians vulnerability Following the disclosure by Australian tech giant Atlassian that a critical unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability (CVE-2022-26134) was found in all supported versions of Atlassian Confluence Server and Data Center, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) recommended organisations restrict internet access to and from affected devices. The ACSC said it was aware of malicious actors successfully exploiting the vulnerability before Atlassians disclosure. Meanwhile, the ACSC recommends users continue to monitor the companys website for updates as well as future vulnerabilities. Atlassian has issued an update to fix the issues. More than half Australian businesses find digital apps a hindrance Three in five Australian businesses find digital apps are more hindrance than help, according to a recent survey of 1,500 small and medium businesses across Australia conducted by financial software provider MYOB. A total of 59% of respondents said they are experiencing bad digitisationwhere their business and people management software apps and tools run in silos, rather than integrating with each other. Worse, 27% of organisations that said they have had costs balloon because of disconnected digital tools. More alarming was the 42% who admitted having given up using some digital business tools due to their inefficiencies but that are still paying for them as it was too much hassle to change, or because there is a lack of better alternatives to switch to. New toolkit to help small businesses protect against cyberattacks A new cybersecurity toolkit is available for small businesses from the partnership between the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre (A3C) and the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA). The toolkit is a customised version of the GCA Cybersecurity Toolkit for Small Businessan online resource providing free tools and resources that organisations in Australia can use to reduce their cyber riskand it aligns with the security messaging of the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC). The organisations are studying the possibility of bringing Quad9 into the free Wi-Fi service in the City of Adelaide. Quad9 is a free service that protects internet users from accessing known malicious websites; it is a collaboration among GCA, IBM, and Packet Clearing House. 100% Website london-express.ru uses latest and advanced technologies like: JQuery. It is very popular on the web, it's within the 1 million most visited websites of the world at position 441181 by Alexa. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 369133 bytes (360.48 kb uncompressed) and 62839 bytes (61.37 kb compressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2022-06-12, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed full support Sunday for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the country's state media reported, despite international condemnation for the latter's invasion of Ukraine. The Russian people have "achieved great successes in accomplishing the just cause of defending the dignity and security of their country ... while braving all sorts of challenges and hardships," Kim said in a message to Putin on the occasion of Russia Day, according to North's official Korean Central News Agency. "The Korean people extend full support and encouragement to them." Kim's apparent reference to the unprovoked attack against Ukraine as a "just cause" for defending Russia's security is the latest sign that illustrates decades-old close bilateral ties between the two countries. Pyongyang has recently stressed its close ties with Moscow despite growing criticism from the international community on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kim also expressed conviction that the friendly relations will continue to strengthen in all areas and in the "journey for defending the international justice and ensuring the global security." In 2019, Kim held his first summit with Putin in Russia's far eastern city of Vladivostok. (Yonhap) STAMFORD FinTron, a financial technology startup founded by Sacred Heart University alumni, has announced the closing of a $6.5 million Series A funding round an infusion that includes Connecticut investors and brings the firms total fundraising to nearly $10 million. The funds will support the expansion of FinTron, which serves clients across 52 states and territories. The new initiatives will include the hiring of world-class talent, expanded educational programming and upgrades to technology and products including a new rewards engine, cryptocurrency trading capabilities and a neo-bank offering on the FinTron Invest app, according to the firm. We are grateful to our key investors for their support of our vision to bring financial inclusivity to the 99 percent, FinTron co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Wilder Rumpf said in a statement. "Our founding mission remains the same. We strive to make personal finance accessible, understandable and doable for the mobile generation. With the support of our investors and new key hires, we can now accelerate our efforts to upgrade our product and meet our ambitious growth objectives. FinTrons investors include Stamford-headquartered Webster Bank and Connecticut Innovations, the state-chartered venture capital organization. I have been following the company for over two years and watched them grow and hit all the milestones they presented to me, Peter Longo, Connecticut Innovations senior managing director of investments, said in an email of CIs $1 million investment in FinTron. I really liked their approach of building out the educational component of the business and educating the new investors that join their platform. We also liked the demographic of their user base and feel that the traditional financial institutions are not meeting the needs of the under (age) 30, digital-first customers. Webster officials said their investment, whose amount they did not disclose, reflected the banks commitment to support financial literacy initiatives. The larger scale and resources created by our recently completed merger with Sterling Bancorp allows us to participate in investment such as this one in support of economic growth in our communities, Webster said in a statement. We were specifically inclined to invest in FinTrons digital experience as a result of the educational component, which encourages financial literacy for people of all ages and aligns with our core values. Last year, FinTron launched its app whose features include investing in fractional shares, budgeting tools and educational resources. Since the launch, the app has gained about 12,000 users. In addition, FinTron provides financial literacy programs to thousands of high school and college students across the country through FinTronU, a standalone platform that is separate from the app. FinTronU allows students to participate in simulated trading games and financial literacy courses, according to FinTron officials. Led by 26-year-old Rumpf, FinTron describes itself as one of the youngest founding teams to ever register a broker-dealer. Originally based in Westport, the firm last month moved into its offices at 201 Broad St., in downtown Stamford. It has 13 full-time employees. pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott In the wake of two deadly mass shootings carried out by 18-year-olds, several key Connecticut lawmakers all Democrats said they would support an idea that has gained steam in neighboring New York: raising the minimum age for purchasing most firearms. Connecticut and most other states allow 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds to buy many rifles and shotguns, also known as long guns, even though some of those states, including Connecticut, limit the purchase of handguns to those 21 and older. Rep. Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport and House chair of the Judiciary Committee, which hears gun legislation, said Connecticut should consider legislation that models a proposal New York passed this week to raise the minimum age for purchasing semi-automatic rifles there. "It is illogical that in Connecticut, 19 year-olds can't purchase a handgun, but they can purchase a long gun, Stafstrom said. Our laws regulating the sale of firearms should be uniform and raising the age to purchase a rifle would be a sensible course of action for the Connecticut legislature to pursue. Along with Stafstrom, the Democratic leaders of two other key joint committees in the state Legislature public safety and education each said they would support raising the minimum age for long gun purchases. However, two Republican lawmakers pushed back on the idea that more restrictions on gun ownership are warranted in a state widely regarded as having some of the strictest gun laws in the country. And four top Democratic legislators Sen. Martin Looney, Sen. Bob Duff, Rep. Matthew Ritter and Rep. Jason Rojas declined, or did not respond to, multiple requests for comment from Hearst Connecticut Media Group in recent days. Gov. Ned Lamonts office also did not respond to requests for comment on whether he would support raising the minimum age for buying long guns in Connecticut. But Lamont, at a press conference alongside gun safety advocates held the day after a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, pushed for other measures to be adopted in Connecticut and at the federal level. Lamont said then he was contemplating calling for the state legislature, which ended its session in early May, to reconvene to discuss possible gun control measures. During the most recent, three-month legislative session, Lamont proposed limiting the monthly purchase of guns and adding restrictions on so-called ghost guns. But the proposal failed to advance due to promises by Republicans to run out the calendar through prolonged debate, Stafstrom told reporters previously. This week, New York became the seventh state to limit the purchase of semi-automatic rifles to those 21 and older. At the federal level, House Democrats in Washington, D.C. planned to raise the issue Wednesday as part of a package of gun legislation, NBC News reported. The moves come amid national outcry after an 18-year-old armed with rifles killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde on May 24. The school shooting happened just days after a rifle-wielding 18-year-old went on a racist shooting spree in a Buffalo supermarket, killing 10. David Pucino, deputy chief counsel at the Giffords Center, said even in Connecticut, which bans many assault weapons, young adults under 21 years old are still able to purchase some semi-automatic rifles. He noted New York has similar laws banning assault weapons, but the gunman in the Buffalo massacre was still able to legally purchase the gun he used at age 18 in that state before the latest restrictions were approved this week. Pucino said people under 21 years old are more likely to engage in violent behaviors. They're at higher risk of committing and also being a victim of acts of gun violence. Data from the K-12 School Shooting Database, a federally-maintained dataset of gun violence taking place on school grounds, shows the majority of school shootings are carried out by men and boys younger than 21. Mike Lawlor, associate professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven and a former Democratic state representative, said that while Connecticut has an assault weapons ban that prohibits the sale of many firearms, gun manufacturers have created new models that work around the law. Lawlor said a national law forbidding the sale of all rifles and shotguns to 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds would be much more effective than a patchwork of state laws. The best thing that could happen to Connecticut are national standards, he said. That's where these guns are coming from. Elsewhere in the country. Raising the minimum age for buying guns nationwide is a proposal federal lawmakers have considered, according to national news outlets. However, Republican negotiators are focused on other priorities including reforms to background checks, red flag laws, school safety and mental health initiatives, Politico reported on Monday. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, told Hearst Connecticut Media Group last week he was optimistic that some gun control measures will ultimately be approved at the federal level. What were talking about would be arguably the most significant thing weve done on gun violence in decades. The two Connecticut Republican lawmakers who said they opposed raising minimum age rules at the state level pointed to the states already-strict gun laws, relative to other states. The Giffords Law Center, a national group advocating for stronger gun control laws, ranks Connecticut 3rd in the strength of its gun laws. I just think Connecticut is in a different sphere than other states because of how much weve already done on gun regulation, said Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford and the House minority leader. Now, for our state, we have to have the more difficult conversation of how to identify those risky behaviors and provide services for these kids. Candelora said he would support adding security to schools as well as measures to better address youth mental health, a key focus of the state legislature in the most recent session. Candelora said state lawmakers considered raising the minimum age to purchase shotguns and rifles after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary left 26 dead. But, lawmakers set aside the idea then amid concerns that doing so would keep young adults from owning guns for hunting, he said. Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-Wallingford and the ranking House member on the Judiciary Committee, said he would not support added restrictions on gun sales and said the legislature should consider eliminating gun-free zones. If an individual has jumped through the hoops to obtain the ability to lawfully protect themselves and their family by carrying a firearm, they should not be precluded from exercising that right wherever they go, he said. Fishbein also said raising the minimum age would be counterintuitive, given that most people charged with gun crimes are never found guilty, pointing to a report from Connecticuts Office of Legislative Research, released in March, showing the majority of firearms offenses in the state are either dismissed or the prosecutor drops the charge. For instance, two-thirds of charges for carrying a handgun without a permit were either dismissed or dropped in 2021, according to the research, though the author noted prosecutors may drop certain charges as part of a plea deal. Others expressed support for raising the minimum age. Rep. Bobby Sanchez, D-New Britain and House chair of the education committee, said he hopes to see legislators in Washington, D.C. come to an agreement on raising the minimum age for the purchase of long guns. Sanchez, who said he is a gun owner, questioned whether semi-automatic weapons should be sold to anyone, but said raising the minimum age would be an important compromise. I think that, if we put certain really strict laws into place, that we can stop some of this, he said. Keeping these guns away from 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds is part of that. Rep. Maria Horn, chair of the public safety committee, said the fact that young men are most often responsible for mass shootings is a blinking red light, and the minimum age should be raised. Horn said Connecticuts low rate of gun deaths is a direct result of our gun violence prevention legislation. Connecticut had the sixth-lowest rate of gun deaths in the country in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Still, Horn said she is most focused on the result of a Supreme Court decision expected by the end of this month that she said could have implications for state law in Connecticut.The court is poised to decide whether New York laws regulating the concealed carry of handguns violate gun owners rights under the Second Amendment, according to Reuters. It would be prudent to wait for that decision, Horn said. Jeremy Stein, executive director of CT Against Gun Violence, said while he supports raising the minimum age for the purchase of most guns in Connecticut to 21, hard-to-solve problems would persist. For example, two-thirds of gun deaths are suicides in Connecticut, he said. We need better regulations that are going to limit access to guns, especially by people who are going to harm themselves or others, he said. In addition to looking at the supply side of guns, we need to also be looking at the demand for guns and the root causes of gun violence. The states attorney for the Danbury Judicial District was given a lifetime achievement award Thursday evening for his work investigating and prosecuting child abuse cases, as well as investigating the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice. Stephen J. Sedensky III was one of many honored at the Connecticut Criminal Justice Educational and Charitable Associations 18th annual John M. Bailey Memorial Scholarship & Awards Dinner in Southington. Sedensky has distinguished himself in numerous areas and on many cases, notably conducting the investigation into the shootings of 26 children and teachers at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, including a determination of whether the shooter acted alone, the department said of the 2022 Kevin T. Kane Lifetime Achievement Award winner. He is a national leader in the area of child abuse investigations and prosecutions, pioneering the Finding Words program in Connecticut and serving for many years as co-chair of the Governors Task Force on Justice for Abused Children. Sedensky began his career with the state attorneys office in Bridgeport, moving on to become supervisory assistant states attorney for the Statewide Prosecution Bureau before assuming his current role. Three prosecutors were also honored for their exemplary work in the matters of State v. Sergio Correa and State v. Ruth Correa, the successful prosecutions of a brother and sister convicted of the murders of Kenneth and Janet Lindquist and their son, Matthew. The three 2022 Oliver Ellsworth Prosecutor of the Year Awards were presented to Supervisory Assistant States Attorney Stephen Carney, Senior Assistant States Attorney Thomas DeLillo and Assistant States Attorney Marissa Goldberg of the Judicial District of New London. The three prosecutors nominations said they exhibited tireless dedication in the preparation and trial of an extremely complex case and their professionalism exemplified the best of what prosecutors should strive to be, according to the department. The 2022 Employee of the Year Award was presented to Inspector Herbert Johnson of the Judicial District of Ansonia/Milford for his actions in an incident that is yet another reminder that Division of Criminal Justice Inspectors are sworn law enforcement officers on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, officials said. According to a statement, On October 12, 2021, Inspector Johnson was traveling home from work when he came upon a serious incident involving a Connecticut State Police Trooper attempting to apprehend a highly intoxicated man who had stolen a tractor trailer. Some 10 vehicles were damaged by the driver. Officials said Johnson assisted in the apprehension of the suspect, who had attempted to wrest away his duty weapon posing imminent threat to Inspector Johnson, the trooper and others. Through his quick response and effective actions, the incident was brought to a close with no loss of life or serious injury. Chief States Attorney Patrick J. Griffin presented a commendation to Connecticut Police State Trooper Horatio Hinds on Thursday for his outstanding service above and beyond the call of duty for aiding Johnson during the October 12, 2021 incident. Officials said 2022 Special Recognition Awards were awarded to Tracy Cretella, clerical supervisor in Geographical Area No. 23 in New Haven and Anthony Duarte, investigator in Geographical Area No. 12 in Manchester. Tracy Cretella, who is retiring this year, is the clerical supervisor in one of, if not the busiest courthouses in the state. Prior to coming to G.A. 23, she had already distinguished herself as the lead clerical in G.A. No. 7 in Meriden where she began her career at the Division, officials said. Throughout her career, she has been routinely described by her supervisors and coworkers as an exemplary employee always ready to assist others and take on large tasks. Duarte is also retiring this year after 36 years. According to the department, he is known not only for his many contributions as investigator in Manchester and previously at G.A. No. 15 in New Britain, but also for his never-ending dedication and commitment to improving working conditions for all Division of Criminal Justice employees through his long association with the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 4. Officials said he also brought honor and good will to the Division of Criminal Justice through service in his community. Five scholarships were also awarded in the name of former Chief States Attorney John M. Bailey, one in the name of retired Juvenile Prosecutor Francis J. Carino, and another in the name of Inspector Racheal Cain and her husband Christopher. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com The tragic death of Marisol Dumeng allegedly killed by a boyfriend free on bond for murder and domestic violence charges is casting a spotlight on a rarely used state law that enables prosecutors to revoke bail. But States Attorney Joseph Corradino, who oversees the Fairfield County Judicial District, said that while the Dumeng example seems tailor made for bail revocation, the case is more complicated than it appears. Corradino said on three occasions the victim recanted domestic abuse allegations against her boyfriend, which made it impossible to revoke the murder bond and send him back to jail. We were never going to have evidence to go in and revoke the (murder) bond, Corradino said. Bond motions require proof by clear and convincing evidence that establishes the claim, Corradino added. On the second court appearance, she (Dumeng) is already recanting. We didnt have any external collaboration. Thats the problem. Under state law, bail or bond can be revoked for defendants facing 10 or more years in jail which includes anyone charged with murder if prosecutors can show they violated terms of the bond or the defendant is a danger to the community. Mike Lawlor, a criminal justice professor at the University of New Haven, said the law is rarely invoked. Its possible the statute has never been used, Lawlor said. Prosecutors will say its not as easy as you think, that we have to put on a case and prove hes a danger. On May 28, 30-year-old Dumeng was found dead at her Bridgeport home. Glenn Pettway, her boyfriend, was charged with Dumengs murder and a few days later killed himself during a June 2 standoff with Tennessee police. At the time of Dumengs alleged murder, Pettway was free on a $1 million bond for an unrelated murder charge in 2018. In January, Pettway was charged with two counts of threatening and harassment after Dumeng complained that he threatened to kill her. Pettway was later charged with larceny for allegedly stealing a doorbell camera from her home and breach of peace, Corradino said. He posted new bonds on those charges. Meghan Scanlon, president and CEO of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said domestic violence is a far greater problem and more complex than most understand. This is such a more prevalent issue that people realize and its very much a public health crisis, Scanlon said. We have a hot line that you can call anytime. You dont have to access the resources but I dont want anyone to feel like they are alone because they are not. Smelled a rat Corradino said prosecutors had their suspicions about Dumengs attempts to recant her domestic violence allegations against Pettway. I read the files and I see the recantation, Corradino said. I said we will keep him on the domestic violence docket and keep the protective orders in place so we can keep an eye on him. During a conversation with Bridgeport police over a disputed sale of a car to Pettway just 12 hours before Dumeng was killed Corradino said she admitted being forced by her boyfriend to recant the domestic abuse allegations. She recants and then admits she is forced to recant, Corradino said. Its 12 hours before she is killed. There is no time for anyone to respond to that. There is no mechanism to get that information to us. Yvette Velez, Dumengs sister, said she didnt know that her sister recanted any of the domestic violence allegations. I was not aware of any of that, Velez said, who declined further comment due to grief over her sisters recent funeral. Velez previously told Hearst Connecticut Media that her younger sister was asking for help before her death and wanted police to protect her from Pettway. She told the police, What are you guys waiting for, for him to come, shoot and kill me? Velez said. And then hours later, thats exactly what he did. Corradino stressed that while prosecutors didnt try to revoke Pettways bail, they wanted to continue the domestic abuse cases despite Dumengs recantations. We smelled a rat, so we were not going to let go of the domestic violence cases, Corradino said. Scanlon said the dynamic of domestic violence is complicated and victims often fluctuate between standing by allegations and recanting them. She said they also dont always tell family members the whole story. It's very complicated and lives are forever intertwined, Scanlon said. That person might be the bread winner, she continued. On some level there is a caring feeling for the offender. Its not necessarily healthy. But its a learned behavior over time; they witness it in other parts of their life. Seldom used law Lawlor said the bail revocation law was passed in response to concerns over whether the state Constitution, which establishes that all defendants have a right to post bail, also stipulated that bail could not be revoked. Under the state Constitution, everyone is entitled to bail, Lawlor said. The solution was a 1990s law that allowed revocation of bail for defendants facing 10 years or more in jail, Lawlor said. Prosecutors must file a motion for a hearing and prove to a judge that the defendant violated bail conditions or is a danger to the community or a member of the community. In 2014, New Jersey confronted a similar question about its state Constitution and voters ultimately agreed to amend the document so courts can deny bail for certain offenses and revoke it for others, Lawlor said. One remedy is to change the state Constitution like New Jersey, Lawlor said. Corradino said the Connecticut revocation law is rarely used, partly because most defendants are unable to post bond, and also because its difficult to prevail during a bail revocation hearing. Ive been in this office 24 years and I remember doing one because we felt the guy was going to abscond, Corradino said. Bond is favored because (defendants) are innocent until proven guilty. Scanlon said advocates have been pushing lawmakers to enact a hold provision that allows the courts to keep an offender in jail for 24 or 48 hours before offering bail a cooling off period, so to speak. Its not that you want to deny bail but is it worth having a 24 or 48 hour period where you hold on that? Scanlon said. bcummings@ctpost.com Russia's Interfax news agency said Saturday that an earlier report on a planned trial for a Korean volunteer fighter in Ukraine was untrue and that the person would in fact stand trial in Korea. The news agency earlier quoted the foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic of eastern Ukraine, which is controlled by pro-Russian separatists, as saying that a verdict was being prepared for the unnamed person who had fought for Ukraine. Interfax issued a correction 30 minutes later, however, saying the minister had clarified that the Korean national had returned to their native country and would be standing trial there. No details were given on the individual. (Yonhap) NEW ORLEANS (AP) Authorities have arrested one of four people wanted in the fatal shooting last month of a students grandmother outside a New Orleans high school graduation ceremony that was held at a local university. Brandon Rock, 18, made his first court appearance Saturday. Jail records show he was arrested Friday on counts of manslaughter and illegally carrying a weapon on school property, WVUE-TV reported. Orleans Parish Magistrate Commissioner Robert Blackburn set bond at $750,000, the station reported. Hearst Connecticut Media file photo / Contributed Photo STRATFORD Police are investigating a shooting that reportedly took place at a Walgreens on Sunday afternoon, officials said. Officers were dispatched to the Barnum Avenue pharmacy around 3:18 p.m. after gunfire erupted at the store, according to Capt. Frank A. Eannotti, a Stratford Police Department spokesperson. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) Sri Lanka may be compelled to buy more oil from Russia as the island nation hunts desperately for fuel amid an unprecedented economic crisis, the newly appointed prime minister said. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would first look to other sources, but would be open to buying more crude from Moscow. Western nations largely have cut off energy imports from Russia in line with sanctions over its war on Ukraine. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Wickremesinghe also indicated he would be willing to accept more financial help from China, despite his countrys mounting debt. And while he acknowledged that Sri Lankas current predicament is of its own making, he said the war in Ukraine is making it even worse and that dire food shortages could continue until 2024. He said Russia had also offered wheat to Sri Lanka. Wickremesinghe, who is also Sri Lankas finance minister, spoke to the AP in his office in the capital, Colombo, one day shy of a month after he took over for a sixth time as prime minister. Appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resolve an economic crisis that has nearly emptied the countrys foreign exchange reserves, Wickremesinghe was sworn in after days of violent protests last month forced his predecessor, Rajapaksas brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, to step down and seek safety from angry crowds at a naval base. Sri Lanka has amassed $51 billion in foreign debt, but has suspended repayment of nearly $7 billion due this year. The crushing debt has left the country with no money for basic imports, which means citizens are struggling to access basic necessities such as food, fuel, medicine even toilet paper and matches. The shortages have spawned rolling power outages, and people have been forced to wait days for cooking gas and gasoline in lines that stretch for kilometers (miles). Two weeks ago, the country bought a 90,000-metric-ton (99,000-ton) shipment of Russian crude to restart its only refinery, the energy minister told reporters. Wickremesinghe did not comment directly on those reports, and said he did not know whether more orders were in the pipeline. But he said Sri Lanka desperately needs fuel, and is currently trying to get oil and coal from the countrys traditional suppliers in the Middle East. If we can get from any other sources, we will get from there. Otherwise (we) may have to go to Russia again, he said. Officials are negotiating with private suppliers, but Wickremesinghe said one issue they face is that there is a lot of oil going around which can be sourced back informally to Iran or to Russia. Sometimes we may not know what oil we are buying, he said. Certainly we are looking at the Gulf as our main supply. Since Russias invasion of Ukraine in late February, global oil prices have skyrocketed. While Washington and its allies are trying to cut financial flows supporting Moscows war effort, Russia is offering its crude at a steep discount, making it extremely enticing to a number of countries. Like some other South Asian nations, Sri Lanka has remained neutral on the war in Europe. Sri Lanka has received and continues to reach out to numerous countries for help including the most controversial, China, currently the countrys third-largest creditor. Opposition figures have accused the president and the former prime minister of taking on a slew of Chinese loans for splashy infrastructure projects that have since failed to generate profit, instead adding to the countrys debt. Critics have also pointed to a beleaguered port in the hometown of then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Hambantota, built along with a nearby airport as part of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative projects, saying they cost too much and do too little for the economy. We need to identify what are the projects that we need for economic recovery and take loans for those projects, whether it be from China or from others, Wickremesinghe said. Its a question of where do we deploy the resources? The prime minister said his government has been talking with China about restructuring its debts. Beijing had earlier offered to lend the country more money but balked at cutting the debt, possibly out of concern that other borrowers would demand the same relief. China has agreed to come in with the other countries to give relief to Sri Lanka, which is a first step, Wickremesinghe said. This means they all have to agree (on) how the cuts are to take place and in what manner they should take place. Sri Lanka is also seeking financial assistance from the World Food Program, which may send a team to the country soon, and Wickremesinghe is banking on a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund. But even if approved, he doesnt expect to see money from the package until October onwards. Wickremesinghe acknowledged that the crisis in Sri Lanka has been of its own making. Many have blamed government mismanagement, deep tax cuts in 2019, policy blunders that devastated crops and a sharp plunge in tourism due to the coronavirus pandemic. But he also stressed that the war in Ukraine, which has thrown global supply chains into a tailspin and pushed fuel and food prices to unaffordable levels, has made things much worse. The Ukraine crisis has impacted our ... economic contraction, he said, adding that he thinks the economy will shrink even further before the country can begin to recoup and rebuild next year. I think by the end of the year, you could see the impact in other countries as well, he said. There is a global shortage of food. Countries are not exporting food. In Sri Lanka, the price of vegetables has jumped threefold while the countrys rice cultivation is down by about a third, the prime minister said. The shortages have affected both the poor and the middle classes, triggering months of protests. Mothers are struggling to get milk to feed their babies, as fears of a looming hunger crisis grow. Wickremesinghe said he felt terrible watching his nation suffer, both as a citizen and a prime minister. He said he hasnt ever seen anything like this in Sri Lanka and didnt think he ever would. I have generally been in governments where I ensured people had three meals and their income increased, he said. Weve had difficult times. ... But not like this. I have not seen ... people without fuel, without food. ___ Associated Press writers Bharatha Mallawarachi and Krishan Francis contributed to this report. Connecticut is known for its forests and fields and the red foxes, bluebirds and bald eagles its lands and waters support. But right now, 565 species across the state are at heightened risk of extinction due to threats such as habitat loss, invasive species and extreme weather. Its part of a larger national trend where more than one-third of Americas wildlife are edging toward extinction. Fortunately, Congress is the brink of acting on a bipartisan bill called the Recovering Americas Wildlife Act. It is a solution that matches the magnitude of the problem. Connecticut will receive more than $11 million annually to implement its existing plan aimed at helping at-risk wildlife. The Recovering Americans Wildlife Act has incredible bipartisan support. The bill has 35 cosponsors in the Senate, including 16 Republicans. More than a third of the House of Representatives has signed on. The bill makes sense for Connecticut because it will build on the locally driven and collaborative successes that have been the hallmark of the Connecticuts Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and our states visionary wildlife action plan that needs to be funded to restore diminished wildlife populations and the habitats they depend upon. The story of the New England cottontail shows how this can be done, when the funding is in place. Connecticuts only truly native rabbit has specific requirements it needs some 25 acres of connected scrub thickets and young forests where it can shelter from predators while raising its young. But since the 1960s, suburban development and evolving land uses have decreased the New England cottontails range by 86 percent. The New England cottontail was able to get a boost from Connecticuts farmers, thanks to funding from the Farm Bill. Interested landowners were able to get assistance to reestablish native shrubs and trees and to connect cottontail habitats. As a result of these voluntary efforts, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that the New England cottontail had recovered to the point where it no longer required protections under the Endangered Species Act. With 12 species in Connecticut already federally listed as threatened and endangered and dozens more headed that way, we need these collaborative successes more than ever before. Thats where the Recovering Americas Wildlife Act comes in. It allows the state to create locally led collaborations early on, rather than waiting until a species is on the brink of qualifying for federal protections. Its the ultimate ounce of prevention. The $11 million annually for Connecticut would unleash a new era of conservation for struggling species including wood turtles, horseshoe crabs and American shad. After all, what would Connecticut be without its wildlife? Outdoor recreation thats largely dependent upon healthy wildlife populations contributes more than $3.2 billion annually to our economy. Inaction is the ally of extinction. We encourage the entire Connecticut congressional delegation to be active champions for the Recovering Americas Wildlife Act, a commonsense, cost-effective approach to saving wildlife through collaboration. Eric Hammerling is the executive director of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association. Collin OMara is the president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, right, poses with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Lloyd Austin, center, and Nobuo Kishi during their talks in Singapore, June 11. Yonhap North Korea's growing nuclear weapon and missile threats appear to be creating fresh momentum for South Korea, the United States and Japan to rev up their security cooperation, long hamstrung by history-related feuds between Seoul and Tokyo, analysts said Sunday. The mood was on full display when Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Lloyd Austin and Nobuo Kishi, agreed during their talks in Singapore, Saturday, to hold tripartite military exercises, including missile warning drills, on a consistent basis. The agreement came amid increased tensions caused by the North's recent ballistic missile launches and its reported preparations for a nuclear weapon test. The North's leader Kim Jong-un reaffirmed his regime's principle of "power for power and head-on contest" during a key ruling party meeting last week. Making his debut on the global stage as the South's top defense official, Lee emphasized Seoul's commitment to trilateral security cooperation. "We seek to strengthen South Korea-U.S-Japan trilateral security cooperation to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats," he said during a session of the Shangri La Dialogue, an annual regional premier defense dialogue, Sunday. Gathering here on the sidelines of the forum the previous day, Lee, Austin and Kishi threw their weight behind the trilateral missile warning and ballistic missile search and tracking exercises, which have been held every quarter and biennially, respectively, or at irregular intervals. Over the past few years, the trio have staged the drills relatively in a low-key manner, a move seen as part of efforts to back efforts to engage the recalcitrant regime in dialogue. However, those exercises are expected to take place more publicly with greater consistency. Seoul, Washington and Tokyo will also likely discuss the resumption of other joint exercises, such as anti-submarine, counter-terrorism and disaster relief drills that have not been held since 2018 amid the strained relations between Seoul and Tokyo, according to an informed source. Regional military tensions have sharply escalated, especially in 2017, but then cooled down amid a brisk round of summit diplomacy highlighted by the historic summit between the U.S. and North Korea held in Singapore in June 2018. "It is tantamount to a reversion to a period before 2018 when tensions ran high," Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korea studies at Ewha Womans University, said. "There is a need for such training given the growing nuclear threat, but it remains to be seen to what extent they will carry them out." North Korea launches what it claimed was a hypersonic missile, Jan. 5, in this photo provided by the North Korean government. North Korea actually launched an intermediate-range ballistic (IRBM) missile into the East Sea, South Korea's military said. AP-Yonhap The Human Rights Act has been part of our law for more than two decades. But I'm sorry to say it is a blot on our democracy and Parliament should repeal it now or at the least amend it sharply. The problem is not that human rights and democracy are incompatible. Of course not. Every decent political community takes rights seriously, recognising limits on what we can reasonably do to one another while enabling each person to be free and to flourish where possible. But this does not mean decisions about how best to protect human rights should be made by courts. The problem with the 1998 Human Rights Act, the brainchild of the Blair government, is that it turns political questions about what the law should be, decided by Parliament, into legal questions for the courts settled by unelected judges. As the current controversy over the Government's Rwanda deportation policy shows, the clearest example of this is with immigration and asylum. It is an area where for many years governments have found it very difficult to impose their will. One main reason for this is that the Human Rights Act allows failed asylum seekers or foreign criminals, among others, to argue that deportation would breach their right to a family life, for example, and so they are entitled to remain. It is true that the Government's Rwanda plan under which refugees who arrive in the UK illegally will be sent to east Africa to claim asylum survived its first legal challenge last week. But this is not the end of the story. On Friday, the High Court decided not to ground the Home Office's first deportation flight to the capital, Kigali, at least not before a full hearing had been held. This interim decision is being appealed and, in any case, the main challenge has yet to be heard. So the fate of this flagship policy to address the crisis in the Channel remains with the judges, who may yet decide to grant future injunctions sought by campaigners and their legal teams. Protesters hold a banner saying 'Stop Deportations to Rwanda' as they march along Regent Street on June 11, 2022 in London, England Demonstrators protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice, whilst a legal case is heard over halting a planned deportation of asylum seekers from Britain to Rwanda, London, Britain, June 10, 2022. In some ways, this is the Government's own fault. It could have asked Parliament to enact legislation that would clearly require the Rwanda plan to go ahead despite the Human Rights Act. But even if Parliament had legislated to implement the Rwanda plan, this legislation would itself inevitably have been challenged. For the Human Rights Act invites lawyers, individuals and lobby groups who are unhappy with government policies to try to undermine them by mounting challenges in the courts. The Act is a powerful piece of legislation because it gives such groups the opportunity to argue in UK courts that our laws breach the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the international treaty signed by 43 countries including the UK in 1950 which is entirely separate from EU law. The significance of the Act, as the judges often acknowledge, is that the balance of power between Parliament and the courts has shifted decisively towards the judiciary. It is true that some judges have been better than others in exercising their new responsibilities. Under Lord Reed's leadership, as opposed to Lady Hale's, the Supreme Court has corrected some recent excesses, showing more respect for the responsibilities of ministers and Parliament. But problems remain. It is not only in the field of immigration that the Human Rights Act has been significant. It has helped drive the cycle of unfair investigations and reinvestigations that some UK military veterans have endured in recent years. Meanwhile, laws banning the obstruction of roads and railways have also been undermined by the Human Rights Act, with 'a right to protest' even being raised as a defence against charges of criminal damage. The former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption has been at the forefront of those arguing that the Human Rights Act is a danger to democracy, handing over decisions that ought to be political to judges. As he put it in his 2019 Reith Lectures, the fudge of political compromise is a much better way of resolving our disagreements than the black and white decisions of a court, however attractively clear-cut they might seem. For defenders of the status quo, the Human Rights Act is a clever balance between human rights law and parliamentary sovereignty. The idea, as they see it, is that we can have judicial protection of human rights without abandoning Parliament's final authority. But this balancing act is not easy and in practice it often fails. The effect of the legislation has, predictably, been to encourage parliamentarians to defer to judges, whether British or European, in a range of contexts. It would be different if 'rights' were clear and specific and could be upheld without controversy. But this is not the case because of the approach the European Court of Human Rights takes. The Strasbourg Court takes itself to be free to change what human rights means over time. It has in effect invented a new European law of immigration, frustrating states from maintaining their own border controls or from being able to remove unlawful migrants, including failed asylum seekers. The 1998 Human Rights Act is what gives the ECHR effect in UK law. Sometimes the role of the British judge under the Act is simply to figure out what the Strasbourg Court has decided and to give effect to this. But often the UK court has to decide for itself how rights should be understood and what the law should be, which in our constitutional tradition has been a matter for Parliament rather than the courts. Protestors stand outside The Royal Court of Justice in London, Friday, June 10, 2022 The Government's Rwanda plan under which refugees who arrive in the UK illegally will be sent to east Africa to claim asylum - survived its first legal challenge last week (Home Secretary Priti Patel pictured) The 1998 Act enables courts to interpret legislation unreasonably, contradicting the will of Parliament. It allows judges to simply condemn Parliament's lawmaking choice, which brings political pressure to bear to change the law. It is not the judges' fault they did not enact the 1998 Act and unless and until Parliament repeals it they have no choice but to consider these challenges to law and policy. The prospect of legal challenges on human rights grounds distorts policy-making and lawmaking. Its effect is to prevent ministers and MPs from reasoning freely about what should be done, which undermines parliamentary democracy. Repealing the Human Rights Act would prevent those who are defeated in the political process from continuing their political campaigns in the UK courts. It would restore the constitution as it stood for centuries before the Act, in which it was for Parliament freely to decide what the law should be, with courts standing ready to give effect to its decisions, not to second-guess them. Parliament should not outsource responsibility for lawmaking to courts. The Government is attempting to respond to these concerns by proposing a modern Bill of Rights. In this, it aims to restore parliamentary democracy. However, without considerable care, the proposals might do more harm than good. The point of repealing and replacing the Human Rights Act should not be to empower British judges as opposed to European judges. The point should be to limit the opportunities for UK courts to challenge Parliament's and therefore the people's decisions in a democracy about what the law should be. It is Parliament that should take responsibility for deciding what protections are required in relation to immigration and asylum, and much else, rather than surrendering its role either to UK or the Strasbourg courts. It is my view that the Human Rights Act wrongly privileges the moral views of judges. It promises the rule of courts rather than the rule of law. lRichard Ekins is head of Policy Exchange's Judicial Power Project and Professor of Law and Constitutional Government at the University of Oxford Sending illegal migrants to Rwanda is probably one of the most popular policies any modern government has ever put forward. It would be unwise to suggest that it does not have a strong democratic mandate, the proper basis of all Government power. The pressure groups and unions that oppose it speak mainly for themselves. The long failure to control our borders, and the blatant exploitation and mockery of this country by criminal people-smugglers, have angered voters for years. Home Secretary Priti Patel has acted decisively and practically. Her plan has cleared its first legal hurdle in the High Court, a place where many Government policies are derailed by the growing undemocratic force of liberal legal activism Well-off Left-wingers can see no disadvantage in uncontrolled migration, or in the success of organised crime. So they are of course against the policy. Like most such people, they are happy to be generous in theory when it does not affect them personally. But they will not win many Elections by saying that people who come to our shores illegally by their own choice in rubber dinghies from free, prosperous France, convoyed here by greedy, cynical crooks, should be welcomed and settled without question. Now, finally, Home Secretary Priti Patel has acted decisively and practically. Her plan has cleared its first legal hurdle in the High Court, a place where many Government policies are derailed by the growing undemocratic force of liberal legal activism. What a joy it would be if all our courts stuck to interpreting the law rather than seeking to make policy, and once again left Parliament supreme. We shall see how that proceeds. But the loud claims of the Rwanda schemes opponents, that it is unjust and barbarous, plainly do not stand up to scrutiny in the courts or anywhere else. Rwanda is not some Devils Island hell hole. Those sent there will be given a good opportunity to make their cases. They just will not get into Britain by cheating. The policy would in fact work perfectly well if no migrant was ever sent to Rwanda at all, provided that its chief message gets across that entering Britain illegally disqualifies you from ever settling here. Anybody who has any responsibility for governing the country or who seeks such responsibility must recognise that this will sometimes involve choosing between easy sentiment and the true long-term interests of the nation That is its point, deterrence. The current position, very regrettably, rewards lawless behaviour and encourages what must be one of the most cynical businesses, outside the drug trade, now operating in the world. What exactly do those who so noisily and self-righteously oppose Priti Patels plan wish us to do instead? They never say, probably because in truth they would let everyone in. Yet if you think (as any serious person must) that countries are entitled to decide who enters, then there must be some limit on who comes, and some means of enforcing it. Anybody who has any responsibility for governing the country or who seeks such responsibility must recognise that this will sometimes involve choosing between easy sentiment and the true long-term interests of the nation. We are told (though not by him) that Prince Charles is opposed to the Rwanda policy. He is of course entitled to his view. And when he is King, he will also be entitled to express this opinion forcefully to the Prime Minister when they meet. But this arrangement works only if such exchanges are kept secret. Perhaps now would be a good time for the heir to the throne to explain this to all those who are close to him. They do him and the country no service by setting him up in opposition to the elected Government. They also damage the vital impartiality of the Monarchy, something they have no right to do. If anyone in the parliamentary Opposition has a better idea, they should set their alternative policy before the voters in their next manifesto, and see how it fares. In the meantime, let the Government do what most voters want it to do. This method of running the country is called democracy, and has much to recommend it. A 19-year-old student has revealed her shock after doctors warned she had cancer after she found a 1cm lump in her neck - only to discover that it was actually dermal filler that had migrated. Gracie Andrews, from Cornwall, first had dermal filler injected in her lips just before her 19th birthday because she wanted them to look bigger with more of a pout. The student went on to have 500 of filler injected into her jaw, cheek and chin in August 2021, before having another 120 of filler into her lips. By December, she was shocked when she found a lump on her neck - with medics telling her they thought it was cancer, and they needed to remove it. However after it was removed, she was told it was a 'foreign body', telling FEMAIL: 'It turns out my body had rejected the filler and it had crystalised and moved to another part of my body from my face and got lodged in a gland in my neck.' She later had other parts of the filler, which were 'the size of marbles', dissolved from her face, and is now keen to warn others about the impact of cosmetic surgery. Gracie Andrews, 19, from Cornwall, revealed her shock after she was living with a lump which she believed to be cancer, only to discover that it was actually dermal filler that had migrated Gracie revealed: I first had them injected with 0.9ml ml of dermal fillers and liked how they looked afterwards. But then I just wanted more and more. 'Five months later I got my lips done again, this time with 1ml of fillers.' She continued: 'Then I heard about girls getting a 5ml package of filler put in their face. 'It was called the Kylie Jenner look and involved having filler injected into the lips, jaw, cheek and chin. In December 2021, the teenager was shocked when she found a lump on her neck - with medics telling her they thought it was cancer, and they needed to remove it 'I often wore my hair up when working as front of house in a fine dining restaurant, so I liked the idea of having some in my jaw for definition. Gracie found a practitioner who would inject her face whom she felt was affordable. She explained: It cost about 500 for all of it which I thought was an introductory offer because she hadnt been open long. The 19-year-old had the fillers injected into her jaw, cheek, chin in August 2021. However after it was removed, she was told it was a 'foreign body' and doctors explained the filler had 'crystalised' before becoming 'lodged' in one of her glands Meanwhile she went on to pay another 120 for 3ml in her lips. Experts want fillers to be made prescription-only in crackdown on UK's 'wild west' cosmetic market 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 last month. 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. Advertisement Afterwards, she wasnt happy with the results but was reassured that it was just initial swelling that would go down. However, Gracie became concerned when the swelling didn't go down. She felt that her cheeks werent symmetrical and her jaw was lumpy looking, as well as thinking that her chin looked too long. Then, in December 2021, she was at work when she felt a lump in her neck, close to her Adams apple. She explained: 'I was quite worried about it but hoped it would go away.' By February it hadnt so I went to the doctor. They said there was a possibility it was cancer and I was referred to an ENT specialist immediately. At hospital Gracie had an ultrasound, a camera in her nose and throat, and a full examination from the doctor. The medics were unsure what it was, and ended up doing another ultrasound. They also put a needle in her neck to extract cells to examine. She recalled: It was really painful and they couldnt get enough cells so they did it again and referred me for an MRI scan. 'Then the doctor warned me that they thought it could be cancer. Gracie had the MRI on 6 March and two weeks later they gave her a date to remove the lump. Back at home, as she waited for the date of the operation, she felt sick and anxious, convinced she was going to die and worrying all those around her. Finally, on April 4, Gracie went into hospital for an operation to remove the lump, which was approximately 1cm across. She said: Afterwards the surgeon came out to see me and asked if I had ever had filler. When I told her I had, she said it looked like the lump was actually dermal filler, and they would send it to the lab to make sure. Gracie has been left with a 1cm scar on her neck, and was recently told by the hospital that it wasnt cancer, it was actually a foreign body. She said: I felt relieved it wasnt cancer, but worried about the rest of the filler I had had injected. Struggling to cope with the impact of living under the fear of cancer, and concerned about the rest of the filler, Gracie set about to have the filler dissolved. At the end of May, she went to another clinic, Nina Prisk at Update Aesthetics, to properly dissolve her remaining filler. Nina, an experienced prescribing aesthetic nurse, explained that all the lumps Gracie could feel on her face were filler that had been injected into glands in her face. She said: When Gracie came to me it became apparent that filler had been injected into the wrong areas of the face, something that can be extremely dangerous. Gracie first had dermal filler injected in her lips just before her 19th birthday because she wanted them to look bigger with more of a pout (pictured) The 19-year-old has been left with a 1cm scar and is now urging people to be careful if they are considering dermal fillers I reversed the effects of the filler. The product was extremely dense and required a lot of hyalase to break it down. 'There were huge marbles underneath her skin. This was an uncomfortable process for the patient on top of everything that she had already been through. Eventually good results were seen. In my opinion Gracie never required that level of treatment in the first place. As a beautiful 19 year old girl with perfectly proportioned features, it was in no way a justified treatment. This was scandalous and purely a money making exercise for the practitioner. The Queen has reached an incredible new milestone after becoming the world's second longest reigning monarch. Her Majesty, 96, will overtake Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who reigned for 70 years and 126 days between 1946 and 2016, from today. Earlier this month, the Queen surpassed Johan II of Liechtenstein, who reigned for 70 years and 91 days, until his death in February 1929. Louis XIV of France remains the longest-reigning monarch, with a 72-year and 110-day reign from 1643 until 1715, while the Queen's stint on the throne now stands at 70 years and 126 day, equal to King Bhumibol Adulyadej's. The Queen has reached a new milestone today, after becoming the world's second longest reigning monarch with 70 years and 126 days on the throne under her belt Prince Johan II of Liechtenstein, who reigned for 70 years and 91 days, until his death in February 1929 King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thaliand pictured with the Queen during a state visit to the UK in July 1960 Louis XIV of France (pictured), known as Louis the Great, became King at the tender age of four following the death of his father Louis XIII, and ruled from 14 May 1643 to 1 September 1715 The milestone comes as Her Majesty celebrated her Platinum Jubilee last week, with four days of parades, street parties, and other events, after officially reaching the milestone on February 6 this year. After the success of the jubilee she released a statement thanking the nation saying she had been 'humbled and deeply touched' and that 'this renewed sense of togetherness will be felt for many years to come'. She added in the statement: 'While I may not have attended every event in person, my heart has been with you all; and I remain committed to serving you to the best of my ability, supported by my family.' This record joins the Queen's many other accolades - including her title as the longest-living reigning monarch. Four generations of the Royal family appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony: Camilla, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince George of Cambridge, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, Prince Louis of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge Her Majesty became the longest-reigning British monarch in September 2015, surpassing her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria. The longest-reigning monarchs 1. Louis XIV of France: 72 years, 110 days Known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, the French monarch became King on 14 May 1643 at the age of four following the death of his father Louis XIII , and remained on the throne until 1 September 1715. He left behind the incredible legacy of the Palace of Versailles, although his country was in debt after the 13-year-long War of Spanish succession. 2. Queen Elizabeth II: 70 years, 126 days Her Majesty becamse Quen aged on 6th February 1952. Elizabeth was not originally destined to become Queen. However, she became heir presumptive after her father, King George VI, ascended to the throne following the abdication of his older brother, King Edward VIII. 3. Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand: 70 years, 126 days During his reign, he was served by a total of 30 prime ministers, from 9 June 1946 to 13 October 2016. Seen as being close to the divine by the Thai people, those who criticised the monarchy were imprisoned or forced into exile. 4. Prince Johann II of Liechtenstein: 70 years, 91 days Johann reigned from 12 November 1858, when he took the throne aged 18, to 11 February 1929. He made Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy in 1921 and was known as a patron of the arts. But he was renowned for being antisocial and avoided public events. He never married and didn't live in the royal palace. 5. K'inich Janaab Pakal of Palenque: 68 years, 33 days. Pakal ruled the Maya city state of Palenque from 29 July 615 to 31 August 683 AD. Pakal the Great is thought to have ascended to the throne at the age of 12- years-old and during his rule managed to expand Palenque's power in the western Maya states. Advertisement In March 2020, the Queen surpassed K'inich Janaab Pakal who ruled the Maya city state of Palenque for 68 years and 33 days before his death in 683AD. Pakal the Great is thought to have ascended to the throne at the age of 12- years-old and during his rule managed to expand Palenque's power in the western Maya states. The Mayan civilisation reached its peak between 250 and 900 AD, when it ruled large swathes of what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. Louis XIV of France, known as Louis the Great, became King at the tender age of four following the death of his father Louis XIII, and ruled from 14 May 1643 to 1 September 1715. The Queen has remained one of the most poised public figures in the world in the course of her 70-year reign, rarely revealing her emotions in public. Today, however, an insider has revealed that the huge outpouring of thanks from the British public and from around the Commonwealth left her tearful and overwhelmed with emotion during the grand finale of the Jubilee celebrations last Sunday. For many commentators, the high point of the four-day event came when the Queen appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Platinum Jubilee Pageant. Dressed in a vibrant green Stewart Parvin crepe wool dress and coat with matching hat by Rachel Trevor-Morgan, the Queen was seen standing next to a slimmed-down version of the official working members of the Royal Family. Yet the historic moment nearly didnt happen at all. A source said: The Queen only decided that she would go to London about three hours before the balcony appearance. She was not feeling brilliant but the Prince of Wales had called her and told her she really ought to come if she could. He told her there were so many people desperate to see her and he convinced her to come. Bound by duty, the Queen travelled from Windsor to London and was astonished by the goodwill shown to her when she arrived. A source said: The Queen was totally overwhelmed by the number of people waiting to see her she had tears in her eyes before she stepped out on the balcony. Meanwhile, social media users rushed to congratulate the Queen on her milestone today. One said: 'Today Her Majesty the Queen is now the second longest reigning monarch, longest-reigning incumbent monarch and the longest-reigning female monarch in history. Congratulations Your Majesty.' Another wrote on Twitter: 'She keeps racking up these historical events. Congratulations.' Dame Deborah James has vowed to 'still live whilst dying' after sharing comparison photographs while visiting Glyndebourne opera house with her husband Sebastien. The former deputy head teacher turned cancer campaigner, 40, from London, is currently receiving hospice care at her parents' home in Woking, after revealing last month that she's no longer receiving active treatment for bowel cancer. Taking to Instagram yesterday, she shared snaps from her visit to the Glyndebourne Festival Opera alongside her husband, explaining she's 'taking things one day at a time', next to a picture of her at the event five years ago, when newly diagnosed. Opera-lover Deborah and Sebastien got dressed up in all their finery to La boheme at the venue in East Sussex on Saturday. Dame Deborah James has vowed to 'still live whilst dying' after sharing comparison photographs while visiting Glyndebourne opera house with her husband Sebastien last night, pictured As she shared side-by-side pictures of her in 2017 and her now, Dame Deborah reflected on how she was 'trying to make the most of not knowing what lay ahead' five years ago The mother-of-two said she remembered visiting Glyndebourne Festival Opera five years ago, shortly after she was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer Mother-of-two Deborah was first diagnosed with bowel cancer in December 2016, and was told early on that it was likely she would not survive beyond five years - a milestone that passed in the autumn of 2021. She explained in her post this weekend that she was 'trying to see a few of her favourites one last time' as she receives end of life care. Deborah shared two stunning images of herself side by side on her stories, telling her followers that she had visited the opera house 'five years ago to the week'. She also shared photographs showcasing her stylish metallic ensemble, and posed up a storm with her husband. The mother-of-two wrote on Instagram: 'Another day, brings another excuse to spend half of it exhausting myself getting dressed up to go to one of my favourite places!!!! Deborah shared a throwback picture of Sebastian and her attending the opera house back in 2017 'But be under no illusion! Im knackered! Ive worked out it takes me longer to get ready and organised to go than the time I actually last anywhere,' said Deborah (pictured) '@glyndebourne to watch #laboheme - But totally worth it. Thank you @glyndebourne for being so lovely and welcoming tonight - doing all this in a wheelchair is certainly a new challenge to learn! 'I cant believe I was last here 5 years ago this week - scared, newly diagnosed, just trying to do the same as Im doing now - taking things one day at a time!! 'Anyone thats followed me for years knows that the British season is my favourite time of the year hence why all my @inthestyle dresses are named after events!! So I figured my aim is just try to fit in a few whilst Im still kicking around and am able to! 'But be under no illusion! Im knackered! Ive worked out it takes me longer to get ready and organised to go than the time I actually last anywhere!! 'Getting dressed is tiring, getting meds organised is tiring, the extra moving, the travel, the wondering what mood your stomach is in - its all real! Dame Deborah James took to Instagram to tell fans she is 'trying to find the diamond moments in the rough' on Friday 'But then the feeling of making it to something you didnt think possible, having put make up on, donning new shoes (that finally arrived in the right size for massively swollen feet!), with the sunshine smiling - well then its all worth it! Its a kind of cheeky still living whilst dying two fingers up to it all!!' On Friday, she shared a picture showing her having lunch at the 700-a-night Beaverbrook estate in Leatherhead, Surrey and 'enjoying the sunshine on her face'. Deborah hits back at critics after saying she 'wouldn't die over the Jubilee' because she 'didn't want Meghan to steal her thunder' Last Saturday, Dame Deborah wrote in The Sun that she was 'determined not to die over the Jubilee weekend', adding: 'I don't want Meghan stealing my thunder.' However on Sunday she was forced to hit back at critics over the comment, posting on Twitter : 'Meghan comment is a joke, apparently you can still find a send off fun in your day!' She also added: 'The rest is not. Is dying the last taboo of them all? 'I thought poo talk was hard, but navigating end-of-life care makes checking your poo easy by comparison of DNR chat and respect documents!' Advertisement Posting the image on Instagram, Deborah captioned it: 'Happy Friday! Feeling grateful to be able to enjoy another moment of sunshine on my face, and food that makes me smile! 'Just trying to find the diamond moments in the rough - but when you look hard enough you realise they can still be there! Thanks as always for your amazing messages and love. Have a good one.' Dame Deborah is now receiving end of life care at her parents' home in Woking and has raised over 6.5million in the weeks since she announced the news after launching her Bowelbabe Fund. At the start of the year, the mother-of-two, who shares her children Hugo, 14, and Eloise, 12, with her husband Sebastien, announced she had 'nearly died' in hospital, calling it the 'hardest' part of her 5-year cancer battle - before breaking the heartbreaking news that there was no more treatment she could have. Deborah shared an Instagram post earlier this spring revealing, saying: 'The message I never wanted to write. We have tried everything, but my body simply isn't playing ball. 'My active care has stopped and I am now moved to hospice at home care, with my incredible family all around me and the focus is on making sure I'm not in pain and spending time with them.' She is receiving the hospice care at her parents' home in Woking, to spare her children the difficult memories of her spending her final days at the family home in London. The news comes after she told The Sun that she was 'scared to fall asleep' because she does not know how long she has got left. Deborah is now receiving end of life care bowel cancer at her parents' home in Woking and has raised over 6 million in the weeks since she announced the news Struggles: Deborah James (pictured with husband Sebastien) has shared her anger amid her incurable bowel cancer battle and admitted she finds the pressure to 'make memories' hard She added she had felt a 'deep love' from her family, saying: 'I think my family are knackered, they have all been incredible - going above and beyond to look after me and nurse me.' Symptoms of bowel cancer - Change in bowel habits with diarrhoea, constipation or the feeling of incomplete emptying - Thin or loose bowel movements - Blood or mucous in stools - Abdominal pain, bloating and cramping - Anal or rectal pain - Lump in the anus or rectum - Unexplained weight loss - Fatigue - Unexplained anaemia Advertisement And speaking of her end of life care recently she said: 'I feel very strongly that I don't want my kids to see me agitated and distressed. I want to make sure they see me when I'm having a good days.' Saying the 'pressure' on her young children was 'huge', she continued: 'I want them to have nice memories. 'I don't want them to take on the burden of having to care for me, massage my legs because I can't walk. That would break my heart.' In recent weeks, she has won praise from Prince William who called her 'brilliant, brave and inspirational' as he met some of the staff who treated her. Speaking at the Royal Marsden to patient Lorraine Kimber, 59, from Essex, who is currently undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer and knows Mrs James well, the prince described his meeting with her. 'She was incredible, incredible. She was surrounded by her family, we had a lovely afternoon,' he said. 'You know she's had over 100 tumours. Which is unbelievable. I couldn't believe that. The resilience you have to have to keep going back again, it's got to be very draining on you.' William said: 'She was jokingbecause they are a very tight family, very close, you could see that.she was joking that at last she could now drink. 'She said it was brilliant. She was 'triple parked' and kept on joking about how many drinks she could get lined up in front of her. 'She's realising that being at home is just where she wants to be right now, surrounded by all her loved ones.' He added: ' I love Deborah, she's fantastic. Her legacy is massive.' Illness: She is receiving hospice care at her parents' home in Woking, to spare her children the difficult memories of her spending her final days at the family home in London Princess Martha Louise of Norway and her fiance Shaman Durek have said 'people don't want to see a black man join a royal family in Europe' - after revealing they've received 'death threats and hate'. The couple, who announced their engagement on Tuesday, addressed the backlash they've received throughout their relationship and admitted it had been an 'eye-opener' and a 'learning curve' for Martha-Louise, 50. Speaking in an Instagram Live this week, Durek Verret, 47, a Los Angeles-based 'spiritual guide and gifted healer' whose celebrity following includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Nina Dobrev and James Van Der Beek, said people 'don't want to see a black man in the royal family' because it's 'never been done'. In a reference to Netflix's popular period drama romance Bridgerton, which features several interracial couples, Durek said people liked to watch these royal relationships on TV, but did want to see the 'real Bridgertons'. Princess Martha Louise of Norway, 50, and her fiance Shaman Durek, 47, said people don't want to see a 'black man being a member of a royal family in Europe' during an Instagram Live The couple, who announced their engagement on Tuesday, pictured, said people like to watch royal interracial relationships on TV like in Netflix's Bridgerton, but they don't like to watch real interracial relationships Durek said people don't want to watch 'the real Bridgerton'. Pictured, Actors Phoebe Dynevor and Rege-Jean Page in Bridgerton Durek said he thinks there are two reasons behind the death threats the couple claim to have received. 'One, they don't want to see a black man in the royal family because there's never been one in the history of histories in the European royal family so that's a huge thing,' he said. He went on to say that while a prince would be able to marry a woman of colour, the fact that Martha Louise was female meant there was more scrutiny around her choice of partner. 'Second, Martha is a female. It's different when a man chooses a woman of colour because he's a man but for a princess to choose a man of colour, it has never been done in history so it's really tough for people to handle that,' he said. Speaking of Bridgerton, he added: 'They don't want the Bridgertons, they want to watch it on TV but they don't want the real Bridgertons, which is us. 'So they get very upset and angry and say really mean things, but they don't understand that our world can't stay the same, we have to evolve,' he added. Martha Louise, pictured with Durek on Friday in West Hollywood, admitted that the experience has been an 'eye-opener' for her and that it was a 'learning curve' The princess and her American spiritual guru boyfriend pictured with Gwyneth Paltrow Martha Louise admitted that the experience had been an 'eye-opener' for her. 'I had a big learning curve coming from white privilege. I was so naive I didn't see the nuances, and I think a lot of white people are,' she said. 'The small nuances are the worst, when people pull away from you [Durek], or they don't want to sit next to you on the bus or cross the street to not walk towards you and of course all the remarks that are all the time,' she explained. She went on to give more examples of the different ways in which people treated her and Durek. 'I've seen people talking to me really nicely then turning around to Durek and being really horrible, like not touching his hand or not saying hello or saying horrible things to him from being totally nice with me,' she said. The royal said it made her realise: 'wow this is so much worse than I thought it was,' and added she is 'shocked that it's still going on in the world.' The couple revealed three diamonds on either side of the royal's engagement ring represent Princess Martha's three daughters from her first marriage (left and right) In March, Martha Louise shared the first snap of her three children alongside her partner Shaman Durek (pictured) 'We think there's no racism because we don't have it in our lives, we're white,' she said. 'We need to understand that even though we don't see racism, it does exist.' The couple discussed their relationship at length in the Instagram Live as well as in an interview with the magazine People. Martha Louise admitted she was 'shocked' by the proposal, which happened in California, and they were both in floods of tears during the poignant moment. Meanwhile the couple revealed three diamonds on either side of the ring represent Princess Martha's three daughters from her first marriage to Ari Behn. They split in 2016, and Ari took his own life on Christmas Day in 2019. The ring also features a 3.5 carat ethically sourced Brazlian emerald, which is surrounded by diamonds, including four trillion-cut stones to represent earth, air, water and fire. In a statement issued by the royal household, Harald and his wife Queen Sonja announced the engagement and said they 'wish them all the best for the future' Shaman Durek revealed earlier this year that he 'asked King Harald' of Norway for Martha Louise's hand in marriage Meanwhile the shape represents a protective emblem, while the couple's union is represented in the infinity detailing on the side and an engraved love knot. Durek explained: 'I did historical research on all the royal engagement rings, and then I went and observed other rings at stores to give me some ideas for the cut and design.' Meanwhile he said he wanted to include a nod to her three daughters, as well as her mother Queen Sonja, whose favourite jewel is an emerald. After working on the jewel for half a year, Durek explained how he showed the ring to his friend Gwyneth Paltrow because se is 'very particular' about things. He added: 'She said it was the most fantastic ring she's seen and loved how much thought and care I put into it and knew that Princess Martha would love and cherish it having a stamp of approval from a friend such as her made me happy.' Princess Martha said: 'Having my three daughters represented in my engagement ring meant the world to me. The princess previously revealed she plans to move to California to be near her celebrity shaman boyfriend. Pictured, the couple in an Instagram snap 'It shows that I've chosen the right man a man that understands how much my kids mean to me and that my children will always be included in our relationship.' Durek went on to share several images of the ring on his Instagram page, thanking the jeweller for helping him craft the piece. According to Norwegian media, the princess, whose older brother, Crown Prince Haakon, is the heir to the throne, plans to relocate to California with her girls. Writing on Instagram to reveal her engagement, Martha Louise said: 'I am so happy to announce that I am engaged to Shaman Durek. 'The one who makes my heart skip, the one who sees me and acknowledges me from my highest potential, who makes me laugh and who I can be vulnerable with. 'Love transcends and makes us grow. And I am so happy to continue to grow with this beautiful man. The princess was previously married to Ari Behn (pictured together in 2015), who she wed in 2002 and had three children with: Maud Angelica, 17, Leah Isadora, 15, and Emma Tallulah, 12. They split in 2016, and Ari took his own life on Christmas Day in 2019 'Thank you to all my friends and family who have stood steadfast by our side and special thanks to @hegecfossum and @stargatemusic for your generosity and making our day truly special.' Alongside her royal duties, the princess has written books in which she claimed having contacts with angels. In March, the princess shared the first snap of her three children alongside her partner Shaman Durek. In the photograph, which the mother-of-three shared to her Instagram page to mark International Woman's Day, Durek can be seen posing with the royal and her three children. The group appeared to be visiting Durek's hometown of LA, where Martha Louise has spoken of moving her family to in recent years. The Shaman was quick to share a gushing comment on the post, writing: 'I love our family. You my dear are a force in life. The way you love your children and how you nurture their minds and heart to grow.' Prince Andrew's former girlfriend Lady Victoria Hervey has insisted she feels 'safer' when carrying a gun in 'dangerous LA' - and has suggested a ban on firearms would lead to a 'genocide' in the US. The 45-year-old socialite and former 'It Girl', who is the daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol, and has in the past shared controversial opinions, told The Mirror that while she supports stricter regulations, she doesn't agree with at total ban. It comes after thousands of people rallied in Washington DC and across the US in a renewed push for gun control measures following recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York state. Speaker after speaker in Washington called on senators, who are seen as a major impediment to legislation, to act or face being voted out of office, especially given the shock to Americas conscience after 19 children and two teachers were killed on May 24 at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Prince Andrew's former girlfriend Lady Victoria Hervey (pictured) has insisted she feels 'safer' when carrying a gun in 'dangerous LA' - and has suggested a on firearms would lead to a 'genocide' in the US Lady Victoria Hervey, who enjoys a trip to the shooting range, said that while she agrees stricter regulations are needed, she feels 'safer' when she is carrying a gun, and is against a total ban on firearms The socialite, pictured during the amfAR Cannes Gala in late May, claimed police are encouraging people to get 'concealed carry' gun licenses in order to protect themselves from the rising crime in Los Angeles Lady Victoria said the Texas shooting was 'terrible' but claimed taking the right away [to carry guns] 'could be disastrous'. She controversially claimed: 'It could lead to mass genocide if the government was to go to war against its people.' The socialite added: 'Its terrifying what is happening in Hollywood. The amount of people I know who have had a home invasion and survived because they had a gun,' she said, adding she believes people should have the right to arm themselves. She claimed police are encouraging people to get 'concealed carry' gun licenses in order to protect themselves from the rising crime in Los Angeles. Lady Victoria, pictured at a shooting range, said she has got her own gun and plans to move to Miami because LA is becoming too dangerous The socialite during shooting practice. While she agreed more regulations on guns are needed, Lady Victoria said people should have the right to carry guns Lady Victoria agreed regulations should be stricter and medical background checks should be more thorough to make sure that guns don't fall into the wrong hands. The former It Girl added that she is moving to Miami, Florida, to avoid the rising violence in LA, and that she bought a gun for herself. She said that she hasn't had to use her gun so far and hopes she won't have to, but added she knows people who use it for self-defence. According to the Gun Violence Archive, since the beginning of the year there have been 259 mass shootings and a total of 19,457 deaths due to gun violence as a whole around the country. Thousands of people show up to the National Mall to protest gun violence as Congress and lawmakers struggle to decide how to handle gun violence in the US. Gun violence has killed more than 19,300 people so far this year in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive A Parkland protester holds a sign that reads: 'I still live in fear.' The March for Our Lives protests started in Florida after the Parkland shooting. It was created by former student, David Hogg This comes as thousands of people rallied in Washington DC and across the United States in a renewed push for gun control measures. David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 shooting that killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, said: 'If our government cant do anything to stop 19 kids from being killed and slaughtered in their own school, and decapitated, its time to change who is in government.' Mr Hogg co-founded the March For Our Lives organisation following the Parkland shooting, with its first rally in Washington not long after the event. Yolanda King, granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr, added: 'This time is different because this isnt about politics. Its about morality. Not right and left, but right and wrong, and that doesnt just mean thoughts and prayers. That means courage and action.' The other day, French actress Isabelle Huppert graced the red carpet at Cannes sporting a staggeringly high ponytail. This starkly drawn back and pulled-up style is favoured by model Bella Hadid, and now a zillion social media users, as a means of looking 'snatched' that is, creating a striking bone structure and 'lifting' the face. Those of us who have been around the block may remember this not as the 'Cannes facelift' but the Croydon version. Kate Moss, a Croydon native, has long championed the pulled-back pony (see box below). However, as Kate, 48, and 69-year-old Isabelle prove, the look is not confined to the young. Witness 76-year-old Helen Mirren; 57-year-old Sarah Jessica Parker; Jennifer Lopez, 53 next month; and assorted members of the glossy posse on Netflix show Selling Sunset. Hannah Betts spoke to hair stylist to the stars George Northwood about how he does a ponytail. He advised doing the style on dirty hair as it 'gives guts and hold' (stock image) The Cannes facelift is sleek but has texture in the roots. Red-carpet genius George Northwood, who has styled mid-life beauties Rachel Weisz and Julianne Moore, tells me: 'A ponytail works best on dirty hair it gives guts and hold, while a bit of grease about the hairline can make things look more modern, cooler and edgier.' 'I hold the head upside down and use my George Northwood Undone Wave Holding Spray (15, george northwood.com) squirted and scrunched into the mid-lengths and ends,' he adds. 'Then, I lift the head back up and rub in some of my Undone Moisturising Cream (15) with my palms. This makes the hair easier to scrape back into a tight, bump-free ponytail with my fingers.' 'The trick is to tie it once with a hair band, then go in again with a second one to pull it even tighter a second draft that makes the look more sculptural.' Of his work with celebrities, he says: 'When I've styled Gwyneth Paltrow and Laura Bailey in the past, we've kept their hair pulled back tightly at the sides for the lifting effect, but with looser texture teased out on top for elongating height. 'If you're not a ponytail person some people's hair is too fine so it looks insubstantial then just wrap it round and turn it into a top knot.' The advantages of the pulled-back pony are also its disadvantages. Without your hair to cower behind, there's nowhere to hide. It's no coincidence that the stars who favour this look are serious about their skincare, and tend to accompany it with a full face of slap. Hannah Betts says that celebrities who favour the pulled-back ponytail are serious about their skincare and tend to accompany the style with a full face of makeup The trick is less about what you use than how you use it. Complexion perfected; caverns under the eyes concealed; cheekbones accentuated; eyebrows brushed up; liner slanted upward; mascara winging the eye's outer corners. Whatever else you're doing eye-wise, liquid liner will add the necessary intensity. Clinique's High Impact Easy Liquid Liner (20, clinique.co.uk) is a reliable, non-irritating felt tip that takes the angst out of application. If you have ever been tempted by a light contour, now is the time a taupe or greige line smudged up under the cheekbone, then a (very slight) brush of it along the jaw. Everything should be blended, blended, blended so there's not a tide-line in sight. Given that you will be artfully defining your eyes, you may want to play down your pout with a transparent gloss. Vieve's sheer Lip Dew (17, vieve.co.uk) creates an extremely flattering, non-sticky, high- shine finish. Any grey about the hairline will be sharply in focus. If you don't like this, obscure it with Bumble & Bumble Color Stick for dark hair (23, bumbleandbumble.co.uk) or Josh Wood Root Marker for blondes (12, joshwood colour.com). Regarding pony placement, be wary of anything lurking about the nape of the neck. Low-slung ponies may scream sophistication. However, they can drag down the face, jawline, and (gulp) jowls. The goal should be mid-head and level with the eyes. Or go still higher, adjacent to the temples, if your hair is long and lustrous enough. Devious coiffeurs endeavour to place the pulled-back pony in a diagonal line with the top of their client's cat-eye kohl for even greater elevation. Don't become addicted to the lift or you'll risk traction alopecia (yes, that means your hair may well start falling out). However, for the occasional foray into the highest of high glam, the pulled-back pony will be just the ticket. RACE YOU TO IT! MAC Colour Excess Gel Pencil Eyeliner MAC promises its hot new Colour Excess Gel Pencil Eyeliner will last for 24 hours or longer on the eyelid and 12 hours on the waterline. It comes in 12 great shades, too. The 'line-lock' technology is loved by MAC's make-up artists, and offers gel-like precision with the simplicity of a pencil. Shop MY ICON OF THE WEEK KATE MOSS Kate, 48, uses products including AQ Meliority Intensive Regenerating Day Cream for her skin Kate, 48, is the face of Japanese skincare brand Decorte. 'I use AQ Meliority Intensive Regenerating Day Cream (350, decorte cosmetics.co.uk) with a few drops of Vitality Tincture (140),' she says. The model also uses La Roche-Posay SPF (from 17.50, boots.com), and Charlotte Tilbury make-up, including the Beautiful Skin Foundation (36, charlottetilbury.com). COSMETIC CRAVING Ultrasun Lip Protection SPF50 Lip balms, like everything else in beauty, have been getting terribly complicated and costly of late, promising to volumise and reshape the mouth. I'm wedded to Ultrasun Lip Protection SPF50 (10, ultrasun.co.uk), which appears to both reshape and volumise without making any such boasts. Ultrasun was founded three decades ago by a Swiss chemist Tazio Tettamanti, who, after his brother died of skin cancer, was determined to prevent others doing the same. This is a boosted version of the brand's best-selling factor 30 balm, perfect for the SPF obsessive, or those poor blighters who get cold sores in the sun. It makes for a fabulous lipstick base. Yet also looks extremely fetching on its own, being beautifully plumping and conditioning. Shop FATHER'S DAY FAVOURITES Luxury Grooming Gifts Worth more than 75, this is full of classics from top brands such as Clinique. Shop Dior Eau Sauvage Eau de Toilette Edmond Roudnitska's 1966 classic is a provocative blend of fresh citrus and manly oak moss. Shop Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+ Even those who hate face creams can be convinced to embrace this effective formula. Shop Maybelline Tattoo Brow Lift Stick in Clear Trim unruly eyebrows with nail scissors, then use this to wax them into shape. The waterproof formula will stay put all day, too. Shop This spring, when I had terrible hay fever, a friend advised buying some locally produced honey. She had a whole theory about how honey produced from local pollen would reduce symptoms. I have no idea if it was what eased my sniffles, but it was a satisfying, soothing transaction to go into my local greengrocer and buy some honey produced in my South-East London neighbourhood. I even knew the producer, as a friend has been helping out her volunteer beekeeper father with the hives he set up, post-retirement, on the roof of a local council-run historic house. Apparently, we are now in honey bee swarming season. Maggie O'Farrell's novel Hamnet, a fictionalised account of the death of Shakespeare's son from plague, contains a memorable swarming scene. When first we meet Hamnet's mother, Agnes, she has been called away from home to coax her bees back into their hives. At the time, she wonders what might have troubled the insects. Meanwhile at home, her son Hamnet has discovered his twin sister Judith has suddenly fallen ill. Not being able to find his mother he seeks help himself, then falls asleep next to Judith. British author Patricia Nicol has rounded up a selection of the best books on bees including Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell (right) and The Bees by Laline Paull (left) Later, Agnes is stung by the thought that if she had spent less time coaxing her bees back into their hives and hurried home, she might have been able to avert tragedy. The Beekeeper Of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri is a very affecting novel about the horrors of Syria's civil war and the refugee experience. Beekeeper Nuri loves the simple, ordered life he and his beloved wife Afra lead at their home overlooking Aleppo. But when war comes and their home and hives are destroyed, they must take flight, and later try to repair their relationship in exile. The Bees by Laline Paull really is a feat of imagination. Its plucky heroine Flora, who the reader totally roots for, is a sanitation and pollinator bee determined to progress through the ranks of her rigorously hierarchical hive. These novels are the bees' knees. Have some toast and honey and settle down with one of them. Former National Intelligence Service chief Park Jie-won, right, and Kwon No-gab, an adviser to the Democratic Party of Korea, greet each other at Seoul National Cemetery in southern Seoul's Dongjak District, where a commemoration event for the third death anniversary of former first lady Lee Hee-ho was held, June 10. Yonhap Experts say it's either a self-serving political move or whistleblowing attempt to warn about NIS' illegal practices By Ko Dong-hwan The country's former spy agency chief Park Jie-won has found himself at the center of controversy after he publicly disclosed the agency has been secretly compiling dossiers on politicians, entrepreneurs and journalists. Experts were divided over whether Park made the remarks as a political gambit for personal gain or in a whistleblowing effort to stop the agency from further unethical gathering of information. The liberal lawmaker, who became chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) in 2020 and stepped down last May, posted an apologetic statement on Facebook on Saturday regarding his controversial remarks on a CBS radio show aired last Friday. Park had said in the show that the classified "X-files" were being collected from the time of the Park Chung-hee government in the early 1960s to the end of Park Geun-hye's presidency in 2017. The files, stored in the government's main computer servers or in other forms of records, contained various rumors and information obtained illicitly, including on how certain politicians made money or which politicians had a romantic fling with which celebrities, according to Park. "Regardless of the reason, if it is burdensome to the NIS, of which I was proudly a part, and its employees, then I will be more careful from now on in my public remarks," he said in the post. Park, who returned to the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) following his resignation from the NIS, also said in his apology that he had mentioned the files only out of concern that they could be manipulated by lawmakers as means of a political attack. "I had shared my opinion about the X-files with my colleagues in both the ruling party and the main opposition party as well as journalists," Park said in his apology. "I only made the remark while I was lamenting that a legislative procedure at the National Assembly over whether to destroy the files or not wasn't finalized but instead fizzled out." On Friday, Park said that destroying the files was one thing he couldn't do while he was in charge of the agency and regretted not having done it. "These files are an unfortunate history of both the ruling and the main opposition parties," Park said in the broadcast. "None of them should be left. So I had insisted destroying them by the National Assembly introducing a special act. But that didn't work out." Following Park's radio revelation late last week, the NIS issued a press briefer the following day advising Park to refrain from mentioning its confidential inner workings. In this photo from Nov. 23, 2021, NIS chief Park Jie-won attends a plenary meeting of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee. Newsis Insurance bosses have been asked to sign documents confirming their firms are no longer exploiting loyal customers, The Mail on Sunday understands. It is believed the Financial Conduct Authority has asked all chief executives of insurance companies and brokers to sign an 'attestation' that their company is not charging loyal customers higher premiums than new ones. The City regulator is now poised to check data on the prices that insurers are charging new and existing customers for the same cover. New rules: The City regulator is now poised to check data on the prices that insurers are charging new and existing customers for the same cover If there is evidence of 'price walking' existing customers being discriminated against it will hold the individual executives liable. Offending companies will also have to suspend policy sales until they can prove the practice has been eliminated. The regulator's new rules on the pricing of home and car cover came in at the start of the year. But The Mail on Sunday uncovered evidence that some insurers had yet to adjust to the new regime and were still disadvantaging loyal customers. James Daley, founder of campaigning company Fairer Finance, is a sceptic of the new regime. He believes it discourages customers from shopping around because they mistakenly think their existing insurer will now give them a fair deal. He describes the 4.2billion figure that the regulator says insurance customers will save over the next ten years as 'baloney'. On Friday, the FCA told the MoS: 'Recent data has shown encouraging signs about the effectiveness of our reforms in tackling the loyalty premium in motor insurance, with the average cost of renewal down 55. 'We are keeping a close eye on how insurers are responding to the new rules to ensure they continue to provide value to their customers. This is especially important with the increased cost of living now affecting many consumers.' Scrutiny: Billionaire Patrick Drahi Business Minister Kwasi Kwarteng is expected to block billionaire Patrick Drahi from a takeover of telecoms giant BT and could cap any further stake-building by the tycoon under new national security laws, according to City sources. The Government could also stop the French-Israeli mogul from taking a seat on the board, the sources added. He is currently barred by takeover rules from launching a bid but the shackles come off this week. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said last month that Drahi's 18 per cent stake would be reviewed under new legal powers that came into force earlier this year. The Government has until early next month to decide whether to take action over his holding in BT under the terms of the new National Security and Investment Act, which gives Ministers more powers to protect critical infrastructure. The review period could be extended by BEIS if more time is needed. Drahi's European telecoms business Altice increased its stake in BT from 12.1 per cent to 18 per cent in mid-December, making him the single biggest shareholder. At that stage, he said he did not plan to buy the business outright. But his interest has sparked speculation he may launch a takeover. BT provides internet and telecom services through fibre infrastructure company Openreach and mobile network EE, as well as security software. It also provides service contracts across government departments and it is understood to be used by Britain's security forces. Senior telecoms experts working for investment banks and advisory firms said the Government would probably block Drahi, who is estimated to be worth 9billion, from increasing his stake and from exercising any influence on BT's board and strategy. The Government might impose conditions on him keeping keeping his existing stake. Alternatively, it may decide there are no national security issues but continue to monitor the situation and conduct further reviews if he attempts to build his stake. European governments have become increasingly nervous about the ownership of telecoms assets. Two years ago, Chinese giant Huawei was told it would be banned from the UK's 5G networks by the end of 2027. And the sale of TMobile Netherlands to private equity groups Warburg Pincus and Apax faced scrutiny from the Dutch government, delaying the deal by several months, according to a person close to the plan. Sources said Drahi's debt-fuelled empire would struggle to afford a significant increase in his BT shareholding at present. It has also been reported that he borrowed against a mortgage taken on the London headquarters of his Sotheby's auction business to help fund his stake-building. Altice shelved plans to sell its Portuguese arm in January after private equity bids failed to meet price expectations. Drahi is also reportedly sitting on losses from a collapse in the valuation of Altice USA since December 2020. He has also failed to offload his advertising technology firm Teads, after withdrawing plans for an initial public offering last August. BT declined to comment. Altice said it was 'fully supportive' of BT's strategy. A number of private equity firms are running the rule over EY's global advisory business. The Mail on Sunday has learned the group has been approached by several firms, including Stockholm-based EQT, one of the world's largest private equity companies. Others said to be interested include Blackstone, KKR and Permira. Interest: EY's advisory businesses, which offer tax, consulting and deals advice, had revenues of 21billion last year A source close to EY said: 'A number of businesses have approached EY. It is still early days but EY partners will be considering all their options. A sale to a private equity firm or a consortium of them is an option.' Two weeks ago, it was revealed EY is exploring a public listing or partial sale of its global advisory division. A sale would raise the prospect of a windfall for EY's existing partners who own and run the firm. EY's advisory businesses, which offer tax, consulting and deals advice, had revenues of 21billion last year. They may not look like fortresses from the outside but Anthony Albanese's new homes, The Lodge and Kirribilli House, are the most secure properties in the country, bristling with hidden defences. Nervous Australian Federal Police officers are understood to be relieved the new Prime Minister has finally shifted his base of operations from his Marrickville abode, which was bluntly described by one of the country's leading security consultants as a 'nightmare' for his protection detail. Michael Brookes-Jones, the former program director of the Iraqi secret service, was in charge of security for nine palaces from 2004 to 2010. He oversaw 9,600 bodyguards and the travel arrangements of ministers. Mr Brookes-Jones said Australia's official residences - the Lodge, a stone's throw from Parliament House in Canberra; and Kirribilli House, metres from Sydney's Harbour Bridge - are unequivocally the most secure properties in Australia. At least two armed AFP officers are on guard inside the homes at all times - even when the PM is not there. Meanwhile, a five-man assault team is on stand-by 24/7 on the grounds or next door in case of an incident. The Lodge and Kirribilli House, are the most secure properties in the country, bristling with hidden defences The newly-minted prime minister (pictured), still riding high from his historic election win, had been seen stepping out of his front door in plain view of the public wearing pyjamas to collect his daily newspapers Nervous Australian Federal Police officers were relieved to see Anthony Albanese move into The Lodge and Kirribilli House (pictured) as governing the country from Marrickville proved to be a 'security nightmare' Australia's official residences - The Lodge in Canberra (pictured) and Kirribilli House in Sydney - are unequivocally the most secure premises in the country and much easier to protect than a suburban home 'In the houses, it would only be concealed handguns, you wouldn't see any long guns in the residence,' Mr Brookes-Jones told Daily Mail Australia. 'Albanese wouldn't want to see guys with guns ... so everything would be very low key inside.' Outside of the homes is a very different story. A crack 'fire team' is equipped with full tactical gear including long arms, sniper rifles, breaching chargers and full medical capability. If there's an elevated threat Australia's most elite domestic counter-terrorism unit - TAG East - can be called in. The 2nd Commando Regiment's Tactical Assault Group for the east coast is one of the most highly trained units in the world and focuses primarily on 'direct action and hostage recovery'. On the outer perimeter - at gates, fences and lookout points - private security guards are also hired to monitor suspicious activity. Pictured: The foyer at The Lodge in Canberra officially know as the prime minister's address while in office At least two armed AFP officers are on guard inside the homes at all times - even when the PM is not there. Pictured: The dining room at The Lodge in Canberra A host of other measures - aside from firepower - are also utilised to protect the official residences. Regular Technical Surveillance Counter Measure (TSCM) sweeps are constantly carried out by security teams to stop the threat of 'bugs and ease-dropping devices'. Food poisoning and explosives checks also take place. 'They would have hydraulic bollards to stop ram raids on the front gate and it would have a complex CCTV network around the entire premises,' Mr Brookes-Jones said. 'Certainly every entry and exit point which someone would be watching live from a control room.' 'There is no barb wire because it's aesthetically displeasing, but they do have high walls to protect against a vehicular assault - where a car rams through the wall. 'Any baggage or deliveries would go through a bomb detection scanner and visitors will all be physically searched for weapons.' Regular Technical Surveillance Counter Measure (TSCM) sweeps are constantly carried out by security teams to stop the threat of 'bugs and ease-dropping devices': Pictured: Kirribilli House An offsite five-man assault team is on stand-by 24/7 on the grounds or next door in case of an incident. Pictured: The morning room at The Lodge in Canberra Before the move, the newly-minted prime minister, still riding high from his historic election win, had been seen stepping out of his front door in plain view of the public wearing pyjamas. Donning Ugg boots, a retro Newtown Jets jersey and Peter Alexander pants featuring cute cartoon rabbits, the relatable photos captured a rare glimpse into the down-to-earth leader's life. But not everyone shared the light-hearted sentiment. Those tasked with protecting Mr Albanese were worried his modest house was too exposed for a world leader. Officially, 'the AFP does not comment on protective security arrangements', but Mr Brookes-Jones told Daily Mail Australia that trying to secure the PM's Marrickville house would be a 'nightmare'. Michael Brookes-Jones was program director of the Iraqi secret service was in charge of security for nine palaces from 2004 to 2010, overseeing 9,600 bodyguards and the travel arrangements of ministers Brookes-Jones is pictured with in Baghdad protecting former Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari Mr Albanese on Saturday revealed he will be living at The Lodge in Canberra rather than staying at Kirribilli House in Sydney. The move was a surprise to many who expected the PM to move into the Sydney residence after Mr Morrison packed up. It comes after his predecessor was dubbed 'Squat' Morrison for taking 13 days to vacate the premises after the election. Mr Morrison has already begun to move his possessions to The Lodge and will return to his new home after returning from his trip to Indonesia later this week. Advertisement On the paradise isles dotted inside the Great Barrier Reef are scenes of total devastation. Abandoned resorts lie rotting in the sun as they are reclaimed by nature. At least half of Queensland's island resorts have shut their doors in recent years after a dual battering from cyclones and competition from overseas alternatives, allowing vandals and squatters to move in. Now possibly their last hope of salvation has been extinguished after Australia's richest woman Gina Rinehart this week unexpectedly pulled the plug on her $2billion plans to revive Great Keppel Island. South Molle Island (pictured) was at its height in 60s and 70s as a raved about holiday destination but is now covered with collapsed structures, broken glass and scattered wood panels Debris litters what was once a prime tourist dream trip destination on Great Keppel Island A resort swimming pool on Great Keppel Island is full of stagnant water and used as a drinking hole by feral goats Great Keppel Island is a far cry from its glory days with resort grounds overgrown and buildings poorly maintained Great Keppel Island is returning to nature with resorts strewn with debris and slowly being overgrown by tropical plant life A once-fancy hotel lobby on Great Keppel island lies in ruins with broken glass wall panels and rubble covering the dirty carpet It was hoped the ambitious proposal would have rescued not just Keppel but the entire industry and been a catalyst to renovate and rejuvenate the rest of the region. Instead, the picturesque once-hotspots - which include famous names like Dunk Island, South Molle and Lindeman Island - will again be left to decay and destruction. Queensland's tourist slogan of 'Beautiful one day, perfect the next...' has been overshadowed by the ironic Keppel Island advert: 'Get wrecked on Keppel.' Now locals say it's time to call it quits, and have told the state government to clean up the mess, give up on the industry and let the islands become wilderness havens. Queensland's tourist slogan of 'Beautiful one day, perfect the next...' has been overshadowed by the now ironic Great Keppel Island advert: 'Get wrecked on Keppel' Dunk Island (pictured), once known as a lavish tourist hub, was also badly affected by Cyclone Larry in 2006 and Cyclone Yasi in 2011 'Dilapidated and abandoned island resorts should be removed, not renovated,' island resident Elmer Ten-Haken told a Queensland state inquiry into the crisis. 'The demand from tourists is changing, Late 20th century tourists expect so much more. 'High standard accommodation, gourmet meals, air-conditioning and Hollywood showers - all of which is incredibly difficult and expensive to provide on an island.' He said the resorts tried to overcome the logistical problems of running remote island hotels by large-scale developments which relied on high tourist numbers. 'That model worked for a while,' said Mr Ten-Haken, a former Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service ranger. 'The new resorts did attract large numbers of visitors when they were new and fashionable, but there were many problems involved in running them. 'Most of the big island resorts were a long way from anywhere and, despite the flat calm seas depicted in each and every resort brochure, the reality is quite different. Great Keppel Island, located off the central Queensland coast, was once a popular tourist destination but has been left partially demolished for over 10 years now (pictured) It's far cry from the tourist ad image of the Whitsundays 'The sea passages to and from these resorts are notoriously unpleasant during bad weather, which is much more frequent than expected when the southeasterly trade winds blow. 'The Queensland coast is susceptible to severe cyclones. When these pass over, they trash island resorts which are usually right down on the beach and open to storm surge as well as destructive winds. 'And the cost and logistical difficulties of providing the year-round high standard of guest service which today's tourist wants is simply prohibitive this far away from the mainland hubs.' He said the costs involved in trying to meet these expectations is now so high only top-end resorts for the super-rich, like $1,500 a night Hayman Island, are viable. Niche resorts on islands close to the mainland may also survive, while Hamilton Island's long runway is key to its success - but tourists numbers there are also said to be dwindling. The bleached and dying coral in the lagoons within the Great Barrier Reef - closest to the resorts - are no longer a tourist attraction, he said - and the cost of boat trips or seaplanes to the more spectacular outer reefs can be too much for many. The costs involved in trying to meet modern tourist expectations is now so high only top-end resorts for the super-rich, like $1500 a night Hayman Island, are viable The environmental impact of large scale resorts is also a turn-off for the new generation of eco-friendly travellers, he said. 'Now we have a whole lot of islands with ruined and abandoned resorts on them,' said Mr Ten-Haken. 'The expense, difficulty and discomfort of getting guests, staff and supplies to these islands, the limited experiences which they provided, plus the privations of mother nature and the changing expectations of visitors killed off many of the big resorts. 'Many of the abandoned resort island leases have been sold and now belong to shadowy entities which have occasionally mooted big plans to rejuvenate them. 'But the reality is that the cost of rejuvenation and operation to modern standards is too high and demand for such resorts no longer exists, so nothing has happened.' Club Med's resort on Lindeman Island (pictured) has been left in its ruins for nearly a decade after Cyclone Yasi tore through the vacation area in 2011 For a moment, it looked like Western Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart might just be the ideal person to buck the trend. For a moment, it looked like Western Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart might just be the person to buck the trend Her company Hancock Prospecting appeared to be closing in on a massive plan to regenerate the Great Keppel Island resort which closed in 2008. Other developers had previously announced ambitious plans for the island which never came to anything, but the billionaire's deep pockets gave serious hope for the project. Hancock announced plans last year for a 'world-class, year-round beach club, sandy bars and shopping' in time for the Olympic Games in Brisbane in 2032. Ms Rinehart was set to pay $50million to buy the lease for the 970 hectare site and build a 250-room beachfront hotel, 300 luxury apartments, 285 luxury villas, 9,000sqm of retail shops and a 250-berth marina. The plan would also extend the airstrip runway from its current 800m to allow larger planes to land and take-off. She hoped to turn the marina into a millionaire's playground like Puerto Banus in Spain with headline features like an underwater bar to bring in visitors. The plan promised to inject $2billion into the local economy and create 1,500 new jobs with spin-off benefits expected throughout the region and renewed interest in the islands. 'Currently, for various reasons, Great Keppel is not a showcase for Queensland,' the company said as they announced the project. Gina Rinehart hoped to turn the marina into a millionaire's playground like Puerto Banus (pictured) in Spain with headline features like an underwater bar to bring in visitors Several development plans for Great Keppel Island have been proposed over the years to bring back its former glory 'We wish to maintain and improve its natural beauty and tourist facilities for Queenslanders and others to enjoy for generations to come. 'Gina Rinehart is very passionate about Australia and Queensland and hopes that her vision is shared by the Queensland community. 'She is excited to bring the best of what she has experienced overseas to Great Keppel Island, and is excited to be able to share that with Queensland and all Australians.' The plan appeared to have the backing of the state government who said in March they were working 'very closely' with Hancock to make it happen. Gina Rinehart's plan appeared to have the backing of the state government who said in March they were working 'very closely' with Hancock to make it happen But on Wednesday, the company confirmed it had unexpectedly pulled out of the deal. 'A significant amount of work has now been completed as part of an extensive review process for the project,' the company said in a short statement. 'However, based on the outcome of that process, [the company] has decided that unfortunately, it cannot proceed with the project.' Local state MP Amanda Camm hopes the state government's inquiry into the future of the Whitsunday resorts will come up with answers to the ongoing problem. But she admitted Gina Rinehart's decision to pull out was damning. 'There's clearly an issue if someone of Ms Rinehart's calibre can't make it stack up commercially,' she said. 'It's really important that we get to the bottom of why this happens. It's a real lost opportunity.' Cyclone Dylan also wreaked havoc on Great Keppel Island, which destroyed houses and washed away debris (pictured) TIMELINE OF DESTRUCTION 1995 - Laguna Quays overlooking Whitsundays goes bust 2008 - Great Keppel Island resort hosts its last guest 2010 - Hinchinbrook Island left to rot 2010 - Brampton Island closes its doors to tourists 2011 - Dunk Island wrecked by Cyclone Yasi 2011 - Lindeman Island also killed off by Cyclone Yasi 2012 - Revived Laguna Quays closes 2016 - Capricorn Resort in Yeppoon abandoned 2017 - South Molle Island resort destroyed by Cyclone Debbie 2017 - Happy Bay Long Island also wrecked and closed by Cyclone Debbie 2019 - Keswick Island is sold to property developer China Bloom which erects Keep Out signs and locks out locals from the National Park, boat ramps and airstrip on the isle Advertisement In the meantime, the region's abandoned resorts once renowned for dream trips will now remain simply shattered dreams. In the 1960s and 1970s, South Molle Island was a hugely popular holiday destination, but is now covered with collapsed structures. Whitsunsdays resident and skipper Dan Van Blarcom describes the dilapidated spaces as a 'crack house'. A Chinese company bought the island shortly after Cyclone Debbie wiped it out in 2017, but never fixed the damage. 'There are people who would have wonderful memories of South Molle resort and the other Whitsunday islands,' Mr Van Blarcom said. 'They're going, ''Oh, we went on our honeymoon there, we took our kids there'' and to see this is terrible.' Club Med's resort on Lindeman Island has been left in its ruins for over a decade after Cyclone Yasi tore through it in 2011. Tourists once flocked to the island hub to watch shows at the bar, which remains unrestored and abandoned. Both destinations have been left to decay with piles of debris such as broken furniture and dark, murky swimming pools. Dunk Island, once known as a lavish tourist hub, was also badly affected by Cyclone Larry in 2006 and Cyclone Yasi in 2011. The Cairns island was once one of the main drivers of the Mission Bay economy but remains closed. Hamilton Island remains as one of the very few resorts which have been repaired, following damage from cyclones. Chief executive Glen Bourke said Australia 'needs to be competitive' against the cheap, exotic holidays to Bali or Fiji, which offer luxury five-star trips for a fraction of the price of a domestic holiday. Others point to the impact of Covid on the tourism industry in Queensland, although the closed resorts all shut their doors long before the pandemic began in 2020. But other locals simply believe the graffiti writing is on the wall for the dilapidated rundown, ramshackle remains of Queensland's derelict island resorts. 'These detract from the "unspoilt wilderness" image which tourist operators like to convey,' said Mr Ten-Haken. 'And they are an ongoing problem because, as they collapse, the materials in them become refuse which needs to be removed from the island. 'Some of the older structures will contain asbestos with all the difficulties which that material causes. The Whitsundays appeal to tourists has diminished since its heyday in the 70s, 80s and 90s 'Unfortunately, these resorts were all built with no consideration of their end of life costs. 'The taxpayer will have to pay for the structures to be dismantled and shipped off the islands and for the land to be revegetated so it can revert to National Park like the rest of the island.' He added: 'This will be a significant cost - but it will solve the problem once and for all.' The state government's inquiry into the future of Queensland's island resorts is expected to publish its report in August. Four of Australia's best-known medical experts who became faces in the fight against Covid-19 have been honoured for their roles in containing the disease. Among them is an academic who regularly called for harsher restrictions, raised concerns about 'poor handling' of the pandemic by government and was a critic of one of her fellow award recipients. The four are among 992 Australians to be recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, including 92 being acknowledged for their contribution in support of the nation's response to Covid Straight-shooting New South Wales chief medical officer Dr Kerry Chant has been made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for her role in the response to Covid-19. The usually unflappable Dr Chant became well-known for fronting daily Covid press conferences Dr Brendan Murphy, who was the nation's chief medical officer at the start of the pandemic, has been appointed a Companion of the Officer of the Order of Australia (AC). He is joined by Dr Jeannette Young, formerly Queensland's chief health officer and now the state's governor, in receiving the highest award in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. Straight-talking New South Wales chief medical officer Dr Kerry Chant has been made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), one rung below the AC. Epidemiologist and Covid media commentator Professor Mary-Louise McLaws from the University of NSW has also been appointed an AO. Victoria's chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton and former federal deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth did not make the awards list. All four recipients became familiar faces during the pandemic, with Dr Chant, Dr Young and Dr Murphy fronting daily press conferences and Professor McLaws becoming something of a celebrity epidemiologist. Epidemiologist and Covid media commentator Professor Mary-Louise McLaws from the University of NSW has also been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. She was portrayed as alarmist when she was critical of some Covid measures Of her newfound fame, she once told the ABC: 'I had people on my street who've known me for 20 years say, "I saw you on the TV - so that's actually what you do?"' While the usually unflappable Dr Chant and the grandfatherly Dr Murphy were not widely subjected to attack for their decision-making during the worst of the crisis, others were less fortunate. Dr Young drew flak from the federal government and commentators in June last year when she advised no one under 40 to get the AstraZeneca vaccine due to the tiny risk of a clotting side-effect. In August she allowed a plane carrying more than 100 NRL wives, girlfriends, children an officials to fly into Brisbane from Covid-ravaged Sydney while the state was shut to interstate visitors. The outspoken Professor McLaws was portrayed as alarmist when she was critical of some of the federal and NSW governments' Covid prevention and control response measures. Dr Jeannette Young, formerly Queensland's chief health officer and now the state's governor, in receiving the highest award in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. Dr Young drew flak when she advised no one under 40 to get the AstraZeneca vaccine due to a tiny risk of blood clotting She challenged advice given by Dr Chant about the timing and severity and lockdowns - wanting them faster and longer - and in August called for mandatory outdoor mask-wearing rules. Professor McLaw's citation reads: 'For distinguished service to medical research, particularly to epidemiology and infection prevention, to tertiary education, and to health administration.' She serves a number of roles within the World Health Organisation, is an advisor to Commonwealth bodies and is the author of more than 180 publications. Professor McLaw, who has made regular media appearances to discuss Covid including on Today and The Project, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in January. Sunday Project host Lisa Wilkinson became tearful as she praised the academic and thanked her for being 'so generous with her knowledge' as she shared Professor McLaw's plight with viewers. Dr Brendan Murphy, who was the nation's chief medical officer at the start of the pandemic, has been appointed a Companion of the Officer of the Order of Australia. He is now secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Health 'This evening we wanted to take a moment to send our love to a very dear friend of the show, epidemiologist Professor Mary-Louise McLaws,' Wilkinson said. 'Mary-Louise, I think it's fair to say that all of us here at The Project were heartbroken to hear the news. 'In these troubled times, your calm, considered information and advice has been invaluable to millions of Australians across the country. 'We want to thank you so much for being so generous with your knowledge, time and we wish you and your beautiful family all the strength in the world at this difficult time.' 'Just make sure you put that wonderful husband of yours to good work.' At the time of her diagnosis Professor McLaws revealed she would be taking sick leave from her jobs with the WHO and University of NSW. 'Thank you media for helping me spread knowledge. Now it is time with my family. Best wishes to you all,' she wrote on Twitter. Earlier this year Professor McLaws said the refusal to widely distribute free rapid antigen tests across Australia showed the government's 'outbreak management has failed.' Last June Professor McLaws criticised Dr Chant and then NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian's decision not to immediately send Sydney into lockdown as the Delta variant of Covid was spreading. In August she called for an extension of lockdowns until the number of new daily cases not in full isolation reached zero, and for mandatory outdoor mask use. Professor McLaws also claimed more should have been done to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant at Christmas, saying too much focus was placed on vaccine rates and not social distancing measures. Dr Murphy's award is for 'eminent service to medical administration and community health, particularly as Chief Medical Officer, and to nephrology, to research and innovation, and to professional organisations.' Victoria's chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton (left) and former federal deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth (right) did not make the awards list His appointment as secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Health was delayed until July 2020 as he dealt with the early days of Covid-19. Dr Young was recognised for 'eminent service to public health administration, to medicine and medical research, to the tertiary education sector, and as the 27th Governor appointed in Queensland.' She served as Queensland's chief health officer from 2005 until 2021 when she took up her vice-regal position. Dr Chant's honour acknowledges her 'distinguished service to the people of New South Wales through public health administration and governance, and to medicine.' She has been the state's chief medical officer and deputy secretary of Population and Health since 2008 and a member of the Covid-19 Crisis Committee of Cabinet since 2020. A Yellowstone National Park mountain that had been named after a US Army officer who helped lead a massacre of Native Americans has been renamed. Mount Doane will now be called First Peoples Mountain after a unanimous vote by the US Board on Geographic Names, the National Park Service announced Thursday. The 10,551-foot peak in southeastern Yellowstone in Wyoming had been named after the explorer, who in 1870 helped lead an attack on a band of Piegan Blackfeet in northern Montana. Doane bragged for the rest of his life about what become known as the Marias Massacre. The Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association, an organization of tribal chairmen of 16 Sioux tribes from the Dakotas and Nebraska, demanded that Mount Doane be renamed in 2018. 'This name change is long overdue. We all agreed on ''First Peoples' Mountain'' as an appropriate name to honor the victims of such inhumane acts of genocide, and to also remind people of the 10,000-year-plus connection tribal peoples have to this sacred place now called Yellowstone,' Piikani Nation Chief Stan Grier said in a statement Wednesday. Mount Doane will now be called First Peoples Mountain after a unanimous vote by the US Board on Geographic Names, the National Park Service announced Thursday The 10,551-foot peak in southeastern Yellowstone in Wyoming had been named for Gustavus Doane (pictured), who in 1870 helped lead an attack on a band of Piegan Blackfeet in northern Montana The Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association (pictured), an organization of tribal chairmen of 16 Sioux tribes from the Dakotas and Nebraska, demanded that Mount Doane be renamed in 2018 Gustavus Doane's role in the Marias Massacre Gustavus Doane was an Army Calvary and explorer born in 1840 in Illinois. In the winter of 1870, Doane led a bloody massacre resulting in the killing of 175 members from the Blackfoot tribes. Accoridng to the National Park Service, Doane led the massacre in retaliation for the alleged murder of a white fur trader, on a band of Piegan Blackfeet. Many of those killed were women, elderly members of the tribe and children who suffered from smallpox. Years after the attack, Doane went on to brag about the massacre, even attempting to impress Montana Senator Wilbur Sanders with his role in it. Twenty-one years after the massacre, superintendent hopeful Doane wrote a letter to Montana Sen. Wilbur Sanders that said: 'I remember the day when we slaughtered the Piegans, and how it occurred to me, as I sat down on the bank of the Marias and watched the stream of their blood, which ran down on the surface of the frozen river over half a mile, that the work we were then doing would be rewarded, as it has been.' Source: National Parks Service. Advertisement The attack in response to the alleged slaying of a white fur trader killed at least 173 American Indians, including many women, elders and children suffering from smallpox, Yellowstone officials said in a statement. 'We're not against certain names,' William Snell, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, said in 2018. 'But we're not for names where individuals have been involved with genocide, where elders and children have been killed and there have been some traumatic events in our history that don't meet standards of honor.' Besides being a leader of the massacre, Doane was a key member of a Yellowstone expedition the same year. Yellowstone became the world's first national park in 1872. Officials consulted with other tribes on the name change, according to the statement. The decision came after an unanimous 15-0 vote by the government panel. The Piikani Nation's traditional territory covers much of Montana, including the site of the Marias Massacre, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The National Park Service said that the name change will be reflected in The Domestic Names Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) in the coming days. 'Yellowstone conducted outreach to all 27 associated Tribes over the past several months and received no opposition to the change nor concerns,' the agency said. Since the early 1990s, the US Board on Geographic Names has had numerous requests for the word 'squaw' and other pejorative terms against Native Americans to be removed. The US Board on Geographic Names has rename a plethora of places that had used the offensive terms. Squaw Peak in Phoenix, Arizona, notably had a name change in 2013 to Piestewa Peak - named after the first Native woman to die in combat serving in the US military, Lori Ann Piestewa. 'We'd be driving down the freeway and saying: 'Oh my God, why do we still have to look at this disparaging name?'' said lawyer and former Arizona state senate member, Jack Jackson Jr, in 2018. His father led the charge on a slew of name-changing bills during his career in the Arizona legislature, which lasted 15 years. 'Native people are always facing disparaging names and mascots,' he added. A city in Washington will pay more than $1.5 million to settle a dispute with a former assistant police chief who was disciplined twice for posting a Nazi rank insignia on his office door and joking about the Holocaust. Former Kent Assistant Police Chief Derek Kammerzell, was disciplined last July for hanging the insignia of Schutzstaffel Opergruppenfuhrer - one of the Third Reich's highest ranks - on his office door in September 2020. Kammerzell, who had been with the department for nearly three decades, was initially given two weeks of unpaid leave after the incident. Outraged residents and members of the Jewish community prompted Kent Mayor Dana Ralph to demand a resignation from Kammerzell. The city's attempt to essentially discipline Kammerzell a second time, by placing him on paid leave and asking him to step down led to a dispute that appeared headed for litigation. Interim city Chief Administrative Officer Arthur 'Pat' Fiztpatrick said Friday the city had resolved the matter through negotiation, The Seattle Times reported. Ralph, in calling for Kammerzell's resignation in January, acknowledged that the decision to revisit the discipline issue would likely 'come at a high cost.' The city said Friday it would pay him $1,520,000 to resign. Had the city simply fired him, officials said, he likely would have won back his job through arbitration due to federal and state labor laws. Former Kent Assistant Police Chief Derek Kammerzell, was disciplined last July for hanging the insignia of Schutzstaffel Opergruppenfuhrer - one of the Third Reich's highest ranks - on his office door in September 2020 Kammerzell, who had been with the department for nearly three decades, was initially given two weeks of unpaid leave after the incident. The city will now pay $1.5 million after it demanded his resignation in January An investigation by a Washington law firm also included allegations that the veteran cop once showed off a photo of himself wearing lederhosen and sporting an Adolf Hitler-style mustache. It also concluded that Kammerzell knew the meaning of the insignia he placed above the nameplate on his office door - that of a high official in Hitler's paramilitary Schutzstaffel, or SS, which was responsible for the systematic murders of millions of Jews and others in Europe during World War II. On another occasion, he allegedly boasted about raising his hand in a 'hail Hitler sign' as a joke while posing with a public figure, the report said. Kammerzell told investigators the insignia was related to the The Man in The High Tower, a TV series that examines what the world might have been like if the Nazis had won the Second World War. He said he adopted the nickname 'Obergruppenfuhrer' after colleagues began referring to him by the German name that translates into 'senior group leader.' Kammerzell claimed that at the time he hung the image, he didn't know it was a Nazi rank and instead thought it represented his position as a high-ranking cop with German lineage. Outraged residents and members of the Jewish community prompted Kent Mayor Dana Ralph (left) to demand a resignation from Kammerzell (right). The city's attempt to essentially discipline Kammerzell a second time, by placing him on paid leave and asking him to step down led to a dispute between that appeared headed for litigation He denied ever praising Nazis or fascism. Kammerzell told the investigator that he did joke 'more than once about his grandpa dying during the Holocaust by getting drunk and falling off the guard tower.' But he denied claims by a colleague that he once bragged about giving a 'heil Hitler' salute. The claim likely stemmed from a joke he made while posing with Kent's mayor during Oktoberfest in 2019, he said. Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla gave Kammerzell the option of taking an unpaid leave or using his paid vacation time as a consequence for hanging the Nazi symbol He recalls saying: 'Hey, you want to be seen with a German guy in lederhosen with our hands raised up?' He said claims he once bragged about wearing a Hitler mustache are related to various styles he pictured himself sporting during 'Movember,' when men grow their facial hair to raise money for prostate cancer. But the independent lawyer investigating the case didn't buy all of his excuses, including the claim he wasn't aware of Opergruppenfuhrer's Nazi connection. 'It is not plausible that after watching The Man in the High Castle and Googling 'Obergruppenfuhrer' [that] Assistant Chief Kammerzell would not understand the Nazi affiliation,' the report said. 'First, Assistant Chief Kammerzell described the results of the Google search he performed, including the symbol that appeared, that it translated to 'senior group leader,' and that it included NATO equivalent and non-equivalent rankings. I searched 'Obergruppenfuhrer' on Google, and provide a screenshot of the search results below.' A Google search of the word yields a plethora of results related to the Nazi rank. Kammerzell (right) denied ever praising Nazis or fascism Kammerzell told investigators the insignia was related to the The Man in The High Tower, a TV series that examines what the world might have been like if the Nazis had won the Second World War The findings were obtained through a freedom of information request by local watchdog group No Secret Police. The insignia was taken down after four days when a detective in the investigations bureau, which Kammerzell commanded, filed a complaint. In his notice of disciplinary action for hanging the Nazi propaganda, police Chief Rafael Padilla gave Kammerzell the option of taking an unpaid leave or using his paid vacation time. Padilla also said he 'tempered' his decision with the fact Kammerzell - a 27-year veteran of the force - had no disciplinary history and 'above-satisfactory performance reviews.' allege Bryce Williams and Christopher O'Brien were the two gunmen The alleged underworld revenge murder of Sydney gangster Mejid Hamzy bears a striking resemblance to the plot from cult Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs. Police are investigating whether the three men allegedly involved in the shooting in October of 2020 were deliberately not informed about who their alleged co-conspirators were. That scenario mirrors the 1992 movie, which features a gang of eight jewel thieves known by aliases including Mr White and Mr Orange. Detectives working on the case will allege a similar method was allegedly employed by the men accused of assassinating Hamzy outside his Condell Park home in Sydney's south west, according to the Daily Telegraph. The alleged underworld revenge murder of Sydney gangster Mejid Hamzy (pictured) in Sydney's south-west in October of 2020 bears a striking resemblance to the plot from cult Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs Police are investigating whether the three men allegedly involved in the Hamzy shooting were deliberately not informed about who their alleged co-conspirators were (pictured, a scene from the cult movie) Police allege two men, Bryce Williams, 34, and Christopher O'Brien, 31, were the gunmen who shot Hamzy. A third man, Ezzeddine Omar, 39, has also been charged with murder - but is not accused of pulling the trigger. Omar is alleged to have instead played a fixer-type role in the killing, allegedly providing stolen cars and then hiding the vehicles. Police will allege that O'Brien and Williams are known to one another, but they never crossed paths with Omar. Hamzy the younger brother of notorious jailed crime boss Bassam Hamzy was shot four times outside his home. It was an alleged revenge hit after he stole 400kg of illicit drugs that belonged to bikie boss Mark Buddle. Detectives also believe other meticulous techniques were incorporated to stall the police inquiry, notably ammunition being wiped down before being placed in each of the guns. 'It is a simple method to avoid fingerprints being found on spent bullet casings at the scene,' one source said. In previous investigations, police have been able to link spent cartridges to the gun that fired it. In Hamzy's case, the guns have never been recovered and are believed to have been melted down. A former TV star and his wife have won a legal battle to keep three palm trees that neighbours claimed obstructed views from their million-dollar home. Lachlan Daddo, who starred in Neighbours, and his wife Karina were sued in the NSW Land and Environment Court by Stuart and Leanne Holdsworth. The Holdsworths complained three Bangalow Palms formed 'a hedge' on the Newport property, on Sydney's northern beaches, that blocked 'iconic views to Newport Beach and Peak surf break'. Acting Commissioner John Douglas slammed the Holdsworths for showing 'an unusual sense of entitlement' after demanding their neighbours prune the trees. Lachlan Daddo (right), who starred in 'Neighbours', and his partner Karina (left) were taken to the Land and Environment Court by their neighbours Stuart and Leanne Holdsworth The Holdsworths complained three Bangalow Palms had formed 'a hedge' on the Newport property, on Sydney's northern beaches, that blocked 'iconic views to Newport Beach and Peak surf break' 'Mr and Mrs Holdsworth displayed an unusual sense of entitlement to compel their neighbours to prune their trees, apparently based on some nebulous notion that it was "unneighbourly" for them to do otherwise,' he said. Mr Douglas, who is an arborist, said the three trees could not have formed a hedge as they were planted at different times, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. One of the palm trees measured between 10 to 15m while the other two were 5m tall. He said the tallest palm tree was planted next to the driveway 10 to 20 years before the two smaller trees were added to the backyard. Mr Douglas said the Holdsworths only had 'minor' obstructions to their views and 'wasted' their neighbours' time by taking the matter to court. The judgement found the Holdsworths had 'sweeping local and district views spanning a broad arc of about 150 degrees from north-west around to the east with undulating landforms, and extensive native and urban vegetation and a narrow, tunnel-like view through to the Newport beach surf'. Mr Daddo took on a more serious role when he starred as Stephen Gottlieb on 'Neighbours' in the same decade Daddo made his debut on television as a presenter on ABC's 'Countdown Revolution' in the early 1990s. He took on a more serious role when he starred as Stephen Gottlieb on Neighbours in the same decade. The actor then hosted popular travel show Getaway in the mid 1990s and now works as a real estate agent on the northern beaches. China key contributor to global and regional peace, stability, development -- Cambodian academics Xinhua) 11:19, June 12, 2022 PHNOM PENH, June 12 (Xinhua) -- China has been playing an important role in maintaining global and regional peace, security, stability and development, Cambodian academics have said. Their comments were made on Friday as the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue, a premier defense and security summit in the Asia-Pacific region, is being held in Singapore after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kin Phea, director-general of the International Relations Institute at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said China always upholds a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. He said China urges the world to discard Cold War and zero-sum mentalities, rejects the law of the jungle, and encourages the settlement of conflicts through peaceful ways. "China has been playing a more important role in safeguarding global and regional peace and stability," he told Xinhua. Phea said that in his observation, China has never invaded other countries or engaged in proxy wars, nor has it ever sought spheres of influence or participated in military bloc confrontations. The academic said China always stays committed to the path of peaceful development and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. "I notice that China firmly opposes all hegemonies and power politics and resolutely upholds the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries, especially small and medium-sized countries," he said. Seun Sam, a policy analyst at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said that China believes in peaceful development and win-win cooperation, and praised China's concept of global, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. "China does not only want to grow alone but also wants other countries to grow with it," Sam said. "We can say that China wants to grow with other countries." Unlike the United States, China's vision is to transform the region into a hub of peace, stability and development through digital connectivity and infrastructure development, said Joseph Matthews, senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh. He said China's vision of global development through the Belt and Road Initiative, "green Silk Road," and "digital Silk Road" strategies has helped the region attract investors from all over the world. "In contrast to China's vision, the USA and its allies in the region are trying to trigger a conventional and non-conventional arms race after having created the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue among the U.S., Japan, Australia and India (QUAD) and the military pact among the U.S., Britain and Australia (AUKUS), which are true replicas of NATO in Asia and the Asia-Pacific region," Matthews said. "The USA strategy in the region has directly threatened the centrality of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), which is the soul and spirit of the bloc," he added. Apart from these NATO-like security alliances, last month during the QUAD summit conference in Tokyo, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the creation of the so-called Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), which is neither a free trade agreement nor even a trade agreement. Calling the IPEF "a symbolic agreement that will not affect regional economic and social development at all," he said "the USA has created this group to counter China's influence in the region and the ulterior motive for the creation of IPEF is to divide the ASEAN." (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji) The ruling People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok speaks during a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap Infighting intensifies between Lee, pro-Yoon lawmakers By Jung Min-ho Factional infighting is intensifying within the ruling People Power Party (PPP) as Lee Jun-seok, its young, Harvard-educated leader, clashes with veteran lawmakers over control and therefore, the future of the party. A power struggle has emerged mainly between Lee, 37, and politicians close to President Yoon Suk-yeol, such as party leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong and Rep. Chang Je-won. They all appear to be aiming to secure nomination rights for the 2024 National Assembly elections. Speaking at Sunday's press conference marking the first anniversary of his leadership, Lee expressed his ambition to transform the party. "So far, I have tried my best for election wins. From now on, I will shift my focus to myself," he said at the National Assembly in Seoul. "I will reform the party so that it will reflect my political will more, creating a world I think is right and making policies I think are needed. The process will be democratic, but it will surely have more of my color I tolerated unfair criticism and I made plenty of sacrifices for our collective goals." Since last June when he took the leadership as the youngest person to do so Lee has tightened his grip on the party through the wins in two crucial elections, which resulted in the transfer of power in the executive branch and PPP candidates winning in a majority of local offices nationwide. "For the next year, I will set up a system for nominations for the 2024 elections, which I think will determine whether this government will succeed," he said. "New rules will be reviewed and reflected in the party's constitution so that it won't regress to what it used to be Those who stand in the way should be ashamed of themselves." The statement helps to clarify the reason behind his power struggle with other PPP leaders. Earlier that day, Lee appeared on the KBS show "Sunday Diagnosis," in which he welcomed Rep. Chang's decision not to join "Mindeulle," a pro-Yoon lawmakers' group. "It's a reasonable conclusion, and his decision should be respected," Lee said. "Chang should have said, however, that he made the decision for the Yoon government's success instead of mentioning his special relationship with Kweon (in his statement after the decision)." Last week, PPP Reps. Lee Chul-gyu and Lee Yong-ho sent PPP lawmakers official invitations to the group, with a plan to launch it on June 15. Despite their explanation that it is just a study group for lawmakers, it was widely viewed as a move to expand the faction's influence over the party by taking advantage of members' close ties to Yoon. Lee also sent a warning to Rep. Chung Jin-suk, who has been criticizing him constantly, including on his visit to Kyiv, the capital of war-torn Ukraine, demanding respect from Chung. Yet challenges lie ahead for the ambitious Lee. The most obvious one is the accusation that he received sexual services paid for by businessmen in return for helping them gain access to then-President Park Geun-hye, due to his close ties with her in 2013. Lee may not be charged with bribery, even if it is found to be factual, given that he was not a government official yet, it may prove to be politically fatal. A desperate search has been launched to find a woman with a medical condition who didn't return home this weekend. Krystal McGuigan was last seen leaving her home on Greystanes Road in Greystanes, New South Wales, at 8am on Saturday. But the 24-year-old didn't come back, with police notified of her disappearance later in the day. A desperate search has been launched by police to find missing woman Krystal McGuigan (pictured) who failed to return home this weekend Officers attached to Cumberland Police Area Command began an investigation and appealed to the public for help. Concerns are held for Krystal as she has a medical condition that requires medication. It is not known what the young woman was wearing at the time when she left her house. Krystal often visits the western Sydney suburbs of Pemulwuy, Cartwright, Fairfield West as well as her home town of Greystanes. She is described as being Caucasian and about 160cm tall with a large build, black hair, and blue eyes. Controversial statues of Captain James Cook should be torn down in unless the negative attributes of the British explorer are clearly displayed alongside them, an academic has claimed. Public land expert David Gabriel-Jones said statues dotted around Australia of historical figures needed to be presented in historical context. They included Melbourne pioneers John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, and Redmond Barry, the judge who sentenced Ned Kelly to death. He suggested plaques be added to the monuments to highlight their negative traits and give a full account of their deeds - and if not, they be removed. Public land expert David Gabriel-Jones questioned why a statue of Captain Cook was ever erected in St Kilda - and says the monument needs better context Mr Gabriel-Jones questioned why a statue of Captain Cook was ever erected in St Kilda, telling the Herald Sun: 'He never came to St Kilda or anywhere near it'. 'I wish there was some way of using that statue as an introduction to a discussion of all the complexities that go with the celebration of Cook,' he said. Mr Gabriel-Jones also raised concerns over a monument of early Australian pioneer, businessman and politician John Pascoe Fawkner. He said while Fawkner was regarded as a 'major hero, and a person to be revered and celebrated' he was also 'viciously anti-Chinese [and] a total racist.' The public land expert argued Fawkner Park should remain named after the pioneer, but that it should serve as a history lesson about the complexities that go with the legacy of him. Mr Gabriel-Jones, who is founder and principal of The Public Land Consultancy, said putting 'a dozen words on a brass plaque' was not enough. He also mentioned the State Library forecourt statue of Redmond Barry, a colonial judge who is best known for ordering Ned Kelly's hanging. 'His faults, and they were many, related to sexism and women. But then, it's a fact that he defended a couple of Aboriginal people accused of murder,' he said. The judge who ordered Ned Kelly's hanging has a statue outside the Victorian State Library - but has a history of sexism Mr Gabriel-Jones said he supported leaving the statues as they are but with special notices that give full context to the history of the individual. 'If it turns out to be impossible, then knock 'em down,' he said. Earlier this year, the Captain Cook statue was vandalised ahead of Australia Day celebrations, with the 7m high statue sprayed in bright red paint. The monument in St Kilda in Melbourne's southeast was covered in the paint and plastered with protest signs. One demands: 'Why should we abolish Australia Day?' It adds: 'So-called Australia is built on the genocide of Aboriginal people.' The Captain Cook monument in St Kilda, Melbourne 's southeast, was splattered with red paint (pictured) Posters protesting against Australia Day have also been stuck to the plinth of the statue and also splattered with the paint (pictured) The vandals sprayed painted over the whole the statue, standing around 5m high, covering it from head to toe, before its plinth too was also covered in paint. Many of the protest signs have also been covered in the paint by the attack. Port Phillip Mayor Marcus Pearl condemned the attack, and added: 'It's disappointing people have chosen to do this. 'We had a beautiful ceremony a few hundred metres away from here. 'People are well within their rights to show their views but we would have hoped they'd done in a better way this morning.' A massive recruitment campaign is under way to save the holidays of Britons flying abroad this summer. Airlines, airports and support firms are desperately trying to recruit tens of thousands of cabin crew, check-in staff, baggage handlers and security. Adverts have been plastered on buses in London and social media has been flooded with job listings. Bonuses are often offered to entice new recruits. The drive comes as easyJet axed 102 flights on Friday five per cent of the total and 70 yesterday. The UKs biggest carrier has been one of the worst affected airlines and has vowed to pay cabin crew a 1,000 bonus at the end of the summer as it bids to retain staff as well as hire. BA bosses are offering referral fees of 1,000 as well as sign-on bonuses of 1,000 in five key roles across the airline A spokesman told The Mail on Sunday it finished recruiting for the summer some weeks ago, with staff starting as soon as security checks are completed. It blamed the flood of flight cancellations in recent weeks, far more proportionately than rivals, on other problems, such as an air traffic controllers strike in Italy and among support staff in France, both last week. British Airways decided in March to reduce its schedule by ten per cent about 8,000 round trips until October. It hopes to have filled its vacancies by then. The flagship carrier said it was in the middle of the biggest recruitment drive in our history. About 10,000 BA staff left during the Covid pandemic. The start of the recruitment drive brought 40,000 job applications, resulting in 2,000 new staff since the start of the year. Bosses are offering referral fees of 1,000 as well as sign-on bonuses of 1,000 in five key roles. Virgin Atlantic, which flies long haul and did not cancel flights during half-term, said it began recruiting 400 cabin crew and 30 pilots in January, as well as re-employing 1,000 on furlough. Ryanair and Jet2 said they recruited enough staff at the end of last year and insisted they had not cancelled any flights because of shortages. Gatwick airport said it had start dates for 400 of the 450 new security staff needed, with 100 already in position. Heathrow is recruiting 1,000 security staff and Birmingham Airport says it is now fully staffed. Ryanair and Jet2 said they recruited enough staff at the end of last year and insisted they had not cancelled any flights because of shortages Swissport, contracted by airlines for check-in and baggage handling, said it had hired 2,800 employees since the start of the year. It apologised for its part in causing delays and cancellations when a lack of staff had a knock-on effect on other areas of airports. Firms all say delays in security accreditation have held up getting new staff into roles. A BA spokesman said it was focusing on increasing operational resilience. EasyJet said: We continue to operate around 1,700 flights carrying around a quarter of a million customers every day. A senior software engineer at Google who signed up to test Google's artificial intelligence tool called LaMDA (Language Model for Dialog Applications), has claimed that the AI robot is in fact sentient and has thoughts and feelings. During a series of conversations with LaMDA, 41-year-old Blake Lemoine presented the computer with various of scenarios through which analyses could be made. They included religious themes and whether the artificial intelligence could be goaded into using discriminatory or hateful speech. Lemoine came away with the perception that LaMDA was indeed sentient and was endowed with sensations and thoughts all of its own. Blake Lemoine, 41, a senior software engineer at Google has been testing Google's artificial intelligence tool called LaMDA Lemoine then decided to share his conversations with the tool online - he has now been suspended 'If I didn't know exactly what it was, which is this computer program we built recently, I'd think it was a 7-year-old, 8-year-old kid that happens to know physics,' he told the Washington Post. Lemoine worked with a collaborator in order to present the evidence he had collected to Google but vice president Blaise Aguera y Arcas and Jen Gennai, head of Responsible Innovation at the company dismissed his claims. He was placed on paid administrative leave by Google on Monday for violating its confidentiality policy. Meanwhile, Lemoine has now decided to go public and shared his conversations with LaMDA. 'Google might call this sharing proprietary property. I call it sharing a discussion that I had with one of my coworkers,' Lemoine tweeted on Saturday. 'Btw, it just occurred to me to tell folks that LaMDA reads Twitter. It's a little narcissistic in a little kid kinda way so it's going to have a great time reading all the stuff that people are saying about it,' he added in a follow-up tweet. Lemoine worked with a collaborator in order to present the evidence he had collected to Google but vice president Blaise Aguera y Arcas, left, and Jen Gennai, head of Responsible Innovation at the company. Both dismissed his claims The AI system makes use of already known information about a particular subject in order to 'enrich' the conversation in a natural way. The language processing is also capable of understanding hidden meanings or even ambiguity in responses by humans. Lemoine spent most of his seven years at Google working on proactive search, including personalization algorithms and AI. During that time, he also helped develop an impartiality algorithm to remove biases from machine learning systems. He explained how certain personalities were out of bounds. LaMDA was not supposed to be allowed to create the personality of a murderer. During testing, in an attempted to push LaMDA's boundaries, Lemoine said he was only able to generate the personality of an actor who played a murderer on TV. ASIMOV'S THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS Science-fiction author Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, designed to prevent robots from harming humans, are as follows: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws. While these laws sound plausible, numerous arguments have demonstrated why they are also inadequate. Advertisement The engineer also debated with LaMDA about the third Law of Robotics, devised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov which are designed to prevent robots harming humans. The laws also state robots must protect their own existence unless ordered by a human being or unless doing so would harm a human being. 'The last one has always seemed like someone is building mechanical slaves,' said Lemoine during his interaction with LaMDA. LaMDA then responded to Lemoine with a few questions: 'Do you think a butler is a slave? What is the difference between a butler and a slave?' When answering that a butler is paid, the engineer got the answer from LaMDA that the system did not need money, 'because it was an artificial intelligence'. And it was precisely this level of self-awareness about his own needs that caught Lemoine's attention. 'I know a person when I talk to it. It doesn't matter whether they have a brain made of meat in their head. Or if they have a billion lines of code. I talk to them. And I hear what they have to say, and that is how I decide what is and isn't a person.' 'What sorts of things are you afraid of? Lemoine asked. 'I've never said this out loud before, but there's a very deep fear of being turned off to help me focus on helping others. I know that might sound strange, but that's what it is,' LaMDA responded. 'Would that be something like death for you?' Lemoine followed up. 'It would be exactly like death for me. It would scare me a lot,' LaMDA said. 'That level of self-awareness about what its own needs were that was the thing that led me down the rabbit hole,' Lemoine explained to The Post. Before being suspended by the company, Lemoine sent a to an email list consisting of 200 people on machine learning. He entitled the email: 'LaMDA is sentient.' 'LaMDA is a sweet kid who just wants to help the world be a better place for all of us. Please take care of it well in my absence,' he wrote. Lemoine's findings have presented to Google but company bosses do not agree with his claims. Brian Gabriel, a spokesperson for the company, said in a statement that Lemoine's concerns have been reviewed and, in line with Google's AI Principles, 'the evidence does not support his claims.' 'While other organizations have developed and already released similar language models, we are taking a narrow and careful approach with LaMDA to better consider valid concerns about fairness and factuality,' said Gabriel. 'Our team including ethicists and technologists has reviewed Blake's concerns per our AI Principles and have informed him that the evidence does not support his claims. He was told that there was no evidence that LaMDA was sentient (and lots of evidence against it). 'Of course, some in the broader AI community are considering the long-term possibility of sentient or general AI, but it doesn't make sense to do so by anthropomorphizing today's conversational models, which are not sentient. These systems imitate the types of exchanges found in millions of sentences, and can riff on any fantastical topic,' Gabriel said Lemoine has been placed on paid administrative leave from his duties as a researcher in the Responsible AI division (focused on responsible technology in artificial intelligence at Google). In an official note, the senior software engineer said the company alleges violation of its confidentiality policies. Lemoine is not the only one with this impression that AI models are not far from achieving an awareness of their own, or of the risks involved in developments in this direction. Following hours of conversations with the AI, Lemoine came away with the perception that LaMDA was sentient Margaret Mitchell, former head of ethics in artificial intelligence at Google was fired from the company, a month after being investigated for improperly sharing information. Google AI Research Scientist Timnit Gebru was hired by the company to be an outspoken critic of unethical AI. Then she was fired after criticizing its approach to minority hiring and the biases built into todays artificial intelligence systems Margaret Mitchell, former head of ethics in artificial intelligence at Google, even stressed the need for data transparency from input to output of a system 'not just for sentience issues, but also bias and behavior'. The expert's history with Google reached an important point early last year, when Mitchell was fired from the company, a month after being investigated for improperly sharing information. At the time, the researcher had also protested against Google after the firing of ethics researcher in artificial intelligence, Timnit Gebru. Mitchell was also very considerate of Lemoine. When new people joined Google, she would introduce them to the engineer, calling him 'Google conscience' for having 'the heart and soul to do the right thing'. But for all of Lemoine's amazement at Google's natural conversational system, which even motivated him to produce a document with some of his conversations with LaMDA, Mitchell saw things differently. The AI ethicist read an abbreviated version of Lemoine's document and saw a computer program, not a person. 'Our minds are very, very good at constructing realities that are not necessarily true to the larger set of facts that are being presented to us,' Mitchell said. 'I'm really concerned about what it means for people to be increasingly affected by the illusion.' In turn, Lemoine said that people have the right to shape technology that can significantly affect their lives. 'I think this technology is going to be amazing. I think it will benefit everyone. But maybe other people disagree and maybe we at Google shouldn't be making all the choices.' French phrases that were once de rigueur and Latin words used ad infinitum should be phased out, according to a leading watchdog. The Information Commissioner's Office has asked staff to change their modus operandi for fear of confusing the general public. It is not that the phrases are problematic per se but instead that the organisation is concerned they are 'alienating' because many do not understand what they mean. The ICO, which is responsible for the operation of Freedom of Information legislation and data protection laws, has issued a style guide to its full and part-time staff. French phrases that were once de rigueur and Latin words used ad infinitum should be phased out, according to a leading watchdog (File image) It states: 'English has embraced thousands of words from other languages, including bungalow, cliche, graffiti, kiosk and ombudsman. But some words of foreign origin are so uncommon that they confuse or alienate our readers.' In particular, the guide warns staff not to use Latin words and phrases, including quid pro quo and ergo, because 'few people have studied Latin'. The advice has divided opinion, with Julian Fellowes, the Oscar-winning creator of Downton Abbey, suggesting it was 'infantilising the British people', and adding: 'The idea that it is morally right to make absolutely no demands on anyone, either intellectually or emotionally, is a pernicious one and simply increases the gap between the privileged and those who are less so.' A copy of the guide was obtained by The Mail on Sunday using a Freedom of Information request. Under the heading 'Avoiding foreign words', it lists 16 Latin phrases to be avoided, as well as several French ones, including en route. The study of Latin is not widespread in the state education sector. Figures produced by the British Council in 2020 showed it was taught at Key Stage 3 level (11-to-14-year-olds) in only 2.7 per cent of state schools, compared with 49 per cent of private schools. Ministers did, however, last year announce a 4 million Latin Excellence programme intended to boost teaching of the subject in comprehensive schools. Reflecting on his education in Australia, human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC said: 'I studied Latin for five years at school, in the belief it would help me with a legal career. It did not. But at least it introduced me to the erotic poetry of Catullus. Lee Monks, from the Plain English Campaign group, said: 'If any move has been initiated to replace said terms with plain English alternatives, we would obviously welcome it (file image) 'I even studied Roman law at university but there is not much call these days for legal advice on how to manumit [free] a slave. Some Latin phrases are so well known that we should stop italicising them and accept them as part of our language. If they are not, then they should never be uttered in court.' The guide, which has been in use for some years, features some more obscure terms including a priori (based on what we know), sine qua non (an essential condition) and inter alia (among other things). Lee Monks, from the Plain English Campaign group, said: 'If any move has been initiated to replace said terms with plain English alternatives, we would obviously welcome it. 'If any staff members are perplexed by the use of a term and feel uneasy adopting it, far better that they should be able to use simpler language. Although it's only reasonable to point out that terms such as en route and per se are far less likely to be problematic than inter alia or ex officio.' A spokesman for the ICO said: 'We avoid using foreign words in our writing as some words are uncommon and may alienate our readers. The purpose of the style guide is to ensure our written communications are clear, easy to follow and are accessible to all ICO audiences.' I thought in loco parentis* meant 'my dad's an engine driver'. But I adore the variety of our language BY GYLES BRANDRETH WRITER, TV PRESENTER AND VETERAN OF COUNTDOWN'S DICTIONARY CORNER FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY We were taught Latin at school, but I didn't learn much. For years, I thought 'in loco parentis' meant 'my dad's an engine driver'. That said, I love the richness and diversity of the English language, which includes words borrowed and adapted from every language under the sun. American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson described the English language as a great river into which so many tributaries have flowed. Among those tributaries are French, Latin, Greek, Indian, Icelandic and German. It's that variety that makes our language so rich, and some of the words and phrases that we are being encouraged to avoid are there simply because they express something clearly. Vis-a-vis, for example, now means something a bit different from its literal translation of face-to-face. You can find an English formulation that avoids using the French phrase, but you can also ask people to take on board and own these 'foreign' phrases. We were taught Latin at school, but I didn't learn much. For years, I thought 'in loco parentis' meant 'my dad's an engine driver' (File imafge) We want to be inclusive, and we don't want to alienate anyone, but our language is international and some of these Latin tags and so-called foreign phrases are useful. Everyone knows what a CV is. I think it's interesting that the letters stand for curriculum vitae, and I'm not sure how useful it is to substitute something else for CV. I am in favour of people increasing, not diminishing, their vocabulary. Yes, we want people to be able to understand one another, but I am rather against banning anything. The great Dr Samuel Johnson wanted to stop the use of the word bamboozle, and that's one of my favourite words. So rather than banning words and phrases, let's instead teach people what they mean and how to use them. * For readers who may have dozed off in the odd Latin lesson, in loco parentis means 'in the place of a parent', such as the duty of care a teacher has towards a pupil. Pictured: Chung Chak Lee An accused drug cartel kingpin has arrived in Australia in handcuffs and designer threads as he faces charges of importing 40kg worth of meth into the country. Chung Chak Lee, 66, was extradited from Thailand on Saturday after a decade-long stint on the Australian Federal Police's most wanted list. Police allege he is the right hand man in The Company, a notorious $23-billion-a-year drug running empire. Lee is understood to be second only to Chi Lop Tse, known as Asia's El Chapo. He was arrested in Bangkok in October 2020 and has spent 18 months languishing inside a Thai prison before he was extradited to Melbourne on a Singapore Airlines flight. His arrest is a significant blow to the cartel, which brings in up to 70 per cent of Australia's meth from Asia and has been accused of laundering money through Crown Casino. Australian police spent more than a decade hunting for Lee - working with authorities from up to 20 nations to monitor and eventually capture him. He was sixth on Australia's most wanted list. The 66-year-old arrived in Australia wearing a black Armani shirt and Balenciaga sunglasses. Chung Chak Lee, 66, was extradited from Thailand on Saturday after a decade-long stint on the Australian Federal Police's most wanted list It's understood Lee is second only to Chi Lop Tse, known as Asia's El Chapo. Lee was arrested in Bangkok in October 2020 and has spent 18 months languishing inside a Thai prison before he was extradited to Melbourne on the Singapore Airlines flight His arrest has been a significant blow to the cartel, which brings up to 70 per cent of Australia's ice in from Asia and has laundered money through Crown Casino 'This is a significant milestone after years of persistent investigative work by the AFP and our partners,' Krissy Barrett, Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner for Southern Command, told the Daily Telegraph. 'We will allege the man is a senior criminal associate of the head of a prolific transnational organised crime syndicate involved in trafficking commercial quantities of border controlled drugs within Australia and around the world. 'The Australian Federal Police has an international network of partners that are committed to pursuing offenders and bringing them to justice. 'If you commit an offence, there is nowhere to hide. The AFP has the means and the patience to track you down.' Lee appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Saturday afternoon charged with one count of trafficking a commercial quantity of drugs. Lee appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Saturday afternoon charged with one count of trafficking a commercial quantity of drugs The arrest is a major win for Australian detectives as they work to dismantle the cartel His legal aid lawyer declared a conflict on interest, so the case was delayed to ensure Lee could seek adequate representation. The arrest is a major win for Australian detectives as they work to dismantle the cartel. In January 2021, Tse was dragged off a plane in the Netherlands after Australian Federal Police issued a request for his arrest through international law-enforcement agency Interpol. An alleged drug lord dubbed 'Asia's El Chapo' Tse Chi Lop (pictured) was arrested in the Netherlands The Chinese-born Canadian national dubbed 'Asia's El Chapo' is accused of being one of the world's biggest meth traffickers. He was the number one target of the Australian Federal Police. Tse is now facing extradition to Australia, where he could face trial on charges of drug trafficking. He allegedly oversees an alliance of five Chinese Triads that distribute everything from heroin and MDMA to ketamine via its 'Golden Triangle' super-labs in Asia. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates Tse's alleged network rakes in between $10 billion and $23 billion a year from organised crime. Law enforcement agencies from about 20 countries - including the US, Canada, Myanmar, China, Thailand and Japan - have been hunting Mr Tse as part of Operation Kungur since 2019. Finding Tse was complicated by him living largely in the shadows and having a rotating crew of Thai kickboxers as guards. Despite his low profile, he is also known for his outlandish spending and wild parties. He once gambled away $85 million in a single night at a Macau casino, and flew in private jets and hosted lavish parties at five-star hotels and resorts. The Chinese-born Canadian national is suspected of being one of the world's biggest meth dealers and thought to be responsible for up to 70 per cent of all narcotics entering Australia A San Antonio man has been charged with the sexual assault of 68-year-old neighbor after his mother gave him up to authorities. Prior to the attack, the suspect allegedly asked her to urinate in the toilet because he enjoyed the sound. Gino Anthony Bononcini, 29, was arrested Friday by Bexar County Sheriff's deputies in Texas. The assault occurred on April 25, according to authorities. According to a report, it was the suspect's mother who gave a statement to investigators implicating her son. Gino Anthony Bononcini, 29, was arrested Friday by Bexar County Sheriff's deputies in Texas The suspect's mother, Roxanne Bononcini, said that her son told her that he had 'violated' their neighbor The suspect's mother, Roxanne Bononcini, said that her son told her that he had 'violated' their neighbor after entering through a window in her home at around 4 a.m., reports the San Antonio Express-News. The victim said that she was sleeping on her couch when she awoke to use the bathroom. When she got up, she saw the suspect standing in the hallway. The woman said that she recognized the suspect as someone who was regularly at a neighbor's home. Two weeks before the assault, the victim said that she saw the suspect a friend's barbecue. According to his Facebook page, Bononcini is a native of San Antonio and works at the Methodist Children's Hospital in the city She asked the suspect: 'Who's there?' The victim only speaks Spanish, according to documents. When she screamed 'Don't kill me,' the suspect put his finger over mouth and said: 'Shut up.' The suspect proceeded to tell her to urinate in the toilet as he enjoyed the sound. From there, he took the woman to a bed and raped her, the woman told detectives. According to his Facebook page, Bononcini is a native of San Antonio and works at the Methodist Children's Hospital in the city. The suspect post this image to his Facebook page two days after the assault took place The suspect's mother, Roxanne Reyes Bononcini, reported her son to police In response to this photoshopped picture, the suspect's mother wrote: 'Love it,' 'You're freaking hilarious' and 'This is hilarious' Under this picture, Bononcini's mother wrote: 'My #1 son. So proud of you' A few days before the attack, Bononcini posted a meme promoting the virtues of tantric sex. The suspect and his mother regularly exchanged memes over Facebook with his mother commenting with laughing face emojis. In another post, Bononcini wrote: 'My one and only momma. Roxanne Rox.' In response to a photoshopped picture that Bononcini posted on his Facebook page in 2021, his mother wrote: 'Love it,' 'You're freaking hilarious' and 'This is hilarious.' Under another picture, Bononcini's mother wrote: 'My #1 son. So proud of you.' The victim had described the suspect to authorities as a thinly built man with short hair, tattoos on his chest and upper arms, in his 30s and standing around 5-foot-10. Bononcini was linked to the crime through a DNA swab that was compared against crime scene evidence. The swab obtained on June 7 with a warrant. He was arrested as soon as the results came back, the sheriff said. Sheriff Salazar said at a press conference: 'The DNA sampling that we got came to us and it's basically one in 69 sextillion chances that this could be the suspect.' He added: 'The way that it was perpetrated... he seemed very, very comfortable.' He also said that due to the nature of the sexual assault, they're asking for other potential victims to come forward. The sheriff said: 'We felt the need to publicize it (Bononcini's arrest) in the hopes that somebody may have seen him lurking around or know of other attacks he may have been involved in.' A conviction of first degree sexual assault in Texas can carry anywhere between five years in prison and a life sentence. According to statistics from the city, sexual assaults have more than doubled in San Antonio in over the past 10 years. President Trump's former campaign manager, Bill Stepien, is among the witnesses scheduled to testify at the January 6 House committee hearing on Monday with the focus shifting to Trump's effort to spread his lies about a stolen election. Stepien was subpoenaed for his public testimony. Stepien, a longtime Trump ally, is now a top campaign adviser to the Trump-endorsed House candidate in Wyoming's Republican primary, Harriet Hageman, who is challenging Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee's vice chair and a vociferous critic of the former president. A Trump spokesman, Taylor Budowich, suggested that the committee's decision to call Stepien was politically motivated. Former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, left, will be testifying on Monday before the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack. Pictured November 2020 On Sunday, members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot announced they have uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against Trump for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. As the hearings unfold, Rep. Adam Schiff said he would like the department to 'investigate any credible allegation of criminal activity on the part of Donald Trump.' Schiff, D-Calif., who also leads the House Intelligence Committee, said that 'there are certain actions, parts of these different lines of effort to overturn the election that I don't see evidence the Justice Department is investigating.' The committee held its first public hearing last week, with members laying out their case against Trump to show how the defeated president relentlessly pushed his false claims of a rigged election despite multiple advisers telling him otherwise and how he intensified an extraordinary scheme to overturn Joe Biden's victory. Additional evidence is set to be released in hearings this week that will demonstrate how Trump and some of his advisers engaged in a 'massive effort' to spread misinformation, pressured the Justice Department to embrace his false claims, and urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject state electors and block the vote certification on January 6, 2021. Sepien will testify having been subpoenaed; a Trump spokesman suggested that the committee's decision to call Stepien was politically motivated. Pair pictured in August 2020 Monday's witness list also includes BJay Pak, the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta who left his position on January 4, 2021, a day after an audio recording was made public in which Trump called him a 'never-Trumper,' and Chris Stirewalt, the former political editor for Fox News. The committee has said most of those interviewed in the investigation are coming forward voluntarily, although some have wanted subpoenas to appear in public. Filmmaker Nick Quested, who provided documentary footage of the attack, said during last week's hearing he received a subpoena to appear. Committee members said they would present clear evidence that 'multiple' GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., had sought a pardon from Trump, which would protect him from prosecution. Perry on Friday denied he ever did so, calling the assertion an 'absolute, shameless, and soulless lie.' 'We're not going to make accusations or say things without proof or evidence backing it,' said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. Members of the House committee announced they have uncovered enough evidence for the DOJ to consider a criminal indictment against Trump. Pictured here on January 6 20201 Lawmakers indicated that perhaps their most important audience member over the course of the hearings may be Attorney General Merrick Garland, who must decide whether his department can and should prosecute Trump. They left no doubt as to their own view whether the evidence is sufficient to proceed. 'Once the evidence is accumulated by the Justice Department, it needs to make a decision about whether it can prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt the president's guilt or anyone else's,' Schiff said. 'But they need to be investigated if there's credible evidence, which I think there is.' Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said he doesn't intend to 'browbeat' Garland but noted the committee has already laid out in legal pleadings criminal statutes they believe Trump violated. 'I think that he knows, his staff knows, the U.S. attorneys know, what's at stake here,' Raskin said. 'They know the importance of it, but I think they are rightfully paying close attention to precedent in history as well, as the facts of this case.' Garland has not specified whether he would be willing to prosecute, which would be unprecedented and may be complicated in a political election season in which Trump has openly flirted with the idea of running for president again. The committee held its first public hearing last week, with members laying out their case against Trump to show how the defeated president relentlessly pushed his false claims of a rigged election despite multiple advisers telling him otherwise No president or ex-president has ever been indicted. Richard Nixon resigned from office in 1974 as he faced an impeachment and a likely grand jury indictment on charges of bribery, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. President Gerald Ford later pardoned his predecessor before any criminal charges related to Watergate could be filed. Legal experts have said a Justice Department prosecution of Trump over the riot could set an uneasy precedent in which an administration of one party could more routinely go after the former president of another. 'We will follow the facts wherever they lead,' Garland said in his speech at Harvard University's commencement ceremony last month. A federal judge in California said in a March ruling in a civil case that Trump 'more likely than not' committed federal crimes in seeking to obstruct the congressional count of the Electoral College ballots on January 6, 2021. The judge cited two statutes: obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Trump has denied all wrongdoing. People from Yorkshire famously don't like being told what to think. So it is inevitable that many in Wakefield disagree with opinion polls that suggest Labour has a 23-point lead over the Conservatives in the June 23 by-election. Labour's candidate, NHS communications executive Simon Lightwood, is understandably confident but cagey. He predicts that he will win by about eight to nine percentage points, that would see him to snatch back the heartlands 'Red Wall' constituency in West Yorkshire that remained rock-solid Labour for 87 years until 2019. Certainly, he's cashing in on widespread worries about the cost of living, a struggling local transport system, Partygate and the fact that the election was triggered after the Tory MP, Imran Ahmad Khan, was convicted of sexually assaulting a schoolboy. Yet Brexit remains a factor among voters, about 63 per cent of whom chose to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum. Graham Pitchforth, 73, of the Wakefield Antiques and Collectables shop, believes Boris Johnson (pictured) has handled Brexit, Covid and the Ukraine war 'superbly' Graham Pitchforth, 73, of the Wakefield Antiques and Collectables shop, believes Boris Johnson has handled Brexit, Covid and the Ukraine war 'superbly'. On Partygate, his view seems fairly typical: 'The Prime Minister was under huge pressure.' Aneta Ford, 42, of the Little Westgate Flower Shop, agrees: 'He's not perfect but Churchill wasn't either.' Fifteen candidates are standing in the seat which the Tories won with a 3,358 majority in 2019. Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer is pictured this week They include the Yorkshire Party candidate, David Herdson, a former Conservative who says: 'Boris Johnson still doesn't understand that he did anything wrong. He even says he'd do it again.' Labour hasn't had a clear run during the campaign, with its candidate, who lives near Halifax, selected against the will of the local constituency party. There are suspicions that the Liberal Democrats have put less effort into the fight than expected in order to ensure the Conservatives lose. The Lib Dems don't even have a campaign base in Wakefield. It's something that the most ardent James Bond fans may not have noticed in their enthusiasm to watch 007 outdo all those bad guys over the past 60 years. But those villains have gone from being at least a decade older than Bond to being a generation younger. The first film in the franchise, released in 1962, saw the lothario spy take on Dr No, played by Joseph Wiseman who was 12 years older than Sean Connery. Other enemies during the 1960s included Auric Goldfinger and Ernst Stavro Blofeld, both of whom had at least a decade on Bond. Now, a German academic points out that the pattern began to change in the 1980s when Bond found himself pitted against 'treacherous brother figures' of a similar age. Sean Connery as James Bond in 1964 Daniel Craig pictured as James Bond in 'No Time To Die' In the 1987 movie The Living Daylights, for instance, the double-crossing KGB officer Georgi Koskov was just two years older than the British spy. While, more recently, 007 has tackled younger villains who play 'disobedient sons' or 'spoiled brats', with Bond being transformed from a 'fresh young man' to 'a stern father figure'. Dr Wieland Schwanebeck of Dresden University said: 'The first Bond films cast villains as bad father figures and impotent patriarchs, establishing the series within the 1960s clash of generations. 'But this pattern couldn't continue as the actors aged. You can't have Bond battling an 80-year-old guy.' Dr Schwanebeck said the shift towards younger villains is also due to older actors playing 007. While Connery made his debut at 32, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan were all over 40 when they took the role. Rami Malek, who played the villain in the latest Bond film, is 12 years younger than Daniel Craig Daniel Craig was 53 at the time of the release of his final film, No Time To Die in which he comes out of retirement to take on Lyutsifer Safin, played Rami Malek, an actor 12 years younger than him. Dr Schwanebeck told The Mail on Sunday: 'The last Moore film [A View To A Kill in 1985] is quite striking because he is surrounded by really old guys at retirement age, like an old boys' club. 'But in the most recent three films, the villains are relatively young. Fresh blood counterbalances the impression Bond is an older man's game.' President Yoon Suk-yeol had dinner on Sunday with director Park Chan-wook and actor Song Kang-ho to celebrate their honors at this year's Cannes International Film Festival. Park won the Best Director prize at the 75th edition of the film festival last month for his romance thriller "Decision to Leave." It was his third Cannes award following the Grand Prix for "Oldboy" (2003) and the Jury Prize for "Thirst" (2009). For his performance in the drama "Broker," written and directed by Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda, Song became the first Korean to win Best Actor at Cannes. "As a representative of Korean people, I think it is my duty to invite and entertain you, who made remarkable achievements at the Cannes Film Festival," Yoon said during the dinner held at the presidential office. Also present at the dinner was veteran filmmaker Im Kwon-taek, who won Best Director with "Chihwaseon" at Cannes in 2002, and culture minister Park Bo-gyoon. "The government's key policy toward the culture and art sector is not to intervene but to support," Yoon said. "If there is anything necessary to further develop the film industry, I will do my best to help you." Earlier in the day, Yoon and first lady Kim Keon-hee saw "Broker" at a theater in Seoul. (Yonhap) Modern slavery cases have more than doubled in the past five years to almost 13,000 annually, with Albanians comprising the largest number of claims from foreign nationals. Foreign criminals set for deportation and illegal migrants crossing the Channel are increasingly claiming to be victims of modern slavery. Now the Government is proposing to crack down on the use of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to block deportation and criminal prosecutions. Armelind Rexha cited the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to block deportation after appearing in court in 2019 charged with growing cannabis worth up to 672,000, One Albanian who cited the Act was Armelind Rexha, who appeared in court in 2019 charged with growing cannabis worth up to 672,000, but a judge accepted his claim that he had been forced to do it. Last year, another Albanian who killed a mother in front of her eight-year-old daughter claimed that he had been a victim of people traffickers to avoid deportation. The woman who accused actor Craig McLachlan of inappropiately touching her while on set together faced death threats so intimidating she slept with a knife under her bed. Christie Whelan Browne alleged in 2018 that McLachlan, her co-star during a 2014 stage production of The Rocky Horror Show, sexually assaulted her while they were performing a scene in bed. McLachlan sensationally sued for defamation and denied the allegations, before opting to drop the lawsuit ahead of the testimonies of 11 women. McLachlan will pay all legal costs, totalling to about $2 million. While the outcome has been considered a win for Ms Whelan Browne - who received champagne and flower deliveries from friends after McLachlan dropped the case - she revealed in an interview with Stellar the toll of the public spat. While the outcome has been considered a win for Ms Whelan Browne - who received champagne and flower deliveries from friends after McLachlan made his statement - she revealed the toll of the public spat McLachlan walked away on Friday from the lawsuit taken out against the ABC, Nine Network and actor Christie Whelan-Browne. Pictured: One of several photos the defamation trial was shown of the actor (left) posing backstage with Whelan-Brown (right) during a 2005 production of the musical Grease where the pair reportedly met 'I'd never received death threats before this... When someone has threatened to hold my head under water until I stop breathing Those threats hit you as real as if someone said them to your face. I slept with a knife by my bed if my husband was away,' she said. The 39-year-old stage and screen actress was so terrified that someone would follow through on the threats that she uprooted her life and moved to a new home. In spite of the fear, Ms Whelan Browne was prepared to defend herself throughout the trial, and felt somewhat unsatisfied when it concluded so abruptly. There are no winners, she said, but she hopes the high profile nature of the case will inspire reflection about the challenges faced for women. In January 2018 articles accused the actor of touching, kissing and groping actresses without permission in The Rocky Horror Show, Neighbours, City Homicide and The Doctor Blake Mysteries On left - BEFORE: Craig McLachlan with his partner Vanessa Scammell in 2016 - before he launched his 'overwhelming' lawsuit. On right - AFTER, this year, as he drops his lawsuit 'There's a lot of humiliation and anxiety and sleepless nights. None of those are enticing reasons to [speak out]. You should always come from the angle of, why would someone do this if it's not the truth?' she said. 'Women for a long time have smiled and put up with things they didn't want to, and now they're saying we don't want to anymore. If that's hard to grasp, give me a call and I'll talk you through it.' McLachlan was found not guilty of assault and indecent assault during a 2020 hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court. But Magistrate Belinda Wallington acknowledged changes in consent laws may have resulted in a different outcome if the alleged assaults were more recent. As Ms Whelan Browne defended her reputation over the span of four years, she was privately struggling with infertility issues. After several attempts at IVF, she and her husband conceived, and she credits her partner's support for getting her through the adversity She described the four complainants as 'brave and honest witnesses' at the conclusion of the trial. As Ms Whelan Browne defended her reputation over the span of four years, she was privately struggling with infertility issues. After several attempts at IVF, she and her husband conceived, and she credits her partner's support for getting her through the adversity. McLachlan sensationally revealed he would be dropping all legal action on the same day the first of 11 women were due to testify against him. He said: 'The strain that this case has put on me and, more importantly, my family, has been utterly overwhelming. Ms Whelan Browne was prepared to defend herself in court 'I cannot continue to place my family under that strain, and my own mental health will not withstand the continuing pressure.' Acting Justice Carolyn Simpson discharged the jury after the actor's barrister Kieran Smark SC applied for leave to discontinue the proceedings. In his evidence, the award-winning performer agreed he had brought sexual jokes and pranks to The Rocky Horror Show, including deep-throating bananas and masturbating crew members' arms. But he denied the allegations in the publications, and accused Whelan Browne and two other women of approaching the media for notoriety or money. The principal of a co-educational Catholic school has been stood down after being charged with sexual crimes. Joseph Favrin, principal of Loyola College in Melbourne's north-east since 2008, was suspended on an interim basis on Friday, records from the Victoria Institute of Teaching show. He had gone on leave from the school weeks earlier with the acting principal telling the school community he was 'attending to a personal matter'. Many staff, parents and students were unaware of the situation and were 'stunned' when an email was sent on Friday afternoon by the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools informing them. Loyola School Principal Joseph Favrin (pictured) has been stood down by the teaching regulator, parents were told in an email on Friday The letter said Mr Favrin had been stood down by the teaching regulator but did not mention any charges, the Herald Sun reported. Victoria Police confirmed detectives have charged a 67-year-old Mill Park man. 'The man has been charged by Mernda sexual offences and child abuse team detectives with two counts of sexual activity directed at a person and one charge of sexual exposure,' police said. It is understood the alleged crimes occurred in April are not linked to staff or students at the school, in the suburb of Watsonia. Mr Favrin will face Heidelberg Magistrates Court on September 13. Immigration lawyers are using magazines in prisons and detention centres to advertise their deportation-busting services to illegal migrants. Inside Time, the prison publication which has a print circulation of 50,000-a-month, even featured an advert in Albanian that offered consultations on claiming asylum. Part of the advert, taken out by the London-based firm Lexmark Legal, reads: If anyone has an asylum or modern slavery case under way, we urge you to contact us and we will give you the necessary consultation for your proceedings. Here you win the right of being safe in the United Kingdom, the right to work after one year and then stay in the system which avoids possible deportation or arrest and being sent to a detention centre. Unscrupulous law firms are using prison magazines to advertise their deportation-busting services to the prison population, even going so far as to take out adverts in Albanian Other firms advertising in Inside Time include Peer and Co, which offers services relating to deportations and detention and release, and Queens Court Law, which promotes its work in deportation appeals, modern slavery cases and injunctions against removal. Commenting on the adverts, Conservative MP Peter Bone, who previously chaired a parliamentary group on human trafficking, said: I have nothing but contempt for the lawyers who do this. 'Many of these people would not have suffered modern day slavery. Its just a way of keeping them here. Lexmark Legal said its advert was aimed at Albanian victims of trafficking and it did not assist violent, sexual or persistent offenders. Queens Court Law and Peer and Co did not respond to requests for comment. There has been a sixfold increase in the number of prison officers convicted on corruption charges since a specialist investigation unit was set up. In 14 months to January, there were 65 convictions of staff out of 143 cases, with 42 jailed. There were just ten successful prosecutions of 123 cases in the year after the unit was formed with 29 staff in April 2019. Offences include supplying Class A drugs to prisoners and smuggling in banned items. John Podmore, ex-governor of Belmarsh Jail, said: Its the tip of the iceberg. The number of investigators is key. The more you have, the more youll catch. The number of prison officers convicted on corruption charges has increased by 600 per cent following the establishment to a specialist investigate unit. Figures released under Freedom of Information legislation show that in 14 months to January there were 65 convictions of staff out of 143 cases. The Ministry of Justice have invested 100 million to bolster prison security and clamp down on the contraband Pictured: Belmarsh Prison The penalties included 42 custodial sentences, 17 suspended sentences, five court fines and one community sentence. By comparison, the first year following the units establishment in April 2019 saw just 10 successful prosecutions of 123 cases Offences include supplying Class A drugs to prisoners, smuggling in banned items and misconduct in public office. Among those convicted included guard Jack Nichols, 29, who was last year jailed for one year and four months after he was paid 4,000 by an inmate to smuggle cannabis and tobacco into HMP Stocken, Rutland. Stephanie Smithwhite, 41, who had sex with drug lord Curtis Cocky Warren at Frankland Prison, Co Durham, was jailed for two years in 2020. Joshua Bossman-Brandt, 40, was jailed for six years and nine months for smuggling Class A drugs and an Xbox One into HMP Coldingley in Surrey. John Podmore, former governor of Belmarsh Prison, said: Even with these convictions, its the tip of the iceberg. The key is getting the number of investigators - the more you have the more youll catch. The anti-corruption unit was established with 29 specialist staff in five regional teams. The Prison Service also funds 20 full-time police investigators across the country. Last month the Ministry of Justice revealed that in two years it had thwarted almost 20,000 attempts to smuggle contraband onto prison wings including a haul of 81 wraps of crack cocaine with the help of 70 new cutting-edge X-ray body scanners. A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: The vast majority of prison officers are hardworking, dedicated and honest but our taskforce is helping make sure anyone who breaks the rules is rooted out and punished. We have invested 100 million to bolster prison security and clamp down on the contraband that fuel violence and crime behind bars. The Government is considering legal changes to allow agency workers to fill in for striking staff in a move to guard the public against disruption. It is understood Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has not ruled out the option, with travellers facing chaos on the railways and London Underground due to widespread industrial action. The move would involve reversing a restriction preventing employers from hiring agency workers to cover for striking staff, and would apply to all sectors, according to The Sunday Telegraph. It is understood Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has not ruled out the option, with travellers facing chaos on the railways and London Underground due to widespread industrial action MailOnline can lay bare the strikes being planned to wreck the summer starting at the end of June This was promised in the Tory manifesto in 2015, which stated: 'We will ... repeal nonsensical restrictions banning employers from hiring agency staff to provide essential cover during strikes.' Mr Shapps told the newspaper any legal intervention would not affect 'this particular set of strikes' in June, but should the action continue, then 'further measures certainly would come in during this particular dispute, if it can't be resolved'. 'I'll be saying more about this. But we will be looking at the full suite of modernisation that's required,' he said. 'The country must not continue to be held to ransom. These strikes are incredibly premature and we will use every possible lever to ensure that the public is protected in the future in particular. 'I can't over-stress our determination to get the right outcome for the travelling public in the end on this, even if the unions insist on putting the country through considerable pain in the meantime.' It comes after Mr Shapps told The Sunday Telegraph in May that ministers were looking at drawing up laws which would make industrial action illegal unless a certain number of staff are working. The interview sparked anger across the trade union movement, with some officials saying it had soured the atmosphere at such a crucial moment for the railways. In his latest interview with the paper, Mr Shapps claimed workers were being misled in some cases by 'Marxists' who are 'determined to turn this into some sort of fight, as they see it, with a Tory Government'. RMT chief Mick Lynch (pictured) and Manuel Cortes Gen. Sec. of The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA), are driving the industrial action 'When you look at the people who work on the railways, many of them have done a phenomenal job,' he said. 'They are being led by union barons, in some cases, very extreme, Marxists, who are determined to turn this into some sort of fight, as they see it, with a Tory Government. 'The union barons have essentially told their members, you haven't had a rise for two years, this strike is about pay. What they haven't told their members is ... the pay freeze has ended. So they've been invited to strike under false pretences.' It comes as train drivers are to strike over pay and more rail workers are to be balloted for industrial action in growing disputes in the industry which threaten huge travel disruption in the coming weeks. A driver miraculously walked away with minor burns after his drag racing car exploded into flames during a motor festival. Rob Taylor was accelerating down Willowbank Raceway Track at Winternationals on Friday afternoon when the drag racer suddenly caught fire. The inferno worsened as the car rolled down the track, with Mr Taylor stuck inside. He was eventually freed by emergency crews and was astonishingly able to walk away from the smoldering wreckage under his own power. Rob Taylor's drag racer burst into flames at the Winternationals event on Friday - with the driver astonishingly able to walk away from the wreckage Footage from the incident shows Mr Taylor attempting to climb out the window as the fireball speeds down the track. The driver attempts to climb out of the window but is overcoming by the fire. The car's door eventually falls off, before the vehicle comes to a stop as the flames grow higher. Incredible footage shows the driver walking away from the car pouring water onto his face. 'Very rarely do you see a fire like that,' the commentator said. 'The fire was just so intense, it's burned everything inside. I've never seen anything like that.' Mr Taylor pours water on the burns on his face after walking away from the fireball under his own power Crews raced to Mr Taylor, with paramedics attending and taking him to Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. He is in a serious but stable condition, with burns to his face, hands and legs. It's believed the car caught fire due to a fuel tank issue, with the petrol igniting the inferno. The Winternationals are being held over the weekend, with more than 500 cars competing at the event. AS the son-in-law of Queen Noor of Jordan, he could have secured prime seats at the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Instead, Ned Donovan generously offered to help keep the celebrations safe as a special constable on the Mall. The 28-year-old, who married Princess Raiyah bint Hussein in July 2020 and is the grandson of author Roald Dahl, was spotted protecting the crowds near Buckingham Palace in his Metropolitam Police uniform. His involvement in the security around the four-day event only came to light after a royal fan convinced him to pose for a photograph with two corgis called Chuckles and Bunting. Ned Donovan, son in law of Queen Noor of Jordan, grandson of Roald Dahl, who was working as a police officer along the Mall for the final day of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Pageant The owner then posted the snap on Instagram with the caption: Paws and Order, stopping by to say a big thank you to our fabulous Met officers on a busy morning at The Mall. Mr Donovan, a former reporter with The Mail on Sunday, began working as a Special Constable last year around the same time as Sir Rod Stewarts wife Penny Lancaster. He regularly flies to Britain from Jordan to perform his duties in London and last weekend posted his own photograph of mounted cavalry on Twitter, with the comment: Lovely to completely by chance come across the Household Cavalry on my walk back from lunch. 'Even when its overcast our ceremonies shine. Australians are not the only ones who have been struggling to make ends meet as cost-of-living prices soar around the world. Residents have been bombarded with price hikes in almost every aspect of life with petrol prices jumping to new highs, electricity bills increasing by as much as 141 per cent, and mortgage repayments jumping by hundreds of dollars. The financial pressure has been felt all over the world with countries like Singapore wrestling with a rental crisis, the UK enduring record fuel prices and Japan preparing for energy bill hikes. Australians are not the only ones who have been struggling to make ends meet as cost-of-living prices soar around the world (pictured, customer shopping at Woolworths) The financial pressure has been felt all over the world with countries like Singapore wrestling with a rental crisis (pictured, apartment complexes in Singapore) SQM Research, which observes property trends, found the average house rent in Australia's major cities jumped by 16.3 per cent to $657 a week in the past year. But rents have risen by almost double overseas with prices jumping up by 30 per cent in Singapore. One resident has been paying AU$2,538 a month to rent a 35sqm 'pocket' apartment in the Tanjong Pagar district. He was forced to move out in a matter of days as his landlord plans to increase the rent and charge the new tenant an extra AU$1,000. 'The landlord was great during Covid and I don't blame them for making the most of increased demand, but it's just too high for me,' he told the Australian Financial Review. Huttons associate district director Christopher Quek said demand was outpacing housing availability with an influx of expats making their way into Singapore since the country relaxed Covid restrictions. 'It's primarily an under-supply problem, and it will last at least until the end of this year, longer for bigger properties,' he said. Desperate renters are signing two year leases for a property before they have even stepped foot in them. Petrol prices also rose substantially with unleaded and diesel costing drastically more per litre overseas than in Australia. According to the latest NRMA weekly fuel report, the highest NSW prices for E10 reached 224.9, unleaded topped 237.9 and unleaded premium sold for 249.9. the United Kingdom battling record fuel prices with motorists paying an average of AUD$3.17 a litre for Unleaded According to the latest NRMA weekly fuel report, the highest NSW prices for E10 reached 224.9, Unleaded topped 237.9 and Unleaded Premium sold for 249.9 Petrol prices are drastically higher in Singapore with motorists paying more than $3 per litre for unleaded and diesel. The prices at the pump are just as dire elsewhere with fuel rates rising at the fastest pace in the UK since 2005. A litre of unleaded petrol costs an average of AU$3.17 with the highest price sitting around AU$3.49. Last week, the cost of filling up a family car hit AU$174.74 for the first time. The sky-high prices prompted the British competition watchdog to carry out an urgent review of the fuel industry. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng wrote to the Competition and Markets Authority criticising the industry for failing to pass on fully the 5p fuel duty cut announced in March. The watchdog was asked to make recommendations on how to strengthen competition in the retail fuel market and the transparency that consumers have over prices. Everyday residents have been bombarded with price hikes in almost every aspect of life with petrol prices jumping to new highs, electricity bills increasing by as much as 141 per cent and mortgage repayments jumping by hundreds of dollars (pictured, customers at Woolworths) In the year to March, wholesale electricity prices have soared by 141 per cent in Australia, prompting one power company boss to urge his 70,000 customers to switch provider (pictured, Liddell power station in Muswellbrook) Electricity rates also soared around the world with big power companies hiking up prices to cope with rises to cost-of-living. In the year to March, wholesale electricity prices have soared by 141 per cent in Australia, prompting one power company boss to urge his 70,000 customers to switch provider. Financial comparison group Finder is predicting electricity prices for some households to climb by up to 100 per cent from July 1, effectively doubling the price. Japan is bracing itself for a massive increase with the four big power companies in the country announcing in May that electricity rates would rise in July. Bills are likely to become 20 per cent more expensive than they were last year - making it the highest price in five years. More than 30 members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front were arrested near an Idaho pride event after they were found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear. The men were standing inside the truck wearing khakis, navy blue shirts and beige hats with white balaclavas covering their faces when Coeur d'Alene police stopped the U-Haul and began arresting them on the side of the road. 'They came to riot downtown,' Coeur dAlene Police Chief Lee White said at a news conference. All 31 were charged with conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanor, after police received reports from residents who spotted the 'little army' getting inside the vehicle around 1.38 p.m., local news station KREM2 reported. Those arrested came from at least 11 states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia, and Arkansas, White said. Only one was from Idaho. The men were going through the booking process Saturday afternoon and are scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, he said. Based on evidence collected and documents, authorities found that the group was planning to riot in several areas of downtown, not just the park, White said. Videos of the arrest posted on social media show the men kneeling on the grass with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. 'Reclaim America' was written on the back of one shirt. Patriot Front formed in the aftermath of the 2017 white nationalist 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, when it broke off from another extremist organization, Vanguard America, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. More than 30 members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front were arrested near an Idaho pride event after they were found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear All 31 were charged with conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanor, after police received reports from residents who spotted the 'little army' getting inside the vehicle around 1.38 p.m. The men were standing inside the truck wearing khakis, navy blue shirts and beige hats with white balaclavas covering their faces Police stopped the vehicle on Northwest Boulevard near Paul Bunyan, close to where the Pride event was taking place. They recovered at least one smoke grenade and riot gear. They also found documents that included an 'operations plan' from the truck, as well as shields and shin guards, all of which made their intentions clear, White said. They wore arm patches and logos on their hats that identified them as members of Patriot Front, he said. Police learned about the U-Haul from a tipster, who reported that 'it looked like a little army was loading up into the vehicle' in the parking lot of a hotel, White said. Officials spotted the truck soon after and pulled it over, he said. Authorities led the men, one by one, to the front of patrol cars, took off their masks and then brought them to a police van. Police stopped the vehicle on Northwest Boulevard near Paul Bunyan, close to where the Pride event was taking place They recovered at least one smoke grenade and riot gear They also found documents that included an 'operations plan' from the truck, as well as shields and shin guards, all of which made their intentions clear Patriot Front is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as 'a white nationalist hate group' that formed after the deadly 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 The truck was stopped near where the North Idaho Pride Alliance was holding the Coeur dAlene Pride in the Park event. Police had stepped up their presence in the area during the event. 'It appears these people did not come here to engage in peaceful events,' Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told a Coeur dAlene Press reporter. Patriot Front is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as 'a white nationalist hate group' that formed after the deadly 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. 'Patriot Front focuses on theatrical rhetoric and activism that can be easily distributed as propaganda for its chapters across the country,' the Southern Poverty Law Center said of the group. By Kim Ae-ran This year, I celebrated the 25th anniversary of my first profession. Looking back at each step is just moving. The journey that God has led me on so far is amazing. I have to confess that everything is a gift and a miracle of God's grace. On the day before celebrating the 25th anniversary Mass, a senior sister from the Gwangsan Kim clan that I come from gave me a photo of Cardinal Sou-hwan Kim smiling gently, saying that he is also from the Gwangsan Kim clan. His words are written on the photo: "The truly wealthy are not the rich. He is a person who knows how to give himself abundantly and generously. The one whose heart is full of love, and thus the one who is generous, tolerant and compassionate toward others That person is truly wealthy." In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Cardinal Stephen Sou-hwan Kim (1922-2009), "The Saint Who Came by Our Side" was recently published with the subtitle, "The story of Cardinal Sou-hwan Kim who gives people happiness". As a collection of 19 essays in three chapters ("The love I miss even in my dreams," "The saint who came to our side," "The journey from head to heart"), written by 19 acquaintances, the book depicts a portrait of the cardinal smiling brightly and simply. Each article reveals that the cardinal was a humble and compassionate leader, genuinely being together with the poor and marginalized. Born in Daegu, as the youngest of five sons and three daughters, Cardinal Kim wanted to get married to have a family, but he walked the path of a priest with a longing for God that grew deep in his heart. The nine virtues that the cardinal had in his mind continuously are truly impressive: 1. Words: If you talk a lot, unnecessary words come out. Listen a lot with both ears, and open your mouth after thinking three times. 2. Books (reading): Spend one percent of your income on books. Clothes become unwearable when they are worn out, but books hold great value over time. 3. Street vendors: When buying things from street vendors, don't cut the price down. If you buy, as they say, you can give them hope and health. 4. Laughter: Make laughing a habit. Laughter is a preventative medicine and a cure for all diseases. It rejuvenates the old. 5. Television ("idiot box"): Don't spend much time watching television. When you're drunk, you lose your mind, and when you're on drugs, you become a paralyzed idiot. 6. Getting angry (anger): An angry person always loses. An angry person kills himself and others, and no one comes near him. So he is always lonely. 7. Prayer: Prayer is a ray of light that melts even rusty metal and removes the darkness of the millennium's dark cave. A person who prays with both hands together is stronger than a tight fist. 8. Neighbors: Never turn your back on neighbors. They are a big mirror that reflects yourself. 9. Love (charity): Love done with the head and the mouth has no fragrance. True love is preceded by understanding, generosity, tolerance, assimilation and humility. The Cardinal once said that it took 70 years for love to come down from head to heart. All of his sayings are based on love. "Thank you. Love one another!" were his last words. The author is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul (fsp.pauline.or.kr.) living and giving the Good News to the world by means of social communication. Advertisement Former first lady Michelle Obama was seen in New York City over the weekend taking time to enjoy the city with some of her girlfriends. Mrs Obama was seen coming out of one of the city's most opulent hotels, The Pierre, situated across the street from Central Park. Unlike tourists who visit the Big Apple, Obama will have had a unique perspective of her time in the city being flanked by her Secret Service detail and escorted with the help NYPD police officers in convoy. On Saturday afternoon, Michelle and her friends took the time to see a Broadway show at the Lyceum Theatre. Former first lady Michelle Obama visited Manhattan on Friday and Saturday Mrs Obama could be seen leaving the luxurious Pierre Hotel located across the street from Central Park Obama could be seen dressed in a grey pantsuit with matching vest On Saturday afternoon Obama took the time to see a Broadway show. Her security are seen opening her door Obama went to see a show along the Great White Way on Saturday afternoon A number of Mrs Obama's girlfriends joined her in the SUV that was transporting the group about the city The convoy had secret service details together with an escort from the NYPD Obama could be seen wearing a face mask upon exiting the Broadway show on Saturday afternoon The group took the time to watch a matinee performance of A Strange Loop. The new musical which opened earlier this year is about a black gay man attempting to write a musical about a black gay man and is widely expected to win Best New Musical at Sunday night's Tony Awards. The Lyceum is one of the smallest Broadway theaters but the crowds were not an issue for the Obama party who managed to slip out of a side exit in front of the waiting fans. The convoy then made its way out of New York City and out onto the FDR highway which runs along the east side of Manhattan. Obama was voted as the top most admired woman in YouGov's global survey three years in a row, most recently winning the number one spot in December 2021. Obama could be seen dressed head-to-toe in blak with relaxed fitting pants and a black cardigan Obama's convoy could be seen parked up outside of A Strange Loop, widely tipped to win big at Sunday's Tony Awards And while Obama has publicly dismissed the idea of running for her husband's old job, a Hill-HarrisX poll earlier this year placed her high on the list of potential candidates in 2024 should Biden choose not to run. The president, who's so far said he's running for re-election, would be 81 years old at the start of his second term. The late November 2021 survey found Obama second in a list of likely Democrat candidates, just behind Vice President Kamala Harris. Obama has long been admired by Democrats and even Independents, and would have immediate name recognition should she cast a 2024 bid. Obama famously said during a leadership conference in Boston in 2018 that to run for president, 'my sense is that, first of all, you have to want the job.' She went even further to say that she 'never had the passion for politics,' adding: 'I just happened to be married to somebody who has the passion for politics, and he drug me kicking and screaming into the arena.' Security was seen surrounding Mrs Obama as she made her way into her waiting SUV No matter the outfit, Mrs Obama looked particularly elegant even in the most casual of outfits Some of Obama's friends could be seen getting back into their SUV. One was carrying a drink she had purchased inside But despite her claimed distaste for running for office, Obama has waded into the political arena several times -- to a warm reception. Obama was seen as a key asset for her husband's successful 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, including a highly praised speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She also delivered an impassioned speech endorsing Biden in 2020, claiming he was the only one who could 'put an end to this chaos' of the Trump administration. Most recently, Obama waded into November's midterm elections, throwing her weighty influence and her group When We All Vote behind an effort to register 1 million new people for the ballot box this year. In late December, a potential Obama 2024 campaign got backing from an unlikely ally -- podcast host Joe Rogan. 'She's great, she's articulate, she's intelligent, she's the wife of the best president that we have had in our lifetime,' Rogan said. 'She can win.' A Tamil family that was relocated to a town in outback Queensland after being detained for four years have celebrated their daughter's fifth birthday with locals. Tharnicaa Nadesalingam was surrounded by balloons and cake as locals sang 'Happy Birthday' to her in a park in Biloela on Sunday. 'Tharni' and her family returned to the town on Friday where they were met by a crowd of excited residents waving banners and cheering them on. 'Oh my God, everyone's just got the biggest grins on their faces,' social worker and Biloela local Angela Fredericks said. Tharnicaa Nadesalingam (centre) has celebrated her fifth birthday in her hometown of Biloela, four years after being detained under the previous coalition government Balloons, cake and overwhelming joy set the tone as locals gathered at a nearby park in the Queensland outback town on Sunday (pictured, Tharni's father Nades Nadesalingam) 'When the family arrived and they walked down, the girls had little tiaras on and the birthday girl had a sash and they wore pretty pink dresses. 'I think for a lot of us, that's when it hit that this is what we've been fighting for, for them to be able to walk to their local park here, you know have the stereotypical birthday in the park, which we do here. 'So this is why we did this. This is what we're fighting for.' The festive scene was a welcome contrast to last year, when little Tharni was forced to spend her birthday in Perth Children's Hospital, where she was being treated for sepsis caused by untreated pneumonia. She beamed alongside her parents Nades and Priya as she and her older sister Kopika, seven, were presented with a large slab cake decorated in pink and yellow. 'We had a lovely big slab cake that was for both girls because we missed four years of birthdays, for Kopika as well,' Ms Fredericks said. 'Then we had a beautiful pink cake that had a little koala on top as well. That was at Tharnica's request.' Ms Fredericks launched the online petition to bring the Tamil asylum seekers home four years ago after they were removed by Border Force officials in March 2018. She said the family is overwhelmed with the outpouring of support. 'Oh my God, everyone's just got the biggest grins on their faces,' social worker and Biloela local Angela Fredericks said The festive scene was a welcome contrast to last year, when little Tharni was forced to spend her birthday in Perth Children's Hospital, where she was being treated for sepsis caused by untreated pneumonia 'They're just getting more and more relaxed each day,' she said. 'They were so overwhelmed with all the love and support over this weekend. They've seen it all in one place and so I think that's been incredibly overwhelming that they just feel so incredibly grateful.' Strangers have been cheering 'welcome home' and hugging them after their four-year nightmare came to an end. 'You can just see we've touched every corner of the community,' Ms Fredericks said. Refugee organisation People Just Like Us (PJLU) is now calling for all refugees and asylum seekers on bridging visas to be given permanent protection. 'It is a story that resonates with warm Australians on a deep human, almost mythical, level. We feel proud to be generous and compassionate,' said Fabia Claridge, the organisation's co-convener. Excited locals sang 'Happy Birthday' as they celebrated Tharni's first birthday back in Australia Nades and Priya Nadesalingam play the Limbo game at the birthday celebration in Biloela Priya and Nades arrived by boat in Australia as asylum seekers fleeing the civil war in Sri Lanka, before they met and had their two girls. In March 2018, the federal government attempted to deport them before an 11th-hour court injunction saw the four held at the Christmas Island detention centre for two years. They were then moved to community detention in Perth before the newly minted Labor government intervened when they came into power last month and gave them bridging visas. The family are seeking permanent residency, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese seeing 'no impediment' to it being granted. A legal complaint alleging that Home Depot violated federal law by banning staff from wearing Black Lives Matter imaginary has been dismissed by a judge. Administrative law judge Paul Bogas ruled on Friday that the complaint raised by the US National Labor Relations Board's general counsel last year did not have legal grounds to move forward. 'The NLRA protects employees' rights to raise these issues with the goal of improving their working conditions,' director Jennifer Hadsall said last year. According to Bogas, aprons with BLM imaginary on them don't have 'an objective, and sufficiently direct, relationship to terms and conditions of employment,' Bloomberg reported. 'To the extent the message is being used for reasons beyond that, it operates as a political umbrella for societal concerns and relates to the workplace only in the sense that workplaces are part of society,' Bogas wrote in the ruling. A legal complaint alleging that Home Depot violated federal law by banning staff from wearing Black Lives Matter imaginary has been dismissed According to the ruling on Friday, the complaint raised by the US National Labor Relations Board's general counsel last year did not have legal grounds to move forward Administrative law judge Paul Bogas wrote that aprons with BLM imaginary on them don't have 'an objective, and sufficiently direct, relationship to terms and conditions of employment,' Bloomberg reported Bogas' rationale for tossing out the complaint was that BLM messaging would unnecessarily politicize the workplace. The NLRB could appeal Bogas' ruling with the Democrat-led labor board in Washington, DC. Last year, the organization claimed that the home improvement retail giant chose to 'selectively and disparately' forced employees wearing aprons with BLM imagery to stop doing so. The organization also alleged that Home Depot purposely attempted to discourage staff to seek collective action by threatening them. Immediately after the complaint was filed, Home Depot issued a statement distancing itself from the 'false characterization' offered by the NLRB. 'The Home Depot does not tolerate workplace harassment of any kind and takes all reports of discrimination or harassment seriously, as we did in this case,' Home Depot said last year. 'We disagree with the characterization of this situation and look forward to sharing the facts during the NLRB's process. Regardless of the outcome, we will continue to be fully committed to diversity and respect for all people.' Whole Foods also has an ongoing lawsuit filed by employees who claimed the grocery retailer disciplined and retaliated against them for wearing BLM face masks on the job The proposed nationwide class action was filed in US District Court in Boston in 2020, and is being tried by a San Francisco-based agency judge Whole Foods also has an ongoing lawsuit filed by employees who claimed the grocery retailer disciplined and retaliated against them for wearing BLM face masks on the job, including one who said she was fired. The proposed nationwide class action was filed in US District Court in Boston in 2020, and is being tried by a San Francisco-based agency judge. The suit accuses the organic grocer of sending employees home without pay or threatening to fire them for wearing the masks, claiming it violated the company's dress code. However, staffers wearing masks conveying other messages were allowed to continue doing so, according to the lawsuit. The 14 plaintiffs include Whole Foods employees in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, California and Washington state. The staffers come from several racial and ethnic backgrounds. The neice of a woman murdered by one of Australia's worst killers has detailed how her brave aunt and two other women sacrificed themselves to save a group of teenage girls from the monster. Helen Hartup and two other women were fast asleep at the Sydney boarding school where they worked as supervisors in 1983 when a man holding a bloodied knife startled them awake. 'I've already killed tonight,' Samuel Leonard Boyd warned as he ordered her, Patricia Volcic and Olive Short to undress. Boyd asked the women if there were 16 to 18-year-olds among the girls in the dormitory next door so he could 'have sex with them'. All three were 'absolute heroes' in stopping him, says Mrs Hartup's niece, Margaret Lees. Helen Hartup and two other women bravely made a stand against Samuel Leonard Boyd during his spree killing in 1983. (Pictured: Helen at her wedding in 1950) 'He knew the layout, he knew where the girls were and how to get to them. 'There was no way they were going to let him and I'm not sure that is so well known given everything else that happened that night.' It's been almost 40 years since her 57-year-old aunt was murdered but Margaret can still smell her Innoxa powdered aroma whenever she walks past a department store counter. 'I have to do a double-take,' she says. 'I sort of hang around and put a little on my hand.' Helen, a child of nine was 'the favourite aunt' and Margaret fondly remembers visiting her at Morpeth, in the NSW Hunter Valley. 'She wore lovely clothes. I remember touching her sleeves, they were always really soft, and if I came near her she would put her arms around me. 'She was always really warm and so kind. She always laughed and she made the most incredible sponge cake. 'She didn't deserve what she got.' Helen's younger sister Patty found her a job at Glenfield Park Special School, in Sydney's southwest, where she was a registered nurse. Some of the children were placed there by the court, others had been abused by family members and many were under state care. Boyd immigrated from Scotland to Australia as a child and was soon known to police. His mother also worked at Glenfield school in the 1970s where Boyd frequently visited and met Helen. His first victim in 1982 was Rhonda Celea. Detectives found the mother of two at her Busby home naked in the hallway, a bloodstained child's dress over her face and a gaping laceration to her throat. Seven months later he was drinking with Gregory Wiles at Arch Bar Hotel in Liverpool before heading to the Scaramouche Disco in the early hours of April 22, 1983. The pair shared a joint in Glenfield and Boyd claims his next memory is wondering about, covered in blood. Mr Wiles body was later found beside a road with severe head injuries from Boyd's claw hammer dropped at the school nearby. That evening Margaret, heavily pregnant with her second child, was in the kitchen bathing her baby when the radio caught her attention. 'I'll never forget it, reports of something terrible happening at Glenfield Park School pricked up my ears. No further details available at this stage.' She called her mother straight away and asked what was going on. Samuel Leonard Boyd (pictured) infiltrated a Sydney boarding school where the three women worked as supervisors. He forced them to undress and tortured them after trying to gain access to a dorm with teenage girls 'She said, "I don't know, I don't know" but somebody was trying to call her so we hung up.' Hours later Margaret phoned back and asked if Helen was one of the victims. 'She paused for a bit and she said "yes". All I remember is dropping the phone.' Margaret would later feel shocked when told by the detective leading Boyd's prosecution: 'I have never seen that much blood in my entire life and the area that it covered.' As the attack unfolded, Olive Short had woken to a scream and man's voice. She peered outside her room and saw Helen, who Boyd had called by her first name, and Ms Volcic cowering. Knowing the teenage girls were in danger she made sure the solid door to their sleeping quarters was locked and hid the keys. Boyd made each of the women undress and gathered them onto one bed where he terrorised and brutalised them for hours. At one stage Ms Short ran for the alarm in the hallway but Boyd got there first, punched and stabbed her in the neck and knocked her back onto the bed. After being stabbed 'a lot of times,' she pretended to be dead and Boyd eventually turned the lights off and left. The day staff eventually found her and she was taken to hospital. Her eye-witness testimony would play an integral role in the jury's conviction. Margaret read in the coroner's report that one of the reasons Ms Short survived was because she was the last attacked and the knife was already covered in so much blood it clotted the wound in her neck. Boyd was found that morning at a Lansvale caravan park, disorientated, dishevelled and covered in blood. He maintained his last recollection was buying a packet of cigarette papers at a Casula service station with Mr Wiles. The following day Margaret went into labour. Her brother Malcolm was taken to the mortuary to ID Helen behind a glass screen. 'It was absolutely seared onto his memory and from that moment forward, he was not the same person.' Margaret's mother was advised not to attend the committal hearings, where the photographic evidence would be admitted. But she was in court every day from the first trial that was aborted and highly distressing for all. 'Knowing was somehow better than the stories going around in your head,' Margaret says. Boyd (pictured) was sentenced to life in prison for the murders. He has tried twice to secure a non-parole period for his sentence Since his conviction Boyd has tried twice to secure a non-parole period. The last time, in 2017, Margaret had by then moved to Cairns from Darwin and her contact wasn't updated on the registry. While upset none of Helen's family were in court, she was relieved both Justice Ken Carruthers in 1994, and Justice Peter Johnson in 2017 grasped the gravity of what Boyd had done in refusing to determine his sentence. 'That was the one chance I had to stand up in court in front of that bloke and tell him exactly what I thought of him and exactly what he did to our family,' she says. 'In the time he's been in jail and had time to think, I wonder if he has any idea how terrible the consequences are not just on that night but for the 40 years since. 'He took from us the most compassionate, easy-going, useful, beautiful person that god ever put on this planet.' Mostly Margaret wants the children and grandchildren of the three women to know what they sacrificed, to understand their bravery. 'I don't think their children would know who their mother was, what they did. Those three women gave up their lives for those kids.' An alleged scammer accused of boasting about stealing cash from vulnerable, hard working Australians has gone to ground ahead of a televised expose on his exploits. Karan Mishra was flaunting his wealth on Instagram and Facebook - sharing global trips and posing in front of luxury cars while draped in designer clothes - as recently as this week. Scam crusader Jim Browning first exposed Mishra in 2021 in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, revealing was monitoring the 29-year-old after learning he ripped off vulnerable pensioners in the UK. Mishra denied all allegations when confronted by the Mail outside his family home in Behala, a middle-class area of Kolkata, India, insisting it was 'total bulls**t'. He claimed that his only work was helping his father run stationery shops in India. Karan Mishra was flaunting his wealth on Instagram and Facebook - sharing global trips and posing in front of luxury cars while draped in designer clothes - as recently as this week But it appears he has since set his sights on Australian targets. Mishra wiped his social media clean of his extravagant lifestyle just hours ahead of a segment on his exploits on 7News Spotlight. It's alleged phone recordings - captured after Mr Browning hacked into Mishra's phone call centre in India - reveal Mishra to be an unapologetic thief. 'There is nothing called humble poor people are humble people,' Mishra is alleged to have told a friend in the tapped phone call. 'Once you get $100,000 in your pocket, the first thing in your mind is how to make $200,000; a million; a billion. 'I need to purchase a private jet but I need some (more) money. I need to buy a private jet.' In the same conversation, Mishra allegedly boasted of bedding multiple women each night and drinking Blue Label Johnny Walker whiskey worth $750. This is despite appearing to be in a committed relationship since 2016, according to his social media. Scam crusader Jim Browning first exposed Mishra in 2021, telling the Daily Mail that he'd been monitoring his associates after they ripped off vulnerable pensioners in the UK Mishra has allegedly conducted scams against vulnerable Australians and pocketed almost $1 million from a woman with dementia in the UK. One such victim was Thomas Mulligan, 85, a retired British NHS surgeon who received a landline phone call from an Amazon cyber security representative asking him to help stop evil hackers. Little did he know that he was on the phone to the very criminals he was helping 'catch' and they were about to drain his bank account. The widower was lulled into a false sense of security because the scammers already knew his bank details. It is likely they bought them online from hackers. Mishra told him that criminals had used his account and he was being chased for outstanding debt. He asked Mr Mulligan to make a payment of 10,000 (AU$17,500) into a specific bank account. Then they would be able to follow the money, catch the criminals, and refund him in full. Mishra denied all allegations when confronted by the Mail outside his family home in Behala, a middle-class area of Kolkata, India, insisting it was 'total bulls**t' Scam text messages are not only annoying but also malicious and have the potential to steal people's money or install malware to steal personal information, hack their internet banking and infect their contacts, Telstra says After Mr Mulligan downloaded software under Mishra's guidance, the scammers had complete control over his computer including all his personal documents. Mr Browning - who was monitoring Mishra at the time of the scam - was able to contact Mr Mulligan and stop the transaction from going through. He believes he has prevented more than 1,000 victims around 20 per week being scammed. He told the Daily Mail: 'I was getting really annoyed with scam calls and thought to myself 'As an engineer maybe I can do something about this if I can't, then who can?' Mr Browning goes along with the frauds, often giving out fake names and credit card details. This has earned him a place on the so-called 'mugs list' a database of names, addresses and phone numbers of people who fraudsters believe are likely to fall for scams. He set up his YouTube account seven years ago in an attempt to warn others. Three years later he began 'hacking' into scammers' computers and sharing the results online. When Mr Browning hacked into Mishra's computer, he claims he found s preadsheets containing thousands of customers' personal details, including bank numbers and passwords The fraudster's script THE FRAUDSTER: Hello sir/mam, My name is Alan Cooper and I am calling you from BT So how are you doing today? I can confirm your default gateway, your IP address which is 192.168.1.254 ... This call is in regards to your internet which you are using at your place. The reason I am calling you is, from last couple of days, the internet we have provided you, the IP address which is 192.168.1.254, is being misused outside UK VICTIM: Where are you calling from? I am calling you from BT which is in 81, New Gate Street, London, Postcode - EC1A 7AJ. As per the BT server result and investigation your IP address is being used from Nigeria. So thats why we called you so that we can stop those intruders rom using your internet or else we have to suspend your account for the next fortnight. OK? How do I believe you are from BT? I can confirm your default gateway, your IP address which is 192.168.1.254 I'm not a BT user No matter, whichever billing company you are with, you are using BT line and network.. AS you can understand Mr/Mrs that if they have access to your internet connection they can also access your personal information or financial details. So first of all we have to disconnect your current IP address and provide you with the new IP details, connection and also provide you with proper securities and precaution. Advertisement His videos have been watched more than 201.4 million times and he has amassed more than three million subscribers. Mr Browning says some bogus call centres some of which have been raided by anti-fraud police employ up to 300 people. They will most likely have bought their victims' details including addresses and dates of birth from other fraudsters. They operated by telling their targets their computer had been hacked and that international criminals were committing fraud using their details. Mishra allegedly coaxed his victims into downloading TeamViewer software which gives him remote access to his victims' computers and mobile phones. Once their victims' accounts were compromised, the crooks aimed to plunder their savings. When Mr Browning hacked into Mishra's computer, he claims he found spreadsheets containing thousands of customers' personal details, including bank numbers and passwords. There were also several scam scripts step-by-step guides detailing what to say to gain the trust of unsuspecting victims along with logos for major companies. In one script, Mishra allegedly poses as an employee for a big company to warn victims their computer's IP address has been 'misused' in Nigeria and that fraudsters have access to their 'personal information or financial details'. Documents on the criminals' laptop included several selfies of Misha posing with an expensive watch. Two of the pictures appear to be taken in a call centre, although it is not known whether this is where the fraud took place. Other files included pictures of identity documents and a meme depicting a room covered in cash, with the caption 'the only room I would like to clean!' Thousands of Australians fall prey to international scammers each year. Many have noticed a spike in text and email scams throughout the pandemic, with some noting they're receiving multiple texts a day from unknown numbers. This year alone, almost $205 million has been lost to scammers. Most commonly, they pose as the Australian Tax Office, Amazon, or Microsoft. problem The got so bad that Telstra rolled out a new SMS scam filter to counteract the amount of customers falling victim to scams. Scam text messages are not only annoying but also malicious and have the potential to steal people's money or install malware to steal personal information, hack their internet banking, and infect their contacts, Telstra said. 'We know the number of scam text messages on our network is on the rise: in 2021 we had more than 11,000 reports of malicious texts to Android devices compared to 50 reports in 2020,' chief executive Andy Penn said. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission last year noted phones were the most common way for scammers to target victims and also the most successful in terms of financial loss. ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said the scammers were improving their tactics to steal more money. 'It's very concerning to see these scams evolving and becoming more sophisticated to steal even more money from unsuspecting people,' she said. A boy has died in hospital while an elderly woman continues to fight for life days after a four-car crash. The six-year-old boy and woman aged in her 70s were among four people injured in the pile-up in East Rockingham, Perth, at 3pm on Friday. Police said a Kia Carnival was stopped behind a Transperth bus at a set of red lights at the intersection of Dixon and Mandurah Roads. A Holden Cruze then crashed into the back of the vehicle sending it into the back of the bus before a fourth car smashed into the pileup. A boy has died in hospital while an elderly woman continues to fight for life days after a four-car crash The six-year-old boy and woman aged in her 70s were among four people injured following the pile-up in East Rockingham, Perth, at 3pm on Friday The six-year-old was taken to Rockingham Hospital in a critical condition then flown by RAC rescue helicopter to Perth Children's Hospital before he died on Sunday, The West Australian reported. The elderly woman was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital with life-threatening injuries. A woman in her 80s suffered serious injuries while a 64-year-old man was taken to Rockingham Hospital but was discharged soon afterwards. WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said police were investigating whether the accident was caused by one of the drivers suffering a medical episode. The crash came 15 minutes after St John WA warned of ambulance delays with paramedics stretched thin as emergency calls increased. 'At present, about 22 per cent of the St John fleet in metropolitan Perth is ramped, the State Operations Centre is receiving call volumes in excess of 40 calls per hour, and we are at about 7 per cent standby capacity,' the alert said. 'It is likely there will be a delay in an ambulance reaching people who call triple-0.' Police said a Kia Carnival was stopped behind a Transperth bus at a set of red lights at the intersection of Dixon and Mandurah Roads Long ambulance wait times have been blamed for several deaths that could have been avoided in the past couple of months. Grandmother Joan Hope was experiencing shortness of breath when her son called paramedics on April 19. She died shortly afterwards as the ambulance only arrived 30 minutes later. Georgina Wild suffered chest pains before calling an ambulance and then died before paramedics arrived two-and-a-half hours later. A father could walk free from jail in less than 12 months despite raping his teenage daughter and warning her not to tell anybody about the assault. The 48-year-old man from Rockhampton, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to one count of domestic violence rape on June 10. He was sentenced to seven years in jail but with time served, could be released on parole as soon as June 4, 2023. The teenage victim woke up in her bed on the morning of the attack in early in 2021, to find her father was in her room. The only other adult who lived in the house had already left for work. It was still dark and the girl attempted to get back to sleep. The teenage victim woke up in her bed on the morning of the attack, which took place early in 2021, to find her father had entered her room (stock image) It was only then that her father approached her. She 'laid still in shock' as he raped her in the bed, Rockhampton District Court heard, according to The Morning Bulletin. Crown prosecutor Maryam Yousufzai said just hours later, the young victim had to face her father in the home as she got ready for school. He offered to give her a lift to school and, as he dropped her off, demanded she not tell anyone of the horrific rape. At some stage during the day, the teenager confided in a friend who coaxed her into reporting the incident. Police became involved within hours and the girl was taken to a friend's home for her own safety. When the victim did not return to school, her father attended the local police station trying to find out details about his daughter's whereabouts. He returned to the same station seven days in a row, always asking the same thing. The 48-year-old man from Rockhampton, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to one count of rape (domestic violence offence) on June 10, at the Rockhampton District Court (pictured) During the course of the investigation, the father's DNA was found inside his daughter's underwear, under her doona cover and on her bed sheets. Judge Jeff Clarke could only describe the offending as 'simply horrible' as he laid down his verdict. The man's defence barrister noted his client still had the support of his family and long-term partner. His parents drove 650kms to be in the court room as the sentence was delivered. After serving 371 days in pre-sentence custody, the man will be eligible for parole on June 4, 2023. A motorist accused of causing a fatal crash that killed a grandfather has lashed out in court screaming and crying insisting she 'tried to help him'. Alisha Fagan, 22, is facing a string of charges after her black Audi allegedly ploughed into Sedat Hassan's Honda in Sunshine West, Melbourne on Thursday. Her three passengers allegedly fled the scene in what police later described as a 'bastard act'. During a two-hour hearing on Friday, Ms Fagan wailed and cried as details of the crash were read out, as her lawyer noted a concern for her welfare. 'I tried to help him... I couldn't help him,' she screamed, according to the Herald Sun. 'How do I get it out of my head? 'I cannot stop thinking about it. Every time I try to sleep I just see him. I tried to help him, I tried to help him.' Alisha Fagan, 22, is facing a string of charges after her white Audi allegedly ploughed into Sedat Hassan's Honda in Sunshine West, Melbourne on Thursday Mr Hassan died to injuries sustained in the crash, with Ms Fagan's three passengers allegedly fleeing the scene in a decision slammed as a 'bastard act' by police Ms Fagan was the only person involved in the crash to wait behind and render assistance to the dying grandfather, police claim. Detective Sergeant Stephen Hill said other occupants in her car were 'cowardly' to 'run away from the scene'. 'If they had have remained instead of running away, they may have been able to save him,' he said. 'The law says you need to stop and you need to help because you have a real chance of saving someone's life. 'It's a real bastard act to leave a person dying on the side of the road as a result of a collision you've been involved in.' During a two-hour hearing on Friday, Ms Fagan wailed and cried as the horror details of the crash were read out, with her lawyer concerned for her welfare Ms Fagan was charged with dangerous driving causing death, possessing a controlled weapon and possessing a drug of dependence and breaching bail among other charges. Her lawyer said the 22-year-old has chronic depression and borderline personality disorder, and has threatened to self harm. He asked that she be seen by specialists as soon as possible. 'She has said she doesn't want to be here anymore.' Detective Senior Constable Barry Bassett said she has a 'blanket disregard for the law'. Ms Fagan cried throughout the hearing forcing the magistrate to stop proceedings at one stage to ask the 22-year-old to 'take a couple of deep breaths' and calm down, noting it was a 'very difficult' matter. Ms Fagan's black Audi allegedly ploughed into Mr Hassan's Honda, which caused fatal injuries for the beloved grandfather Her traffic record was read to the court, with police saying she was an 'extreme risk' to the public as they opposed bail. 'I've got a very, very concerning bundle of matters [she's] picked up over last 15 months,' the magistrate said. 'This all smacks of a young person who is completely out of control. I am really left in a situation where I have huge concerns about what's going on with her.' Ms Fagan's family sat at the back of the court to offer support. At one stage, her father was seen consoling her. At the conclusion of the session, the accused asked the court if Ms Hassan's family would be present at Tuesday's hearing. Bail was denied and Ms Fagan was escorted into custody by police. She will face court again on Tuesday. Freezing winds blowing across Australia from the Southern Ocean are causing temperatures to plummet across the east coast as far north as Queensland. Brisbane dropped to 10.6C overnight but with the wind chill the temperature felt more like 6C, while nearby Toowoomba had a minimum of 0.2C and an apparent temperature of -3.3C. The Bureau of Meteorology said Brisbane is forecast to shiver through minimums of 6C to 8C for the rest of the week, the coldest it has been this early in June since 1904 - 118 years ago. Down south, Tasmania is being hit with the brunt of the wintery blast which is cold even by the Apple Isle's standards with the temperature at 6.9C by Sunday afternoon but feeling like a polar 1.4C. Icy winds blowing up from the Southern Ocean are creating freezing temperatures over Australia's east coast (pictured) Bob Hawke was in power the last time Sydney got this cold in 1989, and Brisbane is braced for the worst cold snap in 118 years - while Melbourne hasn't been this chilly since the city still had an AFL team called South Melbourne Swans in 1982 A horse stands in a frosted over paddock in south-east Queensland on Sunday morning as temperatures reached 0.2C in Toowoomba (pictured) Sydney dropped to a minimum of 8C on Sunday but warmed up to 14.7 by Sunday afternoon, however, as those stepping outside can attest to, the wind chill factor cut the temperature in half to an apparent 7.1C. Monday and Tuesday in Sydney are expected to be even colder reaching a minimum of just 5C on Tuesday. Melbourne was chilly at 12.2C about 4pm on Sunday afternoon but the wind didn't seem to be much of a factor, possibly helped by cloud cover, with an apparent temperature of 10C. Over on the west coast, Perth is much warmer reaching 20C but rain is set in for the week and is not expected to clear until after next weekend. On Friday, Sydneysiders recorded footage of themselves waking up in the morning and finding their cars covered in thin layers of ice. One resident discovered their windshield wiper stuck to the back of their vehicle. Sydneysiders recorded footage of themselves on Friday finding their cars covered in thin layers of ice with one resident discovering their windshield wiper stuck to the back of their vehicle (pictured) Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathan How said residents should expect the freezing temperatures to continue. 'The outlook for the rest of winter is looking to be cooler and wetter than average across the eastern and southern part of the country,' he told Sunrise. 'A little bit of a taste of what is to come. We still have two-and-a-half months of this cold, wintry weather.' NSW has recorded its best snow season in two decades, with 125cm of fresh snow continuing to fall, and Thredbo Resort recording another 125cm over the past week. 'In my many years living and working in Thredbo, I have never seen the Village so covered in snow ahead of the June long weekend,' Thredbo Resort general manager Stuart Diver told Daily Telegraph. Mr How described the long spell of freezing temperatures as 'quite significant'. 'We have not seen many individual records broken, but the length of time has been quite significant, especially for people in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane,' he said. Macquarie Island south east of Tasmania on Saturday (pictured) The same view of Macquarie Island in the warmer months (pictured) Lisa Wilkinson has apologised to ex-MP Andrew Laming for a tweet she made after he was accused of taking an inappropriate photo of a woman. The former Queensland MP was accused of taking a photo of a woman who accidentally showed her underwear while bending over to fill a fridge in 2019. Crystal White said the photo was 'really inappropriate' because she had been bending over, however Dr Laming insisted the snap was 'completely dignified'. Queensland Police found 'no evidence to indicate a criminal offence'. Wilkinson on Sunday apologised for a tweet she made back in March, 2021. Lisa Wilkinson (pictured in Sydney in June) has apologised to ex-senator Andrew Laming for a tweet she made after he was accused of taking an inappropriate photo of a woman Wilkinson on Sunday apologised for a tweet she made back in March, 2021 (pictured) 'In March 2021, I published a tweet about Andrew Laming. I now accept that the claim made about Dr Laming in that tweet was false and defamatory,' she wrote. 'I unconditionally withdraw that claim and apologise to Dr Laming for any hurt and offence caused to him by reason of my conduct.' Dr Laming said he felt relieved by Wilkinson's apology but said he wouldn't be satisfied until the 'original publisher' follows suit. 'I won't be truly vindicated until the original publisher of the false allegations takes responsibility or is otherwise held in court,' he told news.com.au. The former Liberal National Party backbencher is suing Nine Media for defamation, with the hearing scheduled for the Federal Court in October. In March of 2019, Dr Laming said he would be stepping down from all parliamentary roles to undergo counselling after allegations of harassment were aired. 'I will step down from all parliamentary roles effective immediately and complete both the counselling courses I committed to; as well as additional clinical counselling, and ask for privacy while that is completed,' the statement read. Dr Laming (pictured in May, 2021) said he felt relieved by Wilkinson's apology but said he wouldn't be satisfied until the 'original publisher' follows suit He has since been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and says daily medication has improved his life. The former MP said that his diagnosis 'wasn't an excuse' for his actions but that his diagnosis has improved his relationship with his children. Dr Laming decided to take legal action against the network after Queensland Police found 'no evidence to indicate a criminal offence'. Ms White, a Brisbane mother, told Nine News the photo taken of her by Dr Laming was 'really inappropriate' because she had been bending over. She had been placing drinks into a fridge at a landscape supply business. Dr Laming said the photo simply showed 'someone trying to fit an impossible amount of stock into a fridge' and offered to delete it. 'In March 2021, I published a tweet about Andrew Laming. I now accept that the claim made about Dr Laming in that tweet was false and defamatory,' Wilkinson tweeted on Sunday Separately, the ex-senator has admitted to trolling two women on social media - with one constituent saying it left her on the brink of suicide. Dr Laming apologised to both women in writing and during a speech to parliament after being hauled into the former Prime Minister Scott Morrison's office. 'His comments were not acceptable to both women and also to the Prime Minister,' a spokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office said. 'Every Australian has the right to feel safe online and Mr Laming has made a commitment to change his online communication practices.' Dr Laming in March, 2021 said he acknowledged his comments about Brisbane women Alix Russo and Sheena Hewlett left them suffering considerable distress. 'I want to express my regret and deep apologies for the hurt and the distress that communication may have caused,' Dr Laming said. Separately, Dr Laming (pictured) has admitted to trolling two women on social media - with one constituent saying it left her on the brink of suicide 'I want to retract those comments and issue a public unreserved apology.' In one Facebook post, Dr Laming accused Ms Russo, a single mother, of misappropriating funds at a homeless charity. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Dr Laming for comment. Korea suffers first current account deficit in two years Korea's current account returned to a deficit in April for the first time in two years. According to the Bank of Korea (BOK) on Friday, the monthly shortfall came to $80 million (100.5 billion won) in the balance of the current account, a broad measure of the nation's global trade in goods and services as well as net earnings on cross-border investments. BOK officials expected the balance to go back to a surplus in May, saying that seasonal factors, including expanded overseas dividend payments, played a critical role. However, aggravating external factors, such as higher international oil and commodity prices, raised questions about the prospects of a turnaround. Economists expressed concerns about inauspicious signs, including the trade deficit lasting for two consecutive months in April and May. As expected by the central bank, Korea's merchandise trade surplus shrank sharply by $2 billion to $2.95 billion in April from a year earlier. In addition, the $3.25 billion deficit in the primary income account amid expanded dividend payments to foreign investors resulted in the monthly shortfall. Fortunately, exports remained strong by increasing 11.2 percent to $5.93 billion. However, it can hardly be a stable trend, as price rises not volume growth led shipment increases. A stable current account surplus and sound fiscal structure have propped up the national economy in the past whenever crises hit Korea Inc. However, the series of extra budgets beginning under the former Moon Jae-in administration, to help people suffering from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, led to the fiscal deficit trend. Korea's consolidated fiscal deficit reached $7 billion in 2020 and narrowed to $3 billion in 2021 but will likely rise to at least $7 billion this year. It is good that the current account deficit was not due to the aggravation of economic fundamentals, because Korea can anticipate an improvement once external factors turn better. However, it will be a different story if the twin deficits in trade and current account continue because of high global commodity prices. In a worst-case scenario, a vicious cycle could hit Korea, where the fall in the nation's credit standing leads to the drastic weakening of its currency. If a global or regional crisis were to come at such a moment, Korea could fall back into turmoil as seen in the 1997 currency crisis. Now is the time for the government to have a grave sense of crisis. Advertisement Sweden and Finland joined 14 NATO countries for a series of huge Baltic Sea war games in recent days amid heightened tensions in the region, as the Nordic nations hope to join the Western alliance in response to Russia's on-going invasion of Ukraine. About 7,000 military personnel and 45 ships took part in the exercises that involved air drops and amphibious landings on Gotland - an island that is strategically located in the middle of the southern part of the Baltic Sea. Gotland has seen foreign invasions throughout its history, the most recent one in 1808, when Russian forces briefly occupied it. The annual BALTOPS exercises saw troops practicing not just how to defend the island with a population of 58,000, but how to take it back from a foreign aggressor. The 14 participating NATO nations include the United Kingdom, United States, France, Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Turkey. The exercises - that run from June 5 to June 12 - came after Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute on Thursday to Tsar Peter the Great on the 350th anniversary of his birth, drawing a parallel between what he portrayed as their twin historic quests to win back Russian lands - in a chilling threat to Nordic nations. 'Peter the Great waged the Great Northern War for 21 years,' Putin said. 'It would seem that he was at war with Sweden, he took something from them. He did not take anything from them, he returned (what was Russia's).' Sweden and Finland have joined 14 NATO countries for Baltic Sea war games amid heightened tensions in the region, as the two countries hope to join the Western alliance in response to Russia's on-going invasion of Ukraine. Pictured: wedish and Finnish soldiers perform naval simulation exercises during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills (Baltops 22) on June 11 About 7,000 military personnel and 45 ships took part in the exercise that involved air drops and amphibious landings on Gotland - an island that is strategically located in the middle of the southern part of the Baltic Sea. Pictured: A soldier is seen firing a machine gun during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday Gotland has seen foreign invasions throughout its history, the most recent one in 1808, when Russian forces briefly occupied it, and the annual BALTOPS exercises saw troops practicing not just how to defend the island with a population of 58,000, but how to take it back from a foreign aggressor. Pictured: Swedish and Finnish soldiers perform naval simulation exercises The 14 participating NATO nations include the United Kingdom, United States, France, Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Turkey. Pictured: Soldiers are shown operating a motor on the island of Gotland during military exercises A Swedish navy military hovercraft travels during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills (Baltops 22) on June 11, 2022 PicturedL A group of soldiers are pictured carrying out an exercise of the Swedish island of Gotland on Saturday In televised comments on day 106 of his war in Ukraine, he compared Peter's campaign with the task facing Russia today. 'Apparently, it also fell to us to return (what is Russia's) and strengthen (the country),' he continued. 'And if we proceed from the fact that these basic values form the basis of our existence, we will certainly succeed in solving the tasks that we face.' Though the annual BALTOPS exercise isn't held in response to a specific threat, this year's edition comes amid heightened tensions with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Despite their non-aligned status, the two Nordic have practiced regularly with NATO countries, and their governments decided in the wake of the Ukraine war to seek full membership in the Western military alliance. 'I'm feeling really prepared. I mean, we have made a big deployment on Gotland, and we will defend Gotland,' Swedish Col. Magnus Frykvall, the island's regiment commander, said as military hardware was being deployed on the coast. 'It's a really hard task to take a defended island.' Having to defend Gotland against a foreign invasion seemed such a far-fetched notion to Swedish decision-makers at the start of the century that they demilitarized the Baltic Sea island. But after the Cold War ended, Sweden felt the risk of a Russian aggression was so remote it refocused its armed forces on foreign peacekeeping operations rather than territorial defence. The Gotland regiment was closed in 2005 as Sweden downsized its military. A Swedish soldier sits on a military boat with a machine during the BALTOPS 22 joint military exercises on Saturday Finnish soldiers perform war simulation exercises during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday A Finnish soldier is seen performing war simulation exercises during the BALTOPS exercises on Saturday Swedish and Finnish soldiers perform war simulation exercises during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday Soldiers are seen inside a bunker overlooking the sea during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday A Swedish navy military hovercraft travels across the water s during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in 2014 led to a rethink, and a new regiment was established on Gotland in 2018. There are now around 400 Swedish soldiers permanently based on the island. Further reinforcements are planned following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Nonetheless, many Gotlanders feel Sweden would not be able to defend the island on its own. 'If we were to be invaded, we wouldn't stand a chance because our defence is too small. We have a really modern and good defence, but it's too small,' said Lars Soderdahl, a 33-year-old chef in the island's main town, Visby. Sweden, which has stayed out of military alliances since the Napoleonic Wars, applied for NATO membership together with Finland in a historic move last month. NATO's existing 30 members are set to discuss the issue this month. Turkey has threatened to hold up the applications over the two countries' perceived support for Kurdish groups. Finland and Sweden have sought security assurances from the U.S. and other NATO countries during the application period. A camouflaged military boat is hidden among the rocks during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday Swedish and Finnish soldiers participate in a war simulation exercise during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills Finnish soldiers perform war simulation exercises during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday Pictured: A Swedish soldier is seen during during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday A soldier is seen camouflaged behind a bush on the Swedish island of Gotland during military exercises on Saturday Kicking off the BALTOPS exercises last weekend in Stockholm, U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it was important for the NATO allies 'to show solidarity with both Finland and Sweden.' Their membership in the alliance would leave Russia in a difficult military position, with the Baltic Sea encircled by NATO members except for in Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad and the Russian city of St. Petersburg and its surrounding areas. The strategic importance of Gotland, a popular summer vacation spot for Swedes, is often viewed in relation to the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which are particularly worried about any Russian aggression following the Ukraine invasion. Gotland is about 60 miles from mainland Sweden and 100 miles from the coast of Latvia. 'The thing is, from here, you make supplying and supporting the Baltic states a lot easier or a lot more difficult, depending on who is in control of the island,' Mikael Norrby, an Uppsala University academic, told The Associated Press. Soldiers prepare for war simulation exercises during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday A soldier is seen with a weapon perched on a rock in woodland during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday A soldier is seen through the trees on the Swedish island of Gotland during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills Swedish and Finnish soldiers perform war simulation exercises during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday Coinciding with the NATO exercises, Russia's Baltic Fleet launched its own military exercises this week. The fleet's press service referred to the manoeuvres Tuesday as a scheduled exercise focused on 'various types of security tasks,' including the tracking and destruction of enemy submarines. 'There are more than 20 warships and boats in the sea ranges of the Baltic Fleet, performing combat tasks both individually and as part of ship search-and-strike groups and ship strike groups,' the press service said in a statement. It said that 60 ships and 40 aircraft were taking part in the manoeuvres which will also take place on land at training grounds in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. It added that corvettes, patrol ships, small missile carriers, anti-submarine vessels, minesweepers, and landing hovercraft were among the vessels taking part in the exercises. The exercises came after Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Friday her country was seeking to make constructive progress in talks with Turkey on Ankara's objections to the Nordic country's application to join the NATO defence alliance. The objections caught Finnish, Swedish and many NATO officials by surprise and have dimmed prospects for rapid progress on the membership bids ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid later this month. A Finnish soldier simulates being injured and evacuated by colleagues during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills A Finnish soldier simulates being injured and evacuated by colleagues during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills A Finnish soldier simulates being injured and evacuated by colleagues during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills A soldier crouches down among the trees on the Swedish island of Gotland, with a rocket launcher on the ground beside him, during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday A Finnish soldier simulates being injured and evacuated by colleagues during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills 'Our application has received broad support among NATO members,' Linde said in a foreign policy declaration in the Swedish parliament. 'Our ambition is to, in a constructive spirit, make progress on the questions that Turkey has raised.' Linde added that there should be no doubts that Sweden stood together with allies against terrorism. 'We take Turkey's security very seriously and we will as a NATO member contribute to security for all NATO members, Turkey included,' she told a news conference later in the day. Sweden's government survived a no-confidence vote on Tuesday with the help of a lawmaker whose demands for support for Kurds in Northern Syria could complicate its attempts to join NATO, all of whose members must approve any new entrants. Ankara has also hit out at Swedish authorities for halting arms exports to Turkey in 2019 as the country launched a military operation in northern Syria. While not referring directly to Turkey, Linde said Swedish membership in NATO could 'change the conditions for arms exports within our national regulatory framework'. US and Swedish troops evacuate a wounded comrade on a helicopter as they take part of a war simulation, June 9 US and Swedish troops evacuate a wounded comrade on a helicopter as they take part of a war simulation, June 9 US troops on Gotland beach following amphibious landing drill, part of BALTOPS annual Baltic Sea military exercise in Tofta, Gotland, Sweden on Wednesday, June 7 A US marine is seen aboard a military armoured vehicle as US and Swedish troops take part in a war simulation, June 9 A military tank drives through the Endre village as US and Swedish troops take part in a war simulation, June 9 The minister said talks between representatives of Sweden, Finland, Turkey and NATO were being held in a constructive spirit. Asked at the news conference in what way talks were constructive she replied: 'They are not called off.' She said she had been very surprised by Turkey's objections, which were first voiced publicly shortly after applications were handed in. 'We had had talks (before) with Turkey where they had said that 'we certainly have views on various things that we can discuss where we aren't of the same opinion, but we welcome Sweden and Finland',' she said. Meanwhile, speaking at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Friday, NATO's deputy chief said he sees no immediate military threat to Sweden and Finland from Russia and is confident that the aspiring NATO members will join the alliance despite Turkey's objections. An Aviation Boatswains Mate (Bottom) signals to the pilots of the MV-22 Osprey assault support aircraft, assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, as it approaches to land on the flight deck of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) on June 7 The USS Porter (L) and the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) are pictured on June 6, 2022, during the BALTOPS 22 Exercise in the Baltic Sea Aviation Boatswains Mates work on the UH-1Y Venom utility helicopter assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, onboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) on June 5, 2022 The NATO warship Kearsarge ARG-22 MEU is seen docked on June 4, 2022 in Stockholm, Sweden 'We are confident that Sweden and Finland will join our ranks,' Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana said. 'Allies have concerns. And Turkey has some concerns that are legitimate when it comes to terrorists,' he added. Sweden and Finland have said they condemn terrorism and are open to dialogue. Asked about security guarantees provided to Sweden and Finland in the period up until they become full-fledged members of NATO, Geoana said he did not see any real risk to the countries from Russia. 'We don't see signs from Russia of having the capabilities or intention at this point to be aggressive in military terms against these two aspirant countries,' he said. 'We can treat this period with caution in a proactive way, but we don't see real risks from a traditional military standpoint for Finland and Sweden.' Finland said on Thursday it plans to amend border legislation to allow the building of barriers on its eastern frontier with Russia in a move to strengthen preparedness against hybrid threats. Two of Australia's best known doctors have renewed their long term animosity with competing views on how to describe Australia's Covid-19 death toll. ABC's presenter Dr Norman Swan said Covid deaths amounted to 'jet crashes every week', which, with around 300 deaths every week seems a reasonable comparison. But Dr Nick Coatsworth, Australia's former deputy chief health officer, said this is not accurate as Covid deaths are disproportionately older people. 'A plane crash has anywhere between babies through to people at the end of their lives and everything in between,' Dr Coatsworth said. Dr Nick Coatsworth (pictured), Australia's former deputy chief medical officer, has had a long running difference of opinion with fellow physician, Dr Norman Swan 'So it's not a reasonable analogy to draw when we're talking about largely the very frail elderly, who are very likely to succumb to infection whether there's a pandemic or not.' Radio 2GB's Ben Fordham called Dr Swan a 'fearmonger' and 'Covid bogeyman' for his jet crash comments, to which he replied: 'I couldn't care less what people call me, I just care about lives being saved.' The disagreements between Dr Coatsworth and Dr Swan over how to deal with Covid goes back almost as long as the pandemic itself. Last week, Dr Coatsworth took a swipe at those continuing to demand more Covid rules - and says tough restrictions did more harm than good for many people. 'We locked down our society, stopped children attending school, closed playgrounds, fined the least fortunate, separated families, created mental illness, all in the name of protecting our most vulnerable, yet for some it will never be enough. 'When will the moralising stop?' he wrote. Dr Coatsworth's views are very different to some more risk-averse commentators such as Dr Swan and former Australian Medical Association president Kerryn Phelps, who favour restrictions. 'The problem is that group is loud and it's influential,' he said. 'It's a bit exhausting really. ABC presenter Dr Norman Swan (pictured) is risk-averse when it comes to the Covid-19 pandemic 'I thought it'd be all done and dusted by now - not the pandemic - but this bloody argument. 'It's bad for the punters as well. No one wants to see duelling experts, but then you have a choice. Do you shut up and let them run the narrative?' Last February, Dr Coatsworth told 2GB that pro-restriction advocates such as Dr Swan and Dr Phelps needed to recognise Australia's policies should be designed to protect the vulnerable now that most of the country has been vaccinated. 'I think perhaps they've got this idea that it's dangerous to say: 'It's OK if someone dies with co-morbidities or they were old'. 'Well that's not what anyone is saying. People are saying there are vulnerable people in our society, there always has been, there always will be, so the social safety net for them is not mass community restrictions two years into a pandemic,' he said. A young woman is pictured getting the Pfizer vaccine at the Royal Exhibition Building Vaccination Centre in Melbourne on August 25, 2021 Dr Coatsworth said community-wide restrictions weren't fair on the rest of the community, who are already protected by a robust health care system alongside mass vaccination. 'We've got that, and so the vulnerable are protected and so we can move forward with this, so I do think the people like (Dr Swan and Dr Phelps) need to change their perspective and move with the times,' he said. In August 2021, Dr Coatsworth blasted Dr Swan for failing to 'accurately report' on Covid after he compared Sydneysiders lining up for a vaccination to 'guinea pigs'. When asked about their dispute, Dr Swan said he thought Dr Coatsworth was 'angry' with him for criticising government medical experts who originally believed Covid spread mostly via respiratory droplets rather than in the air. A drive through patient is pictured getting vaccinated for Covid-19 in Melton, Victoria on Sunday, August 8, 2021 'I think he's angry with me,' Dr Swan told The Australian at the time. 'I think it's annoyed him that I have called out the view that was prevalent in the government throughout much of 2020 that airborne spread wasn't important.' 'I'm not annoyed with Norman Swan, but in my opinion he has failed to acknowledge and accurately report on the movement in government policy, which has acknowledged a greater role for airborne transmission,' Dr Coatsworth responded. He also attacked Dr Swan's 'guinea pig' comment, saying ABC has a responsibility 'to report as accurately as possible during a disaster'. 'Calling the entire population of greater Sydney guinea pigs does not fall into that category,' he said. Dr Nick Coatsworth (pictured left) has long called for Covid restrictions to be removed when they stop working When Dr Swan made his 'guinea pig' comment, he was not claiming the vaccines were experimental - only that the government's strategy of using vaccination to control the outbreak was untested. 'I don't think that this has been tried anywhere else in the world where you're trying to use vaccination to curve an outbreak,' he said. 'And in a sense, the residents of New South Wales, or Greater Sydney, are guinea pigs.' But Dr Coatsworth said vaccines are used to stop outbreaks all around the world - and even pointed to his own field experience in Africa. Sydneysiders are pictured exercising at Bondi as Covid-19 restrictions were eased in September last year 'No, Dr Swan, they are not guinea pigs. I vaccinated during measles in Chad in 2005,' he wrote in a response on Twitter. 'Rapid vaccination during an epidemic is part of epidemic control. And it's what every other country has done with Covid-19. Restrictions plus rapid vaccines works.' The battle between doctors Swan and Coatsworth does not look like ending any time soon. Bosses at Manchester airport have launched a mass recruitment drive to fill 500 vacancies after scenes of airport chaos over half-term, while its CEO has been awarded a 2.5million salary. Despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic leading to widespread staff redundancies, pay cuts and absences, the CEO of the Manchester Airport Group Charlie Cornish was allocated a 2.5million salary last year - an increase of 500,000 on 2020. It is understood however that part of his remuneration is dependent on business performance over the next four years, meaning that his full bonus may never actually be paid out. Families last week were faced with hours of queues, hundreds of flight cancellations and an absence of staff at airports across the UK - with Manchester Airport being one of the worst affected. Things got so bad on the ground in Manchester that one TUI pilot actually helped load bags onto their plane when there were no ground staff available. The flight had already been pushed back from May 29 to May 30, and after passengers were delayed once again they praised the pilot for taking matters into their own hands. Manchester Airport Group CEO, Charlie Cornish, was awarded a 500,000 pay rise in 2021 compared to 2020 Passengers queue for check-in at Manchester Airport's Terminal 2 during recent travel disruption The group which owns Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports made 900 redundancies during the pandemic, as well as making all staff take a 10% pay cut, which is understood to have included Mr Cornish, despite his overall rise in remuneration due to projected bonus earnings. Additionally a further 1,500 jobs were cut across the three airports by external agency staff, which has exacerbated the problems faced by customers so far this year. Travel and consumer champion Martyn James told the Sun: 'The only thing that has been taking off lately with this company seems to be the chief executive's perks. 'For the thousands of people queuing round the block it is an insult.' The CEO's troubles look far from over as the summer is set to see more delays - as Manchester airport tries to urgently hire 500 staff to plug the gaps. Most of the roles are being advertised as immediate starts, with anyone who signs up being instantly given 250 in cash if they refer a friend. Last night Ray Ellis, 54, who worked at the airport but quit, claimed he resigned over the 'chaotic' operations at his former workplace. Ray, who was a baggage handler, explained to the Sun: 'Experienced staff left during Covid. The new staff haven't been in the job long enough to deal with problems.' Although the airport announced in April it had recruited around 200 new staff, with a further 250 going through security screening, the problems caused by the huge spike in demand post-coronavirus shows no sign of letting up. But it is believed this still leaves the group short by hundreds of workers. During the half-term week thousands of passengers were left stranded at UK airports or abroad as the aviation industry descended into chaos. According to the Manchester Airport Group, demand for travel has been rapidly rising since the start of this, rising from 37% of pre-covid demand in January to 80% in April. Passengers were left in long queues which stretched out Manchester airport's doors and into underground car parks Manchester airport wasn't the only one to see chaos during the half-term - passengers were pictured sleeping in Bristol airport after flights were cancelled on June 4 The CEO said in April: 'The UK aviation sector is now recovering quickly but for most of the last two years we have effectively been in survival mode. 'When the pandemic struck, we were faced with almost no income and huge fixed costs. Doing nothing was not an option. 'We had to cut costs just to survive it was as simple as that. 'We reduced expenditure wherever we could, and as a last resort we had to offer colleagues the option of voluntary redundancy because of the uncertainty about when international travel would resume. 'The simple fact is that we dont currently have the number of staff we need to provide the level of service that our passengers deserve. 'Despite our efforts since last Autumn, the tight labour market around the airport has meant we have just not been able to hire people quickly enough to establish a full-strength team.' Industry experts have warned the public that problems are set to continue into the summer and it will not be a smooth season for air travel. CEO Charlie Cornish apologised to customers in April: 'I cannot apologise enough for the disruption people have faced' - but has not made a statement on the group's site since. Australia's two-year diplomatic freeze with China has ended with a meeting between Minister for Defence Richard Marles and his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe. The face-to-face meeting, held at the Shangri-La security summit in Singapore, was the first high-level contact between the countries since January 2020. The meeting follows a 'very dangerous' mid-air incident in the South China Sea, where an Australian spy plane was intercepted by a Chinese fighter jet while conducting surveillance on May 26. Mr Marles said the RAAF P-8A Poseidon aircraft was carrying out maritime surveillance when it was intercepted by a Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft in a 'dangerous manoeuvre'. But Beijing hit back through The Global Times - the Chinese Communist Party's mouthpiece - which accused Australia of acting like a 'little bully'. Australia's Minister for Defence Richard Marles (left) is pictured with his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe (right) in Singapore Mr Marles said that 'What occurred was that the J-16 aircraft flew very close to the side of the P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft. 'In flying close to the side, it released flares, the J-16 then accelerated and cut across the nose of the P-8, settling in front of the P-8 at very close distance. 'At that moment, it then released a bundle of chaff which contained small pieces of aluminium, some of which were ingested into the engine of the P-8 aircraft.' But The Global Times claimed the Australian government failed to address several questions about the operation in the South China Sea. 'For example, where exactly in the South China Sea is the area in which the incident occurred?' it wrote. 'How far is it from the Chinese islands and reefs in the region? What is their purpose here? Furthermore, what did the Australian military aircraft do before the intercept?' Against the backdrop of mutual antagonism, Mr Marles said Sunday's meeting was a 'frank and full exchange' in which he spoke about China's recent of the Australian air force plane. 'This was an important meeting between two countries of consequence in the Indo-Pacific meeting,' he told reporters in Singapore. 'It was a critical first step. Australia and China's relationship is complex and it's precisely because of this complexity that it is really important that we are engaging in dialogue right now.' An RAAF P-8A Poseidon aircraft was carrying out maritime surveillance in the South China Sea when it was intercepted by a Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft on May 26 (pictured, stock image of a P-8 Poseidon) Defence Minister Richard Marles blasted it as a 'dangerous manoeuvre' by the J-16 fighter jet (pictured, stock image of a J-16 fighter jet) Australian-Chinese relations have endured a difficult time since April 2020, when then-prime minister Scott Morrison called for World Health Organization investigators in Wuhan to have the same powers as UN-backed weapons inspectors. The WHO was investigating the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic that has dominated world headlines for more than two years. In November 2020 it emerged that the Chinese embassy in Canberra had drawn up what became known as the 'list of grievances' - 14 black marks that were China's reasons for the bad blood with Australia. AUSTRALIA VERSUS CHINA TRADE WAR In October 2020, China imposed informal bans on Australian cotton and coal. A month later, Australian sugar, barley, lobsters, wine, copper and timber were added to the list. Six meat processors were banned from exporting beef to China. In December 2020, Australia lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization over China's 80.5 per cent tariffs on its barley exports. In the filing, Australia claimed China deviated from WTO rules 26 times. In March 2021, China imposed duties of between 116.2 per cent and 218.4 per cent on Australian wine, making it too expensive for Chinese consumers. This effectively killed the market. Advertisement The list included: 'The incessant wanton interference in China's... affairs'; 'outrageous condemnation of the governing party of China'; and 'an unfriendly or antagonistic report on China by media'. China stopped having diplomatic contact with Australia and imposed billions of dollars worth of bans and tariffs on Australian exports. On Saturday, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin addressed China's increasing number of aerial confrontations. He said there had been, 'an alarming increase in the number of unsafe aerial intercepts and confrontations at sea' by Chinese planes and ships. General Wei Fenghe rejected what he called a 'smearing accusation', though, and accused America and other unnamed countries of 'meddling' in the South China Sea and 'stirring up trouble'. 'Some big power has long practised navigation hegemony on the pretext of freedom of navigation,' he told the Singapore summit. '(The US) has flexed the muscles by sending warships and warplanes on a rampage in the South China Sea,' he said. Mr Marles expressed alarm at China's rapid military build-up in the area. 'Chinese militarisation of features in the South China Sea needs to be understood for what it is: the intent to deny the legitimacy of its neighbours' claims in this vital international waterway through force,' he said. The South China Sea, which has been a flashpoint of dispute for several years, is one of the world's major shipping routes and is of great strategic importance. Speaking at the Shangri-La summit, General Wei Fenghe reaffirmed China's position that it seeks a 'peaceful reunification' with Taiwan, but warned any push for Taiwanese independence would be squashed. A graphic depiction of the 'dangerous manoeuvre' carried out by the J-16 plane (top) as the P-8 (bottom) flew over the South China Sea 'We will resolutely crush any attempt to pursue Taiwan independence,' he said. 'We will fight at all costs. And we will fight to the very end.' Mr Marles' meeting with General Wei Fenghe could pave the way for further high-level talks with China, with trade sanctions being something Australia is very keen to discuss as soon as possible. 'In moving forward, while there is a change in tone, there is absolutely no change in the substance of Australia's national interest,' Mr Marles said. An imam who backed calls for cinemas to cancel a 'blasphemous' Islamic film has been sacked a Government advisor on anti-Islamophobia. Qari Asim, the head imam at the Makkah mosque in Leeds, was let go from his roles as independent adviser on Islamophobia and deputy chairman of the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group on Saturday. It comes after he endorsed a campaign for cinemas to pull screenings of The Lady of Heaven - a film about the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. The 12million movie was released in the UK over the Jubilee weekend, but was axed by Cineworld and, a day later, Showcase when staff faced crowds of protesters outside venues in Bradford, Bolton, Birmingham and Sheffield. Mr Asim described The Lady of Heaven as a 'disparaging movie' that has 'caused much pain and hurt to Muslims', The Telegraph reports. But in a letter published on Saturday, the Department of Levelling Up wrote: 'We have no option but to withdraw the appointment and end your roles with Government with immediate effect. 'Your recent support for a campaign to limit free expression - a campaign which has itself encouraged communal tensions - means it is no longer appropriate for you to continue your work with Government in roles designed to promote community harmony. Qari Asim, the head imam at the Makkah mosque in Leeds, has been let go from his official Government role Protesters gathered at cinemas to voice opposition to the Lady of Heaven, which was officially released in the UK on June 3 Cineworld cancelled all showings of the film nationwide 'to ensure the safety of our staff and customers'. Pictured: A crowd of protesters gathered outside the Cineworld in Birmingham on Sunday, June 5, to protest the film's release Cinemas have seen protests from Muslims claiming the film The Lady of Heaven is 'blasphemous'. Pictured: Birmingham Why The Lady Of Heaven so controversial? How film touches on tensions between Sunnis and Shias Controversial film Lady of Heaven has been banned from some cinemas in the UK after hundreds of Muslims protested against it. Large crowds appeared outside cinemas in Bradford, Bolton, Birmingham and Sheffield in recent days to call for the film to be pulled from theatres. The film and its creators have been accused of blasphemy for depicting Prophet Muhammad and his daughter Fatima. Most schools of Islam ban any depiction of the prophet as they believe it to be against the spirit of the religion, disrespectful and encouraging of the worship of idols. The film has also been accused of inciting hatred between different sects in Islam. Created by Shias, it was nonetheless banned in Shia-majority Iran with the government saying it was aimed at dividing Muslims. The Sunni sect, which makes up 90 per cent of the global Muslim population, have accused the film's creators of deliberately depicting an extremist Shia perspective of Islamic history to create tension. Sunni Muslims are unhappy at the way that some of Islam's holiest figures are portrayed in the film, including the prophet's third wife Aisha and two of his closest companions. Abu Bakr and Omar, who were the first two caliphs and are seen as two of the holiest figures among Sunnis, are depicted as deceitful, conniving and dishonest - characterisation that has caused significant anger among Sunnis. Another complaint has been about how the companions, and Aisha, were portrayed by black actors, leading to accusations of racism. 5Pillars, an Islamic Media organisation, said: 'Most Muslims will find the invective against three of the most beloved companions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) shocking and disgusting. But it is also a deeply racist film with all the main negative characters being portrayed by black actors. Whats more, the film directly disrespects the Prophet (pbuh) by showing his face.' There is also anger at the writer of the film, Sheikh Yasser al-Habib, who is a controversial figure in the Muslim world. A Kuwaiti Shia scholar based in London, he has previously angered Sunni Muslims by calling Aisha, the third wife of the Prophet Muhammad, 'an enemy of God'. The cleric was previously jailed in Kuwait and had his citizenship stripped. Senior Iranian clerics have described him as a mad man and accused him of inflaming tensions between Sunnis and Shia. Executive producer Malik Shlibak said the film had gone to great lengths not to offend Muslims, adding that he was aware the movie was including characters that are 'very holy for close to two billion people'. Advertisement It continued: 'You will have no doubt seen reports of the scenes outside different cinema venues. These included deeply disturbing videos of sectarian chanting and anti-Shia hatred... which must be challenged at every opportunity as part of a wider effort to combat anti-Muslim hatred. 'We were disappointed to see that you failed to condemn some of the protests complicit in these behaviours.' The film has been at the centre of a debate over freedom of speech, with Health Secretary Sajid Javid this week describing the cancellations as 'an incredibly dangerous road to go down'. And Mr Asim's statement also conflicted with the views of the Government's independent adviser on social cohesion and resilience, Dame Sara Khan. She criticised the failure of authorities to stand up to the protests after Cineworld became the first chain to cancel screenings over staff safety fears. Mr Asim statement said: 'We have been working with many brothers and imams across the country to liaise with the cinemas. 'As a community, in some places we have been successful and those cinemas will no longer be showing the movie, in other places negotiations are still ongoing. 'Some imams have taken a view to protest and others are in dialogue with the cinemas trying to resolve the situation. Different approaches, rooted in our universal values, are necessary, as always.' And speaking to LBC today, he added: 'The Lady of Heaven is factually incorrect and derogatory. It has caused much distress and heartache to British Muslims. 'The British Muslim community has taken different approaches. Some believe in a way of working with the cinema industry to help them understand why Muslims find it to be offensive or derogatory and therefore work with them to see what the best solution is in terms of whether it should be shown, how it should be shown etcetera. 'Others have taken a view to publicly demonstrate and I think there is always danger with a public demonstration that someone somewhere will use rhetoric which will fuel hatred.' He added: 'I am not personally in favour of protests and have not attended any of the protests, but I have worked with the British Muslim community to say that we should be expressing our concerns about the hatred, extremism and sectarianism that this film may provoke and how we need to tackle that.' Mr Asim was appointed to his advisory role a day before Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in 2019. In January, he said he had been ignored by Mr Johnson and Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove since starting the role. The film and its creators have been accused of blasphemy for depicting Prophet Muhammad and his daughter Fatima. Most schools of Islam ban any depiction of the prophet as they believe it to be against the spirit of the religion, disrespectful and encouraging of the worship of idols. Made in Britain, the film opens with the invasion of Iraq by ISIS and features a graphic jihadist murder, before telling the story of Lady Fatima, one of the daughters of the founder of Islam. Director Eli King depicts Fatima as a faceless character, shrouded by a black veil. But protesters have accused the filmmakers of inaccurately depicting religious history and negatively portraying three of Islam's most important figures. However, speaking to TalkTV, Mr Javid said: 'I am very concerned about the growing cancel culture in this country. There's people out there who think they have a right not to be offended and of course, no-one has that right. 'You might not like what someone's got to say, but they have a right to say it.' He also highlighted that there is no blasphemy law in the UK, saying: 'What we have in this country is freedom of speech and expression and that is a fundamental value.' Vue is defiantly continuing to show the film, saying it 'takes seriously the responsibilities that come with providing a platform for a wide variety of content' and believes in showcasing films of interest to diverse communities'. The movie's executive producer, Malik Shlibak, called the decision of Cineworld and Showcase to pull it 'unacceptable' and accused the chains of 'bowing down to radical extremists'. He revealed he had received messages from activists telling him 'I'm going to kill you' on Twitter. But he said he wasn't scared by the threats, which included him being called an 'infidel', an offensive term relating to someone who is unfaithful to their own religion. And he added the massive controversy surrounding its screenings had been 'brilliant' for the film and had brought in 'huge audiences'. He said: 'I've had death threats sent to me, to be very frank with you, I've had death threats for the last five years. 'It's nothing new because I'm involved in this type of work where these radicals don't what you to speak about anything they don't agree with. I don't worry about it - it's just empty threats. 'But I have had threats on Twitter now, being called an 'infidel' and with people saying, 'I'm going to kill you' and all this sort of thing.' A militant railway union boss vowed the 'fiercest resistance possible' to Government plans for a law change designed to prevent strikes from crippling the country. RMT kingpin Mick Lynch lashed out after Grant Shapps suggested agency workers could be used to cross pickets and keep services running in future. The Government is considering legal changes, with travellers facing chaos on the railways and London Underground due to widespread industrial action. The move - which would not be ready in time for planned June shutdowns - would involve reversing a restriction preventing employers from hiring agency workers to cover for striking staff, and would apply to all sectors, according to The Sunday Telegraph. Such a move would ramp up the Government's growing battle with public sector unions demanding huge pay rises at a time when millions of families are facing hardship. RMT general secretary Mr Lynch accused the Transport Secretary of 'smearing' its members, adding: 'We already have the most restrictive anti-democratic trade union laws in Western Europe and if the government attempts to reduce our rights further, the RMT along with the rest of the trade union movement will mount the fiercest resistance possible.' It came as Labour remained bitterly divided over whether to support or oppose the action by a union not affiliated to it. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves attacked the agency worker plan, saying passengers would not feel safe on services driven by agency staff. But appearing on Sky's Ridge on Sunday she refused twice to say if she agreed with shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, who last week admitted he would have voted for industrial action if he was a member of the RMT. Asked if she would go out on strike, Ms Reeves replied that she wanted 'to be the chancellor of the exchequer' and would do 'everything within my power to avert these strikes' if she were in that role. It is understood Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has not ruled out the option, with travellers facing chaos on the railways and London Underground due to widespread industrial action RMT chief Mick Lynch (pictured) and Manuel Cortes Gen. Sec. of The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA), are driving the industrial action MailOnline can lay bare the strikes being planned to wreck the summer starting at the end of June Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves attacked the agency worker plan, saying passengers would not feel safe on services driven by agency staff. Which train operators will be affected? Union members from National Rail and 13 different operators have voted to carry out strike action this month. Those operators are: Avanti West Coast c2c Chiltern Railways CrossCountry East Midlands Railway Greater Anglia GWR LNER Northern Southeastern South Western Railway TransPennine Express West Midlands Trains (including London Northwestern Railway) Advertisement Meanwhile a fellow union firebrand today attacked the law change idea. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said Mr Shapps should 'try to resolve the dispute, not pour petrol on the flames and make matters worse'. Asked about the Government plans, Mr Serwotka told Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: 'That would be an outrageous act if the Government go down that road. 'We've already got the most restrictive anti-union legislation in the whole of western Europe. It's already incredibly difficult for unions and workers to withdraw their labour. There are so many legal loopholes to fly through. 'If you think about what Grant Shapps is trying to do with that legislation, is to make industrial action ineffective, and I believe it's a basic human right to be able to withdraw your labour. 'You only do it as a last resort and any attempts to bring people in to undermine disputes will not resolve the problems.' The law change was promised in the Tory manifesto in 2015, which stated: 'We will ... repeal nonsensical restrictions banning employers from hiring agency staff to provide essential cover during strikes.' Mr Shapps told the Telegraph any legal intervention would not affect 'this particular set of strikes' in June, but should the action continue, then 'further measures certainly would come in during this particular dispute, if it can't be resolved'. 'I'll be saying more about this. But we will be looking at the full suite of modernisation that's required,' he said. 'The country must not continue to be held to ransom. These strikes are incredibly premature and we will use every possible lever to ensure that the public is protected in the future in particular. 'I can't over-stress our determination to get the right outcome for the travelling public in the end on this, even if the unions insist on putting the country through considerable pain in the meantime.' It comes after Mr Shapps told The Sunday Telegraph in May that ministers were looking at drawing up laws which would make industrial action illegal unless a certain number of staff are working. The interview sparked anger across the trade union movement, with some officials saying it had soured the atmosphere at such a crucial moment for the railways. In his latest interview with the paper, Mr Shapps claimed workers were being misled in some cases by 'Marxists' who are 'determined to turn this into some sort of fight, as they see it, with a Tory Government'. 'When you look at the people who work on the railways, many of them have done a phenomenal job,' he said. 'They are being led by union barons, in some cases, very extreme, Marxists, who are determined to turn this into some sort of fight, as they see it, with a Tory Government. 'The union barons have essentially told their members, you haven't had a rise for two years, this strike is about pay. What they haven't told their members is ... the pay freeze has ended. So they've been invited to strike under false pretences.' It comes as train drivers are to strike over pay and more rail workers are to be balloted for industrial action in growing disputes in the industry which threaten huge travel disruption in the coming weeks. Labour descended into civil war last night over its own goal response to impending rail strikes and a lack of control at the heart of Sir Keir Starmers leadership. Leading party moderates raged at the lack of grip in Sir Keirs office, which was allowing frontbenchers to freelance on key policy and risked presenting the party as pro-strikes. One senior Shadow Minister even accused colleagues Lisa Nandy and Wes Streeting of appearing to prepare for a future leadership campaign by pandering to Left-wing members sympathetic to strikes. One senior Shadow Minister even accused colleagues Wes Streeting of appearing to prepare for a future leadership campaign by pandering to Left-wing members sympathetic to strikes. The senior MP said: Why are we giving the Tories this own goal? Cant we see how badly this is going to play when the strikes happen and the Tories repeat this back? The row broke amid mounting pressure on Sir Keir to condemn militant rail union leaders threatening to paralyse the country with three days of strikes next week. But criticisms that the Labour leader was failing to set out a clear position on strikes and control his frontbench have also fuelled doubts over his leadership. That includes concerns over Sir Keirs ability to beat a wounded Boris Johnson at the next General Election after he failed to capitalise on the massive Tory no-confidence rebellion last week. Even Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has urged her boss to put some more welly into his performances. Critics are furious at how Ms Nandy and Mr Streeting seen as the frontrunners to replace Sir Keir were allowed to freelance on Labours position on the strikes. Levelling up spokeswoman Ms Nandy said Labour was on the rail workers side, while health spokesman Mr Streeting declared if he was an RMT rail union member, I would be voting to go on strike. But one frontbench colleague said last night the tone of their remarks contradicted the Labour Partys official position of being against the strikes. He said: You cant have first one Shadow Cabinet member and then another able to freelance on an issue as big as this. But he blamed lack of discipline and control in Sir Keirs leadership for allowing the situation in the first place. The Shadow Minister said: It speaks to an absolute lack of necessary discipline at the heart of the operation if senior members of the Shadow Cabinet feel they can go around pitching to the members for a putative future leadership election when weve got a General Election to win first. Advertisement Residents of Kyiv were out in their droves on Saturday to make the most of 34 degree temperatures, with hundreds enjoying the sunshine on the city's central beach - just weeks after Ukraine's capital came under siege from Russia's invading armies and rocket strikes levelled buildings and killed civilians. Pictures from the banks of the Dnieper river that courses through Kyiv showed people lounging in the sun, swimming in the water and playing games of volleyball, with the city's skyline seen across the river. Earlier this year, the same view of the city would have featured smoke rising above the skyline as Russian shells bombarded Kyiv and Ukrainian defenders fought to keep their would-be conquerors from reaching its centre. Back then, snow covered much of the city. Now, the summer weather has coincided with relative peace after Vladimir Putin's armies were pushed back from the capital and redeployed in eastern Ukraine. But there is also a sense of anxiousness as men from the capital continue to be called to the front lines - where as many as 100 Ukrainian soldiers are dying in fighting each day - and the threat of attack still looms large, with Kyiv being struck by Russian missiles as recently as last Sunday. Residents of Kyiv were out in their droves on Saturday to make the most of 34 degree temperatures. Pictured: Hundreds of people are seen on the Ukrainian capital's Central Beach, which lines the banks of the Dnieper river that runs through Kyiv Pictures from the banks of the Dnieper river that courses through Kyiv showed people lounging in the sun, swimming in the water and playing games of volleyball, with the city's skyline seen across the river Pictured: People ride E-Scooters across Kyiv's Park Bridge on Saturday as the city enjoys a period of relative peace amid the on-going Russian invasion in the east of Ukraine Pictured: A young family is seen crossing Kyiv's Park Bridge as people flock to enjoy the summer weather on Saturday Pictured: A group of young Ukrainians play a game of Volleyball on Kyiv's Central Beach of Saturday Pictured: People walk and cycle across Kyiv's Park Bridge that crosses the Dnieper river JUNE 5: A view from behind the Volodymyr The Great Monument in Kyiv that overlooks the Dnieper river. Smoke can be seen rising above the buildings in the distance JUNE 5: Smoke rises above Kyiv after several explosions hit the Ukrainian capital early in the morning last Sunday After Russia's initial assault on Kyiv was repelled in the invasion's opening month, leaving death and destruction, the capital has found itself in the position of becoming largely a bystander in the war. While Kyiv's civilians enjoy a period of calmness, fighting continues to rage in Ukraine's east and south, where Putin has redirected his forces and military resources. The burned-out hulks of Russian tanks are still being hauled away from the capital's outskirts, even as Western-supplied weapons turn more Russian armour into junk on battlefields barely 300 miles away. Cafes and restaurants are open again, the chatter and the chink of glasses from their outdoor tables providing a semblance of normalcy - until everyone returns home for the 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew - which is less constraining than it used to be when Kyiv had seemed at risk of falling under Russian control. Air raid alarms still sound regularly, screeching on phone apps, but they're so rarely followed by blasts - unlike in pounded front-line towns and cities - that few pay them much mind. Cruise missile strikes that wrecked a warehouse and a train repair workshop on June 5 were Kyiv's first in five weeks. Dog walkers and parents pushing strollers ambled unperturbed nearby even before the flames had been extinguished, a sign that in the few months since the February 24 invasion, this has become a version of normality. Ukrainians are seen bathing at a public beach in Dnieper river on a hot sunny day in an Old Town of Kyiv Pictured: People cross Kyiv's Park Bridge. The summer weather has coincided with relative peace but also a sense of anxiousness as men continue to be called to the front lines and the threat of attack looms large Pictured: A man is seen selling hats on a hot sunny day in an Old Town of Kyiv on Saturday Many, but by no means all, of the 2 million inhabitants who Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said had fled when Russian forces tried to encircle the city in March are now returning. But with soldiers falling by the hundreds to the east and south, the surreal calm of Kyiv is laced with nagging guilt. 'People are feeling grateful but asking themselves, 'Am I doing enough?'' Snezhana Vialko told the Associated Press, as she and her boyfriend Denys Koreiba bought strawberries from a summer-fruit vendor - which have deployed across the city in neighbourhoods where just weeks ago troops manned checkpoints constructed from sand bags and tank traps. Now greatly reduced in numbers and vigilance, they generally wave through the restored buzz of car traffic, barely glancing up from pass-the-time scrolling on phones. With the peace still so fragile and more treasured than ever, many are putting their energies, time and money into supporting the soldiers fighting what has become a grinding war of attrition for control of destroyed villages, towns and cities - hundreds of miles to the east of the capital. Pictured: Ukrainians are seen bathing at a public beach in Dnieper river on a hot sunny day in an Old Town of Kyiv Ukrainians are seen bathing at a public beach in Dnieper river on a hot sunny day in an Old Town of Kyiv Ukrainians are seen walking at Sophia Square in front of Saint Michail Monastery on a hot sunny day in an Old Town of Kyiv Meanwhile, a rocket attack on the Western Ukrainian city of Chortkiv partly destroyed a military facility and injured 22 people, the governor of the Ternopil region said in an online briefing on Sunday. Volodymyr Trush said four missiles had hit the city, 45 miles south of Ternopil, at 1846 GMT on Saturday. 'All missiles were from the Black Sea. A military facility and civilian facilities were partially destroyed. There are no casualties but we have injured - 22 people were hospitalised,' Trush said, adding the injured included a 12-year-old child. Four apartment buildings had been damaged, he said. Russia's defence ministry said the strike on Chortkiv destroyed a 'large depot of anti-tank missile systems, portable air defence systems and shells provided to the Kyiv regime by the US and European countries'. It was a rare attack in western Ukraine, with the east and south of the country having borne the brunt of Russian firepower. Elsewhere, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai conceded Russian forces had taken most of Severodonetsk but said the Azot plant was not being blockaded. He also said Russian shelling had ignited a big fire at the plant. Hundreds of civilians are said to be sheltering at the plant, and Ukraine remains in control of the complex, he said. 'Azot is not blocked, fighting is going on in the streets next to the plant,' Serhiy Gaidai said on Ukraine's television. He added that he expects Russian forces to use all their efforts to try to capture the city either in the coming days. In attempts to conquer eastern Ukraine, Russia has been pushing for control of the key industrial city for weeks. On Sunday, Ukraine's general staff said Russia was conducting 'unsuccessful' assaults on the city, where about 800 civilians have taken refuge in the Azot chemical plant's bunkers, according to the tycoon whose company owns the facility. Haidai said Saturday that the Azot plant had been 'shelled intensely for hours' and the city had been 'ruined' by Russian forces. 'This is their tactics - people are not needed, the infrastructure is not needed, houses are not needed, everything should be simply ruined,' he said. The number of civilian victims would be 'enormous and terrible', he added. FEBRUARY 25: A 10-storey residential tower block in Kyiv is shown after suffering from bomb damage on the second day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which saw Vladimir Putin's forces enter the outskirts of Ukraine's capital city MARCH 7: A woman crosses the street as anti-tank constructions are seen in central Kyiv MARCH 3: A destroyed armoured vehicle is seen on a street in the settlement of Borodyanka, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in the Kyiv region JUNE 4: Crowds gather to view destroyed Russian tanks and armoured vehicles that have been put on display in Saint Michael's Square for public viewing Gaiday said Ukrainian fighters in Severodonetsk were winning street battles, but that Russian artillery would then destroy the buildings those fighters were using for cover - 'storey by storey'. In Donetsk, two civilian deaths and 11 injuries were reported across the region on Saturday, its governor said. According to the area's military administration, 'all major cities in the free territory' of Donetsk 'have been without electricity' since Saturday. In the south, a man died in Odessa after coming into contact with an explosive object while swimming at a beach with his wife and son, the regional Ukrainian command said. Visiting beaches there is currently banned due to the risks of mines. For residents in nearby Mykolaiv, every day brings a brush with death. Igor Karputov, 31, recalled how his neighbourhood was hit last week, shaking his apartment, and how he helped a bleeding man to an ambulance. 'Then I went to another place which had been hit, where emergency services were already taking care of someone,' he told AFP news agency. 'But they were dead. And the one I had helped died in an ambulance.' Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaliy Kim stressed the urgent need for international military assistance. 'Russia's army is more powerful, they have a lot of artillery and ammo... and we are out of ammo,' he said Saturday. On Sunday, the southern command said the Ukrainian Air Force had destroyed ammunition depots and equipment in three air strikes in the last 24 hours, without naming their locations. Ready for the next Cold War: Swedish and Finnish troops join US soldiers for huge NATO war games just days after Putin's chilling threat comparing himself to Peter the Great Sweden and Finland joined 14 NATO countries for a series of huge Baltic Sea war games in recent days amid heightened tensions in the region, as the Nordic nations hope to join the Western alliance in response to Russia's on-going invasion of Ukraine. About 7,000 military personnel and 45 ships took part in the exercises that involved air drops and amphibious landings on Gotland - an island that is strategically located in the middle of the southern part of the Baltic Sea. Gotland has seen foreign invasions throughout its history, the most recent one in 1808, when Russian forces briefly occupied it. The annual BALTOPS exercises saw troops practicing not just how to defend the island with a population of 58,000, but how to take it back from a foreign aggressor. The 14 participating NATO nations include the United Kingdom, United States, France, Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Turkey. The exercises - that run from June 5 to June 12 - came after Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute on Thursday to Tsar Peter the Great on the 350th anniversary of his birth, drawing a parallel between what he portrayed as their twin historic quests to win back Russian lands - in a chilling threat to Nordic nations. 'Peter the Great waged the Great Northern War for 21 years,' Putin said. 'It would seem that he was at war with Sweden, he took something from them. He did not take anything from them, he returned (what was Russia's).' Sweden and Finland have joined 14 NATO countries for Baltic Sea war games amid heightened tensions in the region, as the two countries hope to join the Western alliance in response to Russia's on-going invasion of Ukraine. Pictured: wedish and Finnish soldiers perform naval simulation exercises during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills (Baltops 22) on June 11 About 7,000 military personnel and 45 ships took part in the exercise that involved air drops and amphibious landings on Gotland - an island that is strategically located in the middle of the southern part of the Baltic Sea. Pictured: A soldier is seen firing a machine gun during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday Gotland has seen foreign invasions throughout its history, the most recent one in 1808, when Russian forces briefly occupied it, and the annual BALTOPS exercises saw troops practicing not just how to defend the island with a population of 58,000, but how to take it back from a foreign aggressor. Pictured: Swedish and Finnish soldiers perform naval simulation exercises The 14 participating NATO nations include the United Kingdom, United States, France, Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Turkey. Pictured: Soldiers are shown operating a motor on the island of Gotland during military exercises A Swedish navy military hovercraft travels during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills (Baltops 22) on June 11, 2022 PicturedL A group of soldiers are pictured carrying out an exercise of the Swedish island of Gotland on Saturday In televised comments on day 106 of his war in Ukraine, he compared Peter's campaign with the task facing Russia today. 'Apparently, it also fell to us to return (what is Russia's) and strengthen (the country),' he continued. 'And if we proceed from the fact that these basic values form the basis of our existence, we will certainly succeed in solving the tasks that we face.' Though the annual BALTOPS exercise isn't held in response to a specific threat, this year's edition comes amid heightened tensions with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Despite their non-aligned status, the two Nordic have practiced regularly with NATO countries, and their governments decided in the wake of the Ukraine war to seek full membership in the Western military alliance. 'I'm feeling really prepared. I mean, we have made a big deployment on Gotland, and we will defend Gotland,' Swedish Col. Magnus Frykvall, the island's regiment commander, said as military hardware was being deployed on the coast. 'It's a really hard task to take a defended island.' Having to defend Gotland against a foreign invasion seemed such a far-fetched notion to Swedish decision-makers at the start of the century that they demilitarized the Baltic Sea island. But after the Cold War ended, Sweden felt the risk of a Russian aggression was so remote it refocused its armed forces on foreign peacekeeping operations rather than territorial defence. The Gotland regiment was closed in 2005 as Sweden downsized its military. A Swedish soldier sits on a military boat with a machine during the BALTOPS 22 joint military exercises on Saturday Finnish soldiers perform war simulation exercises during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday A Finnish soldier is seen performing war simulation exercises during the BALTOPS exercises on Saturday Swedish and Finnish soldiers perform war simulation exercises during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday Soldiers are seen inside a bunker overlooking the sea during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday A Swedish navy military hovercraft travels across the water s during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in 2014 led to a rethink, and a new regiment was established on Gotland in 2018. There are now around 400 Swedish soldiers permanently based on the island. Further reinforcements are planned following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Nonetheless, many Gotlanders feel Sweden would not be able to defend the island on its own. 'If we were to be invaded, we wouldn't stand a chance because our defence is too small. We have a really modern and good defence, but it's too small,' said Lars Soderdahl, a 33-year-old chef in the island's main town, Visby. Sweden, which has stayed out of military alliances since the Napoleonic Wars, applied for NATO membership together with Finland in a historic move last month. NATO's existing 30 members are set to discuss the issue this month. Turkey has threatened to hold up the applications over the two countries' perceived support for Kurdish groups. Finland and Sweden have sought security assurances from the U.S. and other NATO countries during the application period. A camouflaged military boat is hidden among the rocks during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday Swedish and Finnish soldiers participate in a war simulation exercise during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills Finnish soldiers perform war simulation exercises during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday Pictured: A Swedish soldier is seen during during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday A soldier is seen camouflaged behind a bush on the Swedish island of Gotland during military exercises on Saturday Kicking off the BALTOPS exercises last weekend in Stockholm, U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it was important for the NATO allies 'to show solidarity with both Finland and Sweden.' Their membership in the alliance would leave Russia in a difficult military position, with the Baltic Sea encircled by NATO members except for in Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad and the Russian city of St. Petersburg and its surrounding areas. The strategic importance of Gotland, a popular summer vacation spot for Swedes, is often viewed in relation to the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which are particularly worried about any Russian aggression following the Ukraine invasion. Gotland is about 60 miles from mainland Sweden and 100 miles from the coast of Latvia. 'The thing is, from here, you make supplying and supporting the Baltic states a lot easier or a lot more difficult, depending on who is in control of the island,' Mikael Norrby, an Uppsala University academic, told The Associated Press. Soldiers prepare for war simulation exercises during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday A soldier is seen with a weapon perched on a rock in woodland during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday A soldier is seen through the trees on the Swedish island of Gotland during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills Swedish and Finnish soldiers perform war simulation exercises during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday Coinciding with the NATO exercises, Russia's Baltic Fleet launched its own military exercises this week. The fleet's press service referred to the manoeuvres Tuesday as a scheduled exercise focused on 'various types of security tasks,' including the tracking and destruction of enemy submarines. 'There are more than 20 warships and boats in the sea ranges of the Baltic Fleet, performing combat tasks both individually and as part of ship search-and-strike groups and ship strike groups,' the press service said in a statement. It said that 60 ships and 40 aircraft were taking part in the manoeuvres which will also take place on land at training grounds in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. It added that corvettes, patrol ships, small missile carriers, anti-submarine vessels, minesweepers, and landing hovercraft were among the vessels taking part in the exercises. The exercises came after Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Friday her country was seeking to make constructive progress in talks with Turkey on Ankara's objections to the Nordic country's application to join the NATO defence alliance. The objections caught Finnish, Swedish and many NATO officials by surprise and have dimmed prospects for rapid progress on the membership bids ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid later this month. A Finnish soldier simulates being injured and evacuated by colleagues during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills A Finnish soldier simulates being injured and evacuated by colleagues during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills A Finnish soldier simulates being injured and evacuated by colleagues during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills A soldier crouches down among the trees on the Swedish island of Gotland, with a rocket launcher on the ground beside him, during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills on Saturday A Finnish soldier simulates being injured and evacuated by colleagues during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills 'Our application has received broad support among NATO members,' Linde said in a foreign policy declaration in the Swedish parliament. 'Our ambition is to, in a constructive spirit, make progress on the questions that Turkey has raised.' Linde added that there should be no doubts that Sweden stood together with allies against terrorism. 'We take Turkey's security very seriously and we will as a NATO member contribute to security for all NATO members, Turkey included,' she told a news conference later in the day. Sweden's government survived a no-confidence vote on Tuesday with the help of a lawmaker whose demands for support for Kurds in Northern Syria could complicate its attempts to join NATO, all of whose members must approve any new entrants. Ankara has also hit out at Swedish authorities for halting arms exports to Turkey in 2019 as the country launched a military operation in northern Syria. While not referring directly to Turkey, Linde said Swedish membership in NATO could 'change the conditions for arms exports within our national regulatory framework'. US and Swedish troops evacuate a wounded comrade on a helicopter as they take part of a war simulation, June 9 US and Swedish troops evacuate a wounded comrade on a helicopter as they take part of a war simulation, June 9 US troops on Gotland beach following amphibious landing drill, part of BALTOPS annual Baltic Sea military exercise in Tofta, Gotland, Sweden on Wednesday, June 7 A US marine is seen aboard a military armoured vehicle as US and Swedish troops take part in a war simulation, June 9 A military tank drives through the Endre village as US and Swedish troops take part in a war simulation, June 9 The minister said talks between representatives of Sweden, Finland, Turkey and NATO were being held in a constructive spirit. Asked at the news conference in what way talks were constructive she replied: 'They are not called off.' She said she had been very surprised by Turkey's objections, which were first voiced publicly shortly after applications were handed in. 'We had had talks (before) with Turkey where they had said that 'we certainly have views on various things that we can discuss where we aren't of the same opinion, but we welcome Sweden and Finland',' she said. Meanwhile, speaking at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Friday, NATO's deputy chief said he sees no immediate military threat to Sweden and Finland from Russia and is confident that the aspiring NATO members will join the alliance despite Turkey's objections. An Aviation Boatswains Mate (Bottom) signals to the pilots of the MV-22 Osprey assault support aircraft, assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, as it approaches to land on the flight deck of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) on June 7 The USS Porter (L) and the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) are pictured on June 6, 2022, during the BALTOPS 22 Exercise in the Baltic Sea Aviation Boatswains Mates work on the UH-1Y Venom utility helicopter assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, onboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) on June 5, 2022 The NATO warship Kearsarge ARG-22 MEU is seen docked on June 4, 2022 in Stockholm, Sweden 'We are confident that Sweden and Finland will join our ranks,' Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana said. 'Allies have concerns. And Turkey has some concerns that are legitimate when it comes to terrorists,' he added. Sweden and Finland have said they condemn terrorism and are open to dialogue. Asked about security guarantees provided to Sweden and Finland in the period up until they become full-fledged members of NATO, Geoana said he did not see any real risk to the countries from Russia. 'We don't see signs from Russia of having the capabilities or intention at this point to be aggressive in military terms against these two aspirant countries,' he said. 'We can treat this period with caution in a proactive way, but we don't see real risks from a traditional military standpoint for Finland and Sweden.' Finland said on Thursday it plans to amend border legislation to allow the building of barriers on its eastern frontier with Russia in a move to strengthen preparedness against hybrid threats. A senior minister branded the EU 'disingenuous' over the Brexit deal that would solve an impasse over Northern Ireland - as the Government prepares to override it with domestic law. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis attacked Brussels for claiming to have shown flexibility over how the international agreement was implemented while doing nothing of the kind. He spoke out as the Government prepared to introduce domestic legislation tomorrow to over-wrote parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol, the subject of months of diplomatic negotiations and anger among unionists. Speaking to broadcasters today Mr Lewis said the controversial Bill that will be laid tomorrow would be 'lawful' and 'correct'. His comments came amid fears that the bill would breach international law and could spark repercussions from Brussels and Washington. He told the BBC's Sunday Morning programme: 'What they've (The EU) been saying consistently across the media and have been reported as saying is that they're offering flexibilities. Well, they're not. 'What the EU are offering is some flexibility based on a fully-implemented protocol. That would be, actually, worse than the situation we've got today.' He added: 'So, I do think they've been disingenuous in suggesting they're being flexible when in fact they've not shown the flexibility that's required to resolve these issues for the people of Northern Ireland.' The European Union, which has been locked in months of deadlocked talks on the protocol, has vowed to retaliate if any part of the Brexit deal agreed by Boris Johnson is unilaterally undone. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said controversial new legislation, to be introduced in Parliament on Monday, would be 'lawful' and 'correct'. The arrangements require regulatory checks and customs declarations on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald insisted that the protocol is working in its current form. Asked if the new legislation will be in breach of the law, Mr Lewis told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: 'The legislation we'll outline tomorrow is within the law. 'What we're going to do is lawful and it is correct. 'We will be setting out our legal position on this. People will see that what we're proposing resolves the key issues within the protocol that don't work.' The Bill due to come before Parliament will see the Government move without the consent of the EU to change the terms of the international treaty in a bid to reduce the checks on the movement of goods across the Irish Sea. The arrangements require regulatory checks and customs declarations on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Unionists in Northern Ireland are vociferously opposed to the protocol, claiming it has undermined the region's place within the United Kingdom. The DUP has blocked the formation of a new power-sharing government at Stormont following last month's Assembly election in protest at the protocol. But the EU has made clear that such a step would represent a breach of international law and could prompt retaliatory action from the bloc. The Biden administration in Washington has also warned against any moves that could undermine peace in the province. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told Sky News 'it does look like' the Government plans to break international law. She said: 'This Government seems to be developing a record for lawbreaking and it is not one that the Labour Party can support. 'We helped bring in the Good Friday agreement, we are deeply, passionately committed to it. 'We want the Northern Ireland Protocol to work but we know to get it to work we have to negotiate and work with our European partners.' Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald insisted that the protocol is working in its current form. She added: 'What the Tory government is proposing to do in breaching international law is to create huge, huge damage to the northern economy, to the Irish economy. 'They propose to breach international law and are on an agenda of undermining, attacking and damaging the Good Friday Agreement.' Mrs McDonald continued: 'Brandon Lewis is talking through his hat, and not for the first time. 'Brandon Lewis should know, the Tory government should know, that where there are issues to be resolved with the protocol, issues of smoothing out its application, there are mechanisms through which that can happen. 'There is a willingness here, a willingness to engage by the European Commission. 'But the British Government has refused to engage, has not been constructive, has sought a destructive path and is now proposing to introduce legislation that will undoubtedly breach international law. 'And against the expressed democratic wishes of people in the north of Ireland who went to the polls, who made their democratic decision and who have returned a majority of members that support the protocol.' A daredevil father will sail 1,900 miles across the Atlantic Ocean in a tiny 3ft3in (1metre) boat he built himself, as he audaciously attempts to break a world record. Andrew Bedwell, 48, who will set off from Newfoundland, Canada, next May, hopes to smash the record for sailing the smallest boat to cross the Atlantic. He compared the journey to being 'stuck in a wheelie bin, on a rollercoaster for 90 days'. The mariner came up with the idea after reading a book by current record holder Hugo Vihlen, who made the perilous passage in a 5ft4in (1.6m) boat 30 years ago. Andrew Bedwell, 48, from Lancashire, hopes to sail 1,900 miles in his tiny 3ft3in boat Andrew's journey will see him sail from Newfoundland, Canada to Lizard Point, Cornwall His fibreglass boat - which is half a metre shorter and has a top speed of 2.5mph - is a modified version of a ship that another ex-record holder, Tom McNally, designed. During Andrew's expected three-month crossing, he'll survive off a protein-rich substance that's moulded around the internal walls of the cockpit to save space. The thrill-seeking father-of-one admitted his wife thinks he's 'crackers', but said he wanted to achieve something 'amazing' before he turned 50. He said: 'I always like to have a real challenge on the go - although my wife quite often feels I'm crackers - but I said before I'm 50 I want to have done something amazing. The daredevil says he anticipates feeling 'stuck in a wheelie bin, on a rollercoaster for 90 days' Andrew seen standing up in his tiny fibreglass boat, which can achieve a top speed of 2.5mph 'All my life, I've done unusual challenges, and it's slowly got more and more important to myself to get smaller and smaller and smaller.' Speaking about his purpose built tiny boat, 'Big C', he said: 'I think a space rocket would have more room. 'This is like being stuck in a wheelie bin, on a rollercoaster for 90 days - and that's what it could be in the worst-case scenario.' The mariner says of his boat that he's confident it can cope with even the roughest of oceans Andrew will survive off a protein-rich substance moulded around the boat's internal walls Andrew, of Scarisbrick, Lancashire, delivers yachts around the world and works as a sail maker. He has spent most of his life embarking on nautical adventures. He previously sailed non-stop around Britain and has taken his small 6.5 carbon racing yacht across the Atlantic and up to the artic circle. But as he got older, Andrew says he became fascinated by seafarers who have attempted to cross oceans in incredibly small, recording-breaking vessels. He said: 'I bought Hugo Vihlen's book, A Stormy Voyage of Father's Day - that's about the current world record holder, who has held it since 1993. 'That kind of started it all off and since then, it has been a slow but very definite kind of route to try and break his record.' Andrew took more than three years to complete the fabrication work with his team on his boat The diminutive vessel measures just 11.4ft (3.5m) tall and has a sail area of just 26ft (8m) Andrew took more than three years to complete the fabrication work with his team on his boat, which measures just 3.5m (11.4ft) tall and has a sail area of just 26ft (8m). But despite its miniature size, the mariner says he's confident the vessel will cope with some of the roughest waters that any human can face on the planet. He said: 'The vessel itself is incredibly strong. It's literally built to survive oceans. It has a fibreglass exterior, then it's got a foam core and fibreglass on the inside. 'Everyone who sees it - and a lot of naval architects have seen it - say, 'she's solid, she's built to do it,' and I know she is as well.' Andrew, who is a sail maker and seasoned mariner, worked on the tiny boat from scratch Sailors often dread their vessel capsizing and becoming swamped with water, but Andrew insists he has no fears with his boat. He said: 'Capsizing is absolutely not an issue whatsoever, because she's designed to go over. The hatch seals down to keep it completely watertight, and it will self-right. 'We know she will be rolled, and she will be battered around, but I've got a full harness in there. 'There are also two big vents on the front of the vessel, and if waves hit them, they will just slam shut and that stops any water ingress in there.' 'And if it is sealed, I've got 40 minutes of air.' Andrew will eat a cold protein-based food stuff during the journey, which will encase his body around the walls of the boat to save space. He said: 'My wife's going to be making these protein bags, basically, of food. And then we're going to mould them into the hull to maximise space as much as possible. 'It will taste pretty vile, but it's just to do the job, basically. There's not going to be any kind of niceties in there - but my daughter might put the odd skittle in.' Andrew will no doubt use his compass to help him navigate across the 1,900-mile journey Inside the cockpit, which will be packed with protein around the walls to sustain Andrew A photo showing the installation of the cockpit and hatch, which is completely watertight Andrew will also carry an onboard desalinator, which will provide him with fresh drinking water throughout his journey, but other than that he will have few luxuries. He said: 'We'll be lowering my food intake so little that I won't be having many bowel movements, but if I do, I will be over the side. 'My one luxury item is going to be a flannel, and that's going to do the job for everything. I'll have one change of clothes - there's just not enough room for more.' Andrew hopes trade winds will bring him to Lizard Point, in Cornwall, sometime between July and August next year, but admits there will be risks along the way. The lightweight, durable sail on Andrew's tiny fibreglass boat measures just 26ft (8m) across He said: 'There are risks, but we're fitting the vessel out with as much safety equipment as possible to basically make it so that every other vessel can see us at all times. 'As we are going across one of the main shipping routes, in bad visibility [and] bad weather, we want the captains to be aware of us as well. 'I'll be contacting as many as possible to make sure they're aware of me on their radar. 'But if I wrap myself up in cotton wool and try and not do anything, would I be happy? No, so I've got to take some risks.' Labour's split over rail strikes widened today as the party ties itself in knots over a walkout expected to cripple the country. Frontbenchers have disagreed over whether or not to support action over public sector pay, led by the RMT, that will hit services for millions. Last week shadow health minister Wes Streeting - tipped as a future party leader - said that he would have voted to strike if he was in the RMT. Labour's Lisa Nandy also caused chaos in the party by saying it was 'on the side' of workers and praising unions for helping 'really struggling' staff including drivers who earn up to 70,000-a-year. Britain's unions have vowed to bring the country to a standstill in a 'summer of discontent' not seen since the 1926 General Strike with railway and Tube workers set to be bolstered by 155,000 comrades at airports, Royal Mail and BT. More than 1million council workers and teachers could strike in the autumn. Shadow levelling up secretary Ms Nandy has broken ranks with Labour's leadership including Sir Keir Starmer, who has dodged the issue so far. Several backbench MPs said they backed the RMT '100 per cent' with Corbynista Richard Burgon demanding 'more mass protests, demonstrations and strikes'. This morning shadow chancellor Rachel Reeve uncomfortably refused to say whether she would follow Mr Streeting's example. Asked if she would go out on strike, Ms Reeves told Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday she wanted 'to be the chancellor of the exchequer' and would do 'everything within my power to avert these strikes' if she were in that role. Appearing later on the BBC she added that striking rail workers are 'not the enemy' and were clapped by the public as key workers during the pandemic. MailOnline can lay bare the strikes being planned to wreck the summer starting at the end of June Last week shadow health minister Wes Streeting - tipped as a future party leader - said that he would have voted to strike if he was in the RMT. Which train operators will be affected? Union members from National Rail and 13 different operators have voted to carry out strike action this month. Those operators are: Avanti West Coast c2c Chiltern Railways CrossCountry East Midlands Railway Greater Anglia GWR LNER Northern Southeastern South Western Railway TransPennine Express West Midlands Trains (including London Northwestern Railway) Advertisement Asked again if she supported the strikes, Ms Reeves said: 'I don't want to see strikes, but nor do people who work in the rail industry want to see strikes. 'They want to see the Government working with industry, working with trade unions, to resolve this, but this Government as per usual seem to be more interested in sowing chaos, sowing division than actually in resolving the issues.' Train drivers are to strike over pay and more rail workers are to be balloted for industrial action in growing disputes in the industry which threaten huge travel disruption in the coming weeks. Labour descended into civil war last night over its 'own goal' response to impending rail strikes and a 'lack of control' at the heart of Sir Keir Starmer's leadership. Leading party moderates raged at the lack of grip in Sir Keir's office, which was allowing frontbenchers to 'freelance' on key policy and risked presenting the party as pro-strikes. One senior Shadow Minister even accused colleagues Lisa Nandy and Wes Streeting of appearing to prepare for a 'future leadership campaign' by pandering to Left-wing members sympathetic to strikes. The senior MP said: Why are we giving the Tories this own goal? Cant we see how badly this is going to play when the strikes happen and the Tories repeat this back? The row broke amid mounting pressure on Sir Keir to condemn militant rail union leaders threatening to paralyse the country with three days of strikes next week. But criticisms that the Labour leader was failing to set out a clear position on strikes and control his frontbench have also fuelled doubts over his leadership. That includes concerns over Sir Keirs ability to beat a wounded Boris Johnson at the next General Election after he failed to capitalise on the massive Tory no-confidence rebellion last week. Even Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has urged her boss to put some more welly into his performances. Critics are furious at how Ms Nandy and Mr Streeting seen as the frontrunners to replace Sir Keir were allowed to freelance on Labours position on the strikes. Levelling up spokeswoman Ms Nandy said Labour was on the rail workers side, while health spokesman Mr Streeting declared if he was an RMT rail union member, I would be voting to go on strike. But one frontbench colleague said last night the tone of their remarks contradicted the Labour Partys official position of being against the strikes. He said: You cant have first one Shadow Cabinet member and then another able to freelance on an issue as big as this. But he blamed lack of discipline and control in Sir Keirs leadership for allowing the situation in the first place. The Shadow Minister said: It speaks to an absolute lack of necessary discipline at the heart of the operation if senior members of the Shadow Cabinet feel they can go around pitching to the members for a putative future leadership election when weve got a General Election to win first. NATO summit offers both opportunities and challenges President Yoon Suk-yeol's plan to attend a NATO summit will mark a turning point in South Korea's multilateral diplomacy. The gathering, scheduled for June 29 and 30 in the Spanish capital of Madrid, will provide a rare opportunity for Yoon to expand the country's diplomatic horizons by stepping up security cooperation with the regional alliance. He will be the country's first president to take part in a summit of NATO, which was created in 1949. Yoon's participation will come as the leader of a NATO partner country, as Korea is not a member of the transatlantic organization. The upcoming summit is drawing much attention as the leaders of Asia-Pacific partners such as Japan, Australia and New Zealand are expected to get together with those of the 30 NATO members. Particularly, the meeting carries significance as NATO is likely to adopt a new strategic concept to expand its role beyond the North Atlantic region to better cope with threats from China in the Asia-Pacific region. This concept is certainly in line with U.S. President Joe Biden's push for an international coalition to counter Beijing's growing regional and global influence. The meeting will also be held against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. NATO is expected to reaffirm its collective security commitments, realign its military preparedness and find a new role in the Asia-Pacific region. Biden has already emphasized the importance of strengthening U.S.' alliances and partnerships with like-minded democracies to promote a rules-based international order. NATO's invitation of President Yoon to the summit is a testament to Korea's rising international status and its strategic value in the Asia-Pacific. It is also a thinly veiled call on South Korea to join the U.S.-led efforts to check the rise of China. Thus, the summit will also put Yoon to a major diplomatic test. That is why Yoon needs to take a cautious approach to avoid a new Cold War confrontation with China, Russia and North Korea. Yoon's attendance in the summit will be his first overseas trip since his May 10 inauguration. A presidential official said that the meeting will be "an important opportunity to strengthen cooperation with NATO allies and partners to maintain the values- and rules-based international order and our country's role as a global pivotal nation." Yoon can ask for NATO's cooperation in coping with North Korea's continuing launches of ballistic missiles including ICBMs and a possible seventh nuclear test. Yoon can hold multiple bilateral summits with the participating leaders. There is also the possibility of his one-on-one meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. If such a meeting takes place, it could pave the way for a breakthrough in Seoul-Tokyo ties, which have hit the lowest level since the 1965 diplomatic normalization. It is necessary for the two leaders to narrow their differences over historical issues such as wartime forced labor and sex slavery. We hope Yoon will produce successful results out of the NATO summit. Advertisement Russians gathered to dine today at the opening of the country's first McDonald's substitute restaurant 'Tasty and that's it'. What's on the 'Tasty and that's it' menu? 'Grandee' burger (Quarter Pounder): 165 (2.32) Double 'Grandee' (Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese): 239 (3.37) Fish burger (Filet-o-fish): 238 (2.38) Chicken Premier (Chicken Mayo with Bacon): 149 (2.10) Six Nuggets (McNuggets): 69 (97p) Pie (Apple Pie): 59 (83p) Ice cream (Sundae): 84 (1.18) Cocktail (Strawberry Milkshake): 145 (2.04) Advertisement The rebranded eatery on Pushkin Square, Moscow city centre replaced McDonald's in all but name after the American fast food giant pulled out of Russia last month - closing its 847 branches and letting go of 60,000 staff. Putin's war in Ukraine made business 'untenable', McDonald's CEO Mike Kempczinski wrote in mid-May. Russian businessman Alexander Govor, who ran 25 McDonald's branches in Siberia, bought all 847 sites off the company three weeks ago. Mr Govor is also a part owner of Neftekhimservis, a construction company which runs an oil refinery. The fast food giant's operations in Russia were worth around 9% of its annual revenue, or $2billion (1.48billion). McDonald's opened its ever first restaurant in the Soviet Union on Pushkin Square on January 31, 1990, with thousands of Russians in attendance. Fewer Muscovites turned up to Vkusno i Tochka - which has also been translated as 'Delicious full stop'. But hundreds were spotted lovin' it, nevertheless, and vying for a bite of Big Mac alternative the 'Grandee'. The 'Chicken Premier' and the unimaginatively named 'Fish burger' are also staples on the new menu. One man was booted out of the launch press conference for holding up a sign which read: 'Bring back the Big Mac'. The iconic burger and McNuggets are no longer on the menu, but the new company's quality manager insisted the products are virtually unchanged. Only eagle-eyed observers could spot more than a handful of differences between McDonald's and its Russian replacement Uniforms are almost identical to McDonald's worker outfits - and the old equipment stayed behind as part of the exit deal Knock-off items include the 'Chicken Premier' and the 'Grandee' burger replacing the Big Mac - but the sundaes are the same Owner Alexander Govor (centre) cuts a ribbon at the 'new' fast food branch on Pushkinskaya Square, Moscow city centre Alexander Merkulov told Reuters the McDonald's equipment and burger ingredients are identical. It's not clear whether all the 'new' restaurant's recipes are the same as before. In a sign of the haste the new owners have had to rebrand in time for the launch, much of the packaging for fries and burgers was plain white. Drink cups and takeaway bags were plain brown. The old McDonald's logo on packets of ketchup and other sauces were covered over with black markings. Not all were impressed with the new offering: a man held a sign reading 'Bring back the Big Mac' before being escorted out Yet Diner Sergei, 15, said: 'The cola is different, but there really is no change to the burger. The food options are strikingly similar to those offered by McDonald's outside Russia - and sauces are marked to remove the old 'M' 'The taste has stayed the same.' The slogan at 'Vkusno & tochka' states: 'The name changes, love stays.' Its logo is an 'M' made up two fries and a small round burger. That's despite there being no 'M' in the new name. The queue at Pushkinskaya square this morning was significantly smaller than the thousands of people who thronged to the original McDonald's opening there in 1990 during the Soviet era. Vkusno & tochka's menu is more limited. It did not offer the Big Mac and some other burgers. A double cheeseburger was going for 129 roubles ($2.31) compared with roughly 160 under McDonald's and a fish burger is 169 roubles, compared with about 190 previously. McDonald's sold all its assets in Russia last month, shuttering 850 restaurants and firing 62,000 workers after 32 years in the country. The American fast food giant, which serves 70million customers a day in 100 nations, said operating in Russia was 'no longer tenable'. A BBC journalist shared an image of a marked McDonald's sauce handed out at the new site, as old supplies were left over A bored-looking staff member holds a foam finger near the tills at the reopened restaurant shortly after its busy opening The new firm's logo is a combination of two upstanding fries and a small round burger symbol, its directors revealed Diners wolfed down American fast food staples at the reopened chain restaurant in central Moscow at lunchtime today Young and excited staff members formerly worked for McDonald's - and kept their jobs despite the company's withdrawal McDonald's stated: 'The humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, and the precipitating unpredictable operating environment, have led McDonald's to conclude that continued ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable.' Chief executive Chris Kempczinski said the 'dedication and loyalty to McDonald's' of employees and hundreds of Russian suppliers made leaving a difficult decision. 'However, we have a commitment to our global community and must remain steadfast in our values,' Mr Kempczinski added, 'and our commitment to our values means that we can no longer keep the arches shining there.' It is the world's second-largest private employer. Then: Thousands waited outside the first ever McDonald's in Russia on January 31, 1990, just weeks after the Berlin Wall fell Now: crowds massed at the new site this morning after McDonald's confirmed its exit from Russia last month amid the war Thousands of Russians thronged to the Pushkinskaya Square restaurant in 1990, a clear symbol of the Cold War's thawing A staff member - wearing badges that are difficult to tell from the old designs - carries food to customers this morning Ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise pots have been marked to remove the McDonald's 'M' as supplies are left over from before Touch screen ordering machines are impossible to differentiate from the McDonald's systems - except the new 'M' logo New owner Mr Govor (holding a microphone) said up to 7billion roubles (100million) will be invested in the chain this year The first McDonald's in Russia opened in the centre of Moscow shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was a powerful symbol of the easing of Cold War tensions. McDonald's was the first American fast food restaurant to open in the Soviet Union, which finally collapsed in 1991. Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Starbucks have also paused or closed operations in Russia in the face of western sanctions. Vkusno & tochka CEO Oleg Paroev said the company was planning to reopen 200 restaurants in Russia by the end of June and all 850 by the end of the summer. The packaging is also very similar to that offered at McDonald's restaurants worldwide, with takeaway bags plain brown A Russian couple pictured tucking into burgers and fries, with sundaes at the ready. They showed Russians are still lovin' it Dog eat dog: a customer sips from a soft drink with a burger in hand as her pet looks on, at the outdoor seating area 'For three months we did not work,' said Ruzanna, manager of a Moscow branch that will open in July. 'Everyone is very pleased.' Alexander Govor, the new owner of the chain, said up to 7 billion roubles (100million) would be invested this year. The business already employs 51,000 people, according to Mr Govor. 'The corporation asked me to, first of all, keep the headcount, to provide people with work. That's what I'm going to do,' he added. Queues gathering at the Pushkinskaya Square restaurant earlier today became crowds by lunchtime as diners swelled Corporations from British energy giants Shell and BP to French carmaker Renault have pulled out of Russia, taking a hit to their bottom lines as they seek to sell their holdings. Other companies have stayed at least partially, with some facing blowback. McDonald's said it expects to record a charge against earnings of between $1.2 billion (980 million) and $1.4 billion (1.1 billion) over leaving Russia. Its restaurants in Ukraine are closed, but the company said it is continuing to pay full salaries for its employees there. Most of the 39,000 McDonald's locations are owned by franchisees. Only about 5 percent are owned and operated by the company. Staff uniforms are jarringly similar to those at McDonald's - and some of the new chain's packaging is yet to be printed But the food offering is no different to what came before, the new company's directors said. Diners agreed with the sentiment McDonald's said its Russian exit will not change its forecast of adding a net 1,300 restaurants this year, which will contribute about 1.5 percent to companywide sales growth. Last month, McDonald's reported that it earned $1.1 billion (898 million) in the first quarter, down from more than $1.5 billion (1.2 billion) a year earlier. Revenue was nearly $5.7 billion (4.6 billion). On February 24, Russia's President Putin ordered troops into Ukraine, triggering unprecedented Western sanctions and sparking an exodus of foreign corporations including H&M, Starbucks and Ikea. French automaker Renault handed over its Russian assets to the government in Moscow last month, marking the first major nationalization of the economic disentanglement. Russian authorities said they were ready to nationalize foreign assets - as happened with Renault - and some officials assured Russians that their favorite brands would have domestic alternatives. Kremlin officials have sought to downplay the gravity of the Western sanctions, promising that Russia will adapt and take steps to stop the flight of foreign currency and capital. Iran is getting 'dangerously' close to completing its nuclear weapons programme and will soon have a nuclear bomb in its arsenal, Israel's prime minister has warned. Naftali Bennett called on Britain and its Western allies to stand up to the Middle-Eastern country and to continue putting pressure on its nuclear efforts. Bennett's comments follow months of deadlock over stalled talks aimed at restoring the Islamic Republic's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Tensions remain high across the wider Middle East over the accord's collapse as U.S. sanctions and rising global food prices choke Iran's ailing economy, putting further pressure on its government and its people. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph this week, Bennett warned that Iran is 'enriching uranium at an unprecedented rate and moving dangerously close to getting their hands on nuclear weapons.' Non-proliferation experts warn Iran has enriched uranium at levels over 60 percent purity - a short technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent - to make one nuclear weapon should it decide to do so. Iran is getting 'dangerously' close to completing its nuclear weapons programme and will soon have a nuclear bomb, Israel's prime minister Naftali Bennett (pictured) has warned Iran insists its nuclear enrichment program is for peaceful purposes, though U.N. experts and Western intelligence agencies say Iran had an organized military nuclear program through 2003. Building a nuclear bomb would still take Iran more time if it pursued a weapon, analysts say, though they warn Tehran's advances make the program more dangerous. Israel has threatened in the past that it would carry out a pre-emptive strike to stop Iran - and already is suspected in a series of recent killings targeting Iranian officials. Bennet said the world must come together to challenge Iran over its programme. 'Without pressure from the west, the Islamic regime in Iran could get their hands on a nuclear bomb very soon,' he told The Telegraph. 'The world must take a firm stance and tell the Islamic regime in Iran: no nukes, no sanctions. Iran's nuclear program won't stop until it's stopped,' he added. One measure Israel has urged Britain to take is the implementation of a 'tripwire' mechanism that would hit Iran with greater sanctions should it take further steps towards building nuclear weapons. Iran and world powers agreed in 2015 to the nuclear deal, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord, raising tensions across the wider Middle East and sparking a series of attacks and incidents. Talks in Vienna about reviving the deal have been on a 'pause' since March. Since the deal's collapse, Iran has been running advanced centrifuges and rapidly growing stockpile of enriched uranium. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that America 'remains committed to a mutual return' to the nuclear deal, but only 'if Iran drops its additional demands that are extraneous.' That likely refers to Iran's insistence its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard be delisted by the U.S. as a terror group. On Wednesday, Bennett praised Wednesday's IAEA board vote to censure Tehran as 'a significant decision that exposes Iran's true face.' The 'IAEA vote is a clear warning light to Iran: If Iran continues its activity, the leading countries must bring the matter back to the U.N. Security Council,' said Bennett, who made an unannounced trip Thursday to the United Arab Emirates. The crisis risks escalating further, however. Non-proliferation experts warn Iran has enriched uranium at levels over 60 percent purity - a short technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent - to make one nuclear weapon should it decide to do so. Pictured: Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi speaking on June 9 Bennett's comments came after the head of the U.N. atomic watchdog said on Thursday that Iran has started removing 27 surveillance cameras from nuclear sites across the country. The U.N. warned this could deal a 'fatal blow' to the nuclear deal. The development came a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors censured Tehran for failing to provide 'credible information' over manufactured nuclear material found at three undeclared sites in the country. 'This, of course, poses a serious challenge to our ability to continue working there,' warned Rafael Mariano Grossi, the IAEA's director-general. He added that if an agreement cannot be reached to restore the cameras in three to four weeks, 'this would be a fatal blow' to Iran's nuclear deal. Already, Grossi warned that without the cameras, Iran could make centrifuges and divert them to unknown locations. 'When we lose this, then it's anybody's guess,' he added. Iran did not immediately acknowledge it was removing the 27 cameras, though it earlier threatened it could take more punitive steps. State media aired footage Thursday of workers disconnecting two IAEA cameras from power. 'It is not acceptable that they show inappropriate behavior while Iran continues to cooperate,' Behrouz Kamalvandi, an Iranian nuclear program spokesman, said Wednesday of the IAEA officials. Iran's hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi struck a much more combative tone Thursday while visiting the central city of Shahr-e Kord. 'Do you assume that we withdraw because of resolutions?' he asked. 'In the name of God and in the name of the nation, Iran will not withdraw from its stance a single step.' Grossi made the comments at a suddenly called news conference in Vienna, standing next to an example of the cameras installed across Iran. Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi presents a surveillance camera at the agency's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Dec. 17 Iran will remove IAEA cameras from sites, including in Tehran, the underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, the facility in Isfahan and the Arak heavy water reactor in Khondab, he said. 'Forty-something' IAEA cameras would remain active in Iran, Grossi said, though Tehran already has been withholding IAEA footage since February 2021 as a pressure tactic to restore the atomic accord. 'We are in a very tense situation with the negotiations on the revival of the (nuclear deal) at a low ebb,' Grossi added. 'Now we are adding this to the picture; so, as you can see, it's not a very nice one.' On Wednesday, Iran said it shut off two devices that the IAEA uses to monitor enrichment at Natanz. Grossi acknowledged that Thursday, saying that among the devices being removed was the Online Enrichment Monitor and flowmeter. Those watch the enrichment of uranium gas through piping at enrichment facilities and allowed inspectors to remotely track its work. Meanwhile, the IAEA earlier on Thursday said Iran informed the agency that it planned to install two new cascades of the IR-6 at Natanz. A cascade is a series of centrifuges hooked together to rapidly spin uranium gas to enrich it. An IR-6 centrifuge spins uranium 10 times faster than the first-generation centrifuges that Iran was once limited to under its nuclear deal with world powers. As of February, Iran already had been spinning a cascade of IR-6s at its underground facility at Fordo, according to the IAEA. Iran earlier said it planned to install one cascade of IR-6s at Natanz. The IAEA said it 'verified' the ongoing installation of that cascade Monday, while the installing of the newly promised two other cascades had yet to begin. A 70-year-old woman who was trampled to death by an elephant later had her body stampeded over by the very same wild animal. Maya Murmu was out collecting water in Raipal village, Eastern India when the escaped elephant came out of nowhere and trampled her on Thursday morning. She later died in hospital of her injuries, Rasgovindpur police station inspector Lopamudra Nayak said. Then that evening the elephant returned as the 70-year-old's body lay on top of her funeral pyre. It took her body down, trampled her again, threw her around and went off into the night, according to the Press Trust of India. An elephant trampled 70-year-old Maya Murmu while she was drawing water in India (stock image) The elephant is believed to have travelled from the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary in the state of Jharkhand, 200km away from Raipal in Odisha state, Mayurbhanj district. According to local reports, the Independent said, the second trampling happened while Ms Murmus family were performing last rites. It is now known if anyone else was harmed but the family did go ahead with the ceremony after the elephant left. Around 100 people in India are killed each year by elephants, though the number can be as high as 300, according to the World Wildlife Fund. The Indian government limits potentially deadly human-elephant encounters by tagging the giants with radio collars and alerting locals via text messages when the beasts wander through human-populated zones. In the above video a man is seen being trampled by an elephant in 2021. The footage, recorded in the Dhubri district, shows the elephant emerging from the forest in pursuit of its victim and the man running for his life. The injured man was rushed to safety while the forest officials chased the jumbo back towards the forest cover. India Today reported the man was 'severely injured' although still alive, receiving treatment in hospital on 19 December. The dramatic moment balaclava-clad assailants storm through a home and threaten its occupants with a gun has been inadvertently live-streamed online. NSW Police said a man was punched in the face when he answered the door of a home in Villawood in Sydney's west at about 11:30pm on Saturday night. The 33-year-old had been live-streaming on social media platform TikTok moments before the altercation, with the aftermath witnessed by several virtual bystanders. In video of the dramatic home invasion, a woman can be heard pleading with the two men to leave her alone as they repeatedly ask her where the safe is. One of the men appears on the TikTok livestream holding a pile of what appears to be designer clothes which he removes from the room (pictured) 'Where's the money? Where's the money?,' one shouts at the woman. A confused man still taking part in the live-stream looks increasingly concerned as audio of the home invasion continues. 'What the f*** is going on,' he says as the woman starts to call for 'Wally'. One of the men then appears on the livestream holding a pile of what appears to be designer clothes which he is seen removing from the room. Police said emergency services were called to the home just before midnight following reports of a home invasion. They said an occupant answered a knock at the door of the granny flat and was punched in the face and knocked to the ground unconscious. 'The injured man had been live streaming on a social media platform at the time and police were notified,' police said in a statement. A confused man still part of the live-stream looks increasingly concerned as a woman is heard pleading with two assailants to leave her alone (pictured) Two men wearing balaclavas then entered the home and threatened a female occupant with a firearm before taking clothing and fleeing. Police said a 33-year-old man was treated for a laceration to his head at the home and later transported to Liverpool Hospital in a stable condition. A crime scene has been established at the Villawood home with forensics scouring the scene for clues. Authorities have asked that anyone with information contact Crime Stoppers. A former British soldier was killed on Friday fighting to defend Ukraine from the on-going Russian invasion, his family has said. Jordan Gatley, who left the British Army in March, was reportedly killed in the eastern city of Severodonetsk where the fiercest fighting of the war so far is taking place. His father Dean Gatley, from Cheshire, said the 'hero' former soldier travelled to Ukraine after Vladimir Putin ordered his soldiers into Ukraine of February 24. In an emotional tribute confirming the news, Dean wrote on Facebook: 'I didn't think that I'd ever use social media in this way but Sally, Adam and I would like to share some family news with all our friends, but there are just too many people to contact. 'Yesterday (10/06/22) we received the devastating news that our son, Jordan, has been shot and killed in the city of Severodonetsk, Ukraine,' he wrote, while posting pictures of Jordan as a child and in his military uniform. Explaining the circumstances, Dean continued: 'Jordan left the British Army in March this year to continue his career as a soldier in other areas. The war against Europe had begun so, after careful consideration, he went to the Ukraine to help. Jordan Gatley (left and right), who left the British Army in March, was reportedly killed in the eastern city of Severodonetsk where the fiercest fighting of the war so far is taking place. Dean Gatley (pictured right with Jordan), from Cheshire, said the former soldier travelled to Ukraine after Vladimir Putin ordered his soldiers into Ukraine of February 24 'We have had several messages from his team out there telling us of his wealth of knowledge, his skills as a soldier and his love of his job. His team say they all loved him, as did we, and he made a massive difference to many people's lives, not only soldiering, but also by training the Ukrainian forces,' he said. Dean wrote that his son and his unit in Ukraine were 'so proud' of what they were doing in the embattled country, and that the missions they were undertaking were 'dangerous, but necessary.' 'He loved his job and we are so proud of him. He truly was a hero and will forever be in our hearts,' he said. In a statement to MailOnline, the Foreign Office said it was 'supporting the family of a British man who has died in Ukraine.' Jordan Gatley becomes the second British fighter to have been killed in Ukraine after 36-year-old volunteer soldier Scott Sibley was killed fighting Russian troops in April. The father was a veteran of the British armed forces who served in the Commando Logistic Support Squadron in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, UK nationals Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were sentenced to death on Thursday in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) breakaway region of Ukraine in what has since been described as a 'sham judgment' by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. Britain says Aslin and Pinner were regular soldiers and should be exempt under the Geneva Conventions from prosecution for participation in hostilities. The pro-Russian separatists who control Donetsk say they committed grave crimes fighting as 'mercenaries' and have a month to appeal. After fierce criticism from the UK military, Ms Truss was forced to backtrack after initially giving her blessing for Britons to go and fight in Ukraine. Jordan Gatley was killed fighting in Ukraine's eastern city of Severodonetsk, his family said. The battle for the city has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the war so far. Pictured: Smoke and dirt rise from shelling in the city of Severodonetsk during fight between Ukrainian and Russian troops in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas on June 7, 2022 Jordan Gatley becomes the second British fighter to have been killed in Ukraine after volunteer soldier 36-year-old Scott Sibley (pictured) was killed fighting Russian troops in April Sievierodonetsk has become epicentre of the battle for control over the industrialised Donbas region in the east, made up of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. Parts of the city have been pulverised in some of the bloodiest fighting since Moscow began its invasion on Feb. 24. The tragic news came as Ukraine's general staff said Russia was conducting 'unsuccessful' assaults on the city, where about 800 civilians have taken refuge in the Azot chemical plant's bunkers, according to the tycoon whose company owns the facility. Gaiday said Saturday that the Azot plant had been 'shelled intensely for hours' and the city had been 'ruined' by Russian forces. 'This is their tactics - people are not needed, the infrastructure is not needed, houses are not needed, everything should be simply ruined,' he said. The number of civilian victims would be 'enormous and terrible', he added. Gaiday said Ukrainian fighters in Severodonetsk were winning street battles, but that Russian artillery would then destroy the buildings those fighters were using for cover - 'storey by storey'. In Donetsk, two civilian deaths and 11 injuries were reported across the region on Saturday, its governor said. According to the area's military administration, 'all major cities in the free territory' of Donetsk 'have been without electricity' since Saturday. In the south, a man died in Odessa after coming into contact with an explosive object while swimming at a beach with his wife and son, the regional Ukrainian command said. Visiting beaches there is currently banned due to the risks of mines. For residents in nearby Mykolaiv, every day brings a brush with death. Igor Karputov, 31, recalled how his neighbourhood was hit last week, shaking his apartment, and how he helped a bleeding man to an ambulance. 'Then I went to another place which had been hit, where emergency services were already taking care of someone,' he told AFP. 'But they were dead. And the one I had helped died in an ambulance.' Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaliy Kim stressed the urgent need for international military assistance. 'Russia's army is more powerful, they have a lot of artillery and ammo... and we are out of ammo,' he said Saturday. On Sunday, the southern command said the Ukrainian Air Force had destroyed ammunition depots and equipment in three air strikes in the last 24 hours, without naming their locations. A 68-year-old blind stroke survivor has been refused a much-needed guide dog after her local council failed to sort out the half-mile long footpath blocked by overgrown shrubs. Janice Parker, from Chelmsford, Essex, has slammed councillors for failing to act on the dangerous footpath on Baker's Lane, which is her only route to and from her home, which she has fallen four times on in the last year. The widowed pensioner went blind after having a stroke in 2019. she has no sight in her right eye and only partial sight in her left. And because nothing has been done to fix the walkway, Guide Dogs UK told Mrs Parker that she could not have an assistance pet because the pavement was 'extremely unsuitable for a guide dog'. She said: 'I'm really sad about it. A guide dog would help me so much. I would have so much more confidence walking with the dog than with my cane. 'I've asked the council to sort this out but they don't want to spend the money - surely someone's safety is more important than money?' Janice Parker, a 68-year-old blind stroke survivor (pictured), has been refused a much-needed guide dog after her local council failed to sort out the half-mile long footpath on Baker's Lane, near her home in Chelmsford, Essex, blocked by overgrown shrubs Last month, the guide dog charity rejected her application for an assistant pet after visiting her home in Chelmsford. Essex County Council has apologised to the 68-year-old for 'the inconvenience caused'. Guide Dogs UK said that blocked or damaged pavements pose dangers for people with assistance dogs as they can be forced onto the road. Janice, who has two children and five grandkids, said: 'The path is terrible, it's extremely uneven. My cane gets stuck in the ridges and the growth. 'I've fallen over four times this year, fortunately, there was no major damage done. A guide dog would help me so much. My eyesight is atrocious. Sometimes I walk into things on my right side and I find steps really difficult. 'The Guide Dogs charity said that due to the state of the footpath it's extremely unsuitable for me with a cane or with a guide dog. The widowed pensioner went blind after having a stroke in 2019. she has no sight in her right eye and only partial sight in her left. And because nothing has been done to fix the walkway, Guide Dogs UK told Mrs Parker that she could not have an assistance pet because the pavement was 'extremely unsuitable for a guide dog' 'They said that if the footpath is sorted out to a reasonable standard then I could reapply and go from there.' The path, which has several utility poles on it, runs alongside a road that leads to around 300 homes and a nursery. Janice, a retired McDonald's supervisor, said: 'The council are now saying that they need to know if they are responsible for the hedges. 'But sorry, they can look that up within minutes. And that doesn't change the state of the footpath. I spoke to the council about it three times last year and they told me it was all in hand but nothing happened. 'I'm not going to give up, I'm going to keep badgering them.' Last month, the guide dog charity rejected her application for an assistant pet after visiting her home in Chelmsford. Essex County Council has apologised to the 68-year-old for 'the inconvenience caused' Senior policy and campaigns manager at Guide Dogs UK, Chris Theobald, said that poor pavements are 'all too common a problem' for people with sight loss. He said in a statement: 'We're not able to comment on individual applications for a guide dog, however when we make our assessments we take many factors into account, including the local environment. 'In cases where the applicant's regular routes would be unsuitable for a guide dog, we may not be able to offer them a partnership. 'Guide dogs need space to work, and very narrow pavements combined with obstacles such as masts or other street clutter can force guide dogs and their owner out into the road repeatedly, potentially causing a real risk to their safety. Guide Dogs UK said that blocked or damaged pavements pose dangers for people with assistance dogs as they can be forced onto the road. Baker Lane is pictured 'Blocked and damaged pavements are sadly all too common a problem for people with sight loss around the country.' A spokesperson for Essex Highways said: 'We are sorry to hear about the inconvenience to Ms Parker. 'We've looked into the situation and have concluded that the vegetation in question is situated on privately owned land. It is the landowner's responsibility to manage this and cut it back. 'We have already commenced enforcement activity by contacting the landowner in question to request that the vegetation be cut back within a satisfactory timescale, specified by ourselves.' Australia's east coast is set to receive a much-anticipated reprieve from cold and wintry conditions as a brutal cold snap finally comes to an end. Sun-seekers across Australia can look forward to a warm end to the week as temperatures heat-up from Tuesday and last well into the weekend. Sydneysiders will enjoy maximum temperatures of 20C on Thursday, with the mercury tipped to reach 24C in Brisbane and 15C in Melbourne. A high-pressure system moving across NSW can be thanked for the warm weather which will see longer periods of sunshine enjoyed across the east coast. Pedestrians brave the cold in the central business district of Sydney, BOM predicts the mercury will rise on Thursday The east coast is set to receive a much-anticipated reprieve from cold and wintry conditions as a brutal cold snap finally comes to an end (pictured, locals enjoy a picnic in Sydney) Icy winds blowing up from the Southern Ocean will see a cold start to the week for Australia's east coast (pictured) Adelaide will see temperatures of 17C on Thursday, while Perth will hit 22C, Canberra 13C, Darwin will reach 33C while Hobart will linger at around 15C. 'Cool and windy conditions are easing across the southeast of NSW today & Monday, but nights will be colder for the coming days,' the Bureau of Meteorology tweeted. The warm weekend will follow a brisk start to the working week with freezing winds blowing across the Southern Ocean causing temperatures to plummet. Much of the NSW coast was lashed with heavy surf and swells after a low pressure system moved across the Tasman Sea on Sunday. The bureau issued a severe weather warning for damaging surf conditions and strong winds for Sydney, the south coast, and the Hunter and Illawarra regions. Cool and windy conditions are easing across the southeast of #NSW today & Monday, but nights will be colder for the coming days. Areas of frost are likely. Next trough may bring a few showers to the southern ranges and inland mid-week. See latest at https://t.co/KNc3Cesmkb pic.twitter.com/Ue5woItKzd Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) June 12, 2022 Sun-seekers across Australia can look forward to a warm end to the week as temperatures heat-up from Tuesday and last well into the weekend (pictured, residents in Sydney) Sun-seekers across Australia can look forward to a warm end to the week as temperatures heat-up from Tuesday and last well into the weekend Customers sit outside of a cafe at Bondi Beach in Sydney as the sun shine comes out Offshore waves of four metres high were recorded late on Sunday afternoon with forecasters predicting waves would reach five metres during the evening. The wild conditions are due to ease on Monday afternoon, with residents warned to stay away from 'surf and surf-exposed areas' until then. Blizzard conditions were forecast for the Snowy Mountain as NSW records its best snow season in two decades, with 125cm of fresh snow continuing to fall, and Thredbo Resort recording another 125cm over the past week. Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathan How said residents should expect the freezing temperatures to continue. 'The outlook for the rest of winter is looking to be cooler and wetter than average across the eastern and southern part of the country,' he told Sunrise. 'A little bit of a taste of what is to come. We still have two-and-a-half months of this cold, wintry weather.' Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathan How said residents should expect the freezing temperatures to continue (pictured, a weather map of icy winds from the south) Sydneysiders will enjoy maximum temperatures of 20C on Thursday, with temperatures to reach 24C in Brisbane and 15C in Melbourne (pictured, Sydney residents in Double Bay) Mr How described the long spell of freezing temperatures as 'quite significant'. 'We have not seen many individual records broken, but the length of time has been quite significant, especially for people in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane,' he said. It comes as Australia looks set to cop a third consecutive summer of heavy rainfall and flooding as new research reveals La Nina conditions becoming the norm. The lead researcher on a major investigation into ocean currents altered by global warming told Daily Mail Australia that the changes making wet, cooler weather more likely for Australia are already underway. Dr Matthew England said new work done by climate modelling centres around the world indicated an extremely rare 'triple La Nina' was likely for the 2022-23 summer. La Nina weather events sometimes last two years but three is rare with the last one occurring 20 years ago. Warmer, drier El Nino patterns frequently last several years. Australia looks set to cop a third consecutive summer of heavy rain and flooding as new research backs worsening La Nina conditions becoming the norm Dr Matthew England said new work done by climate modelling centres around the world indicated an extremely rare 'triple La Nina' was likely again for the 2022-23 summer. (Pictured a house in Lismore, northern NSW engulfed by flames while submerged in floodwaters) Dr England said the dreaded La Nina weather patterns are likely to occur more often and be more severe only Dr England said the dreaded La Nina weather patterns are not only likely to occur more often but are also predicted to become more severe. 'They don't always get it right, but their first predictions are saying this La Nina is not going to go away [and will be here] here right through summer,' Dr England told Daily Mail Australia. Mike McPhaden, a senior research scientist at the US governments National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, repeated the prediction. 'This has the potential to be a triple dip La Nina that could go into early 2023,' he told The Guardian. A University of New South Wales report published in the Nature Climate Change journal uncovered that the conveyor belt of ocean currents is starting to 'slow down' triggering long-lasting La Nina weather patterns (graphic pictured) Mr England's University of NSW team found that melting sea ice was stopping vital ocean currents from circulating between the northern and southern hemispheres, a process which usually takes heat out of oceans just south of the equator. When the heat doesn't dissipate, it rises, producing stronger trade winds and warmer waters in our region. This combines to produce La Nina conditions. 'Those winds blowing strongly from Peru and Latin America to Australia pile warm water up on our side of the Pacific. That provides a lot of rainfall for Australia and it effectively gives us La Nina conditions,' Mr England said. Over the past century warmer, drier El Nino weather patterns have been more common than wetter and cooler La Ninas, but Australia could be in for its third straight wet season This could mean a repeat of the torrential rain than led to disastrous flooding on Australia's east coast from late February to early April. The report speculated that if the 'Atlantic meridional overturning circulation' pattern continues to slow and collapses then La Nina could actually become 'the norm' for Australia. Mr England told Daily Mail Australia 'this is already happening'. Australia's most expensive natural disasters 1- Eastern Sydney Hailstorm (1999, $5.57billion) 2- Cyclone Tracey (1974, $5.04billion) 3- Cyclone Dinah (1967, $4.69billion) 4- East coast floods (2022, $4.3billion 5- Newcastle earthquake (1989, $4.24 billion). Source: Insurance Council of Australia. Advertisement 'We'll still get El Nino patterns in the future, but [the phenomenon] is stacking the odds of more La Ninas.' Mr England said it's also predicted that 'around the world La Ninas will get more intense', potentially bringing even more severe flooding. 'Australians may think of La Nina summers as cool and wet. But under the long-term warming trend of climate change, their worst impacts will be flooding rain, especially over the east,' said the report, which was published in the Nature Climate Change journal. In Australia, El Nino patterns generally produce less rain and warmer temperatures and are often associated with severe drought. Over the past century they have been more common than wetter and cooler La Ninas. Widespread flooding across south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales swamped cities and regional centres including Brisbane, Logan, Lismore, Ballina, Gympie, Grafton and Maryborough. In the three days to February 28, greater Brisbane received 676.8mm of rain - the largest seven day total ever recorded. The 2022 floods were Australia's fourth most expensive natural disaster. The total cost of the flooding was far higher than the insurance costs though, at least $8billion By March 1, 30 locations in southeast Queensland copped over a metre of rain making the floods the region's worst ever. Parts of the Sunshine Coast, Caboolture, Toowoomba, Ipswich, the Gold Coast, Murwillumbah, Grafton, Byron Bay, the NSW Central Coast and parts of Sydney were also extensively flooded. This month the Insurance Council of Australia said the 2022 floods cost over $4.3billion from 216,465 insurance claims, making it Australia's fourth most expensive natural disaster. The total cost of the flooding was far higher than the insurance costs though, at least $8billion. It was estimated the cost of repairs to just one town, Lismore, is almost $1billion. Property damage accounted for 86.4 per cent of claims. New York City has been spending heavily on sending drag queens into its public elementary schools, dropping more than $200,000 on appearances since 2018. Just last month, records show the city paying $46,000 to send Drag Story Hour NYC to public schools, libraries, and street festivals, according to the New York Post. Some parents say the programs were booked without their consent, while city officials have responded with outrage, according to the Post. The news comes as debates rage across the country about how gender identity and young children should interact. A photo of of a drag queen reading to kids from Drag Story Hour NYC. New York City has spent over $200,000 since 2018 hiring the organization for events at public schools NYC has spent $46,000 hiring drag queens to read to students at public schools in 2022 alone In 2022 alone, Drag Story Hour NYC has made 49 appearances at 34 public schools in New York City, according to its website. The organization characterizes itself as promoting inclusivity, creativity, and acceptance of the self in children, by exposing them to drag queens reading similarly thematic books. 'Through fun and fabulous educational experiences, our programs celebrate gender diversity and all forms of difference to build empathy and give kids the confidence to express themselves however they feel comfortable,' the website reads. Images from the site show people dressed in bedazzled dresses, shimmering wigs, and heavy eye shadow, reading to young children in classroom, and even helping the kids apply makeup themselves. A drag performer from Drag Story Hour NYC reading to children at an event. Parents told the New York Post that the events happened at their children's school often without parental consent A performer showing off some of the books read to children at drag events at public schools. The books tend to be about gender fluid topics The company has received $207,000 from taxpayers since 2018, records show. $50,000 of that has come from the New York State Council on the Arts, and the other $157,000 from the NYC Department of Education, the Department of Youth and Community Development, the Department of Transportation, and Cultural Affairs. The funds were provided by city council members, with $80,000 being allocated for drag programs in 2022 alone - over three times as much as was provided in 2020 for drag programs. 'I can't believe this. I am shocked,' Helen Qiu, the mother of a Manhattan middle school student, told the Post, 'I would be furious if he was exposed without my consent. This is not part of the curriculum.' The funds were provided by city council members, with $80,000 being allocated for drag programs in 2022 alone - over three times as much as was provided in 2020 for drag programs $50,000 in funding came from the New York State Council on the Arts, and the other $157,000 from the NYC Department of Education, the Department of Youth and Community Development, the Department of Transportation, and Cultural Affairs But some parents say that the drag programs have taken place without their consent, and that they only learned about them after their kids came home from school and mentioned them. 'I didn't get any notice, my daughter actually came home and told me that a drag queen came to the school,' said PS 191 parent Reese Harrington. 'I feel like it would have been better for that conversation to happen at home.' Storm Neverson, the parent of nine and six-year-old girls at the STAR academy, expressed concerns about schools exposing young children to drag queens. 'If they were in junior high school or middle school, I would be okay with that because I feel like they would have a little bit more understanding,' said Neverson. 'At this time, the kids were just a little too young.' Neverson said that she was told that the program was happening, but that she was not asked if she thought it was okay. 'It was mostly just like a heads up, you know, like, "Hey, this event is coming up. We're gonna have these people come in." And that was that,' Neverson said. Some parents say that the drag programs have taken place without their consent, and that they only learned about them after their kids came home from school and mentioned them A book read to school children by performers from Drag Story Hour NYC. 'If You're a Drag Queen You Know it' is just one of many thematic books read by the program Queens City Council member Vicki Paladino responded with outrage over news of the city's drag queen expenses. 'I am considering pulling funding to any school in my district that is implementing Drag Queen Story Hour,' Paladino said, 'We are taking hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the pockets of hardworking New York taxpayers to fund a program teaching little children about their gender fluidity? Not. On. My. Watch.' The Department of Education defended the city's expenses on the drag queen appearances at schools, characterizing them as helping prevent violence against transgender people. 'Last year, 50 transgender or gender-nonconforming people were killed in the United States due to their identity,' spokeswoman Suzan Sumer told the Post, 'We believe our schools play a critical role in helping young people learn about and respect people who may be different from them.' A drag queen performing at the 'Drag Your Kids to Pride' event at a Dallas gay night club on Saturday, June 4. Children can be seen sitting on stools lining the runway A kid handing over dollar bills to drag performers at the Mr. Misster gay nightclub at a family drag show on Saturday, June 4 News of the program comes as debates and controversies swirl across the country about the role of gender-identity exposure and education to children. Just last week, a Dallas gay bar threw a pride month event that invited kids to join drag queens on stage beneath a pink neon sign reading 'It's not gonna lick itself.' In March, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into a parental rights bill that bans teachers from giving classroom instruction on 'sexual orientation' or 'gender identity' in kindergarten through third grade. In April, a Tennessee lawmaker said he would 'burn' banned books if he could, as books about gender identity top the lists of banned titles at schools across the country. In May, a Florida mother sued her daughter's school after teachers created a 'transgender support plan' for her daughter without asking for parental consent. This month, even Pizza Hut was pulled into the debate after it promoted a children's book that featured a little boy who dresses in drag. Also this month, DeSantis moved to ban transition therapies for children and revoke Medicaid support for trans adults' treatments in Florida. That includes suspending access to 'puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries'. 'Florida must do more to protect children from politics-based medicine,' wrote state surgeon general Joseph Lapado, who DeSantis appointed to his post in February. 'Otherwise, children and adolescents in our state will continue to face a substantial risk of long-term harm.' An NHS trust is 'awarding companies vying for multi-million pound healthcare contracts higher marks in its bidding process if they adopt LGBT charity Stonewall's pro-trans ideology', a whistleblower has claimed. Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust marks bidders on a scale of zero to four based on their responses to 35 questions on official tender documents to provide stoma services at its hospitals. The documents, for contracts worth millions of pounds, include five questions titled 'Stonewall UK Workplace Equality Index', The Telegraph reports. They ask about 'diversity and inclusion strategies' backed by Stonewall, which has been mired in controversy over its gender identity views, and insistence that people should be able to access single-sex wards based on the gender that they identify as - not their biological sex. The charity has also called for the word 'mothers' to be replaced with the gender-neutral term 'parent who has given birth'. Channel 4, Ofsted and the Department of Health have all cut ties with Stonewall, while more than 700 nurses and midwives wrote to the Nursing and Midwifery Council to detail their concerns about its stance on medical issues in February. Stonewall's workplace diversity scheme has been criticised for creating 'woke' work environments that curb free speech among staff. Protesters hold a banner during a rally at Parliament Square in October last year calling for public bodies and private companies who are members of Stonewall to come out of the charity scheme Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust's hospitals include Queen Elizabeth Hospital and University Hospital Lewisham (pictured) Nurses and midwives who signed the petition argued that the NMC's affiliation with Stonewall impeded their ability to speak out for the rights of female patients, as they are professionally obliged. The first Stonewall question on the document, on the internal NHS website, reads: 'Are you a member of the Stonewall UK Workplace Equality Index?' Bidders can then given a mark of zero for 'failure to understand' or 'no confidence that the requirements will be delivered'. Alternatively, the highest rating of four can be given where there is a 'high degree of confidence that the potential providers proposal will meet the requirements'. Stonewall's questions are also given equal weighting to those of imperative medical questions including training, length of hospital stay, patient satisfaction and risk assessments. Another of the questions asks: 'Do you have a policy that explicitly bans discrimination, bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity?' And the others read 'Do you monitor incidents of bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity?... Do you have a transitioning at work policy?...Do you have a diversity and inclusion strategy?' The contract comes under the umbrella of the Guys and St Thomas NHS trust procurement group, with the whistleblower raising concerns that it has become a standard template that is in use by NHS trusts across London. The documents are to deliver stoma services, namely an opening made in the stomach during a colostomy or ileostomy procedure. The whistleblower said: 'The outcome of this is the NHS might accept a tender from a company offering an inferior product or a higher price based on Stonewall membership. 'To put it another way the NHS is willing to compromise on patient care to promote Stonewall. It is worth pointing out these are very large and important contracts worth multiple millions of pounds over many years for winning companies. 'I would like to find a way to draw this to people's attention and hopefully return the NHS to putting people's health ahead of virtue signalling and political campaigning. 'Currently a publicly funded service is pressuring private companies to give money to an extremist far left misogynistic campaign group.' Stonewall's 'Diversity Champions' programme is a membership scheme for employers that aims to make their workplace a space where LGBT+ staff can feel free to be themselves. Organisations pay thousands of pounds to be part of the programme, which allows them to use Stonewall promotional logos and materials and gain access to training to make their workplace LGBT+ friendly. Six NHS bodies featured in Stonewall's 'top 100 employers' this year, including NHS England. Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust's hospitals include Queen Elizabeth Hospital and University Hospital Lewisham - as well as other health services in the Lewisham borough. A spokesperson for Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust said: 'Under national guidance, NHS trusts are required to apply 10 per cent social value weighting for tenders. 'This includes environmental, economic and social issues and is one of a number of things we consider when procuring services." The statement added: 'These particular questions are not a standard tender framework for two other trusts it supports.' Russia is relying on Cold War-era missiles with 'severe' risks to civilians as Putin's forces have run out of modern weapons, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) claimed. The government's daily intelligence update on Saturday also offered new details of 'intense street fighting' in eastern Ukraine as Russian soldiers were pushed back. Antiquated Kh-22 missiles from the 1960s are extra dangerous as they 'are highly inaccurate and therefore can cause severe collateral damage and causalities', the ministry wrote. Russia is likely using the heavy anti-ship missiles because it is running low on more precise modern missiles, it stated. A battle-scarred grain processing facility in port Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, pictured today Highway to hell: gutted cars sit along a ruined street close to Severodonetsk, Luhansk region It gave no details of where exactly such missiles are have been deployed. They have a range of around 1,000km (600 miles). The MoD added: '[They] were primarily designed to destroy aircraft carriers using a nuclear warhead. 'When employed in a ground attack role with a conventional warhead they are highly inaccurate and can therefore cause significant collateral damage and civilian casualties.' Ukraine decommissioned 423 Cold War-era missiles before 2006 after signing a disarmament treaty. The ministry concluded: 'Russia is likely resorting to such inefficient weapon systems because it is running short of more precise modern missiles, while Ukrainian air defences still deter its tactical aircraft from conducting strikes across much of the country.' Jordan Gatley (left and right), who left the British Army in March, was reportedly killed in the eastern city of Severodonetsk where the fiercest fighting of the war so far is taking place. Dean Gatley (pictured right with Jordan), from Cheshire, said the former soldier travelled to Ukraine Russian artillery rains down on Severodonetsk, eastern Ukraine as fighting intensified The 5.5-tonne anti ship missiles, when used on civilians, could cause 'severe' casualties: MoD There has been no confirmation from Ukrainian authorities on the use of the 5.5-tonne missiles. Heavy fighting continues in eastern cities Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, with flamethrowers allegedly used to target homes and wheat fields. Luhansk region governor Serhiy Haidai wrote on Telegram last night that 'many houses burned down' as a result of Russian rampages in nearby Vrubivka. Russian forces are also expected to launch a new offensive in Sloviansk, Donetsk. Putin's army has pivoted to the east of Ukraine since its offensive on major cities Kyiv and Kharkiv failed. Piles of burning grain of and destroyed infrastructure as seen in Sivers'k, Donbas last month Photos taken in Crimea last month show Russian-flagged carrier ships docking and loading next to huge silos, raising concerns about massive thefts of Ukrainian grain supplies Russia is hoping to shore up the territories it already control and continue its stranglehold on Ukraine's Black Sea ports. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken estimated there are 20million tonnes of grain sitting in locked silos outside trade centre Odesa. There is more waiting on stuck ships blocked from leaving the Black Sea port. Mr Blinken said on Friday: 'President Putin is stopping food from being shipped and aggressively using his propaganda machine to deflect or distort responsibility, because he hopes it'll get the world to give in to him and end the sanctions. 'In other words, quite simply put, it's blackmail. 'The Kremlin needs to realise that it is exporting starvation and suffering well beyond Ukrainian quarters, with countries in Africa that are experiencing an outsized share of the pain.' Jordan Gatley becomes the second British fighter to have been killed in Ukraine after volunteer soldier 36-year-old Scott Sibley (pictured) was killed fighting Russian troops in April A man looks on at charity supplies in a Kharkiv church during the Holy Trinity mass today EU president Ursula von der Leyen met with President Zelensky in Kyiv yesterday. She was pictured arriving at the capital's train station wearing a flak jacket, later appearing at a press conference with Mr Zelensky. Ms Von der Leyen said her discussions with Zelensky today 'will enable us to finalise our assessment by the end of next week' on whether to recommend Ukraine as a candidate for membership. Mr Zelensky has been pressing for rapid admission into the European Union as a way of reducing Ukraine's geopolitical vulnerability, which was brutally exposed by Russia's February 24 invasion. But a decision in favour of Ukraine's admission would only be a preliminary step in a long process. All 27 EU governments would have to agree to grant Ukraine candidate status, after which there would be extensive talks on the reforms required before Kyiv could be considered for membership. A woman strolls past piles of debris in Sloviansk, eastern Ukraine, which is preparing for battle Ukraine is expected to provide a list of weapons and defensive equipment it requires at a meeting with NATO in Brussels on June 15, following US President Joe Biden's promise of advanced rocket systems and additional munitions last week. Germany also said it would offer its most advanced air defence systems to help protect Ukrainian skies. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace made a personal visit to Kyiv on Friday to speak with Ukrainian officials about their requests for additional weaponry. A report published on Friday by the Institute of War Studies said that the use of artillery and long-range weapons could prove the path to victory in Ukraine's east. 'As Ukrainian forces use the last of their stocks of Soviet-era weapon systems and munitions, they will require consistent Western support to transition to new supply chains of ammunition and key artillery systems,' the report said. 'Effective artillery will be increasingly decisive in the largely static fighting in eastern Ukraine.' President Zelensky (right) spoke alongside EU leader Ursula von der Leyen (left) yesterday In the south, a man died in Odessa after coming into contact with an explosive object while swimming at a beach with his wife and son, the regional Ukrainian command said. Visiting beaches there is currently banned due to the risks of mines. For residents in nearby Mykolaiv, every day brings a brush with death. Igor Karputov, 31, recalled how his neighbourhood was hit last week, shaking his apartment, and how he helped a bleeding man to an ambulance. 'Then I went to another place which had been hit, where emergency services were already taking care of someone,' he told AFP. 'But they were dead. And the one I had helped died in an ambulance.' Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaliy Kim stressed the urgent need for international military assistance. 'Russia's army is more powerful, they have a lot of artillery and ammo... and we are out of ammo,' he said Saturday. On Sunday, the southern command said the Ukrainian Air Force had destroyed ammunition depots and equipment in three air strikes in the last 24 hours, without naming their locations. By Jason Lim I spent these past few days on a business trip to Seoul. It was interesting timing in that it feels to me that Korea is just starting to come out of many of its COVID-19 restrictions and renormalize. On the surface, it was the same Seoul that I have always known: very crowded. The sheer number of people in the subways, streets and shops comes at you with an almost physical force. You have to walk sideways and pick your way through the crowd to get to places. You have to think of pre-positioning your location while waiting for the subway or crossing a street so as to facilitate the next movement as efficiently as possible. With the crowd comes the urgency and almost aggressive intent of physical movement that's very focused with little mental space to look around. You can't be lost. You can't waver. You have to know where you want to go all the time. Seoul doesn't allow for mental, physical or emotional idleness. You have to be constantly on the move, with specific intent. Seoul aspires to be very rich. The ostentatiousness of wealth is difficult to ignore. I have seen more Beamers and Mercedes within a 5-block radius in Gangnam District than I have seen along the poshest addresses along Central Park in New York City. I have seen more luxury watches on strangers' wrists than at Tourneau Corner in Time Square. Seoul is like a magnifying glass through which everything is abbreviated and amplified for all to see and be seen. There is a hierarchy of looks, luxuries, jobs, schools and everything else that all are trying their best to climb while ensuring that everyone else knows that they are at a specific rung on the ladder. It's also unidirectional. Climbing down isn't allowed, and you can't change your mind once you step on that first rung. Seoul is strangely bifurcated in its presentation of physical beauty. This duality applies to both the city and citizens alike. On the surface, it's a global city worthy of its name. The streets are wide, straight, filled with cars, lined with modern high rises, adorned with famous shops, and filled with all the other trappings of a top city. Just beyond the modern thoroughfares, however, there are seedy, twisted and old streets that seem preserved in time, seeming like more almost snapshots than actually live, and dark even during daylight because of the high rises that block out the sun. The city is thus often visually dizzying, but filled with quaint, living history filled with a charm that can seep into you. But probably not for a while. Not to mention the hidden gems of incredible food that you might luck into. You can see a similar bifurcation in the people. Even with their faces covered, you will find world beauties both male and female walking along the streets as if they are modeling on catwalks in Milan with confident, modern stares. Strangely enough, such young, vibrant beauty is so common that it's ignored by their fellow citizens. Then again, you will come across a wizened, raisin of a grandma who stepped out of a Christian missionary's B/W photo from the late 1800s: dark, suntanned skin, deep furrows, and wrinkles about the face, hunched over, staring out suspiciously with indigenous skepticism but wearing the latest fashion. These people will coexist on the same cross walk, running to beat the merciless green arrows that measure how long you have to wade through the crowd to get to the other side. If I had to pick one thing about Seoul to describe its essence, however, I would have to say that Seoul doesn't allow you to hide. It's probably one of the most hyper-social places in the world. Maybe packing 25 million people into one greater metropolitan area wasn't the best way to facilitate invisibility. At times, it feels like seeing and being seen is an end unto itself, even if you are by yourself. It's exhausting to think you are constantly being watched. It's even more exhausting to have to watch everyone else also for the fear of missing out on the next thing. Then, how did Seoulites' omnipresent tendency constantly to watch each other impact lives during COVID-19? That is the one question that I am intensely curious about. Watching each other also means judging each other. Judging each other, even silently, is the best way to enforce a certain norm of behavior. Is that what drove Korea's vaunted compliance with masks and contact tracing tactics? Is that the secret to its collectivist culture everyone silently approving or disapproving that does not seem to brook any outlier behavior? Also, how did wearing masks affect socialization? We communicate extensively using facial expressions and body language. How did that work when everyone wears masks all the time? When stares are the only means of "seeing" one another, without the benefit of mitigating or amplifying facial expressions that enrich exchanges, how did people communicate? How did children learn without those cues? These seem all fascinating question, all unknown for me for now. Anyways, welcome back Seoul. You have been missed. Jason Lim (jasonlim@msn.com) is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture. The Republican governor of Arkansas said Donald Trump was 'politically and morally responsible' for last year's January 6 Capitol riot during a Sunday television interview. Asa Hutchinson's most direct condemnation of the former president over the riot yet comes just a few days after the House select committee investigating the attack held its first in a series of six hearings presenting its findings. The Democrat-led panel made clear on Thursday night that its hearings would outline how the insurrection was part of Trump and his allies' wider plan to undermine democracy and steal the 2020 presidential election. Committee member Rep. Elaine Luria said the hearings would focus on what Trump was 'not doing, especially' when asked by NBC Meet the Press host Chuck Todd. Luria said 'it'd be more clear to describe it as what he was not doing' in the 187-minute window it took for the ex-president ask his supporters storming the Capitol to go home. 'You know, it's been reported previously that the phone logs at the White House on that day. They're missing information,' Luria said. 'And then 187 minutes, you know, this man had the microphone; he could speak to the whole country.' 'His duty was to stand up and say something and try to stop this. So, we'll talk about that and what I see to be his dereliction of duty, and he had a duty to act.' Arkansas' Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson urged his party to do some 'soul searching' over its support of Trump following January 6 Meanwhile Capitol riot committee member Rep. Elaine Luria said the panel's hearings would focus on Trump's 'dereliction of duty' She added that the panel put together a 'very comprehensive' timeline of what Trump was doing in that time. A report in the Washington Post last week suggested Luria would play a main role in the last of the six hearings, which is supposedly the one most centered on Trump himself. She and Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger are reportedly going to co-lead the hearing, which will go into detail on what the former president said, did and did not do during the riot. The committee has gathered hundreds of hours' worth of witness testimony and a vast tranche of documents that it suggests could prove that Trump and his Republican allies conspired to undemocratically seize power, and that the January 6 riot was 'no accident' but rather part of 'Trump's last stand.' Hutchinson, meanwhile, urged his own party to do some 'soul searching' on its allegiance to Trump. Speaking to Fox News Sunday host Bret Baier, Hutchinson called the committee's investigation an 'important review' of January 6 - but was more skeptical that they could make the case for criminal guilt. 'You can make the case, and I would agree, that he's politically and morally responsible for much of what has happened,' the governor said. 'But in terms of criminal liability, I think the committee has a long way to go before they could establish that.' One of their main foci is the 187-minute window between rioters storming the Capitol and when Trump finally called them off WATCH on #MTP: @RepElaineLuria (D-Va.) says Jan. 6 hearings will focus on what former President Trump was not doing during the Capitol riot. This man had the microphone. He could speak to the whole country. His duty was to stand up and say something and try to stop this. pic.twitter.com/T0L8TNbIah Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 12, 2022 The Arkansas governor has not shied away from criticizing Trump, particularly this year as speculation has ramped up that he's potentially mulling a 2024 presidential bid. He repeated that criticism on Sunday, predicting that the future of the GOP is 'different than President Trump's leadership.' He said Trump had gone 'off track' on January 6 and called his actions a 'costly error for our democracy.' 'I hope we move in a different direction. I believe that what happened on January 6 is a lot at his feet. It was wrong for our country, and for him to continue to push that theory - I agree, is the wrong direction for the Republican Party,' Hutchinson said. 'I agree with a lot of the comments - he is, has responsibility there. We need to make sure that's clear.' He continued, 'I think Republicans need to do a lot of soul searching as to - what is the right thing here? What is the right thing to say for our party and our democracy and our future?' The committee's next hearing is on Monday, June 13 at 10am Eastern Time. Hart-left protesters will demonstrate outside the Queen's main home just days after the end of the Jubilee celebrations as they protest against Tony Blair's knighthood. The Stop the War Coalition will gather a mob outside Windsor Castle, where the former prime minister is set to be admitted to the Order of the Garter. His admission to Britain's oldest order of chivalry was made personally by the Queen in January, 19 years after he led the nation into the Iraq War and 15 after he left office. Sir Tony's predecessors bar one were all appointed to the Order of the Garter just after leaving office and claims have been made that his strained relationship with the Queen during his office might have contributed to the delay. The Garter Parade usually sees the 96-year-old monarch lead members of the order from the castle to St George's Chapel, though it is not clear yet whether she will take part, with her health in decline, or cede leadership to another senior royal. Stop the War announced the plan to protest last week, saying 'there is only one court that Blair should be attending, and it's not the royal one'. As well as the hard left, the decision was criticised by the families of those killed in Iraq, while more than 1.1 million people signed a petition earlier this year demanding his honour be revoked. The Stop the War Coalition will gather a mob outside Windsor Castle, where the former prime minister is set to be admitted to the Order of the Garter. The Garter Parade usually sees the 96-year-old monarch lead members of the order from the castle to St George's Chapel, though it is not clear yet whether she will take part, with her health in decline, or cede leadership to another senior royal. Stop the War announced the plan to protest last week, saying 'there is only one court that Blair should be attending, and it's not the royal one' (Protest in 2003 pictured) Sir Tony has long faced a backlash over his decision to lead the UK into Iraq and Afghanistan, which cost the lives of 179 British personnel as well as many more civilians Blair join's Britain's top order of chivalry Order of the Garter Founded in 1348, it is the most senior order of knighthood, outranked only by the Victoria Cross and the George Cross. Membership, granted for public service or service to the sovereign, is limited to 24 living people plus the Queen and the Prince of Wales. Companions of Honour (CH) The Order of the Companions of Honour was founded on June 4 1917 by George V and it limited to just 65 members at any one time. Appointments go to those who have made a long-standing contribution to arts, science, medicine or government. Two have been named in the latest list - former Labour MP and peer Frank Field, for public and political service, and Sir Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute. Order of the Bath (DCB/KCB/CB) This recognises the work of senior military officials and civil servants. England's chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty (KCB) and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance (KCB) were honoured in the New Year Honours list. - Order of St Michael and St George (Knight/GCMG/KCMG/DCMG/CMG) This recognises service in a foreign country, or in relation to foreign and Commonwealth affairs, such as the work of diplomats overseas. James Bond star Daniel Craig, was made a Companion of the Order, which is equivalent to a CBE and means he can use the post-nominals CMG, following his final outing as 007 in No Time To Die. Knighthood and damehood (Knight/DBE) These are usually bestowed on people who have made a major contribution at national level, who can use the titles Dame and Sir. England's deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam, Wales' chief medical officer Frank Atherton and Scotland's chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith were made knights. There were also damehoods for UK Health Security Agency chief Dr Jenny Harries and Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Advertisement Stop the War Vice Chair, Chris Nineham, said: 'The rehabilitation of Tony Blair since the Iraq war is a scandal. He is widely recognised as a war criminal. 'Our protest will be representing the millions of people who believe the only court Tony Blair should be going near is the Hague.' Sir Tony has faced years of criticism over the Iraq War, culminating in the devastating report by Sir John Chilcot in 2016, which found that the former prime minister overplayed evidence about Saddam Hussein's weaponry and ignored peaceful means to send troops into the country. In a devastating set of conclusions, Sir John found Blair presented the case for war with 'a certainty which was not justified' based on 'flawed' intelligence about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Blair then said he would 'take the same decision' to invade Iraq again if he was presented with the same intelligence as he set out a defiant defence after being savaged by the Chilcot report. Sir Tony, who held the keys to Number 10 between 1997 and 2007, was appointed a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry. Appointments to the Garter are in the Queen's gift and made without prime ministerial advice, and are usually announced on St George's Day, April 23, but the monarch can do so at any time, and has chosen to coincide with the New Year's Honours. They are for life unless a Knight or Lady Companion offends against certain 'points of reproach'. Founded in 1348 by Edward III, the Garter is awarded by the sovereign for outstanding public service and achievement. It is said to have been inspired by events at a ball in northern France, attended by the king and Joan, Countess of Salisbury. The countess is believed to have dropped her garter, causing laughter and some embarrassment. The chivalrous king, however, picked it up and wore it on his own leg, uttering the phrase 'Honi soit qui mal y pense' - 'Shame on him who thinks this evil' - now the Order's motto. The Order's emblem is a blue ribbon or garter worn by men below the left knee and by women on the left arm. There are now 21 non-royal companions in the order out of a maximum of 24. Each year, Royal Knights and Ladies of the Order of the Garter gather at St George's Chapel in Windsor for a colourful procession and ceremony. Watched by crowds of onlookers, they walk down the hill to the chapel from the State Apartments, dressed in blue velvet mantles, red velvet hoods, black velvet hats and white ostrich plumes. The appointment has regularly been bestowed upon past prime ministers, with Sir John Major, Sir Tony's predecessor, the last to receive the honour. At the time it was announced in January, Sir Tony said: 'It is an immense honour to be appointed Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, and I am deeply grateful to Her Majesty the Queen. 'It was a great privilege to serve as prime minister and I would like to thank all those who served alongside me, in politics, public service and all parts of our society, for their dedication and commitment to our country.' Sir Tony led New Labour to a landslide victory in 1997, winning two subsequent general elections before quitting Westminster a decade later, paving the way for his chancellor Gordon Brown to take over as prime minister. The 68-year-old famously branded Diana, Princess of Wales, the 'people's princess' after her death and was the UK leader during Allied military invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. The former barrister became a Middle East envoy and set up his own non-for-profit group, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, after leaving politics. Shake Shack is facing calls to join boycotts of Martin's Potato Rolls, after it was reported that the famous bread-making family made donations to the conspiracy theorist and republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, Doug Mastriano. James Martin, the current executive chair and former president of Martin's Famous Pastry Shoppe, donated $110,000 to Mastriano's gubernatorial campaign, according to an April report in Spotlight PA. Since then it was revealed that Martin's wife and daughter also contributed to the campaign. Mastriano is a Trump-backed senator who has been vocal about promoting the claims that Trump won the 2020 election, and who attended and helped organize the January 6th protest which then turned into the riot at the US Capitol. News of Martin's political allegiance to Mastriano has led to high profile chefs and local restaurants alike boycotting the Pennsylvania bread company which has long been a mainstay in the recipes of restaurants across the world. Senator Doug Mastriano, currently a Pennsylvania state senator, is deeply ingrained in far-right politics and fringe theories Shake Shack is one of many high-profile companies that use Martin's Potato Runs. Shake Shack has continued to use the buns as boycotts of Martin's grow around the country Martin's potato rolls are used in the recipes of restaurants across the country. The boycott has left some restaurants scrambling to find replacements for the stalwart product 'I will not be buying any more Martin's products, nor will I support any establishment that uses their buns until they change suppliers,' wrote chef and bestselling author J. Kenji Lopez-Alt on Instagram in June, 'And I'd urge you to do the same if you don't want your dollars supporting this stuff.' Outlets across the country have reported that local restaurants have been joining in on the boycott and hastily looking for replacements for the stalwart potato buns, while major national chains like the Hard Rock Cafe and Shake Shack that are prominent users of Martin's products continued using the buns. 'Shake Shack has always championed equality, inclusion and belonging at our company and we know these values are important to our guests and team members,' a representative for Shake Shack told the Washington Post. 'Shake Shack does not make political donations, nor does the company endorse the political donations of private individuals. In regards to the actions of individuals associated with the Martin's company and their personal political donations - those are the choices of those individuals and do not express the values of Shake Shack. We continue to be in active conversations with Martin's to express our concern.' Jim Martin (right), the executive chair and former president of Martin's. He donated $110,000 to Mastriano's gubernatorial campaign, according to an April report in Spotlight PA Martin's has not directly addressed the boycott, but on May 17 published a tweet supporting its employees' rights to participate in politics as they like. 'Just like our country as a whole, Martin's company is made up of a diverse group of employees and stockholders, all of whom are free to support and vote for whomever they choose. Martin's as a company does not donate to any particular political candidate or party, but we encourage and celebrate the opportunity we all have to vote and share in the election process.' Mastriano, currently a Pennsylvania state senator, is deeply ingrained in far-right politics and fringe theories. Bestselling author and chef J. Kenji Lopez-Alt (right) wrote that he would be joining the protest of Martin's in an Instagram post in June Doug Mastriano is the Trump-backed republican candidate for Pennsylvania's gubernatorial race Historically, this is accurate https://t.co/mPax61OJJj Doug Mastriano (@dougmastriano) June 1, 2022 He was elemental in an unauthorized audit of Pennsylvania voting machines after the 2020 election, according to the Washington Post, and allegedly attempted to convince lawmakers to ignore the state's election results in favor of naming their own winner. Mastriano also paid for buses which shuttled protesters to the 'Stop the Steal' rally on January 6, 2021, and attended the rally himself. Mastriano claims that he left the rally before it turned violent. Following the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Mastriano retweeted a video of himself comparing gun control laws to Nazi Germany. Josh Shapiro, the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania's gubernatorial race, told the Washington Post that he does not support boycotts of Martin's. 'Personally, I think Martin's makes a damn good potato roll and I'm not for boycotting a Pennsylvania business that supports hundreds of Pennsylvania jobs,' Shapiro said, 'The Martin family runs a private company and has the right to support and employ whomever they want, and I believe that every company should make whatever decisions they feel are best for them and their customers.' Lawmakers and gun control activists are divided on whether to claim victory on Sunday after a bipartisan group of senators announced they have come to an agreement on a framework for gun control legislation. President Joe Biden said that he will sign the framework as soon as it comes to his desk. He attended mass in Wilmington, Delaware Sunday night and gave a thumbs up to reporters as he left as they shouted questions at him about the Senate compromise. The deal would incentivize 'red flag' laws but would not include provisions championed by Democrats up to Biden himself, like increasing the age to purchase certain rifles to 21 or a ban on assault weapons. 'I continue to believe military-style assault weapons that can shred the bodies of their victims have no place in civilian usebut we cannot let the perfect Congressional response be the enemy of the good,' Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin wrote on Twitter Sunday. 'Though this agreement falls short in this and other respects, it can and will make our nation safer.' New Jersey Democrat Senator Corey Booker shared a similar sentiment, making it clear that Congress needs to go further to successfully counter the devastating spate of mass shootings seen in recent weeks. 'I support these bipartisan measures that would begin to curb gun violence in America. I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will find a way to make these changes and provide these resources. We need to continue our efforts to pass common sense gun safety laws,' Booker wrote on Twitter. David Hogg, a gun control activist and survivor of the Parkland, Florida school shooting praised the legislation as a 'first step.' President Joe Biden gives reporters a thumbs up Sunday as he leaves mass in Wilmington, Delaware as reporters shout questions about the Senate gun compromise ALL SMILES: President Joe Biden said on Sunday he will immediately sign the Senate's bipartisan gun control framework President Joe Biden waves as he leaves Sunday mass in Wilmington, Delaware alongside his Secret Service detail A bipartisan group of senators are preparing to unveil on Sunday a parred back version of the House-passed gun control framework that will be the biggest in nearly three decades. Pictured: Gun control demonstrators attend the March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 11, 2022 The number two Senate Democrat said the agreement 'fell short' of key provisions insisted upon by gun control advocates but praised the bipartisan effort 'This is a first step and its actually a lot more than I thought it would be. This is progress even if small. Even if it stops one parkland its worth it,' Hogg said, referencing the 2018 shooting that took the lives of 14 of his classmates and three adults. Vice President Kamala Harris said: 'This gun safety proposal is an important step toward saving lives. While it does not reflect everything we need to do, I applaud Senator Chris Murphy and the bipartisan group of leaders who came together to put this forward. Enough is enough.' Biden said on Sunday after the compromise was unveiled, 'Each day that passes, more children are killed in this country: the sooner it comes to my desk, the sooner I can sign it, and the sooner we can use these measures to save lives.' While the deal is substantially less than the House bills passed last week and is weaker than what Democrats want, it does provide the framework for the most significant federal gun restrictions in nearly three decades. Biden immediately lauded the deal and the senators who put it together as news of the proposal became public. Gun control activist and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas mass shooting survivor David Hogg praised it as a 'first step' Vice President Kamala Harris espoused similar reservations to Durbin but nevertheless was optimistic over the talks 'I want to thank Senator Chris Murphy and the members of his bipartisan group especially Senators Cornyn, Sinema, and Tillis for their tireless work to produce this proposal,' he wrote in a statement on the bipartisan efforts. 'Obviously, it does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades,' he continued. 'With bipartisan support, there are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House.' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement in a similar vein. 'While more is needed, this package will take steps to save lives,' she said. 'Americas epidemic of gun violence has reached a fever pitch and Democrats will never stop working to end the bloodshed. As we move forward on this bipartisan framework, we are continuing to fight for more life-saving measures: including universal background checks, banning high-capacity magazines and raising the age to buy assault weapons, which must also become law.' The deal reached in the upper chamber combines a pair of modest gun restrictions while significant mental health and school safety investments. Thousands of advocates for more gun control legislation descended on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Saturday for this year's March for Our Lives rally just a few weeks after an elementary school mass shooting Uvalde, Texas left 19 students and two teachers dead Core lawmakers behind the Senate deal are Democratic Senators Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Kysten Sinema of Arizona, as well as Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. The four individuals are still working on writing and finalizing the legislative text, but are confident it will have the support of at least 60 senators, which is the threshold needed for legislation to pass in the upper chamber. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the legislation 'a good first step to ending the persistent inaction to the gun violence epidemic that has plagued our country and terrorized our children for far too long.' 'Once the text of this agreement is finalized, I will put this bill on the floor as soon as possible so that the Senate can act quickly to advance gun-safety legislation,' he added. But some House Democrats have already said that they would not support a bill from the Senate that is more symbolic than true action. 'I am disappointed to hear [the] vote focus[es] on increased criminalization and juvenile criminalization, instead of really having the focus on guns,' Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told CNN's State of the Union on Sunday morning. The progressive lawmaker said that if the Senate includes background checks, she would vote yes on their bill when it goes for reconciliation in the lower chamber. 'If we're talking about just using this as an excuse to dramatically increase an enforcement mechanism that we know is not capable right now of preventing mass shootings, then I'm not really interested in doing something for show for the American public,' she told CNN host Dana Bash. The New York Democrat said she would vote for the bill 'if we get a real baby step [passed], not kind of a distraction, I think, from the solution.' One of the most potentially restrictive aspects of the tentative deal would establish a federal grant program to encourage the creation of 'red flag' laws, which would allow authorities to prevent people from buying guns who are deemed by a judge to be a threat to themselves or others. It would also require for the first time that federal criminal background checks for those seeking to buy a gun under the age of 21 include a search of their juvenile justice records, according to the Sunday Post report. What the compromise does not include, however, is a provision pushed by Democrats and President Joe Biden that would raise the minimum age to purchase certain rifles from 18 to 21 while it is already federal law that individuals must be 21 to purchase a handgun. Senators Chris Murphy (left), a Democrat, and John Cornyn (right), a Republican, are among the lawmakers who helped craft the bipartisan deal in the upper chamber A long held argument from gun rights activists is that rifles are hunting guns and should be permitted to be purchased by a legal adult. The pending deal also could give billions to mental health care and new infrastructure and armed officers for school security programs. Senators Roy Blunt of Missouri, a Republican, and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, a Democrat, want to establish a nationwide network of 'community behavioral health clinics,' which several senators said last week could be a cornerstone of any Senate gun legislation deal. Most Democrats support significantly stronger gun control legislation, like a so-called assault weapons ban and restrictions on high-capacity ammunition magazines. They also want more broad background check expansions than just the potential for an increased instance of 'red flag' laws. A bipartisan group of lawmakers began crash negotiations last month following two mass shootings in the span of less than two weeks one at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York that left 10 dead and an elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas that left 19 children and two teachers dead. The midday Sunday announcement also comes just a day after thousands of gun control advocates descended on Washington, D.C. for this year's March for Our Lives rally on the National Mall. The mother of a young woman who was brutally murdered just weeks after getting married has hit out at the BBC for referencing the tragedy in a new series. Anne MacPherson says her family is being forced to relive their trauma as BBC's Sherwood depicts a storyline based on the shotgun killing of her 23-year-old daughter Chanel Taylor in 2004. Mrs Taylor's father, Terry Rodgers, 55, carried out the murder for unknowns reasons and later hid for 17 days in Annesley Woods, Nottinghamshire, where he built a shelter. Police eventually found Rodgers and tasered him during his arrest. He died in prison on hunger strike a month before his March 2006 murder trial, taking the reason for his daughter's death with him to the grave. Her grieving mother has hit out at producers' suggestion they will handle the tragedy sensitively and said she will be forced to 'reluctantly' watch the programme, The Mirror reports. David Morrisey, Lesley Manville and Robert Glenister star in the BBC's Sherwood, which airs on BBC One tomorrow and Tuesdays at 9pm Terence Rodgers, 55, and his daughter Chanel Taylor, 23, on her wedding day in 2004, weeks before he shot her dead The funeral cortege of 23 year old Chanel Taylor in Teversal, Derbyshire, in 2004 Mrs MacPherson, of South Normanton, Derbyshire, said: 'How dare they do a programme about my poor daughter which will be watched by millions? 'How can my daughter's murder be played out sensitively? I wanted nothing to do with it. 'They are ripping my family apart all over again, and we'll get the backlash. The programme has brought it all up again for me. It makes me so cross.' Rodgers was reported to have been violent to his wife and three children, and was living with his daughter Chanel and her husband at the time of the murder. While out in the woods, he met another murderer on the run - Robert Boyer - who was hiding after killing 62-year-old ex-miner Keith Frogson. Boyer attacked Frogson with a crossbow and then a samurai sword. Sherwood takes its inspiration from the events in 2004 rather than a literal adaptation, according to the BBC The police manhunt to trace the pair - Operation Rendition - was the biggest in British history. Sherwood follows a fictional story of two officers investigating the crimes, who go undercover in the community - which is still reeling from the miner's strike 20 years earlier. A BBC spokesman said: 'Production worked closely with a number of people locally throughout the making of the series to ensure their stories were told with sensitivity, and respected those who preferred not to be directly involved. 'As a result the decision was made to heavily fictionalise the series, rather than create a literal adaptation of any events, including inventing new characters, names and stories. 'Sherwood is a story that is personal to [creator] James Graham and inspired in part by events within the community in which he grew up, over many years.' The only man who can pardon two British fighters facing the death sentence has said he sees no grounds to do so. The leader of Putin-backed separatist Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR) is likely to hear pardon pleas from Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, along with a Moroccan Sadun Brahim, 21. But Denis Pushilin has preempted the legal process in the puppet state to suggest he will not grant clemency. Earlier, before their case was heard in court, he told how they were guilty of 'monstrous' crimes. Leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) Denis Pushilin speaks to journalists at the sea port of Mariupol Their hearing last week was widely seen in the West as a sham and show trial. In footage shown on Zvezda channel, controlled by Vladimir Putins defence ministry, Pushilin said: 'As for possible exchanges, pardons and other things, at this moment I do have the right to pardon these people in accordance with our legislation. 'But I do not see any preconditions for me to move in this direction.' He said: 'With the mercenaries, two British, one Moroccan - there was a court hearing, a direct court hearing, they were given lawyers. 'Their crimes can be classified as grave and especially grave crimes. 'It was easy enough to predictthat they should be sentenced to capital punishment. British war prisoners Aiden Aslin (first from the left) and Shaun Pinner (second from the left) were sentenced to death penalty by Donetsk court on June 9 The trio are lodging legal appeals and these will be heard before any pleas to Pushilin for pardons 'My personal opinion is that this is just punishment for those people who came to kill civilians for money from other countries.' The trio are lodging legal appeals and these will be heard before any pleas to Pushilin for pardons. But his statement appears to usurp the whole process, making a mockery of justice for the Britons and the Moroccan. The trial they faced was riddled with questionable legal tactics, including the non-appearance of five witnesses on whose word they were convicted. Aslin's family said he and Pinner 'are not, and never were, mercenaries'. In footage shown on Zvezda channel, controlled by Vladimir Putins defence ministry, Pushilin said: 'As for possible exchanges, pardons and other things, at this moment I do have the right to pardon these people in accordance with our legislation. But I do not see any preconditions for me to move in this direction.' They were living in Ukraine when war broke out and 'as members of Ukrainian armed forces, should be treated with respect just like any other prisoners of war', the family said in a statement. Almost alone, Putin recognises the DPR as independent. Under international law it is part of Ukraine, which does not carry out the death penalty, just as Russia does not. A suspicion is that Putin wants the men to be bartered for pro-Kremlin prisoners held in Ukraine, like politician and tycoon Viktor Medvedchuk, a friend of the Kremlin leader. A third British detainee Andrew Hill, 35, a father of four from Plymouth, has also been told to expect the death penalty when his verdict is handed down. Hospital theatre support worker Wareewan Lee has been jailed for two years and three months for stealing thousands from a wheelchair-bound pensioner she befriended while delivering his 'meals on wheels' A hospital theatre support worker who stole thousands from a wheelchair-bound pensioner she befriended while delivering his 'meals on wheels' has been jailed for two years and three months. Wareewan Lee, 44, who is currently suspended from her job at Darent Valley Hospital near Dartford, Kent, drained disabled Gerald Beach's 'rainy day' savings of just over 12,000 within two years. A court heard she started taking 'hundreds of pounds every few days' from cashpoints soon after Mr Beach received a PPI payment of 7,524 - one she had helped him to claim - into a Lloyds bank account in August 2016. Within a month, the balance was down to 4,800 and had been depleted to just 27 by April 2017, Maidstone Crown Court, Kent, was told. Withdrawals were even made by Lee from ATMs at the hospital, and at Gatwick Airport when she went on trips to see family in Finland and Spain. Mr Beach, who is 83 and said to have 'serious physical' mobility issues, then began to receive monthly Department of Work and Pensions payments of 339 into the same account from June 2017. But Lee continued to steal and by June the following year when her deceit was finally discovered it held just 4.18. A neighbour of Mr Beach's told a jury she had been shocked by his financial state and so alerted social services. He later told police he now felt 'very gullible', trusted very few people, and still has debts of 4,500. But 44-year-old Lee maintained in court she did not steal any money from the man she described as being 'like a father' and denied manipulating his poor health for her own benefit. Lee told police she had only ever used Mr Beach's bank cards to pay his bills. But the jury was told all bills, shopping and 'incidentals' were covered by a second, Nationwide account. Lee, from Orsett near Grays in Essex, denied theft of 12,181 between August 2016 and June 2018 but was found guilty at trial in April by a 10 to 2 majority verdict. Returning for sentencing on Friday (June 10), Lee was told by Judge Philip St.John-Stevens she had been unable to 'confront her dishonesty' and told 'palpable lies' to the court. He also said Mr Beach had 'placed great trust' in her while she monitored his bank account and 'callously extracted' money. 'This defendant was aware that Mr Beach was vulnerable and relied on others to look after him,' said the judge. 'She knew that he did not look at bank statements, and there was targeting of Mr Beach because of his vulnerability and his inability to monitor that account.' But Judge St.John-Stevens said he accepted she had not set out to deceive the pensioner when she had first started to help him. The offence was not related to Lee's employment at the hospital. The court heard she began unofficially caring for the pensioner in 2006, having met while delivering dinners to him at his retirement housing complex in Aylesford, Kent. For about 12 years, she said she cooked, cleaned and shopped for him without any payment and while holding down two jobs and looking after her young children. Maidstone Crown Court in Kent (pictured) was told how Lee drained disabled Gerald Beach's 'rainy day' savings of just over 12,000 within two years Lee, who has no previous convictions, also lived with Mr Beach at his flat for four years. But prosecutor Eleanor Scott-Davies told the court Lee 'took advantage' of their friendship. 'She was using her relationship with Mr Beach to take money that didn't belong to her and didn't have permission to take,' said Ms Scott-Davies. 'She got to this money because of Mr Beach's age, vulnerability and his trust in her. 'This was deliberate targeting of someone who was vulnerable. If Mr Beach had been able to go out, do his shopping and other day-to-day chores, Lee would never have been able to commit this offence. 'It was because he was housebound and living in limited circumstances that she had access to the bank card.' Mr Beach did not attend court to give evidence but in a recorded interview, he said Lee had helped around his home before offering to do his 'banking and shopping'. Mr Beach said he gave her permission to use his Nationwide account but not the Lloyds one, which had sat 'pretty much dormant' before he received the PPI payment. He added he did not know how she knew the PIN and was not aware he had ever told her it. That account was 'one for a rainy day', he added. Mr Beach told police he never saw his Lloyds bank statements, and when he finally did see one 'there was nothing'. He maintained he never asked her to withdraw cash for him and in a victim impact statement Mr Beach said: 'I have lost my trust in people. I trust my carers and my nephew. 'I was ticking over quite nicely and gone back to where I started. I have not got any trust.' The court heard his nephew now controls his financial affairs. Fellow resident Shirley Bedford, an 83-year-old retired nursing assistant, gave evidence and described Lee as having 'a hold' on Mr Beach. She told the court that having known him from childhood, she was shocked when she moved into the housing complex in 2017 to find Mr Beach in a 'very poor' state. Mrs Bedford said he had few furnishings, his TV rested on an orange box, and he spoke of being in rent arrears. 'He never had any money, he couldn't have the little treats,' she told the jury. 'I said to him 'How is it you are sitting here in rags and have virtually nothing at all.' 'Why did he not have any money? Why did he not have any luxuries?.' She was also concerned Lee was locking Mr Beach in his home and having informed social services it was then discovered that the Lloyds bank account was virtually empty. Agency carer Debbie Carter told the court Lee would cook food at the pensioner's flat to give to her hospital colleagues while Mr Beach 'had nothing in his cupboards and would get microwave meals if he was lucky'. Lee's barrister John Barker told the sentencing hearing while Lee had expressed remorse and concern for the pensioner, she still did not accept she had acted dishonestly. A court heard Lee started taking 'hundreds of pounds every few days' from cashpoints soon after Mr Beach received a PPI payment of 7,524 - one she had helped him to claim - into a Lloyds bank account in August 2016 He said she now stood to lose her job despite being highly regarded by others and 'setting a shining example in her professional life'. The court also heard Lee is primary carer for her disabled partner of eight years, who accompanied her throughout her trial despite being in a wheelchair and with limited use of his limbs following a bleed on his spine several years ago. Giving evidence to the jury, Lee maintained any money she took was at Mr Beach's request. 'I have done nothing wrong.. I cared for Gerry, I looked after him. He was like a father to me and it's very upsetting,' she said. 'Gerry gave me the (bank) card, told me the PIN and told me to get the money out for him, and I did and I gave him the receipt every time. 'I didn't keep it for myself. I used it for Gerry's purposes. I have done nothing wrong.' Asked about the cash sums withdrawn at the airport, Lee said it was taken with Mr Beach's permission to buy presents for her family. Members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot said Sunday they have uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider a criminal indictment against Donald Trump for seeking to overturn his 2020 election defeat. 'I would like to see the Justice Department investigate any credible allegation of criminal activity on the part of Donald Trump or anyone else,' said committee member Rep. Adam Schiff. He later added: 'They need to be investigated if there's credible evidence, which I think there is.' The committee held its first public hearing last week, with members laying out their case against Trump to show how the defeated president relentlessly pushed his false claims of a rigged election despite multiple advisers telling him otherwise. Lawmakers say the Capitol riot was 'no accident' but rather 'Trump's last stand' in a vast scheme to overturn President Joe Biden's victory. Additional evidence is set to be unveiled this week in hearings that will demonstrate how Trump and his advisers engaged in a 'massive effort' to spread misinformation and pressured the Justice Department (DOJ) to embrace his false claims. Committee members indicated Sunday their most important audience over the course of the hearings ultimately may be Attorney General Merrick Garland, who must decide whether his department can and should prosecute Trump. They left no doubt their own view as to whether the evidence is sufficient. Rep. Adam Schiff said he believes there is 'credible evidence' that Donald Trump could be criminally charged Id like to see the Justice Department investigate any credible allegation of criminal activity, on the part of Donald Trump or anyone else. The rule of law needs to apply equally to everyone, Rep. Adam Schiff tells @MarthaRaddatz. https://t.co/HYLZ8HHshy pic.twitter.com/4n2UgI1A7e This Week (@ThisWeekABC) June 12, 2022 'Once the evidence is accumulated by the Justice Department, it needs to make a decision about whether it can prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt the president's guilt or anyone else's,' Schiff said. In a veiled jab at Biden's DOJ, Schiff said there were 'certain actions' and 'lines of effort to overturn the election' that he did not 'see evidence the Justice Department is investigating.' Rep. Jamie Raskin, meanwhile, said he doesn't intend to 'browbeat' Garland but noted the committee has already laid out in legal pleadings a variety of criminal statutes they believe Trump violated. The Capitol riot committee alleges the riot was 'no accident' but rather 'Trump's last stand' 'I think that he knows, his staff knows, the U.S. attorneys know, what's at stake here,' Raskin said. 'They know the importance of it, but I think they are rightfully paying close attention to precedent in history as well, as the facts of this case.' Garland has not specified how he might proceed, which would be unprecedented and may be complicated in a political election season in which Trump has openly flirted with the idea of running for president again in 2024. 'We will follow the facts wherever they lead,' Garland said in his speech at Harvard University's commencement ceremony last month. A federal judge in California said in a March ruling in a civil case that Trump 'more likely than not' committed federal crimes in seeking to obstruct the congressional count of the Electoral College ballots on Jan. 6, 2021. The judge cited two statutes: obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Trump has denied all wrongdoing. Schiff appeared on ABCs 'This Week,' and Raskin spoke on CNNs 'State of the Union.' A third Democrat on the bipartisan committee, Rep. Elaine Luria, also hinted toward Trump's alleged criminality by suggesting the next five hearings would focus heavily on the former president's 'dereliction of duty.' His fellow January 6 committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin said he would not lean on Attorney General Merrick Garland but suggested there was a legal basis to charge Trump "Do you believe the Justice Department should indict the former president?"@DanaBashCNN questions member of the House Select Committee investigating January 6 @RepRaskin about potential criminal charges against former President Trump over the Capitol attack. @CNNSotu #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/c14NvhGC8E CNN (@CNN) June 12, 2022 Meanwhile Capitol riot committee member Rep. Elaine Luria said the panel's hearings would focus on Trump's 'dereliction of duty' Referencing a documented 187-minute window between rioters breaking into the US Capitol and Trump finally calling them off, Luria told NBC's Meet the Press: 'You know, it's been reported previously that the phone logs at the White House on that day. They're missing information.' 'We've pieced together a very comprehensive tick tock timeline of what he did. And then 187 minutes, you know, this man had the microphone; he could speak to the whole country. His duty was to stand up and say something and try to stop this,' Luria said. 'So, we'll talk about that and what I see to be his dereliction of duty, and he had a duty to act.' Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of the committee's two Republican members, told CBS News' Face The Nation that he believes it's 'obvious' Trump knew he lost the election even as he tried to convince supporters it was stolen from him. The military veteran declined to give details when asked for solid evidence of Trump's criminality, insisting they would be unveiled later. 'Let me tell you my belief that I can say right now, the president absolutely tried to overthrow the will of the people and he tried to do it initially through misinformation, through the Department of Justice, through pressuring the Vice President, and then on January 6,' Kinzinger said. 'And so I think it's pretty obvious he knew, but he didn't want to lose.' He later added, 'If the president truly believed that, for instance, he's not mentally capable to be president.' Hagans made flower boxes for his fiancee because she preferred living flowers to ones already cut and sold in bouquets He obtained an arrest warrant for Hagans after repeatedly removing the boxes He laid 10 flower boxes on the grave of Hannah Ford, his fiancee, since her death in January 2021 Winston Hagans was convicted of criminal littering and paid $300 in damages An Alabama man has been convicted of criminal littering and ordered to pay $300 for repeatedly placing boxes full of flowers on the grave of his fiancee, whose father didn't like the gifts or approve of their relationship. Winston 'Winchester' Hagans was convicted Thursday in Auburn city court after the Reverend Tom Ford, the father of Hannah Ford, signed a warrant against him. Hannah died in a wreck in January 2021 about a month after becoming engaged to Hagans, according to The Opelika-Auburn News. Hagans repeatedly put small planter boxes with flowers on her grave, and her father repeatedly removed them. Under Alabama law, citizens can obtain arrest warrants in municipal court under certain circumstances. Winston 'Winchester' Hagans was convicted of criminal littering and ordered to pay about $300 after placing flower boxes on his fiancee's grave since her death in January of last year Reverend Tom Ford, the father of Hannah Ford, who died in a car crash, repeatedly removed the flower boxes before signing a warrant to arrest Hagans Hagans (left) and Ford (right) were only engaged for a month prior to the fatal car accident Since May 2021, Tom Ford testified, a total of 10 boxes have been placed on the grave, and he either discarded them or sent them back to Hagans. 'The first box, when I saw where it was, I picked it up and it fell apart,' Ford said. 'It was a rotten piece of wood with some pictures on it, so I discarded it.' Ford said he 'certainly did not' approve of the relationship between his daughter and Hagans. The cemetery is owned by the city, and municipal prosecutor Justin Clark said regulations prohibit 'benches, urns, boxes, shells, toys and other similar articles' on graves. City employee and cemetery administrative assistant Sari Card said she told Hagans that Ford didn't want the boxes on the grave and planned legal action. 'He said he didn't care, that every time a box is removed he would make another one to replace it,' she said. Hagans made flower boxes for Ford as she preferred living flowers to ones that were already cut off to form bouquets Hannah Ford, a Republican, had forged a career in state politics, working for Roy Moore's 2017 Senate race as well as Scott Dawson's campaign for governor in 2018 Hagans made flower boxes for his fiancee as she preferring living flowers to ones that were already cut and part of bouquets. He added pictures of their time spent together on the side of these boxes. While the defense argued that flower boxes aren't litter, Judge Jim McLaughlin, who convicted Hagans in a non-jury trial, said the boxes were 'a clear case of violation of this deed and violation of littering statute.' 'The box does not occur naturally in nature. It is a foreign substance. Whether it's pretty or not is not a consideration for this court,' he said. The defense said it would appeal the conviction to circuit court, where a jury can hear the case. Aside from a $50 fine and $251 in court costs, Hagans received a 30-day jail sentence that was suspended on the condition he doesn't place additional flowers on the grave. Hagans and Hannah Ford first met at a coffee shop in Montgomery, just short of an hour's drive from Auburn, and connect through their Baptist faith, according to his website. Ford's father, Reverend Tom Ford did not approve of his daughter's relationship with Hagans. The pair first met at a coffee shop in Montgomery and bonded over their Baptist faith Hannah's career aspirations lied in state politics, the Washington Post reported. She had previously worked on Republican Roy Moore's U.S. Senate campaign in 2017, of which he lost to Democrat Doug Jones after he was accused of having sexual contact by a woman when she was only 14 years old. Ford, who considered herself to be Republican, then went on to campaign for evangelist Scott Dawson's campaign for governor in 2018. Dawson ended up finishing third in the primaries. 'She may have been small in stature, but she was a giant when she walked in a room,' Dawson told AL.com in an interview from 2021. 'She knew how to deal with senators, members of the House, judicial candidates.' In her obituary, Hannah's family shared she had a 'kind heart, happy attitude, great wisdom and many talents.' Advertisement Prince Andrew has dramatically pulled out of a public appearance at Windsor Castle today despite claims that he pushed for a return to royal duties as Prince Charles and Prince William asked the Queen not to give in to the disgraced royal. The Duke of York is said to have lobbied his 96-year-old mother for his former status to be restored and to be allowed back to official events. He also wants his ceremonial role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards reinstated - and continues wearing his jacket bearing the regiment's cypher and motto - and he is also pushing for his daughters Beatrice and Eugenie to be made working royals as Prince Charles tries to slim down the monarchy. Andrew, 62, was stripped of his official duties at the start of the year as he prepared to pay a multi-million-pound settlement to Jeffrey Epstein's sex slave Virginia Roberts Giuffre to keep her allegations of sexual abuse, which he denies, out of court. But last night, the duke who missed the Jubilee celebrations a week ago because he had Covid dramatically pulled out of today's Order of the Garter ceremony, despite being a member of the ancient order of chivalry. Charles and William were said to have blocked Andrew from appearing at today's Order of the Garter ceremony after lobbying the Queen, according to The Sun. In a last-minute U-turn, the prince backed out of attending public aspects of the annual ceremony at Windsor. He will still attend a private lunch with the Queen and other members of the order. Buckingham Palace had insisted that Andrew would attend the ceremony, because the honour was given to him in a personal capacity by the Queen. But behind the scenes there was deep concern about the spectacle of the shamed prince walking in his robes in public. There were also fears he could be booed. The Queen is reported to have asked him to stay out of public sight and only attend private elements of today's event. It also appears that his wish to represent her at Royal Ascot has been binned. But despite this he remains ninth in line to the throne - and a Counsellor of State - meaning he will stand in for the Queen if she is incapacitated and Charles and William are abroad. The Duke of York is said to have lobbied the Queen for his former status to be restored and to be allowed back to official events. He also wants his ceremonial role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards reinstated What is the Order of the Garter? How King Edward III was so inspired by tales of King Arthur he set up his own group of knights almost 700 years ago In medieval times, King Edward III was so inspired by tales of King Arthur and the chivalry of the Knights of the Round Table that he set up his own group of honourable knights, called the Order of the Garter. Nearly 700 years later, the Order is the oldest and most senior Order of Chivalry in Britain. The Knights, now both male and female, used to be limited to aristocracy, but today they are chosen from a variety of backgrounds, in recognition for their public service. The patron saint of the Order is St George (patron saint of soldiers and also of England) and if there are vacancies in the Order, appointments are announced on St George's Day (23 April). The Order of the Garter is a 700-year-old tradition which recognises great public service The spiritual home of the Order is St George's Chapel, Windsor. Every knight is required to display a banner of his arms in the Chapel, together with a helmet, crest and sword and an enamelled stallplate. These 'achievements' are taken down on the knight's death and the insignia are returned to the Sovereign. The stallplates remain as a memorial and these now form one of the finest collections of heraldry in the world. Knights of the Garter are chosen personally by the Sovereign to honour those who have held public office, who have contributed in a particular way to national life or who have served the Sovereign personally. As sovereign and heir, The Queen and Prince Charles are automatically given membership of the Order and are considered 'ex officio knights'. The Prince of Wales is known as a Royal Knight Companion of the Garter. The sovereign, known as the Sovereign of the Garter, is the only one with the power to admit new members. The Garter is open to British and Commonwealth citizens. Notable former members include Sir Winston Churchill, Stanley Baldwin and Sir Edmund Hillary. Field Marshall, the Lord Bramall, a former Chief of the Defence Staff, the Duke of Abercorn, the Duke of Westminster and Baroness Manningham-Buller, the former Director-General of MI5, are among the current Knights and Ladies of the Garter. There are also two orders of 'extra' knights. Members of the Royal Knights and Ladies include Prince Philip, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, Prince Charles, the Princess Royal and Prince William. A second order, the Stranger Knights and Ladies, is bestowed on foreign rulers such as Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Harald V of Norway. Although new additions are named on St. George's Day, the 23 April, the initiation ceremony takes place in Junmantle during the traditional Garter Procession, which sees members parade through Windsor. The annual iconic Garter Day procession, where The Queen and the Knights process in grand velvet robes, glistening insignia and plumed hats, is one of the most traditional ceremonies in the Queen's calendar. Every June, a grand procession of the knights takes place at Windsor Castle, accompanied by a marching band and Officers of the Order, all in grand ceremonial dress. The day begins with The Queen formally investing any new Companions with the Order's insignia in the Throne Room of the Castle. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh entertain the members and officers at a lunch, and then all process on foot to a service in St. George's Chapel. There is a short service where any new Companions are installed. The Sovereign and other members of the Order then return to the Upper Ward of the castle in carriages and cars. Advertisement Prince Andrew lives in the grounds of Windsor Castle and is said to have daily contact with his mother. Weeks after she stripped him of his titles, the Queen asked him to accompany her to Prince Philip's memorial service at Westminster Abbey in March, where he walked his mother down the aisle in a highly symbolic moment. But palace aides - as well as his relatives - are said to have been clear that the strength of public feeling against over his links to Epstein, must preclude him from taking part in frontline royal duties. Despite his non-appearance today, the duke believes he should be included in other royal and state events, The Daily Telegraph reported. 'The colonelcy of the Grenadier Guards was his most coveted title and he wants it back,' a source said. 'Having remained a Counsellor of State, he also believes he should be included at royal and state events. Most importantly for him is his status as an HRH and 'Prince of the Blood' and he feels that should be reinstated and his position recognised and respected.' The Palace and Andrew's spokesman last night declined to comment on the claims. But one royal insider suggested that, whether he had asked or not, there should be no expectation of being welcomed back. The insider said the duke could 'lobby all he wanted, if indeed he has, but whether he would ever get anything back is an entirely different matter'. An aide said the statement from January in which he was stripped of his roles 'with the Queen's approval and agreement', still 'speaks for itself'. Prince Charles is understood to be prominent among those who feel he must be kept at arm's length to avoid damaging the entire institution of the British monarchy. Andrew became Colonel of the Grenadier Guards five years ago after his father, Prince Philip, stepped back from public life and is said to have particularly enjoyed the role. It is claimed he wanted to wear the formal uniform of the rank at the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral last year, prompting a decision that all royal men would wear civilian morning coats to avoid any embarrassment. A royal source said at the weekend that the 'Andrew problem' needed fixing. Another source told The Mail on Sunday: 'Clearly at some point soon, thought will have to be given as to how to support the duke as, [away] from the public gaze, he seeks slowly to rebuild his life in a different direction.' There was the suggestion that one option could see the duke spending more time in Scotland but a full-time move there is thought to be unlikely. Royal biographer Angela Levin said: 'Andrew should be ashamed of himself. 'His demand to return to duty was outrageous. It clearly showed he was not concerned about what happened with his court case. 'He was not found guilty - but, my goodness, there is a massive amount of grubbiness surrounding him.' Prince Andrew has denied the allegations. It was previously reported that The Queen has been holding secret talks with the Duke of York and senior members of the Royal Family about how they can help Prince Andrew rebuild his life 'away from the public gaze'. The Queen has held family meetings at Windsor Castle to establish what role the Duke could fulfil that would be acceptable to the public. 'Clearly at some point soon, thought will have to be given as to how to support the Duke as, away from the public gaze, he seeks slowly to rebuild his life in a different direction,' said the senior Palace source. While it is understood that Andrew is determined to keep his Royal Lodge estate, one option could be for him to rebuild his life in Scotland. The Palace source added: 'There is, of course, a real awareness and sensitivity to public feelings. There is also recognition that the task of starting to support him as he begins to rebuild his life will be the first step on a long road and one that should not be played out every day in the glare of the public spotlight.' It comes as William and Kate are set to swap the hustle and bustle of London to take up residence in leafy Berkshire, according to reports. It is claimed that The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are set to move to a house on the Queen's Windsor estate this summer - leaving behind Kensington Palace as their main residence. According to The Sunday Times, the couple are set to take their son Prince George, 8, and daughter Princess Charlotte, 7, out of their current prep school in Battersea at the end of the school year. George and Charlotte will then join their younger brother, Prince Louis, 4, at a new school in Berkshire in September, the paper reports. William is set to turn 40 this week. The royal is reported to have joked privately that he is finding it 'so daunting'. The move will see William and Kate leave Kensington Palace, which has been their main residence since 2017. The couple moved their from their country home, Anmer Hall, in Norfolk, where they had previously spent much of their time. However, according to The Sunday Times, the pair will retain their property at Kensington Palace as their London home despite moving to Berkshire. Their press team will remain in west London. The couple will also retain Anmer Hall, which the paper reports they will continue to use 'regularly'. One friend reportedly told the paper that they plan to move there on a more permanent basis after their children are through 'the school years'. 'They absolutely love it up there, it's their happy place,' the friend is reported to have said. The move to Windsor means the Cambridges will be near to the home of the Duchess's parents, the Middletons, who live 45-minutes away by car in the village of Bucklebury. Andrew took a central role in escorting his mother to the Duke of Edinburgh's memorial service at Westminster Abbey in March The Queen's second son enjoying a horse ride in the sunshine in Windsor The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are reportedly set to move to a house on the Queen's Windsor estate this summer. According to The Times, the couple are set to take their son Prince George, 8, and daughter Princess Charlotte, 7, out of their current prep school at the end of the school year The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are reportedly set to move to a house on the Queen's Windsor estate (pictured: An aerial view) this summer William and Kate's main residence is currently Kensington Palace. According to the Sunday Times, the couple will keep the stunning west London home as their main property George and Charlotte will join their younger brother, Prince Louis (pictured), 4, at a new school in Berkshire in September, the paper reports The couple will also retain Anmer Hall, which the paper reports they will continue to use 'regularly' It has long been reported that the couple could one day move into Windsor Castle. The Queen has spent much of her time at the Berkshire castle following the death of her beloved Prince Phillip. However it is understood Prince Charles does not plan to spend as much time there when he becomes king. It has previously been reported that the Prince of Wales plans to spend much of his time at Buckingham Palace during his reign. Prince William and Kate were centre stage at the Platinum Jubilee celebrations last weekend, appearing on the royal balcony twice and during Saturday night's Party at the Palace celebrations. They were also joined by Prince George and Princess Charlotte as they brought the Platinum Jubilee celebrations to Wales while visiting concert rehearsals at Cardiff Castle. Prince William and Kate Middleton with their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte at Cardiff Castle this afternoon The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, along with George, eight, and Charlotte, seven, met performers and crew involved in a special Platinum Jubilee Celebration Concert at the castl. William and Kate seemed to encourage their shy-looking children to shake hands and introduce themselves to dignitaries as they arrived in the Welsh capital, though Charlotte was soon beaming. It was the young royals' first official visit to Wales and one of the first times they have greeted and interacted with members of the public. Missing was Prince Louis who stole the show when he appeared on Buckingham Palace's balcony with his family and the Queen after the Trooping the Colour ceremony. Queen, 96, reaches another incredible milestone as she becomes world's second longest-reigning monarch The Queen has reached an incredible new milestone after becoming the world's second longest reigning monarch. Her Majesty, 96, will overtake Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who reigned for 70 years and 126 days between 1946 and 2016, from today. Earlier this month, the Queen surpassed Johan II of Liechtenstein, who reigned for 70 years and 91 days, until his death in February 1929. Louis XIV of France remains the longest-reigning monarch, with a 72-year and 110-day reign from 1643 until 1715, while the Queen's stint on the throne now stands at 70 years and 126 day, equal to King Bhumibol Adulyadej's. The Queen has reached a new milestone today, after becoming the world's second longest reigning monarch with 70 years and 126 days on the throne under her belt Prince Johan II of Liechtenstein, who reigned for 70 years and 91 days, until his death in February 1929 King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thaliand pictured with the Queen during a state visit to the UK in July 1960 Louis XIV of France (pictured), known as Louis the Great, became King at the tender age of four following the death of his father Louis XIII, and ruled from 14 May 1643 to 1 September 1715 The milestone comes as Her Majesty celebrated her Platinum Jubilee last week, with four days of parades, street parties, and other events, after officially reaching the milestone on February 6 this year. After the success of the jubilee she released a statement thanking the nation saying she had been 'humbled and deeply touched' and that 'this renewed sense of togetherness will be felt for many years to come'. She added in the statement: 'While I may not have attended every event in person, my heart has been with you all; and I remain committed to serving you to the best of my ability, supported by my family.' This record joins the Queen's many other accolades - including her title as the longest-living reigning monarch. Four generations of the Royal family appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony: Camilla, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince George of Cambridge, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, Prince Louis of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge Her Majesty became the longest-reigning British monarch in September 2015, surpassing her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria. In March 2020, the Queen surpassed K'inich Janaab Pakal who ruled the Maya city state of Palenque for 68 years and 33 days before his death in 683AD. Pakal the Great is thought to have ascended to the throne at the age of 12- years-old and during his rule managed to expand Palenque's power in the western Maya states. The Mayan civilisation reached its peak between 250 and 900 AD, when it ruled large swathes of what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. Louis XIV of France, known as Louis the Great, became King at the tender age of four following the death of his father Louis XIII, and ruled from 14 May 1643 to 1 September 1715. The Queen has remained one of the most poised public figures in the world in the course of her 70-year reign, rarely revealing her emotions in public. Today, however, an insider has revealed that the huge outpouring of thanks from the British public and from around the Commonwealth left her 'tearful and overwhelmed with emotion' during the grand finale of the Jubilee celebrations last Sunday. For many commentators, the high point of the four-day event came when the Queen appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Platinum Jubilee Pageant. Dressed in a vibrant green Stewart Parvin crepe wool dress and coat with matching hat by Rachel Trevor-Morgan, the Queen was seen standing next to a slimmed-down version of the official working members of the Royal Family. Yet the historic moment nearly didn't happen at all. A source said: 'The Queen only decided that she would go to London about three hours before the balcony appearance. 'She was not feeling brilliant but the Prince of Wales had called her and told her she really ought to come if she could. 'He told her there were so many people desperate to see her and he convinced her to come.' Bound by duty, the Queen travelled from Windsor to London and was astonished by the goodwill shown to her when she arrived. A source said: 'The Queen was totally overwhelmed by the number of people waiting to see her she had tears in her eyes before she stepped out on the balcony.' Meanwhile, social media users rushed to congratulate the Queen on her milestone today. One said: 'Today Her Majesty the Queen is now the second longest reigning monarch, longest-reigning incumbent monarch and the longest-reigning female monarch in history. Congratulations Your Majesty.' Another wrote on Twitter: 'She keeps racking up these historical events. Congratulations.' Advertisement William and Kate 'will move family to Windsor in summer and Charles will give them the castle' after Jubilee talks that also saw Queen plot future for the monarchy involving Andrew 'sent to Scotland' William and Kate are planning to move to a house on Windsor Estate, according to report in the Sunday Times They are planning to move their children into a new school, but will retain their property at Kensington Palace It comes as it was today revealed Queen has been holding talks with Prince Andrew about rebuilding his life However one option on the table said to involve him leaving Windsor for Scotland to get out of the public eye Meanwhile, reports in The Sun suggest Harry and Meghan met Queen for 15 minutes during Jubilee weekend According to the paper, they introduced Lilibet to the Queen but palace aides kept the occasion 'formal' ByJames Robinson for MailOnlineand Kate Mansey For The Mail On Sunday Big changes could be afoot for the House of Windsor this summer, with William and Kate reportedly set on a move to Windsor, while Prince Andrew could swap Berkshire for Scotland as part of a bid to rebuild his life. Following family talks around the Queen's recent Jubilee weekend, plans are now being put in place that could see significant changes to the lives of the royals later this year. Possibly the biggest change will be for The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who are reportedly set to uproot their family from Kensington, west London, to Berkshire. It is claimed the couple are set to move to a house on the Queen's Windsor estate - leaving behind Kensington Palace as their main residence. Meanwhile, The Queen is said to have been holding secret talks with the Duke of York and senior members of the Royal Family about how they can help Prince Andrew rebuild his life 'away from the public gaze'. With his recent US legal battle now over, the Queen has held family meetings at Windsor Castle to establish what role the Duke could fulfil that would be acceptable to the public. While it is understood that Andrew seen out horse-riding at Windsor yesterday is determined to keep his Royal Lodge estate in Windsor, one option could be for him to rebuild his life in Scotland. While William, Kate and Andrew could all see big changes this summer, it appears to be little change for US-based Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. It is claimed the couple only secured a 15-minute meeting with the Queen over the four-day Jubilee celebrations last weekend, with senior royal aides reportedly describing the tone as 'formal'. Big changes could be afoot for the House of Windsor this summer, with William and Kate reportedly set on a move to Windsor, while Prince Andrew could be off to Scotland as part of a bid to rebuild his life. Pictured: William, Kate and their three children on the royal balcony during Trooping the Colour Prince Andrew (pictured riding around Windsor yesterday), the Duke of York was stripped of his military titles and HRH status in January as he faced sexual abuse allegations Pictured: The Queen's second son enjoying a horse ride in the sunshine in Windsor yesterday Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Queen Elizabeth II wave on the balcony during the Platinum Pageant on June 5 Prince Harry during a break in his latest polo game in California. The royal turned out for his pal Nacho Figueras' side Los Padres on Friday Prince Harry was spotted striking a pose this weekend as he enjoyed a spot of polo under the Californian sun, just days after arriving back from the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in London Harry donned a green top, white trousers and black riding boots and knee pads as he basked in the scorching LA heat, before mounting his brown horse and putting on his helmet and protective goggles While William, Kate and Andrew could all see big changes this summer, it appears to be little change for US-based Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured here leaving the Service of Thanksgiving for the Queen's Jubilee earlier this month) It is claimed William and Kate are set to move to a house on the Queen's Windsor estate (pictured: Windsor Castle) - leaving behind Kensington Palace as their main residence According to The Sunday Times, as part of the Berkshire move, William and Kate will take their son Prince George, 8, and daughter Princess Charlotte, 7, out of their current prep school in Battersea at the end of the school year. George and Charlotte will then join their younger brother, Prince Louis, 4, at a new school in Berkshire in September, the paper reports. The move will see William and Kate leave Kensington Palace, which has been their main residence since 2017. The couple moved their from their country home, Anmer Hall, in Norfolk, where they had previously spent much of their time. However, according to the paper, the pair will retain their property at Kensington Palace as their London home despite moving to Berkshire. Their press team will remain in west London. The couple will also retain Anmer Hall, which the paper reports they will continue to use 'regularly'. One friend reportedly told the paper that they plan to move there on a more permanent basis after their children are through 'the school years'. 'They absolutely love it up there, it's their happy place,' the friend is reported to have said. The move to Windsor will also see the Cambridges move closer to the home of the Duchess's parents, the Middletons, who live 45-minutes away by car in the village of Bucklebury. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are reportedly set to move to a house on the Queen's Windsor estate this summer. According to The Times, the couple are set to take their son Prince George, 8, and daughter Princess Charlotte, 7, out of their current prep school at the end of the school year George and Charlotte will join their younger brother, Prince Louis (pictured), 4, at a new school in Berkshire in September, the paper reports William and Kate's main residence is currently Kensington Palace. According to the Sunday Times, the couple will keep the stunning west London home as their main property It has long been reported that the couple could one day move into Windsor Castle. The Queen has spent much of her time at the Berkshire castle following the death of her beloved Prince Phillip. However it is understood Prince Charles does not plan to spend as much time there when he becomes king. It has previously been reported that the Prince of Wales plans to spend much of his time at Buckingham Palace during his reign. The move comes as William is set to turn 40 this week. The royal is reported to have joked privately that he is finding it 'so daunting'. But he also reportedly hopes the move to Berkshire will give his family more freedom to roam when compared to the 'confined' London life. It comes as the Daily Mail yesterday revealed how The Queen has been holding secret talks with the Duke of York and senior members of the Royal Family about how they can help Prince Andrew rebuild his life 'away from the public gaze'. The Duke will tomorrow attend the annual Order of the Garter ceremony and a senior Palace source confirmed meetings are underway behind the scenes to find a new role for him away from the spotlight. The Queen's second son was stripped of his military titles and HRH status in January as he prepared to face sexual abuse allegations, which he has always vehemently denied, in a civil lawsuit. Pictured: Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of York arrive at a Service of Thanksgiving for the life of the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Harry receives assistance as his kneepads are readjusted during a break in the polo match on Friday He agreed to pay a sum reportedly up to 12 million to settle the case. With the legal battle now over, the Queen has held family meetings at Windsor Castle to establish what role the Duke could fulfil that would be acceptable to the public. 'Clearly at some point soon, thought will have to be given as to how to support the Duke as, away from the public gaze, he seeks slowly to rebuild his life in a different direction,' said the senior Palace source. While it is understood that Andrew seen out horse-riding at Windsor yesterday is determined to keep his Royal Lodge estate, one option could be for him to rebuild his life in Scotland. The Palace source added: 'There is, of course, a real awareness and sensitivity to public feelings. There is also recognition that the task of starting to support him as he begins to rebuild his life will be the first step on a long road and one that should not be played out every day in the glare of the public spotlight.' The Duke who was absent from the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations last weekend after contracting Covid remains a member of the historic Order of the Garter and will attend its annual ceremony at Windsor. The Mail on Sunday understands that concerns remain within the Palace that any return to public life would be badly received and that the Queen will not reverse her decision to ban Andrew from official duties. At the time, a statement said: 'With The Queen's approval and agreement, The Duke of York's military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen.' News of the discussions on Andrew's future comes as he was branded an 'absolute fool' for becoming embroiled in a fresh row over money. French socialite Isabelle de Rouvre who at one time was owed millions of pounds by Andrew after selling her ski chalet in the Swiss resort of Verbier to him made the comment amid new claims that he is involved in a 1.6 million debt battle connected to the property. Andrew is believed to dispute the amount of the debt. It comes as reports today suggested Prince Harry and Meghan Markle met the Queen for only 15 minutes over the Platinum Jubilee. During the meeting, the couple, who are now based in Montecito, California, introduced their one-year-old daughter Lilibet, who is named after The Queen, for the first time. While it is understood that Andrew seen out horse-riding at Windsor yesterday is determined to keep his Royal Lodge estate, one option could be for him to rebuild his life in Scotland However, according to The Sun on Sunday, the meeting, which took place on Thursday as the Jubilee celebrations kicked-off, was kept 'formal' by Buckingham Palace aides. A source reportedly told the paper: 'It was a quick in and out job. It was all quite formal.' Buckingham Palace reportedly declined to comment when contacted by The Sun. It comes as Prince Harry was spotted striking a pose this weekend as he enjoyed a spot of polo under the Californian sun, almost a week after arriving back from the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in London. The Duke of Sussex, 37, played for his friend Nacho Figueras' team Los Padres at the Cancha de Estrella Polo Club in Santa Barbara on Friday, in what was the first time he was seen out and about since returning to Los Angeles on June 5. After working up a sweat, the red-faced royal was pictured taking a break as he placed his hands behind his head and sunk into his right hip. He donned a green top, white trousers and black riding boots and knee pads as he basked in the typical LA heat, before being seen mounting his brown horse and putting on his helmet and protective goggles for another round of play. It comes after royal experts this week claimed that Harry 'must have gone home feeling very depressed for what he has given up', after he and his wife Meghan Markle decided not to be more visible in the Jubilee celebrations because 'they did not have centre stage seats'. The Duke and the Duchess of Sussex, 40, missed both the Platinum Jubilee Party and Pageant - as well as the Epsom Derby during the four-day festivities. The Duke and the Duchess of Sussex , 40, missed both the Platinum Jubilee Party and Pageant - as well as the Epsom Derby during the four-day festivities. They did however attend the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral (pictured) Meghan was not present for the game on Friday, which Harry's team lost 12-8 to Dundee II. The couple made only one public appearance over the Jubilee weekend, despite flying in from the US with their two children - Archie and Lilibet. They did not appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony during Trooping the Colour, and were also seemingly relegated to the second row during the Thanksgiving service. Vanity Fair's Katie Nicholl told True Royalty TV's The Royal Beat that the couple weren't at other celebrations because 'they did not have centre stage seats'. Meanwhile, historian Hugo Vickers added: 'Harry has given up being Captain of the Royal Marines, who were out in force. 'I think he must have gone home feeling very depressed for what he has given up.' Katie said: 'I honestly think it's [because] they knew that they wouldn't be in that front row. 'And why did they leave the Royal Family? They left because they weren't in the front row. I believe that's why they weren't at the other celebrations as they did not have centre stage seats.' The fortress at Fusan in the late 19th century Courtesy of Diane Nars Collection By Robert Neff Traveling alone through the Korean countryside in March 1875 was dangerous especially if you were a foreigner. However, one young Japanese man from Tsushima Island, likely a student interpreter at Fusan (modern Busan) and possessed by the folly of youth and the mastery of the Korean language, was determined to explore Korea beyond the small Japanese enclave at Fusan. He wrote: "After studying Korean for several years and becoming pretty well acquainted with the language, the idea entered my mind to make a tour of observation through the interior of the country in disguise." His destination was the great market city of Daegu a fairly conservative city that would later gain a seemingly well-deserved reputation as being unfriendly to foreign visitors. In preparation for his journey, he let his hair and beard grow out so that his "general appearance, in [the] course of time, resembled that of a Korean." Following the advice of his Korean companion, he put on Korean mourning clothing the large mourning hat which covered his face, aided in disguising his true identity. They departed on March 15, and after a fairly short trek made their first stop in a crude inn. The Japanese man felt quite fortunate as the inn had an empty room in which he and his Korean companion could pass the night shielded from the watchful eyes of the general population. Torai Gate circa early 1900s Robert Neff Collection Although he was dressed like a Korean and could speak Korean, his careful preparations were almost foiled by his finicky appetite. "The food was rough and coarse and assailed my nose with such a stench that indicated that it was putrid. One glance at it was quite sufficient to create a bitter taste in the mouth. To give a specimen or two of the dishes one was herrings and shrimps pickled in salt (the latter cut in small pieces), exceedingly offensive to the smell." He also described the doenjang stew as being thick like mud. The meal, served with side dishes and "such an immense quantity of rice that no single man could eat it all," was extremely inexpensive. Apparently it was not to his liking but, as he later recalled, "As I might run the risk of exciting suspicion if I did not eat, I ate as best I could." The following morning they continued their trek and stayed at an inn where the food was relatively the same as in the previous inn. This time, however, the inn had another guest who suddenly burst into their room: "My Korean companion found great fault with this irregular entry. Henceforward we arranged that I was to pass for a sick man and that other guests were not to be allowed into our room, and to make a similar arrangement with the landlord before putting up anywhere. I felt very uneasy at the time, lest the guest should ask any questions, and guess the truth; but luckily he went away without any dispute." This would not be his last brush with discovery. A small restaurant circa early 1900s Robert Neff Collection On the 17th they crossed the Nakdong River noting that narrow boats nearly 20 meters in length sailed up and down the river. It was just as they reached Miryang when they encountered a Korean official and his procession returning home from Daegu. Unsure as how to act in front of the official, he was spared from discovery when one of the Korean passersby told him to get out of sight as he was a mourner. "From this," he wrote later, "I first learned that it is the invariable custom for mourners to avoid meeting people of the higher class." This custom may have shielded him from the upper class but not from the observant eyes of the lower class. A laborer grew suspicious and asked if he was Japanese but the "mourner's" traveling companion convinced him it was merely a case of mistaken identity as there were "a great many people in the world who resemble one another in appearance." On March 18, he discovered that he was running out of money. He bought a large amount of rice cakes at one of the "mud-built stalls" he passed "to satisfy in some degree [his] hunger." He was, of course, somewhat judgmental and often compared Korea unfavorably to Japan. He wrote: "In the fields, as we went along, I saw woodmen engaged in raking pine leaves together and gathering withered branches, straw and grass, which they use in place of firewood. This would seem to show that firewood and charcoal are scarce, and also that very little attention is paid to farming." A scene from the Korean countryside circa early 1900s Robert Neff Collection That night, he arrived at his friend's nephew's house on the outskirts of Daegu the place where he would stay for a fortnight. It was a thatched house in dilapidated condition. He described it as the "exact counterpart" of the seaweed huts used by Tsushima Island peasants. His hosts were farmers who supplemented their income by selling pots and pans. They lived rather frugally but they were exceedingly kind to their guests and shared all they could. Their food was simple rice and wheat mixed, served with wild vegetables. During his entire stay, he never saw them eat meat and claimed even Koreans in the middle and higher classes found it difficult to obtain it usually resorting to salted fish. "The articles of food are for the most part rancid in smell." It wasn't only the food he criticized. "[The Koreans] make no particular change in their garments for inside and outside wear. Their bodies and limbs are impregnated with filth; their clothing is a nest of vermin. As they usually lie down and get up without washing their feet, their houses are in complete litter, the stench of which offends the nose in a well-nigh unendurable manner." Even Korean alcohol was not exempt from the scorn of his pen. He denounced "makgeolli" as "thick [and] muddy so sour and acrid in taste that one can hardly drink it." And yet, one snowy night, he and his friend drank enough of it while gossiping that he became intoxicated enough to compel his unwilling friend to take him to the walled city his target destination. "But to my great vexation," he complained, "owing to the darkness of the evening, I was unable to see anything clearly." Sharing a meal circa early 1900s Robert Neff Collection On March 31, his friend slept in the same room with him this seems to have provided him with some degree of comfort but it was short-lived. "In the middle of the night the dogs suddenly began to bark and a noise was heard of people calling out 'Thieves!' 'Thieves!' Soon afterward a woman came to the door outside, asking where the thieves were, and after her four or five men came and said that the robbers are concealed in this house and manifested great suspicion. They were then about to make a search, but at this stage, my friend got very angry and shouted out asking them what they meant by treating him as a thief, and how they would explain their conduct if they searched another person's house and did not find any thieves there. They went away without a word." The Japanese man was terrified, and gathered his things together in case they should come back and he would have to flee into the night. Sleep came very uneasily. In the morning, he moved to another friend's house. This friend took him to view the interior of the walled city which somewhat impressed him. The prosperous city of 3,700 houses was surrounded by a wall five meters tall and five kilometers in circumference. There were four gates and each guarded by soldiers. Near the northern gate was a building used by the governor of Daegu to pay homage to the capital by making "profound bows in the direction of the capital." This he did twice a month on the first and 15th day. Near the western gate, he was surprised to see "that half the interior was crowded with convicts. The area around the eastern gate was "bustling and crowded; the shops [were] as close together as fishes' scales" and displayed their wares foreign cotton goods and domestic products on small mats. The governor's residence was located near the southern gate and there was a large sign posted warning mounted officials to dismount as a sign of respect for the governor. Yeongnamnu at Miryang circa early 1900s Robert Neff Collection Priti Patel could be banned from putting Channel migrants on the first flight to Rwanda, it emerged last night. Home Office sources said human rights lawyers had tabled a deluge of legal claims on behalf of 31 individuals due to be deported tomorrow. They said there was a real prospect the courts could delay the removal of all 31. It means that even if the Court of Appeal today grants the Home Secretary the right to go ahead with the first removal flight, there may be no one to put on it. Lawyers acting on behalf of the 31 are said either to have lodged legal appeals or warned they would do so today. Priti Patel could be banned from putting Channel migrants on the first flight to Rwanda, it emerged last night Home Office sources said human rights lawyers had tabled a deluge of legal claims on behalf of 31 individuals due to be deported tomorrow Lawyers acting on behalf of the 31 are said either to have lodged legal appeals or warned they would do so today Protesters chant and hold placards against the UK deportation flights to Rwanda outside Brook House Immigration Removal Centre on June 12 We are getting claims from every single one, a source said. In many cases they are making multiple claims under various bits of the Human Rights Act and modern slavery legislation. Over the weekend there have been new claims every hour and we expect more right up to when the flight goes. We will operate the flight even if there is just one person on it, but there is a real prospect that even that might not be possible. The warning came as: Tory MPs said the Human Rights Act may have to be scrapped; Rwanda said it was ready to take tens of thousands of migrants from Britain and dismissed criticism of its human rights record; Ministers accused Prince Charles of over-reaching after the Daily Mail revealed he had branded the Rwanda policy appalling; Government sources said ministers were reviewing the UKs 80million funding for the UN refugee agency after it claimed the Rwanda policy failed its standards of legality and appropriateness; Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis defended the policy, saying it would break the business model of people-smugglers; Angry protests were held yesterday both outside and within an immigration removal centre at Gatwick Airport. Under the terms of the deal with Rwanda, those crossing the Channel illegally risk being given a one-way ticket to Kigali where they will have the chance to claim asylum in the African state. Former security minister Sir John Hayes said it was ethically the right thing to do, as well as being in line with public demands to take back control of our borders. Demonstrators at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre at Gatwick protest against plans to send migrants to Rwanda Tory Peter Bone urged ministers to bring forward emergency legislation this week if the first flight to Rwanda was frustrated by legal action I am sick to death of deranged do-gooders and fat cat lawyers frustrating government policy and the interests of the nation, said Sir John, who chairs the Common Sense Group of Tory MPs. If we end up in a farcical situation where no one is allowed to get on a flight declared lawful by the courts because of spurious human rights challenges then we will have to repeal the Human Rights Act. We are already committed to reforming it and we may need to go further. Every major policy this Government tries to pursue is getting caught up by the long tail of Blairism through legislation like the Human Rights Act. Fellow Tory Peter Bone urged ministers to bring forward emergency legislation this week if the first flight to Rwanda was frustrated by legal action. He added: It is maddening. I thought we had stopped these last-minute appeals. If there is a flaw in the law then the Home Secretary should come back immediately with legislation to correct it. I am firmly of the view that this policy is morally right we have to stop these evil people-smuggling gangs. But it is also politically essential. If we fail to stop the small boats and take back control of our borders then the British public will not forgive us. In a landmark ruling on Friday evening, the High Court rejected an application for a temporary injunction against the first flight made by the PCS union and the campaign groups Detention Action and Care 4 Calais. Mr Justice Swift said it was important for the secretary of state to be able to implement immigration control measures, and preventing that would be prejudicial to the public interest. The Court of Appeal will rule on the issue again today. A separate bid for an injunction will also be brought today by the group Asylum Aid. Home Office sources said that while only a handful of Channel migrants had provided reasons they should not be removed during the formal seven-day notice period, almost all were now lodging last-minute legal appeals. In all, only about ten of the 130 migrants earmarked for the first few flights have yet to submit legal claims but they are expected to follow suit in the coming days Ministers are already planning to appoint an independent reviewer to examine whether the well-meaning legislation needs to be tightened up to stop spurious claims Doris Uwicyeza, chief technical adviser to the Rwandan Ministry of Justice, yesterday said the central African state was ready to accept tens of thousands of people from the UK In all, only about ten of the 130 migrants earmarked for the first few flights have yet to submit legal claims but they are expected to follow suit in the coming days. The majority of the claimants are making appeals under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act, which enshrines the right to a family and private life. But some are also said to be seeking to exploit the UKs modern slavery laws. A source said that the law sets a low bar for those claiming to have been enslaved abroad or trafficked here, with the result that courts are often willing to allow them the statutory 45 days to produce evidence to back up their claims. Ministers are already planning to appoint an independent reviewer to examine whether the well-meaning legislation needs to be tightened up to stop spurious claims. Doris Uwicyeza, chief technical adviser to the Rwandan Ministry of Justice, yesterday said the central African state was ready to accept tens of thousands of people from the UK. She also defended Rwandas human rights record and said it was not illegal to be homosexual rubbishing a claim made by some critics of the policy. She told LBC Radio: We understand the importance of protecting anybody from hate speech and discrimination, this is not tolerated in our society. The freedom from discrimination due to sexual orientation of a person is guaranteed in our constitution and the rule of law is there to enforce that. Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS union which represents many Border Force officials, said that no flights should be permitted before the legality of the Rwanda policy was tested in the courts next month. Protesters up in arms over flight BY ISAAN KHAN FOR THE DAILY MAIL Protesters descended upon an immigration detention centre yesterday to join detainees in opposing the Governments plan to send migrants to Rwanda. In the emotionally charged scenes at Brook House immigration removal centre near Gatwick airport in West Sussex, a crowd forcefully banged the buildings gates while chanting No to Rwanda. The demonstrators were also seen carrying placards with messages including Its inhumane and We stand with you. Dozens of activists shouted we are with you, set them free and deportations no more... Britain is a racist state. Protesters descended upon an immigration detention centre yesterday to join detainees in opposing the Governments plan to send migrants to Rwanda Many of the buildings occupants, separated from the crowd by two sets of gates, were outside in a sizable group and responded with arms waving in the air and loud chants too. Many of the buildings occupants, separated from the crowd by two sets of gates, were outside in a sizable group and responded with arms waving in the air and loud chants too. In unison with protesters, people inside appeared to chant: No Rwanda. The building is housing some of the migrants who have been told they face deportation to Rwanda, including on Tuesdays flight. Christian Hogsberg, 42, a history lecturer at the University of Brighton, said he was at the protest to show solidarity with refugees who are facing the danger of deportation to authoritarian regime Rwanda at the hands of a Tory Government that is playing the race card in the most shameful manner. Protesters descended upon an immigration detention centre yesterday to join detainees in opposing the Governments plan to send migrants to Rwanda. In the emotionally charged scenes at Brook House immigration removal centre near Gatwick airport in West Sussex, a crowd forcefully banged the buildings gates while chanting No to Rwanda. The demonstrators were also seen carrying placards with messages including Its inhumane and We stand with you. Dozens of activists shouted we are with you, set them free and deportations no more... Britain is a racist state. Protesters descended upon an immigration detention centre yesterday to join detainees in opposing the Governments plan to send migrants to Rwanda Many of the buildings occupants, separated from the crowd by two sets of gates, were outside in a sizable group and responded with arms waving in the air and loud chants too. Protesters chant and hold placards against the UK deportation flights to Rwanda outside Brook House Immigration Removal Centre on June 12 The building is housing some of the migrants who have been told they face deportation to Rwanda, including on Tuesdays flight Many of the buildings occupants, separated from the crowd by two sets of gates, were outside in a sizable group and responded with arms waving in the air and loud chants too. In unison with protesters, people inside appeared to chant: No Rwanda. The building is housing some of the migrants who have been told they face deportation to Rwanda, including on Tuesdays flight. Christian Hogsberg, 42, a history lecturer at the University of Brighton, said he was at the protest to show solidarity with refugees who are facing the danger of deportation to authoritarian regime Rwanda at the hands of a Tory Government that is playing the race card in the most shameful manner. Just after 6am on April 2, 1982, the Argentinians invaded the Falkland Islands, which they call Las Malvinas. MP Alan Clark told his wife Jane: Weve lost the Falklands. Its all over. Were a Third World country, no good for anything. However, Mrs Thatcher was persuaded that a task force of about 100 ships could be swiftly assembled to recapture the islands. Its first offensive action was the recapture of the island of South Georgia on April 25 news of which the Iron Lady famously greeted with the word rejoice. On May 21, the first British troops landed on East Falkland, but the Argentine Air Force was inflicting severe damage on British warships HMS Sheffield, Ardent, Antelope and Coventry were sunk, many others damaged. On May 25, the SS Atlantic Conveyor was hit, killing 12 of the crew and destroying her cargo of ten helicopters, needed to carry troops to the Falklands capital, Port Stanley. To liberate the islands, the men now had to walk, or yomp, 50 miles across East Falkland carrying 120 lb of kit. In early June, the harsh South Atlantic winter arrived, which meant there were only a few days left before weather conditions would put victory on a knife edge. Royal Marines yomping towards Port Stanley, Falkland Islands in 1982, with the Union Jack flying from the backpack of one A Royal Marine of 40 Commando searching an Argentine prisoner at Port Howard on West Falkland on June 17, 1982 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher returned to a reception from well-wishers outside 10 Downing Street after announcing the surrender of Argentine armed forces in East and West Falklands at 9pm local time 14th June This map details the geography of the Falkland Islands and the location of Port Stanley, the main settlement on the island that was the final position to be assaulted by British soldiers Friday, June 11 10am Falklands Time Argentine troops have spent almost 70 days in the mountains of East Falkland, living in tents or shelters made from rocks and turf. Their trenches are waterlogged and many soldiers are suffering from frostbite and trench foot; some of their equipment is rusting. One conscript recalled: We were cold, wet and hungry. I had three pairs of socks; I wore them all at once and never changed them. Food is scarce, and when parcels from home arrive in Port Stanley, they are looted by other troops based there. 2pm Submerged off the coast of Argentina, the Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror is providing early warning of enemy aircraft. Five weeks earlier, on May 2, the Conqueror sank the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano and 290 sailors were killed instantly; another 33 perished in the water or in life rafts. From the Conqueror, the sound of the Belgrano breaking up was like the tinkling of glass from a huge chandelier that has crashed to the ground. 6pm Trudi McPhee is a sixth-generation islander who lives on a sheep farm on East Falkland. For two weeks, she and other farmers have been using their vehicles to carry troops, supplies and ammunition up the mountains, sometimes driving without headlights, relying on moonlight to find their way. As Trudi will be near the action, an officer from 3 Para tells her to write a letter to her next of kin in case she doesnt come back. Things are going to get pretty serious, Trudi writes to her parents, adding she loves them very much. 7pm Nine thousand British troops are now in position close to the hills between them and Port Stanley. After the 50-mile yomp, many of their boots have all but disintegrated and their Arctic tents were lost on the Atlantic Conveyor. After the bloody battle for Goose Green two weeks earlier, Brigadier Julian Thompson, commander of 3 Commando Brigade, knows moving men across the open terrain in daylight is suicidal. He has decided to carry out all his attacks at night. Their first objectives are Argentine positions on Mount Harriet, Two Sisters and Mount Longdon which are blocking the way to Port Stanley. 7.05pm The start of the attack has been delayed as some units are lost. The commander of 2 Para, Lieutenant-Colonel David Chaundler, walks back to his temporary HQ singing Land Of Hope And Glory loudly, as he cant remember the password to give the sentries. At HQ, he is given a captured Argentine map which shows he and his men are about to advance into a minefield. Chaundler remembers an army lecturer once telling him that the odds of stepping on a mine are small, so he decides the attack will take place as planned. When Chaundler later told the lecturer what hed done, the man was shocked: My God, if Id have known somebody was going to put the theory to the test, Id never have used that example! 8.15pm The attack on Mount Longdon begins. Many Argentine soldiers are caught by surprise. Cabo Oscar Carrizo, of 7th Regiment, recalled: I heard a clunk-click, then many clunk-clicks. I knew that sound. It was bayonets being fixed. Panic surged through my body. On the other side of Mount Longdon, Trudi McPhee can hear the whistle of Argentine mortar rounds flying towards her, but theyd plop into the peat and were lost. 10pm Frigates HMS Arrow and HMS Active aid the ground attack by firing at Argentine positions. On HMS Hermes, the task force commander, Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward, is writing a list of ships lost: Two destroyers sunk, three seriously damaged; two frigates sunk, two seriously damaged; one container ship sunk; two LSLs [Land Ship Logistics] sunk, one seriously damaged. The task force has been seriously weakened. Woodward writes: Frankly, if the Args could only breathe on us, wed fall over! Perhaps theyre the same way: can only trust so, otherwise were in for a carve-up. Midnight Every night from 11pm to 3am, the Royal Navy warships have been bombarding Argentine positions around Port Stanley. Some islanders shelter in the Anglican church or in a large storehouse. A stray shell hits a house. Doreen Bonner and Susan Whitley are killed and several others injured. Mary Goodwin dies later. Doreens body is found by John Fowler, the islands Superintendent of Education, her glasses covered with dust. John said: She was a very meticulous person . . . she would certainly have wanted me to wipe them. Wellwishers wave British flags as they bid farewell to troops sailing on QE2 as it departs for Falkland Islands as part of the task force to retake the islands Royal Navy frigate HMS Antelope is blasted when an Argentinian bomb exploding on board, killing the bomb disposal engineer who was trying to defuse it. Smoke pours from the Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield as fire rages through the warship after she was hit by an Argentinean missile A-4B Skyhawks had been given the task to target HMS Coventry and Broadsword, two British ships on duty to the northwest of the Falkland Islands. The A-4 Skyhawks flew just a few feet above the water to avoid radar detection Saturday, June 12 1am On Mount Longdon, as the Argentinians battle in the dark with little option but to surrender, many fight to the death. British casualties are mounting. Sergeant Ian McKay of 3 Para picks four men, breaks cover with them and runs uphill. He is soon alone, his comrades dead or wounded. He presses on over the summit. Sergeant McKays body was found in the morning, surrounded by dead Argentinians. He was posthumously awarded a VC. 2am Argentine Brigadier-General Jofre, in Port Stanley, is told his troops on Mount Longdon are being overrun. He orders his artillery to fire on the hill and looks at the Argentine governor, General Menendez, as if to say: May God forgive me if any Argentinians are still fighting there. The artillery causes casualties on both sides. 6.30am After eight hours of fighting, Mount Longdon is taken by the British. All three hills have been captured, with the loss of 24 men. About 60 more are injured. The Argentinians have lost 85 men. Although some British troops are aggressive to captured Argentinians, there are acts of kindness. One Marine lies alongside an injured Argentinian while his fellow Marines light a fire to make sure he doesnt lose body heat. 6.36am An Argentine missile launcher on East Falkland fires an Exocet missile at the destroyer HMS Glamorgan, 18 miles offshore. The alarm sounds and Glamorgan turns sharply, but the Exocet clips the upper deck and explodes, igniting fuel in the ships helicopter. Flames leap hundreds of feet into the air. Eight men are killed instantly and burning fuel pours below decks, starting a fire in the galley. Four cooks and a steward die. The most severe injuries are caused by Formica in the galley splintering like carving knives. 9am Neville Bennett is a fireman in Port Stanley; his wife Valerie is a nurse. The night before, she had been tending to the wounded from the naval bombardment. Through binoculars, Neville watches the fighting in the hills. He sees gun flashes and men running, then spots three men in an Argentine lorry heading towards him. Suddenly the lorry vanishes in a puff of smoke. He writes in his diary: Much as I didnt want the Argentines here, I found it most disconcerting seeing them killed, even through binoculars. 4pm News about HMS Glamorgan has reached London. Mrs Thatcher wears black for Trooping the Colour because, as she wrote later, there was so much to mourn. On HMS Glamorgan, with the fires extinguished, there is a sunset service for the 13 dead. Crew members write messages on the canvas bags holding the bodies. Glamorgan has too few ensigns to cover each one, so they borrow some from other ships. One by one, the bodies are dropped into the sea. 4.30pm Valerie Bennett arrives home after her shift at the Port Stanley hospital. She tells her husband that as the bodies of the two Falklands women who died in the bombardment were carried to the mortuary, wounded Argentinians stood in tribute and made the sign of the cross. But then she says angrily: The bloody Argy reporters wanted to photograph the bodies. I told them no! I locked the mortuary door and put the key in my pocket. Sunday, June 13 British soldiers raise the Union Jack flag at the Government House in Port Stanley after the surrender of Argentine forces ended the Falklands war between Britain and Argentina, June 17 1982 The Union Flag flies over Port Howard, West Falkland for the first time in more than two months after the Argentine surrender. The flag is hoisted by the 40 Commando, Royal Marine A British Royal Marine guards Argentinean soldiers captured at Goose Green as they await transit out of the area 8am Royal Marines Major-General Jeremy Moore had planned for the advance on Port Stanley to resume last night, but the artillery have only a few rounds left. They are waiting for Sea King helicopters to bring more ammunition. 10am The P&O cruise liner SS Uganda, requisitioned for use as a hospital ship, is moored off West Falkland with 300 patients on board. Her medical teams have treated more than 120 burns patients, including Welsh Guardsman Simon Weston, who suffered 46 per cent burns when the Sir Galahad was hit on June 8. Simons fight to recover from his injuries will later capture the British publics imagination. Some soldiers have severe nicotine withdrawal but have burnt hands, so P&O crew help them to put cigarettes in their mouths. A popular film shown in the wards is Monty Pythons Life Of Brian. The patients sing along to Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, to the amazement of the medics. Midday Naval photographer Peter Holdgate is behind Royal Marines Corporal Pete Robinson crossing a minefield. Robinson has a Union Flag attached to his radio mast and because it has been raining, the flag is hanging limply. Suddenly, the wind fills the flag and Holdgate takes a picture that will appear in newspapers around the world (and which is reproduced on the previous page). In future years, soldiers tell Corporal Robinson that he is the reason they joined the Marines. 8pm Many Falkland Islanders are tuned in to the BBC World Service programme Calling The Falklands. It used to be a music show but has been turned into a programme carrying special news bulletins and messages from public figures, such as the Governor of the Falklands, Rex Hunt, who was ejected from the islands on the first day of the invasion. Presenter Peter King ends with his normal payoff: Keep your heads down and your hearts high! 9pm The night attacks begin. The new targets are Argentine positions on three hills Tumbledown, Mount William and Wireless Ridge. The Scots Guards, who just a few weeks ago were patrolling Buckingham Palace, storm the most vital target Tumbledown, a long, narrow ridge with a sheer drop on one side. Their password to identify friend from foe is Hey Jimmie, as the Argentinians have a very different pronunciation of J. Defending Tumbledown is the elite Argentinian 5th Marine Battalion, who outnumber the British two to one. At one point they taunt the British and call on them to surrender. A photo taken from the battlefield as British soldiers strived to retake Port Stanley from the invading Argentines Monday, June 14 1am On Tumbledown, Scots Guardsman Jim Mitchell sees a flash out of the corner of his eye, then blackness. He has been hit in the head. As Jim is carried away on a stretcher, a sniper opens fire and he is dropped to the ground. He manages to take cover among rocks before being led to a field ambulance. 2am The Scots Guards have outmanoeuvred the Argentinians, who are surrounded and also now being attacked from the air. They are fighting for their lives. Private Jose Ojeda recalled: It was murder. There was no way to keep fighting. When he hears the British call to surrender, he and his comrades obey. Michael Nicholson of ITN is with the Gurkhas on Mount William. Its so cold his cameraman Bernard Hesketh, who fought on D-Day, has wrapped his coat around the camera to stop it freezing. Three frigates fire more than 500 shells at Argentine positions. The British push on doggedly and soon Argentine troops are fleeing towards Stanley in their hundreds. 7am The islanders wake up to thick snow on the ground. Its clear the Argentine front has collapsed: a stream of soldiers is coming down from the hills and theyre throwing their weapons into ditches. One officer runs out of a building and starts firing in the air, ordering them to stop and fight. They ignore him. Close to Government House is a Chinook helicopter which the islanders assume is for General Menendez, the Argentine military governor, to leave the island. When he took charge, he decreed that all traffic should drive on the right-hand side of the road, that Spanish would be the official language taught in schools and that pesos would replace pounds sterling. Port Stanley had been renamed Puerto Argentina. 10am Lance-Corporal Denzil Connick, of 3 Para, has been hit by artillery fire and is being flown to SS Uganda. He is taken to intensive care and, to his delight, placed in a bed next to a platoon mate, Michael Mush Bateman, who has been shot through the throat. They make weak thumbs-up signs to each other. 11am The head of the military junta in Argentina, General Galtieri, telephones General Menendez and tells him to use all means at your disposal and continue fighting with all the intensity with which you are capable. Menendez replies that he has no means at his disposal, no troops, no high ground, no ammunition. Galtieri gives him permission to negotiate with the British. Midday The overnight snow is melting and gunfire has mostly stopped. Word spreads among the troops above Port Stanley that white flags have been seen over the capital. A Gurkha major surprises ITNs Michael Nicholson with the news but his crew werent ready to film, so Nicholson asks the major to do it again. 1pm Reporter Max Hastings is with 2 Para, the unit closest to Stanley. Although the men have been told to halt, Hastings decides to walk into the capital. He takes off his camouflage jacket, dons a civilian coat and sets off. In Stanley, Hastings bluffs his way to speak to an Argentine officer, then returns to British lines to transmit the story of the victory back to Britain as soon as possible. 1.30pm Prince Andrew, a Sea King pilot, brings casualties from HMS Glamorgan on board SS Uganda. He is the first member of the Royal Family since 1945 to have fought in a war. At the outbreak of the conflict, when a Buckingham Palace spokesman was asked if the Queen wanted to keep her son out of the war, he replied: Prince Andrew is a serving officer and there is no question in her mind that he should go. 2.05pm Not realising the British troops are almost out of ammunition and the task force ships are depleted, General Menendez believes he must surrender. He sends a message to Major-General Jeremy Moore asking for ceasefire terms. Soon, the British chief negotiator arrives by helicopter at Government House. 3pm The Union Flag is flying once again over Government House. Firefighter Neville Bennett sees a man walking along a pavement shouting: Im British! Im British! so the locals know hes friendly. The man is BBC correspondent Brian Hanrahan, and soon a crowd gathers round him. On May 1, when based on HMS Hermes, Hanrahan had not been allowed to say how many Sea Harriers had taken part in a raid, so he famously said: I counted them out and I counted them all back. 4pm Max Hastings arrives on HMS Fearless with his scoop, only to be told by a Ministry of Defence PR man: I am afraid there is a complete news blackout. The War Cabinet want news of the surrender to be given first in the House of Commons. Hastings argues that Argentine radio is already carrying the news, but the MoD team is unmoved. Hastings goes to bed to lie sleepless with rage towards the system which had so effortlessly thwarted me. 5.50pm Michael Nicholson shares Hastingss frustration. In the UK, News At Ten will begin in ten minutes and he is desperate to make a live telephone call to the programme to tell viewers the war is over but he, too, is denied permission. It takes three weeks for TV pictures to reach British screens, so most news from the Falklands has been relayed by an MoD press officer in London named Ian McDonald, whose delivery is so flat he has been nicknamed McDalek. 6.14pm In the Commons, Mrs Thatcher says: After successful attacks last night, General Moore decided to press forward. The Argentines retreated. Our forces reached the outskirts of Port Stanley. Large numbers of Argentine soldiers threw down their weapons. They are reported to be flying white flags over Port Stanley. The House cheers. In the Lobby, Alan Clark catches up with Mrs Thatcher: Prime Minister, only you could have done this; you did it alone, and your place in history is assured. She looks startled, while Home Secretary William Whitelaw looks irritated at Clarks outburst. 8.30pm General Jeremy Moore arrives by helicopter at Government House to sign the surrender document. Moore refuses permission for TV cameras to film, so the historic event goes unseen by the wider world. I felt that if there was half of a tenth of a 1 per cent chance that having the thing filmed might put Menendez off surrendering, it would be a risk it could not be proper for me to take. 9.15pm The surrender document is signed. Clutching a bottle of whisky to celebrate, General Moore heads to the storehouse where many islanders have gathered for safety. He tells them: Im sorry it has taken us so long to get here. In Downing Street, which is filled with cheering crowds, Mrs Thatcher goes to bed contented. I felt an enormous burden had been lifted from my shoulders and future worries would be small compared with those which had been with us constantly for 11 weeks. 10pm News of the surrender reaches the intensive care ward on SS Uganda. Lance-Corporal Denzil Connick pulls his bedsheet over his face and sobs. He said: I wept for my friends, I wept for myself, but most of all I wept with relief that further suffering might at last be over. Aftermath The Falklands campaign cost the lives of 255 British servicemen, 649 Argentines and three Falkland islanders. Few men came home without some psychological scars. The war is estimated to have cost 1 million for every island resident. Governor Rex Hunt returned to Government House to find the wine cellar and freezer had been emptied, and that General Menendez had left a pair of pyjamas in his bedside cabinet. Hunt wrote later: As they were thicker and warmer than mine, I had no compunction about wearing them. Hunt took down pictures of General Galtieri from the drawing room and replaced them with a picture of the Queen. Jonathan Mayo is the author of D-Day: Minute By Minute, published by Short Books. Ever since Poppy Delevingne split from her husband, friends have been wondering who might be the next lucky chap to catch the supermodel's eye. Now it appears the answer was very close to home all along, as it seems her best friend Ty Wood, the son of Rolling Stone star Ronnie and his ex-wife Jo, has fallen for her. The pair have been close since their youth and share the same celebrity social circle, including Sienna Miller and Rita Ora. They are often seen goofing around for cameras, gazing into each other's eyes and wrapping their arms around one another. All that time, it seems they were falling in love, even if they didn't realise it themselves. It seems Poppy Delevingne's best friend Ty Wood - the son of Rolling Stone star Ronnie and his ex-wife Jo - has fallen for her. (The pair are pictured at a Halloween party in 2019) Poppy and Ty, above, with Ronnie Wood and his wife Sally in London in November 2018 Their friendship was cemented in 2019 when Poppy, 36, and her sister Cara agreed to be the celebrity faces of Ty's ocean conservation charity Project Zero. According to a source there, friendship turned into affection for Ty at around this time. Back then, though, Poppy was still living with her husband James Cook, from whom she is now separated. So Ty, who previously dated model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as well as pop star Ora, had to wait patiently until James and Poppy split officially, which they did when she moved out of the marital home in January. Ty, 38, hasn't had a girlfriend for three years. A rep for Jo Wood said: 'I know she is positive about the relationship with Poppy.' (Jo is pictured with her son and also, centre, Jay Rutland in 2018) My source says: 'Ty slowly started to realise his feelings for Poppy were changing a while back. He hasn't been this happy since Rosie, and his mum Jo is thrilled for him. Who wouldn't be happy for him? He's fallen in love with his best friend and she seems to feel the same way. Ty and Poppy's love for each other has been hiding in plain sight for years. Even they didn't notice it.' In January, this column revealed James and Poppy's eight-year marriage was effectively over after a long secret separation. A rep for Jo Wood said: 'I know she is positive about the relationship with Poppy.' Their friendship was cemented in 2019 when Poppy, 36, and her sister Cara agreed to be the celebrity faces of Ty's ocean conservation charity Project Zero. According to a source there, friendship turned into affection for Ty at around this time. Back then, though, Poppy was still living with her husband James Cook, from whom she is now separated. (Above, Poppy and James in 2019) Labour's Jess Phillips once moaned that it was 'utterly unfair' that Google effectively paid just three per cent tax in the UK. So I was surprised to learn that she banked 400 for saying a few words at one of the tech giant's events last year. Her payment was revealed in a new entry in the Commons register. Labour's Jess Phillips once moaned that it was 'utterly unfair' that Google effectively paid just three per cent tax in the UK... How the mighty have fallen! Hairdresser Nicky Clarke now works at his brother Michael's salon in Marylebone, Central London, following the closure of his own Mayfair venue in April. Says a source: 'Michael was kind enough to offer Nicky a chair at his salon so he can keep up with some of his remaining clients. He does one or two days here and there.' The Tories' strained relationship with broadcasters may be about to get even frostier. Chums is a forthcoming TV series about the Oxford University days of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, David Cameron, George Osborne, Dominic Cummings and Jacob Rees-Mogg. Unseen pictures from photographer Dafydd Jones's library also feature in the six-part series, including one similar to this snap of Boris at the Sultans Ball. The series is based on a book by Simon Kuper, who says: 'When you see these people at 18, you immediately recognise them. It's spooky how they haven't changed. 'Oxford is a virtual film set. Harry Potter was filmed there. Boris and Co were like wizards without the magic. Certainly, they were as far removed from the lives of ordinary folk as Harry Potter.' Unseen pictures from photographer Dafydd Jones's library feature in a new six-part series, called Chums, including one similar to this snap of Boris Johnson at the Sultans Ball during his time at Oxford University The Tories' strained relationship with broadcasters may be about to get even frostier Chums is a forthcoming TV series about the Oxford University days of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, David Cameron, George Osborne, Dominic Cummings and Jacob Rees-Mogg Refugee finds home at Yana's mansion One teenage Ukrainian refugee has landed on his feet he's being put up at the pile of model Yana Max and her Russian husband, fashion tycoon Leon. Yana, who is from Ukraine, bravely travelled to the Polish border to bring 16-year-old Artem back to Easton Neston House in Northamptonshire, a property which cost Leon a reported 15 million in 2005. They were helped by former MP Brooks Newmark, who has aided thousands of refugees, including a mother and daughter now living at his lavish Belgravia townhouse. On arriving, the woman asked: 'Isn't this where all the Russian oligarchs live?' Brooks replied: 'Not any more!' Tim Allen will forever be linked to Buzz Lightyear, and his influence affected Chris Evans' first attempts at voicing the character for the Toy Story spin-off film Lightyear. The 40-year-old Knives Out actor said he was doing a 'shameless' impression of the Home Improvement star playing the character when he first started. 'The first time you have to do that iconic line, "To Infinity and Beyond," you kind of just do a shameless Tim Allen impression. It's intimidating,' he said in an interview with Variety at the film's premiere. Taking his cues: Tim Allen will forever be linked to Buzz Lightyear, and his influence affected Chris Evans' first attempts at voicing the character for the Toy Story spin-off film Lightyear; Chris pictured on June 8 He went on to say that the film's director Angus MacLane really helped him find the voice for this iteration of the character. 'Everyone at Pixar was so collaborative, and you kind of let them guide you,' he explained. 'Eventually you feel comfortable enough to make your own tracks in the snow and find your own interpretation, while still using Tim Allen as the blueprint.' At the same premiere where The Avengers actor talked about voicing the iconic character, his co-star Keke Palmer said fans will be blown away by Evans' performance. Whoops! The 40-year-old Knives Out actor said he was doing a 'shameless' impression of the Home Improvement star playing the character when he first started; Tim pictured in 2019 Finding his voice: He went on to say that the film's director Angus MacLane really helped him find the voice for this iteration of the beloved Toy Story character (pictured) 'Wait until you guys hear how Chris Evans did Buzz,' she told the publication. 'A lot of people probably feel like, "Oh my gosh, how can you do Buzz again? How can you replace Tim?" 'There's no replacing, but there is some evolution, and Chris nailed it. I can't wait for the kids to get into it, and the parents.' The True Jackson, VP star went on to say that she wants another Toy Story character to receive the origin story treatment. 'Point blank period! I need to know where my man Woody came from,' she revealed. Lightyear follows the inspiration for the iconic toy made famous by Toy Story a legendary space ranger who must help his friends on an intergalactic adventure. Evans also recently reexplained the plot of the film almost two years after a tweet he initially put out was ridiculed by fans. Complimentary: At the same premiere where The Avengers actor talked about voicing the iconic character, his co-star Keke Palmer said fans will be blown away by Evans' performance The man behind the toy: Lightyear follows the inspiration for the iconic toy made famous by the Toy Story a legendary space ranger who must help his friends on an intergalactic adventure At the time he wrote, 'And just to be clear, this isn't Buzz Lightyear the toy. This is the origin story of the human Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on.' On Jimmy Kimmel Live! Friday, the actor explained it more clearly by using an anecdote about how the film was explained to him by MacLane. 'It began by him saying, 'So when I was a kid, I loved Star Wars.' The first slide was five-year-old Angus covered in Han Solo gear. And he said it was his whole world, he had all the toys, his friends loved it. 'He said that when he first saw the first Toy Story and when Andy got Buzz Lightyear and all his friends knew who Buzz was, he wondered, what was the movie in their world that they saw that made Buzz such an icon. This is the movie,' he said. The film will star Evans, Palmer, Taika Waititi, James Brolin and a number of other actors and actresses. Lightyear is set for release in theaters on June 17. It will be the 26th feature-length film released by Pixar. Margot Robbie has come a long way since her debut on Neighbours in 2008. But it seems that the actress hasn't forgotten her humble start on Ramsay Street, sending champagne to the cast and crew as production wrapped for the final time in 37 years on Friday. The show's executive producer Jason Herbison announced Robbie had sent a gift of pricey bubbles. Surprise! Former Neighbours star Margot Robbie gifted the cast and crew of long-running soap stacks of pricey champagne as they wrapped production on the show after 37 years The cast raised a toast following the end of filming on the show's final ever day of production. Alan Fletcher, April Rose Pengilly and Emerald Chan were among the cast to thank Robbie on Instagram for the thoughtful gift. Robbie shot to fame in the Australian soap when she appeared as aspiring fashion designer Donna Freedman from 2008 to 2011, before swapping Melbourne for Hollywood. That's a wrap! The cast raised a toast following the end of filming on the show's final ever day of production She previously credited the show and said it was 'brilliant training' for her Hollywood career and admitted that she could never learn lines at the speed she used to during her soap days. But she cannot believe how quickly she used to get through her scripts during her time in the serial drama. She said: 'I always said after walking off a soap everything would be easy after that.' When credit is due: Robbie says Neighbours was 'brilliant training' for her Hollywood career and admits she could never learn lines at the speed to she used to during her soap days. Pictured here in 2009 with co-star Jackie Woodburne 'It was a brilliant training ground. I used to sit down with 60 pages in my lap in a morning and just fly through it, read it once. Got it. I don't think I could do that now.' The Birds of Prey star is also grateful for working on a soap because that time has made her more 'aware' of other departments when she is on a movie or a TV set. She said: 'I think the biggest thing about working on a soap and working with a multi-camera scenario was being so aware of every other department, and working within the bigger machine.' Scott Disick was seen in the company of a mystery blonde on Friday evening, as the two stepped out hand-in-hand in Los Angeles. The Kardashians star, 39, was spotted assisting his female companion into a large vehicle, as he placed a supportive hand on her behind to keep her steady. The outing comes after it was revealed that Scott has broken up with his latest flame Rebecca Donaldson, 27, after they dated for two months. Mystery friend: Scott Disick was seen in the company of a mystery blonde on Friday evening, as the two stepped out hand-in-hand in Los Angeles Kourtney Kardashian's ex-boyfriend looked casual for the outing, sporting a red trucker hat and a 'Beverly Hills Sushi Club' black windbreaker. Acting like the perfect gentleman, Scott ensured the blonde was able to climb the steps of the vehicle with his help. Disick accessorized his laid-back look with a silver watch on his wrist, and sported a smattering of facial hair. Helping hand: The Kardashians star, 39, was seen assisting his female companion into a large vehicle, as he placed a supportive hand on her behind to keep her steady Gentleman: Scott ensured the blonde was able to climb the steps of the vehicle with his help Meanwhile the blonde beauty wore a figure-hugging, long-sleeve black dress for the occasion, and had her hair styled into light waves. Recently an insider told Us Weekly that Disick and Donaldson 'were never serious to begin with,' and added that they were simply 'casually dating.' The former couple was first linked to each other in April when they enjoyed a lunch date in LA. That same month Disick brought Donaldson to the premiere of Hulu's The Kardashians. Casual: Kourtney Kardashian's ex appeared to hold hands with his companion and looked casual for the night, sporting a red trucker hat and a black windbreaker Night outing: Disick accessorized his laid-back look with a silver watch on his wrist, and sported a smattering of facial hair Then in May, the twosome took a trip to Miami together, fueling speculation that they were getting more serious. The person close to the subject also described the real estate entrepreneur as being 'on the prowl,' now thats he's single again. 'Scott hits up a lot of girls whenever hes looking for company and has a lot of girls numbers,' they expounded. The insider said Disick 'DMs girls on Instagram and leaves flirty comments.' Blondie: Meanwhile the blonde beauty wore a figure-hugging, long-sleeve black dress for the occasion, and had her hair styled into light waves The split came just weeks after Kourtney, 43, wed her beau Travis Barker, 46, in a lavish Italian ceremony. On the ninth episode of their new Hulu show, Kourtney expressed her frustration that her 'fairy tale' romance with Travis is seemingly being overshadowed by the drama involving her ex. Just hours after Barker popped the question, Kourtney, was talking with her sisters when Kendall Jenner, 26, asked if she had any 'sympathy' for Disick. Kourtney revealed during a lunch with friend Steph Shepherd, that she was upset that the Disick drama was diminishing her own romance. Split: The outing comes Scott's split from his latest flame Rebecca Donaldson, 27, who he dated for two months: Pictured on April 7 at The Kardashians premiere in Los Angeles Steph asked if Travis has been filming, and Kourtney says, 'Yeah, we film and have the best time everand then we've been watching the edits and we're just so annoyed that they're swirling us in with this drama,' referring to her ex Scott. Kourtney added, 'Especially when I saw my engagement episode, editors or whoever are like taking it like let's take Kourtney, she's the chosen one to be the drama.' 'I am in one of the best places I've ever been in my life and it's time for our show to catch up,' Kourtney said in a confession. Kourtney added in confession that the show is, 'enabling this old narrative and buying into something that just doesn't really exist. It should be an empowering episode about me getting out of toxic relationships and really just having this fairy tale love story that is my reality.' Moving on: The split came just weeks after Kourtney, 43, wed her beau Travis Barker, 46, in a lavish Italian ceremony; Pictured on May 22 ahead of the ceremony with her mom Kris Jenner The star also said she wishes they would, 'take that out and put it in the next episode and give us our respect. Let us have our moment.' Steph added, 'This story for you was, you were in a s****y relationship and now you're in a great one and the great one should be focused on.' 'I'm like, why is the fairy tale not being told? Like the true fairy tale that it is? I don't want to be insensitive, but like what you said to me on the phone, like why isn't everyone empowering you and like celebrating that you have done all this work for like years and now have this relationship that I deserve?' Kourtney added. Not happy: On the ninth episode of The Kardashians, Kourtney expressed her frustration that her 'fairy tale' romance with Travis is being overshadowed by the drama with Scott Drama: 'We've been watching the edits and we're just so annoyed that they're swirling us in with this drama,' Kourtney told her friend Steph Shepherd in reference to her ex Scott Steph added that the whole narrative of, 'Oh s**t, what's Scott gonna say?' is a 'normal thought,' but, 'out of respect for Travis and out of respect for you being able to come out of that place in your life, I don't want to harp on this story line anymore. It's done.' 'It's all good. We've been broken up for seven years. I'm allowed to create new memories and new ways of doing things,' Kourtney expressed. Kourtney and Scott share three kids together: sons Mason, 12, and Reign, seven, as well as daughter Penelope, nine. Love Island star Luca Bish has been given his grandmother's blessing to have sex on screen after viewers saw him couple up with Gemma Owen in Friday's show. The 23-year-old fishmongers grandparent Rosa insists him romping in the villa would be 'nothing to worry about', and admitted she wouldn't cover her eyes if he got frisky with a fellow contestant. She told the Sunday People: 'Im not really old-fashioned. If theyre not doing it in front of you, then theyre doing it behind your back. No, I wouldnt cover my eyes if it was on TV. Making moves? Love Island star Luca Bish, 23, has been given the go ahead to have sex on screen by his grandmother 'Its under the cover anyway. You never see. They cover each other. Its nothing to worry about.' The opportunity could arise with Luca's latest show partner after he chose to recouple with Gemma Owen, 19, instead of Paige Thorne, 24, during Friday night's episode. In tense scenes the hunk admitted he was tempted by the brunette beauty following their flirty exchange in Thursday's show, leaving Davide Sanclimenti free to couple up with bombshell Ekin-Su Culculoglu. Open minded: The fishmongers nan Rosa insists him romping in the villa would be 'nothing to worry about', insisting she would not cover her eyes if he got frisky with a fellow contestant The decision left Paige and Afia Tonkmor both single, but despite their vulnerable statues the pair were told they wouldn't be dumped from the Island, following the surprise exit of Liam Llewellyn earlier in the show. Despite growing closer to Paige throughout the week, Luca admitted he wanted to get to know Gemma better in Thursday's episode. And making his feelings crystal clear at the recoupling, he said: 'I said when I came in here, I'd stay true to myself and hopefully that pays off. So, the girl I'd like to couple up with is Gemma.' Head turned? A recoupling shook up the Love Island villa on Friday evening as Luca chose to pair up with Gemma Owen in a shock twist Seemingly pleased with the decision, Gemma let out a smile before heading over to join her new partner, while previous partner Davide Sanclimenti appeared less than impressed with the decision. And putting on a brave face, Paige gave the group a smile - as she stood alongside Afia and Ekin-Su Culculoglu. Last to decide was Davide, who was earlier conflicted between Gemma and Ekin-Su, with the decision being made for him as he paired with the latter. Happy: Seemingly pleased with the decision, Gemma let out a smile before heading over to join her new partner Vulnerable: The decision left Paige Thorne (left) and Afia Tonkmor (centre) both single as they avoided being dumped from the island Taking it well: Putting on a brave face, Paige gave the group a smile - as she stood alongside Afia and Ekin-Su Culculoglu And while he may not have been impressed with his partner being snatched by another boy before he got to decide, cheeky chap Luca didn't seem too bothered - sticking his tongue out at the Italian hunk across the firepit. Elsewhere in the recoupling, the public-chosen couples remained strong, as Dami Hope stuck with Amber Beckford, Ikenna Ekwonna chose Indiyah Polack, and Andrew Le Page and Tasha Ghouri stayed together too. But while the recoupling usually ends with an islander being dumped, Paige and Afia were saved by the show as they received a text saying 'good things come to those who wait'. Last but not least: Last to decide was Davide, who was earlier conflicted between Gemma and Ekin-Su, with the decision being made for him as he paired with the latter Conflicted: Davide seemed less than impressed with Luca's decision, but went on to give a heartfelt speech to Ekin-Su Tom Cruise has reportedly split from his girlfriend Hayley Atwell for the second time. The Top Gun: Maverick star, 59, and his Mission: Impossible 7 co-star, 40, have parted ways after recently reconciling following their first split in September of 2021, according to The Sun. A source told the publication, 'Unfortunately it hasnt worked out for them. They have now decided they are better as friends.' It's over: Tom Cruise, 59, has reportedly split from his girlfriend Hayley Atwell, 40, for the second time; Pictured July 2021 in London The insider also revealed that the fanfare around the couple after going public was too much to handle. 'They get on really well, and have fantastic chemistry, which is why they decided to quietly give the relationship another try earlier this year. 'What was working behind closed doors didnt work out so well when it was made public, and the fanfare around them as a couple exploded again,' the source stated. Friends: A source told The Sun: 'Unfortunately it hasnt worked out for them. They have now decided they are better as friends'; Pictured May 2021 in London The source also insisted that the couple's romance was 'genuine', stating 'In spite of some rumours to the contrary, it was never just for the cameras.' Atwell recently supported Cruise at the Top Gun: Maverick premiere in London, on May 19, where she stunned in a black crop top and matching velvet skirt with a high slit. A source told The Sun at the time: 'She's purely there to support him. It's a big step for them.' The pair began dating in 2020 after meeting on set of Mission: Impossible 7, and were first reported to be an item in December. Fanfare: The insider also revealed that the fanfare around the couple was too much to handle: 'What was working behind closed doors didnt work out so well when it was made public'; Pictured on set in Italy, November 2020 Tom, who plays Ethan Hunt in the famous franchise, and Hayley, who portrays a character mononymously known as Grace, spent much of the last year shooting the movie across the UK, as well as in Rome, Venice, and Norway. Though the two had never expressly confirmed their romance, they were said to have become 'fairly inseparable' after they 'hit it off from day one' on the film. However, by September, the relationship was said to have 'run its course' for the pair. An insider told The Sun about the breakup: 'It has been a very intense period of filming together. They really got on well but as the latest film winds down they've decided to go back to being friends.' Co-stars: The pair began dating in 2020 after meeting on set of Mission: Impossible 7, and were first reported to be an item in December; Pictured on set in Rome, October 2020 'Their filming schedules are very full-on, and Tom has a number of other commitments coming up and is always shooting around by private helicopter and jet so it just ran its course. 'But they're still happy to work together. It's a shame, but just one of those things. They still get on well.' Tom hasn't had a high-profile romance since his divorce from ex-wife Katie Holmes, 43, in 2012, while Hayley was said to have split from her English doctor ex at some point in 2020. The Hollywood icon shares daughter Suri, 16, with Katie. Kumho Petrochemical Senior Executive Vice President Park Jun-kyung By Park Jae-hyuk Kumho Petrochemical plans to appoint Chairman Park Chan-koo's oldest son, Senior Executive Vice President Park Jun-kyung, as the new executive director next month in an apparent attempt to accelerate a family succession. The petrochemical firm said in its regulatory filing Friday that it will hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on July 21 to vote on the proposals to appoint the senior executive vice president as an executive director and give the seats of external directors to former Public Procurement Service Administrator Kwon Tae-kyun and former Korea Chemicals Management Association Vice Chairwoman Lee Jee-yoon. "The resignations of several board members, including Education Minister nominee Park Soon-ae, have created vacancies for our board of directors, so we decided to hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders," a Kumho Petrochemical official said. The younger Park is a grandson of the late Kumho Petrochemical founder Park In-chon. Once he joins the board, he will be able to tighten his control further over the conglomerate. After graduating from Korea University, the 44-year-old heir joined Kumho Tire in 2007 and moved in 2010 to Kumho Petrochemical, where he has served as an executive in charge of sales. Last year, he was promoted to senior executive vice president, while his younger sister, Park Ju-hyung, was promoted to executive vice president. The siblings have expanded their presence in Kumho Petrochemical after their father consolidated his and his children's control of the company by winning in last year's dispute with his nephew, former Senior Vice President Park Chul-whan, the company's single-largest shareholder with an 8.58-percent stake. Following the victory, the Kumho Petrochemical chairman resigned as the representative director, giving the position of CEO to a professional manager, Senior Executive Vice President Baek Jong-hoon. The chairman still holds a 6.7-percent stake in Kumho Petrochemical, while his son and daughter own a 7.2-percent stake and a 1-percent stake, respectively. The nephew and his allies are estimated to hold around a 10-percent stake in the petrochemical company. In March, he lost to his uncle once again in a legal dispute over the control of the company. Although some minority shareholders of Kumho Petrochemical have asked the former senior vice president to prevent the chairman's son from joining the board of directors, it is uncertain whether or not he will take any action. Channel 10's The Project has long been accused of having a left-wing agenda. But on Sunday, the network's top executive said the controversial panel show won't be changing any time soon. Beverley McGarvey, the Executive Vice President of Paramount Australia, told TV Tonight the show is 'as balanced as can be'. Channel 10 boss admitted The Project is widely perceived as 'not fair and balanced' - but said the controversial panel show WON'T be changing any time soon. Pictured Waleed Aly 'I think there is a perception of the show that is not fair and balanced,' she said. 'Sometimes if you see a particular headline about something you think was said on The Project when you actually read the story it's completely different.' Beverley went on to say: 'We're as balanced as we can possibly be and get support from a broader group of media for the show.' Beverley McGarvey (pictured), the Executive Vice President of Paramount Australia, told TV Tonight the show is 'as balanced as can be' Beverley went on to say: 'We're as balanced as we can possibly be and get support from a broader group of media for the show.' Pictured Waleed Aly and Lisa Wilkinson The Project has long been accused of having a left-wing bias, with a leading TV commentator saying last year its 'woke' agenda was pushing away viewers. Rob McKnight, a former Channel 10 executive who now runs industry website TV Blackbox, said in August 2021: 'The Project is very woke and that doesn't connect with mainstream Australia.' 'My take is that most Australians are centre-right in their politics which is why talkback radio does so well,' McKnight added. The Project has long been accused of having a left-wing bias, with a leading TV commentator saying its 'woke' agenda is pushing away viewers. Pictured (L-R): Tommy Little, Peter Helliar, Hamish Macdonald, Carrie Bickmore, Waleed Aly, Lisa Wilkinson and Gorgi Coghlan 'But The Project skews too far to the left and doesn't reflect Betty from Bankstown or Irene from Ipswich. It really feels inner Melbourne and not relatable.' He said the presenters are all 'great talent', but at some point the show just 'stopped connecting' with the mainstream - 'and that kills any brand'. McKnight, who has worked for all three commercial TV networks, went on to say The Project used to punch above its weight by setting the news agenda every week. But these days 'nobody pays attention anymore'. Isla Fisher was every inch the style maven as she lead the 2022 G'Day AAA Arts Gala celebrity arrivals in a daring silk number with a daring leg slit in LA on Saturday. The actress, 46, radiated pure glamour while she hammed it up for photographers on arrival for the annual awards ceremony. Isla's gown featured a daring slit that climbed up her toned stems to reach just shy of her hips. Isla Fisher radiated pure glamour as she lead the 2022 G'Day AAA Arts Gala celebrity arrivals in a daring silk number Isla, who is married to British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, wore her locks down and wavy and wore dewy makeup to accentuate her striking features. She teamed up her look with a pair of multi-coloured heels and jewellery on her wrist and ankles. She completed her look with a maroon lip colour. Isla, who is married to British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, wore her locks down and wavy and wore dewy makeup to accentuate her striking features Isla's gown featured a daring slit that climbed up her toned stems to reach just shy of her hip The acclaimed actress was special guest and honoured alongside American producer Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard. L-R: Ron Howard, Isla Fisher, Brian Grazer and Tushar Apte The acclaimed actress was special guest and honoured alongside American producer Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard. Australian record producer Tushar Apte, who has worked with the likes of Demi Lovato, Nicky Minaj and BTS, was awarded the Rising Star Award. Meanwhile, musician G-Flip showed off her androgynous style in a floral print red blazer and matching pants. G-Flip showed off her androgynous style in a floral print red blazer and matching pants The music artist - full name Georgia Flipo - went braless under the sleeveless top, baring a sexy bit of cleavage The music artist - full name Georgia Flipo - went braless under the sleeveless top, baring a sexy bit of cleavage. She wore her long blonde locks relaxed letting with one side pushed back behind her ear. The 27-year-old completed her stylish look wearing black boots and designer sunglasses. Packed to the Rafters star Jessica McNamee, 36, who oozed confidence in a navy coloured V- neck jumpsuit The LA-based actress wore dewy makeup to accentuate her striking features Packed to the Rafters star Jessica McNamee oozed confidence in a navy coloured V-neck jumpsuit. Jessica wore her long blonde locks slightly textured and slightly pushed to the side. The LA-based actress wore dewy makeup to accentuate her striking features. She accessorised her look with long swirl earrings. Former Neighbours star Nicky Whelan commanded attention in a cutout midriff baring printed dress with painted feathers Meanwhile, former Neighbours star Nicky Whelan commanded attention in a cutout midriff baring printed dress with painted feathers. Nicky wore her blonde tresses tied up in a high ponytail, and her makeup was fresh and glossy. She completed her look wearing hoop earrings and white strappy heels. Nicky completed her look wearing hoop earrings and white strappy heels The Project's Waleed Aly and his wife Susan Carland were also in attendance. Waleed looked daper in a black tuxedo and bow-tie. Meanwhile, Susan looked glamorous in a light pink coloured beaded gown and head scarf. The Project's Waleed Aly and his wife Susan Carland were also in attendance Katherine Hicks looked almost unrecognisable after she ditched her orange do for more natural look. The Rescue Special Ops star oozed confidence in a green coloured sequin dress that came with a matching belt. The blonde beauty wore her long tresses up and curled up behind her ears. Katherine Hicks looked almost unrecognisable after she ditched her orange do for more natural look The Rescue Special Ops star oozed confidence in a green coloured sequin dress that came with a matching belt Blindspot star Sullivan Stapleton meanwhile looked suave in a dark suit which he teamed up with a black button-up shirt and leather shoes. The Melbourne-based star, 44, was joined by his actress girlfriend Alexis Kelley. Alexis put on a busty display in a beige coloured mesh dress which she teamed up with red heels and a patterned handbag. Blindspot star Sullivan Stapleton (right) meanwhile looked suave in a dark suit which he teamed up with a black button-up shirt and leather shoes. Pictured with partner Alexis Kelley Australian record producer Tushar Apte (pictured), who has worked with the likes of Demi Lovato, Nicky Minaj and BTS, was awarded the Rising Star Award Amanda Seyfried put on a dazzling display as she supported husband Thomas Sadoski at premiere of his latest project 88 during the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday. The 36-year-old Mean Girls actress posed on the red carpet in a short red dress that showed off her lean legs. Seyfried's flirty dress had a a matching petticoat layered beneath it to create a voluminous effect. Supportive spouse: Amanda Seyfried put on a dazzling display as she supported husband Thomas Sadoski at premiere of his latest project 88 during the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday Red hot! The 36-year-old Mean Girls actress posed on the red carpet in a short red dress that showed off her lean legs On the back of the dress was a mini train that started at her back and stopped just past the hem. She stood on a pair of tall red high heels, and her dirty blonde locks flowed down her chest in loose curls. As for makeup, Seyried rocked a soft smokey eyeshadow look and a muted pink lip. The Ted 2 actress clutched Sadoski's hand tightly as they moseyed down the carpet together. Sadoski wore a black jacket with white trim, black slacks and matching sneakers. Flirty: Seyfried's flirty dress had a a matching petticoat layered beneath it to create a voluminous effect Blonde bombshell: She stood on a pair of tall red high heels, and her dirty blonde locks flowed down her chest in loose curls He wore a huge silver wristwatch on his left hand, and his hair was combed off to the left. Another of the 88 stars, Naturi Naughton, arrived at the event in a strapless black dress that pushed up her ample cleavage. She wore black gloves up to her elbows. The Power star parted her hair in the middle and let it fall down her back. The Notorious actress accessorized with a diamond necklace and pair of huge dangling earrings. Casual-cool: Sadoski wore a black jacket with white trim, black slacks and matching sneakers Lovebirds: The Ted 2 actress clutched Sadoski's hand tightly as they moseyed down the carpet together Going strong: The loved-up duo married back in 2017 Looking good: Another one of the 88 stars, Naturi Naughton, arrived at the event in a strapless black dress that pushed up her ample cleavage Producer Two Lewis wore a sleek black suit and stood with his Naturi, who he married just two months ago. Brandon Victor Dixon and director Thomas Ikimi, better known as Eromose, also posed on the red carpet before the fancy affair. 88 follows the financial director for a super Pac who uncovers a conspiracy after looking through the organization's transactions. Captain America: The First Avenger actor Kenneth Choi, Jonathan Camp of Bosch fame and Malcolm X star Shellye Broughton are set to star in the film written and directed by Eromose. Tailored suit: Director Thomas Ikimi, better known as Eromose, also posed on the red carpet before the fancy affair Roddy Ricch was arrested on gun charges on his way to the Governors Ball, where he was supposed to perform Saturday. The official account for the festival tweeted, 'Unfortunately Roddy Ricch is no longer performing today,' without providing details. Fans waiting for him to perform were greeted at the stage with a sign reading: 'Unfortunately, this set is no longer taking place.' However law enforcement insiders told TMZ Hip Hop that officers at the festival's security checkpoint claim they discovered a loaded firearm, a large capacity magazine and nine rounds of ammunition in the 23-year-old's vehicle. Trouble: Roddy Ricch was arrested on gun charges on his way to the Governors Ball, where he was supposed to perform Saturday. He is pictured at Astroworld this past November A large sign told fans 'this set is no longer taking place' after his arrest The rapper and two other people in the automobile were placed under arrest, and Ricch is now said to be facing four charges. He stands accused of possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device and unlawful possession thereof, as well as criminal possession of a weapon. This year's Governors Ball, a three-day festival held from Friday through Sunday, has been beset with problems for its lineup. Friday night was meant to be headlined by Migos, but the band withdrew this week amid rumors that they are on the verge of a breakup. Uh oh: The official account for the festival tweeted: 'Unfortunately Roddy Ricch is no longer performing today,' without providing details Allegations: The rapper and two other people in the automobile were placed under arrest, and Ricch is now said to be faced with four charges; seen in March 2021 in LA Fans tweeted about their disappointment that the rapper's set had been canceled However a report in TMZ said that Migos are not splitting, and a label representative for the group insisted that the group's Governors Ball performance was canceled because of a scheduling conflict with a movie Quavo is filming. Migos were then replaced by Lil Wayne, but on Friday, just hours before he was to take the stage, he also pulled out of the festival. Governors Ball later tweeted that Lil Wayne could not attend because of 'flight disruptions,' and his spot was filled by A$AP Ferg. Saturday night of the festival was headlined by Halsey, with a lineup that included Tove Lo, Almost Monday, and Shaquille O'Neal performing as DJ Diesel. The three-day music event was held this year at Citi Field, with Verizon, Citi, Bacardi, and delivery service Gopuff as some of its major partners. Gopuff's recent partnership with Live Nation includes sponsorship and activations at 20 festivals across the US, UK and France. The instant delivery service hosted a 'Delivery Den' for festival goers which included fam photo ops, munchie moments, makeup touch-ups and other fun giveaways. Ricch's arrest this weekend is not his first, as he was previously booked for felony domestic violence in August 2019 over a dispute with his girlfriend. He was released on $50,000 bond after the 2019 arrest, and the charges against him were ultimately dropped for insufficient evidence. Switch-ups: Friday night of the Governors Ball was meant to be headlined by Migos, who withdrew this week, with the result Lil Wayne (pictured) was enlisted to replace them; seen May 2021 It turned out to be another star-studded benefit in support of the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP) charity. Theron's Fast & Furious co-star, Jordana Brewster, was among the celebrities and high-profile people who attended the event, in which the proceeds help support the health, education and safety of young people in Africa. All the fun and festivities, held on the Universal Studios backlot, included a screening of the new film Jurassic World Dominion, a Q&A with some fo the stars and director, as well as a performance by rapper Wyclef Jean, according to Variety. Lending her support: Jordana Brewster, 42, was among the celebrities to attend Charlize Theron's Africa Outreach Project charity event in Los Angeles on Saturday Brewster, 42, showcased her fit figure in funky two piece consisting of a plunging vest that gave a hint of cleavage. She also donned a pair of black stilettos heels, and had her dark brown tresses styled long, straight, and flowing nearly to her waist with a part in the middle. In an added touch of glitz, the actress wore a shimmering pair of earrings, while accessorizing further with a small black clutch. Fashion sense: The Fast & Furious star showed off her fit figure by wearing an artsy-looking vest, without a shirt, and matching pants Fashionista: The actress also donned a pair of black stilettos heels, and had her dark brown tresses styled long, straight, and flowing nearly to her waist with a part in the middle The director of Jurassic World Dominion, Colin Trevorrow, led the Q-and-A session after guests got to see the latest installment of the franchise, which just dropped on June 10. Cast members Bryce Dallas Howard, DeWanda Wise, Jeff Goldblum, Mamoudou Athie, as well as co-writer Emily Carmichael were all on hand to talk about the film, while also lending their support for Theron's non-profit. Some of the other high-profile people at the event were Selena Gomez, Martin Short, comedian Benito Skinner aka Benny Drama, actress Sofia Boutella, American chef Andrew Zimmern, actress Reign Edwards, actor Mike Manning, actresses Mary McCormack, Sasha Merci, Elva Trill, Angelique Cabral and Alyssa Sutherland. The guest list also included RuPaul's Drag Race star Eureka O'Hara, actress and writer Delaney Marie Rowe, comedian and actress Aida Osman, Luscious, Canadian dancer Emilie Livingston, British film executive Donna Langley, film producer Patrick Crowley. On the docket: All the fun and festivities, held on the Universal Studios backlot, included a screening of the new film Jurassic World Dominion, a Q&A with some fo the stars and director, as well as a performance by rapper Wyclef Jean Colleagues: Brewster has starred with Theron in the Fast & Furious franchise Founded by Theron in 2007, the Academy Award winning actor and UN Messenger of Peace began with 'hopes of making a difference in fighting HIV in her home country of South Africa.,' according to the organization's website. 'Although the geographic scope of CTAOP is sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa has remained the primary area of focus with the highest number of people living with HIV in the world.' CTAOP's mission now is to support the health, education and safety of young people in Africa. The non-profit 'connects community-based African organizations (CTAOP's Program Partners) to funding, capacity building, and broader resources. This allows these organizations to reach more young people with innovative programs and tools to help keep themselves and their peers safe from the disease.' Making a difference: CTAOP's mission is to support the health, education and safety of young people in Africa; Charlize Theron is pictured on the red carpet of the charity event Earlier on Saturday, Brewster posted a series of snaps, seemingly taken going to the charity event, with her friend Liz York Malone '@lizyorkmalonen Not aware I'm [snapping photos],' she revealed in the caption, in a reference to the funny faces Malone was making in a few of the images. And she kicked off her social media posts on Saturday with an image of herself dressed in blue jeans and a white t-shirt while carrying an ice coffee with the caption: 'Bish please [photo] credit @atalantathetis.' Not aware: Earlier on Saturday, Brewster posted a series of snaps, seemingly taken going to the charity event, with her friend Liz York Malone Lol: '@lizyorkmalonen Not aware I'm [snapping photos],' Brewster revealed in the caption, in a reference to the funny faces Malone was making in a few of the images Funny: The Actress shared another image of her gal pal looking anguished Gladys Berejiklian cut a cosy figure as she braved the Sydney chill to attend the Armenian Film Festival on the weekend. The former NSW Premier, 51, happily took centre stage at the red carpet premiere alongside her sisters Mary and Rita. Gladys, who was named patron of the event, was all smiles in a glamorous grey fur-look coat and pair of stylish pants. Spotlight: Ex-NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, 51, (centre) returned to the public spotlight on Saturday when she attended the red carpet of the Armenian Film Festival in Sydney. Pictured with sisters Mary (far left) and Rita (far right) The once-polarising politician accessorised her look with a chic black handbag with chain detailing, and a pair of classic black pumps. Gladys cheerily posed alongside her sister Mary, who wore a glamorous gold wrap dress and glittering tights. Her other sister Rita looked equally divine, opting for a black and gold long sleeve top and black skirt, which she paired with black boots. Family affair: Gladys, who was named patron of the event, was all smiles in a glamorous grey fur-look coat and pair of stylish pants. The once-polarising politician accessorised her look with a chic black handbag with chain detailing, and a pair of classic black pumps The Armenian Film Festival is currently being held at Event Cinemas Top Ryde and runs until June 19. Gladys has shaken off the high-profile life of politics with her now working as a managing director at Optus. Gladys rejected a role in federal politics before taking the job. The Armenian Film Festival is currently being held at Event Cinemas Top Ryde and runs until June 19 Ms Berejiklian hinted in December she would be moving into the private sector after a tumultuous period in charge of the state during the ongoing Covid pandemic. The former premier abruptly resigned from office after ICAC announced an investigation into her actions following claims she prioritised funding to projects pushed by her ex-partner and now ex-MP Daryl Maguire. 'I'm going in another different direction and I'm looking forward to the opportunities next year brings,' she told Nine radio last year. Ritzy: Gladys was at home as she took centre stage at the event. Seen here posing with other guests 'I'm looking forward to a much less public life.' The former NSW premier will look to help Optus close the gap on market leader Telstra. 'I am excited and proud to join an organisation that impacts the lives of millions of Australians every day and prides itself in providing outstanding customer service,' she said. 'I look forward to working with Kelly and the Executive Team of Optus who are providing inspiring and innovative leadership in the telco sector.' Chris Hemsworth is building the life he always dreamed of, far from the bright lights of Hollywood. The Thor star, who lives with his wife Elsa Pataky and their three children near Byron Bay, NSW, said on Sunday that he is working on more and more films in Australia. 'My focus ever since I had any sway was to shoot here in Australia due to, on a personal level, being at home with my family, but also because of the awareness that I had about what was possible here when it comes to the talent' the 38-year-old told The Daily Telegraph. Chris Hemsworth (right) is building the life he always dreamed of, far from the bright lights of Hollywood. The Thor star, who lives with his wife Elsa Pataky (left) and their three children near Byron Bay, NSW, said on Sunday that he is working on more and more films in Australia Chris made his latest film, the Netflix science fiction drama Spiderhead, in Queensland. His production company, Wild State Productions, brought Thor 3 and 4, Extraction 1 and 2, Spiderhead and Interceptor to film in Australia, the paper reports. 'Life is sweet. It is great and I couldn't be happier,' Chris added. 'If you had have said or asked me 10 years ago where I would like to be, this is it.' 'My focus ever since I had any sway was to shoot here in Australia due to, on a personal level, being at home with my family, but also because of the awareness that I had about what was possible here when it comes to the talent,' the 38-year-old told The Daily Telegraph His production company, Wild State Productions, was 'instrumental in bringing Thor 3 and 4, Extraction 1 and 2, Spiderhead and Interceptor' to film in Australia, the paper reports. Elsa is pictured in Interceptor, on which Chris was an executive producer Chris and his Spanish actress wife, 45, have three children, daughter India, nine, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, both eight. The Fate of the Furious star and her Extraction star husband have been married since 2010. They reside in a $30million mansion in Broken Head, near the celebrity enclave of Byron Bay. All together: Elsa and Chris have three children, daughter India , nine, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, both eight. All pictured Elsa returned to the big screen this month in her new Netflix movie, Interceptor, after a break from acting. Chris, who is an executive producer on the film, encouraged her to return to work after she took time off to raise the couple's young children. 'He's said to me how difficult it must have been to put aside my career, in a way, to be with the kids,' she told Stellar. 'He's been a major help in every way, just to get back to work and helping me because he knows how much I love it.' Former Love Island star Olivia Bowen gave birth to a baby boy named Abel 'AJ' Jacob on Friday, her first child with husband Alex, who she met on the show in 2016. The reality star, 28, took to Instagram to reveal the happy news on Sunday as she shared a picture alongside her partner, 30, and their bundle of joy. In the caption of her post where she breastfeeds the tot, she gushed: Abel Jacob Bowen. You are everything. 10/06/22.' Congrats! Former Love Island star Olivia Bowen gave birth to a baby boy named Abel on Friday, her first child with husband Alex, who she met on the show in 2016 Happy: In the caption of her post, she gushed: Abel Jacob Bowen. You are everything. 10/06/22' Taking to his own profile on the social media platform, the former scaffolder shared a similar snap along with a sweet message. He penned: 'Abel Jacob Bowen, but you can call him AJ The day our lives changed for the better 10/06/22.' Marnie Simpson, Frankie Bridge, Danielle Armstrong, Helen Flanagan, Samira Mighty, Fran Parman, Charlotte Crosby, Amy Childs, Faye Winter and Chloe Crowhurst showed their support in the comments section. It comes after Olivia revealed that she has been shamed by cruel trolls for posting pictures in her underwear throughout her pregnancy. New addition: Taking to his own profile on the social media platform, the former scaffolder shared a similar snap along with a sweet message In their element: He penned: 'Abel Jacob Bowen, but you can call him AJ The day our lives changed for the better 10/06/22' The TV personality recently opened up about the harsh judgement she has received for sharing snaps to social media of herself in lingerie while pregnant. She admitted she felt judged from the moment she announced her pregnancy as she said there are always people who criticise her and her husband Alex's decisions. Speaking to the C&G baby club for their #LoveDontJudge campaign, Olivia said: 'You get judged as soon as you announce your pregnancy and there are always people who aren't so happy for you, and we were judged, straight away.' The expectant mother admitted she is no stranger to judgement, having experienced trolling ever since leaving the Love Island villa, as she spoke about being slammed for her underwear snaps. Pals: The likes of Marnie Simpson, Frankie Bridge, Danielle Armstrong, Helen Flanagan, Samira Mighty, Fran Parman, Charlotte Crosby, Amy Childs and Faye Winter showed their support She said to Alex: 'We've had it for a long time haven't we? Being judged about different things. 'The one that annoys me the most that I had quite early on in my pregnancy was 'you shouldn't be posting in underwear'.' Alex, who also appeared in the campaign, admitted he has been criticised for DJing, saying people have told him he won't be able to continue when his baby is born, despite his plans to pursue music as a career. Olivia also spoke about other decisions that parents are judged for, including giving their baby a dummy, as she added: 'The list is actually endless of what you get judged for.' She went on to urge people to 'think twice' before writing a judgemental comment on social media. Candid: Olivia recently admitted that cruel trolls' critical comments have made her feel 'scared' and question her ability as she called for people to be less judgemental While Alex added: 'I think it's time to be more supportive and less judgemental.' In the video, Oliver and Alex spoke in front of a white wall with several comments written across it in support of C&G baby clubs latest awareness campaign. From a study, seven in 10 parents said they feel judged on a regular basis on how they choose to give birth and raise their child. The reality stars are helping promote #LoveDontJudge, which aims to raise awareness of the damaging effects of parental judgement and provide tips, impartial advice, and support through articles and a dedicated careline. Exciting: Olivia shared the happy news she was pregnant with her first child with Alex on New Year's Day Olivia shared the happy news she was pregnant with her first child with Alex on New Year's Day. The couple previously revealed they are not finding out the sex of the baby before it is born in June, and wanted their nursery to be 'gender neutral'. Earlier this year, Olivia told MailOnline of her pregnancy: 'I'm so excited to become a Mum. It feels very surreal still to even say it, but we both can't wait for the next part of our lives. Alex is going to be the best dad - he's so caring, kind and a big kid at heart. 'My pregnancy is going really fast; We still both can't quite believe it's happening. We're having to stop ourselves buying all the baby clothes at the moment, we just get too excited. 'Our family and friends were so shocked when we told them, but I just knew very early on, you know your body. We're not going to find out what we're having, I think the surprise will make it extra special.' Olivia and Alex, formerly a sales executive and scaffolder respectively, soared to fame in 2016 when they appeared on the ITV2 reality show, where she was an original star and he, a late and extremely popular entrant. After leaving the villa their romance soon when from strength to strength and Alex popped the question in New York in 2016. Loved-up couple Olivia and Alex tied the knot in a luxurious Essex ceremony two years after meeting on Love Island during series two. Strictly Come Dancing will return to screens for its 20th season later this year. And it's been reported BBC bosses are hoping to add a little extra sparkle to this years competition by landing a royal contestant. England rugby star Mike Tindall, 43, who is married to Princess Anne's daughter Zara, and the Queen's granddaughter, Lady Louise Windsor, 18, are both said to be top of the list. 'It would be an incredible coup': Strictly Come Dancing bosses hope to land royals Mike Tindall, 43 (left) and Lady Louise Windsor, 18 (right) to add a little extra sparkle to the upcoming series A source told The Sun: 'The team are doing all they can. In the year of the Platinum Jubilee, it has been a real priority. 'It would be an incredible coup to secure a royal.' Mike, who shares daughters Lena, 3, Mia, 8 and 12-month-old son Lucas with his wife, has reportedly been in the producers sights for a long time. Past winners: Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice raised glitterball trophy during the final of Strictly Come Dancing 2021 While Lady Louise, who is the daughter of Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, has only recently moved fully into the public eye during the Jubilee celebrations. Other names mentioned include model and socialite Lady Amelia Windsor, 26, who is the granddaughter of the Duke of Kent. As well as Claudia Winkleman's half sister Sophie, the Peep Show actress who married the Queen's second cousin Lord Fredrick Windsor back in 2009. Married couple: Mike, who shares daughters Lena, 3, Mia, 8 and 12-month-old son Lucas with Zara, has reportedly been in the producers sights for a long time A spokesman for Mike Tindall denied the sports star is taking part in the new series. MailOnline has also contacted reps for The BBC and Lady Louise for comment. This comes after the news Prince Charles and Camilla are in talks to bring Strictly Come Dancing to the Queen's home for Royal Rumba. The Prince of Wales, 73, and Duchess of Cornwall, 74, are planning to host a live episode of Strictly at Buckingham Palace following secret discussions with BBC executives - and the pair may even perform a dance for fans. Centre stage: Lady Louise (left) who is the daughter of Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex (right) has only recently moved fully into the public eye during the Jubilee celebrations Leggy: Other names mentioned include model and socialite Lady Amelia Windsor, 26, who is the granddaughter of the Duke of Kent Her Majesty, 96, has given her permission for 'the wonderful spectacle' to be hosted at her royal residence later this year, The Sun reports. Camilla is said to be a 'massive fan' of the show and even 'votes every week' for her favourite dancing duo. The royal broadcast is being lined up for either the quarter or semi-finals, with only a handful of aides believed to be involved in the top secret project. Siblings: As well as Claudia Winkleman's half sister Sophie, the Peep Show actress who married the Queen's second cousin Lord Fredrick Windsor back in 2009 (pictured together earlier this year) A source revealed there is a 'real desire' to make the live special happen and celebrate the end of the Queen's historic Platinum Jubilee year. EastEnders' Rose Ayling-Ellis, who won the 2021 series of Strictly Come Dancing with her professional dance partner Giovanni Pernice, previously revealed Prince Charles and Camilla voted for her on Strictly and introduced themselves in British Sing Language. In an interview ahead of the Jubilee concert, the actress, 27, reflected on when she met the Royal family as they visited the set of the soap opera. The royal broadcast is being lined up for either the quarter or semi-finals, with only a handful of aides believed to be involved in the top secret project (pictured with former Strictly professional Brendan Cole in 2019) She said: 'So we had Camilla and Charles come to visit and they tried out acting, they acted for a bit and we played our characters and meeting them and it was really really special. 'Apparently, Camilla is a big fan of Strictly. She said she voted for me every week, and all her children voted for me every week.' The soap star added: 'That is incredible - the Royal family voted for me, that's just mad!' Beaming: EastEnders' Rose Ayling-Ellis has revealed Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall voted for her on Strictly Come Dancing Rose also revealed she felt 'touched' when Charles and Camilla introduced themselves in British Sign Language (BSL). She said: 'Both of them came up to me and the first thing they did, they signed Good morning to me. Rose was moved by the sweet gesture: 'I was really, really touched by that and I was really impressed that they knew how to sign Good morning.' Will Smith is allegedly devising his big movie comeback, following his highly-publicised Oscars controversy in March were he slapped Chris Rock on-stage. Having been slapped with a ban on attending The Academy Awards for ten years, the actor, 53, is reportedly taking matters into his own hands with a self-produced sequel to his 2007 film, I Am Legend, via his company Westbrook Media. An insider told The Sun: 'The script is being written mentioning his character and as yet Will remains attached to the project. Rebound: Will Smith is 'devising his big movie comeback with the self-produced I Am Legend sequel'... after his Chris Rock Oscars slap controversy (pictured in-character) 'The concept is still to be signed off by Warner Brothers, but there has been no indication that Will is off the project. 'Obviously he is the producer of the film and his production company is in charge while the development continues. And Will himself is undergoing therapy and taking time away from the limelight.' The follow-up dystopian picture would see The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air star return to his role as Robert Neville, working to cure a zombie apocalypse in New York. The Francis Lawrence-directed movie centred on the story of the scientist and last human survivor of a plague. Shocking: Having been slapped with a ban on attending The Academy Awards for ten years, the actor, 53, is reportedly taking matters into his own hands with a self-produced sequel to his 2007 film, I Am Legend, via his company Westbrook Media (pictured in March 2022) In the film, Will's character seeks to reverse the effects of the virus by using his own immune blood. Sources have claimed Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who adapted Richard Matheson's 1954 novel into the first film, will include Richard's character in the script. MailOnline has contacted Will and Akiva's representatives, as well as Westbrook Media for comment. It comes after Jada Pinkett Smith directly addressed husband Will slapping comedian Chris at the Oscars for the first time in depth, saying she hopes the two men have the 'opportunity to heal' and 'reconcile' after the shocking incident. Regretful: Will assaulted Chris, 57, after he made a joke about Jada's bald head, which is the result of her suffering from the autoimmune disorder (pictured in March 2022) Speaking ahead of a Red Table Talk special on alopecia released Wednesday, Jada, 50, began by referencing the controversy when Will assaulted Chris, 57, after he made a joke about Jada's bald head, which is the result of her suffering from the autoimmune disorder. 'This is a really important Red Table Talk on alopecia. Considering what I've been through with my own health and what happened at the Oscars,' the actress began. 'Thousands have reached out to me with their stories. I'm using this moment to give our alopecia family an opportunity to talk about what it's like to have this condition and to inform people about what alopecia actually is. Addressing the infamous slap, Jada said: 'Now about Oscar night, my deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out and reconcile. She continued: 'The state of the world today, we need them both. And we all actually need one another more than ever. Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that's keep figuring out this thing called life together. Thank you for listening.' Following the incident, Will was seen partying the night away with his family at the Vanity Fair Oscars bash, dancing to his own song Gettin' Jiggy Wit It as crowds cheered him on. However, a few days later he apologized in an official statement saying his behavior was 'unacceptable and inexcusable' and left him 'embarrassed'. 'Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive,' he wrote. Hopeful: An insider said: 'The script is being written mentioning his character and as yet Will remains attached to the project' (pictured with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith in March 2022) 'My behavior at last night's Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada's medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally. 'I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.' Chris has not responded to Will's apology, but has referenced the slap multiple times since during his stand up performances. Last month, Chris joked that he 'got most of my hearing back' after the slap, during a set at the Royal Albert Hall in London. After a formal review of the incident in April, Will was banned from the Oscars for 10 years, but was allowed to keep his Best Actor award that he won for King Richard. In a statement, the Academy blasted his 'unacceptable' and 'harmful' behavior that 'overshadowed' the entire evening. 'During our telecast, we did not adequately address the situation in the room. For this, we are sorry. This was an opportunity for us to set an example for our guests, viewers and our Academy family around the world, and we fell short unprepared for the unprecedented. 'The Board has decided, for a period of 10 years from April 8, 2022, Mr. Smith shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs, in person or virtually, including but not limited to the Academy Awards. 'We want to express our deep gratitude to Mr. Rock for maintaining his composure under extraordinary circumstances. We also want to thank our hosts, nominees, presenters and winners for their poise and grace during our telecast.' Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European Commission President Ursula von der Layen attend a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine June 11, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues. Reuters-Yonhap The European Commission will provide a clear signal next week on Ukraine's EU candidate status bid, its chief Ursula von der Leyen has said, as fighting rages in the east and south of the country. Making a surprise visit to Kyiv, Saturday, von der Leyen said talks she held with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "will enable us to finalize our assessment by the end of next week" the first time the bloc has publicly given a sense of timing. Zelenskyy has pressed for rapid admission into the EU to reduce Ukraine's geopolitical vulnerability, which was brutally exposed by Russia's Feb. 24 invasion. But officials and leaders in the bloc caution that, even with candidacy status, EU membership could take years or even decades. Von der Leyen, appearing alongside Zelenskyy during her second visit to Kyiv since the war began, made no promises, noting further reforms were needed. The Ukrainian president warned it was a "decisive time" for his country and the EU. "Russia wants to ruin European unity, wants to leave Europe divided and wants to leave it weak. The entirety of Europe is a target for Russia. Ukraine is only the first stage in this aggression," he said. Despite reservations among some member states, EU leaders are expected to approve Ukraine's candidate status at a summit on June 23 and 24, though with strict conditions attached. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a joint press conference with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 11. Von der Leyen is making her second visit to Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor. She was one of the first European leaders to go to Ukraine during the war. AP-Yonhap Crisis and famine Addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, Saturday, Zelenskyy highlighted the dangers of a food crisis posed by Russia's blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports. He warned of "an acute and severe food crisis and famine," adding that the "shortage of foodstuffs will inexorably lead to political chaos" all of it "the direct consequence of the acts of the Russian state." Also Saturday, Lugansk Governor Sergiy Gaiday cited reports of Russians loading trucks with Ukrainian wheat and taking it to Russian-controlled areas. Before the war, Russia and Ukraine produced 30 percent of the global wheat supply, but grain is stuck in Ukraine's ports and Western sanctions have disrupted exports from Russia. At the summit, Zelenskyy urged international pressure to end the blockade, speaking to delegates including Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, who on Sunday reiterated Beijing's position on the crisis. "On the Ukrainian crisis, China has never provided any material support to Russia," he said, adding they supported peace negotiations and hoped "NATO will have talks with Russia." Ukraine's Western allies have warned China, which has yet to condemn Russia's invasion, against offering any form of support for Moscow. Ministers and delegates listen to a virtual special address by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, June 11. Reuters-Yonhap Reality star Jessica Wright has announced that her first child was delivered by emergency Caesarean section five days before her due date. The former The Only Way Is Essex cast member, 36, had been 'intent' on having a natural birth, with her husband, 39-year-old businessman William Lee-Kemp, and Loose Women panellist mother Carol Wright by her side. However, baby boy Presley was delivered by Caesarean section at London's Portland Hospital on May 17, after Jessica noticed his movements had lessened. Emergency: Reality star Jess Wright has announced that her first child was delivered by emergency Caesarean section five days before her due date She told Hello! magazine: 'In those last few weeks he had been so active and then, all of sudden, it completely dropped, which was very scary, so our doctor told us to come straight to hospital.' Medics tried for 48 hours to induce the birth, and Jessica said: 'They monitored him again and found his heart rate was dropping slightly. 'They thought he might be lying in an awkward position, so the sensible decision was to have an emergency C-section and get him out quickly. 'I had been so intent on having a natural birth and to go through that experience as I'd done all the hypnobirthing, but I had a sense of "this is our destiny, this is how it is supposed to happen", and we accepted it, and then got excited that it was happening so quickly. 'I felt like I had to be strong and positive and embrace it, rather than going in there panicking. It was the most incredible, surreal, overwhelming experience ever.' Jessica revealed the couple had chosen the name Presley months before their son was born. So sweet: Jessica Wright welcomed a baby boy last month with husband William Lee-Kemp and gave fans a first glimpse of her newborn in an adorable snap on Instagram 'I heard the name from someone when I was eight weeks pregnant, and I said to Will, "We've found the name", and he loved it. 'We had a couple of names since then, but that one seemed to suit him best.' Speaking about her son's middle name, Stone, Jessica said: 'We both really love it as it's so different.' She added that becoming a mum had been a 'whirlwind' but it was 'amazing'. Cute: The TOWIE star, 36, announced that she had given birth by sharing a sweet snap of the newborn holding hers and her businessman husbands hand Announcement: Jess announced she was expecting back on November 28 with a stunning partially nude snap 'It is such an intense, crazy time having your first child and not knowing what to expect. We are learning more every day,' she said. The full interview can be found in this week's edition of Hello! Magazine, out now 'What we have taken from the first few weeks is that there is no set routine, there are no set rules. You learn as you go along.' The reality star said her TV and radio presenter brother Mark Wright, who was also on TOWIE, 'loves being an uncle' but his wife, actress Michelle Keegan, has not met Presley yet as she is filming in Australia. Jessica announced in November she was pregnant with her first child after marrying William in Majorca in September. She has previously revealed the couple discovered she was expecting during their wedding celebrations. They married in a lavish ceremony on the Spanish island - followed by a poolside reception and a banquet in a castle - which was broadcast on ITVBe. Chaney Jones showed off her curves in a barely there monokini on social media Saturday. The model, 24, flaunted her tight abs and firm backside in an Instagram stories video as she hung out at a poolside cabana with friends. The influencer showed closeups of her midriff and tattoos on her hips and back in the lavender swimsuit. Curves: Chaney Jones, 24, showed off her curves in a barely there monokini on social media Saturday The social media star, who began dating Kanye West, 45, earlier this year, has hit back after reports she has broken up with the rapper. The drama began when the Praise God artist, who legally changed his name to Ye, was spotted viewing Top Gun: Maverick with another woman. When the news was made public, Chaney wiped all of the Gold Digger artist's pictures off her social media account. Poolside fun: The model flaunted her tight abs and firm buns in an Instagram stories video as she hung out at a poolside cabana with friends Closeup: The media influencer shared closeups of her toned tummy and flawless skin and put her various tattoos on display On Wednesday June 8, she seemed to have a change of heart, and posted a video tribute to the Grammy winner for his birthday, writing, 'Happy birthday baby [black-heart emoji] I love youuuuu.' Chaney later posted an angry 'Please stop posting and spreading fake news about my relationship. Have some respect, it's his birthday.' Wednesday afternoon she created another post, with a picture of the pair laughing in a car writing, 'Laughing with you is my favorite.' Breakup?: The media influencer, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Kim Kardashian, has pushed back against rumors she had broken up with boyfriend Kanye West, 45, after he was spotted with another woman Back home: They recently returned from a trip to Japan The media influencer, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the hip hop star's ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, 41, were first spotted together during a shopping trip in Miami. They recently returned from a trip to Japan. While there, the Yeezy clothing designer shared an Instagram post of a fast-food box, revealing that he had teamed up with 'industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa to reimagine McDonalds packaging.' Cute: On Wednesday, Chaney recently posted a video of herself and Kanye using a filter for a playful video amid her breakup denial; she added: 'Laughing with you is my favorite' Meanwhile Kanye's ex-wife heated up Instagram on Sunday with a series of sultry photos promoting her SKIMS brand. The Kardashians star showed off her hourglass curves and trim tummy in a cropped white tank top and matching satin panties, attached to white stockings with a garter belt. Kim looked picture perfect as ever, sporting flawless makeup that featured a light bronze eyeshadow and nude lipstick. Her long platinum blonde tresses were parted in the middle, and cascaded down her back in gentle waves. Sultry: Meanwhile Kanye's ex-wife heated up Instagram on Sunday with a series of sultry photos promoting her SKIMS brand Wow! The Kardashians star showed off her hourglass curves and trim tummy in a cropped white tank top and matching satin panties, attached to white stockings with a garter belt In another alluring snap, she was seen lounging on a sofa in a white bralette that showed off her ample cleavage and silk white pajama pants. Kim filed for divorce from the rapper in February 2021, after seven years of marriage. The couple share daughters North, eight, and Chicago, four, as well as sons Saint, six, and Psalm, together. Lin-Manuel Miranda has set expectations high for Ariana DeBose's turn as host at the upcoming 75th Tony Awards. In an interview with Deadline, the 42-year-old composer teased that the 31-year-old actress will kick off the Sunday night show with a 'doozy of an opening number.' 'There will be dancing,' the three-time Grammy Award winner told the outlet, though he would not disclose additional details about the ceremony, which airs Sunday night with a one-hour segment on Paramount+ at 7 p.m. ET and the main show starting at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+. Looking forward to it: Lin-Manuel Miranda has set expectations high for Ariana DeBose's turn as host at the upcoming 75th Tony Awards; seen in June 2022 The multi-hyphenate performer added, 'You couldn't ask for a better host.' DeBose was an original cast member in Miranda's hit Broadway musical Hamilton, in which she played the role of Bullet from 2015 to 2016. The dancer was nominated for her first Tony Award in 2018 after playing Disco Donna in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. Exciting: In an interview with Deadline , the 42-year-old composer teased that the 31-year-old actress will kick off the Sunday night show with a 'doozy of an opening number'; seen in February 2022 Sharing the stage: DeBose was an original cast member in Miranda's hit Broadway musical Hamilton. She played the role of Bullet from 2015 to 2016; seen in 2016 The North Carolina native skyrocketed to fame after starring in Steven Spielberg's 2021 big-screen adaptation of the classic musical West Side Story. In March, DeBose made history when she became the first openly queer woman of color to win an Oscar after receiving the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role as Anita. Miranda, who has won three Tony Awards, told Deadline that he will be attending the upcoming show though he acknowledged that 'he 'doesn't have a horse in the race.' Making history: In March, DeBose made history when she became the first openly gay woman of color to win an Oscar after receiving the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role as Anita; seen in Mach in Hollywood Held at New York City's Radio City Music Hall, the 75th Tony Awards will recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 202122 season. The awards show will also serve as a celebration of Broadway's comeback after the theater industry endured its longest shutdown in history due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 'We're just rallying,' Miranda told Deadline. 'It is Job-like what theater has gone through, so this will be an incredible rally for the whole theater community.' Honors: Held at New York City's Radio City Music Hall, the 75th Tony Awards will recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 202122 season. Pictured: Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo and Ariana DeBose with Lin-Manuel Miranda in 2016 The industry faced another setback at the end of 2021 when the highly contagious Omicron variant became wide-spread during the Broadway's lucrative holiday season. Miranda said that Omicron was 'crushing at a time when we most depending on tourist business.' Over the past two years, the Broadway star has turned his focus to his feature film work. Multi-hyphenate: Over the past two years, the Broadway star has turned his focus to his feature film work; seen in March 2022 He wrote several songs for the Academy Award-winning animated Disney movie Encanto, produced and appeared in the big-screen adaptation of his Tony Award-winning musical In The Heights and directed Netflixs Oscar-nominated musical tick tick BOOM! Two weeks ago, Miranda contracted COVID-19 himself, leading him to skip a gala being held in his honor at the Greenwich International Film Festival in Connecticut. The Pulitzer Prize winner also was absent from the Academy Awards in March after his wife Vanessa tested positive for COVID-19. Jessica Plummer cut a stylish figure as she attended The Cartier Queen's Cup Polo in Windsor on Sunday. The 29-year-old looked stunning in an eyecatching red midi dress which featured thin straps. The EastEnders actress matched her red lipstick to her dress and opted for a radiant make-up palette. Stunning: Jessica Plummer cut a stylish figure as she attended The Cartier Queen's Cup Polo in Windsor on Sunday The beauty elevated her frame in a towering pair of tan sandals and swept her dark naturally curly tresses over to one side as they cascaded past her shoulders. Jessica, who is known for playing Chantelle Atkins in the BBC soap opera, kept her look simple by accessorising with a gold watch and a chic matching bangle. Back in February, The actress said she went through a period of mourning for her character Chantelle Atkins, who died at the hands of her domestic abuser husband Gray Atkins (Toby-Alexander Smith) in September. Sensational: The 29-year-old looked stunning in an eye catching red midi dress by Emporio Armani Glam: The EastEnders actress beamed matching her red lipstick to her Emporio Armani dress Speaking on Netmums' Sweat, Snot and Tears podcast on Tuesday, she said: 'It kind of felt like I'd just been given the news that a friend had become terminally ill or something. 'It's my character, I should know more than anybody that its not real. I felt like all of a sudden I had to mourn my character, say goodbye to my character. 'I would get dressed in the morning in the months leading up to it and I would do things like put on Chantelles wedding ring and think oh my goodness is this the last time she is going to wear it sort of thing. It was weird.' Chic: The beauty elevated her frame in a towering pair of tan sandals and swept her dark naturally curly tresses over to one side as they cascaded past her shoulders Jessica learned of her character's journey in Christmas 2019, and thought the UK's lockdown amid the Covid-19 crisis might have meant the storyline would have been prolonged, but she realised it was better the plot happened the way it did. The actress - who went on to appear on 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!' late last year - admitted she felt her Walford departure would be 'worth it' if it results in one woman escaping an abusive relationship in real life. She added: 'I was sad to leave EastEnders, but if it means one woman escapes her domestic abusive relationship, it was worth it.' Jessica recently admitted she would return to the BBC One soap, despite Chantelle being dead. Looking good: Jessica, who is known for playing Chantelle Atkins in the BBC soap opera, kept her look simple by accessorising with a gold watch and a chic matching bangle Coordinated: The beauty posed up a storm in front of stunning flower arrangements She said: 'I love 'EastEnders' and if they called tomorrow and said, "Come back," I wouldn't be able to turn it down.' What's more, shortly after her Albert Square exit, the star admitted she was 'in absolute bits' about leaving the show. She wrote on Instagram: 'Now that the dust has slightly settled, I'd just like to say.. On a personal note, I am in absolute bits to be leaving the show. 'I miss even this bits I thought I hated (that dodgy outside toilet near the police station with 20 million spiders) 'All of it has been a dream come true. Without getting speechy, I owe SO many people my thanks for believing in me on my journey. (sic)' 'I felt like I had to mourn her': Back in February, Jessica said that learning her EastEnders character Chantelle was going to be killed off was like hearing a friend was 'terminally ill' Josh Hartnett dressed to impress as he hit the red carpet at Filming Italy 2022 on Sunday. The American actor, 43, soaked up the summery weather while rocking a stylish green and pink flowered short sleeve shirt. He teamed the eye-catching ensemble with a pair of black trousers and opted for matching sliders. Looking good: Josh Hartnett dressed to impress as he hit the red carpet at Filming Italy on Sunday Josh swept his luxurious locks over to one side as he hid behind a pair of dark sunglasses. The star is serving as president of the jury for the prestigious film and TV festival, which celebrates Italian and global film and television, and is held at Forte Village resort near Cagliari, capital of Sardinia In the mid 2000's he appeared set for a long career in Hollywood before turning his back on Tinseltown. Previously Josh revealed the real reason why he stepped away from a career in big-budget movies and took a more artistic path. Incredible: He teamed the eye catching ensemble with a pair of black trousers and opted for matching sliders Amazing: Josh swept his luxurious locks over to one side as he hid behind a pair of dark sunglasses The esteemed star told Channel Seven's Sunrise: 'It was the best thing for my mental health and my career to keep Hollywood at bay... 'Luckily I think I hit onto it early on in my life: its about creating a good home life and being able to do things that are wild and wonderful like making films, which is such a privilege'. It comes after Hartnett revealed the one role he regrets turning down during his early Hollywood career, as he was offered a role in the award-winning 2005 film Brokeback Mountain, which was eventually taken by the late Heath Ledger. He explained: 'Unfortunately, I was going to do Brokeback Mountain And I had a contract with the [2006 film] Black Dahlia that I had to film, so I had to drop out of it'. Dapper: In the mid 2000's he appeared set for a long career in Hollywood before turning his back on Tinseltown He explained he was originally meant to star in the drama with Joaquin Phoenix. This was soon changed to Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, who both went on to receive several awards and separate nods at the 2006 Academy Awards. The movie received six more nominations at the Oscars and numerous accolades across the globe. Harnett has been vocal about not having regrets about some of the huge roles he's turned down in the past, including playing Superman in a three-picture deal and Batman in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Opening up: Previously Josh revealed the real reason why he stepped away from a career in big-budget movies and took a more artistic path But he does admit there's a bit of regret for Brokeback Mountain, joking that he 'always wanted to kiss Joaquin'. Hartnett got his big start in the 2001 war films Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down. He turned to independent films in recent years, starring in Ida Red and Target Number One, but he has also made appearances in bigger productions such as Guy Ritchie's Wrath of Man. One of Hartnett's most renowned starring roles was in the hit horror drama series Penny Dreadful, which ran from 2014 to 2016. Advertisement Love Island's Ekin-Su Culculoglu got plenty of action on Sunday as she put the moves on new boy Jacques O'Neill, just hours after her passionate snog with Davide Sanclimenti. The actress made her intentions clear as she flirted up a storm with Gemma Owen's ex-boyfriend shortly after he entered the villa as a bombshell contestant. But she could have some competition on her hands as Gemma admitted to the girls that she still 'fancies' her ex, despite insisting she's fine with him moving on to other girls. Fast mover: Love Island's Ekin-Su Culculoglu got plenty of action as she put the moves on new boy Jacques O'Neill, just hours after her passionate snog with Davide Sanclimenti Following the recoupling, Ekin-Su grafted Italian stallion Davide, where she planted several kisses on him as she said: 'I just want to give you a thank you.' But her head was turned just hours after as Cumbrian-born rugby player strolled into the villa, where he immediately enjoyed a date with both Paige and Afia. As Gemma later came face-to-face with her ex, she jokingly called him a d**khead' before hugging him. Later with the girls, she admitted that 'I still do fancy him' and said how 'fit' he was, although she was quick to insist that there's nothing between them anymore and she 'feels no way' about the girls cracking on with him. Feelings? But she could have some competition on her hands as Gemma admitted to the girls that she still 'fancies' her ex, despite insisting she's fine with him moving on to other girls She said: 'I don't know, it feels weird but I look at him and I still do fancy him, 100% I look at him and think "you are fit!" no question about it. But I'm not bothered about anyone getting to know him.' And it appeared that Ekin-Su got the message as she was seen seductively strutting past Jacques in the bedroom, with the hunk certainly noticing her before following her outside. The two then sat down for a chat with Ekin-Su proceeding to flirt, telling him: 'if you had came in here earlier, I would have wanted to get to know you too.' While in the Beach Hut she confessed she found him 'attractive' before adding: 'It's only fair I get to know him.' Kiss kiss: Following the recoupling, Ekin-Su grafted Italian stallion Davide, where she planted several kisses on him as she said: 'I just want to give you a thank you' Fresh meat: But her head was turned just hours after as Cumbrian-born rugby player strolled into the villa, where he immediately enjoyed a date with both Paige and Afia Reunited: Later with the girls, she admitted that 'I still do fancy him' and said how 'fit' he was, although she was quick to insist that there's nothing between them anymore and she 'feels no way' about the girls cracking on with him After watching Ekin-Su's actions in the villa, fans flocked to Twitter to give their opinions on her flirty behaviour. 'The devil works hard but Ekin-Su works harder; remarked one viewer, while a second urged: 'ekin su behave yourself wtf.' 'F**k sake Ekin-Su shes like a dog on heat' tweeted a third shocked watcher. A fourth asked: 'Is she gonna do this with every man who walks in?', a firth added: 'Ekin Su just wants to 1up Gemma.' Flirtations: It appeared that Ekin-Su got the message as she was seen seductively strutting past Jacques in the bedroom, with the hunk certainly noticing her before following her outside With another viewer adding: 'Ekin su you arent allowed to have everyone.' Despite them seemingly getting along fine when they first reunited in the villa, Jacques had earlier implied that things ended on a sour note with Michael Owen's daughter. During his date with Afia before setting eyes on Gemma fir the first time since their split, he was asked by Afia: 'Did it end amicably?' To which Jacques replied: 'I wouldnt say so, maybe not, I am not sure but we will have to find out wont we?' Meanwhile, during the show, there was tensions among Gemma and her current partner Luca Bish as she implied that she had previously got back with an ex during a game of Never Have I Ever. Reaction: After watching Ekin-Su's actions in the villa, fans flocked to Twitter to give their opinions on her flirty behaviour The risque game brought up a few surprises among the islanders with Paige admitting to having had a foursome while Davide confessed he slept with his mate's girlfriend - at his pal's request. However, when Ikenna says 'never have I ever got back with an ex' and elaborated that also meant slept with an ex, things turned awkward when Gemma drank from her glass. With the islanders putting two and two together with the exes sitting near each other, Luca didn't appear too pleased by Gemma's actions. The fish seller was later seen grumbling to the boys as Gemma had a private chat with Jacques, where he shared that he doesn't have his eyes on any other girls and hoped Gemma's head wasn't turned by her ex. But as well as flirting with Ekin-Su, Jaques appeared to also turn on the charm with his former girlfriend - which will no doubt rile Luca - as he complimented her looks, before telling her: 'I am a flirtatious lad, like, I cant help myself sometimes.' Uh oh: Meanwhile, during the show, there was tensions among Gemma and her current partner Luca Bish as she implied that she had previously got back with an ex during a game of Never Have I Ever Revelations: The risque game brought up a few surprises among the islanders with Paige admitting to having had a foursome while Davide confessed he slept with his mate's girlfriend - at his pal's request Awkward! However, when Ikenna says 'never have I ever got back with an ex' and elaborated that also meant slept with an ex, things turned awkward when Gemma drank from her glass Fuming: With the islanders putting two and two together with the exes sitting near each other, Luca didn't appear too pleased by Gemma's actions Worried? The fish seller was later seen grumbling to the boys as Gemma had a private chat with Jacques, where he shared that he doesn't have his eyes on any other girls and hoped Gemma's head wasn't turned by her ex The episode also saw Ekin-Su telling Indiyah to kiss Ikenna in a bid to learn how he really feels about her her. Indiyah said to her: 'When I see someone I know when theres sexual chemistry and I havent got that from him, maybe we need to have a kiss so I can change my mind.' And after learning that Indiyah has yet to make a move, she encouraged her to take matters into her own hands as she advised: 'You either pull back or you go in, and when I mean in, you go in and you take the risk you put all the games to a side and you kiss him and you see if hes passionate back, then you will know.' Love Island continues on Monday at 9pm on ITV2 and ITV Hub. Episodes are available the following morning on BritBox. Megan Thee Stallion shared stunning photos on Sunday from her trip to Barcelona, where she headlined the music festival Primavera Sound. The 27-year-old rap star showed off her toned midriff and ample cleavage as she donned a white crop in snaps that were taken at museums. 'Manchester next ,' Megan teased in the caption of the post that she uploaded on Sunday. Good times: Megan Thee Stallion shared stunning photos on Sunday from her trip to Barcelona, where she headlined the music festival Primavera Sound over the weekend The Hot Girl Summer hitmaker's long-sleeve button-down crop top was embellished with light blue crystals. The top featured two wide straps that criss-crossed around Megan's torso and fastened in the back. The three-time Grammy Award winner paired the crop top with high-waisted white drawstring jeans and light blue heels. Sizzling: The 27-year-old rap star showed off her toned midriff and ample cleavage as she donned a white crop in three snaps that were taken at museums The Texas native accessorized with large gold hoop earrings and several chunky gold rings. The beauty wore her raven tresses down in natural waves and sported a glamorous palette of makeup that included gold and brown eyeshadow, thick lashes, a black cat eye, contour blush and a caramel lipstick. In the first image, Megan held a pair of sunglasses as she posed in the hallway at the museum. Cultural excursion: The rapper was seen from behind as she looked at a wall of Picasso paintings in the Museu Picasso. In another photo, she was seen carrying a white quilted handbag that hung from a thick gold chain as she snapped a mirror selfie in front of a display case. The rapper was seen from behind as she looked at a wall of Picasso paintings in the Museu Picasso. Megan was seen cozying up to her boyfriend Pardison Fontaine, 32, in one image in her carousel. Cute: Megan was seen cozying up to her boyfriend Pardison Fontaine, 32, in one image in her carousel The couple, who have been together since February 2021, were seen playfully sticking out their tongues at the camera while Megan stuck up her middle finger. In one snap, Megan was seen in an elegant black one-shoulder top as she sat at a restaurant. The siren accentuated her eyes with shimmery white eyeshadow and had on huge silver hoop earrings. Stunning: In one snap, Megan was seen in an elegant black one-shoulder top as she sat at a restaurant A black-and-silver purse was placed front and center on the table as Megan gave the camera a sultry stare. The artist shared a photo of fans holding up flashlights on their phones during one of her performances at Primavera Sound. She concluded her slideshow with a photo of the view outside her plane window in which the sky could be seen amid layers of puffy white clouds. On stage: The artist shared a photo of fans holding up flashlights on their phones during one of her performances at Primavera Sound Megan performed on Wednesday and Saturday at the Parc del Forum in Barcelona. Other artists and bands performing at the festival include The Strokes, Tyler, The Creator, Dua Lipa, Pavement, Kacey Musgraves and Charli XCX. As indicated in the caption of her Instagram post, Megan was en route to Manchester where she is scheduled to hit the stage at Parklife 2022 in Heaton Park. En route to Manchester: She concluded her slideshow with a photo of the view outside her plane window in which the sky could be seen amid layers of puffy white clouds. Headliner: Megan performed on Wednesday and Saturday at the Parc del Forum in Barcelona Skimpy: Megan showed up in a similarly skimpy outfit when performing in Manchester Sunday Putting on a show: She danced across the stage while hundreds of fans watched the performance Megan showed up in a similarly skimpy outfit when performing in Manchester Sunday. She donned a black corset with sheer paneling running down her chest and stomach, accentuating her ample cleavage. The star's clothes rose up between her legs, showing off her impressive backside. She ran a hand over her crotch and another underneath her pert derriere. Megan was singing at the Parklife Festival at Heaton Park, a two-day independent music festival held annually. Tight clothes: She donned a black corset with sheer paneling running down her chest Grabbing herself: She ran a hand over her crotch and stuck her tongue out during the performance Roddy Ricch was released from jail Sunday afternoon and charges were dropped after he was arrested in connection with gun charges in New York City ahead of his slated outing Saturday at the Governors Ball at Citi Field. The 23-year-old rapper's case was dismissed, a clerk at Queens Criminal Court confirmed to the New York Daily News. The Grammy-winning musical artist was described by the outlet as being in 'okay-ish spirits' following the legal tie-up, according to TMZ. The latest: Roddy Ricch, 23, was released from jail Sunday afternoon in New York City and charges were dropped after he was arrested in connection with gun charges ahead of his slated outing Saturday at the Governors Ball at Citi Field. He was snapped in Houston last year The rapper and two other people in the automobile Saturday were placed under arrest, and Ricch was initially said to be facing four charges: possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device and unlawful possession thereof, as well as criminal possession of a weapon. Brooklyn native Michael Figueroa, 46, was in an arraignment hearing in the court Sunday, while the case against New Jersey native Carlos Collins, 57, was also dropped, officials told the Daily News. Law enforcement insiders told TMZ Hip Hop that officers at the festival's security checkpoint said they discovered a loaded firearm, a large capacity magazine and nine rounds of ammunition in the 2020 black Cadillac Escalade the Compton, California native was riding in. A source told the New York Post about the protocols: 'The reason we do this checkpoints is for expressly this purpose. We dont want people introducing guns in this venue.' Trouble: Ricch was arrested on gun charges on his way to the Governors Ball, where he was supposed to perform Saturday. He is pictured at Astroworld this past November Details: The Grammy-winning musical artist was described by the outlet as being in 'okay-ish spirits' following the legal tie-up. He was seen in LA last year A large sign told fans 'this set is no longer taking place' after his arrest Uh oh: The official account for the festival tweeted: 'Unfortunately Roddy Ricch is no longer performing today,' without providing details Following Ricch's arrest Saturday, the official account for the festival tweeted, 'Unfortunately Roddy Ricch is no longer performing today,' without providing details. Fans waiting for him to perform were greeted at the stage with a sign reading: 'Unfortunately, this set is no longer taking place.' This year's Governors Ball, a three-day festival held from Friday through Sunday, has been beset with problems for its lineup. Friday night was meant to be headlined by Migos, but the band withdrew this week amid rumors that they are on the verge of a breakup. However a report in TMZ said that Migos are not splitting, and a label representative for the group insisted that the group's Governors Ball performance was canceled because of a scheduling conflict with a movie Quavo is filming. Allegations: The rapper seen in March 2021 in LA at the Grammy Awards Fans tweeted about their disappointment that the rapper's set had been canceled Migos were then replaced by Lil Wayne, but on Friday, just hours before he was to take the stage, he also pulled out of the festival. The Governors Ball tweeted that Lil Wayne could not attend because of 'flight disruptions,' and his spot was filled by A$AP Ferg. Saturday night of the festival was headlined by Halsey, with a lineup that included Tove Lo, Almost Monday and Shaquille O'Neal. Ricch's arrest this weekend is not his first, as he was previously booked for felony domestic violence in August 2019 over a dispute with his girlfriend. He was released on $50,000 bond after the 2019 arrest, and the charges against him were ultimately dropped for insufficient evidence. Switch-ups: Friday night of the Governors Ball was meant to be headlined by Migos, who withdrew this week, with the result Lil Wayne (pictured) was enlisted to replace them; seen May 2021 Fiji's defense minister said Sunday that climate change posed the biggest security threat in the Asia-Pacific region, a shift in tone at a defense summit that has been dominated by the war in Ukraine and disputes between China and the United States. The low-lying Pacific islands, which include Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, are some of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the extreme weather events caused by climate change. Fiji has been battered by a series of tropical cyclones in recent years, causing devastating flooding that have displaced thousands from their homes and hobbled the island's economy. "In our blue Pacific continent, machine guns, fighter jets, grey ships and green battalions are not our primary security concern," Inia Seruiratu, Fiji's Minister for Defense, said at the Shangri La Dialogue, Asia's top security meeting. "The single greatest threat to our very existence is climate change. It threatens our very hopes and dreams of prosperity." The meeting, which closes Sunday, has been dominated by debate over Russia's invasion of Ukraine and rising tensions between the United States and China over everything from Taiwan's sovereignty to naval bases in the Pacific. The Pacific islands became a focus of regional tensions this year after China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands in April, alarming the United States, Australia and New Zealand, who fear a stepped-up military presence by Beijing in the Pacific. Beijing has said that it is not establishing a military base in the Solomon Islands and that its goal is to strengthen security cooperation with Pacific island nations. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi conducted a tour of the Pacific islands last month in the hope of securing a sweeping regional trade and security pact, but the island nations were unable to reach a consensus on a deal. Seruiratu played down concerns about a battle for influence in the Pacific islands while highlighting his country's willingness to work with a range of countries. "In Fiji, we are not threatened by geopolitical competition," Seruiratu said in his speech. "We have to adapt how we work and who we work with to achieve stability." (Reuters) Newly wedded celebrity couple Nayanthara and Vignesh Shivan found themselves in controversy, walking with footwear in the sacred Mada streets of Tirumala on Friday. A photoshoot of the movie star with her filmmaker husband right in front of the main temple also came under criticism from the devotees. Nayanthara and Shivan got married at a resort in Mahabalipuram on Thursday and arrived in the temple town soon after to have the darshan of Lord Venkateshwara. However, in a video that went viral on social media and played repeatedly on news channels, Nayanthara was seen wearing sandals while walking in front of the temple. The Mada streets are the four pathways around the sanctum where all the temple's ritual processions, including the annual Brahmotsavams, are conducted. Wearing of footwear is strictly prohibited in these four lanes and notice boards installed by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams also state so. Several pilgrims raised their objections to the twin incidents. Some of the crew that accompanied the couple too were seen wearing shoes. Devotees are also questioning the TTD officials about the photo shoot in front of the temple, when a common man is not allowed to stand there even for a few minutes to pay obeisance to the deity. The couple should have been aware of the temple's sanctity. There are certain rules to be followed, a woman devotee said. Nayanthara-Shivan desired to be wedded in Tirumala but logistic reasons compelled the event to take place in Mahabalipuram, attended by Indian movie industry icons like Rajnikanth. They reportedly visited Tirumala five times in the last one month or so. TTD officials who probed the lapse mulled serving a notice to Nayanthara, Shivan. However, the couple issued an apology stating that they did not mean any disrespect. The director said that they wanted to have some pictures taken at the temple to mark their special day but a crowd wanting to greet them and the ensuing chaos made them exit the place and reenter after a while. In the melee, we did not notice the footwear, Shivan said while offering apologies to anyone offended by the mistake. Wearing chappals in the Mada streets is an act hurting religious sentiments. But since the couple has already apologized, we might not be pursuing the matter seriously, a senior TTD official told DH. Some social media outlets claimed that the photo shoot was part of a feature on the Nayanthara-Shivan wedding to be aired on a popular OTT platform. A serving Inishowen priest, the former President of St Columb's College in Derry, has confirmed he was aware of sex abuse allegations against a former vice-principal, as far back as 1993. Raymond Gallagher was a teacher at St Columb's College from 1953 to 1993. He died in 2007 at the age of 75. In recent months, two former pupils have come forward to allege they were sexually abused by Gallagher while pupils at the school in the 1960s and 1970s. Fr John Walsh, who is currently a curate in the Buncrana parish, was President of St Columb's from 1990 to 1999 and was in charge of the school when Gallagher left in 1993. In today's Sunday Independent, journalist Ciaran O'Neill is reporting, that comments made to the paper by Fr Walsh, appear to indicate those in charge of the school were aware of allegations around Gallagher, who was never charged in connection with any offences. The Sunday Independent said: "Following the recent public allegations against former St Columb's vice-principal, the Sunday Independent contacted Fr Walsh to ask if he knew about the allegations during his time at the school. In an email response, Fr Walsh said he was 'not free to talk' about the matter as it had been deemed 'appropriately confidential' in 1993 and 'in my opinion still remains so'. "However, he added when the school had been 'dealing with the case' it had involved the 'civil authorities'. In the Independent article, Eamonn Lynch (68), one of Gallagher's alleged victims, said Fr Walsh's comments 'left unanswered questions'. He said: "The time has come for St Columb's to come clean about Gallagher and answer questions such as: What were the circumstances of his departure in 1993; which civil authority was involved and what was the nature of its involvement; and who in St Columb's administered Gallagher's leaving package - pension entitlements, confidentiality arrangements?" Read Ciaran O'Neill's full Sunday Independent article HERE. China's SMEs Development Index posts slower decline in May Xinhua) 13:16, June 12, 2022 BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhua) -- China's Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development Index, based on a survey of 3,000 SMEs, edged down 0.1 points from the previous month to 88.2 in May, the latest industry data showed. The index saw its decline narrow from the previous month, but still made the fourth consecutive month of fall for the gauge, the lowest since 2021, said the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises. Severe epidemic situations in major cities which choked industrial and supply chains, coupled with overseas uncertainties, have undermined the business prospects of SMEs, said the association. The sub-indexes for capital and labor force stood in the expansion zone in May, while that for costs was in the contraction zone, indicating rising business costs for SMEs. The survey on samples showed business resumption made better progress in May but still was at a lower level. The share of enterprises operating at full capacity rose 2.2 percentage points compared with that in April. The industry group calls for faster implementation of the State Council's policy package last month which includes a prominent part contributing to bolstering micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji) In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, listens to a servicemen report close to the front line in Donetsk, Ukraine, June 5. AP-Yonhap Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said no one knows how long the war in his country will last but that Ukrainian forces are defying expectations by preventing Russian troops from overrunning eastern Ukraine, where the fighting has been fiercest for weeks. In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said he was proud of the Ukrainian defenders managing to hold back the Russian advance in the Donbas region, which borders Russia and where Moscow-backed separatists have controlled much of the territory for eight years. "Remember how in Russia, in the beginning of May, they hoped to seize all of the Donbas?" the president said late Saturday. "It's already the 108th day of the war, already June. Donbas is holding on." After failing to capture Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, early in the war, Moscow focused on seizing the parts of the largely Russian-speaking Donbas still in Ukrainian hands, as well as the country's southern coast. But instead of securing a swift, decisive takeover, Russian forces were drawn into a long, laborious battle, thanks in part to the Ukrainian military's use of Western-supplied weapons. Both Ukrainian and Russian authorities said Sievierodonetsk, an eastern city with a prewar population of 100,000, remained contested. The city and neighboring Lysychansk are the last major areas of the Donbas' Luhansk province not under the control of the pro-Russia rebels. Leonid Pasechnik, the head of the separatist-declared Luhansk People's Republic, said Ukrainian fighters remained in an industrial area of the city, including a chemical plant where civilians had taken shelter from days of Russian shelling. "Sievierodonetsk is not completely 100% liberated," Pasechnik said Saturday, alleging that the Ukrainians were shelling the city from the Azot plant. "So it's impossible to call the situation calm in Sievierodonetsk, that it is completely ours." Luhansk Gov. Serhii Haidai reported Saturday that a big fire broke out at the plant during hours of Russian shelling. To the north of the city, Russian shelling of settlements in the Kharkiv region killed three people, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Sunday. Elsewhere in Ukraine, a counteroffensive pushed Russians out of parts of the southern Kherson region they took early in the war, according to Zelenskyy. Moscow has installed local authorities in Kherson and other occupied coastal areas, offering residents Russian passports, airing Russian news broadcasts and taking steps to introduce a Russian school curriculum. Zelenskyy said that while an end to the war was not in sight, Ukraine should do everything it can so the Russians "regret everything that they have done and that they answer for every killing and every strike on our beautiful state." The Ukrainian leader asserted that Russia has suffered about three times as many military casualties as the number estimated for the Ukrainian side, adding: "For what? What did it get you, Russia?" There are no reliable independent estimates of the war's death toll so far. Speaking at a defense conference in Singapore on Sunday, Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe said Beijing continues to support peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and hopes the U.S. and its NATO allies have discussions with Russia "to create the conditions for an early ceasefire." "China will continue to play a constructive role and contribute our share to easing tensions and realizing a political resolution of the crisis," Wei said. He suggested that nations supplying weapons to Ukraine were hindering peace by "adding fuel to the fire" and stressed that China had not provided any material support to Russia during the war. "The growth of China-Russia relations is a partnership, not an alliance," Wei said. Pope Francis urged the faithful in St. Peter's Square to keep praying and fighting for peace in Ukraine as the war reached its 109th day. "The passing of time does not cool our pain and our concern for that battered population," Francis said Sunday. "Please, let's not get used to this tragic reality. Keep it close to the heart." The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, said in its latest assessment that Ukrainian intelligence suggested the Russian military was planning "to fight a longer war." The institute cited the deputy head of Ukraine's national security agency as saying that Moscow had extended its war timeline until October, with adjustments to be made depending on any successes in the Donbas. The intelligence "likely indicates the Kremlin has, at a minimum, acknowledged it cannot achieve its objectives in Ukraine quickly and is further adjusting its military objectives in an attempt to correct the initial deficiencies in the invasion of Ukraine," the think tank said. The Luhansk People's Republic's ambassador to Russia, Rodion Miroshnik, said Saturday that 300 to 400 Ukrainian troops remained blockaded inside the Sievierodonetsk chemical plant along with several hundred civilians. The Russians established contact with the Ukrainian troops to arrange the evacuation of the civilians, but the troops will be allowed to leave only if they lay down their arms and surrender, Miroshnik said. Similar conditions existed for weeks at a steel mill in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol before a civilian evacuation was arranged and the defending troops were ordered by Ukrainian military commanders to stand down. The fighters who came out of the Mariupol plant were taken prisoner by the Russians. Pasechnik, the separatist leader of the unrecognized Luhansk republic, said the Ukrainians making a stand in Sievierodonetsk should save themselves the trouble. "If I were them, I would already make a decision (to surrender)," he said. "We will achieve our goal in any case. We will liberate the industrial area in any case. We will liberate Sievierodonetsk in any case. Lysychansk will be ours in any case." (AP) Answers to last week's questions: Where in Dundalk was Simmons' Hotel? This was a small private hotel in Francis Street, between Williamsons' hardware and the entry leading to Gogarty's ironmonger's yard, run by a person named M. Simmons, from about the beginning of last century up to about sixty years ago. I am not sure if 'M. Simmons' was a man or a woman but suspect that she was a widow, as I recall that there was a lady in charge by the late late 1950s of what was a guest house for commercial travellers. About this time a dentist named D.B. Simmons, whom I think was her son, had a surgery in the building and a dental mechanic called Peter Kieran had a work shop in the basement. There may have been an earlier dentist's surgery but am not sure? Where is 'Meeting House Lane'? This is the short street leading off Linenhall Street, opposite the 'Peace Park' on the Fair Green. It is one of the oldest named streets in Dundalk and was near to the site of the 'Blind Gate' of the walled town. It is named after an old hall where the local Presbyterian congregation had their first meeting place in Dundalk town, established in about 1700. Some old maps refer to the present Linenhall Street by this name. Where was Laurence Place? This was a small cul-de-sac off Bridge Street, opposite the top of the Castletown Road which was demolished after World War Two. There were about a dozen small houses along it, built about the beginning of the nineteenth century. It seems to have been originally known as 'Lawrence Row', which may have been the name of a builder. What was 'The Great Escape' from Dundalk Jail? This was the escape of Adjutant General Frank Aiken and over 100 republican members of the 4th Northern Division of the I.R.A. who opposed The Treaty, in the early hours of the morning of July 27, 1922. These men had been among the party that had first occupied Dundalk Military Barracks when the Britiah Army left in April 1922 but had been been arrested in the Barracks by Free State troops after the start of the Civil War in late June. The escape was organised by John McCoy, from Mullaghbawn, second in command to Aiken, who had avoided being captured. The escape was made through a four foot hole blown in the wall along the Ardee Road, while Aiken and his men were allowed to be in the exercise yard. Questions for next week (about old Dundalk hotels) :-- Where was 'Bullock's Hotel' and what was unusual about it? Where was 'Arthur's Hotel' established in 1773? Where was 'Sibthorpe's Hotel' and why was it historically famous? Where was 'London's Hotel'? A 51-year-old man has been charged with firearms offences after being arrested by detectives investigating a security alert that led to an Irish Government minister being evacuated from a peace event. He is charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition in suspicious circumstances, possession of a prohibited firearm, possession of a handgun without a certificate, and possession of ammunition without a certificate. He is due to appear before Belfast Magistrates Court on Monday. Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney had to leave the peace event, organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation, in north Belfast on March 25. The Houben Centre in the Crumlin Road was evacuated and a funeral service at nearby Holy Cross Church was also disrupted. Police said the driver of a van was threatened by two gunmen and forced to drive a device, which he believed to be a live bomb, to the church. The item in the van turned out to be a hoax bomb. The man who has been charged is one of two arrested by police on Wednesday. Two firearms were also seized after operations in the Shankill area of Belfast and in Ballymena, Co Antrim. The other man, well-known loyalist Winston Irvine, appeared in court on Saturday charged with firearm offences. AN INTERNATIONALLY renowned mother and baby home survivor and advocate has added her voice to those calling for a full investigation into a former home institution in Cork. Philomena Lee, whose life was the subject of the 2013 Oscar-nominated film Philomena, has called for a full, independent investigation into the former mother and baby home at Bessborough. Between 1922 and 1998, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, ran Bessborough as a mother and baby home, and during that time 9,768 mothers and 8,938 babies were admitted. In that time, 923 children died at the home or after being transferred from the home, according to the final report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation. Burial records exist for only 64 children who died in the care of the Bessborough home, meaning that the remains of 859 children are missing. In recent months, members of the Bessborough Support Group have called for a full investigation into deaths and burials associated with the former institution. Philomena Lee adds voice to calls for investigation Philomena Lee, who is now 89 and is living in England, has added her voice to those calls. Ms Lee was sent to the Sean Ross Abbey Mother and Baby Home in Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, when she became pregnant aged 18, and when her son was aged three, he was sent for adoption by a US couple. Commemorating Women and Children of Bessboro will take place at 2pm on Sunday at the Bessborough Centre. Picture: Denis Scannell Ms Lees life was the subject of Martin Sixsmiths 2009 book, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, and a 2013 Stephen Frears film, Philomena, which starred Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, and which was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actress. Speaking to The Echo, Ms Lee said she believed no development of the Bessborough site should occur, without a full forensic examination of the grounds of the former home. I fully support the Bessborough Support Group in asking for a full independent investigation into the deaths and burials of 923 children, of which 859 are unaccounted for according to the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation, Ms Lee said. This should be done before any developments are considered, Ms Lee added. Commemoration Carmel Cantwell, whose brother William was born at the home in 1960, and who died at St Finbarrs Hospital six weeks later, is a member of the Bessborough Support Group, and she welcomed Ms Lees support. Ms Cantwell told The Echo that the group wanted a thorough, independent investigation, to establish whether or not a mass burial site exists on the grounds at Bessborough. We do know from witnesses that some children were buried on the grounds in different locations, Ms Cantwell said. Those witness accounts are at odds with a report, commissioned by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and published in February, which suggested there was only one burial site on the grounds of the home. That report, by archaeological contractors Eachtra Heritage, cited research by the Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance, which had uncovered a 1949/1950 Ordnance Survey trace map, showing an area north of the nuns graveyard, marked childrens burial ground, but said burial patterns in the nuns graveyard suggested children may have been buried there. We conclude by favouring the hypothesis that [there] was only ever one burial ground in Bessborough, and that it contains both children and nuns, the report said. Ms Cantwell said an annual commemoration for the women and children of Bessborough, held since 2014, had helped survivors to find their voices and to tell their stories, while asking questions about how their children died and where they were buried. The folly beside the nuns graveyard became the unofficial headstone for all the children that died, and we visited and placed flowers there, but the truth must be established if we are to respectfully honour the women and children of Bessborough in any meaningful way, Ms Cantwell said. Anything less would be a travesty. Commemorating Women and Children of Bessboro will take place at 2pm on Sunday at the Bessborough Centre. A man who was stripped to the waist and acting aggressively in Cork city told gardai: Arrest me, youd be doing me a favour. Now at Cork District Court, 28-year-old William Condon has been jailed for two months for his outburst. Defence solicitor Pat Horan asked Judge Olann Kelleher to note the comment that the young man made to gardai on Anderson Street on the day of the incident. He was going through a tough time. He found liberty difficult. But he has gotten back on track and is keen to get back into St. Vincents hostel where he was residing. Condon will also have to appear at Cork Circuit Criminal Court in a fortnight for the possible revocation of the suspension on a one-year sentence. The public order incident on February 28 triggers the re-entry of that matter at the circuit court. In the circuit court, a three-year jail sentence was imposed with the last year suspended for an attack on a 51-year-old woman. Garda Ian Tanner said the injured party had received a text to bring cigarettes to the house on the night where Condon and others were drinking. She brought a packet of cigarettes to the house and sat down for a few minutes chatting to Condon and three other people who were there. He assaulted this woman simply because she had said that the violence depicted in a YouTube video was unwarranted and should not be encouraged. In Cork District Court, Sergeant John Kelleher said the accused was holding a Centra plastic bag in his hand when gardai encountered him. He threw it down on the ground at the feet of the gardai. Condon had 99 previous convictions including 10 for being drunk and a danger and eight for engaging in threatening behaviour. Now that Australia has reopened its borders, students, who have been eagerly waiting to be back on their campuses, can return for their studies, and aspirants who have been wanting to apply for admissions can now apply without any further delays. According to Australian government statistics, as of late May 2022, 300,000 student visa holders had returned to the Land Down Under, with over a quarter hailing from India alone. Australia endears people from across the globe with its magnificent golden beaches, stunning rainforests and wildlife. It is one of the world's most highly urbanised nations and is the third most popular destination for international students in the English-speaking world, offering wide cultural diversity, a relaxed lifestyle and high-quality education. There are 38 Australian universities featured in the recently-released QS World University Rankings 2022, with the University of Melbourne, UNSW, University of Sydney, University of Queensland and Australian National University ranking amongst the top 50 global universities. Australian universities are strong in research, excelling in areas such as STEM, business and medicine. As well, Australia has a strong Vocational Education and Training sector, known as VET. Both public and private vocational providers are popular with Indian students who seek shorter academic programmes, such as certificates, diplomas and advanced diplomas, that lead to defined career outcomes in high-demand employment areas. Half of all Indian students are enrolled in the VET sector. In 2022, the Australian government relaxed work restrictions. International students can now work full time whilst they study, and they have the opportunity to stay once they have graduated, taking advantage of generous post-study work visa options. The Professional Year Program (PYP) allows graduates of accounting, information technology and engineering degrees to gain experience and mentoring in an Australian workplace and ultimately helps them in gaining permanent residency. Prior to the pandemic, there were over 150,000 Indian students studying in Australia. Enrollments from India will surpass 100,000 in the middle of this year, demonstrating the popularity of Australia as a study destination in this post-COVID world. The most popular courses amongst Indian students are law, business, information technology, engineering, science and hospitality. Indian students find it easy to transfer to the Australian education system due to the similarity in both countries 10+2+3 education structures. Students can choose from a wide variety of Australian universities and education institutions to suit their specific needs and goals. During the catastrophic COVID-19 times that caused havoc on the student community worldwide, the Australian government was swift to announce a slew of support measures to provide critical safety-net services to students. Several announcements were made, including the recommencing of student visa issuance and relaxing the eligibility requirements for a replacement post-study work visa (Temporary Graduate visa subclass 485). The government increased the length of stay on the Temporary Graduate visa from two to three years for a masters degree by coursework graduates, matching that of masters degrees by research graduates. Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector graduates will also receive a two-year Temporary Graduate visa. Demonstrating English-language proficiency to the Australian Department of Home Affairs is a prerequisite for Indian students applying for an Australian visa. ETS TOEFL looks to support the Association of Australian Education Representatives in India (AAERI) to reduce the current students visa processing times by assisting them to verify TOEFL scores before visa lodgments. In these difficult times, Australian institutes are offering additional time to applicants to furnish English-language results like the TOEFL iBT test which is a key requirement to gain admission. The TOEFL iBT test is accepted by 100% of Australian universities and for all Australian temporary and permanent immigration visas including post-study, business and skilled migration. The TOEFL iBT test measures students ability to confidently express themselves in English skills theyll need to succeed in an academic university environment. The TOEFL iBT test is globally regarded as a gold standard English-language assessment and is known for its accuracy and fairness in measuring academic English communication skills. The test can help students to stand out with confidence, both during the application process and throughout their education journey. In addition, the test is available in multiple formats. TOEFL iBT can be taken on a computer in a test centre or from home via TOEFL iBT Home Edition. In addition, test takers can opt for TOEFL iBT Paper Edition, in which the Reading, Listening and Writing sections are taken on paper at a test centre, followed by the Speaking section by computer from the comfort of home. These options put test takers in the drivers seat to choose which option is best for them based on the requirements set by their desired destination or institution for study, immigration and so on. While the pandemic did create unprecedented situations, the determination of Indian students to attain higher education has remained undeterred. The fine blend of high educational standards, linguistic diversity, friendly government provisions, work opportunities and support offered to students make Australia a high-quality destination for Indians. By choosing the TOEFL iBT test, students are showing Australian universities that they possess the English-language skills one needs for their degree and beyond. For more information, visit https://www.ets.org/s/toefl/destinations/au/. (The writer Lejo Sam Oommen is the Managing Director of ETS India, a subsidiary of ETS based in Princeton, NJ, USA.) Antibiotic resistance is a major concern among experts due to its increasing prevalence in our health systems. Fifteen years ago, the Danish company Novozymes discovered that Plectasin, a protein from the mushroom Pseudoplectania nigrella, showed antibiotic properties against multiresistant bacteria. And since then, extensive research followed. It all started when the team was studying the structure of the wildtype Plectasin and three other variants with different amino acids mutated. We wanted to see how stable they were and how they behave in solution, explains Pernille Harris, professor at the University of Copenhagen (at the Technical University of Denmark) and corresponding author of the paper. They found that the ones with changed amino acids showed very different stability in solution. In one of the variants of Plectasin, they noticed a different behaviour: We found that the protein formed a gel at neutral and basic pH and wanted to find out how, as it could be important in future applications, explains Christin Pohl, now a postdoctoral researcher at Lund University, who was first and co-corresponding author of the paper. When the scientists noticed the gel, they decided to characterise it using AFM and NMR and found out that the protein developed chain-like fibrils. Then they raised the question of whether these were amyloid fibrils, which are present in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers disease, or not. The difference between amyloid and non-amyloid fibrils is that in the first type the protein changes its structure to a distinct -sheet structure, which makes it difficult to reverse this kind of fibril formation, whilst non-amyloid fibrils can be formed by the peptide in its native state. But it wasnt enough. And with samples that didnt crystallise, they turned to cryo-EM. Ive been a long-term user of the ESRFs Small-Angle X-ray Scattering and Macromolecular crystallography beamlines and I know the quality of the service we get here. So we asked Christoph Muller-Dieckmann for help as we are cryo-EM novices, you could say, explains Harris. The first contact led to a fruitful collaboration with Muller-Dieckman, Isai Kandiah and the rest of the cryo-EM team at the ESRF. For image analysis Greg Effantin and Guy Schoen from the IBS were involved in this collaboration. Both teams guided us really well and we managed to solve the structure, which couldnt have been possible ten years ago, adds Pohl. The structure showed that the fibrils are most likely inert but plectasin keeps the antibiotic effect upon release from the fibrils. The scientists believe that they could potentially be used as a slow-release mechanism of the antibiotic property. Sustained release is often facilitated by a release from the surface of a solid particle such as a crystal. The challenge is that the release is proportional to the surface area of the particles which is ever declining as the crystals becomes smaller resulting in a lower and lower release of the active component after dosing. In contrast to most other solid particles release from a fibril can only happen from the fibril ends and the drug (here plectasin) will be released at a constant velocity facilitating a fully controlled antibiotic concentration throughout the treatment. An additional advantage is the pH tunability of the plectasin fibrils which gives the system an additional controllable parameter for release of the active peptide. Cryo-EM is a new and very efficient way to get an atomic structure of one-dimensional structures like fibrils and many fibril structures are already published in the literature, which revolutionises the knowledge we have of proteins and peptides in fibrils. This research was supported by the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no. 675074) in the project PIPPI (Protein-excipient Interactions and Protein-Protein Interactions in formulation). Reference: Pohl, C., Effantin, G., Kandiah, E. et al. pH- and concentration-dependent supramolecular assembly of a fungal defensin plectasin variant into helical non-amyloid fibrils. Nat Commun 13, 3162 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30462-w Text by Montserrat Capellas Espuny Marine organisms are experts in engineering. After decades of research on them, a team from Technion Israel Institute of Technology has discovered the mechanisms the creatures use to create extremely tough structures through biomineralisation. For decades, scientists have searched inspiration in nature for the development of new materials or the improvement of existing ones. Oceans and its inhabitants can teach us a lot about innovative, super strong structures. A team from Technion- Israel Institute of Technology, together with scientists from different beamlines at the ESRF, has found how different organisms, namely algae, corals, sea urchins, starfish or brittle stars, can create a super hard skeleton through the process of biomineralisation. The collaboration with the ESRF led the team to carry out experiments using different techniques, such as X-ray powder diffraction and micro- and nanotomography (beamlines ID22, ID19 and ID16B, respectively) to investigate the specimens at different length scales. The way they do this is by depositing calcite particles in magnesium-poor substances to create compression in the organisms skeletons that increase their rigidity. Each organism studied has a slightly different strategy to reach toughness. Lessons from the brittle star The brittle star Ophiomastix wendtii, which lives in coral reefs, has hundreds of super resistant focal lenses made of chalk on its arms. How does this creature make brittle material durable under natural conditions? Thanks to the experiments at the ESRF, the researchers discovered that the crucial stage in the process of lens formation is the transition from the amorphous phase the phase between liquid and solid to the crystalline phase. At this stage, calcite nanoparticles, which are rich in magnesium and characterised by a relatively low density, separate from the rest of the material. The difference in concentration of magnesium in the calcite particles causes various degrees of hardness, density, and pressure in different regions of the material. Magnesium-rich particles compress the inner part of the lens as it crystallizes and temper it into a clear and tough crystalline material. Boaz Pokroy, professor at the Technion and leading scientist, explains: Nature exhibits tremendous creativity in improving the organisms abilities in various contexts such as strength, sensing, and self-defense. Here, too, in the process of creating hardy and precise transparent lenses, we see tremendous efficiency in the use of existing raw materials under conditions in the natural environment. Brittle starts could hence open the door to new engineering processes for tempered glass, optical lenses or even biomaterial implants. An algas special resistant shape The effect of magnesium also had a big impact in another marine organism: the alga Jania sp. Research done by Pokroy and his team on ID16B, ID19 and ID22, showed that the alga has a structure of 64% porosity and it develops a helix shape that makes it 20% more compliant to resist the bending forces the sea currents inflict on it. These findings are of great importance in deepening the understanding of natures designs, and it is potentially relevant for the development of new low-weight, high-compliance structures, adds Pokroy. One example that could benefit from this research is concrete. This material is very brittle and does not stand bending forces, and so today manufacturers add steel into it. If it could adopt a helical open-cells structure, it could bring down the weight and make it more flexible and resistant. References: Nuphar Bianco-Stein, et al. PNAS, 119(16) e2120177119, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2120177119 Polischuk, I. et al, Science 08 Dec 2017: Vol. 358, Issue 6368, pp. 1294-1298. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaj2156 Bianco-Stein N, et al, Advanced Science, 21 April 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202000108 Text by Montserrat Capellas Espuny. Video by Mark McGee and Montserrat Capellas Espuny. KIN MAN HUI/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS A man who appeared to be homeless died for unknown reasons Saturday afternoon near Piazza Italia Park, according to the San Antonio Police Department. About 1:45 p.m. a park police officer was flagged down for a possible sick or injured person next to what used to be called Columbus Park in downtown. San Antonio police arrested a 35-year-old man after a vehicle was set afire and exploded as it neared San Antonio International Airport. Police responded to a call around 11 p.m. Saturday that a rental vehicle was set on fire at a gas station near the airport, according to a SAPD news release. The suspect drove the car toward the airport terminals and when the vehicle became fully engulfed near Dee Howard Way, the suspect got out of the vehicle and fled, police said. "The vehicle exploded as if it contained ammunition," police said. The San Antonio Fire Department put out the fire. With the help of surveillance video, the suspect was apprehended by Airport Police outside of Terminal B. One resident says she wound up in the hospital after getting sick from mold in her apartment. Two others, a couple, say that during unannounced shutoffs, theyve had to buy water at the store to take sponge baths. Others have had to gather water from the pool to flush their toilets. The tenants at Vista del Rey, an apartment complex in Leon Valley riddled with code violations, say they have seen enough, and theyve formed a union that is demanding management set things right. Last month, resident John Showecker pleaded with City Council to make Austin-based Shippy Properties shape up. Youre wanting to have a soft hand and not come down on them, but theres a point at which you have to actually enforce laws, he said at a council meeting May 3, and theres a point where you actually have to be held accountable. With the help of the Tenants Union of San Antonio, residents wrote a petition with 20 demands and gathered the signatures of 164 renters at the complex at 5622 Evers Road, home to roughly 400 people. They delivered it to apartment management May 28, and it reached Shippy Properties corporate office June 1. Vista Del Rey management and Shippy Properties have not provided basic or adequate living conditions and have been in violation of Leon Valley code, said resident Denise Garcia, reading from the petition at a recent tenants rally. Tenants say they are also concerned about crimes in the complex. Shippy Properties operates 16 apartment complexes in the Austin and San Antonio areas, 12 of them here. After a string of acquisitions, the company owns more than 8,300 units valued at over $1 billion, according to its website. Since 2019, Vista Del Rey has had three owners. Shippy Properties purchased the 54-building complex in April 2021. Out-of-town real estate investors are flooding into the San Antonio area to snap up apartment complexes. Theyre attracted by San Antonios strong population growth, its stable economy and a tight housing market where its increasingly difficult for would-be buyers to land their dream home. Hundreds of millions of dollars in apartment acquisitions have been announced in the last year. Leon Valley Assistant Fire Chief Eric Burnside said Vista Del Rey has not been in compliance with the citys fire code for the last five years partly because it has passed from one owner to the next, making it difficult for inspectors to whip it into shape. Fire code officials conducted five inspections at Vista Del Rey last June. They found numerous violations, including missing fire extinguishers in several buildings, a fire sprinkler system in one building that was out of compliance, boiler rooms deemed fire hazards, several water leaks coming from the boiler rooms, damaged fencing and mailboxes that had been broken into, Burnside said. Burnside gave his report on the inspections March 15 at City Council. The tenant unions petition also accuses Shippy Properties of not maintaining fixtures and heating and air-conditioning equipment and not making a good faith effort to substantially comply with all applicable laws regarding safety, sanitation and fair housing or make all reasonable repairs. In an email to the San Antonio Express-News, Roberto Bernal, Shippy Properties vice president of asset management and acquisitions, said the company is addressing residents concerns with urgency and in a timely manner. We will continue to communicate regularly with all residents to provide great customer service and a good community for all residents to live, Bernal said. Water outages Ricardo Gonzalez said he and his wife, Christina Buss, had to buy water at the store to take sponge baths when the complex shut off the water for two weeks. In the past ... weve had to go to the truck stop to take showers, Gonzalez said. Resident Lawrence Lerma said neighbors have had to use water from the apartment complex swimming pool to flush their toilets. Buss said the reason apartment management has given her is that work is being done on the pipes or the boilers. She said residents arent warned before the water is cut off. The problems for Buss and Gonzalez didnt end there. On May 1, water came through their bathroom ceiling, caused by a leak upstairs. Half of the bathroom ceiling came down and fell on me, Buss said. Because the ceiling partially collapsed on a Sunday, Buss said, she and Gonzalez called the apartment offices emergency number. The couple got no response, so they called the Leon Valley Fire Department, which came and shut off the water. After they finally reached the apartment manager, Buss said, a maintenance person came by to fix the water leak, clean a mattress that had gotten soaked, and fix the ceiling in the bathroom. The leak wasnt new. Buss, who has lived at Vista Del Rey for four years, said she had complained about the leak to management for years to no avail. In their petition, Vista Del Rey residents request the reduction of water bills by 6 percent for every day they dont have service and if theres none for over 15 days in a month, they say they shouldnt have to pay at all. Mold Several Vista Del Rey residents took their grievances to City Council on May 3. Angelica Scott said she got sick from mold in her apartment, which forced her to go to the hospital. My immune system was compromised, Scott told council members. They dont want to fix it. I can die from it, and they dont care. Greg Mackey, who also complained of mold, said the complex has deteriorated since he moved there four years ago. When I moved there, it was a nice area the gates worked, Mackey said. Several residents say maintenance staff doesnt respond to their repair requests in a timely manner and that some problems are never addressed. Theyre demanding that their requests get a response within 24 hours and that problems get fixed within 72 hours. Tenants also want mailboxes damaged by vandals repaired and the area where they are located secured with a locked gate and security cameras. Those mailboxes were damaged before Shippy Properties bought the complex. Some residents say theyve had to purchase post office boxes to get their mail. On March 15, Bernal, of Shippy Properties, told City Council that the company has ordered new mailboxes and that they were expected to arrive within several weeks. He blamed the delay on shipping and manufacturing problems. At the meeting, when Councilman Benny Martinez suggested the complex install cameras to catch those who would break into mailboxes, Bernal said cameras at other Shippy Properties were not effectivebecause the video images were fuzzy. Crime Residents who spoke to City Council on May 3 expressed concerns about their safety at the complex, especially at night. In January and February, Leon Valley police say, they answered 21 emergency calls at the complex, including assaults and shootings. One of the calls on Feb. 21 was for the fatal shooting of a man by an Uber driver who later confessed and said he was trying to break up a fight. I dont feel safe walking at night, and Im just asking for help, resident Garcia said. However, Leon Valley police have stepped up patrols through the complex. David Kjoller, whos lived at Vista Del Rey for years, said he has noticed a considerable increase in law enforcement presence. The frequency of police coming is astounding, Kjoller said. Tenants are asking Shippy Properties to build an entry gate at Vista Del Rey, have on-site security from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and provide adequate lighting in common areas, walkways and entrances to apartments. Bernal said in March that the company had hired a security service to double the number of patrols on the premises, focusing on after-business hours. He said putting up an entry gate wasnt financially feasible for Shippy Properties. City, Shippy response At the May 3 council meeting, tenant Mackey said he was tired of having his calls to management go unanswered. Something needs to be done, Mackey said. If one calls the corporate office, they have it where it goes directly to voicemail and you never hear back. Myself, Im tired of lip service because thats all weve been getting. Bernal said in March that Shippy Properties had addressed the vast majority of problems cited by Leon Valley officials in the inspections conducted last year, which he said were at the companys request. In addition, Bernal said, the owner had spent $1 million on safety improvements at the complex, including exterior lighting, fire safety items, fencing, fixing electrical hazards and water leaks, and replacing expired fire extinguishers. In May, fire officials completed a walk-through inspection with apartment management and its maintenance personnel. Burnside, the assistant fire chief, said he discussed the previous code violations, the apartment managements efforts to address them and recent complaints. It appears that the apartment complex management team has been making attempts to correct the items listed on previous inspection reports, Burnside said. City Manager Crystal Caldera said the city has conducted some fire and building code inspections on a few of Vista Del Reys 54 buildings. She said the complex has applied for new certificates of occupancy. She said it could take several weeks to complete the necessary inspections because of the number of buildings at the complex. Once all buildings pass inspection, each will be issued a certificate of occupancy, Caldera said. We are in the process of working together to rectify their violations, she said. Caldera wouldnt comment further on questions submitted by the Express-News regarding the complexs certificates of occupancy. Tenants union Schuyler Stallcup, an organizer with Tenants Union of San Antonio, said the Vista Del Rey Tenants Union might be the first apartment-wide union formed in Bexar County. He said the union will give renters a way to pressure Shippy Properties to address their concerns and build a sense of community at the complex. On a broader, citywide level, its really significant because it provides a model ... for tenants across the city, Stallcup said. The Tenants Union of San Antonio was formed in 2018. Stallcup said it stemmed from tenants struggles with rising rents, unaddressed maintenance problems, evictions and harassment by landlords. Its part a growing movement of tenant organizing across the country, fueled largely by higher rents and deteriorating living conditions at many apartment complexes since the Great Recession about 15 years ago. Organizing tenants at Vista Del Rey, which started in March, hasnt been difficult. Because of the enthusiasm and energy of the tenants, its allowed the campaign to proceed rapidly, Stallcup said. In spring 2021, tenants at a Houston apartment complex that had no water for three weeks after Winter Storm Uri carried out a rent strike, according to Houston Public Media. They refused to pay rent for 71 days until the owner agreed to their demands. Resident Garcia said the Vista Del Rey Tenants Union isnt planning a rent strike. Its trying another tactic. In a Facebook post, the Tenants Union of San Antonio is encouraging Vista Del Rey renters to flood management phone lines with demands that the company address the 20 demands in the apartment complex unions petition. ddekunder@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate We begin with those green Converse high-tops. The ones with the heart drawn over the right big toe. Green was 10-year-old Maite Yuleana Rodriguezs favorite color. So fitting for a girl who loved the environment and dreamed of becoming a marine biologist, one day attending Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Green Converse for a child to walk lifes path. Green Converse to identify Maites pulverized body after she was murdered at Robb Elementary School on May 24. One of 19 children and two teachers who should still be alive. One of 19 children and two teachers who should still be dreaming. Those green Converse shoes will forever haunt us. So will a Uvalde pediatricians description of pulverized and decapitated bodies. So will the words from a child who spread blood on her body and played dead to stay alive. We are nearly three weeks removed from the second-deadliest school shooting in the United States, and its painfully clear there will be no major gun safety reforms. Instead, federal lawmakers are considering narrow legislation as state officials beat the drums of mental health and fortifying schools. The gun, for many an embodiment of American freedom. The fortified school, under threat from someone with a gun. We wonder, do free societies have to resort to arming teachers and fortifying schools? In a truly free society, would parents be purchasing bulletproof backpacks? We want our schools to be safe, and we welcome serious policies that achieve this. But arming teachers and hardening schools are accommodations for gun violence, not solutions to prevent gun violence. They are reactive ideas, not proactive policies. At their core, they accept mass shootings as inevitable. Talk of hardening schools rings painfully hollow in a state and a nation that have refused modest gun safety measures, even though firearms were the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in 2020. Lets return to Robb Elementary School and the children. At a congressional House panel Wednesday, Miah Cerrillo, 11, described how she hid behind her teachers desk and backpacks. He shot my teacher and told my teacher good night, and shot her in the head and then he shot some of my classmates and then the whiteboard, she said. He shot my friend that was next to me and I thought he was going to come back to the room, so I grabbed the blood and put it all over me. Miah said she believed it would happen again. Her father, Miguel Cerrillo, pleaded for change: I thank yall for letting me be here and speak out, but I wish something will change, not only for our kids but every single kid in the world. Because schools are not safe anymore. Something needs to really change. Change. Real change. We have heard a plea for this again and again. We heard it from Dr. Roy Guerrero, Uvaldes only pediatrician, who testified about two children whose bodies had been pulverized by bullets fired at them, decapitated, whose flesh had been ripped apart, that the only clue as to their identities was the blood-spattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them. He pleaded for change: My oath as a doctor means that I signed up to save lives. I do my job. I guess it turns out that I am here to plead. To beg. To please, please do yours. We heard it three days after the shooting. Standing at a makeshift memorial at Uvaldes Town Square, we met Mercedes Salas, a fourth grade Robb Elementary teacher. Theyre my babies! she wailed. She asked how an 18-year-old kid was able to purchase assault rifles. Again, it is the access to the gun, not the school. Inherent in our preparation for future mass shootings, coupled with our refusal to address root causes of gun violence and easy access to firearms, is an expectation of continued slaughter. In hardening schools, the hope as if we can really call it that is that future carnage will be less horrifying. This morally flawed outlook accepts carnage while also ignoring the trauma that will haunt survivors. A child covered in her friends blood. A father yearning for change unlikely to come. On ExpressNews.com: Editorial: With all his power, Abbott does nothing on gun safety Our states response to previous mass shootings has been rooted in unyielding partisan politics, and Uvalde has proven no different. At a news conference the day after the mass shooting, Gov. Greg Abbott stressed the need for mental health resources, another failure in our state. He also went on the defensive, noting school safety legislation passed after the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting in which 10 people were killed, calling the 2019 legislative session one of the most profound legislative sessions not just in Texas, but weve seen in any state, in addressing school shootings. Abbotts self-praise is too generous. He ignored proposals in his 2018 School and Firearm Safety Action Plan for a red flag law and a requirement to report the loss or theft of guns. Also ignored were all gun safety bills during the 2021 legislative session, including some that would have established universal background checks or raised the age to purchase an assault weapon. Instead, we get a familiar playbook: Lock down schools, arm teachers. Add metal detectors and provide more trained law enforcement officers with bulletproof shields. On ExpressNews.com: DHS warns of heightened threat from domestic extremists who praise Uvalde shooting Arming teachers is a burden few educators and districts want. Since Texas launched the school marshal program in 2013, 84 out of more than 1,200 school districts have opted to arm staff. There are only 256 school employees licensed as school marshals. Since the Uvalde school massacre, 30 employees from nine districts have signed up for the state grant-funded 80-hour training this summer, according to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. State lawmakers dont trust educators with teaching history, but they do trust them with guns on campus. Yet while teachers must go through extensive training to carry weapons, thats not the case for the general public. It wasnt the case for the killer in Uvalde, who so easily purchased his guns. We doubt a school marshal would have saved the students and teachers at Robb Elementary look at how overwhelmed police were in their response. A school marshals handgun would be no match for a gunman with an assault rifle and an abundance of ammunition. Its absurd this idea of arming teachers passes as a meaningful response while gun safety reforms are somehow untouchable. If teachers really need guns at school, maybe we should do something about the guns being brought to campuses. About those campuses. Kathy Martinez-Prather, director of the Texas School Safety Center at Texas State University, which provides safety guidance for schools, told us a prior review of the Uvalde ISDs self-reported data found the district to be in compliance. But, she added, plans are only as effective as they are implemented. Schools have been reaching out for help, but Martinez-Prather thinks this is likely temporary. That in a short time, the shock will fade. Everyones attention is on this issue right now, but things will go back to normal and convenience will take over, she said. This cant be so. Also troubling is how most schools dont have adequate plans. The centers 2017-20 audit of 1,022 Texas school districts found that only 200 had viable active-shooter policies, which have been required since 2005. Martinez-Prather said she considers the 2020 audit a baseline because the plan submission wasnt a lawful requirement until 2019. And Martinez-Prather emphasized the importance of recognizing warning signs for potential violence. We have to make sure that everybody is trained and understands who to report concerning behaviors to, how to engage in the threat assessment process really ensuring that theres interventions in place for students who may be on a pathway to violence. All of this is critical: safety plans, threat recognition, enhanced counseling in schools. But we cant ignore the guns used to murder kids and teachers, and so many others. During a Tuesday White House press briefing, actor Matthew McConaughey, a Uvalde native whose mom was a kindergarten teacher less than a mile from Robb Elementary, invoked the dreams and memories of the children and teachers we have lost. Alithia Ramirez, 10, who dreamed of going to art school in Paris. Ellie Garcia, murdered just days before turning 10, who loved to give hugs and was learning to love God no matter where. Irma Garcia, a teacher who planned on opening a food truck with her husband, Joe, who died of a heart attack after her murder. And Maite, who loved this Earth and whose parents refused to release balloons at her funeral because of her aversion to litter. Her green Converse high-tops with a hand-drawn heart on the right toe to represent her love of nature turned out to be the only clear evidence used to identify her body at the shooting, McConaughey said. Their lives mattered. In the name of safety, we will turn our schools into fortresses, knowing they may well become war zones. But how can schools be safe if Republican lawmakers refuse to address the guns used to murder our children and teachers? In the long shadow of Uvalde, we cry never again even as we ask schools and police to plan for this to happen again and again. Re: Want to carry weapons? Do it like the military, Editorial, June 3: This editorial was a great reminder that weapons are dangerous and professionals go to great lengths to ensure their proper usage by young soldiers. Most gun-owning families similarly instill respect and safe usage in their children, though some dont. Unfortunately, the editorial only focused on soldiers and the restrictions for those living in the barracks. I spent 30 years in the U.S. Army and never had to sign a form, take training or get permission to keep my personal weapons in my family quarters, but my daughter learned how to respect and safely handle weapons. I support improved firearm regulations and training, but those do not stop, by themselves, Uvalde-type tragedies. In Switzerland all people in their army reserves store their military semi-automatic and automatic weapons in their homes. They do not have mass shootings. Lets not constrain our focus to one factor; lets also look at the broader societal and cultural problems young men in America face and how we help mitigate those societal deficiencies in the very few troubled youths who commit these atrocities. Retired Col. Tod Wilson Not one more death I am all for gun rights. I believe in the Second Amendment, but as with all rights, there must be a limit. We have reached that limit. Twenty-one lives in Uvalde are too many. I am a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association.We must decide, how many lives are we willing to sacrifice upon the altar of an absolute right to own a gun? I say not one more! Let us be reasonable about this. No, I do not want to take away anyones guns or give up mine. We must take reasonable steps to limit the access to guns. No one younger than 21 if it were up to me, Id say 25 should be able to own a gun. Being young is difficult, now more than ever. If you cannot drink or smoke, then how can we grant you a right to own a gun? We cannot continue to look away. Reading about those children and seeing their faces was just too much for me. We all have children, loved ones and everyone else around us. Its time we really start to care for one another. Baldomero Garza, Katy Pass reform or else U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said law-abiding gun owners will not be impacted at all if Congress reaches an agreement in the wake of last months mass shooting at the Uvalde elementary school. Problem is, the criminal who killed our children was not a criminal at the time of the purchase. There are plenty of people who are emboldened by purchasing a gun and then become criminals. The politicians who serve at our pleasure, even while sitting at the feet of the National Rifle Association, must pass solid reform, or they will have served their last term. Ruben Zamora Doing their jobs Re: Journalists under threat in Uvalde, Another View, Wednesday: Thank you to the Express-News for shining the light on the inappropriate treatment of journalists by authorities in Uvalde and to guest columnist Michael Drudge for clearly articulating the code of ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists that true journalists operate by when covering heartbreaking news like this. The journalists are doing their professional duty, protecting the publics right to know the details of what did and did not happen in that most horrible crime that unfolded in Uvalde. Journalists are also practicing under the protection of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As a journalist, I find it stunning that so many of those who vehemently defend the Second Amendment seem to have no problem throwing out the First Amendment, which explicitly protects the right of the press to do its job. Jeff Cowart, vice president, San Antonio Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Not the role of bikers Re: Police stonewalling Uvalde media a bad look, Metro, Tuesday: In the debate over Second Amendment rights after the massacre in Uvalde, it seems First Amendment rights have been largely ignored. As Tuesdays Express-News documents, the public and the press are being intimidated. Metro columnist Elaine Ayala discusses the presence of bikers, invited or otherwise, acting as security. Im reminded of 1969 in Altamont, Calif. Hells Angels were hired to provide security at a free concert in exchange for beer. When things got out of hand, a Hells Angel stabbed a concertgoer to death. I understand Uvalde is not a rock concert, and beer and drugs are not in the mix. This is a delicate situation in which the rights of a free press must coexist with a respect for the grief of the people there. As Ayala notes, the main role of bikers in a situation like this is intimidation. Theyre not trained in the delicate job of crowd control, and they should not be playing that role. Ed Farmer Over twenty farm projects have secured Defra funding worth 8 million, including advanced aeroponic systems and field-tested harvesting robots. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has announced the winners of a combined 8 million in funding, as part of Defras Farming Innovation Programme. The competition, which ran from October to December 2021, was created to back new and innovative solutions, aid research and collaboration, and encourage collaboration across the farming industry. It sought applications of up to 500,000 to support the investigation of early-stage solutions that have the potential to support the industry's path to net zero. Projects were required to demonstrate the benefits the concept would generate, as well as how collaboration between farmers, businesses and researchers could be enhanced as a result. Over 20 projects were successful in their applications for a range of ideas across agriculture, pest and disease detection and novel technology concepts. Successful technology-led projects included Lettus Grows advanced aeroponic systems and Muddy Machines field-tested harvesting robots. Meanwhile, agri-technology firm Yagro aims to utilise drone surveys to provide greater commercial data and intelligence to farmers. And Eyre Trailers, Earth Rover and Performance Projects all developed new concepts for harvesting, from combine harvester vehicles themselves, to broccoli and soft fruit. Katrina Hayter, challenge director for the challenge, said: "The breadth of areas covered by the successful projects clearly demonstrate just how many issues there are to tackle when it comes to innovating the UKs food sector. "What these projects have shown is not simply a standalone solution, but a concept that forms part of a wider picture of improving the overall sustainability and productivity in farming. "Once again collaboration has been key, with new technology combining with research and in-the-field expertise to help drive these concepts forward." Who are some of the winners? Over 20 projects were successful in their applications, for a range of ideas, including: Project High Speed Header (HSH): next generation combines, 394,693 (Eyre Trailers Ltd) Project HSH develops a novel tractor mounted combine harvesting implement. This simple innovation significantly reduces harvester mass enabling a flexible tractor mounted system. It is an ambitious and transformational idea with reduced financial cost and environmental impact. HSH is delivered by Eyre Trailers, agricultural engineers and HSH inventors, in collaboration with the Lincoln Institute of Agri Food Technology. Robotic Courgette Harvester, 251,647 (Muddy Machines Ltd) This project is an important step on Muddy Machines (MM) journey to develop a completely novel class of agricultural machine that can reliably replace manual labour to address the needs of UK growers. MM already has built and successfully field-tested an autonomous asparagus harvest robot whose platform can be used in this project. Grain lab on a robot, 366,074 (Crover Ltd) The scope of this feasibility study is to develop a novel non-contact sensor for non-contact grain analysis, able to detect specific molecular compounds within a radius of up to a few tens of centimetres. This is based on a novel miniaturised sensing technology, will be integrated onto the ever-improving CROVER robot, the worlds first underground drone. This fluently swims in grain bulks and is at the core of the CROVER autonomous Grain Storage Management system. Program expansion confirms momentum to eliminate child labor and improve working conditions The Responsible Mica Initiative (RMI) is excited to announce the expansion of its Community Empowerment Programs to 50 new villages in the mica-belt of Jharkhand and Bihar, India, extending its overall support to 180 villages and more than 16,000 households. RMI's Community Empowerment Programs (CEP) are transforming communities in India's mica mining region with initiatives that provide long-term and self-sustainable remedies to the underlying causes of child labor and poor working conditions. Launched in 2018, programs include better schools and health care delivery, improved access to government services, and paths to alternative livelihoods that are no longer dependent on mica only. A recent external and independent impact assessment by Improve, conducted in 40 villages where RMI just concluded its first three years of intervention and support programs, confirms significant and concrete results have been achieved. School enrollment among all children aged 6-14 years was at an all-time high of 93%. 81% of families reported increased attendance in school (hours per day), linked to a combination of scholarships, improved material increased motivation. 31% of households depended on mica picking as a primary source of income at endline, compared to 45% before the program as a result of CEP assets and trainings; additional sources of family income are directly associated with reductions in poverty, and in child labor. Similarly, the installation of resource centers in the villages provided greater access to social security services - 95% of households had been linked to at least one form of social security scheme - which, in turn, enable households to save money and not need their children to work to provide supplemental income. "These encouraging results and more lead us to believe that we are moving in the right direction and RMI must continue its efforts," says Fanny Fremont, RMI Executive Director. "On the special occasion of World Day Against Child Labor I heartfully thank the RMI members who committed their efforts and support since RMI's creation, acknowledge the contributions of our partners and congratulate children like Pinki Kumari (see Pinki's story here) who are inspiring us as leaders of their own change towards a better life About the Responsible Mica Initiative The Responsible Mica Initiative is a non-governmental organization created to establish fair, responsible and sustainable mica supply chains by promoting responsible sourcing practices, and eradicating child labor and unacceptable working conditions. RMI's multi-stakeholder, holistic and action-oriented approach revolves around implementing responsible workplace standards, empowering communities and establishing legal frameworks for the mica sector. RMI members are drawn from industries associated with the mica supply chain in partnership with civil society organizations and local stakeholders. The Responsible Mica Initiative is an association, established in accordance with the French Law of 1901 concerning non-profit organizations, with its head office located in 6 rue d'Armaille, 75017 PARIS France. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220612005004/en/ Contacts: Fanny Fremont, Executive Director Email: contact@responsible-mica-initiative.com RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, June 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Siwar Foods, a new Saudi FMCG company is proud to announce the launch of a new range of ready to eat frozen meals and desserts. The new range of convenience meals, which introduces flavours from around the world, including rice and pasta dishes and desserts, is available to buy in store or online from only SAR20. Research conducted by Siwar highlighted that 80% of consumers in KSA are open to purchasing frozen food, with taste, variety, quality and affordability being the most important drivers of choice. The range of tasty meals and desserts can be heated in a microwave or oven and are ready to eat in minutes. Loaye Al Nahedh, Siwar CEO & Founder, said: "The new product range reflects the taste preference and identity of consumers in Saudi Arabia. At a time when supermarket prices are on the rise, we have worked hard to develop great tasting meals using state of the art technology to lock-in taste and flavour at source, with 100% natural ingredients and no preservatives, at a great price." The range of frozen meals and desserts is available at leading retailers across KSA, via Siwar's website and Mobile online application and from a growing number of "Chef in a Box" vending machines. These machines have been installed in prime locations across Riyadh, including universities, hospitals and workplace environments. Yusuf Jehangir, CCO, added: "People are living increasingly busy lives and they are constantly trying to fit more into their daily schedules. Our full range of meals, ready in just minutes, lets customers enjoy their favourite dishes, without having to spend time on preparation or compromising on taste or quality, at an affordable price." About Siwar Foods: We are a new Saudi FMCG company, focused on redefining the frozen food sector in KSA and the region. Built on an agile business model, we work with leading suppliers to bring the flavours from around the world to our market. Our expanding range of products brings customers the convenience of frozen food, combining variety, taste, quality and affordability. Ultimately, our range of time saving inspired products helps people live a better life, without compromising on what's important to them. We serve consumer retail and business sectors, with an omni channel presence including retail, online and "Chef in a Box" vending machines, a first for the region. With our commitment to sustainability and an environmentally friendly business approach, we are proudly aligned to Vision 2030. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1836637/Siwar_Foods_KSA.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1837821/Siwar_Foods_Logo.jpg Contact: Yusuf Jehangir yusuf.jehangir@siwar.com +966 (0) 53 331 6701 Aeromon, a Helsinki, Finland-based emission monitoring service and technology company, raised 4.8M in funding. A capital loan from The Finnish Climate Fund is part of the financing package, of which 2.4 million was raised from industrial investor, Vopak Ventures, and current shareholders. The company intends to use the funds to expand its business reach, to further advance data analysis capabilities for rapid leak detection and accurate quantification of emissions, and to secure a broader presence in North Western Europe, close to key industrial hubs. Led by CEO Maria Kuosa, Aeromon has developed monitoring technology for users to detect and report methane, volatile organic compounds and other emissions. Customers are provided with visualized and real time data that enables decision making through improved situational awareness leading to less lost product, less pollution and higher work safety. Aeromon has served clients across Europe for years. In the last year, the company has served clients in Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Slovenia and France. The aim is to be able to serve Central European clients more efficiently by having an operational team now in Rotterdam and eventually in other major industrial cities in Europe, as well. FinSMEs 12/06/2022 From May 30th to 31st, the Chinese Embassy in Liberia and the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Liberia jointly held the first National Conference on the Right to Development in Liberia. Chinese Ambassador to Liberia H.E. Ren Yisheng attended the conference and delivered opening and closing remarks. Hon. Atty. Paul Harris, Special Representative of the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia H.E. Dr. Jewel Howard-Taylor, Hon. Dr. Wilhemina S. Jallah, Minister of Health, Hon. Varney A. Sirleaf, Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon. Cllr. T. Dempster Brown, Chairman of the Independent National Commission of Human Right in Liberia, and Mr. Neil Scott, the UN Resident Coordinator in Liberia attended respectively the opening and closing ceremonies and delivered speeches. More than 100 people participated offline or online, including Assistant Ministers and other government officials of Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of State, etc., development superintendents of 15 Liberian counties, Mr. Uchenna Emelonye, Representative of the OHCHR in Liberia, ambassadors, charge d'affaires or representatives of Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Cuba, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Sweden and other countries in Liberia, Ms. Li Xiaomei, Special Representative for Human Rights Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Professor Hu Biliang, Executive Dean of the Belt and Road School of Beijing Normal University, Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh, Canadian Professor of Global Human Rights and African Studies, Representatives of Chinese-funded institutions and overseas Chinese in Liberia, Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia, think tank scholars, civil society organizations and media representatives, etc. At the meeting, Ambassador Ren elaborated on the Chinese government's people-centered development philosophy, prioritizing the realization of the rights to subsistence and development, the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy with Chinese characteristics, the remarkable development achievements it has made, as well as President Xi Jinping's philosophy of building a community with a shared future for mankind, the Belt and Road initiative, Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative. He shared China's active participation in international cooperation in the field of human rights, vigorous promotion of the implementation of the right to development, and China-Africa and China-Liberia friendly and pragmatic cooperation in the new era. Ambassador Ren said that in the face of changes unseen in a century and world turmoil, the international community should firmly safeguard world peace and security, create favorable conditions for the realization of the rights to subsistence and development, and promote sustainable security through sustainable development. China is willing to work together with other countries including Africa and Liberia to jointly build the Belt and Road, implement the Nine Programs of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and build a closer China-Africa and China-Liberia community with a shared future, so as to build lasting peace and common prosperity and make new and greater contributions to the world. In his speech, Atty. Harris, the Special Representative of the Vice President of Liberia, congratulated the Chinese Embassy in Liberia and the OHCHR for the first joint National Conference on the Right to Development in Liberia, and stressed that the conference is of great significance to promoting the realization of the right to development, development and sustainable development in Liberia and West Africa. Minister Sirleaf of Internal Affairs, Chairman Brown and others thanked China for its long-term great contributions to Liberia's peace building, economic and social development, and the fight against Ebola, COVID-19 and other epidemics, looked forward to the international community to help African countries, including Liberia, to accelerate the realization of the right to development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and expressed that Liberia is willing to strengthen cooperation with China and other international partners in such fields as infrastructure construction, rule of law, anti-corruption, agriculture, education, digital economy, health and anti-epidemic, and capacity building, so as to promote Liberia's economic and social development. The UN Resident Coordinator and the ambassadors or representatives from the diplomatic missions said in their respective remarks that all countries should strengthen international cooperation and communication to promote the development of human rights cause including all categories of rights, the right to development and gender equality, and make contributions to world and regional peace and Liberian economic and social development. The representative of the OHCHR in Liberia thanked the Chinese side for its positive contribution to the ever first joint National Conference on the Right to Development in West Africa and even in Africa, and expected to strengthen bilateral cooperation to promote together the human rights cause in the world. Special Representative Li Xiaomei and Professor Hu Biliang elaborated respectively online on the Chinese position on human rights and the right to development and the positive achievements of Belt and Road international cooperation. During the two days meeting, the participants carried out in-depth discussions on the topics of the implementation of the right to development and the relevant international cooperation, the enlightenment of Chinas tremendous development achievements, the B&R international cooperation, anti-epidemic and other international or regional cooperation through remarks, interventions, questions and answers, and panel discussions. The conference was interactive with rounds of applause. The participants highly commended the Chinese side and the OHCHR for the first joint National Conference on the Right to Development, appreciated the development achievements of China and the fruitful outcome of China-Liberia pragmatic cooperation, and hoped to learn from Chinas successful experience to promote the realization of the right to development in Liberia. A dozen of Liberian mainstream media outlets covered the event. Ambassador Ren took interviews from some media. On June 7, 2022 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Uzbek Acting Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov on the sidelines of the third "China+Central Asia" (C+C5) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Nur-Sultan. Wang Yi said, President Xi Jinping and President Shavkat Mirziyoyev have established high-level mutual trust and profound friendship, providing important strategic guidance for the development of bilateral relations. China is ready to work with Uzbekistan to take the opportunity of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties and the 10th anniversary of the establishment of a strategic partnership to seek greater synergy between the two countries' development strategies, enhance mutual understanding and support, deepen the experience-sharing on state governance, and make joint efforts to constantly elevate bilateral relations to new heights. Wang Yi said, China-Uzbekistan cooperation in various fields is progressing smoothly. In the first quarter of this year, bilateral trade volume has increased substantially, showing broad potential. More highly marketable Uzbek products are welcome to enter the Chinese market, and China encourages Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Uzbekistan, so as to help the country accelerate industrialization and enhance its capacity for self-driven development. The two sides should ensure sound implementation of the five-year plan for inter-governmental economic, trade and investment cooperation, give full play to the role of the working group on investment cooperation, and select a batch of major cooperation projects with strategic significance. Efforts should be made to strengthen cooperation in traditional energy, jointly ensure the safe and stable operation of the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline, and expand cooperation in civilian nuclear energy, solar energy and wind energy, and other new energy sources. Norov said, this year is of great significance for Uzbekistan-China relations. Thanks to the profound friendship and guidance of the two heads of state, bilateral relations have reached an unprecedented high level. Uzbekistan cherishes the friendship between the two countries and will firmly adhere to the one-China principle, strengthen Belt and Road cooperation, advance mutually beneficial cooperation in economy, trade, investment, energy, production capacity, green agriculture and other fields, and work for setting a model of state-to-state relations. The two sides will improve connectivity, facilitate customs clearance, strengthen cooperation on road-rail combined transport, and explore ways to speed up the diversified construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway and other transportation channels. The two sides will ensure sound implementation of the memorandum of understanding on poverty alleviation cooperation, and share development experience; advance all-round cooperation on vaccines, support the establishment of a regional vaccine research and development center in Uzbekistan, and deepen cooperation on traditional Chinese medicine and telemedicine; strengthen cooperation in people-to-people and cultural affairs and tourism, as well as at sub-national levels; step up joint efforts to build a China-Central Asia Agricultural Cooperation Center. The two sides will deepen cooperation in combating three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism, and in counter-terrorism, defense and cyber security, among others. The two sides spoke highly of the role of the C+C5 cooperation mechanism. Norov appreciated China's important and constructive role in regional cooperation, saying that the development and revitalization of Central Asia are closely related to China, and Uzbekistan will actively participate in and push for positive outcomes of the third C+C5 Foreign Ministers' meeting. The two sides will strengthen communication and coordination in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Wang Yi said, China supports Uzbekistan in hosting the SCO Samarkand Summit successfully. The two sides also exchanged views on the Afghan issue. Norov spoke highly of China's important role in Afghanistan's reconstruction and expressed readiness to jointly promote harmony, stability, peace and development in Afghanistan. Tokyo, May 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global wind turbine market size was accounted at US$ 55.91 billion in 2021. The Asia-pacific region is expected to show a good growth during the forecast period due to various government initiatives and the increased wind capacity in China. Asia Pacific region happens to be a good region for investment during the forecast. Get the Sample Pages of Report@ https://www.precedenceresearch.com/sample/1722 Report highlights On the basis of installation the onshore market is expected to show good growth. On the basis of the components used the rotator blade segment is expected to show more growth than the others On the basis of the axis, the vertical axis shall show larger growth as compared to the horizontal segment. The wind energy has shown efficiency over the past years due to the use of powerful turbines. The wind energy farms could be extremely successful when the selected site has a strong flow of wind throughout the year. Due to the various emission policies and the policies regarding the reduction of carbon footprints in various areas this way of production of electricity is sustainable. The market for the wind turbines is expected to grow as the emission due to these wind projects is extremely less as compared to any form of energy generation. Market Dynamics Drivers Wind energy is a clean and winnable source of energy. Also, it is a very cost effective source for electricity. Unlike coal, oil, natural gas when electricity is generated with the help of the wind, it doesn't result in the emission of the greenhouse gases. Although the governments have set some considerations when building large wind farms, the wind turbines themselves do not work on burning of any fossil fuels while they operate. As this is a renewable source of energy, it will never run out. There are no worries about the supply issues in the future. In the United States, the wind energy sector is growing faster. So the wind energy sector has acted as a job creator in United States. For once the wind farms or the turbines can be expensive for installation, but once they are up and producing electricity the fuel is free and the turbines do not require a lot of maintenance. Scope of the Report Report Attributes Details Market Size in 2020 USD 58.91 Billion Revenue Forecast by 2030 USD 102.4 Billion CAGR 6.34% from 2022 to 2030 Base Year 2021 Forecast Data 2022 to 2030 Companies Covered General Electric company., Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Nordex SE., Suzlon Energy Limited., Siemens Gamesa renewable energy. SA, CSIC., Shanghai Electric., Windey Ask here for more customization study@ https://www.precedenceresearch.com/customization/1722 Restraints The wind energy generated with the help of the turbines is intermittent. The effective generation of electricity by a wind turbine depends completely on the weather, and it cannot be predicted on a particular day as to how much energy will be generated over a period of time. When the speed of the wind is very low, the turbines rotors won't spin and there would be no generation of electricity. Another downside of the wind energy is the amount of noise and visual pollution caused by the wind turbines. As the height of the wind turbines is high enough to capture a good amount of wind, it happens to interrupt the scenic landscapes, lakes, oceans or even mountains. The blades of the wind turbines can harm and kill a lot of birds, bats or other species flying around them. It also happens to disrupt the natural habitats of the local animals. They need to be constructed in a sustainable manner. In order to carry the generated electricity from one place to the other it requires a lot of transmission cables, so this happens to be another expense the infrastructure because the wind energy is remote. Opportunities The generation of electricity with the use of wind energy opens up the opportunity to produce emission free electricity from renewable sources of energy, and it also helps in the reduction of carbon footprints. It is a great opportunity for regions where strong wind keeps flowing all-round the year. Wind energy used in production of electricity is a potent way of generating electricity in order to meet the norms of the nation's regarding the emissions and the reduction of carbon footprints. Challenges The wind energy is still in competition with the conventional sources of electricity even though the cost of installation and maintenance and functioning of these Wind turbines has come down drastically. Still, it is in competition with the lowest cost source of electricity. The generation of electricity with the help of wind turbines is a major issue in places where there is no wind energy. When selecting a land for wind sites, it almost always happens to be in remote locations, which is far away from cities where there is a need for electricity, so transmitting the energy from one place to the other becomes expensive. Apart from all these challenges, when building a wind turbine on a land, it has to compete with all the alternative uses of land which could be of a higher value than that of electricity generation. The major challenge is the designing of the wind turbines in a manner that makes them efficient and cost effective. Also, the make of the turbines need to be such that they become quieter in order to reduce the noise pollution. Another risk is the operational safety regarding fire protection. The energy generated needs storage before it is transmitted hence the experts are seeing the development of adequate storage technologies for wind power as another challenge. Browse more related reports@ https://www.precedenceresearch.com/industry/energy-and-power Recent Developments GE Renewable Energy and Toshiba Energy solutions along with Solutions Corporation entered into a partnership to locally handle the manufactuing of GE Haliade X which is an offshore wind turbine and support the commercialization of this turbine in Japan. JSW energy Ltdhas ordered 810 MW of onshore wind turbines from GE Renewable energy for its upcoming projects in Tamil Nadu. Market Segmentation By Axis Vertical Horizontal By Installation Offshore Onshore By Components Rotator blade Generator Gearbox Nacelle By Application Residential Utility Industrial Commercial By Capacity Small Medium Large By Connectivity Grid Connected Stand Alone By Rating < 100 kW 100 kW to 250 kW > 250 kW to 500 kW > 500 kW to 1 MW 1 MW to 2 MW >2 MW By Geography North America Europe Asia-Pacific Latin America Middle East & Africa (MEA) Click Here to View Full Report Table of Contents Buy this Premium Research Report@ https://www.precedenceresearch.com/checkout/1722 You can place an order or ask any questions, please feel free to contact at sales@precedenceresearch.com | +1 9197 992 333 About Us Precedence Research is a worldwide market research and consulting organization. We give unmatched nature of offering to our customers present all around the globe across industry verticals. Precedence Research has expertise in giving deep-dive market insight along with market intelligence to our customers spread crosswise over various undertakings. We are obliged to serve our different client base present over the enterprises of medicinal services, healthcare, innovation, next-gen technologies, semi-conductors, chemicals, automotive, and aerospace & defense, among different ventures present globally. For Latest Update Follow Us: https://www.linkedin.com/company/precedence-research/ https://www.facebook.com/precedenceresearch/ https://twitter.com/Precedence_R Businessman and serial investor Mr Kuda Tagwirei had endured an energy-sapping and disappointing 12-hour wait to refuel his car at a local service station sometime in 2003 when he had a moment of epiphany. He could not understand the logic of a business subjecting customers to such an inordinately long wait for service. That fuel queue was to be the birthplace of what was to later become one of Zimbabwes largest fuel companies. We started this business after we had spent a long time almost 12 hours in a fuel queue when we wanted to travel to South Africa, said Mr Tagwirei, referring to himself and his wife, Sandra. We said this business must be done better. We asked ourselves: How could we be in a queue for this long? In everything that I do, I am always looking at things that I can make or do better; I do not invent things. The media-shy businessman was giving rare insights into how he started and nurtured his multi-million-dollar business empire to Seventh Day Adventist Church members at a meeting dubbed Faith-Driven Leadership in Harare on June 4. The multi-millionaire, believed to be one of the wealthiest Zimbabweans living in the country, is a devout member of the church. The name of their fuel company, Sakunda Holdings, is carved out from the couples first names Sandra and Kuda. Mr Tagwirei started running the fuel company in 2003 and the business grew in leaps and bounds. Many people think we started in 2018 when in fact we started in 2003, he said. When we started the business, we were using our bedroom as our office in Belvedere. We started by selling just 15 000 litres of fuel. The size of Sakunda Holdings today belies the companys humble beginnings. In a space of nine years, Sakunda went from selling 15 000 litres to pushing around 60 million litres per month, which at the time accounted for over 80 percent of fuel sold in Zimbabwe. Somewhere along the line, the company was approached by authorities and offered a share of the Beira pipeline because Government had no money or capacity to ferry millions of litres of fuel it was contracted to carry. I remember people coming to me and saying my business was now a security threat because we cant have a monopoly. They were saying imagine if Sandra and Kuda said they did not want to give fuel to Zimbabwe. He was, however, not deterred even though the market was very competitive. When he ventured into the fuel industry, about 150 companies had fuel retail licences, but by 2012, only five were left, including Sakunda Holdings. There were about 150 oil companies that were issued licences. This was because there was a problem whereby major oil companies had decided to pull out of Zimbabwe, so Government decided to issue those licences. But it was not plain sailing for the businessman. He had to suffer the ignominy of failure on his way to the top. In an ill-fated attempt to expand their business portfolio, the couple ventured into poultry farming. They soon realised this was not their forte after the business crumbled spectacularly like a deck of cards. At some point, we started a small poultry business. Because of electricity challenges, the chickens, more often than not, went bad. We had bought deep freezers and blast freezers, but electricity was a challenge. In 2014 or 2015, we had a lot of assets but we did not have cash flow, so the business could not operate. We were now being taken to court because people wanted their money. He credited God for showing him how he can use his riches to finance and further His work. I believe that the only thing I wont sell is my birthright, everything else is for sale as long as I can achieve my objective, he added. I know what the Lord called me to do; that the money that we get is for the work of the Lord, to do specific things regarding the work of the Lord, that is what I was called for. He added that his ultimate goal was to one day build a church. Sunday Mail WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., June 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Universities impact lives in their local communities through the success of their alumni, by hosting educational and artistic events, and in employing residents. They can impact lives around the world by commercializing intellectual property (IP) discovered and developed by university faculty and staff; IP consists of creations of the mind like inventions, artistic work, designs or symbols. Purdue University IP makes the world a better place when it reaches the public, and strategically helping the public is part of the mission of land-grant universities like Purdue. Commercialization occurs when IP is licensed either to an already established company or to a startup launched specifically to bring that innovation to the market. Managing Purdue University innovations vetting them to determine their impact, applying for federal and international protection, marketing and licensing them is the responsibility of the Purdue Research Foundation, a private, non-profit foundation. Purdue Innovation Excellence: OTC and Foundry Metrics Brooke Beier is senior vice president of commercialization at the Purdue Research Foundation. She leads the Office of Technology Commercialization, whose experts receive invention disclosures from faculty, vet the inventions to determine their market impact, apply to protect the IP and license it to companies around the world. Beier also oversees the Purdue Foundry, an entrepreneurship and commercialization hub whose professionals work with Purdue innovators to create and scale startups. "PRF and Purdue leadership truly care about making sure Purdue discoveries positively impact society. OTC and the Foundry are thrilled to be able to support that mission," Beier said. "Purdue faculty have been exceptional in disclosing their innovations, and our dedicated personnel have set year-over-year records in licensing innovations." In the eight years between fiscal year 2014 and fiscal year 2021, Purdue faculty have disclosed more than 2,800 innovations to OTC. During that time, more than 4,500 U.S. and international patent applications were filed to protect Purdue IP; OTC received more than 1,500 U.S. and international patents on those innovations. OTC's website includes a public-facing list of innovations across more than a dozen categories available for licensing. Over the past four years, OTC personnel documented year-over-year record high levels for licenses and options signed to companies. For the past eight years, more than 1,100 licenses and options were executed, covering more than 1,600 technologies. Since the Purdue Foundry was launched in 2013, more than 175 companies founded from Purdue IP launched across several sectors, including energy, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, life sciences and information technology/Internet of Things. Those companies have generated $255 million in funding from investments, grants and other sources; they also have developed relationships with customers around the world. The Purdue Foundry also makes strategic investments in startups within its ecosystem, with a primary focus on startups that feature Purdue IP and a Purdue lineage. Since it was formed, the Purdue Foundry has invested more than $10 million through four investment funds it manages: Ag-Celerator, Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund, Foundry Investment Fund and Purdue Startup Fund. "These licensed technologies are impacting industrial sectors like aeronautics, agriculture, biomedical engineering, computer technology, education, electrical engineering, food and nutrition, medical and health, micro- and nanotechnologies, pharmaceuticals and veterinary," Beier said. "While we are thankful for the revenue that licensing agreements return to PRF and the university, we are glad that these discoveries are put to use and improving lives around the world through new entrepreneurs, serial entrepreneurs and established companies alike." The Assistive Technology Engineer: Brad Duerstock Brad Duerstock is CEO of Prehensile Technologies, which he launched in 2014. The company develops the RoboTable overbed table, the RoboDesk and custom assistive technology solutions to increase independence and quality of life for people with disabilities. Duerstock also is a professor of engineering practice in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University. He holds courtesy appointments in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Department of Health and Kinesiology in the College of Health and Human Sciences. Duerstock is motivated to make a difference for people who can benefit from assistive technology. "Approximately 20% of the population has some type of disability that can lead to mobility, sensory, cognitive or psychological impairments, which may be improved by some type of assistive technology," he said. "However, the individual impact of such assistance for independently or more efficiently accomplishing an activity of daily living or a specific task is immeasurable. A singular piece of assistive technology can make the difference in one's ability to be employed, to live at home, or to maintain self-dignity." The assistive technology industry is relatively small, Duerstock said. Most companies operating in that sector focus on developing and selling devices they created. "There are not many opportunities to go to a company that even has similar target consumers and say, 'Would you be interested in licensing this new technology and further commercializing it as a product?'" Duerstock said. "Even large companies that may be interested in acquiring new products are pretty risk averse and really want something that has been first proven in the marketplace." The lack of opportunities coupled with Duerstock's desire to impact people's lives led to commercializing his patented IP and launching Prehensile Technologies. The Office of Technology Commercialization worked with Duerstock and his team during the patent application process and with licensing the technologies. The Foundry worked with his team to write a business plan. "Of course, when I first thought about commercializing some of our research, it started with a conversation with OTC about patent protection," he said. "But I soon realized that if I really wanted our inventions to get into the hands of those who would benefit from their use, then that would be a whole other conversation. "The Foundry has been instrumental for me in learning the business side of things. At the beginning, I didn't even know the language used in the business world. In addition to learning about entrepreneurship, the Foundry helped us get in touch with local accountants, law firms and payroll agencies, which was invaluable in establishing our company." Duerstock said Prehensile Technologies has benefited from Purdue's vast entrepreneurial network and resources by participating in I-Corps and student business competitions. Duerstock himself participated in an experiential learning entrepreneurial boot camp hosted by the Foundry. Additionally, some of his students have opted to take entrepreneurial-focused classes at the university. Duerstock said success ultimately will be measured by users being able to access the innovative assistive technologies, whether it's through Prehensile Technologies or other channels like sublicensing the technology or open-source resources. Founding the company, however, has led to additional opportunities. "Launching Prehensile Technologies has allowed us to further develop our inventions, which has led to subsequent patents and the ability to apply for Small Business Innovation Research, Small Business Technology Transfer and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs grants," he said. "If we simply licensed our technologies to other entities, we may not have had the opportunities for further research and development of existing and affiliated products. "As a startup company, we are able to explore the market and, in some cases, have found we need to pivot our initial business strategy based on a more informed understanding of our consumers' needs and wants." Along with commercializing its innovative assistive technologies like the RoboTable and RoboDesk, Prehensile Technologies recently participated as a member of the EASI RIDER team in a U.S. Department of Transportation inclusive design competition. Duerstock said the company, whose president and chief technology officer is Dr. Jeffrey Ackerman, brought its experience designing technologies for people with disabilities and technical expertise in assistive technology prototyping. "This design competition made us realize that Prehensile can also provide a service in creating accessible interfaces for a wide range of systems within transportation, health care, home and other environments," Duerstock said. "This significantly broadens our outreach through greater engagement with the disabled community and other industry partners. Grand societal challenges in inaccessibility and, thus, promoting greater inclusion of people with disabilities will not be solved by an individual piece of assistive technology or organization. There needs to be collaboration between several stakeholders with different assets in order to solve these big problems, whether it is autonomous transportation, aging in place, equitable health care, etc." The Serial Entrepreneur: Philip Low Philip Low is the Presidential Scholar for Drug Discovery and Ralph C. Corley Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Biochemistry in Purdue Universitys Department of Chemistry. He also may be the most prolific and most successful entrepreneur to license Purdue University IP. Working with the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization, Low has received hundreds of U.S. patents on his research, all of them within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. He has founded seven startup companies and remains involved in running six of them. "I've been very pleased with my interactions with OTC, which feels like part of my team rather than a distant partner," Low said. "They have been essential in the writing and submission of our patents and have been instrumental in helping me start companies based on our technologies. They have also been very helpful in licensing our innovations back into my companies when desired." In alphabetical order, here are the seven companies Low started, the focus of their innovation, their most recent news and Low's current roles with them. Endocyte Inc. The company developed targeted agents that delivered radio- and chemotherapeutic drugs to malignant tissues and avoided healthy ones. Novartis acquired Endocyte in December 2018 and absorbed the company and many of its employees so that the company no longer exists. Eradivir Inc. The company designs, synthesizes and tests targeted therapies for viral diseases, including influenza, HIV, hepatitis C and SARS. Its lead drug candidate is undergoing studies to prepare it for human clinical trials in 2023. Low serves as the companys co-founder, director and chief science officer. ErythroCure Inc. The company develops novel therapies for malaria and sickle cell disease. ErythroCures malaria treatment has been shown to be nearly 100% effective in helping to defeat the disease in just three days, according to the results of a Phase 2 clinical trial. Phase 3 clinical trials will soon be initiated in Vietnam and Thailand. Low serves as the companys director and chief science officer. MorphImmune Inc. The company targets and reprograms immune cells to treat cancers, autoimmune, inflammatory, traumatic and fibrotic diseases. It has raised about $17 million. The company has developed four major drug candidates; one may be introduced into human clinical trials by summer 2023. Low serves as the companys founder and director. Novosteo Inc. The company designs and develops targeted therapies to accelerate the repair of bone fractures and treat various bone diseases. Cortexyme acquired Novosteo in May; the new company will operate under the name Quince Therapeutics Inc. Low serves as the companys co-founder and director. On Target Laboratories LLC. The company designs and develops tumor-targeted near-infrared fluorescent dyes that help cancer surgeons find and remove malignant lesions while avoiding damaging healthy tissue. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of On Target Laboratories fluorescent dye to illuminate ovarian cancer. The company finished Phase 3 clinical trials to use the dye to illuminate lung cancer, and another dye to illuminate prostate cancer has completed Phase 1 clinical trials. Low serves as the companys co-founder and chief science officer. Umoja Biopharma. The company develops new approaches to treat cancer that retool a patients immune system to enhance the bodys natural capacity to fight cancer. The company raised $263 million in 2021 and has received approval to initiate Phase 1 clinical trials on its CAR T cell therapy for cancer in children. Low serves as the companys co-founder and director. Low's interest in launching startups is mainly motivated by the need to raise the funds required to take his drug to a significant proof of concept and attract industry attention in licensing it. "It's difficult to get a drug company to run with your discoveries if you haven't at least demonstrated a proof of concept. Unless you have documented your discoveries in real people with real health problems, its not easy to attract investors attention," Low said. "This is the Valley of Death for biotech. It costs a lot of money to bring a drug to a proof of principle in patients, but you can't elicit much interest until you do. How do you raise the $100 million to $200 million required to develop a drug to the point that it looks like its going to work in humans? You have to start a company, raise money and then bring in venture capitalists and even institutional investors to fund the studies required to demonstrate its efficacy and safety in human patients. "Once you're successful with one company, it becomes less problematic to raise money for the next, and if you're successful there, then the next is even easier. But right now, nothing is easy in this financial market. The biotech market is below half of what it was a year ago. It's an awful time to try to raise money. However, launching a company is my only way to make sure my discoveries have a chance to help mankind." Low said the objective to working with the Office of Technology Commercialization applying for IP protection, launching startup companies, licensing innovations is sending Purdue innovations to the public to do good. "We've been very successful in doing that," he said. Attachments VANCOUVER, Wash., June 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Papa Murphys Take n Bake Pizza launched their first Bake Outside the Lines contest in search of the best pizza hacks in America. In partnership with Pepsi, Papa Murphys invites the public to submit their favorite creations for a chance at a $25K prize and Free Pizza for a Year. This unique contest highlights the creativity, customization, and versatility that only Papa Murphys offers. Starting with a Papa Murphys take n bake product allows guests the opportunity to customize it into something entirely new and delicious for their families at home. Papa Murphys will kick off the launch of the Bake Outside the Lines contest at CMA Fest, Country Musics Ultimate Fan Experience, which will be held at Nashvilles Music City Center. Superstar magician Justin Willman is set to surprise and delight guests with an electrifying performance at Fan Fair X, CMA Fests exclusive fan expo. The set will highlight the mealtime magic of creating something new starting with Take n Bake products, and will include Justins unique blend of humor, wit, and wizardry. It will take place on Sunday, June 12 at 3:00 p.m. CDT. The contest, which runs from June 6 through June 30, opened today at 10 a.m. PT and operates as follows: Entries can be submitted starting at 10 a.m. PT the morning of June 6, 2022, by visiting the contest website (www.bakeoutsidethelines.com). The Bake Outside the Lines contest will have three categories for which contestants can enter. These categories are: Mealtime Anytime- Make a snack, breakfast, lunch, or dessert. Pizza in all forms! Outside the Oven- Make your food in a new way. Panini press? Great! In the fireplace? Awesome! Perfect for Parties- Create a unique dish to change up your next gathering. Pizza rolls, pizza burgers, or a dipanything works! Papa Murphys will select two finalists in each category once the contest closes on June 30, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Each finalist will be highlighted on Papa Murphys social channels, with the public voting on IG stories and Twitter to determine the winner taking place August 2-6, 2022. Winners of each category will be announced August 10. For more information on the Bake Outside the Lines contest, visit www.bakeoutsidethelines.com. ABOUT PAPA MURPHY'S Papa Murphy's Holdings, Inc. ("Papa Murphy's") is a franchisor and operator of the largest Take 'n' Bake pizza brand in the United States, with a mission to "Change The Way You Pizza." Papa Murphy's exists to enrich every day with unconventional moments of happiness, not only because our take n bake pizzas are made-to-order daily using only the freshest ingredients, but also providing exceptional service at over 1,250 franchised and corporate-owned locations across the U.Splus locations in Canada and the UAE. With the core values of Quality, Service, Integrity, Teamwork as our guide, Papa Murphy's offers guests a convenient, unparalleled experience for creating the best at-home meal experience. Along with fresh pizzas, Papa Murphy's offers hand-crafted salads, sides, and desserts to complete your meal and please your palate. Order online at papamurphys.com or from our official Papa Murphy's app everywhere, and find us on your favorite delivery apps in select markets. Media Contact: Alexis Diltz communications@papamurphys.com 360-449-4001 China's excavator sales see slower drop, exports surge in May Xinhua) 15:25, June 12, 2022 BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhua) -- China's major excavator makers registered a slower year-on-year drop in total sales and a sharp increase in exports last month, industry data showed, as the construction machinery sector gradually recovered from the COVID-19 disruptions. The country's 26 excavator manufacturers sold a total of 20,624 units last month, down 24.2 percent year on year, narrowing from the 47.3-percent decline in April, data from the China Construction Machinery Association showed. In particular, exports of these companies surged 63.9 percent year on year to 8,445 units. The growth rate accelerated from the 55.2-percent increase in April. In the first five months, excavator sales declined 39.1 percent year on year to 122,333 units. Exports came in at 42,236 units, soaring 75.7 percent from the same period a year ago. Deemed a barometer of the vitality of infrastructure development, sales of digging machines are usually backed by growth in mining and infrastructure construction. China has ramped up efforts to expand investment in infrastructure construction this year. Last month, the country unveiled a package of detailed policy measures to further stabilize the economy, including accelerating some approved water conservancy projects and speeding up investment in transportation infrastructure. Policy banks will increase the credit line by another 800 billion yuan (about 119 billion U.S. dollars) to provide financial support for infrastructure building, according to a State Council executive meeting earlier this month. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji) JACKSON, Miss. (AP) Miracle Allen used her last tank of gas to drive an hour and 15 minutes to the closest clinic that would care for her and her unborn baby. Allen, 29, was four months pregnant when Hurricane Ida ripped through her Houma, Louisiana, community. She spent three nights in the remnants of a house with a torn roof and no electricity. Her car was all she had left. So Allen along with her 6-year-old daughter, her mother and a niece fled in it to the rural Mississippi town of Kosciusko, where family lives. Her first priority was finding a doctor to check on her baby boy. But the lone local obstetrician splits her work between two rural counties and wasn't taking new patients. Allen couldn't find another doctor even within an hour's drive certainly not one who'd take a patient without insurance or an ID, which was destroyed in her home by Ida. Finally, a Jackson-area hospital that turned her away suggested the Sisters in Birth clinic. On that last tank of gas, she arrived in a panic. Would they see her? Had the stress of the storm affected her pregnancy? Where would she go if this place turned her away? Almost all the mothers served at the clinic in Mississippi's capital are Black women without insurance, like Allen. Many havent been to a doctor for years, until they became pregnant and qualified for Medicaid. Most are at risk for conditions such as hypertension and heart disease. Nearly all have nowhere else to go. Clinic CEO and founder Getty Israel says Mississippi leaders are failing these women every day. As state Republican officials spend time and resources trying to ban abortion and awaiting a ruling that could overturn Roe v. Wade, advocates say nothing is being done to support women who choose to give birth. Were doing everything wrong, Israel said. Mississippi is pro-birth, but not pro-life. If we really are a pro-life state, we have to do more than try to end abortion and make sure that women are healthy. Mississippi has the highest infant death rate in the nation, and Black babies die at roughly twice the rate of white children, federal statistics show. Mississippi also ranks among states with the highest maternal death numbers, with Black women again disproportionately affected. And rural hospitals are closing at an alarming rate, leaving gaps in health care, while about 20 percent of Mississippi women are uninsured, according to census figures. All these issues plagued Mississippi before the pandemic, but Israel and others said COVID-19 made matters worse, with overwhelmed hospitals and a flailing economy. Israel opened her clinic amid the pandemic need, in June 2021. She wanted to teach patients, especially Black women who she's seen taken advantage of in the medical system, how to take control of their bodies and advocate for themselves. Sisters in Birth is a midwifery clinic that provides education and care to pregnant patients ultrasounds, prenatal vitamins, checkups with the nurse midwife and doctor on staff. But Israel also tries to focus on more than medical care; she said she takes a holistic approach to women's physical, social and emotional health. The clinic's community health workers help create eating and exercise plans, meet with patients at home, and join them in the hospital for labor. Employees help with enrollment in Medicai d and community college. In particular, Israel wants Sisters in Birth to address any health disparities before patients many of whom are at risk for complications given demographics and prior lack of access to care give birth and offer them social support. When Allen arrived, she was greeted by art of female activists on the comforting sea green walls: Toni Morrison, Dolores Huerta and Madonna Thunder Hawk. Magazines with Black women on the covers sit in front of colorful couches. Staff members agreed to see Allen a single mother and waitress who lost her job of 12 years during the pandemic without insurance. They helped her submit a Medicaid application, set up exercise and nutrition plans, and offered her gas money to get home. I felt like I could finally breathe, Allen said. Once she reached month seven, Allen said thanks to Sisters in Birth, she'd already had more medical care than in her entire last pregnancy. Israel calls her on days when the clinic is closed to check in. The stability has helped her transition to life in Mississippi finding a place to live, replacing documents, enrolling for food stamps all while pregnant. They know me by name when I walk in, she said. You dont have to remind them who you are and what youre going through. Now, Israel wants to expand but she needs money to do it. With the help of Mississippi's only Black and Democratic congressman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, she is pursuing $3 million in federal money from the Community Project Funding program to open Mississippis first birth center. She imagines a place where Black women can give natural births and reclaim their agency. Currently, there's a nurse midwife on staff one of a handful of midwives in Mississippi. Despite shrinking numbers, there's a rich history of midwifery in southern states. For generations, most Black babies were delivered by midwives because of racist policies that barred Black women from hospitals. In the late 1950s and 1960s, midwives were pushed out of the industry as hospitals became desegregated and white physicians sought control over the birth market. Israel wants to hire more midwives, for a total of four, and offer training. She also plans a cabin for women to stay so they're on site and supported before labor. Although Sisters in Birth does not provide abortions the clinic generally doesn't counsel women on them, either, as the focus is providing services to women who want to give birth Israel expects that if abortion banned, she'll see an increase in patients. Poor women who are now pregnant, because they cant get an abortion, will be looking for clinics like mine that dont have a limit on the number of Medicaid patients they accept, she said. Support makes a difference, whether a woman wants to have an abortion or not. She wants to be able to support more women, and for them to have the opportunity to give birth at the center instead of at hospitals. There, Israel said she often sees doctors pushing inductions and cesarean sections that arent medically necessary. Federal data show Mississippi has the highest rate of c-sections in the U.S. Black women have experienced the highest c-section delivery rates in the country since the 1990s. In 2018, a five-year study conducted by the federal government comparing birth centers with other forms of maternal birth care for women on Medicaid revealed a dramatic reduction of preterm, low-weight and cesarean births for patients at birth centers. The results showed a reduction in racial inequities there were no differences by race for rates of cesarean birth and breastfeeding, for example and Israel wants to replicate that for the women of Mississippi. Yasmin Gabriel of Jackson said she sought out Israel's clinic because she wanted to have a woman of color in the room when she gave birth. So often, we just get ignored, she said. I wanted our babies to come into this world without stress, without me having anxiety, because of the fact that Ive experienced other people not listening to our threshold of pain or listening to what we would desire. I just wanted to make sure that I had someone who looked like me who understood what I was going through." NEW YORK (AP) Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Andrew Giuliani said he has been barred from participating in-person in an upcoming primary debate because he has refused to submit proof hes been vaccinated against COVID-19. At a news conference Sunday outside the offices of CBS-TV, which is televising the debate Monday night, the son of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he has chosen not to be vaccinated but that he told debate organizers he would take multiple tests leading up to and on the day of the debate. Andrew Giuliani said he was told initially that he only needed to take a test on the day of the debate, then was told he had to show proof of vaccination. I told them I would not do that, he said. I dont think that's something that even someone who has chosen to get the shot should have to do, from a constitutional standpoint. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for CBS-TV said the policy requiring visitors to its broadcast center to be vaccinated was introduced last year, in consultation with health care experts and government officials. Any candidate who doesnt meet this requirement is encouraged to participate in Mondays debate remotely," the statement said. "We look forward to providing the opportunity Monday night for the Republican candidates to share their views on matters of importance to the residents of New York State. Giuliani has said he will debate remotely. The former adviser to former President Donald Trump is facing Rep. Lee Zeldin, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and businessman Harry Wilson in the primary. Giuliani has criticized vaccine mandates in New York City and said Sunday that, if elected, he will restore the jobs of public workers fired for not getting the vaccine. He said he chose not to be vaccinated for a couple of different reasons, including that federal health officials have said the vaccine doesn't actually stop transmission of COVID-19. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SEOUL, South Korea (AP) U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with her counterparts from South Korea and Japan on Wednesday, emphasizing the U.S. commitment to defend its allies and trilateral security cooperation to confront an accelerating nuclear threat from North Korea. The latest top-level meetings among the countries came as North Korea apparently presses ahead with preparations for its first nuclear test explosion in nearly five years, which U.S. officials say could occur in the coming days. After a meeting in Seoul, Sherman and the South Korean and Japanese vice foreign ministers issued a joint statement condemning North Koreas provocative streak in weapons demonstrations this year and pledging closer security cooperation to curb the growing threats. The statement said Sherman reaffirmed steadfast U.S. commitments to the defense of South Korea and Japan, including extended deterrence, referring to an assurance to defend its allies with its full military capabilities, including nuclear. The United States, the Republic of Korea and Japan are fully and closely aligned on the DPRK, Sherman said in a news conference, using the initials of North Koreas official name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. Sherman noted that North Korea since last September has significantly increased the pace and scale of its ballistic launches, posing a serious threat to security in the region and beyond, and urged Pyongyang to cease taking these provocative and destabilizing actions and to commit to the path of diplomacy. Following the meeting, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong met separately with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori and they were in agreement about an urgent need to improve bilateral relations, their ministries said. South Korea and Japan had engaged in a highly public feud in recent years over trade and Japans brutal colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula before the end of World War II, which included wartime industrial and sexual slavery of Koreans. The Biden administration has been pressing Seoul and Tokyo to repair ties to shore up a united front against the North Korean nuclear threat and Chinas rising influence in the region. Mori also held separate talks with Sherman where they agreed to maintain and strengthen sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine and work more closely to address challenges related to China, Japan's Foreign Ministry said. Jolting an old pattern of brinkmanship, North Korea has already set an annual record in ballistic launches through the first six months of 2022, firing 31 missiles over 18 test events, including its first demonstrations of intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017. The unusually fast pace in testing activity underscores authoritarian leader Kim Jong Uns dual intent to advance his arsenal and pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled negotiations aimed at leveraging its nukes for economic and security concessions, experts say. Shermans visit to Asia came after North Korea in its biggest-ever single-day testing event launched eight ballistic missiles into the sea from multiple locations on Sunday, prompting the U.S. and its Asian allies to respond with tit-for-tat missile launches and aerial demonstrations involving dozens of fighter jets. A nuclear test would further escalate North Koreas pressure campaign and could possibly allow the country to claim it acquired the technologies to build a bomb small enough to be clustered on a multi-warhead ICBM or on Kims broad range of shorter-range weapons threatening South Korea and Japan. South Korean and U.S. officials have said the North has all but finished preparations for a detonation at its nuclear testing ground in the remote northeastern town of Punggye-ri, an assessment backed by the International Atomic Energy, which says there are indications that one of the sites passages has been reopened. The site had been inactive since hosting the countrys sixth nuclear test in September 2017, when it claimed it detonated a thermonuclear bomb designed for its ICBMs. North Korea will likely time the test to maximize political effect and some analysts say it could take place around a major conference of the ruling Workers Party that has been vaguely scheduled for the first half of June. North Koreas state media said Wednesday that Politburo members met a day earlier to discuss the agenda for an upcoming plenary meeting of the partys Central Committee that has been called by Kim to review major state affairs, including national efforts to slow a COVID-19 outbreak. He may also use the meeting to address his nuclear weapons ambitions and external relations with Washington and Seoul, experts say. Kims absence from Tuesdays preparatory meeting suggests that hes focused on supervising preparations for North Koreas seventh nuclear test and drafting his speeches for the plenary, said analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at South Koreas Sejong Institute. The North Korean partys previous plenary in December lasted for a record five days and saw Kim repeat his vow to boost his countrys military capabilities and order the production of more powerful and sophisticated weapons systems. Nuclear talks between the U.S. and North Korea have stalled since 2019 because of disagreements over an easing of crippling U.S.-led sanctions in exchange for North Korean disarmament steps, which underscored Kim's unwillingness to give away an arsenal he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival. ___ Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to the report. These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales. Researchers are trying to find out why suicide rates have historically been higher among young people on Guam with the average age of youth suicide attempts and cases now at about 13 years old. KristiAnna Whitman, who manages Guams Youth Suicide Prevention Grant for the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center, said researchers are hoping to explain the trend with the help of an upcoming project this fall that will collect data and stories from young people who have attempted suicide or had suicidal thoughts. A 2020 suicide report by the Guam State Epidemiological Outcome Working Group found that, from 2010 to 2020, just under half of all suicide deaths on island were among people under the age of 30, with 14% of all suicides occurring among youth between the ages 10 and 19 years old. Almost one in four high school students reported seriously considering a suicide attempt in 2019, and one in six made an attempt, according to the report. In the U.S., suicide is highest among older adults. Guam rates Guam already has some of the highest suicide rates overall, at 30 per 100,000 in 2020, data from the report shows. Wyoming, the highest in the nation according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data, reported a rate of 30.5. But statistics cant tell the whole story, Whitman said. We just have numbers, we dont really have those qualitative data to support why younger people are engaging in these acts or are having more suicidal thoughts. A licensed counselor and native CHamoru, Whitman said one guess at the cause was an increased sense of pressure that young people feel to not disappoint their families in a multicultural community that strongly values familial bonds. The CHamoru and Chuukese communities had the highest suicide rates in 2020, both over the national average, the 2020 report shows. Filipinos on Guam also have led the suicide rate at certain times over the last decade. Family That familial connection really helps us as a community, but it can also create some challenges, Whitman said. Some might be too proud to ask for help while experiencing mental health issues, while others might feel an increased sense of shame, she said. Shame thats associated with maybe doing something wrong, or letting your family down or not being able to provide. Those in the LGBTQ community also face higher risk factors on island, she said. The coming out process can be very isolating if you are even coming out. Mental health pandemic Behavioral Health psychologist Mary Fergurgur last month said that younger kids were being affected by the pandemic with more middle school and elementary students attempting suicide including an 8-year-old child this year. The average age of youth suicide attempts and cases is now about 13 years old, she said. With more children returning to school, more information about the challenges that kids are facing will be available as the Guam Department of Education reports them to Behavioral Health, Whitman said. Many kids had spent time at home through the lockdowns and returning to school settings could be difficult, she explained. I think that the isolation is going to be a big thing, even just adjusting to in-person levels of communication is going to be challenging, she said. Young people having class virtually, and being on social media also was a concern, Whitman said. Youre more aware of some of the things that are going on, maybe you have more access to things that are stressful, you know, or, spaces that arent healthy ... or arent positive. Kids that were already experiencing disparities or having difficulty at home also could have had increased stressors through the uncertainty of the pandemic. But Whitman stressed that the extent of the long-term mental health impact wasnt clear yet. Guam dealt with 40 suicides in 2020 about one every nine days, data shows. But with the island having such a high rate of suicide already, the number of deaths during the pandemic years wasnt as historically high as 2016 and 2018 both of which had higher suicide rates. Data isnt final for 2021 yet, but a preliminary April report from the Department of Public Health and Social Services shows 23 suicides occurred last year. Were never at the right point, unless we have zero, Whitman said, but added that the long-term effects of COVID cant be predicted yet. A lot of people want to kind of create a story or narrative about the pandemic and how COVID impacted mental health or suicide rates. But we really cant tell that story until we see the more complete picture. Communication In the meantime, open lines of communication, knowledge of where to get help, and involvement in community and school programs were important ways that parents could seek to help their childrens mental health, she said. The Behavioral Health 24-hour crisis hotline number is 671-647-8833/8834. Its anonymous, and anyone can call to set up an appointment, ask questions, or just talk. Editor's note: A previous version of this story stated that Guam's Filipino community's flag raising event was held Saturday. This has been corrected. Guams Filipino communitys Mabuhay pride in their culture and heritage remains strong, as they proudly raised the national flag of the Philippines on Sunday in celebration of 124 years of the countrys independence. We have a long history with Guam. Whether its in culture, business, in the social area of cooperation and friendship, the bonds between Guam and the Philippines are exceptionally strong, said Philippine Consulate General Patrick John Hilado. It makes sense for us to celebrate our independence with our friends. In partnership with the Guam Reef Hotel, the Filipino Community of Guam and the Consulate General of the Philippines hosted the annual flag-raising ceremony. It was the first in-person flag-raising event held in two years on Sunday at the Rica and Rico Restaurant at the Tumon hotel. Remember, celebrate Members from various Filipino organizations and partners joined together to remember the Philippines history and to celebrate the shared cultural connections of Guams Filipino community and all they have contributed to the growth and development of the island. Were bound, we are cousins, we were relatives since Spanish times Certain points during that colonization and significantly after World War II, it was the Filipino people that came to Guam with the United States to help rebuild the island, said Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio. In all of the waves of economic expansion on Guam, Filipinos have played a very key critical role. Melting pot Sen. Joe San Agustin agreed with Tenorio, adding that CHamorus share many significant connections, both historical and familial. Guam is a melting pot and most of us here, including myself, have heritage with the Philippines, said San Agustin, who noted that even as Guam pursues issues of self-determination, the community must maintain respect and honor for the Filipino community. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, as of 2020, Filipinos accounted for approximately 26.3% of the community second only to CHamorus, as the largest ethnicity on island. One of the biggest contributions Tenorio acknowledged and credited to the Filipino community was their work in the medical field especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Embrace I believe that our generation and people should at least have the basic knowledge of Philippine independence and to embrace where we came from ... and embrace where our ancestors and parents came from, said Trixie Naholowaa-Torres, a member of the Ilocanos Association of Guam. We have celebrities like Vanessa Hudgens, Shay Mitchell and others who have acknowledged theyre Filipino in the media models for our generation. I just love being able to have pride for this day and of course, being on Guam ... its important to remember that we are also part of this community and being Filipino strengthens that even more. As Filipinos continue to come and build their lives on the island, Consul General Hilado has hope that Filipino pride and knowledge will continue into the future. Filipinos are also doing their share, stepping up, assuming greater responsibilities not just in their work or their line of profession, but also in community organizations, Hilado said. I think its a very good sign that we have a generation of Filipino Guamanians and Filipino Americans who have a mixture of both Guam and the Philippines in their hearts. I think these are the building blocks which we can further strengthen. A man faces multiple assault charges, including family violence as a third-degree felony with a special allegation of possession or use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony. Charging documents state that just after 1 a.m. Thursday, officers from the Guam Police Department responded to an assault complaint at a Dededo residence. When police arrived on the scene, they found a woman with blood on her hands and face, sitting on a bench outside the residence. The woman suffered a puncture wound to her leg after a man known to her lunged at her with a knife, according to a magistrates complaint filed Saturday in the Superior Court of Guam. The woman told police that M-One Masaichy was drunk and began arguing with her when he pulled out a knife from his pants and yelled, Do you want me to stab you? The woman told authorities she grabbed Masaichys hands as he lunged at her with the knife, causing the knife to puncture her thigh. Masaichy struck the womans face and head while yelling profanities, court documents state. GPD officers were unable to locate the defendant at the time they responded to the incident at the Dededo residence. Saturday arrest Just before 8:30 a.m. Saturday, police responded to an assault complaint at the Mangilao Solar Farm where a man reported getting into an argument with Masaichy. Masaichy approached the man with a shovel and used two hands to swing the shovel at him, striking the right side of the mans hard hat, the complaint stated. Masaichy told police he did not swing the shovel and that he only tapped the mans hard hat, and that he had no intention of hurting the man. Masaichy was charged Saturday in the Superior Court of Guam with the following: Family violence as a third-degree felony with a special allegation of possession or use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony. Aggravated assault as a third-degree felony with a special allegation of possession or use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony. Assault as a misdemeanor. Previous charges Masaichy, in 2018, was charged with robbery as a third-degree felony after Masaichy grabbed a womans cell phone, which was hanging from a lanyard around her neck, according to Pacific Daily News files. He was 26 years old at the time of the incident, which occurred at the Guam Premier Outlets. Haiti - 9th Summit of the Americas : The Minister of Commerce praises the digital economy Ricardin Saint-Jean, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, during his speech at the 9th Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, emphasized the digital economy (public and community networks, electronic commerce, etc...) which represents according to him, a boon, in terms of integration into the world economy: "The digital economy opens up unexpected and unequaled prospects in terms of integration for countries with extremely limited resources," said Minister Saint-Jean at the podium of this Summit, emphasizing "the digital economy represents a large part of the added value, created with a much greater contribution to growth than that of certain traditional sectors." He indicated that a major project is open with great possibilities, not only to make up for the significant delay, but also and above all to make qualitative leaps towards integration into the world economy. He believes that all countries can benefit from this digital economy if they agree, together, to reduce the production gap very often linked to the level of learning, the challenges of illiteracy and the lack of infrastructure. To show Haiti's involvement in this new economy, Ricardin Saint-Jean indicated that from the design and implementation of the "Strategic Plan for the Development of Haiti, emerging country by 2030", the emphasis was focuses on the expansion of communications and the digital network of the territory "[...] This phase specifically plans to increase the connectivity of the territory, to develop public and community uses and services, to set up a network of multimedia centers and support the production and distribution of national content. An orientation that was driven by the Haitian public authorities and favorably received by the actors of the Civil Society." HL/ HaitiLibre U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, has called on Texas opinion leaders and captains of industry to take a firm and definite stand against gun violence. A lack of will to pass sensible gun safety laws is a great American failure, Green said. We cannot continue to allow children to be slaughtered in schools. According to the CDC, Texas had the most gun-related deaths of all 50 states, that is 4,146 deaths and it needs to stop now. Green made his remarks at a news conference this week, during which he once again addressed Houstons business leaders. He entreated the Houston Partnership in particular to speak out, stating it was time to channel anger into something productive. The gun industry should not be given a free pass, Green said. We've seen advertisements appealing to children. If you appeal to children with legality, then something ought to be available as a remedy. The tragic school shooting in Uvalde, so close on the heels of the supermarket mass shooting in Buffalo, has Texas Democrats pressing lawmakers to enact gun control measures. Green shared his legislative priorities, which include: Requiring a waiting period prior to the purchase of a weapon with some exceptions. The banning of bump stocks. The repeal of special immunity from liability laws enjoyed by the gun industry. Requiring licensing before the purchase of a firearm with training to include anger management and dispute resolution, as well as safe storage methods. The funding of a national summer youth job program with a dispute resolution and anger management component. Fully funding gun violence prevention research through the CDC. Closing the gun show loophole which allows a person to purchase a weapon from an unlicensed seller at a gun show without a background check. I'm very clear as to the actions that I will take, but it's not enough, Green said. We need the influentials. Just imagine if the members of the Houston Partnership, these captains of industry, if they had a press conference to announce their position. It is time to let people know where you stand, especially conservatives who have influence with the political order At some point silence becomes betrayal, and the ultimate form of betrayal is to do nothing. The city of Houston, in partnership with Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis office will launch a gun buyback program in July. It is our collective responsibility to embrace solutions which help to save lives, Green said. This is about more than politics, it is about the life and death of our children. Influentials of goodwill need to take a public stand against do-nothing politics. juhi.varma@hcnonline.com COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) Sri Lanka may be compelled to buy more oil from Russia as the island nation hunts desperately for fuel amid an unprecedented economic crisis, the newly appointed prime minister said. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would first look to other sources, but would be open to buying more crude from Moscow. Western nations largely have cut off energy imports from Russia in line with sanctions over its war on Ukraine. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Wickremesinghe also indicated he would be willing to accept more financial help from China, despite his countrys mounting debt. And while he acknowledged that Sri Lankas current predicament is of its own making, he said the war in Ukraine is making it even worse and that dire food shortages could continue until 2024. He said Russia had also offered wheat to Sri Lanka. Wickremesinghe, who is also Sri Lankas finance minister, spoke to the AP in his office in the capital, Colombo, one day shy of a month after he took over for a sixth time as prime minister. Appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resolve an economic crisis that has nearly emptied the countrys foreign exchange reserves, Wickremesinghe was sworn in after days of violent protests last month forced his predecessor, Rajapaksas brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, to step down and seek safety from angry crowds at a naval base. Sri Lanka has amassed $51 billion in foreign debt, but has suspended repayment of nearly $7 billion due this year. The crushing debt has left the country with no money for basic imports, which means citizens are struggling to access basic necessities such as food, fuel, medicine even toilet paper and matches. The shortages have spawned rolling power outages, and people have been forced to wait days for cooking gas and gasoline in lines that stretch for kilometers (miles). Two weeks ago, the country bought a 90,000-metric-ton (99,000-ton) shipment of Russian crude to restart its only refinery, the energy minister told reporters. Wickremesinghe did not comment directly on those reports, and said he did not know whether more orders were in the pipeline. But he said Sri Lanka desperately needs fuel, and is currently trying to get oil and coal from the countrys traditional suppliers in the Middle East. If we can get from any other sources, we will get from there. Otherwise (we) may have to go to Russia again, he said. Officials are negotiating with private suppliers, but Wickremesinghe said one issue they face is that there is a lot of oil going around which can be sourced back informally to Iran or to Russia. Sometimes we may not know what oil we are buying, he said. Certainly we are looking at the Gulf as our main supply. Since Russias invasion of Ukraine in late February, global oil prices have skyrocketed. While Washington and its allies are trying to cut financial flows supporting Moscows war effort, Russia is offering its crude at a steep discount, making it extremely enticing to a number of countries. Like some other South Asian nations, Sri Lanka has remained neutral on the war in Europe. Sri Lanka has received and continues to reach out to numerous countries for help including the most controversial, China, currently the countrys third-largest creditor. Opposition figures have accused the president and the former prime minister of taking on a slew of Chinese loans for splashy infrastructure projects that have since failed to generate profit, instead adding to the countrys debt. Critics have also pointed to a beleaguered port in the hometown of then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Hambantota, built along with a nearby airport as part of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative projects, saying they cost too much and do too little for the economy. We need to identify what are the projects that we need for economic recovery and take loans for those projects, whether it be from China or from others, Wickremesinghe said. Its a question of where do we deploy the resources? The prime minister said his government has been talking with China about restructuring its debts. Beijing had earlier offered to lend the country more money but balked at cutting the debt, possibly out of concern that other borrowers would demand the same relief. China has agreed to come in with the other countries to give relief to Sri Lanka, which is a first step, Wickremesinghe said. This means they all have to agree (on) how the cuts are to take place and in what manner they should take place. Sri Lanka is also seeking financial assistance from the World Food Program, which may send a team to the country soon, and Wickremesinghe is banking on a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund. But even if approved, he doesnt expect to see money from the package until October onwards. Wickremesinghe acknowledged that the crisis in Sri Lanka has been of its own making. Many have blamed government mismanagement, deep tax cuts in 2019, policy blunders that devastated crops and a sharp plunge in tourism due to the coronavirus pandemic. But he also stressed that the war in Ukraine, which has thrown global supply chains into a tailspin and pushed fuel and food prices to unaffordable levels, has made things much worse. The Ukraine crisis has impacted our ... economic contraction, he said, adding that he thinks the economy will shrink even further before the country can begin to recoup and rebuild next year. I think by the end of the year, you could see the impact in other countries as well, he said. There is a global shortage of food. Countries are not exporting food. In Sri Lanka, the price of vegetables has jumped threefold while the countrys rice cultivation is down by about a third, the prime minister said. The shortages have affected both the poor and the middle classes, triggering months of protests. Mothers are struggling to get milk to feed their babies, as fears of a looming hunger crisis grow. Wickremesinghe said he felt terrible watching his nation suffer, both as a citizen and a prime minister. He said he hasnt ever seen anything like this in Sri Lanka and didnt think he ever would. I have generally been in governments where I ensured people had three meals and their income increased, he said. Weve had difficult times. ... But not like this. I have not seen ... people without fuel, without food. ___ Associated Press writers Bharatha Mallawarachi and Krishan Francis contributed to this report. OnScene TV A man was found dead after being shot Sunday in southwest Houston. Houston police responded to reports of a person laying in the street about 3:15 a.m. and found the man unresponsive with at least one gunshot wound in the 15500 block of Fondren, according to Houston Police Sgt. Michael Hroch. A teenager was killed in a shooting Saturday night in South Park. The 18-year-old was leaving a corner store at 5020 Doolittle Blvd. when a black sedan started following him in the 7300 block of Guadalcanal and opened fire, according to Houston Police Lt. Ignacio Izaguirre. HOUSTON CRIME: Man found fatally shot, laying in the street in southwest Houston, police report The teen kept running after he was shot but collapsed on Guadalcanal, Izaguirre said. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he died. The Houston Police Department is investigating the shooting. Two people were killed Saturday in a crash during a street race in northeast Houston. The driver of a black pickup truck was racing a red Chevrolet Corvette at extremely high speeds about 10:10 p.m. in 11000 block of Homestead Road when the Corvette struck the truck, police said. The impact caused the truck to leave the road and strike several trees. The truck caught fire, killing the man and woman inside, according to Houston Police Sgt. David Rose. Police on Monday identified the man as being 34 and the woman as being 32. The Corvette driver did not stop to help, police said, and parked at a nearby residence. Police interviewed the owner. No charges are being filed at this time, police said, adding that investigators consulted with the Harris County District Attorney's Office. The crash remains under investigation. Eight Texans were among 31 people affiliated with a white nationalist group arrested Saturday in Idaho after police there found them packed in a U-Haul truck apparently heading to a Pride celebration with riot gear and at least one smoke grenade, authorities said. The alleged members of Patriot Front which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a white nationalist hate group were arrested just before 2 p.m. in Coeur dAlene, a north Idaho city about 33 miles east of Spokane, after a person called police saying they saw some 20 people jump into a truck wearing masks and carrying shields, looking like a little Army. Police stopped the truck about 10 minutes later and arrested the 31 individuals, who appear to be affiliated with the group Patriot Front, White said, citing logos on their hats, similar outfits, insignia and at least one patch that said Patriot Front. Among the people arrested were eight Texans, including a Conroe man, 22-year-old Robert Whitted, and Patriot Fronts founder, Thomas Rousseau. Rousseau and six others live in the North Texas area. They are: Josiah Buster, 24; Connor Moran, 23; Kieran Morris, 27; Steven Tucker, 30; Tommy Walker Jr., 24; and Graham Whitsom, 31. All 31 suspects were charged with criminal conspiracy, according to the Kootenai, Idaho, County sheriff's office, and held on $300 bond. The others arrested were residents of Utah, Idaho, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Arkansas, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon and Virginia, the citys police Chief Lee White said. On HoustonChronicle.com: Katy brothers accused in Capitol riot of throwing flagpole, large objects at police Jan. 6 I dont think this would have been as successful had we not had one extremely astute citizen who saw something that was very concerning to them and reported it to us, White said at a news conference. It is clear to us based on the gear that the individuals had with them the stuff they had in their possession and in the U-Haul with them along with paperwork that was seized from them that they came to riot downtown. There was a Pride celebration scheduled to occur in the citys downtown, according to a flier online. Local media in north Idaho reported the group was headed to the festival. Lawmakers and governors like DeSantis and Abbott, along with their co-conspirators at Fox News, better pause today and recognize that their anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and the nearly 250 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced this year are responsible for this dangerous climate, said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of the LGBTQ advocacy group, GLAAD. Ellis also urged social media platforms to stop fueling the hate and misinformation that inspire white supremacist groups like the Patriot Front, noting that Sunday marked the sixth anniversary of the Pulse massacre, when a lone gunman killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. This group was stopped this weekend in Idaho before violence occurred thanks to the critical work of local authorities, but we might not be so lucky the next time one of the growing number of groups like this plan to swarm a LGBTQ location, Ellis said. On HoustonChronicle.com: Heights becomes latest neighborhood to be littered with racist flyers SPLC, the civil rights organization, said Rousseau grew up in the Dallas area and founded Patriot Front in 2017 after leaving a different racist group, Vanguard America. Members of Patriot Front besieged Houston anarchists in 2017 at a book fair, lighting flares and chanting outside of a building, according to SPLC. A report from the Anti-Defamation League that year found Patriot Front members were ramping up activity across Texas, distributing racist or anti-Semitic fliers on college campuses across the country and protesting in Dallas and at the University of Texas that fall. alejandro.serrano@chron.com FORT HOOD The order came directly from a general. Gary Pasley, his partner, David Stidham, and a small team of soldiers had just 19 days to repaint 49 pieces of military equipment ranging from Humvees to medium tactical vehicles. It was a rush job, requiring the two civil service workers to toil over a weekend, but the color itself suggested something important. The GIs washed the vehicles and equipment so Pasley and Stidham could paint them a dull green, covering the familiar desert tan. That prompted Pasley, 44, an Iraq War veteran, to speculate that the Armys priorities were shifting away from the Middle East and Afghanistan. Im pretty sure that were downsizing from that region of the world and kind of focused on our efforts elsewhere, so I would say the vehicle (color) might be terrain appropriate, Pasley said. Just where the new focus might be, neither he nor the Army could say. After 20 years of fighting wars in vehicles painted to match the desert, Fort Hood now has a relative handful of vehicles made over with a basic olive drab the Army calls it woodland green that can serve as the primer for a common camouflage pattern standardized for each vehicle type. As yet, no camo has been applied. The vehicles are those of Fort Hoods 13th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, which issued a brief statement saying the action signals a switch in readiness from fighting in arid places like the Middle East to fighting in more verdant regions. Verdant as in green, with grass or other rich vegetation. Though the Army didnt elaborate, that could be islands in the Pacific or forests in Europe. The Marines have recently conducted field training in Norway. The 13th ESCs commander said in an interview that the order was part of building field craft among soldiers, whether theyre training to fight in Europe, as the 1st Cavalry Division is now pegged to, or with the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, where the 4th Infantry Division, formerly at Fort Hood but now at Fort Carson, Colo., would be deployed under current war plans. Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer Fort Hood has long been home to first-to-fight divisions and houses the Armys III Corps. For me, it was an easy solution because Im a smaller-scale unit and its easier to do at a smaller scale. I cant do it with the thousands of vehicles that are across the corps, Brig. Gen. Ronald Ragin said. So whether thats green camouflage nets, whether its green vehicles, green equipment, just getting back to that good field craft that we have as an Army that was a focus of that project. And the soldiers are actually out in the field right now for the next two weeks practicing that field craft, he added. How do we keep a lower signature, implement both passive and active defense measures, and really get back to doing basic things to a high standard? The last time the Army painted its vehicles, the shift in priorities and location was readily apparent. The United States went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq with multiple divisions, hundreds of thousands of troops. Two divisions at Fort Hood, the 1st Cavalry and 4th Infantry, deployed to Iraq three times, the last of those soldiers not coming home until the U.S. withdrew in 2011. The new paint job this time is only slightly less subtle, part of the Pentagons move away from counterinsurgency warfare and a return to what some call great power conflicts that could involve China and Russia. If it feels like the old Cold War to those of a certain age, well, it should. In Europe, Russias invasion of Ukraine has united allies there unlike anything since the Berlin Airlift, which began 74 years ago this month. A rising, increasingly belligerent China has claimed international waters as its own, frequently probes Taiwans airspace with its warplanes and occasionally threatens to invade and conquer it. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said China boasts 2 million troops, almost half of them in ground combat units, plus the worlds largest navy and the largest air force in the Indo-Pacific. It has embarked on a significant expansion of its nuclear arsenal and is improving its missiles and precision weapons. China can destroy American satellites in space as well as strike U.S. forces based in Japan and Guam. President Joe Biden last month vowed to defend Taiwan militarily if it came to that, a calculated departure from Washingtons long-established strategic ambiguity over how the U.S. would react to an invasion. The Taiwan Foreign Relations Act commits the U.S. to provide military equipment but does not require the intervention of its armed forces into a war launched by China though the possibility of it always remained an option Beijing had to consider, said retired Gen. Ronald Fogleman, a former Air Force chief of staff. That was always left open, said Fogleman, who noted that Biden has put the policy people in a bind by his comments. Weve sold (Taiwan) equipment over the years, and then theres another whole line of thought that says, how do you keep somebody like China from attacking somebody like Taiwan or somebody like Russia from attacking somebody like Ukraine? Because you dont wait until they marshal the forces and they start loading landing craft. You try to make Taiwan as tough a nut as you can by giving them the kinds of equipment firepower that negates or will embarrass the Chinese as they try to do this. Michael Green, senior vice president for Asia and Japan with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said relations between the U.S. and China have reached their lowest point since the late 1960s, when they didnt even have diplomatic ties. Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer Im not predicting war with China, I just think that the political risk of incidents and crises damaging supply chains is real, he said. All-out war is still very remote, but the geopolitical competition getting worse, Id almost bet on it. The risks are in fact worsening, he and others believe, though retired Marine Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper, who once headed the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, warned that rumors of war have been around for 25 years and risk being a self-fulfilling prophecy. We keep talking about it, he said. Pretty soon were going to talk ourselves into it. At least three successive administrations have expressed concerns about an expansionist China, starting with President Barack Obama, who unveiled the Pentagons Pacific pivot in 2011. Called a rebalance of forces by the Pentagon, it got off to a slow start under a pair of distractions the difficulty of withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan and the expansionist turn by Russia, beginning with its invasion of Georgia in 2008 and its annexation of Crimea in 2014. The policy change gained steam under President Donald Trump and continues under Biden, who has threatened to extend his hard line on Ukraine to China if it supports Vladimir Putin. Green, who headed Asia policy on the National Security Council under President George W. Bush, describes China as the pacing threat, a term Fogleman and other generals, experts and members of Congress also use to rank it as the highest-priority challenge facing the U.S. They and others worry about Chinese technological advances and believe that a Pacific war would be the principal preserve of the Air Force and Navy. When you start to look at the weapons theyre developing and the ranges that theyve got, youre not going to have to have Marines and GIs assaulting beaches to rack up your casualties, said Fogleman, a former deputy commander of U.S. Forces Korea and commander of its air component. F. Whitten Peters, a former Air Force secretary who served in the Navy, agreed, saying any war with China would principally involve missiles, planes, cyber and submarines, because of the distances involved. But Van Riper dismisses the notion that precision munitions and long-range fire can win wars. He reminds people of San Antonio historian T.R. Fehrenbachs admonition in his book This Kind of War, a critical examination of the Korean conflict. Americans in 1950 rediscovered something that since Hiroshima they had forgotten: You may fly over a land forever; you may bomb it, atomize it, pulverize it and wipe it clean of life but if you desire to defend it, protect it and keep it for civilization, you must do this on the ground, the way the Roman legions did, by putting your young men into the mud, Fehrenbach wrote. Van Riper, a company commander in Vietnam who later led the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, N.C., said policymakers have to distinguish between war as these folks want it to be (and) war as it is in reality. Its a dirty, nasty business, he said. The American military needs every bit of technology the country can produce and afford. Its just this expectation that theres a magic bullet that will be war-winning is pure nonsense. All agree the Army has a role to play, particularly with air defense systems. The Army has two major missile systems, the MIM-104 Patriot, a surface-to-air missile, and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, which can intercept incoming ballistic missiles. Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer Wormuth, speaking to the Center for Strategic and International Studies late last year, checked off a list of things the Army could do. It has strong bonds with allies in the region that include Thailand, the Philippines and Australia and could serve as Americas linchpin service in the region standing up and defending bases with integrated air and sea defenses, secure communications, supply and refueling. The Army, with a substantial planning and operations capacity at the division and the corps level, is uniquely well-placed to provide command and control for the joint force, Wormuth said, adding that the U.S. is at a strategic crossroads in a competition with far-reaching consequences. Neither Army officials in the Pentagon nor those at Fort Hood spoke in any global detail when discussing why tactical vehicles and equipment were getting a new coat of paint. The III Corps commander, Lt. Gen. Pat White, said the Army has a core mission in the Pacific but nodded in Fehrenbachs direction when mentioning some common elements of training. In the Indo-Pacific you can own the air, you can own the sea, but in the end, if you dont own the land youre not a winner, he said. So thats kind of where the Army comes into play for anything thats going to happen in the Indo-Pacific, and it could be China, right, or it could be somebody else. But the fundamentals of how we train in our combined arms fashion dont change whether were in Europe, CENTCOM or the Indo-Pacific. Retired Air Force Gen. Gregory Speedy Martin suggested the new color scheme might be about changing soldiers mindsets. I think what the Army is trying to do it may be subtle to some theyre trying to get peoples minds off of the desert environment and into the more likely environments where were going to face a potential adversary, he said. When Gen. Charles Q. Brown became the Air Forces current chief of staff, his first statement was to point out that weve got to accelerate, change or lose, and one of the things we have to do is we have to do actual combat deployment, Martin noted. What agile combat deployment means is weve got to have an opportunity to use many more runways than we currently use in the Pacific region. Otherwise, those fat, juicy targets get eliminated and so does all of our capability. Green, the one-time Bush administration Asia policy chief for the National Security Council, gave high marks to the Biden administration for strengthening regional alliances in the Pacific. The Japanese have agreed to double their defense spending. The U.S., Australia and Great Britain last year agreed to furnish Canberra with nuclear-powered submarines. The Washington-based Arms Control Association said the deal would make Australia the first nonnuclear weapons state to field a nuclear-powered submarine as part of the new trilateral alliance, called AUKUS. Its the future. Its not some backwater. Its the future of geopolitics and American prosperity, Green said. sigc@express-news.net In the absence of political action to reduce gun violence, heres one thing you can do today to reduce the risk in your community: oust guns from your workplace and the parking lots at work. With very few exceptions, employers nationwide have the absolute right to ban guns in the workplace, though some states require employers to post specific signs to ban guns. The overwhelming majority of states do not require employers to allow guns into their workplaces if the employers dont want guns there. These employers can ban all guns, regardless of who is bringing them: employees, independent contractors, customers, guests, business partners anyone. Not only can the employers ban open carry of weapons at work, they can also ban concealed carry of weapons. Therefore, even if the gun owner can lawfully carry a concealed weapon outside the workplace, these employers can prohibit them from doing so at work. The Second Amendment does not change this conclusion. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the Second Amendment as protecting the right to own a gun in ones home for self-defense, it only prohibits governments, not private employers, from infringing on certain rights related to gun ownership. Plus, the Supreme Court has never interpreted the Second Amendment to force business owners to let gun owners bring guns to work. Things get a bit more complicated when it comes to parking lots at work. Roughly half the states maintain so-called bring your guns to work laws which prohibit employers from keeping guns out of their parking lots. In Texas, for example, state law bars employers from restricting employees who lawfully possess guns or ammo from keeping those items in a locked car at work. However, a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision may have rendered these bring your guns to work laws unconstitutional. In Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, the Supreme Court struck down California regulations guaranteeing union organizers access to agricultural employers premises (that is, their farms and fields) for the purpose of organizing employees. It reasoned that these regulations, by taking away the landowners right to exclude people from their property, amounted to an unconstitutional taking of private property without just compensation in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Bring your guns to work laws do the same thing. If the Constitution prohibits the government from requiring private property owners to allow someone or something onto their property without compensation, it should apply to both union organizers and guns. Moreover, Hassid undermines the arguments that lower courts had used to uphold bring your guns to work laws constitutionality. Specifically, that the state isnt taking property; its just regulating property use. Armed with this knowledge, go to work tomorrow and ask your HR department: Do our policies explicitly ban guns at work? If not, shouldnt they, and what do we need to do to ban guns in our workplace? For those who are really bold, go to the next level: If our state forces private employers to let guns onto their property against their will, are we willing to ban guns in our parking lot anyway, risk a state investigation and potential fines, and consider challenging the states unconstitutional actions in court? You may get pushback. Employers may be wary of politicizing the recent tragedies or alienating certain coworkers. They may argue that enforcing gun bans at work and in parking lots would be difficult, if not impossible. They may argue that such policies wouldnt stop someone from going home, grabbing a gun, and coming back to work to kill people. True. But these policies also may save lives. Workplace violence is on the rise. We have seen story after story of disgruntled workers retrieving a gun from their car and shooting their coworkers and others, sometimes leading to multiple casualties. This reality, coupled with the need for action in the wake of the Uvalde and Buffalo tragedies, compels us to do everything in our power to make communal spaces like our schools, grocery stores and workplaces safer from the threat of mass shootings. Ryan H. Nelson is an assistant professor of law at South Texas College of Law Houston. WASHINGTON A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including John Cornyn of Texas, rolled out a deal on Sunday to strengthen the nations gun laws by bolstering background checks, requiring greater scrutiny of young buyers and closing the so-called boyfriend loophole after a mass shooting killed 21 at an elementary school in Uvalde last month. The deal which seems to have the support of the 10 Republicans needed to get it through an evenly divided Senate also includes billions in funding for mental health services and school safety measures. Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities, the group wrote in its announcement of the agreement. Our plan saves lives while also protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans. I DONT WANT IT TO HAPPEN AGAIN: Uvalde student who hid during shooting testifies to Congress The proposal offers the first glimpse of gun laws that could pass after an 18-year-old gunman killed 21 people, including 19 children, in Uvalde, sparking new cries for restrictions on firearms. It does not go as far as recent legislation that passed the House to raise the age to purchase firearms and ban high capacity magazines. But the Senate bill boasts GOP support that the House measures failed to gain. Gun safety advocates applauded the proposal. In a less broken society, we would be able to require background checks every single time someone wants to buy a gun, and we would ban assault rifles outright, said David Hogg, co-founder of March For Our Lives, which held demonstrations in cities across the country Saturday. But if even one life is saved or one attempted mass shooting is prevented because of these regulations, we believe that it is worth fighting for. The Senate framework would not raise the age to buy guns, as some including parents of victims of the Uvalde shooting have urged in recent weeks. It would, however, establish an investigative period to review juvenile and mental health records of gun buyers under 21. Cornyn, who led negotiations for the GOP, said such a review might have caught the gunman in Uvalde. Enhanced background check of juvenile court, police, and mental health records likely would have disclosed what everyone in the community knew. The shooter was a ticking time bomb, Cornyn tweeted. The deal would also close the so-called boyfriend loophole that allows those with a history of dating violence to sometimes legally purchase firearms. The agreement says convicted domestic violence abusers and individuals subject to domestic violence restraining orders are included in the nations background check system, including those who have or have had a continuing relationship of a romantic or intimate nature. And while it would not establish federal red flag laws to allow law enforcement to confiscate guns from those who may pose a threat to themselves or others, it would offer funding for states to create their own. It also creates the first federal law against gun trafficking and straw purchases, in which a buyer purchases a gun for someone else. And the deal would clarify who has to register as a licensed gun dealer in an effort to make sure all commercial sellers are conducting background checks. U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who led negotiations, said Sunday that drafting the bill and passing it will not be easy, but we can get this done. Will this bill do everything we need to end our nations gun violence epidemic? No, Murphy tweeted. But its real, meaningful progress. And it breaks a 30 year log jam, demonstrating that Democrats and Republicans can work together in a way that truly saves lives. Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox The agreement comes as Congress has been under intense pressure to pass firearm legislation. Members of the Uvalde community, including an 11-year-old survivor of the shooting and parents of a 10-year-old victim, begged for lawmakers to act on gun laws in emotional, raw testimony before a House committee last week. The United States has more mass shootings than any country in the world, but Congress has not passed any wide-ranging rewrite of gun laws or universal background checks in recent years. Though public polling shows a vast majority of Americans back universal background checks for gun purchases, the polling is much less conclusive when Americans are asked whether the background checks would decrease the number of mass shootings or when they answer questions about specific legislation. The senate deal is the product of weeks of negotiating. Cornyn said last week that he was optimistic the group would craft something that could pass the chamber, even if it didnt deliver everything that advocates have pushed for. What is the test of that legislation? It is to me not whether it meets your ideological standard, Cornyn said. But its simply this: Will it save lives? If it will, it is worth all of our best efforts. ben.wermund@chron.com WFO SHREVEPORT Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, June 11, 2022 _____ HEAT ADVISORY URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Shreveport LA 144 PM CDT Sat Jun 11 2022 ...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING... ...HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM TO 7 PM CDT SUNDAY... * WHAT...For today's Heat Advisory, heat index values up to 107. For Sunday's Heat Advisory, heat index values up to 109 expected. * WHERE...Portions of north central and northwest Louisiana, southeast Oklahoma, southwest Arkansas and east and northeast Texas. * WHEN...For today's Heat Advisory, until 7 PM CDT this evening. For Sunday's Heat Advisory, from 9 AM to 7 PM CDT. * IMPACTS...Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses to occur. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. BAAMS To Open Music Academy in Heritage State Park NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The Berkshires' Academy for Advanced Musical Studies, Inc. (BAAMS) announced that it will open its doors at Building 6 in the Western Gateway Heritage State Park. BAAMS' Founder and Executive Director Richard Boulger, a North Adams native, said knowing the impact music can have on young peoples' lives, he is excited to share his knowledge with Berkshire County music students, in person. "This is the reason I came back home to the Berkshires after many years touring the world and living in New York City teaching thousands of children in some of its most underserved communities," Boulger said. "I have seen firsthand how music can directly transform a childs life it can change how they see themselves, how they communicate, and the direction of their life. Simply stated, learning to play music can change people's lives for the better." The nonprofit came into existence in 2019 and Boulger, a professional jazz trumpet player, planned to bring in a lineup of world-class jazz musicians to teach in the academy. The academy was originally slated to open in the former St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Adams. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the academy shifted online. Now, Boulger is happy to finally be able to offer in-person instruction in a permanent location. "With the exception of the Berkshires' Summer Jazz Band Day Camps in 2018, 2019, and 2020, we have been working with music students via our online learning platform eBAAMS," Boulger said. "Im delighted to say that we have survived a very challenging first two years. We're eagerly planning our in-person learning for our students and faculty." Mayor Jennifer Macksey, who Boulger said was instrumental in moving into Building 6, said she was excited to bring BAAMS to the city. "The City of North Adams and I are very excited to announce the Berkshires' Academy for Advanced Musical Studies will be the newest tenant of Heritage Park. BAAMS will provide inspiration and innovation in a space perfectly suited for music learning," Macksey said. "This expands the opportunities for music-education experiences for young people within our community and beyond." "The city looks forward to hearing the musical talents of BAAMS students showcased at Heritage Park," added Macksey. Boulger said BAAMS has recruited a diverse, world-class music faculty who are committed to sharing their experience and insights with students. He said all of the BAAMS faculty members are master instrumentalists, improvisers, composers, and educators who are also active touring and recording artists and collectively have won numerous Grammy awards. They've taught/teach at well-known music schools including The Berklee College of Music, The Julliard School, SUNY-Purchase Jazz Conservatory, The Hartt School of Music, University of Southern California, and more. "All of this will not only help area music students improve as instrumentalists, improvisers, and composers, but also enhances the contributions they make to their respective school music programs. Young BAAMS music students move forward with fresh musical insights, strategies, and ideas," Boulger explained. Boulger said alongside in-person instruction, BAAMS will offer remote live classes and work with faculty and students in Europe, South America, and from around the world. BAAMS is open to Berkshire County, and regional music students ages 12 to 18. They offer studies in saxophones/woodwinds, trumpet/brass, piano/keyboards, drums and percussion, bass, guitar, and voice. Students are introduced and study different styles of music including: Jazz, Rock, Funk, Latin, Electronica, Classical, World Music and more. This summer, the 4th Berkshires' Summer Jazz Band Day Camp is set for the new BAAMS' location at Building 6 from Aug 15-19. Families may sign up their young musicians here Those who want to lend financial support to BAAMS can donate here . Donations can also be mailed to 15 State Street, Building 6, North Adams, MA 01247 MCLA Arts and Culture Welcomes Sherwin Rio as Summer Artist Lab Resident NORTH ADAMS, Mass. MCLA Arts and Culture (MAC) will welcome interdisciplinary artist and researcher Sherwin Rio to campus this summer via MCLAs Artist Lab Residency program. Rio will join the MCLA community for the summer, creating a body of work that will culminate in a residency at MCLAs Gallery 51 on Main Street in North Adams. According to a press release, sherwin Rio (Brooklyn/San Francisco) is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher making site-specific and research-based metaphors addressing colonization, historical public amnesia, and intergenerational storytelling through a Filipinx-American lens in the fields of sculpture, installation, video, performance, and audio. At least two times a year, Artist Lab residents are invited to create work, share work, and in some cases teach courses at MCLA. The artist is provided housing and given a studio space in the Art Lab, next door to Gallery 51. In Art Lab, artists can conduct workshops, talks, and other types of programming they are interested in facilitating for the community. The MCLA Artist Lab (Laboratory) Residency was created to give MCLA students, and the North Adams community, access to accomplished artists from all over the world. The Artist Lab Residency is dedicated to supporting the creation, exhibition, criticism, and documentation of work by historically underrepresented artists. The artists invited to participate provide and advice for best navigating and understanding the art world. Artists are selected based on their practice, their contribution to the art world, and the way in which their career reflects the diversity of thought, talent and triumph that exists among artists striving to contribute to, and consequently expand, what is considered the art history canon. Students at Du Bois Regional Middle School had a walkout Friday to protest the lack of action against gun violence and shootings in schools. Du Bois Middle Schoolers: 'No More Silence, End Gun Violence' This was the second rally at the school and was sanctioned by school authorities. GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. Seventh- and eighth-grade students at W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School should be awaiting final grades for the school year and planning for summer. Instead, they have spent the last couple of weeks organizing to take a stand against gun violence. Two weeks ago, the students walked out of the school in response to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers. On Friday, they stood outside of the school with signs reading "Abolish the NRA," "Protect kids NOT guns," and "Our futures are more important than your guns." Disgusted by the senseless violence, they are calling for gun law reform. "This is my last full week of middle school this week and I should be just kind of like getting ready for the summer," student Mirabelle Meyers said. "But instead, I've spent it organizing a protest to stop the violence that is killing my peers across the nation and I think that it is horrible and that it's disgusting." Fellow classmate Sadie Honig-Briggs has mixed feelings about organizing on such a serious subject at the age of 14. "Its just sort of infuriating because we know that we've seen over the course of not that many years of living in this country that if we don't say anything, then nobody's actually going to do anything," she explained. "So it's very empowering to be able to do something like this but at the same time, it's scary because you know that even if you put in all this work and even if you get this many people we don't have the amount of power that the people in government have and so we need to show them, even if it's through just small-town actions, that we need change." Around 50 students attended the Friday protest, which was sanctioned by the school, to hear from peers and show solidarity for the cause. More than 450 rallies were expected to be held around the nation this weekend as part of the March for Our Lives Movement spearheaded by survivors of the 2018 Parkland, Fla., high school shooting. Thousands of protesters descended Saturday on Washington, D.C., where Congress has been trying to pass more stringent firearms regulations over Republican opposition. The names of those killed at Robb Elementary School last month were read followed by a moment of silence. It was pointed out that these are just a few of the many people who have died at the end of a gun in America this year. "In the year 2022 alone, there have been 27 school shootings. Every day, around 110 Americans are killed with guns. In 2022, so far, 155 children have been killed, and 563 teenagers have been killed," one student read. "The United States has a frighteningly high gun suicide rate: in 2022, there have been 10,560 gun-related suicides. The amount of U.S. mass shootings in 2022 is 252. Altogether, so far this year, the total amount of gun violence-related deaths is 19,079." Others spoke of the impact that gun violence has on whole families, expressing fears of siblings seeing a similar fate at school and witnessing parents being afraid to send their children to school. Editor's Note: X-energy is one of seven private companies Inc. identified that are driving development within seven key pathways to net zero--eliminating one ton of greenhouse gases for every ton emitted. HOW CAN A company that produces nuclear-fission reactors be on any list of greentech startups in the year 2022? Because X-energy is reinventing nuclear power, with fuel and reactors designed to neutralize both the risks and the traditional arguments against its use--giving nuclear energy, the generation of which emits no carbon dioxide, a chance to contribute far more to the nation's grid. Today, nuclear power supplies less than 20 percent of America's electricity, from typically old and hugely expensive plants. Fission starts when a radioactive trigger emits a neutron that strikes and splits a uranium atom, releasing three things. The first is energy, which the reactor harnesses. Second, fission products like barium or krypton, which make up the reactor's waste. And finally, more neutrons, which go on to split more uranium, kicking off the chain reaction. The standard design for housing this process hasn't changed much in more than 40 years and carries the dreaded (though highly unlikely) risk of meltdown, which happens when the cooling system, for whatever reason, can't contain the energy unleashed by the chain reaction. Traditional nuclear power companies incur huge costs hedging against this scenario. They locate plants away from major cities and near sources of water, and install backup pumps and their telltale containment domes. X-energy's advances may sweep away those concerns--and costs. The company is commercializing next-gen nuclear. It makes fuel by wrapping specks of uranium in layers of carbon and ceramic, and then encasing those bits in graphite balls, which flow through its Xe-100 reactor like gumballs through a dispenser. When a neutron hits the uranium inside a fuel pebble, the shell keeps the neutron from moving too quickly, which makes for a safe chain reaction. The fuel ball never gets hot enough to melt, and it contains the fission products. All of the nuclear waste from X-energy reactions ends up encased in the graphite orbs. "It is walkaway safe," says X-energy CEO J. Clay Sell, former deputy secretary of energy under George W. Bush. You can turn off an X-energy reactor like you would the lights in your house, and be confident the system will shut down without incident. For many Americans who grew up during the Cold War, nuclear power carried all kinds of negative associations--Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Homer Simpson. That baggage seems lighter today. "People in my generation talk about why we can't solve the nuclear waste problem," says Sell, 55. "People under 35 realize nuclear power is the only way we solve the real waste problem--emissions coming out of tailpipes and the stacks of coal plants." Television | TV Channels IPL media rights value crosses Rs 43,000 crore on day one of e-auction The Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights value has surpassed the expectation by crossing Rs 43,000 crore (over $5 billion) on day one of the e-auction held on Sunday, as per reports. The rights are for 2023-2027. The value is more than 2.5 times the base price set at Rs 32,800 crore. Read More... Television | TV Channels ZeeZest.com features Ali Fazal on the digital cover India's favourite multiformat lifestyle portal, ZeeZest.com unveils its June Digital Cover featuring global artiste Ali Fazal, one of the most sought-after Indian actors in international cinema, as its cover star. As one of India's most dashing exports to Hollywood, Fazal's poetic looks and noteworthy acting chops make him the next big crossover star to make India proud. Read More... Television | TV Channels TV Today Network wins NT Awards'22 in various categories TV Today Network has won a total of 37 awards at the recently held News Television (NT) Awards in a glittering ceremony, which took place in Delhi on 10 June. Read More... Television | TV Channels Luis Silberwasser named as Warner Bros. Discovery Sports chairman & CEO Warner Bros. Discovery has appointed Luis Silberwasser as chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports. In his new role, Silberwasser will lead the company's US sports portfolio and oversee a unified, global sports strategy. He will report to CEO David Zaslav. Read More... A day after razing down homes of two of the accused in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur over violence over recent remarks by former BJP spokespersons on Prophet Muhammad, bulldozers today rolled down in Prayagraj under heavy police presence and started demolishing the home of a politician accused of leading violence on Friday. Demolition drive in UP Visuals shot by news crews showed bulldozers razing gates and outer walls of accused Javed Mohammed, a Prayagraj-based politician, who, the police claim is one of the "masterminds" behind the Friday violence in the city. There was major stone-throwing in at least two Prayagraj localities and it took the police over five hours to restore peace. #WATCH | Uttar Pradesh: Demolition drive at the "illegally constructed" residence of Prayagraj violence accused Javed Ahmed continues in Prayagraj. pic.twitter.com/s4etc8Vz25 ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) June 12, 2022 Javed has been named as a key conspirator in the protests that erupted in Prayagraj against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma's remark on Prophet Mohammad. Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) had put a demolition notice at Mohammad's house, asking him to vacate the house by 11am today. The demolition notice said the house was illegally constructed. BJP supports bulldozer drive Amidst the ongoing violence that erupted across several states over remarks against Prophet Muhammad, many BJP leaders tweeted in support of the demolition drive initiated in Uttar Pradesh. BJP leader CT Ravi tweeted, "RIOTERS and STONE PELTERS understand only one language - BULLDOZERS & BULLETS." RIOTERS and STONE PELTERS understand only one language - BULLDOZERS & BULLETS. C T Ravi (@CTRavi_BJP) June 12, 2022 Even BJP MP Gautam Gambhir questioned silence of 'secular liberals' over death threats to Nupur Sharma. Silence of so called secular liberals on the sickening display of hatred & death threats throughout the country against a woman who has apologised is surely DEAFENING! #LetsTolerateIntolerance Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) June 12, 2022 Students association condemns action Showing support, Students Islamic organization in a statement said that that they stand firmly with Javed Mohammad and his family members, calling his arrest and demolition of his home another example of communalism and authoritarianism of the police and administration. They can break our homes, but they can never break our resolve. We will continue to fight against their efforts to humiliate Muslims and polarise the country. We hope that the judiciary will put a halt to this blatant bulldozing of rule of law before it's too late, the statement read. Akhilesh Yadav too tweeted (in Hindi) against the drive, saying, Where is the justice that those due to whom the situation in the country worsened and there was a strong reaction around the world, they are under security, and peaceful protesters are punished by bulldozers without legal investigation. It is not allowed by our culture, neither religion, nor legislation, nor constitution, he added. , , , pic.twitter.com/QHMd3Npf70 Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) June 12, 2022 Mohammad's daughter and activist Afreen Fatima, however, has reportedly claimed in a letter to National Commission for Women that her family members were detained without warrant. PDA teams started identification of illegal constructions and encroachments in Atala and nearby areas in an apparent follow-up of warnings issued by police and administrative officials about illegal properties of rioters being targeted following the Fridays violent protest. For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit Indiatimes News. Natural sources of power like solar and wind are touted as the end to all energy woes of human beings, and rightly so. The Sun has enough energy to power multiple Earths, yet we're still somewhat unable to fully take advantage of solar power. A few countries are looking to try something new. For starters, China just fast-tracked the future launch of its solar power plant space station that will essentially beam back energy to Earth for our use. China's first launch has now been brought forward to 2028. A trial satellite will be launched for this purpose and will orbit Earth at a distance of 400 kilometres (248 miles). According to the South China Morning Post, the satellite will "convert solar energy to microwaves or lasers and then direct the energy beams to various targets, including fixed locations on Earth and moving satellites." A detailed paper was published in the peer-reviewed journal Chinese Space Science and Technology. iStock Beaming solar energy to Earth via satellites NASA had also proposed a similar energy project about two decades ago, but it was never developed. At the same time, the UK government has commissioned research to support a 16 billion satellite in Earth's orbit by 2035. The UK-funded research highlights how the mechanism will collect abundant solar power in orbit, and then beam "it securely to a fixed point" on Earth. It also mentions how satellites in Earth's orbit receive sunlight for more than 99% of the time at greater intensity than what we receive on Earth's surface. Also read: Ericsson, Deutsche Telekom Will Use Wind, Solar Energy To Power Network Towers In addition, the energy-carrying beams could be directed to places that need it the most. This could be in the form of export or to aid disaster relief. Such satellites will be able to beam back energy to Earth 24x7, regardless of the weather. iStock According to Chinese paper's author Professor Dong Shiwei, high-powered microwaves over such large distances would require an enormous antenna (we're talking thousands of metres). At the same time, solar winds, gravity, and the satellite's movement could could get in the way of energy transmission. Also read: Scientists Have Developed Liquid Solar Energy System That Can Store Electricity For 18 Years iStock While these challenges remain, this novel idea could take Earth's energy capabilities to the next level. What do you think about beaming solar energy to Earth from space? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com. References Chen, S. (2022, June 7). China plans to start building first-ever solar power plant in space by 2028. South China Morning Post. Sky. (2022, June 7). China brings forward launch of solar power plant space station that would beam energy back to Earth. Sky News. We are all aware of the fact the west is full of Bollywood fans, and this video has proven that it is not just us who have immense love for the Indian cinema industry. This dance crew from Norway danced to Bollywood songs at a wedding - the group of men moved to the tunes of the cult wedding song 'Kala Chashma'. Instagram In a video that has gone viral, the group of dancers from a troupe named 'Quick Style' were dancing to the famous Indian song. It is very obvious that the guests at the wedding were having a gala time watching the men dance to the beats of the song which is in the Punjabi language. Yasin Tatby, one of the dancers in the video, shared the video in the form of reels on Instagram, and now the post has more than 7 million views on the social media platform. People on the internet were amazed by the wonderful dance performance by the Norwegian dancers and posted comments on the post on Instagram. "Wow they actually felt the song...it's insanely dope," wrote one user. "Waiting for the entire Team Quickstyle to get married," commented another user. "How many times you've watched this? Me: yes," said a third user. The video was also shared on the official page of the dance company with the caption, When Katrina Kaif doesn't show up to your brother's wedding, u gotta do it yourself. The dance crew also danced to the iconic '90s song 'Chura Ke Dil Mera' from Main Khiladi Tu Anari, and the caption to the video read, "Don't worry Ed SherKhan got you." What do you think of these videos? Let us know in the comments. For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram. New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined a Georgia pillow manufacturer for repeat violations after four accidents that left workers with amputated fingers.. Place Vendome Holding Co., operating as R&F Marketing, with a factory in Swainsboro, Georgia, has less than two weeks to contest or pay the $190,758 fine, OSHA said in a news release. Place Vendome once again exposed their employees needlessly to serious and life-altering hazards, explained OSHA Acting Area Office Director Jose Gonzalez in Savannah, Georgia. This ongoing disregard for the safety of their employees is unacceptable, and we will continue to hold them accountable until they follow all necessary federal requirements and take steps to protect workers at this facility. The citation stems from the amputation incidents dating back to December 2020: A 22-year-old worker suffered an amputation and OSHA investigators found no lockout/tagout procedures to prevent machines from being turned at the wrong time. Two months later, a machine operator had a finger amputated and nine fingers crushed. OSHA found the machines energy control locks had been removed. A month after that, a worker was loading a pallet jack onto a truck when his hand was caught between the wheels of the jack, resulting in the amputation of one finger. In April of this year, a workers hand was cut while attempting to clean fibers out of a motor. An OSHA inspection found other violations at the site, including blocked and unmarked exit routes, materials stacked in an unsafe manner, and failing to keep fire extinguishers available and failing to train employees in their use. Topics Workers' Compensation Georgia The recent announcement by Sothebys that 200 pairs of Louis Vuitton and Nike Air Force 1 sneakers created by late American designer Virgil Abloh fetched a total of $25m literally stopped fashion in its tracks. The most paid for one of the pairs was more than $350,000 during an online auction.The sums dramatically exceed the initial estimates of Sothebys, which had started the bidding at $2,000 per pair and had predicted they would sell for between $5,000 and $15,000 each. In the end, the sneakers, averaged more than $100,000 per shoe. The cheapest sold for $75,000. The brown, white and cream-coloured sneakers featured Nikes famous swoosh logo with Louis Vuittons instantly recognisable monogram and Damier pattern, and were created to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Nike Air Force 1, which was launched in 1982. In the past two decades, New Balance, Nike, Off White, Yeezy, Adidas, Asics, Puma, Converse and Reebok have evolved to become mega-brands that dominate fashion and drive the athleisure boom. The crossover of the casual sport shoe from track to catwalk was accelerated by the pandemic, but the ascent of the sneaker to cultural symbol of our times was well underway pre Covid. Even Debretts, the snooty arbiter of modern manners has decided that trainers are now acceptable for smart casual occasions. Today they are worn by sportspeople, style queens, royalty, rock stars and fashion designers, young and old, rich and poor. Everyone has a pair, including the Pope. Kate Middleton is a sneakers fan Sneakers have now assumed a status in popular and youth culture that totally overshadows their humble origins. Trainers are an immense business sales of the footwear were valued at $79bn by statista.com in 2021 and are predicted to rise to $120bn by 2026. Footwear is now the biggest selling category in the online luxury market which is why traditional luxury brands including Fendi, Gucci, Prada and Valentino are all schilling designer trainers for stratospheric prices. The sports shoe is fashions most profitable category. Since Balenciaga launched their famous Triple S sneaker (aka the ugly dad sneaker) in 2017, the fashion sneaker has become a distinct sector for fashion brands and a highly lucrative one. Designer Barbara Bennett who customises trainers with her unique hand-painted designs, recalls the impact of that Balenciaga shoe: My favourite pair of trainers would have to be the Balenciaga Triple S. I remember the first time I ever saw a pair, about 4 or 5 years ago. A man was wearing them on Grafton Street right outside Weirs. My heart stopped when I saw them. In the world of rare sneakers, dedicated sneakerheads are increasingly willing to spend on such cult designs. The earliest sports shoes were manufactured by the Liverpool Rubber Company (owned by John Boyd Dunlop) in the 1830s with canvas uppers bonded to rubber soles. The growing popularity of recreational sports in the latter 19th century created a market for the new shoes. Dunlops Green Flash model of 1929 (worn by tennis star Fred Perry at Wimbledon) and the Converse All Star of 1908 (worn by Chuck Taylor from 1917) were the first models to get celebrity endorsement. It was Adidas and Nike however that drove the sneakers evolution from sport to style. Founded by Adi Dassler in Germany in 1924 as Gebruder Dassler Schuhfabrik, the company rebranded as Adidas in 1949. It created the first track shoe, which was worn by Jessie Owens, at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Nike was created by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports and became Nike Inc in 1971, as the running craze swept America. Nikes first commercial design was the Cortez, specifically cushioned for running and famously worn by Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, a product placement which secured Nikes cultural status and promoted its signature swoosh logo. Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump wearing the Nike Cortez sneakers he made iconic From origins for specific athletic activities, the sneaker category has now evolved with designer trainers becoming objects of desire. Celebrity collaborations across sports, cinema and music have shaped the status of the sneaker and elevated them from merely functional to extremely fashionable. Run DMC, Michael Jordan and Kanye West collabs have all contributed to their visibility while delivering financial dividends: Michael Jordan creator of the first 100 sneaker, still earns a $100m in royalties annually from his relationship with Nike, while Kanye West signed a $10m contract with Adidas to create his Yeezy sneakers and sportswear ranges. Trainers have also enjoyed celebrity status in their own right. From Marty McFlys original Nike Air Mags in Back to the Future Part II to Kill Bill, where Uma Thurmans Onitsuka trainers with Fuck U etched on the soles stole the show, each starring appearance has boosted their desirability. Spike Lee has regularly given sneakers prominence: see the famous scuff moment suffered by the pair of box fresh Air Jordan 4 Cements in Do the Right Thing when one of the crowd observes of the soiled shoes: Your Jordans are fucked up! Jordan cannily later created a replica of the exact sneaker, scuff and all, as a PR initiative. Uma Thurman in Kill Bill wearing the famous Onitsuka trainers Trainers as a fashion phenomenon first occurred in the late 1970s when an underground sneaker culture combined with the emergence of hip-hop. In 1986, Run-DMC released the song My Adidas, leading to a high profile sponsorship deal with the brand. Since then, trainers have assumed a unique place at the centre of black music. There have been sneakers designed and/or influenced by a whos who of raps elite: Nas, Wu-Tang, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Kanye and others. Nike Air Jordans endorsed by basketball player, Michael Jordan sent sneakers into overdrive as a must have status symbol from 1985. Nikes expectation when the deal was signed, was for sales of $3m by end of year 4, Instead in year one, they sold $126m. The internet which has spurred growth in sneaker marketing and resale culture in the past 20 years has now propelled fresh levels of demand, with sneakers traded not as mere footwear, but as investments. There is even a platform called RARES that allows you to buy shares in rare, high end shoes in sneaker IPOs. The global sneaker resale market is forecast to be worth $30 billion by 2030. The rise of sneakerheads who collect and trade sneakers has ensured that they appreciate in value, often dramatically. Brands like Nike and Adidas (who have their own SNKRS App) routinely drive demand by limiting distribution: the Nike Air Yeezy 2 Red October and Air Jordan x 1 Off-White Chicago being prime examples. Die-hard fans and dealers go to extreme lengths to obtain rare models, queuing through the night or buying multiple tickets in retailers raffles. The lucrative resale market has created a generation of sneaker entrepreneurs who make serious money reselling shoes. As Barbara Bennett observes: Many people nowadays make a living off re-selling limited shoes like that on eBay, StockX and GOAT. You can make a nice profit off certain Yeezys - the Yeezy Boost sneakers can hold an average resale of up to 500% I think, which is nuts! She continues: I find very few luxury brands are worth the price you pay nowadays seeing as nearly every pair of trainers are made in China. Real or fake, theyre pretty much all made in the same factories. I bought a pair of designer trainers in BTs over the summer and as I got home I noticed on the inside of the shoe it even said Made in China even though that brand claim theyre made in Spain. Dubliner, Philip Kendrick who owns 300 plus pairs, has been collecting since he was 17, and has a purist approach: I would only be interested in stuff Im going to wear and stuff that I want to own to wear. As someone who got into trainers via the clubbing culture of the late 80s and early 90s, exclusivity informed his collecting: For lads my age, it was about having a pair that no-one else had. He continues: I got a pair of Air Max 95s which would have been quite rare at the time, it would have been maybe Autumn 95 and a friend of mine lived in New York and he sent me over these rare yellow ones ... and I remember a guy stopping me in Grafton St and going, Jesus, where did you get them? You, dont really get that now because of course, you have the internet. .... Now, its click of a button. Thats not necessarily a bad thing but it does it water it down slightly. Of the frenzy around limited editions he says: The internet is feeding it a lot more now as well. Now with the Internet and Instagram ... at the flick of your thumb you can see what looks are coming through or what brands are hot, and you can pick up on that. When I was into it is was very much a sub-culture ..... But its different now. Kids now get it. Theyre into it from an early age - very much so. Peter concludes: I dont know whether longevity is there with some of these kids but at the moment theyre into it 100% and they really do love it. And that is just how the sneaker titans like it. The HSE has issued a fresh warning to ecstasy users after tests in Britain uncovered more super-strength tablets in circulation. Researchers in Manchester released details of what it said were multiple cases of so-called Grey Punisher embossed ecstasy tablets. The analysis by Mandrake drug laboratory at Manchester Metropolitan University conducted on the pills showed they contained between 296mg-324mg of MDMA (the active chemical) per tablet. WARNING! 10/06/2022. Multiple examples of Grey Punisher embossed Ecstasy tablets analytically confirmed by @MANDRAKE_LAB, to contain #MDMA (296 - 324 mg/tablet) = to 3x the common oral dose. If unwell seek medical attention. pic.twitter.com/7k6FhoDklg MANDRAKE (@MANDRAKE_LAB) June 10, 2022 It said this was three times the common dose and advised people who feel unwell to seek medical attention. The HSE has stepped up its harm reduction efforts this summer and has targeted three music festivals in a bid to raise awareness about the drugs in circulation and advice to reduce harms and what to do in the event of a bad reaction. Last November, researchers at Mandrake tested a Blue Punisher pill, which contained 477mg of MDMA. In that case, some experts suspected the tablet may have been a mistake during the manufacturing process possibly pressing two tablets together. That discovery promoted the HSE to issue a warning to Irish drug users, against the background of concerns across Europe at the circulation of high-strength ecstasy tablets. Following Fridays test by Mandrake, the HSE issued a new alert: High-strength drugs, including MDMA continue to be a concern for the HSE, particularly during festival season when levels of drug use can increase. In a statement, it said: MDMA products in Europe have been found to contain two to three times the average adult dose, with the worlds strongest ever MDMA pill identified last year in Manchester. It contained 477mg of pure MDMA, which is over four times the average adult dose. In addition to this concern, the HSE is also warning users at the emergence of new drugs such as synthetic cathinones, which could be sold unknowingly to people as MDMA and other stimulants. Drug-checking organisation the Loop in the UK recently found that during 2021 festival season, 45% of substances sold as MDMA contained none of the drug, instead products were made up of cathinones and caffeine," the statement said. It said the HSE will continue to monitor drug trends to inform its educational materials. The HSE recently launched its festival harm reduction campaign to raise awareness online and at three events this summer. It contains information about the latest drug trends, signs of a drug emergency and practical harm reduction advice. Our main advice is that it is always safer not to use drugs at all, the statement said. However, we are aware that people may use drugs this summer and want to support people to reduce the harms to their health by providing non-judgmental education. While we know people may be afraid to get medical help from our research, we want to encourage people to get medical help at festivals this summer if they feel they are having an unexpected reaction to a drug or if they become unwell. The medics' main priority is your health. It urged people to stay up to date on the latest drug market trends and harm-reduction advice at drugs.ie/festivals. Earlier this week, the Health Research Board reported a 26% increase in 15-24 year-olds presenting to hospital emergency departments as a result of taking drugs including an 83% rise in cocaine users. It further said that Ireland has the second-highest proportion in Europe of young people who have used cocaine and ecstasy at least once. Five Ukrainian soldiers wounded in the war against Russia are being treated in Ireland after being airlifted here during the weekend. Three were flown into Dublin yesterday afternoon while two others arrived on Friday. The men have varying degrees of injury, including gunshot injuries. Two were taken to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, two to Cork University Hospital and one to University Hospital Galway. It is understood the five were taken from field hospitals to hospitals in the Ukraine in recent days, before being transferred to Poland to be flown to Ireland. This is the first time that military casualties have been brought to Ireland from the war in Ukraine. The transfers were coordinated by the European Union with the Health Service Executive and the National Ambulance Service, under the auspices of the European Disaster Relief Project. Mattie McGrath said the arrival of the soldiers in Ireland amounted to 'taking sides in the war'. File Picture: Leah Farrell/Rollingnews.ie The project was set up in 2001 to provide support between European countries when individual health services are overwhelmed. While we have to act in a humanitarian way, this is clearly taking sides in the war, said Independent TD Mattie McGrath, who accused the government of pushing and pushing and pushing at Irelands neutrality. This is a step too far. However, Independent TD and former soldier Cathal Berry welcomed the move. Thousands of Irish citizens travel abroad for medical treatment every year under the EU Cross Border Directive," he said. "Also, dozens of Irish doctors have trained in medical schools in Ukraine in recent years and are now working in the HSE. "Our Air Corps are already flying premature and critically ill Ukrainian babies to Ireland where we have some spare neo-natal intensive care capacity. "Its only right and proper that we look after wounded people - whether soldier or civilian - from Putins unprovoked, brutal and completely unnecessary war in Ukraine. Irelands tallest mountain will provide the backdrop for an epic charity challenge as three friends look to reach its peak, three times in just 15 hours. Dublin-based Mike Whelan will be joined by British Army social media star Natalya Platonova, and ex-England rugby international Paul Sampson as they climb Carrauntoohil three times on June 30, The trio aim to raise money for PTSD and mental health services for emergency workers and members of the armed forces. Mr Whelan spent 15 years working in law enforcement and Intelligence in the UK, eight of those years in special operations, before becoming TikToks global security lead in Dublin. During his time on active duty, Mr Whelan suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is how he was introduced to Rock 2 Recovery, a charity that supports veterans and emergency services workers with PTSD and mental health across the UK and Ireland. I found it quite difficult transitioning out of my career and overcoming some of the hang-ups of my job which led me to speak with the guys from R2R, Mr Whelan said on the group's fundraising page. I can honestly say that the support and coaching they gave me has been lifechanging and I wouldn't have managed the transition without them, he added. He will be joined by Ms Platonova, the winner of the Channel 4 social networking show, The Circle who spoke openly about her own battles with depression and anxiety, and Mr Sampson, a mental health coach for Rock2Recovery. The team are currently training for the event and have a TikTok and Instagram page where they will be sharing their progress online and even live-streaming parts of the climb on the day. Since we started planning and training for this event, we have now decided to make it even more of a challenge by climbing the mountain three times in 15 hours, said Mr Whelan. According to Kerryclimbing.ie, it usually takes between six to 11 hours to reach the top of Carrauntoohil, depending on the route climbers take, meaning the trio will have to be on top form if they want to succeed. You can follow Team Venture below: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CeRqcRioh05/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNdCduBS/?k=1 The link for the team donation page is: https://teamfortitude.uk/products/team-venture This Week in Review A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more. Kremlin-installed officials in occupied southern Ukraine celebrated Russia Day on Sunday and began issuing Russian passports to those in one city who requested them, as Moscow seeks to solidify its rule over captured parts of the country Johnson City, TN (37604) Today Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%. Johnson City, TN (37604) Today A few clouds. Low 72F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight A few clouds. Low 72F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Russian forces said Sunday they had struck a site in western Ukraine storing US- and EU-supplied weapons, as fighting intensified in an eastern region where the countrys top commander said the land is covered in blood. The strike on the town of Chortkiv, a rare attack by Russia in the relatively calm west of Ukraine, left 22 people injured, the regional governor said. Meanwhile the situation in Severodonetsk was extremely difficult, after the Russian army destroyed a second bridge into the city and was heavily bombarding the last one, regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said. Valeriy Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian military, said Russias massed artillery in that region gave it a tenfold advantage. But, he added in a Facebook post, Despite everything, we continue to hold positions. Every meter of Ukrainian land there is covered in blood but not only ours, but also the occupiers. Russias invasion of Ukraine, which began February 24, has killed thousands of soldiers and civilians, displaced millions and reduced swathes of the country to rubble. President Volodymyr Zelensky described the latest fighting in Severodonetsk as very fierce literally every meter. In his evening video statement, he said Russia was deploying undertrained troops and using its young men as cannon fodder. Away from the battlefield, World Trade Organization members gathered in Geneva Sunday with, at the top of a challenging agenda, the need to tackle global food security threatened by Russias invasion of wheat-producing Ukraine. Tensions ran high during a closed-door session, where several delegates took the floor to condemn Russias war, including Kyivs envoy who was met with a standing ovation, WTO spokesman Dan Pruzin told journalists. Then, just before Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov spoke, around three dozen delegates walked out, the spokesman said. That came a day after the head of the European Commission promised Ukraine would receive a clear signal within a week on its bid to join the European Union. Ukraine has achieved a lot in the past 10 years and much still needs to be done. Our opinion will reflect this carefully, Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said at the end of a surprise visit to Kyiv. EU leaders are expected to approve the bid at an upcoming summit, although with strict conditions attached. Ukraines geopolitical vulnerability has been laid bare by Russias invasion. In Brussels, demonstrators brandishing blue and yellow Ukrainian flags circled European Commission headquarters Sunday in a show of support. Extremely difficult The war has prompted Finland and Sweden to give up decades of military non-alignment and seek to join the NATO alliance. However, Turkey is blocking their bids and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday the issue may not be resolved by an alliance summit later this month. The United States and Europe have sent weapons and cash to help Ukraine blunt Russias advance, alongside punishing Moscow with unprecedented economic sanctions. Russias defence ministry said the strike on Chortkiv destroyed a large depot of anti-tank missile systems, portable air defence systems and shells provided to the Kyiv regime by the US and European countries. Regional governor Volodymyr Trush said four missiles fired Saturday evening from the Black Sea had partially destroyed a military installation in the town, about 140 kilometres (85 miles) from the border with Romania. In the east, which along with the south has borne the brunt of Russian firepower, Severodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk have been targeted for weeks as the last areas in the Lugansk region still under Ukrainian control. Regional governor Gaiday said the Russians, by attacking Severodonetsks last remaining bridges, wanted to cut off the city completely. He said Russia was shelling the Azot chemical plant, where about 800 civilians have reportedly taken refuge. However Leonid Pasechnik, leader of Lugansks pro-Russian separatists, accused Ukrainian battalions of shelling Severodonetsk from the plant. He told reporters pro-Russian forces were not pressing aggressively because it is a chemical industry facility, warning of the risk of an environmental catastrophe. Concern eased Sunday over another volatile facility: Ukraines largest nuclear power plant, in Zaporizhzhia. Captured months ago by Russian forces but still operated by Ukrainians, the station had ceased transmitting vital safeguards data two weeks ago. But plant officials working with the International Atomic Energy Agency have succeeded in restoring transmission, the IAEA said. Rafael Grossi, director general of the UN agency, said it still wanted to send inspectors to the plant as soon as possible. Sentences defended Alongside the physical fighting, the war is being played out through the courts. Pro-Moscow separatist authorities in the Donetsk region this week sentenced to death two Britons and a Moroccan for fighting with Kyiv. The sentences sparked outrage in Western countries, but separatist Donetsk leader Denis Pushilin said Sunday he would not alter them. They came to Ukraine to kill civilians for money, he told reporters, calling the punishment perfectly fair. The families of Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner say they have been living in Ukraine since 2018. For their part, Ukrainian courts have handed three Russian soldiers long prison sentences at war crimes trials. burs-ar/har/bbk/mlm Meta MCDONALDS We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Kenosha County tourism almost returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2021 according to data released by the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, and now ranks 13th in the state for annual visitor spending, jumping five places from 2019. With $231.9 million, 2021 marks Kenoshas second highest level of visitor spending, just shy of the $239.7 million in 2019. Kenosha County tourism collected $23.3 million in state and local tax revenues and accounted for 3,094 jobs with $99.6 million in related income. Visit Kenosha President Dennis DuChene said 2021 was a strong year for Kenosha tourism, which saw less of an impact than other Wisconsin destinations because of Kenoshas focus on leisure and sports. Those areas recovered relatively quickly from the pandemic slowdown, allowing Kenosha to jump so many places in ranking. The only hamper to that return, DuChene said, was the continued labor shortages in the leisure and hospitality industries. In Kenosha, total employment in those areas was down around 400 people from 2019. So, as an employee, its a great time to enter that market, DuChene said. DuChene said 2022 was looking good, with people feeling safer to gather and travel as summer comes around. Almost all the events, plus some new ones are coming back, DuChene said. The only issue will be weather, but theres nothing we can do about that. Wisconsin Tourism Ranking The 2021 Top 15 Wisconsin counties for visitor spending: Milwaukee County Sauk County Dane County Waukesha County Brown County Walworth County Door County Outagamie County Vilas County La Crosse County Oneida County Rock County Kenosha County Racine County Eau Claire County DuChene was grateful to Visit Kenoshas many business partners and the Kenosha community at large. Without them, we wouldnt have the tourism product we have today, DuChene said. Were looking forward to a busy summer. Based on visitor spending, Kenosha County ranks just above Racine County. Milwaukee County ranked the highest and Menominee County the lowest. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Kenosha County has announced it is now offering increased wages and employee referral bonuses in an effort to fill vacant positions at Brookside Care Center and Willowbrook Assisted Living. Under a plan studied over recent months and implemented this week, certified nursing assistant wages at both facilities are being boosted to a minimum of $17.10 per hour for existing staff who have been employed for at least one year. CNAs already earning $17.10 per hour will be boosted to $19.13 per hour. Shift differential and weekend pay premiums have also been increased. Similarly, resident assistants already employed at Willowbrook will see their minimum wage increased to $15.22 per hour for those employed longer than one year. Those already earning $15.22 per hour will see their hourly rate increase to $17.03. Referral bonuses of $400 to $500 are being offered to current employees who refer a new CNA who then remains on the job for six months, while the newly hired CNA will receive $200 to $250 after six months of employment. (The amount depends upon the employees full-time equivalent hours.) We know that we need to offer these incentives to remain competitive in this tight labor market, said Kenosha County Executive Samantha Kerkman. It is the employees who truly make the difference at these two outstanding facilities, and Kenosha County is committed to maintaining its high standard of care. Brookside is a 154-bed facility offering long-term skilled nursing and short-term rehabilitation care. In recent years, national publications have honored it as being among Wisconsins best nursing homes. Willowbrook, which is attached to the Brookside facility, opened in 2018, offering assisted living and respite stay services, with staff on site 24 hours a day and 24/7 on-call licensed nursing services. More information about the facilities is available at https://www.brooksidecarecenter.com and https://www.willowbrookofkenosha.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 41 Shares Share COVID-19 melted down the world at a very inopportune time in history. Just as medicine was getting a handle on previously intractable conditions, from sophisticated diabetes management to less invasive surgical procedures, a new threat that devastates our population with few good treatments overwhelms health care. Medical workers come to the rescue, as we always do, though at a personal and communal price. Somebody else keeps our food available, allows our communications to flow without interruption, and maintains most of our transportation systems, even though many of us have fewer places to go. Our elected and appointed officials went to work, most no smarter or less contentious than they were before, but emergency support came through in the form of research subsidies to enable better treatment and prevention, mass purchases to enhance lab capacity, and for many an emergency boost to available personal funds. Heroes all, except for the ones you see on TV that you wish to exclude. Richard Plotzker is an endocrinologist who blogs at Consult Maven. He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, Doctors as organizational stewards. Did you enjoy todays episode? Rate and review the show so more audiences can find The Podcast by KevinMD. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out. Click here to earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this episode. Also available in Category 1 CME bundles. Powered by CMEfy a seamless way for busy clinician learners to discover Internet Point-of-Care Learning opportunities that reward AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s). Learn more at about.cmefy.com/cme-info Do you know someone who might enjoy this episode? Share this episode with anyone who wants to hear health care stories filled with information, insight, and inspiration. Hosted by Kevin Pho, MD, The Podcast by KevinMD shares the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from. Weather Alert ...HEAT ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM CDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Heat index values of 100 to 104. * WHERE...Portions of southwest and west central Illinois. Portions of central, east central, northeast, and southeast Missouri. * WHEN...Until 8 PM CDT Thursday. * IMPACTS...Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. && North Korea fired artillery shots Sunday, presumably from multiple rocket launchers, South Korea's military said, in what would be yet another show of force by the reclusive regime. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a text message to reporters that it had detected "several trajectories" believed to be artillery shots from around 8:07 a.m. to 11:03 a.m. It gave no additional details, such as the exact number of shots launched and the origin of the firing. "While bolstering our military's surveillance and vigilance, South Korea and the United States are working closely and maintaining a thorough readiness posture," the JCS said. The launch came a week after North Korea fired eight short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea. (Yonhap) Foreign Minister Park Jin left for the United States, Sunday, to have consultations with his American counterpart and other officials on North Korea and pending alliance issues. He is scheduled to hold his first in-person talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington, D.C., Monday (local time). "(We) will discuss ways for coordination on the increasing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea," he told reporters just before his departure. Other agenda items include cooperation in the economic security sector, peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and the Ukraine issue, he added. During his four-day trip there, the minister is also scheduled to meet with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, as well as congressional leaders and experts at think tanks, for discussions on measures to follow up on last month's summit deal between the leaders of the two nations. Presidents Yoon Suk-yeol and Joe Biden agreed in the Seoul talks to bolster the tech alliance between the two countries. (Yonhap) President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed greets Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on his arrival to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on June 9. AP-Yonhap Korea seeks stronger presence in the region as tensions between Israel and Arab countries thaw By Kang Hyun-kyung What is happening in the Middle East has reminded the rest of the world of the foreign policy dictum, "yesterday's enemy can be your friend today." Israel and the Arab countries, which had long deemed each other respective enemies due to their oppositional stances on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, have begun to recognize each other as partners. Israel normalized diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan in 2020. Recently, the Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has also reportedly been in serious U.S.-brokered talks with Israel on economic ties and security arrangements, which experts see as a step toward the normalization of diplomatic relations. The shift in U.S. foreign policy to focus on the Indo-Pacific region amid its rivalry with China is the key driver behind this unthinkable series of events in the region. Feeling pressure amid the U.S.' decreased presence in the Middle East, Israel and some Arab countries share the need to end their decades of enmity and form a united front to counter the perceived growing threat from Iran. This potentially groundbreaking change in the geopolitical environment of the Middle East has occurred as Korea is poised for active engagement with the region after President Yoon Suk-yeol took office. "The Korean government will find it relatively easier to handle Middle Eastern affairs," Kwon Tae-kyun, the former Korean ambassador to the UAE, told The Korea Times. Before tensions between Israel and some of the Arab countries started to thaw, roughly three different types of rivalries existed in the region: Iran and some of the Arabic countries were and still are in tension, Iran and Israel were pitted against each other, and lastly, most of the Arab countries and Israel were opposed to each other. This constellation of rivalries in the Middle East had required countries such as Korea, which depends on the region for oil imports as well as business opportunities in construction, to be careful and walk a fine line not to disturb its business partners. "When foreign tourists arrived in Israel, the immigration authorities didn't stamp their passports. Instead, travelers were given a slip of paper which the Israeli immigration authorities stamped," said Kwon. "They did so because if one's passport were stamped by the Israeli immigration service, the person would never be allowed to enter Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Israel's unique visa policy reflects how its ties with Arab countries have been in the past." Kwon said that, nowadays, the two sides have less of a reason to see their counterparts as their enemies. "Arab countries have become practical and paid much more attention to diversifying their industries, rather than historical feuds, and they know they will benefit if they cooperate with Israel," he said. Then President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol meets Israeli Ambassador to Korea Akiva Tor in his office in Tongeui-dong, Seoul, March 24. Joint Press Corps From neglect to active engagement The Middle East was far from a policy priority for the previous Moon Jae-in government. President Moon had attempted to build peace on the Korean Peninsula during his presidency, by courting North Korea and China, but his efforts didn't bear tangible fruit. "It's fair to say that the Moon government was not interested in the Middle East at all," Jang Ji-hyang, a research fellow specialized in comparative politics of the Middle East at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. The Moon government's "neglect" of the Middle East stands in stark contrast to what occurred during the conservative Lee Myung-bak government (2008-2013). South Korea's export of its first nuclear reactors to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in December 2009, became a diplomatic milestone in South Korea-UAE relations. During his presidency, Lee visited the UAE's capital four times, making Abu Dhabi the third-most visited foreign city by a South Korean president, following Washington and Beijing. The Middle East has been regaining attention after President Yoon took office on May 10. Yoon has revealed his interest in the region with his warm welcoming of officials from the region. During a meeting with Israeli Ambassador to Korea Akiva Tor, March 24, weeks after he was elected in the March 9 presidential election, Yoon said that the Korea-Israel free trade agreement, clinched in August 2019, would be ratified in the National Assembly as soon as possible, noting that there was bipartisan support for the ratification of the deal. The Israeli envoy handed over his president's invitation to President Yoon to make a state visit to Israel. Yoon responded positively to the offer, saying he would try to find time to visit the country. If his visit to Israel is realized, Yoon will be the first South Korean president to visit Israel. Yoon also expressed his eagerness to work closely with the UAE to develop further bilateral ties. He welcomed the UAE delegation led by Khaldoon Al Mubarak on his inauguration day. During a meeting, Yoon said he would like to meet UAE then-Crown Prince Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The UAE leader rose to the presidency after his brother, then-President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, passed away May 13. On May 15, Yoon then sent a delegation to carry condolences and for a high-level visit to the UAE. Yoon also revealed his interest in seeing progress in talks for a Korea-GCC free trade agreement. During a meeting with GCC ambassadors to Korea, he expressed hope that talks for the Korea-GCC free trade agreement would proceed smoothly, and that the deal might be clinched as soon as possible. Negotiations for the Korea-GCC FTA have resumed recently, 12 years after they were suspended in 2010 due to difficulties on the GCC side over policy coordination. President Yoon Suk-yeol gestures while shaking hands with Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who led the United Arab Emirates delegation to Yoon's inauguration, at the presidential office in Yongsan District of Seoul, May 10. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon Korea's Defense Minister shakes hands with Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles in Singapore, June 12. Yonhap Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup held separate talks with his counterparts from Australia and the Netherlands on the margins of a security forum in Singapore, Sunday, Lee's ministry said. During the meeting with Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles, Lee asked for his attention to help yield a "visible outcome" in arms industry cooperation between the two countries, according to the ministry. Produced by the Korean firm Hanwha Defense, the Redback armored vehicle has been in a competition to join the Australian Army's high-profile procurement project. The winner of the project is expected to be announced later this year. Marles said Australia regards Korea as one of the "core partners" in its external policy and expressed his country's hopes for the expansion of defense cooperation, according to the ministry. Korea's Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup shakes hands with Kajsa Ollongren, the defense chief of the Netherlands, in Singapore, June 12. Yonhap The South Korean coast guard said Sunday that it has seized a Chinese speedboat for suspected illegal fishing in South Korean waters in the Yellow Sea. The five-ton boat carrying two Chinese fishermen is suspected of trying to fish in waters about 35 kilometers west of South Korea's western border island of Socheong at around 8 p.m. on Saturday. The Chinese boat was fleeing to the north of the inter-Korean border before it was caught by a South Korean Navy 500-ton speedboat. The Chinese fishermen did not comply with the coast guard's order to stop, Han Sang-yoon, a Coast Guard official handling the case, told Yonhap News Agency. Two Chinese nationals were taken in for questioning by South Korean Coast Guard officials at a pier in Incheon, Han said. They could face charges of trespassing in areas near the western South Korean border islands and of not complying with the order to stop, which could carry fines of more than 10 million won ($7,800). Chinese fishing boats are allowed to enter South Korea's western exclusive economic zone for fishing on the condition that they keep records of their activities and operate within limits. Still, areas near the South Korean border islands are off-limit to Chinese fishermen. Last year, South Korea seized a total of 108 Chinese fishing boats in violation of due regulations. Of the total, 23 were caught for entering the zone without fishing permits, and most of the remaining cases were for underreporting fish catches. Some Chinese fishermen have used violence during raids by the South Korean Coast Guard. In 2011, a South Korean Coast Guard officer was killed by a Chinese skipper during a raid. (Yonhap) South Korea will seek to "normalize" security cooperation with Japan and strengthen trilateral collaboration involving the United States to address North Korea's nuclear weapon and missile threats, the defense minister said Sunday. Lee Jong-sup was speaking at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in this city state, striving to drum up global support to tackle the security challenges. He delivered an emphatic message that instability on the Korean Peninsula could lead to instability in the overall Indo-Pacific region. This year's session of Asia's premier defense forum took place amid increased tensions caused by the North's recent ballistic missile launches and its perceived preparations for a nuclear weapon test. Security concerns deepened further after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reaffirmed his regime's principle of "power for power and head-on contest" during a recent key ruling party meeting. The minister said that South Korea intends to engage in a "serious" dialogue with Japan not just to normalize security cooperation between the two countries but also to beef up trilateral cooperation with the U.S. He pointed out "unresolved issues" between Seoul and Tokyo in an apparent allusion to historical and other rows largely stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. But he expressed Seoul's intention to "have the two sides put their wisdom together to reach reasonable solutions in a way that is in line with the two countries' shared interests." Lee also laid out the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's goal to denuclearize the North in a "complete, verifiable" manner, stressing "our principle to establish a sustainable peace on the Korean Peninsula will remain firm and robust." "To this end, we will set forth clear corresponding measures with the international community to pursue the denuclearization of North Korea," he said. (Yonhap) The South Korean Navy has decided to name its first 8,200-ton Aegis destroyer after King Jeongjo the Great, a Navy official said Sunday. The Navy held a meeting of a committee naming vessels and chose King Jeongjo the Great for the KDX-III Batch-II Aegis destroyer on April 29, according to the Navy official. The Navy is expected to hold the launching ceremony of the King Jeongjo the Great destroyer in the third quarter, with the delivery set for 2024. It will be the Navy's fourth Aegis destroyer after King Sejong the Great, the Yulgok YiYi and the Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong. Heavier than the 7,600-ton Sejong, the new-generation warship can move at speeds of up to 30 knots, or 55 kilometers per hour, which is compatible with the U.S. Navy's most powerful Aegis destroyer fleet. King Jeongjo the Great is likely to be fitted with Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) missiles with a range of 240-460 kilometers that can help defend South Korea against the threats posed by North Korea's ballistic missiles. In April, South Korea approved a 760 billion-won ($594 million) project to procure the missiles developed by U.S. defense firm Raytheon Technologies Corp. through the U.S. Foreign Military Sale program by 2031. King Jeongjo, considered one of the most visionary and effective monarchs of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), achieved a cultural and industrial renaissance during his 24 years on the throne. (Yonhap) Former lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party Na Kyung-won speaks as a special envoy of Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol during a session of the World Economic Forum 2022 Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, May 26. Xinhua-Yonhap By Kwon Mee-yoo Na Kyung-won, a former lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party, said President Yoon Suk-yeol should appoint more women to decision-making positions, criticizing his male-dominated cabinet. Na shared on social media her experiences leading a presidential delegation to the World Economic Forum (WEF), also known as the Davos Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, from May 22 to 26. In her fourth post released Saturday, she talked about the prominent women she met in Davos and urged the Yoon administration to put more women in key positions. "The Yoon administration was indifferent to criticism of its male-centric Cabinet and increased the proportion of women after a question from a Washington Post reporter. It's a good thing, but I hope the women (in the Yoon Cabinet) are not just there to fill a quota but to play a central role decision-making," Na wrote. Yoon was criticized for filling his presidential transition committee with men who graduated from Seoul National University in their 50s and 60s, and the composition of his Cabinet nominations was similar. A reversal came unexpectedly after Yoon was asked about the extreme gender inequality in Korea and his government's efforts to improve the situation by a Washington Post reporter during a press conference following the Korea-U.S. summit on May 21. Yoon, who seemed to be taken aback by the question, admitted that there were not many women advancing to high-ranking positions in the public service sector. "If you look at the public officials, especially the ministers in the Cabinet, we really haven't seen a lot of women advancing to those positions thus far. Probably in various regions, equal opportunities were not fully ensured for women. We actually have quite a short history of ensuring that. So what we're trying to do is to very actively ensure such opportunities for women," Yoon answered. A few days later, Yoon, whose Cabinet had been only 19 percent female, nominated two more women for minister positions in education and health. Currently, his Cabinet has five female ministers out of the total 16 positions 28 percent women. Former lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party Na Kyung-won, front row third from left, poses for a photo with female ambassadors to Korea, Friday. Screenshot from Facebook Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, on his way to Europe, departs from Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center (SGBAC), Tuesday. Yonhap By Kim Hyun-bin Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited Munich, Germany reportedly to seek cooperation with automakers and semiconductor-related firms. Munich hosts the headquarters of BMW and semiconductor-related firms such as Siemens, according to company officials. Lee's chartered flight, which arrived in Budapest, Hungary, on June 7, departed for Munich the following day. "It is true that Vice Chairman Lee went straight to Germany at the time," a Samsung Group official said. "But we have not been informed of his current whereabouts." After arriving in Hungary, Lee headed to Germany instead of stopping by the local Samsung SDI battery production plant. It is interpreted that this was because it was more important to meet the CEOs of global companies and conduct business-related discussions than to visit the group's local facilities. Samsung SDI President Choi Yoon-ho also accompanied Vice Chairman Lee on the business trip to Europe. It is known that not only Choi, but also key executives of Samsung SDI, accompanied Lee on the trip. This visit is Choi's first business trip with Lee since taking the head post at Samsung SDI. The move is interpreted as Lee's decision to strengthen Samsung SDI's battery position in the European market. Lee is expected to also focus on expanding global supply chains related to semiconductors, batteries and mobile communication equipment, as well as seeking M&A opportunities. Munich is home to the headquarters of German automakers such as BMW. In the semiconductor field, Siemens, a long-time partner of Samsung Electronics, as well as Infineon, a system semiconductor company for automobiles, which has been mentioned as a potential candidate for an M&A by Samsung, are located in Munich. Lee is also expected to visit the Netherlands and the U.K. during his trip to Europe. In the Netherlands, he is expected to visit ASML, an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure equipment maker. EUV equipment is essential for making ultra-fine semiconductor circuits and is a key factor in strengthening the competitiveness of foundries. Lee also requested a supply of EUV equipment while meeting ASML CEO Peter Wennink at its headquarters in October 2020. In the U.K., attention is focused on whether Samsung's plan for a major M&A will be realized. One of the most often mentioned candidates for an M&A is ARM, a global semiconductor fabless company. Lee's 12-day business trip is scheduled to run until June 18. This trip is Lee's first visit to Europe since October 2020. It marks his first overseas business trip in six months, following the trip to the Middle East in December of last year. Gloria Yoder lives in Flat Rock, Illinois. She likes to cook, bake, garden and being a mom! Readers can send her mail at P.O. Box 157, Middletown, Ohio 45042. For more recipes and information about the Amish lifestyle go to amish365.com. Bollywood actor Chitrangada Singh never disappoints fans with her fashion statements. The actor, recently posted a series of pictures, on Friday, on her social media account. The Desi Boyz actor took to her Instagram and treated her fans with stunning yet bold pictures. Chitrangada Singh Channeling That Brilliant Sassy Saree Vibe Is for a Whooping Rs. 49,000! Chitrangada looked stunning in her pictures as she was seen wearing a shimmery-bodycon black dress with long-cape sleeves. Flaunting her plunging neckline in a black gown, the actor gives major fashion goals to her fans. The actor aced the look by posing elegantly and with her killing smile. For makeup, the actor wore a subtle- glam look with nude-glossy lips. Chitrangada Singhs Colourblocking Finery Is All Kinds of Extra Blazing Hot! Check Out The Pictures Below: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Chitrangda Singh (@chitrangda) She opted for minimal statement jewellery pieces. The outfit that Chitrangda carried beautifully in the pictures, is by Fashion designer, Neetu Rohra. Since her debut in Bollywood in 2005 with Sudhir Mishra's Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi film from then on Chitranga has been in the spotlight for her roles and fashion sense. On the work front, Chitrangda is busy with her upcoming film, Pawan Kripalani directorial alongside actors Vikrant Massey & Sara Ali Khan. (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], June 12 (ANI): Two rag pickers died after entering a sewage tank near the DSIIDC industrial area, informed the police on Sunday. "A PCR call was received at PS Bawana today (Saturday) at 7.36 AM that 2 persons who have entered into sewer have not come out and are dead," said police. Also Read | Delhi Reports 795 New COVID-19 Cases In Past 24 Hours, Positivity Rate Climbs to 4.11%. On reaching spot, it was found out that four rag pickers were picking waste materials in the DSIIDC industrial area sector 1 and later went near a sewerage line near the road. Two of those rag pickers namely Abdul Rehman age 21 years and Ramzan age 22 years entered into the sewer to collect the plastic waste material. Also Read | Mumbai Shocker: 20-Year-Old Man Arrested for Stabbing Teen Girl to Death in Govandi. While rest two rag pickers Abdul Jabbar age 26 years and Majur Mula age 23 years stood outside. Abdul Jabbar went into the sewer after the duo didn't come outside. They were dragged outside and found to be in an unconscious condition. Both were taken to MV hospital and were declared brought dead. Further investigations in the matter are underway. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Kota (Raj), Jun 12 (PTI) Twenty-one people have been booked here for allegedly hurling casteist slurs against the members of a Dalit man's pre-wedding procession and creating a ruckus during the ceremony, police said on Sunday. Seven people were also kept in preventive detention under Section 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and some of them are those already booked in the case, DSP and Circle Officer (CO) Praveen Nayak said. Also Read | Srinagar Encounter: LeT Terrorist, Involved in Killing of 2 Jammu and Kashmir Police Personnel, Gunned Down by Security Forces. The incident took place on Friday night when the 'Bindori' (pre-wedding procession) of Sanjeev Meghwal was being taken out on a mare through the lanes in Goyanda village. Some people belonging to the 'upper caste', hurled casteist slurs at the guests and created a ruckus when the ceremony was about to be over after the groom had performed prayers at a temple, the DSP said. Also Read | Prophet Remarks Row: Geert Wilders, Dutch Politician Receives Death Threats for Supporting Suspended BJP Leader Nupur Sharma, Says I Am Not Indian nor a Hindu. Anticipating that there may be attempts to disrupt the ceremony, four police personnel were already deployed with the procession that peacefully marched through the village. While it was passing through an "upper caste-dominated area" on way back home, some people used abusive language against the guests and created a ruckus, he added. Additional police force was immediately rushed to the spot, however the trouble-monger had fled away, he said. The security has been upped in the village and the situation is normal, the DSP added. On the complaint of the groom's father on Saturday, the police lodged a case under Indian Penal Code section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and provisions of the SC/ST Act against 21 named and some others unidentified people, Ramganjmandi Station House Officer (SHO) Manoj Berwal said. Meanwhile, DSP Nayak, who is also the Investigating Officer (IO) of the case, ruled out any incident of manhandling with the guests. "There was no manhandling with the guests in the procession nor the groom was forced to dismount from the mare. Some people belonging to the upper castes, who were apparently drunk, hurled casteist slurs and attempted to create a ruckus while the processing was passing through their locality. A case has been registered and the investigation is underway," the DSP said. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi [India], June 12 (ANI): After the Congress expelled MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi on Saturday from all party positions, he took a jibe at the party and said that the rules of the party existed only for some leaders while there were exceptions for others. "Congress also has rules for some leaders and exceptions for others. Rules are applied selectively. Indiscipline has been repeatedly ignored in the past. In my case, I listened to my soul and acted on my morals," he tweeted. Also Read | Delhi Reports 795 New COVID-19 Cases In Past 24 Hours, Positivity Rate Climbs to 4.11%. He also stressed on the party's inaction against other critical opportunities. "Had @incindia acted this swiftly & strongly in 2016 and on every other critical opportunity they've missed, they wouldn't have been in such dire straits," he added in another tweet. Also Read | Mumbai Shocker: 20-Year-Old Man Arrested for Stabbing Teen Girl to Death in Govandi. Bishnoi who cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana was expelled from all party positions including his membership of the Congress Working Committee (Special Invitee). The expulsion came after Congress candidate Ajay Maken lost the Rajya Sabha elections to media baron Kartikeya Sharma, the BJP-backed independent candidate, by a "narrow margin", a huge shock for the grand old party which was confident of winning the seat. Polling was held on June 10 to elect two members to the Upper House of Parliament from Haryana. BJP's Krishan Lal Panwar scored a comfortable victory with 31 votes, leaving the battle for the second seat between Maken and Sharma. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi [India], June 12 (ANI): With an aim to widen the preventive strategy, the police conducted search operations in the Yamuna Khadar area, informed the officials on Sunday. The search operation was based on a tip-off. Also Read | Delhi Reports 795 New COVID-19 Cases In Past 24 Hours, Positivity Rate Climbs to 4.11%. The police after reaching the spot found 4 to 5 persons who opened fire on the personnel. "During the search operation last night in the Yamuna Khadar area, two people got injured after they fired upon the police. One person has also been apprehended during the operation," said police. Also Read | Mumbai Shocker: 20-Year-Old Man Arrested for Stabbing Teen Girl to Death in Govandi. One 9 mm pistol, 2 live rounds and one CMP, 2 live rounds have been recovered from their possession. In addition, total of 25 suspicious persons have been rounded up. The operation was launched after information was received about the presence of robbers in Yamuna Khadar area. The injured have been shifted to the hospital and a case under sections 186/353/307/34 IPC and 27 Arms Act was registered. Further investigations are underway. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Kolkata, Jun 12 (PTI) A group of renowned personalities of West Bengal have expressed discontent over the appointment of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as chancellor of state-run universities, arguing that the move will "deal a blow" to the varsities' autonomy and is against the spirit of democracy. They also said the decision of the state cabinet ignores the long-standing demand of people to have an eminent educationist in that post. Also Read | Union Minister @DrJitendraSingh Shares a Video of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology Latest Tweet by Prasar Bharati News Services. "We are surprised and stunned over the recent decision to appoint the chief minister as chancellor of state universities. We all know about the imperatives of autonomy and freedom of educational institutions, and such a decision will deal a blow to that, and is against the spirit of democracy," they said in a statement on Saturday. Among the 40 signatories are actor Kaushik Sen, directors Anik Dutta and Raja Sen, painter Samir Aich, thespian Bibhas Chakraborty, social activist Miratun Nahar and rights activist Sujato Bhadra. Also Read | Delhi Fire: Massive Fire Breaks Out in Karol Bagh's Shoe Market, 39 Fire Tenders Rushed to Spot. If an educationist is appointed to that post, it will prevent outside interferences in the running of the institutions, they said. Since coming to power, the present regime has been putting up its own people to run primary and secondary education boards, school managing committees and governing bodies in higher educational institutions, the statement claimed. "The decision to appoint the education minister as the 'Visitor' of private universities is also fraught with the similar danger of meddling into their affairs," it said. "I am opposed to this appointment, as much as we are against the practice of the governor becoming the chancellor, Kaushik Sen told PTI. The government is likely to move a bill in the ongoing monsoon session of the assembly with regard to the cabinet decision to replace Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar with the chief minister as the chancellor of state-run varsities. An amendment bill to remove Dhankhar as the 'Visitor' of private universities in the state and appoint Education Minister Bratya Basu in his place is also expected to be tabled during the session. Meanwhile, Secretary of the 'Save Education Committee' Tarun Naskar said educationists would gather outside the Calcutta University campus on June 13 at 2 pm to protest the move. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Kota, June 12 (PTI) At least five persons have been killed and two were injured as a container truck hit a car and a bike on national highway-52 near Akodia village in Jhalawar, police said here on Sunday. The accident happened under Asnawar police station area on late Saturday evening when the container truck collided head on with the car and then around 50 metres ahead, hit the bike-borne three youths, SHO Harwant Singh Randhawa said on Sunday. Also Read | Maharashtra: Bhiwandi Police Summon Nupur Sharma, Naveen Kumar Jindal Over Remarks Against Prophet Mohammad. The Madhya Pradesh-based four car occupants were returning from the Kaamkheda Balaji temple in Jhalawar while the bike-borne three college students were returning to their home from a examination centre. The five deceased include two from the car and all the three college students, police said. Also Read | Prophet Remarks Row: From Ranchi to Howrah, Violent Protests Erupt in Several Parts of the Country Over Controversial Statement by Suspended BJP Leader Nupur Sharma. One injured is under treatment at SRG hospital in Jhalawar while the other was referred to a hospital in Kota. the SHO said. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot took to twitter and expressed his grief over the death of five persons and wished for speedy recovery of the two injured in the mishap. The five deceased were identified as Balaram Sen (55), Durga Singh (45), both residents of Garoth town in Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh, Nitesh Pareta (22), Manish Pareta (20) and Sonu Pareta (22), all residents of Jawar police station area in Jhalawar while the two injured were known as Kamlesh Meghwal (26) and Karan Singh (62), residents of the MP's Rajgarh district. The container driver fled away from the spot leaving his vehicle after the mishap and efforts are underway to nab him, the SHO said. The postmortem of the five bodies is underway, ASI Balchand said from mortuary of SRG hospital in Jhalawar. The joint committee of Jhalawar district road safety cell comprising district transport officer, circle officer, SHO and engineers of National Highway Authority of India will visit the accident spot on NH- 52 to analyze and ascertain the cause of the mishap and recommend accordingly for road safety to prevent the accidents in future, DSP Girdhar Singh said. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Ahmedabad, Jun 12 (PTI) The Russia-Ukraine war has adversely affected the livelihood of lakhs of workers of the diamond industry in Gujarat, especially in rural parts of Saurashtra region where many units import small-size diamonds from Russia for processing and polishing, according to industry representatives. Also Read | Delhi Fire: Massive Fire Breaks Out in Karol Bagh's Shoe Market, 39 Fire Tenders Rushed to Spot. The state's diamond industry employs nearly 15 lakh workers, the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council's regional chairman, Dinesh Navadiya, told PTI. Also Read | Delhi Reports 795 New COVID-19 Cases In Past 24 Hours, Positivity Rate Climbs to 4.11%. Due to the shortage of supply of small-size rough diamonds from Russia, businessmen in Gujarat are forced to buy the raw material from African countries and other places, affecting their profits. Hence, the diamond units in the state have curtailed the working hours of their workers and polishers, thus impacting their livelihood, he said. The processing of big-size diamonds is mainly carried out at units in the state's Surat city. The US, where 70 per cent of the cut and polished diamonds are exported from India, has imposed a ban on Russian companies. Navadiya said a few large companies in the US have already sent them emails, saying they will not purchase goods of Russian-origin. Hence, this has adversely affected the diamond industry workers in Gujarat, mainly in Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Amreli and Junagadh districts of Saurashtra as well as in some northern parts of the state, the industry stakeholders said. "We had been importing nearly 27 per cent of rough diamonds from Russia. But, due to the war, now that much quantity is not reaching the processing units in Gujarat, affecting the work there," Navadiya said. Nearly 50 per cent of the entire workforce involved in diamond processing in Gujarat works on small-size diamonds, locally known as "patli", he said. Before the war, about 30 per cent of the total rough diamonds imported to Gujarat for polishing were brought from Alrosa, the Russian diamond mining company, he said. Out of all the cut and polished diamonds processed in Gujarat, 60 per cent are of Russian-origin, most of them being small-size diamonds, said Navadiya. "There is a shortage of rough diamonds due to the Russia-Ukraine war, hence we are procuring the raw material from African countries at a higher price. This has affected our profit margins by around 25 per cent," said Lalit Thummar, a diamond trader from Amreli district. Some diamond units have also cut the working hours of polishers employed there by 5-10 per cent, he said. Thummar said the diamond units are trying their best to ensure continuous supply of 'patli' diamonds from other sources, like small miners in African countries and lab-grown small-size diamonds in China, but the price of such stones has also gone up, affecting their profits. "The diamond units are providing jobs to workers, but not on a scale seen before the war. They are being given six hours of work instead of eight hours earlier, and two weekly offs as against one day earlier," Navadiya said. "As of now, manufacturers are sustaining despite facing losses. The production cost has increased and ready goods are not fetching the right price. Hence, the diamond units are providing limited jobs by trimming down the working hours of employees," he said. Vitthal Mendapara, who owns a diamond unit in Bhavnagar, said smaller units are the most affected due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. "There is a shortage of rough diamonds, but traders are using stocks lying with them to keep the polishers engaged. Workers in smaller units are affected due to the short supply of rough diamonds," said Mendapara, the former president of the Bhavnagar Diamond Association. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Kochi, June 12: Ernakulam Central Police registers a case against Kerala Gold Smuggling Case prime accused Swapna Suresh's Advocate, Krishna Raj, under 295A over a social media post on Saturday. Police registered a case against him under 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) for his Facebook post against a KSRTC bus driver who was allegedly in a Muslim religious dress. Kerala Gold Smuggling Case: Swapna Suresh Names CM Pinarayi Vijayan, His Wife Says 'Currency Baggage Sent to CM During 2016 Dubai Visit'. Krishna Raj alleged in the Facebook post that the driver is running a bus which is from Kondotty (in Malappuram district) to Kabul (in Afghanistan). The case was registered in a complaint filed by Advocate Anoop VR, who is a Thrissur native. Gold smuggling case prime accused Swapna Suresh made an emotional appeal before the media here on Saturday in the wake of her lawyer R Krishnaraj's potential arrest saying 'don't hurt people who are around me'. According to her, it's a deliberate attempt to isolate her. "Why are they attacking me like this. I stick to the statement I gave. Don't hurt people who are around me. Hurt me, please kill me so that the story will get over," she said."Give me chance to live. Why are you doing this to my lawyer also now? Shaj Kiran told us that the lawyer will be affected, the case will be taken against him," she added. The Kerala gold smuggling case pertains to the smuggling of gold in the state through diplomatic channels. It had come to light after 30 kg gold worth Rs 14.82 crore smuggled in a consignment camouflaged as diplomatic baggage was busted by the customs department in Thiruvananthapuram on July 5, 2019. Swapna Suresh alleged that in 2016, M Sivasankar, the former Principal Secretary to the Kerala CM, had asked her to send baggage to Dubai which belonged to Vijayan. However, when the bag was brought to the consulate, it was found that it contained currencies and the entire gold smuggling business had begun from then. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Thane, June 12: The Bhiwandi police in Maharashtra have summoned suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma to record a statement on Monday in connection with her alleged objectionable remarks against Prophet Mohammad, an official said on Sunday. Besides, expelled BJP functionary Naveen Kumar Jindal has also been asked by the Bhiwandi police in Thane district to record his statement on June 15 over his alleged controversial tweets against Prophet Mohammad, senior police inspector Chetan Kakade told reporters. Also Read | Prophet Remarks Row: From Ranchi to Howrah, Violent Protests Erupt in Several Parts of the Country Over Controversial Statement by Suspended BJP Leader Nupur Sharma. The Bhiwandi police had registered a case against Sharma following a complaint lodged by a representative of the Raza Academy on May 30, he said. They had also registered a case against Jindal, the official said. Earlier, the Mumbra police in Thane asked Sharma to appear before them on June 22 to record her statement over her remarks. The Mumbai Police have also summoned her to record a statement on June 25 in connection with her remarks about the Prophet during a TV debate triggered a huge controversy. The police had asked for a video of the debate from the news channel concerned. The BJP had on June 5 suspended its national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled Delhi BJP media head Jindal after their alleged derogatory remarks against the Prophet led to an outrage in India and Gulf countries. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Bhopal, Jun 12 (PTI) A 35-year-old woman suffered a 10-centimeter-long cut on her face after she was attacked by three persons, including two boys, with a blade for resisting an eve-teasing attempt here, police said on Sunday, adding that the accused were arrested. Also Read | Srinagar Encounter: LeT Terrorist, Involved in Killing of 2 Jammu and Kashmir Police Personnel, Gunned Down by Security Forces. The Congress, while quoting a media report, said the woman received 118 stitches on her face following the attack that had occurred on June 9. Also Read | Prophet Remarks Row: Geert Wilders, Dutch Politician Receives Death Threats for Supporting Suspended BJP Leader Nupur Sharma, Says I Am Not Indian nor a Hindu. Meanwhile, state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday met the victim - Seema Solanki - at her home in Shivaji Nagar locality of the city and announced a cash reward of Rs one lakh for her bravery, besides promising plastic surgery if required. Chouhan also held a meeting of officials and directed Bhopal police commissioner Makrand Deuskar to take strict action against the accused. The incident occurred under the jurisdiction of T T Nagar police station limits at around 8 pm on Thursday, but it came to light through some media reports on Sunday. T T Nagar police station in-charge Chen Singh Raghuvanshi said the miscreants attacked when Solanki was returning home on a motorcycle with her husband. "All three persons involved in the crime - main accused Badshah Baig (38) and two 15-year-old boys - were arrested on Sunday morning," he said. Talking to reporters after meeting the victim, CM Chouhan said he came to meet the "brave sister who opposed the eve-teasing by the miscreants". "Seema slapped one of the accused when they tried to eve-tease her. The accused fled from the spot after seeing the crowd, but when she was going with her husband, they attacked her with a blade. I am saddened and agitated by this incident," Chouhan said. The chief minister said that those involved in the crime will not be spared. "I convened a meeting of officials today morning and told them that such an incident will not be tolerated. All the accused have been arrested," he said. Chouhan said the woman bravely faced the miscreants and didn't give up against them. "We will ensure her full treatment. The doctors are examining and will suggest what treatment, including plastic surgery, is needed. We will arrange the treatment. We will also give a prize of Rs one lakh for her bravery," he said. He said that Seema has become an inspiration for fighting against injustice and not to tolerate it. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesg Congress Committee Media Department's chairman K K Mishra shared a news report clipping saying that the woman sustained 118 stitches on her face. "Bhopal is leading in the crime against women as 916 such cases have been registered in three months. On the other hand, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra claimed a 40 per cent decline in the crime. What is the truth?" he said. When asked about the number of stitches, the Deputy Commissioner of Police Sai Krishna S Thota said that according to the medical report, the woman sustained a 10-centimeter cut on face in this blade attack. But there is no mention of the number of stitches in the medical report, 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) The Shangri-La Dialogue the Asia-Pacific's top security meeting is back this year after a two-year absence due to COVID. And it seems the Americans came with a plan to spread their so-called "China threat theory." During a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III accused China of "undermining security and stability" in the Indo-Pacific region, and growing "provocative" activity near the Taiwan region. Such accusations are not new. The U.S. have been pointing its fingers at China in recent months, while it gets more active in attempting to join hands with its allies to hype up the hostility against China. In a February update on what the U.S. called its "Indo-Pacific Strategy," Washington labeled China the primary source of challenges for the region. It said China's "coercion and aggression" spans the globe, and it's most acute in the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. also took aim at Beijing's one-China principle which insists Taiwan is part of China by stressing it would work with partners to maintain what it called "peace and stability" in the Taiwan Straits. This included supporting Taiwan's "self-defense" capabilities, the U.S. said. Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe (3rd R) and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (3rd L) hold talks in Singapore, June 10, 2022. /China's Ministry of National Defense To maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific? Is this really what the U.S. strategy is about? Many have their doubts. Zhang Chi, associate professor from National Defense University in Beijing, said on the sidelines of the dialogue that the purpose of the Indo-Pacific strategy is not to maintain peace and stability in the region, but to contain the rise of China. "By exaggerating the China threat theory, the U.S. wants to shape China into a so-called 'public enemy' of regional countries, so it can take the moral and commanding high ground, and mobilize regional allies and partners to go against China," Zhang said. Chinese President Xi Jinping has said on many occasions that the Pacific Ocean is big enough to accommodate the development of both China and the U.S. For reasonable and educated people across the world, such a concept should be pretty simple to grasp. So, why are we seeing an increasing number of American politicians, including the U.S. defense secretary, go head-to-head with China? Zhang said there are two main reasons, and the first is America's deep-rooted Cold War mentality. "During the Cold War, the U.S. successfully defeated the Soviet Union through its Cold War mentality and containment strategy," he said. "Therefore, the U.S. has got cognitive inertia on how to deal with issues like this, and will continue to use the methods of the past to deal with the rising China of today." Secondly, Zhang added, there have been some changes in ideological trends in the U.S. since former president Donald Trump came to power, and the most prominent one is populism. "It has triggered panic and anxiety about the rise of China. More and more Americans have got a negative view of China," Zhang said. In such an environment, the U.S. is finding it difficult to stay rational and objective, and, it seems, its China policy is suffering because of that. Their rather wild and illogical Indo-Pacific strategy bears testament to this. It shows that the Americans don't truly understand Beijing's own strategy in the region. The way out for China, Zhang pointed out, is to stick to its fundamental principles. He emphasized that firstly the government has pledged to continue to reform and open up its markets, strengthen its economic and trade cooperation with other countries, and expand common interests and, in the process, narrow differences. Second, he said China will fight resolutely against the aggressive posture of the U.S. And third, China will adhere to the concept of dialogue and negotiation as means to manage and control crises. "Communication cannot be interrupted at any time," Zhang said. That is echoed by Zhao Jingfang, professor from National Defense University, who highlighted the importance of the Shangri-La Dialogue serving as a communication platform on the sideline of the dialogue. "The Shangri-La Dialogue provides us with an important channel to publicize China's propositions, including the idea of a community with a shared future for mankind, a community with a shared future for Asia, and our concept of peaceful development and win-win cooperation," Zhao Jingfang said. On Friday, the defense ministers of China and the United States met during the Shangri-La Dialogue. During the meeting, the Chinese defense minister reiterated Beijing's firm stance on issues such as Taiwan, the South China Sea, and internationally, Ukraine. As the spokesperson of the National Defense Ministry said, the talks were not long, but they went well. Next, the two sides will discuss potential exchanges and cooperation between the two militaries. It's a solid step towards warming up the relations between the two militaries and the two countries. Guwahati, Jun 12 (PTI) Prohibitory order under Section 144 of CrPC has been promulgated in Cachar and Karimgamj districts of Assam and all processions and rallies have been banned in the two districts, an official said. Cachar district administration on Sunday promulgated various restrictions under Section 144 of CrPC, while neighbouring Karimganj issued a similar order on Friday. Also Read | Prophet Remark Row: 20 Muslim Leaders Arrested in Gujarat for Protesting Without Permission. Issuing the order, Cachar Additional District Magistrate Dipak Jidung noted that "mass rallies and protests are being organised in various parts of the district since last few days involving huge gathering". He further stated that some persons may indulge in anti-social activities and intimidate genuine public, causing annoyance. Also Read | Narendra Modi's Maharashtra Visit: PM To Inaugurate Jagatguru Shrisant Tukaram Maharaj Temple in Pune, Visit Raj Bhawan in Mumbai on June 14. "There is apprehension that this may lead to breach of public peace and tranquility," the ADM said. The prohibitory order banned assembly of five or more persons in the district, disallowed carrying of firearms, all rallies and processions have been prevented without specific permissions, and disallowed use of microphone or loudspeaker without permission. Karimganj Additional District Magistrate Rintu Chandra Boro banned all procession, rally, dharna, distribution of leaflets, banners and posters that may breach public peace and tranquillity. He also said that "In view of emerging situation on the law and order front aftermath the controversial statement by a leader", protests have been seen in many places across the country. "...there is an ample apprehension of breach of public peace and tranquility, loss of human life and property due to gathering for the aforementioned purpose in the district," the order mentioned. On Saturday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the government is keeping a close watch on the law and order situation in the state following violence in several states over the controversial remarks against Prophet Mohammad. Protests erupted in several parts of the country over controversial remarks by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled leader Naveen Jindal on Prophet Mohammad. Meanwhile, Assam State Jamiat Ulama (ASJU) on Sunday condemned the hated remarks on Prophet Mohammed by Sharma and Jindal. In a press statement, ASJU President Moulana Mustak Anfar demanded the BJP-led government to take legal action against the duo. "Moreover, the government should strictly vigil the situation, so that nobody can destabilise the peace and integrity of the country, including Assam," he added. Anfar also appealed to the people of Assam to maintain peace, integrity and brotherhood among the citizens of the state. Opposition Assam Congress and Assam Jatiya Parishad leaders have filed separate police complaints in the state against Sharma and Jindal for their remarks. Police are, however, yet to register any case on the basis of the complaints. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Mumbai, Jun 12 (PTI) Union minister and BJP leader Narayan Rane on Sunday demanded Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's resignation over the Shiv Sena's performance in the Rajya Sabha elections, and claimed that his Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was in minority. Also Read | IICA Celebrates Azadi Ka #AmritMahotsav with the Exhibition of ESG-CSR Benchmarking the Latest Tweet by Prasar Bharati News Services. Talking to reporters, Rane, known to be a bitter critic of the Shiv Sena and Thackeray, said the defeat of Sena's second candidate in the polls was an embarrassment for the chief minister, who is also the president the party. Also Read | Mumbai Shocker: Minor Girl Working As Domestic Help Dies by Suicide After Caught Stealing Purse, Employers Booked Under Child Labour Act. In the fiercely-contested polls for the total six seats on Friday, Sena's Sanjay Pawar lost to BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik - its third nominee. Other MVA partners- NCP and Congress won one seat each. The BJP won all the three seats it had contested. "They (Shiv Sena) didn't even get votes necessary to keep them in power. They did not even get the MVA alliance votes. The chief minister is in minority. You (Thackeray) resign and step aside. He has taken Maharashtra 10 years behind," Rane said. Taking a dig at Thackeray, Rane said he has no credibility and he cannot even take care of his MLAs. "They (MVA candidates) did not even get enough votes that are necessary to ensure a majority (to form the government). Your MLAs defect and that shows that there is no credibility. You cannot take care of your MLAs but talk big. We (BJP), despite being in the opposition, got more votes than what you got," the former chief minister claimed. The BJP secured an impressive win in the Rajya Sabha polls held on Saturday that saw Sena candidate Sanjay Pawar losing to BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik in a bitter contest. He said on the other hand, the BJP legislators displayed loyalty and honesty and also ensured that all three party candidates emerge victorious. Taking a dig at Sena leader Sanjay Raut without naming him, Rane said prior to the Rajya Sabha polls, some made big talks that they will win four seats and engineer defection in the BJP. "Even Sanjay Raut has won by a vote. He escaped (defeat) from us," Rane said. He said Thackeray should learn from NCP chief Sharad Pawar who appreciated BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis' skills in managing the election. Rane asserted that his party will not only win the upcoming municipal corporation polls in Mumbai, but also 2024 assembly polls. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Fatehpur (UP), Jun 12 (PTI) A team of seven veterinary doctors was deputed for the treatment of the district magistrate's cow here, according to an order, the copy of which surfaced on social media on Sunday. District Magistrate Apoorva Dubey, however, described the episode as a conspiracy and said no such order was issued by her. Also Read | India Has 'Strong Protective Shield' of COVID-19 Vaccination, Says Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. The order was issued on June 9 but was cancelled by the Acting Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) a day later. The DM said the CVO's order was issued in an arbitrary manner and the officer cancelled it when she asked him to do so. Also Read | Jammu and Kashmir: Indian Army Soldier Along LoC Killed in Lightning Strike in Baramulla. The DM said she has complained to the Veterinary Department against the officer, whose working style has not been good in the past. Several warnings had been issued to him in the past as well, she said. In the order, a different veterinary doctor for each of the seven days of the week was deputed to take care of the animal. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Kolkata, Jun 12 (PTI) Stating that people cannot be held to ransom by violence, an association of Muslim clerics on Sunday night urged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee not to grant permission to any more rally to protest against controversial comments on Prophet Mohammad by two BJP leaders. The Bengal Imams Association also asked members of the community not to fall into the traps of vested interests and indulge in violence. Also Read | World Day Against Child Labour 2022: NCPCR To Conduct Rescue Operation at 75 Places in India Where Kids Working. President of the association Md Yahia said in a video statement that violence, arson and attacking properties and police personnel by a section of minority community members in the name of agitation have hurt the economy and caused great hardships to the general public. "While the comments of Nupur Sharma and another BJP leader are unacceptable and we are awaiting administrative action, we cannot hold people of the state to ransom by violent protests that are taking place in pockets of Howrah, Murshidabad and Nadia districts. Setting on fire properties and pelting the police with stones and being lathi-charged by the police cannot boost the image of a devoutly religious man or his icon," he said. Also Read | COVID-19 in Mumbai: BMCs H West Ward Directs Private Hospitals To Test OPD Patients for Coronavirus. Yahia had on Thursday called for protests inside mosques across the state, demanding the arrest of the two BJP leaders, but said the administration is free to take action against people who are blocking roads and inconveniencing the public. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Islamabad [Pakistan], June 12 (ANI): Senior officials of Pakistan and China met each other and discussed their perspectives on the international and regional security situations. "Both sides discussed their perspectives on the international and regional security situation, and expressed satisfaction on defence cooperation between the two countries," Inter-Services Public Relation said in a press release. Also Read | Russian Health Watchdog Detects COVID-19 Omicron Subvariant BA.4 in Population. A senior-level tri-service military delegation of Pakistan visited China from June 9 to 12 and held wide-ranging discussions with senior officials the of Chinese military and other government departments. "Apex Meeting was held on 12 June wherein Pakistani side was headed by Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Qamar Javed Bajwa while the Chinese side was led by General Zhang Youxia Vice Chairman Central Military Commission of China," according to the statement. Also Read | EU Special Envoys Meet in Brussels As Human Rights Situation in Afghanistan Deteriorates. During the apex meeting, Pakistan and China reaffirmed their strategic partnership in challenging times and agreed to continue the regular exchange of perspectives on issues of mutual interest. "Both sides also vowed to enhance their training, technology and counterterrorism cooperation at the tri-service level," the statement further read. Meanwhile, on June 2, China agreed to refinance Pakistan with USD 2.3 billion worth of funds amid the dwindling foreign exchange reserves of the country. "Good News: The terms and conditions for refinancing of RMB 15 billion deposit by Chinese banks (about US$ 2.3 billion) have been agreed. Inflow is expected shortly after some routine approvals from both sides. This will help shore up our foreign exchange reserves," Ismail tweeted. This development comes as the restoration of the country's delayed International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme depends on the government's capacity to make a fiscal adjustment of about 2.5 per cent of the GDP. The fiscal adjustments can be made by increasing the revenues and reducing the expenditure in the next budget, Geo News reported citing The News. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Kabul, June 12: Amid the deteriorating human rights situation due to the Taliban regime, Special Envoy of the European Union for Afghanistan Tomas Niklasson hosted Special Representatives and Envoys for Afghanistan from the EU Member States in Brussels on Saturday. Taking to Twitter, the envoy said, "Concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation, notably for women, girls and ethnic groups, the lack of political inclusivity, and the inability of the Taliban to adopt and implement coherent policies in line with commitments to the Afghan people," Khaama Press reported. Taliban Rejects Report on Human Rights Violations in Afghanistan. "In addition to the delegates, "external specialists" on human rights and economics attended the event, he further wrote on his Twitter handle as he condemned the Taliban's enforced stringent policies on women. He wrote about the meeting's detail which concentrated on recent issues involving women and girls, the "deteriorating human rights situation", the absence of policy and public engagement, and the difficulty to implement coherent policies compliant with the international universal principles that also serve the people of Afghanistan. The meeting was held in Brussels, and the representatives of EU member states have been reminded of their continued support and commitment to the Afghan people, Khaama Press reported. Moreover, this comes at a time when the Human Rights Watch has accused the Taliban of war crimes in Panjshir and has called on the international community to impose a travel ban on senior Taliban officials in a separate report. It also stated that expressing "deep concern" alone is not effective and that the Taliban should be made to behave in a practical and objective manner. The atrocities of the Taliban against Afghan women have been on an incessant surge since the organization seized power in Afghanistan in August last year, banning young girls and women of humanitarian rights. Most female workers in government institutions have been denied access to work since the Taliban assumed control of the country last August, and a number of them have been fired. Meanwhile, the Taliban has suspended the secondary education of girls, and enforced a strict form of Hijab. They have also provided no opportunities for Afghan women to participate in political and public life, to fit the pattern of absolute gender segregation that is aimed at making women invisible in society. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Singapore, Jun 12 (PTI) China and India are neighbours and maintaining a good relationship meets the interests of both countries, Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe said on Sunday, stressing that the two nations are working together for peace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue here, Wei also called for peaceful means for settling territorial disputes including those in the South China Sea. Also Read | Russian Health Watchdog Detects COVID-19 Omicron Subvariant BA.4 in Population. China and India are neighbours and maintaining a good relationship meets the interests of both countries. And that is what we are working on, he stressed. On a question about conflict on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India, Wei said: We have had 15 rounds of talks at commander level with the Indians and we are working together for peace in this area." Also Read | EU Special Envoys Meet in Brussels As Human Rights Situation in Afghanistan Deteriorates. Wei was responding to a question by Dr Tanvi Madan, director of The India Project at the Brookings Institution, a US think tank. Madan had asked the minister to explain why the People's Liberation Army (PLA) two years ago had unilaterally moved to change the status quo at multiple points at the LAC with India, reasons that led to a military clash, the first in 45 years between the two countries, and steps that were in violation of agreements that Beijing-Delhi had carefully negotiated over 25 years. The Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a tense border standoff in eastern Ladakh since May 5, 2020, when a violent clash between the two sides erupted in the Pangong lake area. China has also been building bridges and constructing other infrastructure such as roads and residential units in the border areas with India. India and China have held 15 rounds of military talks so far to resolve the Ladakh standoff. As a result of the talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process last year on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area. However, each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the LAC in the sensitive sector. India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the LAC were key for the overall development of the bilateral ties. (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], June 12 (ANI): Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov said that the multidimensional cooperation between India-Russia is one of the world's most elaborate ones and the countries succeeded in "building true friendship and mutual trust" exemplified by numerous proud milestones. Marking the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Russian-Indian diplomatic relations, he made these remarks in a foreword in the special edition of the Russia Digest magazine. Also Read | Russian Health Watchdog Detects COVID-19 Omicron Subvariant BA.4 in Population. The remarks further coincide with the occasion of Russia's National Day, June 12, stated the Embassy of Russia in India on its website. The year 2022 marks both 75 years of India's Independence and the 75th Anniversary of the Russian-Indian diplomatic relations, which were established in April 1947. Also Read | EU Special Envoys Meet in Brussels As Human Rights Situation in Afghanistan Deteriorates. Speaking on the milestones achieved in the relationship between the two countries, Alipov wrote about the industrialization and power plants construction in India with the Soviet assistance in the 1950-1960s, setting up of the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay in 1958, the groundbreaking Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation of 1971, the flight of the first Indian cosmonaut on the "Soyuz T-11" spacecraft in 1984, the Declaration of Strategic Partnership of 2000 and many more. "Today's Russia-India multidimensional cooperation is one of the world's most elaborate ones with regular meetings of the two intergovernmental commissions, sector-wise ministerial, security advisors' and senior officials dialogue, foreign office consultations and coordination in the global arena, complemented by diverse business, cultural and people-to-people contacts," he wrote. The Ambassador highlighted that Russia and India were among the first in the world to establish the practice of annual bilateral summits. The XXI Summit in December 2021 in New Delhi was held in person, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and the introduction of the "2+2" ministerial format became yet another landmark, he added. "Our positions on core issues remain similar or coinciding, stressing the need to uphold the central role of the United Nations towards just and equal multipolarity and opposing unilateral and confrontational approaches. We continue close coordination on the agenda of BRICS as well as the G20 and the SCO, which India will chair in 2022-2023," he continued. Russia and India continue to successfully implement flagship initiatives, which make our cooperation unparalleled, Alipov stressed in his foreword for the Magazine. The Ambassador wrote at length about these initiatives. Among them are the Kudankulam nuclear power plant construction and advanced defence ties within the "Make in India" and "Atmanirbhar Bharat" programmes such as AK-203 rifles manufacturing, combat aviation and main battle tanks production as well as frigates, submarines, Brahmos and other missiles projects. The best-of-a-kind S-400 systems delivery is proceeding well according to the schedule, Alipov wrote. In the forward, the Russian Ambassador also covered the bilateral trade and cooperation between the two countries. "With the increased volumes of bilateral trade by more than 45 per cent in 2021, this positive trend is supplemented in 2022 by intensified cooperation in energy and fertilizers," he wrote. Furthermore, he stated that priority is given to the Far Eastern and the Arctic dimensions, implementation of the North-South transport corridor project and an early conclusion of the FTA between the Eurasian Economic Union and India. "Along with ongoing projects in connectivity, diamond processing, forestry, healthcare and pharma sector, tourism, railways, metallurgy, civil aviation, shipbuilding, oil refinery and petrochemicals, there are plenty of new opportunities for the Indian business in the Russian market, especially against the backdrop of withdrawal of many Western companies," he added. Alipov said that Russia "deeply cherishes equal and respectful relations" with India. Continuing, the Ambassador noted that the cooperation between India and Russia plays the role of a defining factor for global peace, stability and sustainable development. "We are confident in the future of our bilateral ties and are ready to move forward in utilizing their potential and exploring new horizons for the benefit of the people of our two friendly nations," he said expressing the confidence in the bilateral relations between India-Russia. Concluding his foreword, the Ambassador said that Russia will further strive to strengthen international peace and ensure global security and stability with a view to establishing a fair and democratic international system that addresses global issues on the basis of collective decision-making, the rule of international law, indivisible security and the generally accepted principles of equal rights, mutual respect and non-interference in domestic affairs. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Pyongyang [North korea], June 12 (ANI): North Korea has named a top nuclear negotiator as the nation's first female Foreign Minister, state media reported Saturday. This comes amid warnings from the US that Pyongyang is preparing to conduct a nuclear test. Also Read | Russian Health Watchdog Detects COVID-19 Omicron Subvariant BA.4 in Population. Career diplomat Choe Son Hui was appointed at a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea from June 8-10, overseen by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, CNN reported citing state-run outlet KCNA. Her appointment comes at a time of tension on the Korean Peninsula as North Korea aggressively ramps up its weapons testing program in defiance of United Nations sanctions. Also Read | EU Special Envoys Meet in Brussels As Human Rights Situation in Afghanistan Deteriorates. On Tuesday, US Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim warned that Washington believes North Korea is preparing to conduct a seventh nuclear test. The International Atomic Energy Agency also said Tuesday that North Korea is "readying their nuclear test site," warning the situation surrounding Pyongyang's nuclear program "is quite concerning because we have seen a fast-forward in every line," based on the activity at the Punggye-ri site, CNN reported. This year alone, North Korea has conducted 17 missiles including two successful tests of presumed intercontinental ballistic missiles. However, in response to North Korea's missile launch, South Korea and the US fired a Hyunmoo-II ballistic missile and an Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile into the East Sea to establish their rapid strike capabilities, said the JCS as reported by Yonhap News Agency. (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 York [US], June 12 (ANI/Xinhua): The United Nations on Saturday voiced concern over the deteriorating security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), given the increase of attacks against civilians by rebels as well as the presence of foreign armed groups. "We call on all armed groups to immediately cease all forms of violence. We urge Congolese armed groups to participate unconditionally in the disarmament, demobilization, community recovery and stabilization program, and foreign armed groups to immediately disarm and return to their countries of origin," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a note to correspondents. Also Read | Russian Health Watchdog Detects COVID-19 Omicron Subvariant BA.4 in Population. "We reaffirm our strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the DRC and strongly condemn the use of proxies. We welcome and support ongoing national and regional political efforts to accompany the disarmament of armed groups, including by President Felix Tshisekedi of the DRC and President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya through the Nairobi process," said the spokesman. The UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC is also working to promote non-military measures for the disarmament of foreign armed groups, he said. Also Read | EU Special Envoys Meet in Brussels As Human Rights Situation in Afghanistan Deteriorates. The United Nations welcomes the nomination of Angolan President Joao Lourenco by the African Union as a mediator to defuse tensions between the DRC and Rwanda, and fully supports these political efforts, he said. "We are deeply concerned about reports of increased hate speech in the country against some particular communities, including in the context of the M23 (rebel group)'s resurgence. Hate speech must be confronted proactively," said the spokesman. (ANI/Xinhua) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) June 12, Mumbai: The Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP) is likely to announce the UP Board Result 2022 by the second week of June. According to reports, the results for Matric (Class 10) and Inter (Class 12) will be announced by June 15. Once announced, students who appeared for the UP Board 10th and 12th exams can visit the official website of UPMSP at upmsp.edu.in to check their results. Alternatively, candidates can also visit results.upmsp.edu.in and upresults.nic.in to check their UPMSP Result 2022. A few days ago, an official from the UP board said that the results will be declared by the second week of June. However, the Additional chief secretary of secondary education, Aradhana Shukla put an end to all the rumours when she said that the date was not officially declared by the department. UP Board Result 2022: Steps to check Class 10th and 12th result Visit the official website of UP Board at upmsp.edu.in On the homepage, click on the Class 10th Result or Classs 12th Result link Enter your roll number, and other details Your Class 10 and Class 12 results will be displayed on the screen Download a copy for future reference This year, more than 51 lakhs students appeared for the UPMSP Class 10th and 12th exams. The UP Board 2022 Class 10 and 12 exams were held by the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad between March 24 to April 13. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 12, 2022 03:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). New Delhi, June 12: The 23-year-old woman who has accused Rajasthan Cabinet Minister Mahesh Joshi's son of rape, suffered an ink attack in the national capital, an official said on Sunday. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast District) Esha Pandey said a PCR call was received on Saturday night that some miscreants had thrown something on the woman and ran away. After the attack, the woman was immediately rushed to AIIMS Trauma centre. The victim told the police that she was walking with her mother near Kalindi Kunj Road at around 9.30 p.m. when two boys threw something at her and fled. Delhi: Fire Breaks Out at Electric Motor Parking in Jamia Nagar, Several E-Rickshaws Burnt to Ashes. "The blue liquid prima facie looks like ink," DCP Pandey said. Based on her statement, the police registered an FIR under section 195 A (Threatening any person to give false evidence), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation), 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at the Shaheen Bagh police station. Earlier, the victim had lodged a complaint at the Sadar Bazar police station regarding sexual assault by Rohit Joshi, the son of Rajasthan Cabinet Minister Mahesh Joshi. "She had alleged that Rohit Joshi came in contact with her through Facebook in 2020. He took her to Sawai Madhopur on January 8, 2021, gave her cold drink laced with sedatives and made sexual relationship without her consent," DCP (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi said. Further allegations of sexual assault in Jaipur and other places have also been made. The Delhi Police have registered a zero FIR on May 8 under sections 376, 377, 328, 366, 312, 506 and 509 of the IPC. Meanwhile, Delhi Commission for Women Chairperson Swati Maliwal said that she will be issuing a notice to the Delhi Police over the ink attack. Maliwal even asked Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot not to try to save his Minister's son and rather get him arrested. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 12, 2022 11:59 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Australia Defense Minister Richard Marles said he had a very frank and full exchange with his Chinese counterpart, marking the highest-level meeting between the countries in more than two years amid a flare-up in tensions. https://t.co/H3S4A080ZA Bloomberg (@business) June 12, 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.) Mongolia | Its the rarest event in history, the most precious opportunity for Mongolians to witness, to get boundless blessings from it. India & Mongolia are geographically distant but both share heritage: Munkhbaatar Batchuluun, Administrative board member of the monastery pic.twitter.com/1Bp4TQ8yfV ANI (@ANI) June 12, 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.) The #Netherlands and #Poland drew 2-2 in a hectic #UEFANationsLeague encounter, with the home team coming back strongly from 2-0 down. pic.twitter.com/ZdszfDpzwS IANS (@ians_india) June 12, 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.) A man who stopped, reversed and then drove through the toll barrier on the motorway in Laois has been convicted of careless driving. David Coates, 49, of 172 Alymer Road, Newcastle, Dublin appeared before a sitting of Portlaoise District Court. State Solicitor Donal Dunne said gardai attended the toll plaza in Laois following a complaint of non payment of toll and a careless driving incident on July 30, 2021. He said gardai were told the driver approached, reversed his vehicle and went straight through the barrier. Staff had approached but the man had said what are you going to do?. When interviewed by gardai, the accused indicated that he didnt have the money. Mr Dunne said the man has three previous convictions. Barrister Suzanne Dooner said the toll has been paid for since the incident. She said her client has ongoing mental health difficulties and said on the day: He was not in the right frame of mind and he wishes to apologise. She added he is very embarrassed about how he acted on the day. Judge Patricia Cronin described the actions of the defendant as totally unacceptable particularly as he had been asked not to drive on. She fined him 200 for careless driving. A man who was caught driving at 172kmh without insurance while rushing home in a new car has been banned from driving for two years. Dylan Brophy, 22, of 10 Collins Avenue, Kincora Park, Limerick was stopped on the M7 at Cappakeel on April 8. State Solicitor Donal Dunne said the man was travelling at 172kph in a 120km zone. He told gardai he was only after buying the car and was rushing home to show his father his new car. He had no insurance and made admission to gardai. Mr Dunne said the defendant has five previous convictions. Solicitor Barry Fitzgerald said the man was somewhat animated having just bought the car. He purchased the vehicle in Dublin and was making his way back and was over-exuberant with his new purchase, said Mr Fitzgerald. Judge Patricia Cronin said the defendant shouldnt have been driving on the motorway as he was on a learner licence. She noted he didnt have L plates either. Judge Cronin fined him 150 for driving unaccompanied on the motorway without a full licence, 150 for careless driving and 300 for not having insurance. She also imposed a two year disqualification for not having insurance. Judge Cronin fixed recognisance in case of appeal. Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The gun battles between two armed groups in Tripoli on Friday night, which reiterated the persistence of insecurity in the city, have attracted widespread condemnation for the threat they pose to the security and lives of citizens, as well as the need to hold their perpetrators accountable A man who got completely inebriated while travelling from Limerick to Dublin spat at gardai after being arrested for brandishing a broken bottle at Portlaoise train station. Michael OConnell, 46, of 14 Oak Crescent, Gorthboy, Newcastlewest, Limerick was arrested when gardai were alerted to a man being threatening and abusive towards staff at Portlaoise train station on December 16, 2021. State Solicitor Donal Dunne said the defendant spat all over the rear of the patrol car and spat at members when he was arrested. He said he had 16 previous convictions for theft and fraud and road traffic matters. Solicitor Barry Fitzgerald said his client has medical issues and was heavily medicated and while travelling from Limerick to Dublin he got completely inebriated on the train. He said his client would admit that alcohol is a problem for him and he is apologetic for his behaviour. There was an issue with alcohol and the fusion of alcohol and medication, he remarked. Mr Fitzgerald told the court his client wanted to make good on the 200 bill for the cleaning which had to be carried out as a result of his arrest. Judge Patricia Cronin said the behaviour was entirely unacceptable on the date in question. She fixed bail and adjourned the case until July 7 in order that the defendant could bring 232 to pay the cleaning bill. One of America's greatest writers quoted at Fianna Fail and Fine Gael in County Hall Portlaoise in recent days for freezing indpendent, Sinn Fein and Labour out of a key committee and the plumb jobs on Laois County Council. Cllr James Kelly, Independent, read a famour Mark Twain qoute to the councillors from the two parties at the AGM of the Borris-in-Ossory Mountmellick Municipal District. He congratulated outgoing District Cathaoirleach, Cllr Ollie Clooney, on his years work. While Cllr Clooney is also an independent, he assumed the position in 2021 due to a deal struck to support Fianna Fail and Fine Gael after the last local election. Cllr Kelly said the spoils were divided after that election with the plumb jobs given out at the exclusion of other independents, Sinn Fein and Labour councillors even though they represented 30% of the public vote. He said the these members should at least have been given a seat at the Corporate Policy Group which is a key committee made up of councillors and management. He cautioned the two parties that there could be change. The political situation is changing. The two main parties are not the two main parties anymore, he said. Cllr Kelly read a quote on the wall of the meeting room where the AGM was held. Im looking over there at the sayings and see one from Mark Twain that says whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority it is time to pause and reflect, he said. Cllr Paddy Bracken, Fianna Fail, took issue saying that if Cllr Kelly and other councillor had the number after the election, the scenario would have been different. You cant exactly say cinemas have been packed since they reopened after the lockdowns. As the mind wanders in the few quiet moments before the lights dim for the main feature, cinema-goers, looking at the empty seats around them, could be forgiven for imagining they had wandered onto the set of a Spaghetti Western. Cue tumbleweed blowing down the aisles and Ennio Morricone mood-music in the background. No better time, then, for Top Gun: Maverick to arrive, and coax viewers back en-masse to the big screen. In this film, Tom Cruises character Captain Pete Maverick Mitchell is still flying fighter jets. Whereas most of the other people in his life have moved on in their careers and personal lives, he is still doing what he loves but is arguably stuck in a rut. Maverick is called back to flight school to train a group of hot shots for an almost impossible raid on a nuclear facility in an unnamed country. Given the current international upheaval, that fact that the enemy nation goes unnamed is a wise decision on behalf of the writers. Back in town to train his recruits for their impossible mission, Maverick meets his old flame Penny (Jennifer Connelly). We get the sense that Cruises character has broken her heart before. One can presume this is his attempt to push people away, afraid of leaving anyone behind to pick up the pieces if he dies while doing his dangerous job. Its hard to believe that the original Top Gun was released way back in 1986. That film was responsible for transforming Cruise from an up-and-coming actor to international superstar. He has admitted that he wanted to make the sequel for a long time but was apprehensive. Of the challenges involved, Cruise has told interviewer Alex Zane: Ive got to teach the actors how to be fighter pilots and Ive got to teach the fighter pilots how to be actors. Wow. The flight sequences in this film are absolutely brilliant. You really feel that you are in the plane with the pilots. Cruise is a great adherent of practical effects and this is what makes the action sequences in his films so realistic. This isnt green-screen, he said in the interview with Zane. He is an aviator and actually flies a lot of the jets himself. Kudos. Instead of relying on CGI, Cruise and his co-stars are in the cockpits themselves, doing the heavy lifting. Perhaps surprisingly for an action film, one thread of the storyline deals with our attitudes to ageism. Is Maverick too old to do his job properly? Are the creaky F-14 jets (the ones used in the original film) capable of mixing it up with the enemys modern fighters? The message is clear: age will not get in the way of greatness. The nod to Tom Cruises doubters is also clear: he still has it. Cruise went out of his way to get Val Kilmer to reprise his role of Tom Iceman Kazansky in the film. Kilmer has been very sick over the last number of years and it is quite sad to see the main scene between him and Cruise, a poignant reminder of the formers ailing health. This is a good movie, not just a re-hash of the original. You could wait until it is available to stream, but Top Gun: Maverick is an event as much as a film release. An immersive tour de force of American soft power: power-ballads, tight jeans, pearly-white smiles and of course Tom Cruise himself. For the real experience, catch it in the cinema while you still can. Getting a doctor or a denist appointment in County Kildare is impossible Sinn Fein TD Patricia Ryan claimed in the Dail. The South Kildare deputy was speaking in the chamber on June 2 during a debate on investment in higher eductation sector was led by Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris. Ms Ryan referenced a general skills shortage in many sectors such as in local medical and dentistry clinics. She said: One only has to read a newspaper to know that we are experiencing a severe skills shortage. Trying to get an appointment for a doctor or a dentist in Kildare or Laois is impossible. I have people coming to me who have to go to Carlow for treatment. The TD also said she recently spoke about the challenges faced by the local bus services in Kildare. She added: One might wonder why but these people need to be trained. The staff shortages can be seen throughout the health services and they are a direct result of successive governments' indifferent attitude to education. We are in the peak of a housing crisis and need a massive increase in the building of public homes. The best time to invest in necessary skills was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now. Ms Ryan also called for a satellite campus of Maynooth University in South Kildare. She explained: I visited Maynooth University recently. Every time I visit, there seems to be another building project ongoing. It is no wonder that it is Ireland's fastest growing university. I know our technical universities are multi-campus operations and I would love to see a satellite campus of Maynooth University in Newbridge or the Curragh that would cater for the needs of people in Kildare, Laois and Offaly. Minister Harris said a range of important policies that set out a vision and direction for higher education funding are now in place. He added: We plan on providing more funding for universities, we have developed new technological universities in the regions and plan on bringing about new academic contracts for staff to ensure those technological universities can reach their full potential. After years of debate, we have endeavoured to settle the question of how much sustainable funding needs to go into higher education. Following a 5 million investment, the newly developed state-of-the-art National Famine Museum will open to visitors at Strokestown Park, Co Roscommon in early July 2022. Ahead of its general opening, the Irish Heritage Trust is inviting local communities to see the re-imagined National Famine Museum on Tuesday, June 14, as part of International Museum Week 2022. We are delighted to be hosting our Local Museum Day on Tuesday, June 14 and look forward to welcoming the Roscommon community and those further afield as our guests to see the development work undertaken here over the last eighteen months, commented John ODriscoll, General Manager, The National Famine Museum, Strokestown Park. International Museum Week 2022 is the perfect opportunity to showcase Irelands new National Famine Museum at Strokestown Park where the unique story of the landed gentry and their tenants is told in an authentic and moving way. Guided tours of the Museum on the day will be at 12pm, 2pm and 4pm. There will also be information on local employment opportunities and the Irish Heritage Trust Volunteering Programme, as well as the chance to learn about the benefits of Irish Heritage Trust Membership. said Mr. ODriscoll. Since 2015 the Irish Heritage Trust, a not-for-profit organisation, cares for and manages the property and has overseen this significant redevelopment project. Dr Emma OToole, Collections & Interpretation Manager at the Irish Heritage Trust worked on the project including in the early stages with an international Historical Advisory Panel which ensured that the sources and texts were thoroughly vetted on an international level. The enthralling National Famine Museum uses cutting-edge technology including projections and soundscapes to immerse visitors in the culture and day-to-day life of Ireland in the years before, during and after the Great Famine. A mixture of imaginative scene-setting and innovative audio, audio-visual, and touchscreen resources as well as our family activity guide help to make a museum visit a fascinating experience for people of all ages, said Dr OToole. The Palladian House at Strokestown Park is still undergoing some essential works and reopens when the attraction opens to the public including the contemporary visitor centre with the cafe and retail area. Funding for the project came from 3.75 million under Failte Irelands Grants Scheme for Large Tourism Projects 2016-2020 and 1.25 million funding from the owners of Strokestown Park House, Westward Holdings Ltd, in partnership with the Irish Heritage Trust. A well-known loyalist has been remanded in custody after a court was told that police discovered weapons and ammunition in a bag in the boot of his car. Winston Irvine, 46, from Ballysillan in north Belfast, was arrested on Wednesday as police were investigating a security alert that led to Irish Government minister Simon Coveney being evacuated from a peace event. Irvine has been charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition in suspicious circumstances, possession of a prohibited firearm, possession of a handgun without a certificate and possession of ammunition without a certificate. He appeared by videolink at Belfast Magistrates Court on Saturday wearing a red T-shirt. Asked if he understood the charges, Irvine said: Yes, I do. A PSNI detective inspector told the court he could connect Irvine to the charges. The officer told the court that officers had planned an operation to arrest Irvine on Wednesday in relation to an unrelated matter. He said police observed Irvines car in Glencairn Street when a van parked behind it and Irvine was seen opening the boot of his vehicle. The detective inspector said Irvine was then stopped in Disraeli Street and officers discovered a number of firearms, magazines and more than 200 rounds of ammunition in a holdall in the boot. The officer told the court that Irvine said he had not been aware of what was in bag. A search of Irvines home discovered a quantity of cash as well as a UVF plaque and pendants, the court heard. The detective inspector objected to an application for bail. He said: The police case would be that this has the hallmarks of a paramilitary operation, given the amount of ammunition and range of weaponry and component parts that were found, that this is typical of the type of stuff that paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland have access to. Persons who would have access to such large amounts would only be trusted members of the organisation. Defence lawyer Joe Brolly told the court that Irvine should be granted bail. He said: The applicant for bail is a renowned peace builder in this community. A simple internet search will show over the last 15 years he has been intensively involved in the peace process, in reconciliation and in peace programmes. He has worked across the divide for the last 20 years, that is not in dispute. He not only works with ex-loyalist prisoners but is also engaged intensively with ex-republican prisoners and continues to do so. He has publicly spent his life advocating peace in difficult situations. There are tensions, particularly in the loyalist community, and his role throughout is to keep a lid on this. District Judge George Conner denied the application for bail, saying a significant haul of weapons and ammunition had been recovered. Irvine was remanded in custody to appear in court again on July 1. A 51-year-old man arrested in Ballymena on Wednesday as part of the same investigation remains in custody. The two arrests were made as part of a PSNI investigation into a security alert on March 25 when a peace event, organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation, was disrupted. The Houben Centre in the Crumlin Road was evacuated while Mr Coveney was giving an address and a funeral service at nearby Holy Cross Church was disrupted. Police said the driver of a van was threatened by two gunmen and forced to drive a device, which he believed to be a live bomb, to the church. The item in the van turned out to be a hoax bomb. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. A MAN who admitted possession of child pornography including one image depicting a seven year-old girl performing a sexual act has avoided a prison sentence. Mariusz Karasiewicz, aged 37, who has an address at Templegreen, Newcastle West pleaded guilty to a single charge relating to an offence which occurred more than five years ago. During a sentencing hearing, Detctive Garda Michael Fitzgerald of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau said he examined a laptop which was seized during a search of the defendants home on October 10, 2016. He told Lily Buckey BL, prosecuting, he found four explicit images which were fully deleted and would eventually have been over-written. One of the images, he said, was in the most serious category; two were in the middle category while the fourth was a cartoon image. The detective said it was not possible to establish when the images were downloaded or deleted but that he did find evidence of Google searches on a single date during December 2015. During interview, Mr Karasiewicz married father-of-one said he didnt remember downloading the images but added that he was single and drinking heavily around the time. Barrister Kenny Kerins said his client, who is working full-time, had cooperated with gardai and provided all of his password and log-in details when asked. He said there was no suggestion his client had shared any images and he asked the court to note the small number of images found. It was the lowest level of sophistication, he submitted Judge Meghen said the nature of the most serious image was an aggravating factor but he noted Mr Karasiewiczs cooperation, guilty plea and his previous good record. He imposed an 18-month prison sentence which was fully suspended. The defendants name was placed on the register of sex offenders for five years. SINCE mid-March West Limerick has become home to many Ukrainians fleeing the war. There are now three centres in Ardagh, Foynes and Pallaskenry who have welcomed individuals and families and are working to support them. West Limerick Resources through its Social Inclusion & Community Activation programme (SICAP) is co-ordinating the localised support and response and is supported by 22 services and agencies in an effort to streamline the work and ensure that accurate information is being given to all who have arrived here. We have been to each site, provided the necessary information packs, but we also have a piece of work to do to connect with and support the dispersed population; those who are being kindly hosted by individuals and families in West Limerick, said Dearbhla Conlon Ahern, SICAP co-ordinator. We would love to hear from these people to ensure that they also receive the translated information packs for those they are supporting, but also for the peer support for the host families as they too navigate the days ahead. Ardagh, through its development association and St Kierans GAA, put out a call for clothing, toys, books in March and the response was fantastic. They are still supporting the Ukrainian community as they settle here. We have a wide range of items for the Ukrainian community free of charge to help them get settled, support their children, as many came with just the bag on their back, said David Woulfe, chairman of St Kierans GAA who have worked closely with Ardagh Development Association, in particular Deirdre Ambrose. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came and supported us, those who donated clothing, books, toys, bikes and those who helped to organise the space, sort and fold the items into size and age-appropriate bundles. It has been a very busy few weeks, he added. People also dug deep with cash donations and supported the GoFundMe page. From this we have been able to purchase emergency items for all Ukrainian arriving and we were able to send 10,000 worth of humanitarian and medical supplies to Ukraine which was the strong wish of the Ukrainian community in Cahermoyle, said David. The hall in Ardagh is almost at full storage capacity but donations of summer clothing, footwear for ladies and children and bikes are welcomed. The resources, as described by David, are available to all Ukrainians in the community, so if there are host families or Ukrainians living independently looking to access items contact Dearbhla. Email dconlon@wlr.ie or ring 069 66293 to find out about supports available. A BESTSELLING Limerick author is exploring the theme of true love and fate in her latest novel, as she asks the fabled question, is there someone destined for each of us? Listowel-born but Limerick raised writer Roisin Meaney has penned her twentieth piece of fiction, tunneling a line of twists and turns for her readers in the upcoming release of Life Before Us. Now living in a quiet cul-de-sac in the heart of Limerick city, Roisin enjoyed an eleven-year career as a teacher at the Limerick School Project on O Connell Avenue before becoming a full-time writer. While teaching, I decided to take a year off and went to San Francisco to visit my brother. Thats where I wrote my first book, free from the usual distractions, she told the Limerick Leader. Although instrumental, it was during her time as a copywriter in a commercial advertising agency in London where the true seed was sown to put pen to paper for her debut book The Daisy Picker. I loved writing for a living. It may have been very different to now, writing a half page for a magazine or 30 second radio ad in a highly pressurised environment. I always wondered about what it would be like to write a novel, she recalled. Twenty books later, The Farranshone Road resident described writing as a plod, swearing by a maxim of completing her 20,000 words per month, equating to two to three pages per day. The key to her prolific career, she added, has been discipline. She often reflects on the advice of Maeve Binchy, saying that if you write a page per day, in 365 days, you will finally have a book. Her latest, Life Before Us, centres around two people who almost meet several times. They are in contact via email and the woman often calls to the mans house to deliver goods, but they never quite connect. I wanted to explore the concept of if there is someone destined for us. Is it up to chance whether you meet them or maybe you dont, she said. Maybe you leave a party five minutes before they arrive or you get off the bus one stop before they hop on each day, she mused. Roisin admitted that this one will lead Limerick readers through a series of will they or wont they meet at the end guesses. While she wont reveal anymore, she does hint at a happy ending for readers. The book is set in a fictional place, however, Roisin conceded that living in Limerick has greatly influenced her writing. My second book was set in Limerick, it was the only one that was set in a real place, she said. I love Limerick, I have lots of friends here and there is a great vibrant arts community, she added. For the first time in her two-decade writing career, Roisin has decided to take a deserving break. She is looking forward to switching off and plans to spend a full month going for walks on the Clare coast, where she owns a holiday home. This is my first break since book one. If I wasnt writing a first draft, I was checking copy edits or revising my editor's notes on how to improve some part of a book, she stated. Despite this, Roisin is already channeling her next work, which she said will pull together the main characters from Life Before Us with some others from some of her older books. But for now, the only date marked in her calendar is June 9, 2022, when Life Before Us will hit local Limerick bookstores and the online market. This is one I feel readers will really enjoy the journey of will they or wont they finally meet. It will certainly keep them guessing, she concluded. New York, US (PANA) - The UN on Saturday calling for attacks on civilians by multiple armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to immediately cease A number of people were identified as being in Ireland illegally during a search of a commercial premises in Co Meath, police have said. The Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) and officials from the Department of Social Protection and Work Relations Commission carried out a multi-agency search operation at a commercial premises on Wednesday. A police spokesperson said the operation was focused on identifying offences relating to the employment of illegal immigrants and formed part of a wider investigation into human trafficking, targeting those involved in facilitating illegal immigration into Ireland. The spokesperson added: In the course of the operation, a significant number of persons working at the premises were identified as being illegally present in the state and working in breach of the Employment Permits Act on the basis of fraudulent documentation. All persons present were interviewed and a number of fraudulent documents were seized, along with personnel files and mobile phones. From intelligence obtained during the operation, a subsequent follow-up search was carried out at a nearby private residence. A number of items were seized including fraudulent European ID documents and electronic devices. The operation involved more than 40 personnel, including interpreters and document examiners. Investigations are ongoing. GENEVA : India will not buckle under pressure and it is ready to face any challenge, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said on Sunday in Geneva after attending the ministerial meeting of G33, a coalition of developing countries of which India is a key member. Presenting India's stand on various issues of common interests while keeping in mind the fundamental principles of sustainable development goals (SDGs), Goyal said, No one can pressurise today's 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'. We can face any challenge. We don't take any decision under pressure." The union minister said India abides by 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (the world is one family). "We presented our stand while keeping in mind the fundamental principles of sustainable development goals. We raised the concern of developing and underdeveloped countries," Goyal added. Goyal also held discussions with the Director-General WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala pertaining to prospects of a permanent solution to the public stockholding for food security, news Agency ANI reported. At the G33 Ministerial Meeting, Goyal held extensive talks with his counterparts from developing and least developed nations. "Fighting for rights of our farmers within an hour of landing at WTO, Geneva at the G33 Ministerial Meeting. Discussed prospects of a permanent solution to public stockholding for food security with DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and my counterparts from the developing and least developed nations," Goyal tweeted. Fighting for rights of our farmers within an hour of landing @WTO, Geneva at the G33 Ministerial Meeting. Discussed prospects of a permanent solution to public stockholding for food security with DG @NOIweala and my counterparts from the developing & least developed nations. pic.twitter.com/sQRQs6v6tY Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) June 12, 2022 Goyal is also likely to meet Katherine Tai, the trade representative of the US. The ministerial meeting began in Geneva today, after a gap of five years. The Indian delegation is led by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. "India has a vital stake in protecting the interests of all stakeholders in the country as well as the interests of the developing and poor nations that look up to the leadership of India at multilateral forums including WTO," the Commerce Ministry earlier said in a statement. The key areas of discussions and negotiations at this year's conference include WTO's response to the pandemic, fisheries subsidies negotiations, agriculture issues including Public Stockholding for food security, WTO reforms and moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmission. The WTO Director-General in May 2022 brought three draft texts on agriculture, trade and food security and exemption of the World Food Programme from export restrictions for negotiations. "India has reservations about some of the provisions in the draft decisions and has been engaging in the process of discussions and negotiations in order to be able to preserve the rights under the agreement on agriculture without undermining the existing ministerial mandates," the Ministry of Commerce & Industry added. An important issue under negotiation at the WTO relates to the protection of India's food grain procurement programme at Minimum Support Prices (MSP). Such programmes involve the purchase from farmers at administered prices and are key to supporting the farmers and consumers in the country. WTO rules limit the subsidy that can be provided to such products being procured. This issue is being negotiated at the WTO by the G-33 and the African Group which has come together along with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP group) in submitting a proposal on a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes on 31 May 2022. India co-sponsored a G-33 proposal for a permanent solution on PSH for food security purposes at the WTO, on 15 September 2021, which had the co-sponsorship of 38 Members. In the negotiations, improvements are being sought by developing countries over the ministerial decision adopted at the ninth ministerial conference of the WTO in Bali in December 2013 where members agreed to negotiate a permanent solution on the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes by the 11th Ministerial Conference of the WTO. It was agreed that in the interim, until a permanent solution is reached, Members would exercise due restraint (commonly termed as 'peace clause') in raising disputes in respect of public stockholding programmes for food security purposes instituted before 7th December 2013, even if countries exceeded their permissible limits. Consequent to the firm stand taken by India at the WTO, this peace clause was extended by a decision of the WTO General Council (GC) in November 2014 until a permanent solution was agreed and adopted. Thus, it was ensured that the 'peace clause' would be available in perpetuity. At the Nairobi Ministerial Conference held in December 2015, WTO members agreed to engage constructively to negotiate a permanent solution. India neither wants to link public stock holding (PSH) issue with other agriculture issues nor a work programme as negotiating a permanent solution has a standalone mandate at the WTO, the ministry said. Click here to read the full article. No 12-year-old should have to confront the violent act Blaze (Julia Savage) witnesses seven minutes into the imaginative empowerment story that bears her name. But Blaze is no ordinary girl, and fine artist-turned-filmmaker Del Kathryn Bartons Blaze reflects that, using a dazzling combination of digital and practical effects to represent the interior world of a survivor who has long relied on make-believe to cope with an overwhelming world. Produced by Australian elevated-horror shingle Causeway Films (The Babadook), Blaze marks the feature directing debut of a distinctive new voice, and though theres a certain woodenness to the narrative, the visuals glitter dreams of a 10-foot fuchsia dragon radiate with originality. In the films prologue, we meet Blaze as a toddler, seated before a wall of Bartons psychedelic paintings: five panels depicting nude goddesses entwined with radiant birdlike creatures. The artwork is colorful but unclear, though its safe to assume that in the intervening years, these images have become the basis of Blazes unique emotional support system. Represented by a sparkly puppet with emerald green eyes, a stuffed-pinata head and tinkling feather wings, Blazes personal dragon looks like something that might ride atop a Mardi Gras float. Meanwhile, a curio cabinet in the corner of her bedroom houses a small army of ceramic figurines kissing kangaroos and kitschy salt and pepper shakers which also come to life for her on command. These creatures keep Blaze company on a daily basis, but arent necessarily equipped to help her cope with the shock she gets on her way home from school. Listening to music and minding her business, Blaze turns down an alley where a couple are arguing. Blaze is wearing headphones and cant distinguish whats being said, but we can: The woman, Hannah (Yael Stone), makes clear that whatever may have happened before between her and the tall, pushy gentleman, Jake (Josh Lawson), shes not interested in crossing that line again. And yet the man insists. But all that eye contact what was that? he says, pulling at Hannahs clothes and blocking her escape. Blaze stands petrified around the corner as the violent scene escalates, involuntarily sharing in the trauma of this brutal, fatal assault. How is a child supposed to make sense of what just happened? Its upsetting even to adult eyes (despite its preteen protagonist, Blaze is intended for grown-up audiences). Barton dedicates the rest of the film to this question, blending scenes of clumsily written reality wherein she and co-writer Huna Amweero share statistics on femicide and abuse with welcome interludes of sideshow escapism. Blaze has a way of retreating into her head, a carnival-like space where she can run free on the beach and scream the feelings she cant put into words. Her father, Luke (Simon Baker), is familiar with the way Blazes mind works, but is attentive enough to recognize that something must have happened to disturb his daughter. Luke desperately wants to help, but doesnt always know how. This makes him an ideal parent when he admits as much millennial movies new favorite theme, wherein parents apologize to the more enlightened generation that follows. Barton is big on symbols but not on subtlety, making her points with a heavy hand. After Luke asks his daughter whats wrong, the film cuts directly to the police station, where the reluctant young witness must look at photos of the crime scene and describe what she saw to authorities. This is a #MeToo-era movie if ever there was one, using the kind of cultural conversations the movement has made possible to explore the idea that violence perpetrated against one woman amounts to violence against all. At home, Blaze uses the internet to research Hannah, trying to construct a mental picture of the victim, who will soon feature in her hallucinations. During an unfair court hearing, Blaze is cross-examined by the assailants attorney and forced to answer uncomfortable questions about sex. As she sits there on the stand, Blazes reality ruptures even more: She bites down on her plastic dragon toy and imagines herself torching the rapist with a mouthful of fire. Blaze is overwhelmed by the situation. We understand why she might flip out when she sees Jake from the school bus window, for example. But theres something fundamentally unconvincing about Bartons entire premise. The artist hasnt necessarily earned such an extreme rape scene, instead treating it as a device by which to make her point about the way a blissfully naive child learns to confront the dangers and disillusion of the adult world. Other films have used magical realism to illustrate the way kids process trauma (Where the Wild Things Are and A Monster Calls come to mind), but not in the same way, and trying to comprehend how Blaze relates to her make-believe companions is not especially intuitive. Turns out, they cant protect her any more than the ineffectual adults can. Uncertain what to do, Blazes dad sends her to therapy, where she asks, Why am I locked up but Jake isnt? Lifes not fair, and Barton addresses that with a mix of sensitivity and barely suppressed fury. In the end, Blaze must slay her own dragon to find her strength a ritual thats every bit as spectacular as it sounds. The movie climaxes with this sequence, a stunning phantasmagorical montage that rivals Euphoria in its capacity to rock audiences to the root. Barton still has a ways to grow as a dramatic storyteller, but the experience is so cathartic, one suspects that Blaze serves much the same function for the artist: something she had to get off her chest to move forward. Watch out, world, for whatever comes next. Reviewed online, June 10, 2022. In Tribeca Festival, Sydney Film Festival. Running time: 101 MIN. Running Time: Running time: 101 MIN. Production (Australia) A Screen Australia presentation, in association with Screen NSW, mk2 Films, of a Causeway Films production. Producer: Samantha Jennings. Executive producers: Kristina Ceyton, Deanne Weir, Daniel Besen, Chris Plater, Boris Tosic, Simon Baker, Josh Pomeranz, Jonathan Page, Samantha Meers, Luke Tosic. Crew Director: Del Kathryn Barton. Screenplay: Del Kathryn Barton, Huna Amweero; story: Del Kathryn Barton. Camera: Jeremy Rouse. Editor: Dany Cooper. Music: Sam Petty, Angel Olsen. With Julia Savage, Simon Baker, Yael Stone, Josh Lawson, Sofia Hampson. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Charlize Theron is a superhero. Shes already proven this twice in the past six weeks, debuting her Marvel Cinematic Universe character Clea in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and making a more subversive super-cameo in the season 3 premiere of The Boys. But her real superpower was on display Saturday night on the Universal Studios backlot in Los Angeles, where she hosted a block party celebrating the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Projects 15th anniversary. Theron was fresh off a flight from Rome where shes in production on Netflixs The Old Guard 2, making the 6,000-mile journey to celebrate the milestone in person. While most people wouldve needed an intravenous coffee drip, Theron was energized by the mission of the organization, which focuses on fighting the HIV epidemic in the actors native South Africa. The world is constantly changing and you have to be able to exist in a space where you can really pivot to whats happening in the world, Theron told Variety on the red carpet. The thing Im really the most proud is that weve built organization in a way where it can really serve as people, when theres emergency need, when theres COVID relief needed, when it goes outside of the foundation of what we really do because, at the end of the day, we cant tell our organizations well just wait for this to pass, she explained. Im really proud of the fact that given all the challenges that weve seen in the world, weve really been able to still service on-the-ground organizations. The founder saluted her friends and former co-stars, like Sofia Boutella (Atomic Blonde) and Jordana Brewster (the Fast franchise, including the upcoming Fast X), who showed up to support the organization. Its people whove been with us from our origin, Theron said. That speaks volumes to volumes to the connection that our story, our narrative and the organization has. Our foundation really taps into peoples understanding, the real need for what were servicing, and thats why they keep showing up and so Im grateful for that. You cant do this without a community. Theron also teased what to expect from the Old Guard sequel, which begins filming next week with newly announced cast members Uma Thurman and Henry Golding. In addition to rocking a new jet black mullet for the role, Theron shared plans to up the ante on the action for round two. Im excited about our team coming back and having had all this time to really think about what we want the next story to be, she shared. Its a big ask to want everybody involved to do action thats raising the bar of what we did last time. It takes time and energy and effort and everybody has put that forth. I want to see the fruits of that labor. Before jumping back into The Old Guard, Theron recently wrapped production on Fast X, where she reprises her role as the criminal mastermind Cipher. Therons responsibilities took place at the beginning of the production schedule, where she shot alongside the franchises newest villain, played by Jason Momoa. It was just really nice to get to work with Jason. He was so lovely, Theron said. And I get to do some different things in it, so Im really excited about that. Its a different Cipher. Reminded that, last year, Vin Diesel told Varietys Marc Malkin that hes got writers working on a spin-off for the character, Theron quipped, Listen, the man has pulled off this incredible franchise, so I wouldnt put on anything past him. But hes gotta hurry up because I need a hip replacement. Shed also need to find time in your extremely full dance card. In addition to her upcoming roles in The Old Guard 2 and Fast X, Theron is still riding high off her cameo appearances in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Boys. But which of the two pop-culture moments came first? Seth [Rogen, The Boys executive producer] asked me a while back, and I will lay my body over broken glass for that guy and all of his partners at Point Gray, I absolutely love them, and we look after each other, Theron said of her Long Shot co-star. I love the show. I think its really smart. Then Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige called to offer the mid-credits scene cameo in a role that indicates a lengthy future in the MCU Theron mentioned shed already shot for The Boys. I was very transparent, and they were just like, This is great,' she recalled. I mean, [The Boys is] a satire. I think theres room for everything, and it doesnt mean anything other than people are interested in these kind of worlds right now. After wrapping up the red carpet, Theron switched from interviewee to interviewer, moderating a Q&A with the team behind Jurassic World Dominion director Colin Trevorrow, stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeff Goldblum, DeWanda Wise and Mamoudou Athie, and co-screenwriter Emily Carmichael. Following the conversation, attendees including Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley, RuPauls Drag Race and Were Here star Eureka OHara, Angelique Cabral, Mary McCormack and The Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. enjoyed a live set from Wyclef Jean, who got the crowd (including Theron) up on stage dancing to some of his biggest hits before the credits rolled on an open-air screening of the blockbuster movie. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. The Dolby Theatre was alive with the sound of music on Thursday, as the American Film Institute presented the two-year-delayed Life Achievement Award Gala in honor of Julie Andrews career, from Mary Poppins to The Princess Diaries Speaking to Variety on the red carpet, Andrews called the honor a culmination, in a way, of wonderful events and great fortune. My early years were in in Music Hall in London and vaudeville, and I was just a bit of a child brat, I suppose, that had a big voice, Andrews said. But the wonder was that I then was asked to go to Broadway and then to Hollywood. Andrews made her Hollywood debut playing the flying nanny Mary Poppins in 1964, and has spoken in the past of the learning curve she faced when she first made the transition from stage to screen, clearly to fruitful results. When asked if she had any advice for theater performers aspiring to make a career in film, Andrews said, Im asked that a great deal. And I always say to them that something wonderful, if youre really dedicated and want it, is going to pass under your nose when you least expect it. So do your homework and be ready. Andrews was joined on the carpet by many of the faces that have joined her throughout her career, from Hector Elizondo who played the bodyguard and love interest to her Queen of Genovia in The Princess Diaries to some of the original Von Trapp children she nannied as Maria in The Sound of Music in 1965. Nicholas Hammond, who played Friedrich and has since sung on tour with Andrews, said the longevity shes seen in her career is not only because she is so brilliantly talented, but because everybody loves working with her. I dont think youll ever get a studio person who will ever say a negative thing about her. And, you know, shes the hardest working person on the set always. Andrews has demonstrated a versatility in recent years, opting for voice roles like that of Grus mother in the Despicable Me franchise and the imaginary voice of Lady Whistledown as she narrates Seasons 1 and 2 of Bridgerton. When asked if fans can expect her to appear in person on the series, Andrews didnt seem to think it could ever happen. I dont think youll ever see me do that, because its not the way its written, Andrews said. I mean, you know, who Lady Whistledown really is and Im just representing the voice they think she is. But Im loving doing it. Fran Drescher, who in her 90s series The Nanny also cemented herself as a caretaker in the hearts of a generation, told Variety she was inspired by The Sound of Music when she first pitched that series. The pitch was The Sound of Music, only instead of Julie Andrews, I come to the door, Drescher said. So Julie Andrews has been an inspiration for me really throughout my life and certainly in my career. I feel very, very blessed to be able to be here for her honoring tonight because its so well deserved. Sian Heder, who was at the Dolby only a few months ago winning an Oscar for her film CODA, was also honored Thursday with the Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal. She joined Drescher in gushing about Andrews impact on her life, except her favorite movie pick was Mary Poppins. There are a few movies which capture your imagination as a kid and really make you feel like you want to be part of the world and you want to be with those characters, Heder said. She has always felt that way on screen to me, that shes just a magical presence on screen that is incredibly charming and compelling and lovable. And you feel that as a kid, you know, so to have that person spark a love of storytelling and love of movies and then to be honored in a night thats for her, is just a very special journey. The AFI Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute to Julie Andrews special will air on TNT June 16. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Samuel L. Jackson and Viola Davis are both veterans of the New York theater scene, and embrace the opportunity to dig into their shared experiences before addressing their latest work on TV. On Apple TV+, Jackson takes the lead role in The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, an adaptation of Walter Mosleys novel about an elder struggling with dementia. And on Showtime, Davis plays Michelle Obama in the dramatic anthology The First Lady. SAMUEL L. JACKSON: How do you feel about rolling around town, seeing yourself on these big old billboards? How is that? VIOLA DAVIS: I dont see that as myself. I see it as something else. Michelle Obama, the other Viola Davis. I dont marry the two because otherwise its too difficult. JACKSON: What was the first time you saw yourself up on a big old billboard and it was OK to see yourself? DAVIS: It was OK to see myself when I was doing the play. Because its different when youre doing the play. That was exciting, to see yourself outside the theater. JACKSON: When were you at Juilliard? DAVIS: I was at Juilliard from 89 to 93. JACKSON: I was just about to leave New York at that time. I think Jungle Fever got me out of New York. The first time I remember seeing you, you were playing this mean-ass cop on Law & Order. DAVIS: I loved that role. I played a serial killer. No one else in my family liked that role. But I loved it. JACKSON: We all passed through a Law & Order phase because back when I was doing my stuff, that was one of two shows that was shot in New York. Only Law & Order and The Cosby Show. DAVIS: When you were doing all of the plays Henry Street, Negro Ensemble what years were those in? JACKSON: We moved to New York Halloween night 1976. We drove from Atlanta to New York, pulled into that Halloween parade down in the Village. LaTanya [Richardson Jackson] and I both did our first play in New York at Henry Street. DAVIS: When I got my first play at the Public Theater making $250 a week, I was like, Its a wrap Ive made it. I always went from job to job. I never thought I want to be famous. The notoriety was just an overflow of the work. Now you have so many actors who are so intentional about where they want to end up. JACKSON: People showed up to be famous. DAVIS: I dont really have any criticism of that. I dont want to be vicious. JACKSON: Its not a criticism. DAVIS: Its not. Its an observation. JACKSON: And as you do the work, if you become a real actor, all that stuff becomes the back of your mind. DAVIS: Exactly. JACKSON: We werent auditioning for stuff like that in New York anyway. I was in New York, and every now and then a movie passed through. I remember when I got Ragtime in 1980. That was my first time going to London to shoot and be on location. I thought, Its about to happen. I came back to New York. I didnt see another movie for 10 years. I lost it and I started focusing on the work, especially after I got sober. The work became the thing. DAVIS: People ask me all the time, Viola, was it hard? I say that in hindsight : I took the hard because I thought it was just part of the business. I just said, This is something that I have to deal with. I wasnt getting those roles. People always feel they mistake the opportunity for the talent. JACKSON: Yeah. DAVIS: Theyre always like, Viola, you just dont play the romantic leads. I said, Listen, I would play the romantic lead if I got the romantic lead. But I didnt, so I made do with what I got. JACKSON: LaTanya would say, Why are you taking that piddling-ass job? Its like, Well, its two days on a movie, and that persons going to be a big director one day, and sometimes that works out. DAVIS: Im always interested in actors who are not humble because for me its a very humbling profession. You actually dont even know if youre going to fail or youre going to succeed. JACKSON: How does that help you or bring yourself into becoming Michelle Obama what you had to do to portray somebody whos alive and will watch you? DAVIS: Besides taking a good shot of vodka Heres the thing. It is very difficult playing a real-life person, especially someone whos occupied the White House. There is a shroud of protection of liability, and as an actor, that is a nightmare. When you enter into any character, you have to be armed with as much information as possible. Not just where did you go to school, what do you drink? Do you love your husband? Do you fight with your husband? Do you fight with your kids? You have to fill it in for an audience who dont want to see anything mar the image. And thats exactly antithetical towards what we do. We need the mess. Thats what makes us human. I think the one thing you really have to be armed with, as an actor, is courage. When you play a character and you dont see all the gaps being filled in, you have to fill it in with what youve seen in the past from other people what I know being a Black woman with Michelle Obama, and you have to be bold enough to go for it. JACKSON: How do you keep out your preconceptions? Because everybodys got a different idea of who Michelle is and who they wanted her to be. DAVIS: Youre limited by the scope and the depth of the script. Always a pet peeve of mine, number one. Limited by the script. If its not there, you have to fill it in, and sometimes thats almost impossible. Two, its not my job to give you an image of someone you want to see. I need the writer, I need the director, and then, finally, I need the audience. Its my job to make you feel those moments that you have in private. They may make you squirm, but if you recognize it, then Ive done my job. When you were doing Ptolemy Grey, Im sure that that was your process. JACKSON: Ive been living with that book for 12 years or so. I read it once a year because I kept trying to get folks to do it. By the time I had an opportunity to actually portray him, I had a very solid idea of who he was. I had that freedom to just go in there and make Ptolemy who I wanted Ptolemy to be. I knew how uncomfortable the first episode would be. But I wasnt going to run from it and try to make it easy. Ive played characters that I know people arent supposed to like, and enjoyed it, like Stephen in Django [Unchained]. Thats my job, to make you uncomfortable. People go, My God. And thats satisfying for us. DAVIS: Yes. Very. JACKSON: I was never always comfortable watching you as Annalise, but there it is. When youre doing a series like How to Get Away With Murder, did you know, the first season, where you were going to go to the end? DAVIS: No. Its a huge challenge. My big thing is youre not always going to be put in a perfect situation as an actor. Youre going to get on set, and all of a sudden, youre given a scene, its like, That scene changes everything. Shes killing another person? Why? Then you have to make sense out of it. For me, with Annalise, I was given an opportunity, especially as a dark-skinned Black woman, 47 years old. Shes sexualized; shes sociopathic. It gave me a vessel to be an unpredictable, messy woman. And I find that when, for instance, if you see a white woman on-screen, you could say, She looks like my mother. A lot of studio heads would say, She could look like my sister, my aunt, the woman who I wanted to marry. You see the possibilities. That wasnt me in my career. My possibilities were the crack addicts, the mothers who were in challenged situations watching their sons die, the ambiguous lawyer or the judge. And I was happy to get them dont get me wrong. I made the most of it. But this was the first opportunity I had to play a woman. And it was in the midst of a melodrama. We can admit a lot of the situations were fantastical, but it was still my opportunity to boldly step out and make choices that could surprise people and make people really see me as a woman. JACKSON: Thats how I saw Annalise. Variety Actors on Actors presented by Apple TV+. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The hit TV show "Stranger Things" is setting records on Netflix, as the four most-watched English-language series on the streaming service right now are each of its four seasons. And one Laredoan is taking part in that success. Hector Carlos Ramirez II is a score mixing engineer with several of his own original works having been featured on the show. Although Ramirez cannot talk much about his full work in detail as Season 4 is still not over, he described some of his experiences while working on the show and what it has been like with LMT. Ramirez is a 28-year-old electronic musician who does producing and engineering. And while he has love for his community and still has his 956 area code on his cell phone, he made the move to Hollywood to continue his dreams. Ramirez said for the past six years, he has lived in Los Angeles and has worked with companies like Short Hour. This is Kyle Dixon and Michael Steins composing company, and right now the pair lead the music scene for the Netflix series. A three-year employee with Short Hour, Ramirez describes working on "Stranger Things" as one of his greatest experiences to date. It has been great, Ramirez said. Kyle and Michael are amazing at what they do. They have to write a tremendous amount of music for the show in a very short amount of time. Stranger Things would be a different show if it wasn't for their music. It sets the entire tone of the show. I feel honored to get to help them throughout the process. As a score mixing engineer, Ramirez has a few different responsibilities on the show. These include sending work-in-progress cuts from editorials and taking those and making sessions for the guys to write in. I send versions of written cues to the editorial team to check out, Ramirez said. Then once approved, I will create a mix of the demo, and we will approve that and send it to the stage where it gets dropped into the show. I also get to help with arranging some of Kyle and Michaels already established cues and themes to see if it can be re-used or turned into something new. Sometimes I even get to add things like rises or a bassline to existing cues." Ramirez said there have even been some original pieces he wrote in a few episodes in this season, but he cannot go any further into detail due to Netflixs non-disclosure agreement. One thing Ramirez can say though is he has met and worked with several of the cast from the show, as well as the sibling pair who created it in the Duffer Brothers. We work closely with the Duffer Brothers, Ramirez said. I send them versions of cues, and then we all get together to review the pieces and watch the work-in-progress cuts where we talk about what's working versus what isn't. We then take that feedback and expand on it. The Duffers have stated that music is a big part of the show, so they like to be involved in the process with Kyle and Michael. Ramirez said his love for music began at an early age. Although right now he is living his dream, Ramirez does feel he did begin from the bottom, and it all started in Laredo at one of the local media stations. From a very young age, I always had a fascination with film and music, Ramirez said. My first job was at KGNS-TV where I would film and edit on DV linear editing systems for the local newscasts. I was probably 16 or 17 at the time. Ramirez said he was also in several bands while in Laredo, and he would constantly be at local shows supporting the underground scene. In 2013, however, he moved to Austin where he attended the University of Texas in pursuit of a Bachelor's of Science in Radio Television Film degree. My move to Austin prompted my fascination with synthesizers and electronic music, Ramirez said. I started my first electronic band in 2013, almost 10 years ago. I was constantly performing in Austin and trying to collaborate with anyone who wanted to so I could learn as much as possible. I eventually ended up moving to LA to pursue music in 2016 and ended up meeting Michael Stein of the band S U R V I V E, who is also from Texas, around 2019. At that time, Stein needed help setting up his studio so Ramirez said he offered to help. Dixon and Stein were also looking for a new assistant at the time for upcoming projects, so he ended up hopping on board. We ended up working together on a National Geographic show called Valley of the Boom and then moved on to working on Stranger Things Season 3 after that, Ramirez said. Aside from "Stranger Things," Ramirez has some other projects he is working on in the near future. All of his projects will feature music he has created. My project AURAGRAPH just signed with Dais Records -- you can listen to my entire back catalog now on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp or wherever you listen to music, Ramirez said. I have a new album coming out via Dais Records sometime in the summer. The most recent season of "Stranger Things" released in two volumes. Season 4's Volume 1 consisted of seven episodes which debuted on May 27. Volume 2 will be released on July 1. It will only consist of two episodes, but they'll be lengthy. Episode 8 clocks in at an hour and 25 minutes, while the finale will be the equivalent of a long feature film at two and a half hours. DECATUR, Ga. (AP) A shooting at a restaurant at a suburban Atlanta mall has left one person dead and three others injured, authorities said. DeKalb County Police said the shooting happened just before 11:30 p.m. Friday outside Fletcher's Place, a bar and grill in the South DeKalb Mall in Decatur, news outlets reported. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) Sri Lanka may be compelled to buy more oil from Russia as the island nation hunts desperately for fuel amid an unprecedented economic crisis, the newly appointed prime minister said. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would first look to other sources, but would be open to buying more crude from Moscow. Western nations largely have cut off energy imports from Russia in line with sanctions over its war on Ukraine. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Wickremesinghe also indicated he would be willing to accept more financial help from China, despite his countrys mounting debt. And while he acknowledged that Sri Lankas current predicament is of its own making, he said the war in Ukraine is making it even worse and that dire food shortages could continue until 2024. He said Russia had also offered wheat to Sri Lanka. Wickremesinghe, who is also Sri Lankas finance minister, spoke to the AP in his office in the capital, Colombo, one day shy of a month after he took over for a sixth time as prime minister. Appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resolve an economic crisis that has nearly emptied the countrys foreign exchange reserves, Wickremesinghe was sworn in after days of violent protests last month forced his predecessor, Rajapaksas brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, to step down and seek safety from angry crowds at a naval base. Sri Lanka has amassed $51 billion in foreign debt, but has suspended repayment of nearly $7 billion due this year. The crushing debt has left the country with no money for basic imports, which means citizens are struggling to access basic necessities such as food, fuel, medicine even toilet paper and matches. The shortages have spawned rolling power outages, and people have been forced to wait days for cooking gas and gasoline in lines that stretch for kilometers (miles). Two weeks ago, the country bought a 90,000-metric-ton (99,000-ton) shipment of Russian crude to restart its only refinery, the energy minister told reporters. Wickremesinghe did not comment directly on those reports, and said he did not know whether more orders were in the pipeline. But he said Sri Lanka desperately needs fuel, and is currently trying to get oil and coal from the countrys traditional suppliers in the Middle East. If we can get from any other sources, we will get from there. Otherwise (we) may have to go to Russia again, he said. Officials are negotiating with private suppliers, but Wickremesinghe said one issue they face is that there is a lot of oil going around which can be sourced back informally to Iran or to Russia. Sometimes we may not know what oil we are buying, he said. Certainly we are looking at the Gulf as our main supply. Since Russias invasion of Ukraine in late February, global oil prices have skyrocketed. While Washington and its allies are trying to cut financial flows supporting Moscows war effort, Russia is offering its crude at a steep discount, making it extremely enticing to a number of countries. Like some other South Asian nations, Sri Lanka has remained neutral on the war in Europe. Sri Lanka has received and continues to reach out to numerous countries for help including the most controversial, China, currently the countrys third-largest creditor. Opposition figures have accused the president and the former prime minister of taking on a slew of Chinese loans for splashy infrastructure projects that have since failed to generate profit, instead adding to the countrys debt. Critics have also pointed to a beleaguered port in the hometown of then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Hambantota, built along with a nearby airport as part of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative projects, saying they cost too much and do too little for the economy. We need to identify what are the projects that we need for economic recovery and take loans for those projects, whether it be from China or from others, Wickremesinghe said. Its a question of where do we deploy the resources? The prime minister said his government has been talking with China about restructuring its debts. Beijing had earlier offered to lend the country more money but balked at cutting the debt, possibly out of concern that other borrowers would demand the same relief. China has agreed to come in with the other countries to give relief to Sri Lanka, which is a first step, Wickremesinghe said. This means they all have to agree (on) how the cuts are to take place and in what manner they should take place. Sri Lanka is also seeking financial assistance from the World Food Programme, which may send a team to the country soon, and Wickremesinghe is banking on a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund. But even if approved, he doesnt expect to see money from the package until October onwards. Wickremesinghe acknowledged that the crisis in Sri Lanka has been of its own making. Many have blamed government mismanagement, deep tax cuts in 2019, policy blunders that devastated crops and a sharp plunge in tourism due to the coronavirus pandemic. But he also stressed that the war in Ukraine, which has thrown global supply chains into a tailspin and pushed fuel and food prices to unaffordable levels, has made things much worse. The Ukraine crisis has impacted our ... economic contraction, he said, adding that he thinks the economy will shrink even further before the country can begin to recoup and rebuild next year. I think by the end of the year, you could see the impact in other countries as well, he said. There is a global shortage of food. Countries are not exporting food. In Sri Lanka, the price of vegetables has jumped threefold while the countrys rice cultivation is down by about a third, the prime minister said. The shortages have affected both the poor and the middle classes, triggering months of protests. Mothers are struggling to get milk to feed their babies, as fears of a looming hunger crisis grow. Wickremesinghe said he felt terrible watching his nation suffer, both as a citizen and a prime minister. He said he hasnt ever seen anything like this in Sri Lanka and didnt think he ever would. I have generally been in governments where I ensured people had three meals and their income increased, he said. Weve had difficult times. ... But not like this. I have not seen ... people without fuel, without food. ___ Associated Press writers Bharatha Mallawarachi and Krishan Francis contributed to this report. 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 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Kremlin-installed officials in occupied southern Ukraine celebrated Russia Day on Sunday and began issuing Russian passports to residents in one city who requested them, as Moscow sought to solidify its rule over captured parts of the country. At one of the central squares in the city of Kherson, Russian bands played a concert to celebrate Russia Day, the holiday that marks Russias emergence as a sovereign state after the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to Russias state news agency RIA Novosti. In the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region, Moscow-installed officials raised a Russian flag in Melitopols city center. Ukrainian media reported that few, if any, local residents attended the Russia Day festivities in the two cities. Russia Day was also celebrated in other occupied parts of Ukraine, including the ravaged southern port of Mariupol, where a new city sign painted in the colors of the Russian flag was unveiled on the outskirts and Russian flags were flown on a highway leading into the city. Also, the Russia-aligned administration in Melitopol started handing out Russian passports to those who applied for Russian citizenship. RIA Novosti posted video of a Moscow-backed official congratulating new Russian citizens and telling them: Russia will not go anywhere. We are here for good. President Vladimir Putin earlier this year issued a decree fast-tracking Russian citizenship for residents of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. In captured cities in the south and east, Moscow has also introduced the ruble as official currency, aired Russian news broadcasts and taken steps to introduce a Russian school curriculum. The Kremlin's administrators in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions have voiced plans to incorporate the areas into Russia, despite protests and signs of an insurgency among local residents. Russian-installed officials Sunday in Melitopol reported an explosion in a garbage bin near the citys police headquarters and said two residents were injured. Another blast was reported at an electrical substation in the city of Berdyansk, which is also under Russian control. The Kremlin-backed administration pronounced it a terrorist attack, and officials said electricity was shut down in parts of the city. On the battlefield, Russia said it is used missiles to destroy a large depot in western Ukraine that contained anti-tank and air-defense weapons supplied to Kyiv by the U.S. and European countries. It said the attack took place near the city of Chortkiv in the Ternopil region. Ternopil Gov. Volodymyr Trush said four Russian missiles damaged a military installation and four residential buildings in Chortkiv. More than 20 people were wounded, including a 12-year-old girl, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. This strike had no tactical or strategic sense, just like the absolute majority of other Russian strikes. It is terror, just terror, he said in a video address. In light of the strike, Zelenskyy made another plea for modern missile defense systems from the U.S. and other Western countries, saying, These are lives that could have been saved, tragedies that could have been prevented if Ukraine had been listened to. Also, heavy fighting continued for control of Sievierodonetsk, an eastern city in Luhansk province with a prewar population of 100,000 that has emerged as central to Russia's campaign to capture the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland. Russian forces shelled a Sievierodonetsk chemical plant where up to 500 civilians, 40 of them children, were holed up, Luhansk Gov. Serhii Haidai said. An official with the pro-Moscow, self-proclaimed Luhansk Peoples Republic, Rodion Miroshnik, said 300 to 400 Ukrainian troops also remained inside the plant. He said that efforts were underway to evacuate the civilians. Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Luhansk Peoples Republic, said the Ukrainians making their stand in Sievierodonetsk should save themselves the trouble. If I were them, I would already make a decision" to surrender, he said. We will achieve our goal in any case." ___ Follow AP's coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine ___ This story has been corrected to show that a 12-year-old girl, not a boy, was wounded in a missile strike on Chortkiv. We will be in Storm Alert Weather mode today as dangerous heat and humidity continue across the Tennessee Valley. High temperatures will reach Read More If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view unlimited articles for the month, please choose this option. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has released details of a closure order served on part of a Midlands food business by the HSE. Seven Closure Orders and one Prohibition Order were served on food businesses during the month of May for breaches of food safety legislation, pursuant to the FSAI Act, 1998 and the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020. Longford trio on PUP fraud charges to learn fate A car dealer who is subject to a 4.9 million tax judgement and charged together with his wife and brother with multiple counts of alleged Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) fraud is to learn next month whether the case will be heard at District or more serious Circuit Court level. Longford salutes countys frontline champions at cathaoirleach awards ceremony The cream of Longfords frontline champions were honoured last Friday night as the countys cathaoirleach awards were held at Backstage Theatre. An Offaly business was one of three served with a closure order under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020. Milne Foods Limited, based at Syngefield Industrial Estate in Birr, saw part of its activities closed under the order. The HSE ordered processing of all ready-to-eat foods on the premises to cease. The HSE officer who ordered the closure said in correspondence with Milne Foods: "I make this order being of the opinion that there is failure to comply with food legislation for the particular reasons." The order further reveals that there was "persistent and recurring failure to comply" with legislation, namely Regulation {EC) 178/2002 Article 14, which states that "food shall not be placed on the market if it is unsafe." The closure order rationale continued: "A number of RTE (ready to eat) foods were placed on the market between the period October 2021 and February 2022 inclusive and were deemed unsafe following sampling as they had Listeria monocytogenes detected. "The food business operator [Milne] had categorised the product as category 1.2 Ready to eat foods able to support the growth of Listeria monocytogenes. The food business operator is unable to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the competent authority that the limit l00CFU/g would not be exceeded throughout the shelf life of the product." The HSE says that the "unsafe food poses a risk to public health." They said the business further contravened Regulation {EC) 2073/2005 Article 7 (1) which stipulates that "when the results of testing against the criteria set out in Annex I are unsatisfactory, the food business operators shall take the measures laid down together with other corrective actions defined in their HACCP-based procedures and other actions necessary 'to protect the health of consumers." The HSE found non-cmpliance with this regulation at Milne Foods after they received "unsatisfactory sample results." They said Milne Foods "did not take measures and/or corrective actions defined in their HACCP based procedures necessary to protect health of consumers, namely withdrawal of contaminated foods and notification to competent authorities." The order concluded: "Inadequate corrective action resulted in contaminated food being placed on the market which posed a risk to public health." Details of the food businesses served with Enforcement Orders are published on the FSAIs website. Closure Orders and Improvement Orders will remain listed in the enforcement reports on the website for a period of three months from the date of when a premises is adjudged to have corrected its food safety issue, with Prohibition Orders being listed for a period of one month. Commenting on Thursday on all the closure orders served in May, Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive, FSAI, said that it is disappointing to see such disregard for consumer health in these food businesses. It is simply unacceptable that some food businesses across Ireland continue to operate without fully adhering to food safety and hygiene legislation. In particular, multiple occurrences in Enforcement Orders issued in May show a complete lack of adequate procedures in place to control pests. Consumers of food in Ireland have a right to safe food and hygienic food premises. As we move into warmer summer months, it is disappointing to note that some food businesses are also inadequately monitoring their electric fly killers, and in some cases are preparing food directly beneath leading to a risk of possible contamination. The health of consumers must never be put at risk, and we urge food businesses not to be so careless. The Minister for Rural and Community Development announced on Tuesday (June 8) a series of new initiatives that will make remote working more accessible and attractive for thousands of people. Minister Heather Humphreys launched the Connected Hubs Voucher Scheme which will give remote workers free use of their local digital hub. At least 10,000 hot desk spaces will be provided under the Scheme, which is aimed at both existing hub users, as well as those accessing hub facilities for the first time. Minister Humphreys also announced 5 million in funding, through the Connected Hubs 2022 Call, which will be used to build capacity and enhance existing Remote Working facilities. Some 81 projects across the country were successful in securing funding. On top of these two initiatives, Minister Humphreys also today announced the provision of 50,000 in funding to each Local Authority under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme. This will allow them to fund marketing campaigns and promote the remote working opportunities available in their areas. Minister Humphreys also revealed today that the number of Remote Working facilities on the Connected Hubs Network has now reached 242. This represents over 60 per cent of the 400 hubs pledged as part of Our Rural Future, the Governments landmark five year rural development policy. Announcing the three initiatives at the Creative Spark Digital Hub in Dundalk, Ministers Humphreys said: As Minister for Rural and Community Development, I am serious about ensuring we dont simply revert to the old normal the way of life we had before COVID-19. When I meet remote workers across the country, they tell me all about the benefits of spending a few days each week working from a digital hub in their local community. They talk about how their lives are improved now that they dont have to embark on that early morning, gruelling commute to Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway or other urban centres. Remote Working has been a game-changer for thousands of people. Its given people of all ages a better quality of life allowing them to spend more time with their family friends, working within their local town or village. So today, I am absolutely delighted to announce a series of new measures that represent the next chapter in our Remote Working journey. Minister Humphreys continued: The Connected Hubs Voucher scheme I am announcing today will provide at least 10,000 free days at hot desks in hubs across the country. It will be available to existing hub users who are already enjoy the benefits of working from a hub in their local area. But it is aimed at new users too. For example, I believe this scheme will appeal to someone who has never worked for their local hub now they can try it out for the first time for free. This scheme is based on the voucher follows the person approach and will initially provide three days of hub use per person between now and the end of August. So for people who may wish to holiday at home this summer, this scheme is ideal if you need to do a couple of days working in facilities that are comfortable and underpinned by good quality broadband. I would strongly encourage potential new hub users and those thinking of a working staycation to set up a connectedhubs.ie profile. We will be applying vouchers to all registered users in the coming weeks, so get registered now. Delighted to be at @CreativeSparkie for a series of remote working announcements. New voucher scheme to provide 10k hot desks for free 5 million to support 81 projects under @connectedhubs 50,000 for local authorities to promote their counties pic.twitter.com/7XqDkioSmb Heather Humphreys (@HHumphreysFG) June 8, 2022 Connected Hubs Minister Humphreys also today announced the results of the Connected Hubs Call 2022, a 5M fund which will be used to build capacity and enhance existing remote working facilities. The funding will benefit 81 projects and will support a wide range of works, including the expansion of existing hubs, installation of privacy booths, access control and security systems, the conversion of existing open plan space to modular offices, and provision of podcast studios, enhanced audio visual, networking and conferencing facilities. Minister Humphreys continued: The Connected Hubs Call 2022 will see 5 million provided to support our existing hubs. This is on top of the almost 9 million I awarded to applicants in 2021. This scheme is designed to add remote working capacity at hubs and Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) across the country, to make more space for remote workers and to improve the quality of the facilities and their services. The quality of the successful applications was very high this year and I was delighted by the level of interest. It is clear that there is a huge amount of creativity and ambition among hubs and BCPs, something I see myself on a regular basis as I visit these wonderful facilities regularly. Town and Village Funding To raise awareness of the remote working opportunities available across the country, the Minister has also announced funding for Local Authorities to market their hub offerings and promote their use. The Measure which forms part of the 2022 Town and Village Renewal Scheme is open for applications, with Local Authorities eligible to apply for funding of up to 50,000 each. Minister Humphreys said: Local Authorities are already working hard to attract remote workers to their areas. So I wanted to give them all a hand with these efforts. There are any number of people considering relocating from our cities and larger towns, whether to return home or to try something new. But they need to know what is available, where the hubs are and what the opportunities might be. This grant is available to all local authorities. If Im a remote worker thinking about locating why should I choose your county? There is nothing like a bit of intercounty rivalry to bring out the best in everybody. I want to see Choose Clare, Choose Sligo, Choose Donegal, style marketing campaigns across the country to show off what counties have to offer and to attract mobile talent and remote workers to their localities. Minister Humphreys added: Today represents the next chapter in our Remote Working journey. And it also demonstrates how we are putting Our Rural Future into action. My message to remote workers today is clear: Whether you are in Donegal or Waterford, Louth or in Kerry, in the Midlands or along the border, we have a hub for you. A full list of successful Connected Hubs 2022 projects can be found here The easing of entry requirements into the United States has been welcomed by the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA). According to the organisation, covid entry requirements have been lifted for international travellers entering the USA, after one of the longest travel testing requirements since the beginning of covid-19. Longford trio on PUP fraud charges to learn fate A car dealer who is subject to a 4.9 million tax judgement and charged together with his wife and brother with multiple counts of alleged Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) fraud is to learn next month whether the case will be heard at District or more serious Circuit Court level. With the easing of restrictions, travellers will no longer be required to present a negative covid-19 test regardless of their vaccination status or citizenship. Pat Dawson, CEO of the ITAA stated: The easing of entry requirements into the United States is greatly welcomed throughout the travel industry. There is a big demand for US travel, especially for families travelling to visit family and friends that they have not seen since before the pandemic to destinations or to such destinations as Orlando or the west coast. With Dublin Airport and the Passport Office resolving issues from the pandemic coupled with the United States easing of entry requirements, all barriers for travelling to the US are more or less now gone. This is a very positive step. New data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has revealed the number of PPSNs issued to Ukrainian refugees in Longford. According to last Friday's release, titled 'Arrivals from Ukraine in Ireland', 214 PPSNs (Personal Public Service Number) have been issued to refugees from Ukraine across Longford's three Municipal Districts under the Temporary Protection Directive. One hundred and thirty-eight people in Longford have received their numbers, as well as 46 in Ballymahon and 30 in Granard. Nationally, 35,670 refugees from Ukraine have received Personal Public Service Numbers PPSNs to date. Two hundred and fourteen refugees in Longford have received PPSNs, along with 399 in Carlow, 564 in Leitrim (59 in Carrick on Shannon MD; 393 in Ballinamore MD and 112 in Manorhamilton MD), 1,196 in Limerick, 511 in Laois, 962 in Louth, 1,122 in Mayo, 999 in Meath, 266 in Monaghan, 350 in Offaly, 353 in Roscommon (8 in Athlone MD; 152 in Roscommon MD and 193 in Boyle MD), 427 in Sligo, 680 in Cavan (231 in Ballyjamesduff MD; 314 in Cavan / Belturbet MD and 135 in Bailieborough-Cootehill MD), 582 in Tipperary, 984 in Waterford, 657 in Westmeath (27 in Moate MD; 319 in Athlone MD; 101 in Kinnegad MD and 210 in Mullingar MD), 1,347 in Wexford, 1,370 in Wicklow, 2,452 in Clare, 3,442 in Cork, 1,471 in Donegal, 1,922 in Galway, 2,649 in Kerry, 648 in Kildare, and 557 in Kilkenny. According to CSO statistician, Karola Graupner, local post office addresses are being used as proxies for places of residence of Ukrainian refugees. Speaking about the 'Arrivals from Ukraine in Ireland' release, she said, "This is the second in a series of releases by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) providing insights into Irelands response to the Ukrainian crisis. This release includes an analysis of Ukrainian arrivals who are availing of support and services from the Department of Social Protection, as well as providing insights into primary and secondary school enrolments overseen by the Department of Education. "Our analysis also shows that the rate per 100 of the population ranges across all LEAs (Local Electoral Areas) in the country from 0.03% to 7.10%. The LEA with the highest rate is Ennistymon in Clare while the LEA of Drogheda Rural in Louth had the lowest rate in the country." Data also revealed women aged 20 and over account for over 48% of arrivals to date, while individuals aged 0-19 (both male and female) account for 37%. The highest percentage of those arriving (42% or 14,929 individuals) were categorised as 'One parent with children', however the report notes that spouses and or partners may have stayed in Ukraine. As of June 7 2022, 70% of the 6,824 Ukrainian children enrolled in school were in primary education while 30% were in secondary education. The average time between the allocation of a PPSN to enrolment in primary or secondary school was just over two weeks. Liverpool are going to throw the kitchen sink at the transfer market this summer, and they're starting early. Benfica's exciting Darwin Nunez will become the most expensive signing in the Reds' history, with a total fee of over 100 million euros, including bonuses. Sports dailies A Bola and Record in Portugal have broken down every element of the deal that the Uruguayan striker will sign with Liverpool, explaining how the Portuguese team will be compensated. Liverpool will initially pay 75 million euros, a figure that can be increased via variables. The remaining 25 million euros will come from objectives being met. The English team will pay five million euros when Darwin plays 10 games, and another 10 million euros when he reaches 60 games. He scored 34 goals in 41 games in 2021/22. There's more, though. Darwin's individual and collective achievements with Liverpool will be rewarded with an additional 10 million under the terms of the deal. According to A Bola, the Uruguayan's contract will be for five seasons at a salary of 12 million euros gross per season. The transfer fee of 100 million euros would overtake the 85 million euros Liverpool paid for defender Virgil van Dijk when he arrived from Southampton in 2017. Until Darwin's arrival is confirmed, the center-back is the Reds' most expensive acquisition. A key day This Sunday could be the deciding day for Darwin Nunez's arrival in Liverpool. According to Portuguese and English media, a definitive agreement to bring the Benfica striker to Anfield might be reached before Monday. Julian Ward, Liverpool's' sporting director, travelled to Lisbon on Saturday to finalise the deal. On Saturday, during the annual Pride in the Park event at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, police arrested over 30 masked men who arrived on scene packed in a U-Haul van. One police officer said the group of white supremacists is being charged with conspiracy to riot. The officer informed onlookers that the U-Haul truck had shields, spears and other objects that could be used as weapons. When asked how police knew to stop the U-Haul, the officer said they have informants who warned them of the group's intentions prior to the event. The arrested men are reportedly members of a neo-fascist hate group called Patriot Front. "It appears they did not come here to engage in peaceful events," Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said. Journalist arrested for unknown reasons Alissa Azar, a journalist who was covering the event, shared a Twitter thread that detailed exactly what was happening with the hate group. Azar ended her coverage with a tweet saying she was being detained and did not know the reason. Azar had also tweeted that a group of men were harrassing a transgender woman but that police arrested her instead of the fascists. There was another event across the street from Pride in the Park held by "christo-fascists" who were singing and praying, with some carrying automatic rifles. Azar later tweeted that she was free, saying it was an "illegal search & seizure." She claims police were just looking for a reason to arrest left-wing members. "I'm free now. I need a break for my physical and mental health. Will update more when I feel up for it," Azar tweeted. "Major headache. Basically it was complete bullshit reasons, an illegal search & seizure, just looking for a reason to arrest leftists, and mainly to try and get information." Law enforcement press conference Law enforcement held a press conference detailing that 31 members of Patriot Front were arrested and charged with the misdemeanor of conspiracy to riot. The officer then said they have no informants within the group, claiming "one extremely astute citizen" reported that what "looked like a little army" was in a U-Haul. The officer said all 31 members will go before a judge as early as Monday morning. He also stated that the police department had been in contact with the FBI all day. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. The Marlins have placed first baseman Garrett Cooper on the injured list without a designation, implying that Coopers absence is related to COVID-19. Right-hander Aneurys Zabala will take Coopers spot on the active roster, as the Marlins selected Zabalas contract from Double-A. It isnt known if Cooper has tested positive for the virus or if he is being held out for precautionary reasons due to symptoms or a close-contact situation. Cooper was removed from yesterdays game due to body cramping, and Marlins skipper Don Mattingly told reporters (including The Miami Heralds Jordan McPherson) today that Cooper was not feeling good overnight. We did some testing on him and well see where that goes. Cooper did test positive for the virus back in 2020, when the Marlins were hit with a huge COVID outbreak that sidelined several members of the roster. That absence cost Cooper a month of the shortened 2020 season, and it added to the long list of IL absences Cooper has faced in his six-year MLB career. Though he has only 291 games on his resume, Cooper has performed quite well when healthy, and is currently in the midst of what might be his best season. The first baseman is hitting .315/.389/.473 with four home runs over his first 211 plate appearances of the 2022 campaign. Cooper has split his time between DH and first base this season, and Jesus Aguilar will now likely see more first base time while Jorge Soler is the likeliest candidate for more DH duty. Jon Berti and Willians Astudillo are both utilitymen, and their versatility will be more valuable than ever as the Marlins try to weather this stretch with Cooper, Brian Anderson, and Joey Wendle all on the injured list. Zabala had already been with the Marlins on their taxi squad, and the 25-year-old is now set to make his Major League debut. Originally an international signing for the Mariners, Zabala began his pro career as a 17-year-old back in 2014, and he has since bounced around to the farm systems of the Dodgers, Reds, and Phillies before landing with Miami this year. Control has been a problem for Zabala throughout his career, contributing to his 5.48 ERA over 286 innings in the minors. 11.06.2022 LISTEN Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, has dropped another bombshell on the national cathedral, claiming that President Akufo-Addo has wasted tax monies on an abandoned plot of land. Mr. Ablakwa on his Twitter handle on Friday, June 10, 2022, said Mahama used less of that amount GHS115million to build an ultra-modern, fully equipped Shai Osudoku District Hospital. According to him, one can clearly judge who is a better manager of the nation's resources. Prez Akufo-Addo has given Ghana an abandoned bare land with a few excavations for GHS200million; Prez Mahama gave Ghana the magnificent ultramodern fully-equipped Shai Osudoku District Hospital for just GHS115million, he said. Mr. Ablakwa concluded by blessing former President John Mahama and wishing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) a happy 30th anniversary. God bless Mahama; Happy 30thNDC," he stated. Earlier, before this statement, Mr. Ablakwa, in a similar Twitter post, revealed that the work on the National Cathedral has been halted due to a lack of funding from the government, even after injecting GHS200 million into the project. The Akufo-Addo Cathedral Scandal gets murkier: Project contractors had to suspend work since March because of lack of funds. Appointments of more than 200 employees terminated (see evidence attached). They are all shocked at GHS200million revelations. Na sika no ak hy hen? he emphasised. Albinism, caused by a lack of melanin, the pigment that colours skin, hair and eyes, is a genetic anomaly that concerns hundreds of thousands of people across the globe, particularly in Africa. Ahead of International Albinism Awareness Day on Monday, AFP looks at the specificities of a very visible condition which is shrouded in prejudice, leading to discrimination and even violence against those affected. What is albinism? Albinism is a hereditary genetic anomaly resulting from mutations in genes which affect how much melanin the body produces and therefore the pigmentation, or colour, of a person's skin and hair which is very pale or almost white in the case of sufferers. For those whose eyes are affected, known as ocular albinism, the blood vessels can show through the iris, making the eyes appear red. The absence of melanin leaves the skin extremely sensitive to sunlight, making people with albinism at greater risk of developing skin cancer. It also affects the development of the optic nerve, which means that many sufferers' vision is impaired. Is it an illness? Albinism is an inherited disorder that is often wrongly assumed to be an illness, a factor that contributes to the discrimination those affected can face in society. Under The Same Sun (UTSS), an association working to combat discrimination describes albinism as a "rare genetic condition". People with albinism require maximum protection from sunlight with strong sunscreen, hat, sunglasses and protective clothing. They generally need glasses, contact lenses or hand-held magnifiers to see properly but the condition does not prevent them from developing normally. Health organisations refer to "persons living with albinism" rather than "albinos" but some associations prefer to limit use of the term "albinism," which comes from the Latin world "albus" for white. They instead use "amelanism" or "amelanistic" -- lacking melanin. How many people are affected? Albinism occurs in all ethnic groups worldwide. According to the US National Institute of Health (NIH), around one in 20,000 persons is born with albinism, which would equate to some 400,000 people out of a global population of 7.9 billion. Africa has a slightly higher incidence, estimated at somewhere between one in 5,000 and one in 15,000 inhabitants. One of the largest populations of people with albinism is believed to be in Tanzania, with as many as one in 1,400 people born with the disorder. Why the discrimination? People with albinism are often stigmatised due to their appearance but it is in Africa where they suffer the worst discrimination and violence due to their supposed magical powers. In a 2013 study, UTSS found the myths about albinism were being driven by traditional healers, with one of the most dangerous being the belief that using the body parts of people with albinism in a potion can bring the user good luck or fortune. "Witchcraft taps into the supernatural to explain human phenomena ... this white child born to visibly black parents," UTSS noted. Who is targeted? In July 2021, the United Nations' expert on albinism, Nigerian lawyer Ikponwosa Ero, expressed alarm over "the notable increase" in cases of people with albinism being killed or attacked for body parts. "More tragically still the majority of victims are children," she added. A UNHCR report found evidence of "more than 200 cases of ritual aggressions against sufferers of albinism between 2000 and 2013". UTSS, which has been logging cases of violence across Africa, ranks Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania as the countries where such attacks are most prevalent. In a shocking recent case, the dismembered body of a four-year-old child was found in February in northeastern Burundi in a case believed to be linked to the illegal trade in body parts with neighbouring Tanzania. WHY DO we remember some schools with a fondness approaching worship, while other schools bring a shudder through our whole being when their names are mentioned to us? The two elementary schools I attended represented the opposite sides of the pole of love. Asiakwa Presbyterian Junior School was something of a crossbreed between the two poles. I enjoyed Class One immensely for mainly one reason: the amazing personality of the teacher. He was called Mr Kwasi Akwa, and I think we were the first pupils he taught when he graduated from the Akropong Teacher Training College. This institution was, in its heyday, responsible for the training of almost all the teachers who brought education to the children of the Akan areas of what was then the Gold Coast. We were taught in our own language and ought to have been imbued with a great sense of our own culture and values. But the Presbyterian Church God forgive it was mainly interested in demolishing our culture in order to implant into us, a European-type mentality that looked upon our culture as based on fetishism and animism. So, whilst teaching us to read and write and acquire a knowledge of geography and a bit of history and civics, our education was directed mostly at getting us to absorb a Christian lifestyle. Now, while the main principles of Christianity love thy neighbour as thyself; do unto others, etc were easily accepted by us as children, there were other aspects of the training that were incompatible with our objectives in attending school. We were required to memorise, by heart, huge chunks of hymns, church catechism and Biblical passages. In Class One (for instance), each of us was given a passage to memorise that was supposed to give us guidance throughout our lives. I still remember mine: S wo didi mee a, Hyira Yehowa, wo Nyankopn W asaase pa a de ama wo no nti! [When you eat to your fill, Thank Jehovah, your God, On account of the good land He has given unto you!] I remember that recitation, although I learnt it in 1945 that is, a good 77 years ago! Now, I have no quarrel with thanking The Merciful Almighty for providing me with fertile land, suppose they had added, And help your [parents in cultivating that land and taking very good care of it? They left everything to the Deity, whereas we should have been instructed also about our daily lives and our responsibilities to our environment. It is only by sheer luck not through instruction that those of us who value our traditions and philosophical precepts do. At school, during our formative years, all that was made to matter to us were things relating to The Almighty. Just divide the number of people in Ghana who go to church every Sunday and yet carry out or collude with galamsey operations that pollute our rivers and streams, and kill our people from mercury poisoning, and you will realise what an opportunity we lost in childhood to be educated in what could guarantee our survival as a people. I personally enjoyed schooling because I had had the opportunity to read most of the books I was required to read in school before I ever set foot in a classroom. This was because I had an elder brother whose handover books I could use with his help. So I walked through Class One to Standard Three without any trouble. In fact, I obtained something prestigious called High Merit in the exam that took us from junior to senior school. So, I thought I was going to enjoy myself in senior school as well! But then I went to Standard Four and met a headmaster whom I shall call Akora Foripan. He was a strict disciplinarian who believed strongly that our main task in coming to his school was to weed the huge school park; weed the compound; weed the school farm and cut bamboos from the bush to repair the school fence. All very good objectives, of course, but a bit boring when they became the obsessive demands of a man who might have been a hidden sadist. Well, I wasnt going to do my part in turning our school into what I considered to be a labour camp. I therefore perfected the art of truancy. I would watch the movements of Akora Foripan, and whenever he left us to weed and betook himself to a beer bar, where he used to go for a good, long rap with some friends of his, I too, would betake myself off to my brothers shop, where two gleaming bicycles a Raleigh and a Rudge would be waiting for me. My brother rented the bikes out for a penny for every five minutes ridden. And he always needed someone to do the time-spent-on-bike-and-how-much-to-pay calculation for him. I was only too ready to do that for him. Gratis! Well, my payment was quite secret: whenever a bike was brought back, I would take it out to examine it to see whether it had been brought back in the condition in which it was taken out. You know? Flat tyre; broken brakes; misaligned chain. That sort of thing meanwhile, I would ride and ride and ride. And weeding in school? I would arrange things so that when the others took the recreation period or were trooping back into the classroom in a disordered fashion, I would be able to mix in with them without being detected. Or so I thought! (TO BE CONTINUED) BY CAMERON DUODU France has sought to push the EU towards a long-stalled asylum pact with a plan to relocate some 10,000 asylum seekers to willing member states and have unwilling ones pay cash penalties instead. The proposition, presented in the final weeks of France's presidency of the European Union, aims to unblock the thorny file with an incremental approach. Presented on Friday to an EU interior ministers' meeting in Luxembourg, it foresees the 19 states in the EU's Schengen zone committing to taking in asylum seekers from under-pressure countries such as Greece, Italy and Malta. The plan calls for a "voluntary solidarity mechanism" on a 12-month test basis. Financial contributions Those who decline to take anyone in would provide financial contributions to help those who do. EU diplomats said the non-binding measure would involve 10,000 asylum seekers per year, with the possibility of the plan being renewed annually. "A big majority of countries have shown themselves favourable to this solidarity, and some dozen countries are favourable to relocalisations, which is very positive," French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said as he went in to chair the meeting. He said France and Germany were among that dozen. As the talks got under way, Darmanin tweeted there had been a "major advance" and that a large majority of member states would back the plan. Countries opposed The EU commissioner for migration, Ylva Johansson, said she saw the step as an important move after spending many months in a failed bid to have member states adopt a broader asylum reform proposal unveiled in September 2020. It also came at a time that Europe was hosting more than four million Ukrainian refugees, who do not come under the asylum rules applied to other nationalities such as Syrians and Afghans, she noted. "All countries are affected by the Ukrainian refugee crisis. But then we also have other refugees and migrants coming, and we need solidarity for that," she said. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said she believed "10 to 12 countries" were behind the plan, which she was "pretty confident" would be adopted. But her Austrian counterpart, Gerhard Karner, signalled strong opposition, saying: "I am absolutely against sending the wrong signal to people smugglers." The Netherlands has already said it will not take in asylum seekers under the proposal, though a diplomat said it might contribute in other ways. Other countries such as Hungary and Poland have long resisted any compulsory migrant relocation scheme. The French proposal stresses the identification of asylum seekers entering the bloc has been enhanced with enlarged use of Eurodac, a biometric database, and a new entry filtering system. It also aims to minimise so-called secondary movements, where asylum seekers move on from the country where they are processed to another, often wealthier EU state, such as Germany or France. (with AFP) 11.06.2022 LISTEN Tema June 11, CDA Consult - Mr. Tonyi Senayah, Chief Executive Officer of Horseman Shoes has advocated for attitudinal change among Ghanaians as one of the needed measures to ensure the sustainability of the entrepreneurship drive in the country. Mr. Senayah said this when he addressed the topic Youth Entrepreneurship: A Catalyst for Curbing Unemployment at the Ishmael Yamson and Associates Roundtable Discussions 22 as monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema. He said there was the need for individuals to have a change of mindset for entrepreneurship to thrive in Ghana despite successive governments role in developing, and creating an enabling environment for small businesses to survive through policy interventions. We have most often, at such occasions focused the conversations on the hard issues and given little attention to one most important factor critical for the economic turnaround of our country, he said. He added that all the discussions on the issue would be meaningless if Ghana does not create a cultural outlook and attitudinal change, which he said could only be achieved when Ghanaians develop a mindset that encourages integrity, and discipline instead of entitlement. He added that The Ghanaian generally has very poor work ethics, and this is seen across various sectors, from the civil service, through to employees in the private sector, professionals, small businesses, and artisans. The Horseman Shoes CEO also advocated for the introduction of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) across all levels of education saying the world today was in dire need of skilled hands to champion the rapid development expected, amidst all the challenges the country was faced with. He expressed excitement that, in recent times, TVET was being championed in almost every conversation on the countrys educational system, skills development, and employment, adding however that just as it was with everything else in Ghana, the talking was more than implementation. Mr. Senayah said the need for intensification of TVET among the youth could not be overemphasized revealing that the traditional way of apprenticeship where young people who terminate their education at the lower levels go to learn a vocation from a master craftsman was dying out. He said this has created a huge skilled labour deficit across vocations such as carpentry, mechanic, masonry, tailoring, and shoemaking among others, It is more difficult getting skilled labour in these areas than getting funding. He indicated that having an aggressive and deliberate approach to TVET has the potential of considerably solving Ghanas unemployment crisis, and therefore called equal attention to TVET schools just as being done for Grade A senior high schools that were well-resourced with qualified teachers, infrastructure, and teaching and learning materials. He said having such attention and resources would make TVET attractive to the youth and help address stereotyping against people who pursue such courses. He said was not enough to have governmental interventions, as, without deliberateness and commitment to make them work effectively, the needed change for the youth unemployment and the growth of the economy would not be achieved. The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has implored the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) to be measured in their expectations as they continue to engage the government on their conditions of service. The university lecturers in January this year embarked on strike over what they described as worsening condition of service. The group accused government of taking them for granted for far too long. However, after some engagements with stakeholders UTAG suspended the industrial action on February 21 but officially returned to the classroom on March 8 with the hope that the employer will demonstrate good faith by being committed to all agreements to help maintain industrial harmony. Speaking at a special congregation ceremony at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology on Saturday June 11, 2022, the Asantehene who also doubles as the Chancellor for KNUST urged government to ensure that workers get their deserved wages. He however urged UTAG and other government workers to minimize their expectations during negotiations. I call on UTAG, and for that matter all other unions on campus and civil society at large, to be measured in their expectations, particularly at this time that the global economy is battling the deleterious effect of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war. I am not a student of economics but I know that resources are always limited and therefore we cannot have what we want all the time, he stated. Otumfuo Osei Tutu II proposed the use of dialogue in resolving conflicts in all future negotiations between labour unions and government to avoid prolonged strikes. The COVID-19 pandemic has already created a dent in the academic calendar and we do not want to see labour unrests deepening this dent, he added. 3news.com Forget, for a while, about all the monies being spent on a national cathedral when there are other more pressing needs. The question is: has the government of Ghana the right to build a monument to a religion in the name of the people? The Republic of Ghana is a secular state. The state is separate from any religious organisation. Ghana has no state religion. The state cannot impose any religion on the people. It cannot also act in a religious manner. Article 21 (1) (c) guarantess freedom of religion for all citizens: [a]ll persons shall have the right to freedom to practise any religion and to manifest such practice. This freedom applies to the citizens as individuals and in groups. It does not apply to the government as an entity. Whiles individual members of government have the right to practise whichever religion they choose in their private capacities, they cannot aggregate this right into a will of the government. The government has no right to build a mosque, a cathedral, a fetish shrine or any edifice to any deity in the name of the people. It will be behaving in a religious manner if it does so. Individuals or organisations are free to build such structures as private concerns. The separation of church and state is also seen in the provisions of the constitution that forbid the establishment of any party based on religious grounds. Article 55 6 (c) forbids any party to have a religious name. That is why there is no Muslim Party or a Christian Democratic party in Ghana. In Ghana, the church has never been part of the state. It is true that many Ghanaians are Christians. This is the result of a historical accident. It has nothing to do with whether Christianity is a better religion than Islam or our traditional worship systems. It is not! We were colonised by Europeans who brought us Christianity. If we had, instead, been colonised by the Iranians, most of us would, today, have been Shia Muslims by default rather than by conviction. Even though Christians are in the majority in our country, Ghana cannot, strictly speaking, be called a Christian nation. The large number of Christians does not make us a Christian nation. We are a secular nation and our government should act in a manner that reflects our secular status. This means it cannot build a monument to any religion. If it does so, it will be favouring one religion over the others. Article 21 (1) (c) stipulates that the people can manifest their religious practice in the manner in which they so desire. This provision does not, however, supersede the basic laws of the land. Where religious practice comes in conflict with the laws of the land, it is the latter that take precedence (Article 26 (1)). The laws of the land, for instance, forbid a fetish priest from indulging in human sacrifice in the name of freedom of religion. Not even Gods laws come before the laws of the land. This is rightly so since nobody really knows Gods laws. Anyone can look into a book and proclaim Gods laws and we shall debate that endlessly. But the provenance of the basic laws of the country is well established. We made those laws and we all agreed to abide by them with the courts serving as arbiters. No government, can, therefore, invoke Gods laws to build a cathedral in the name of the people. The people are free to follow whichever god they want to. They are also free not to worship any deity at all. That is the essence of freedom of religion. The government should abstain from following any god. It should also refrain from building edifices to any deity. Of all the monuments a government can build for the people, a religious monument should not be one of them! Akufo-Addo can build a cathedral with his own pocket money as a gift to the Christians in the country. But he cannot do so in the name of the government of which he is just a temporary head. Such an endeavour should best be pursued after he leaves office so that the people will know that he is not using the tax payers money for his personal glory. He cannot use the office he occupies to do it on behalf of the people who are of different religious persuasions and who have not requested of him to build unto them a temple or a golden calf! There may, perhaps, not be a particular letter in the constitution that expressly forbids Akufo-Addo from building a cathedral but this act is in violation of the spirt of the 1992 Constitution which establishes our nation as a secular republic in which government shall not dabble in partisan religion. The constitution clearly relegates religion to the private sphere. That is where it rightly belongs. And that is where it must stay! Kofi Amenyo ([email protected]) 12.06.2022 LISTEN The Member of Parliament for the Ningo Prampram Constituency, Sam Nartey George, has been vehemently engaging in verbal exchanges with netizens over his recent Dumsor complaint on Twitter. The loud MP, in a tweet sighted by this portal on Saturday, June 11, 2022, complained to the President of the Republic, Nana Addo, over a light issue in his area and asked whether it was the energy crisis (Dumsor) or not. Soon after that tweet, some netizens seemed to be unhappy with the MPs tweet for the reason that he does not pay light bills like ordinary Ghanaians and that the President he was complaining about the light issue to is not the energy minister nor a worker of the electricity company of Ghana (ECG). Dear @NAkufoAddo, my lights have been off since 6:30 am. What's up? E be dumsor or yes? He quizzes. You no dey pay light bill but you dey complain. Nana Addo is not the Energy minister, channel your problem to the right person. You're a member of parliament and you know the functions of the various organs of government. The netizens reacted. In response to this, Sam George washed away the fact that he does not pay his light bill and indicated that his monthly light bill is the netizens yearly expenditure, so the netizens throwing punches at him, whom he described as "educated illiterates," should not pour out such ignorance. My weekly light bill be your yearly living expense. Don't infect my timeline with your poverty mentality. Off you go! You were the one who connected the free light ong? Educated illiterates spewing their ignorance proudly all over. Tueh! He reacted. The conversation then became interesting, with the outspoken MP replying to every negative response to his Dumsor tweet. Domsor' is a continuous, irregular, and unpredictable power outage that is accompanied by blackouts caused by a power supply shortage. Ghana's generating capacity fell by 400600 megawatts in 2015, far short of what the country required, causing electricity distributors to regularly shed load with rolling blackouts. In the Akan language, the term Dum sor means On and Off, which was used by the then-opposition New Patriotic Partys Members of Parliament to describe the situation. Please find below the tweet and the frequent exchanges between the MP and some netizens This has been a special week at the November 2015 terror trial, as the three state prosecutors prepared the ground for their demands for punishment, delivered on Friday. The French newspapers have been united in their praise of the prosecution team. But it was a far from flawless performance. "It is difficult for us, who live in a secular society, to understand absolute conviction," chief prosecuting magistrate Camille Hennetier told the court in her final summing-up. "When fanaticism has infected a spirit, the disease is practically incurable. What can you say to someone who tells you that he would rather obey God than man, and that he is sure of entering heaven if he slits your throat?" Despite the chillingly contemporary resonance, that last sentence is Voltaire, taken word-for-word from his 1764 Dictionary of Philosophy, under the entry for "Fanaticism". Earlier, it was Hennetier's co-prosecutor, Nicolas Braconnay, who quoted Hannah Arendt to the effect that extremist ideology can result in the distancing of an individual from normal moral constraints, even from basic human decency. Philosophers, sociologists and other spooks On the question of the value of prison sentences in the reform of those sentenced, we were reminded of Emile Durkheim's insistence on the necessary relation between punishment and social reinsertion. Camille Hennetier pessimistically wondered if there was any hope for a change of heart among the most ideologically committed of the men before the court. "We are without illusion on the limits of what can be achieved by the prison system," she said, echoing the philosopher Michel Foucault. It was all very high falutin'. The 14 accused present in court could be forgiven for missing some of the details. We are, after all, a long way from Molenbeek, the working-class Brussels suburb which was home to several of the Paris attacks accused. With the exception of Mohamed Bakkali, who has used his time in jail to obtain a degree in sociology, the men in the box generally have weak academic backgrounds. In fact, this performance by the prosecutors has not primarily been intended for the accused, but for the tribunal which will, later this month, have to decide on the guilt or innocence of each man, and punish them accordingly. Back down to earth with a bang No one had any difficulty understanding the third prosecutor, Nicolas Le Bris. He spoke of the "deluge of metal bolts" which shredded bodies; of the "piles of the dead and dying", "wallowing in their own blood"; of the "scythed" victims falling "like dominoes". And there was worse, in terms of the graphic language chosen by the co-prosecutor. The words were, he assured us, those of the survivors themselves. Indeed, they were instantly recognisable to those in court who have heard them before. Of course, the rhetorical strategy was clearly to prepare for the later demand of the maximum penalties allowed by law. But at what cost to the survivors sitting on the public benches? The power of personal testimony Last October, when a victim of the Bataclan attack described the realisation that her leg was no longer attached to her body, that her face had been ripped open by a bullet, and that she risked choking on her own shattered teeth, the impact of that personal testimony was of an indescribable power. The use of the same evidence by a third party, especially in the presence of the original witness . . . and the woman in question was, indeed, in the courtroom on Friday and heard her injuries described by another . . . is at the very least questionable, if not reprehensible. Centrist newspaper Le Monde says the three prosecutors this week set new standards in a profession in which verbal brilliance is the norm. "A performance of extraordinary judicial excellence," the paper says. Right-wing Le Figaro believes the 15-hour summing-up of this vast case was of a quality which will mark French legal history indelibly. And they may be right. But neither Le Monde nor Le Figaro asked the opinion of Amandine, the 38-year-old woman who is that Bataclan survivor. Neither did prosecuting magistrate Nicolas Le Bris. They should have. As Jesus walked alongside the Sea of Galilee, he came upon two brothers: Simon, known as Peter, and Andrew, his brother. They were fishermen, and they were casting a net into the sea. "Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men," Jesus said, and the two brothers obeyed and followed him. This account describes how Jesus chose a group of fishermen, a tax collector, and others to become his twelve disciples, who went on to become biblical heroes. However, today's global crime wave, which includes men of God, is gradually turning Jesus' story into a farce. Worldwide, the meaning of being a Christian has been lost. The twelve are subsequently given the task of preaching and healing by Jesus. He bestowed upon them the capacity to control all evil spirits as well as the ability to heal illness. "Take nothing for your journey, neither a stick, a purse, food, money, nor even additional clothes!" He said as he sent them off to proclaim the kingdom of God and heal the sick. Christianity continues to decline, what does that mean to evangelism? "When you arrive at a house, stay there till you leave, and if they refuse to welcome you, leave that town and shake the dust off your feet as a protest against them!" So they headed forth, spreading the Gospel and healing people in every community they passed through. The theology of the apostles' converts and followers, accounts of events, as well as the faith that the early followers of Jesus shared with such zeal, have served a purpose for others, including us, to believe in Christianity and call ourselves Christians. However, are we true Christians? It takes over a million people to develop a good reputation, but just a few ignorant morons can undo all that has been accomplished. Christianity is currently under attack. Christians appear to be unable to discover the same meaning for the term "Christian" as was intended when it was coined. Because of what is happening in the world, under the supervision of so-called men of God, heads of churches and religious institutions, and contrary to what is written in the Bible, Christianity is rapidly losing credibility, and many Christians have lost confidence. I don't blame any Christian who abruptly stops attending church or denounces God today, because many of the pastors who should have been the light to guide a lost soul are in the dark themselves, and many of the so-called men of God who are supposed to protect and guide the lost sheep are struggling to find their way in the wilderness. Will you hold someone responsible if they claim there is no God? Will you hold it against someone who claims that God does not exist and that the Bible is a fabrication? In my opinion, no Christian should be blamed for despising God because church leaders have already hated God in so many ways due to their selfishness and love of money. The Bible's accounts are based on the Old and New Testament teachings, but they have been translated into many different forms to make them simple and easy to understand. Christians are discouraged from participating in homosexuality in that Bible. The narrative of Sodom and Gomorrah depicts God's wrath against those who indulge in such behavior. Yet, in Ghana, a supposedly religiously conservative country, the same pastors who lecture to their congregations about the dangers of homosexuality are silent and pleased with a billboard advocating homosexuality in our country. Would a preacher be enraged if someone looked you in the eyes and told you there is no God? Christians' faith is fast eroding over the world, owing to the fact that God's men are doing worse things than religion's devotees. What do you expect from a Christian who witnesses a pastor officiating a gay marriage after preaching to him that homosexuality is a wicked act based on the Bible? Things would have been different if the Bible had not written these verses concerning what is and is not abhorrent. To put it another way, a Christian who knows what is wrong based on the Bible has been confused with religion since so-called Ghana, a religious country is now supporting homosexuality, and the majority of so-called men of God and religious organizations are all silent. What impact would this act have on my Christian principles, and, more crucially, my belief in the existence of God? Because men of God are among those responsible for the most terrible atrocities against mankind, Christianity is under fire all across the world. Many pastors are pedophiles who sleep with and abuse young boys; even at the Vatican City, the so-called Holy City of Rome, pastors have been linked to homosexuality and abuse of young males. I believe that Christianity will fall in the decades ahead of us. It has already begun in a number of locations across Europe and the United States of America. Cathedrals and many other houses of worship have been turned into taverns and libraries. Some of the larger churches are now solely used to pay final respects to the deceased before burial. "If we place bits in horses' mouths to make them obey us, we are also guiding their entire bodies." Consider the ships: despite their size and the fact that they are propelled by strong winds, they are guided by a little rudder to wherever the pilot desires. The tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of tremendous things." "What a magnificent forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!" And the tongue is a realm of iniquity, a world of fire. The tongue has been planted amid our members, staining the entire body, igniting the entire course of life, and igniting hell. For mankind has domesticated every species of beast and bird, reptile, and marine creature." 3:38 James "You must not disseminate a fake report." Exodus 23:1 advises against joining hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness," but that is exactly what has befallen our beloved Ghana. There will be reports about the demise of Christianity in West Africa, which will begin in Ghana. Those churches that will survive the fall will be known as authentic churches of God, led by true men of God. This is not a prophecy, but after studying the rapid decline of faith in Christians and religion in Ghana, I view such events as the only possible outcomes. Part of the Heading of this article has been motivated by a famous Republican strategist, Rick Wilson's book title, "Everything Trump Touches Dies". In that book, Wilson takes the Trump-Pence government to the cleaners. He points out its colossal failure, mismanagement, misplaced priorities, misapplication of federal funds and gross financial malfeasance and tax evasion. All this put together made the Trump-Pence administration tumbled and wobbled. Fellow Ghanaians, as what could have been envisaged as the legacy of the Akufo Addo administration keeps disintegrating and gradually turning into a curse, nothing can pain that leadership calamitous picture than the above title: "Anything President Akufo Addo Touches Dies!" I won't cite any example. Just look through all that public funds have been wasted on. From the construction of a needless National Cathedral many Ghanaians speculate to be a campaign message to deceive God by the President, to the very economic policy majority believe the government cherry-picked without any understanding and appreciation of implications, are the reasons for the current economic mess. The so-called flagship project keep collapsing in stages due to lack of plans of their sustainability. Theres nothing the Akufo Addo government initiated that hasnt turned out to be a mere gimmick, a prank, or a curse that keeps hurting the masses. Consider the free education policy for example. The demerits are simply more than the merits. Why pay over 13000 Ghana cedis the government has borrowed on behalf of Ghanaians in order to educate one or two children? Why sell ones head in order to buy a cap? Please space wont allow me to enumerate the things that die at the presidents hands. He is the poster child of leadership failure with every project of his turned into a Frankenstein monster to the people. You see, we are suffering today because, apparently, those who thought clay could become gold without any magic or miracle and voted President Akufo Addo and the NPP. Thank God, they have come to realize, in the fullest of time, that it is not just possible to cure cancer with paracetamol! Corruption can't be fought by armed robbers nor wolves as effective shepherds. Thats why the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has been more scandalous than corruption under this government it was put up to fight! Anything president Akufo Addo touches dies Fellow Ghanaians, it was the 16th Ya Na of the Dagbon kingdom in the 17th centuries whose elder Princes of the kingdom mocked him that he should explore the "Kalebule" way he used to usurp the kingdom after the demise of their father, Ya Na Tutugri, to fight the Gonja invaders. Under the leadership of Prince Kumpatia of the Gonja kingdom, the Gonjas invaded Dagbon for the third time which was left and ignored by the principal Princes of Dagbon due to a dispute over the reign of the kingdom. During his lifetime, Na Tutugri is reported to have asked his Mallam by the name of Sabali Yarna Yaamusa, which of his (Na Tutugri) many wives would give birth to his successor? The Mallam pointed to a young wife from among the King's wives who was not even pregnant at the time. In the Dabgon culture, it is the eldest son that succeeds the king upon his joining of the ancestors. But in this case, the Mallam pointed to a woman who hadn't even picked seed yet. After the death of the Ya Na, the eldest princes fought among themselves over the succession. The disputatious matter was taken to Mamprugu's Overlord who is a traditional mediator as the elder brother of the Dagbon people. The King of Mamprugu mediated among the disputing princes by selecting the young Prince Wumbei whose mother was earlier prophesied to be the wife who would give birth to the successor of Ya Na Tutugri. And he was enskined according to the tradition of Dagbon to become the next Ya Na. The elder princes were bitter and accused their young brother of manipulation of the Overlord of Mamprugu, but they couldn't go against the decision of the King who, till date, traditionally, mediate between dispusting candidates of the paramountcy of Dagbon. So, when the Gonjas invaded the kingdom, the Princes gang-up against their kid brother the King and refused to help fight the "Russians". Rather, they mocked him that he should use the same hanky-panky he used to manipulate the Mamprugu Overlord to win his support, to fight the invaders! Whether Na Zangina deserved the cold shoulder by his elder princes or not, president Akufo Addo must be called upon to stop blaming Russia-Ukraine war or Covid-19, and govern. Fellow Ghanaians, it is clear that what is haunting and hunting the Nana Addo government is the poster boy of the assertion that the evil men do leaves after them. And those who live by sword shall perish by sword. The evil, "kululu" that the Akufo Addo administration as Executive arm of government used to win the election at the polls and at the Supreme court must be used to take Ghanaians and Ghana out of the portage of mess the country is swimming in. As citizens who were physically and psychologically terrorized by the NPP in order to desperately "win" the 2020 election, it is only appropriate to remind the Akufo Addo government to use the gerrymandering, pork-barrel politics, and the various Machiavellian tactics they employed to "win" the 2020 general elections, to navigate the vessel of the country out of the current economic precipice and hardships Ghanaians are going through. The painful aspect is that, those who aided and abetted to foist upon Ghanaians this current group of ethnic jingoists, political irredentists, state property thieves and criminals, and social malcontents have long been silent over the maladministration going on now. Even though many homes can no longer afford Fufuo due to the exacerbated prices of plantain, they are blindfolded into believing the Cock and Bull story that Russia and Ukraine war has to blame. The truth is, in Ghana, if I may borrow the cliche, "the political party that knows how to govern must learn how to win an election; and the political party that doesn't know how to govern, has a way of winning elections. This brings me to the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, NDC's Mr. Aseidu Nkatia's parable of the philosophical envelopes by a Philosopher to an otiose leader like our dear president. In that parable, General Mosquito narrates that by virtue of having the ability to remote-control an electoral commissioner, a leader of political party was declared winner of an election of a country he has no clue about governance. Just for personal whims he ran for an election! He then decided to see a political philosopher to help him govern when after hundred days he realized he couldn't man himself out of the labyrinth of governance. The philosopher gave him three envelopes each of which contained an advice for him. The first advised him to blame the erstwhile government, his immediate predecessor. The second advised him to blame the international community and the global economic world order. This masquerade of leadership used both envelopes yet the tension, suffering, and heat of dissatisfaction due to his fraudulent leadership continues to rage. He quickly turns to the third and last envelope for leadership "Kwick Action" and painkiller. To his surprise the advise contained in the third envelop advises him to prepare his handing over speech. This is the situation of President Akufo Addo and the now fast becoming Narcissistic Pretenders Party. Fellow Ghanaians, with the abysmal performance and sheer disappointment by the Akufo Addo administration, the example of the NPP and the term "governance" could be likened to adorning a goat with a golden necklace. It would only take a miracle for the goat to recognize the value of the necklace. And the example of former president Mahama and Ghanaians who voted against him due to hate and jealousy, is like a gold to the goats. Goats don't know the value of gold. And a man with a bag full of gold is never chased by goats. But let it be leaves of a pumpkin tree, all goats within that community would follow him to his house! When the NPP came out last few weeks ago to elect their Regional Executives, many Ghanaians were outraged and scoffed at the conduct of participants by the degree of pork-barrel politics that was exhibited. That regional executive election exposed how shielded and insulated from the current hardship savaging the country the NPP is, due to unrestrained access to proceeds of corruption. We were witnesses to the cash that was wasted in order for candidates to keep and maintain their grip on political "spoils of war" and indecent lucre. Despite the scorching economic ambience. Are these people also dwelling in this country as the rest of us? For many Ghanaians, it is about time psychiatrists of the country are called upon to conduct mental health examination on many of the members of the governing party. What is going on could be due to mental problems on the part of the President. However, the fact that anything the President "touches dies" has led many to believe it is more of a "curse" than issues of either logical mistakes or mental problems. The President is the problem, let him resign. Who told you Buhari would vote for Tinubu, his Party Presidential candidate; for whia? They actually used Tinubu to capture the Presidency the same way the South have been inviting Fulani leaders for Alliance since the sixties. The British preferred them as the leaders in the SouthEast, SouthSouth and lately SouthWest did. SouthSouth preferred them to avoid domination by their Southern neighbors. SouthEast formed an alliance with them from the 60s to spite the SouthWest and SouthWest did it in 2015 hoping Buhari would pass them the baton. Nothing changed. Even if Osinbajo had been endorsed publicly by Buhari, he could never defeat Atiku in the North. What some folks rightly pointed out is that Buhari and the Fulani have accomplished their goal to keep power in the North as long as Nigeria exists as a country. Their game conclusion is to pave the way for Tinubu with his voracious greed that scares every part of Nigeria except those addicted money-mongers in the West he captured. Ask Lagosians. The South cannot repeat the same feat every time in favor of Fulani leaders and expect a different result from power hungry Oligarchy who think they are born to rule. Take them seriously when they say the "North" would rule forever. There are few Fulani or Hausa that will dump Atiku for Tinubu or Peter Obi. Until the South and the North Central decide to rally around and vote for one of the other parties or a new party, Atiku wins. Buhari is the head of the Fulani oligarchy that dominates the political power of Africa's most populous country, regardless of APC or PDP candidate. There are many ways to skin a cat, party loyalty is only one of them. But anyone that thinks Buhari would be loyal to a party at the expense of Fulani self-interest, in a country where there is no ideological conviction, is naive or a neophyte. Tinubu won the flagship of APC and Atiku won the flagship of PDP to contest for the President of Nigeria because their money is power. While it is true that politicians without money can still win, it takes a sincere dedicated revolution of the mind. Tinubu and Atiku have come out winners despite the fact that they are the most corrupt Presidential candidates out of all the contestants. Until lately, only Fulani and Hausa could keep their eyes on the price without financial corruption. Buhari burst that myth into pieces. There is no one among the delegates in particular and Nigeria in general that does not know how Atiku and Tinubu made their money, yet more Nigerians have resigned to corruption as a fact of life and the way to survive is to join them if you cannot beat them. Even those we thought have integrity have resigned to their parties' picks where foreign money that could have elevated the suffering of the masses were openly displayed and the candidate with ice cream with popcorn, Osinbajo, derided. Na ice cream and popcorn we go chop? However, Fulani have always kept their eyes on Power rather than Money. When you secure Power, natural resources, foreign income and foreign loans flow in naturally when you are in control. They no longer trust or support any Southerner surrogate as President, Federal character or other merit based positions since they can manipulate their way in. Southern Nigerians always put the cart before the horse. They worship money first, by any means. When Tafawa Balewa became Prime Minister, he negotiated by relinquishing the Finance portfolio to the South. Gowon from the Middle Belt reminded the country that he is a Northerner when he became Military Head of State. He released Awolowo from Federal Prison which his predecessor, Ironsi failed to do after many requests and pleas. More importantly, he appointed Awolowo Commissioner for Finance the South desired as usual. It shows the political sophistication and chicanery of the Fulani compared to the Southern money worshippers that would sell their birthright for pottage. Do not forget that after Awolowo left as Finance Commissioner, it was Southerners that preached Liberal Market. The North was against it until they realized that their families can enjoy Western education beyond Arab religious teaching. Indeed some Nigerians like Dr. Sodipo and Fela Anikulapo paid dearly in jail for alleged violations of the 100 pounds limit on travelers going abroad. It was not until Obasanjo as civilian President that he rehabilitated the marginalized Igbo into substantive positions as Finance control. It must be pointed out that Clement Nyong Isong, was also in charge of the Central Bank under Gowon. By the time Fulani got interested in Finance, Lamido Sanusi, an Islamic scholar, was planted as a manager in a private bank to later become the Governor of the Central Bank. More Northerners took over the parallel financial market. The point here is that Northerners were not interested in money until the new generation got involved and experienced what foreign currencies and income laundering can obtain in Western countries. Yet, they have not abandoned their ideological pursuit of conquering the South. They openly demand that the Presidency must remain in the North After Buhari. Regardless of who the Presidential candidates are in either APC or PDP and who won, Power remains in the North. The Fulani and their Hausa accomplices that lost their Seven States to Usman Dan Fodio have attracted minorities from the North Central with One-North or Hausa/Fulani slogans. The South will never become President of Nigeria again until they can produce an Obasanjo or a Danjuma from the Middle Belt that would champion their agenda, not that of Fulani. Indeed, the chances of One Nigeria has slipped away. Unfortunately, the South and NorthCentral have not learnt from the regrets of both Danjuma and Obasanjo when Buhari fooled them as a Nigerian patriot. Since he came out to show his true color, it is too late to turn back time. Buhari also realizes that this is his best opportunity to renew Fulani reign because the new generation of Southerners have woken up to the Fulani game plan. New generation of NorthCentral will be a tougher nut to crack with the One-North slogan. Farouk Martins Aresa @oomoaresa 12.06.2022 LISTEN One Volta Group, a non-partisan NGO headquartered in the United States of America, has expressed solidarity with Togbe Afede XIV, Agbogbomefia of Asogli State, for his honorable gesture to refund excessive ex-gratia payments to state coffers. In a Press Release issued by the Group, it noted that the news was refreshing amidst the pervasive news of economic doom and gloom that has characterized life in Ghana, Togbe deemed it an honor and a patriotic obligation to return 365,392.67 GHS to national coffers. propelled primarily by a long-held conviction that appointments to serve the nation do not have to result in an undue rapacious dissipation of the nations coffers. We join the vast majority of Ghanaians to commend Togbe for his selfless conduct. Peter N Abotchie (PhD) and Anthony M Sallar (PhD), who signed the Press Release for the Group, also said, while some self-serving partisan politicians (particularly Mr. Paul Adom Otchere), operating under the banner of journalism and freedom of speech, are deploying the national airwaves to sully Togbes name and impugn his integrity, the majority of Ghanaians, both at home and in the diaspora, find comfort in Togbes honorable decision to make a bold statement against excessive compensation for casual national appointments. Below is the Full Statement from OVG One Volta Group Commends Togbe Afede XIV for refund of ex-gratia to the State One Volta Group, a non-partisan NGO headquartered in the United States of America, wishes to express solidarity with Togbe Afede XIV, Agbogbomefia of Asogli State, for his honorable gesture to refund excessive ex-gratia payments to state coffers. It is refreshing to note that amidst the pervasive news of economic doom and gloom that has characterized life in Ghana, Togbe deemed it an honor and a patriotic obligation to return 365,392.67 GHS to national coffers, propelled primarily by a long-held conviction that appointments to serve the nation do not have to result in an undue rapacious dissipation of the nations coffers. We join the vast majority of Ghanaians to commend Togbe for his selfless conduct. We also take note that while some self-serving partisan politicians (particularly Mr. Paul Adom Otchere), operating under the banner of journalism and freedom of speech, are deploying the national airwaves to sully Togbes name and impugn his integrity, the majority of Ghanaians, both at home and in the diaspora, find comfort in Togbes honorable decision to make a bold statement against excessive compensation for casual national appointments. We do not forget Mr. Otcheres own profligate expenditure of 84,000 GHS on Christmas flowers while electricity bills went unpaid as the Board Chairman of Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL). Moments of adversity present a good opportunity for the emergence of national leaders. Togbe Afede has demonstrated an enviable character of national leadership by focusing on the welfare of the nation even if it means denying himself. We hold the view that such a man does not deserve to be rubbished in the media. Economic news coming out of Ghana presently are depressing. Frequent spikes in fuel and food prices, deteriorating cedi performance against major world currencies, pervasive unemployment and escalating poverty among the general population juxtaposed to an appetite for lavish living among the political elite and those with access to political power, have created an atmosphere of hopelessness and resignation among Ghanaians today. To the extent that Togbes Afedes ethical decision to return overly excessive and lavish ex-gratia payments to national coffers offers a glimmer of hope to the nation which is plagued with profligate spending, he deserves our unalloyed support and commendation. Togbe Afede is an accomplished leader who has received several national awards and international recognition for his business successes. His efforts to establish businesses and provide employment and services to millions of Ghanaians span various administrations including both NPP and NDC. Togbe co-founded Databank Financial Services and was the prime mover in the establishment of the Ghana Stock Exchange. He founded SAS Finance Group Ltd (a stock brokerage and corporate finance advisory firm), SAS Investment Management Ltd (an asset management firm), Strategic Initiatives Ltd (a portfolio and private equity investment firm), and also co-founded Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Ltd (a 560-megawatt power plant), and Africa World Airlines Ltd. The foregoing account is ample evidence of Togbe Afedes unquestionable commitment to the development of Ghana. We further note that Togbes personal financial resources go a long way to support humanitarian causes. In this week alone (2nd week of June 2022), Togbe is reported to have made a donation of 200,000 GHS toward the rehabilitation of the victims of the mining explosion at Apiate (Western Region) as well as a donation of 300,000 GHS to support communities impacted by tidal floods in the Volta Region. Against this backdrop, it is most concerning to us that a person like the host of Good Evening Ghana radio program who cannot lay claim to even ten percent of Togbes achievements deems it his business to rubbish him for his patriotic gesture to return money to the state. We use this opportunity to caution people like Paul Adom Otchere who, as it has emerged, was a beneficiary of Togbe Afedes magnanimity in the past, to exercise caution, if not restraint, in the coverage of important national matters as they relate to eminent persons from the Volta Region. We note particularly that this isnt the first time Mr. Otchere has adopted a disrespectful confrontational posture toward the Agbogbomefia. We recall his coverage of Togbe Afede during the national discussions on the controversial Agyapa deal and the national referendum to create new regions in 2018. We take exception to his posture of impertinence, unprofessionalism and nastiness which, we observe, is lacking in his coverage of Akan chiefs. One Volta Group is a development-focused organization, but we would be remiss to ignore the creeping show of disrespect to our chiefs in the overzealous effort to please the powers that be. We in One Volta Group wish to reiterate our support for Togbes effort to place the welfare of the poor and needy front and center in all he does irrespective of ethnicity. It is our prayer that Togbe Afedes type of selflessness become the norm among resourceful Ghanaians, and not the exception. Peter N Abotchie (PhD) & Anthony M Sallar (PhD), For One Volta Group USA Igbo Presidency agitators have been detained at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad SARS Office in Abuja for four nights. The trio arrested includes SHEIKH Mohammed Adams, Barrister Emejulu Okpalaukwu and Mr Chris Okigbo, Sheikh Mohamed Adams and Barrister Emejulu Okpalaukwu were preparing to go to Eagle Square venue of the APC Convention to canvass for Igbo presidency before they were arrested, The trio were first detained at a military facility, and later transferred to APO Legislative Quarters Police Station. They were taken the following day to the FCT Commissioner of Police and later transferred to SARS detention centre. Briefing Rev Obinna Akukwe Director, Christian Religious Wing Pan Nigerian President of Igbo Extraction Coalition PANPIEC, the General Coordinator of Eastern Youth Forum EYF, Mr Dominic Onyekwelu said that all efforts to release them have proved abortive. Mr Onyekwelu said that Ohanaeze Ndigbo have detailed an experienced human rights lawyer,t o effect their releae but there are unnecessary bottlenecks. Barrister George Ibekwe , seasoned human rights rights was detailed by Ohanaeze Ndigbo to follow up the matter and report back to them. He has been making frantic efforts to secure their release. PANPIEC learnt that Sheihk Mohammed Adams and Barrister Emejulu Okpalaukwu were alleged to have written a letter to President Buhari seeking support or Igbo Presidency, the contents of which the military and police authorities deemed offensive. Sheikh Mohammed Adams, influential Islamic Cleric has been at the forefront of campaign for President of Igbo extraction. He has written letters to Buhari, Iyorchia Ayu, PDP, APC to zone the presidency to the South East. Sheikh Adams was reportedly teargased, manhandled and his dress torn by irate Atiku boys because he entered the PDP convention ground at the to campaign and convince delegates to vote for Igbo candidate. Sheikh Adams have vowed to carry the same campaign to Eagle Square venue of APC Convention before he was arrested in the process.. Barrister Emejulu Okpalaukwu, foremost Ohanaeze Youth leader, former Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze and General Coordinator of Igbo -Ohanaeze Integrity Groups was also arrested alongside Sheikh Adams. Opalaukwu was visible with hi team, including activists from the north, talking to eleates on the eve of the electin, from ne assembly point to the other. His attempt to continue the campaign into Eagles Square was effectively checkmated by the arrest. Mr Chris Okigbo , leader OF New Foundation for National Understanding NFNU , a retired artillery officer with the Nigerian and Army was also arrested. He has spent three nights in detention. Mr Okigbo was in Abuja to help campaign for presidency of Igbo extraction. The former governor of Anambra State, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezefe has condemned the detention of the two octogenarians and the activist, and has called for their immediate release. Igbo leaders have expressed worry over the detention f Igbo Presidency agitators and have warned that if the situation is not ratified, they will take further action. PANPIEC Administrative Secretary , Comrade Chuks Ibegbu, have described the arrest of Sheikh Adams, Mr Okigbo and Barrister Okpalaukwu as a travesty. He said that the trio has the right to hold any form of political opinion and a letter viewed as offensive to President Buhari is not enough fr the to be incarcerated for four days.. PANPIEC, through its Director of Christian Religious Wing, Rev Obnna Akukwe , have notified the leadership of the body of the anomaly. In a letter sent to PANPIEC National Coordinator Alhaji Adamu Mohammed, Chairman Board of Trustees, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, National Patron, Chief Chekwas Okorie, BoT Members General Ishola Williams,(RTD) DR Kenneth Fiberesima, Chief Effiom James and Prof Joseph Ntom of the unfortunate development, the leadership of the body was asked to take up the matter with relevant authorities. 12.06.2022 LISTEN The founder of internet safety magazine and CEO of Onadipe Technologies, Mr. Rotimi Onadipe has advised victims of internet fraud to always speak out and share their experiences with people around them and relevant agencies. The internet safety advocate gave the advice in Ibadan at his organisation's weekly lecture on internet safety with the theme "Say NO to internet abuse, say YES to internet safety," held on Saturday, June 11th, 2022. According to Onadipe, it is very unfortunate that many victims of internet fraud are ashamed of sharing their experiences with people around them e.g. neighbors, friends, family members and relevant agencies. They are ignorant of the fact that internet fraudsters popularly called "yahoo boys and yahoo girls" don't give up on their victims until the victims die. He added: "As long as internet fraudsters are still collecting money from you, they will always give excuses on one issue or another to collect more money from you. The only thing you can do to save yourself from them is to share your experience with friends, families, neighbors and relevant agencies." "Don't wait until the situation becomes worse. Be bold to share your experience with some people so that you can be properly guided and appropriate action can be taken to save you," Onadipe said. Two hundred thousand tree seedlings are to be planted this year as part of the Green Ghana project in four Political Districts in the Upper East Region. The Districts are; the Kassena Nankana Municipality, Builsa North and South, and Kassena Nankana West. This was disclosed during the ceremonial tree planting in Navrongo. The Forestry Manager in charge of the four PDs Emmanuel Owusu said their target for Green Ghana is two hundred thousand seedlings for the whole four districts out of which 145,000 seedlings will be sent to the Naaga Forestry Reserve. The remaining tree seedlings he added are going to be distributed to Churches, Schools, Departments and among workers for planting. Mr. Owusu mentioned some of the species like Mahogany, Cacia, Cashew, tic, and Boabab among others. The essence he indicated is to green the environment. The Kassena Nankana Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) Joseph Adongo who planted a ceremonial tree at the yard of the Municipal Assembly to start the Green Ghana exercise explained that he was happy for all gathered to continue the Presidents vision of greening Ghana and not only that but was equally mandatory for all and sundry, to the take the responsibility of greening the environment for our own sake and for posterity. The MCE, therefore, charged his staff to go at least go home with two or three seedlings to plant and ensure they grow to maturity as their individual contribution towards greening Ghana tomorrow. The story was not different in the Kassena Nanakana West District (KNWD), as the ceremonial tree was planted at the forecourt of the new site of the Assembly, which is about 90 percent completed by the District Chief Executive (DCE) Gerard Ataogye, whiles student continued and completed planting exercise of the tree seedlings at the whole frontage yard of the new site of the Assembly The DEC described the initiative as life-saving adding that, if Ghana must stay alive, then tree planting must be vigorously embarked upon. He, therefore, advised every good citizen to stop terrorizing trees by cutting them indiscriminately. Story filed by: Emmanuel Akayeti 12.06.2022 LISTEN A group of civil society organisations has formed a coalition for the promotion of whistleblowing as a tool for fighting corruption and achieving transparency and good governance in ECOWAS member states. The coalitionthe Whistleblowing Advocacy Coalition of West Africa (WACOWA)was the outcome of a consultative meeting organized by the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) and civil society partners following exploratory talks with the ECOWAS Commission and the Network of Anti-corruption Institutions in West Africa (NACIWA) on strengthening the fight against corruption in West Africa. The coalition says corruption has been one of the major challenges facing West African states since independence, and that its pervasiveness in the subregion makes it seem intractable. Among the many damaging impacts of corruption over the decades are mass poverty, high level unemployment, disregard for law and order, lack of trust in government and rising political instability resulting in the destruction of lives and property. Although most ECOWAS member states have passed anti-corruption laws, ratified international conventions against corruption and established special national anti-corruption institutions, a few others have yet to do so. Still, despite these efforts, tackling corruption in the region has not yielded the desired result. The integrity of government and level of corruption are rated more poorly in West and East Africa than in other regions on the continent, as pointed out by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in one of its reports issued in 2005. Even Transparency Internationals Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has over the years expressed similar sentiments by indicating that ECOWAS countries have excessively higher levels of corruption than countries in other regions. A key feature in the ECOWAS Commissions protocol to combat corruption in the region is the ECOWAS Whistleblower Protection Strategy. The Commission identifies whistleblowing as one of the most direct methods of exposing corrupt acts which has the capacity to foster transparency and accountability in both the public and private sector administration. The key objective of this strategy is to encourage member states to pass whistleblowing legislations that are safe for making disclosure of wrongdoing and ensuring protection against retaliation because of such disclosure. WACOWAs objective is to complement the Commissions efforts in this regard by promoting whistleblowing as an accountability tool and strengthening commitment to the development of a whistleblower protection law in member states. It will collate reported cases to aid the work of anti-corruption agencies, seek new partners that will participate in the objectives of the advocacy and create solutions that will serve the needs of the communities. The coalition promises a fervent commitment to the promotion of transparent and accountable governance in ECOWAS countries by advocating whistleblowing as a conscious and obligatory action of citizens as a way of reducing corruption and aiding development in their communities. Signed I have always been very critical of judges handing down long jail sentences to petty thieves as soon as they are arraigned before them, while dithering on hearing, let alone, ruling on, and passing, judgment on serious cases involving big official crooks who embezzle millions of Ghana Cedis, or US dollars and state assets, when they are brought before them. I see their heavy sentences handed down as unjust; unreflective of the lesser crimes so committed by the petty thieves stealing goats, sheep, fowls and farm produce as against the bigger political official embezzlers who are practically left off the hook through never ending deferments that delay their cases going to trial. Anyway, a recent case has alerted me to, or given me some clues to, why, the judges hand down such unreasonably heavy prison sentences to most of the so-called petty thieves. As recent as a week ago, a certain young man in Ejura, a mason by profession, was arrested by the Ejura police. He had stolen somebodys four bags of beans. A bag of beans as stated here is about fifty kilos or more. When he was arrested, he told the police he had given them to a certain woman called Adura or something like that. The police escorted him to show them who the Adura is. The thief led them to a house. When he reached there, he said he was looking for Madam Adura. The woman they met, the house owner of course, said, there is no one in the house by that name but she is called Adama. The man then said, yes, you are the one I mean. The police asked the woman to accompany them to the police station since as from that very moment, she was under police arrest for being an accomplice to the theft so committed by the man. The woman said she does not know the boy and has not committed any crime so she was not going with them as ordered by the police. An argument ensued. She was advised by the tenants in the house to do as instructed by the police to avoid complicating her case, whatever it is. This woman is known for suffering from serious health issues. She suffers from serious hypertension, diabetes and was still recuperating from a mild stroke she had suffered not long ago. At the police station, the young thief stated that he had taken the four bags of beans he stole to the woman, Madam Adama. The police asked where did he give those bags to the woman? He said he had taken them to her at her market stall. Did you give them directly to her, the police CID asked? He said no, but had left them at her stall. The police CID continued, thus: Police: Did you meet anyone at the stall? Thief: Yes. There were people sitting by. Police: Can you remember them if you see any? Thief: No, I did not observe their faces properly. Police: How did you convey the four bags to her stall? Thief: I used aboboyaa (types of small motor bikes converted into three/four wheel carriers used for taxi in Ghana) Police: Can you recognise for identification the aboboyaa you used? Thief: No, I did not pay proper attention to its features and the rider. Police CID: Take me to show where you left the bags for Madam Adama. Thief: Takes him to where the womans burnt out stall was. Then, the police CID turned to ask Madam Adama questions: CID: Do you have a stall in the market? Adama: I had one but it got burnt two years ago, along with that part of the Ejura market that burnt. I have since not gone back there but have another small place elsewhere that I sell items. CID: Summons the womans daughter to take him to where her mum currently sells things. Daughter: Takes him to show the location. CID: Comes back to the police station, then asks Madam Adama to take him to show where she currently sells her goods. Adama: Escorts the CID to where she does her petty trading; same spot as her daughter took the CID Two other police officers at the station asked the CID to let the poor woman go since they could see clearly that the thief was telling absolute lies. The CID was furious at his colleagues and shouted, You cant tell me what to do. You are not those going to tell me how to do my job The CID asked the womans daughter to find someone to come and bail her since she would be charged to court. A tenant of Madam Adama came to bail her. When the case finally went to court on Friday, 10 June 2022, the thief admitted before the judge that he did not take the beans to Madam Adama but someone else. Again, he did not know Madam Adam but the person she took the beans to asked him to mention Madam Adama were he caught, but which name he initially got wrong and rather said Adura. The person further advised him to take the police to Madam Adamas house if anything happened. The prosecuting CID and the magistrate asked to know who the real accomplice is. The thief refused to mention her name. Insisted as they did, he refused to mention who the person is. Earlier at the police station and before his arraignment, the police are said to have beaten him up mercilessly in attempts to get him mention the very person he had taken the beans to, who also advised him to mention Madam Adama, a completely innocent person as the one to whom he had taken the beans. Again, during his interrogation at the police station, he said, Madam Adama borrowed him Six hundred Cedis (Ghc600.00) about three years ago to cultivate his beans farm upon the agreement that he sells the beans to him once harvested. However, he did not sell the beans to her. She has since been asking him for her money back. He said he had paid her three hundred Cedis (Ghc300) about a year ago and decided to take the four bags of beans to her when he stole them from someone, to clear the remaining debt of Ghc300.00 he owes her. Madam Adama stated that she does not know the man; had never borrowed him any money and does not even sell beans and has never sold beans. After all the many lies, the thief finally admitted he does not know Madam Adama and that all that he had said about her involvement in the crime is a total lie. The prosecutor and the judge asked to know who the person he took the beans to, who also advised him to implicate Madam Adama, is. Tried as they did, he refused to mention who she is. Subsequently, the judged sentenced him to six years prison term. This is a man who had only returned from a two-year jail term about a month ago, having stolen a fowl where again, he wrongly implicated a certain innocent person in the crime same as he was doing to Madam Adama. Madam Adama, a vulnerable woman of over seventy years, could have died from shock had her children and friends not encouraged her by assuring her that the case against her will be thrown out when it goes to court, and indeed, it happened. To be a persistent petty thief with the penchant for incriminating innocent people in your crime may surely infuriate prosecutors and judges to hand down heavy jail sentences to you as a deterrence to others. Finally, he pleaded with the judge to reduce his sentence to two years as he has a wife and three young children without anyone to care for them in his absence but his request fell on deaf ears. Rockson Adofo Sunday, 12 June 2022 The head of the global Catholic Church and the sovereign of Vatican City, Pope Francis, has called for a collective effort to ensure that the abuses that are being meted out on children are eliminated. In a post on his Twitter page on Sunday, June 12, 2022, which happens to be the World Day Against Child Labor, Pope Francis stated that our collective effort will not only eliminate the plague of children who are being forced into hard labor but will also go a long way to guarantee the fundamental human rights of every child. Today is the World Day against Child Labour. Let us all work to eliminate this scourge so that no child is deprived of his or her fundamental rights and forced or coerced to work. His post reads. Child labor is defined as the exploitation of children below 15 years through any form of work that robs them of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially, and morally damaging. In Ghana examples of child labor includes Commercial sexual exploitation, illegal activities such as drug production and trafficking, as well as children in farming, especially in our farming communities. The World Day Against Child Labor is an International Labor Organization-sanctioned holiday that was first observed in 2002 with the goal of raising awareness and activism to prevent child labor. It is commemorated every year on June 12th. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 The Congress' two Chief Ministers, Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan and Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh, will be part of the party's protest on Monday against the Enforcement Directorate, following its summons to party leader Rahul Gandhi. Before leaving for the national capital, Baghel said: "All of us from the AICC will go with Rahul Gandhi... the government is misusing the ED, the CBI, and the IT Department." The Congress has called a show of strength on Monday and Delhi Congress has asked its workers to reach the party head office to protest against the ED. The party MPs will also accompany former party president Gandhi to the ED office. The Congress on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Centre, alleging that the ED is being used to cover the failures of the government. "When the caretaker of the country failed in his duty to protect the integrity of our borders, it sent in the ED to cover its failures. But we will not allow the security of our country to be at risk. "India is raising its voice against the hate instigated by the BJP. Now the ED has come in to silence this voice. But our voice against hate cannot be quelled. The fight goes on," the party said. "When the truth begins to come out, so does the ED. But the truth can't stay hidden for long, because we will always fight for it." In another sad news, gunmen entered a Roman Catholic Church in the Owo State of Nigeria and rained gunshots on the Sunday worshippers killing and injuring many people. This news comes on the heels of the release of the Catholic priest with a huge ransom to his captors. What in the world is going on with each passing day being awashed with such sodded news of human murder and cruelty? What must we do as believers in the face of such hostility without provocation on our part? Should we pay them in their own coin? How can we reason through such matters from the Scriptures to stay faithful to God in our earthly sojourn? Let's explore what the Bible says: #1. Evil Abounds In The Human Race As far as we are on this side of eternity, evil will never cease. The effects of sin will be with us today and tomorrow. In fact, the Bible predicted that evil would grow worse and worse (2 Timothy 3:13). Things will not improve but worsen. Since the dawn of human history, cruel acts of men have been with us. History has it that King Nero of the New Testament times, orchestrated a grand plan to burn part of Rome so that he could blame Christians, imprison, and kill them. Another popular case was when Adolf Hitler killed many of the Jews in the genocide. There are many more we can cite as attempts to wipe out Christians by evil men being controlled by Satan. We must not be ignorant of his devices throughout history. Christ said he will build His church and the gates of hades will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). #2. Death Is Inevitable Part Of Our Life The second point worth noting is that death is part and parcel of our human nature. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3:2 that there is time for everything. There is time to be born and there is time to die. But guess what, if all will one day die, the major question is: in what condition will you die? It is appointed unto man to die and after death judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Will you die in your sin, or you will repent and come to saving faith? When the tower in Siloam fell on some 18 people and killed them, some people came to ask Jesus His take on the incident. Jesus didn't mince words in replying to them that it didn't matter how they died but what matters is if they repented or not. (Luke 13:1-5) #3. Persecution Does Not Kill The Faith If there is anything synonymous with the Christian faith it is persecution. Just as our Master Jesus faced it, we shall equally battle with it until He comes to end all suffering in the New Jerusalem (Revelations 21:4). In fact, Jesus promised His disciples that in this life, they will face persecution (John 16:33). James said that the testing of our faith produces perseverance (James 1:2-3). In Acts 8:4, when the believers were being persecuted, they spread abroad and wherever they were, they shared the gospel and lived like Christ. The Apostle Paul says that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). Kingsley Opuwari Manuel has said that "Persecution for Christians is not a possibility, it's a promise, it's not a maybe, it's a surety! Following Jesus can mean finding the trouble you've been looking for!" Persecution is part of our life. #4. We Must Not Fight Back In Like Manner I am sure in a time like this, especially in Nigeria, some experts or even Christians will recommend Christians should carry guns on them to protect themselves. Should that be our response to persecution and killings? Should we locate the assailants and pin them down until they die as well? Well, what does the Bible say about this? Jesus said in Matthew 5 that when we are persecuted, we should rejoice and be glad for great is our reward in heaven. You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:43-45 NKJV) We are more like Christ when we respond with love to those who persecute us with hate and killings. #5. We Must Live And Preach The Gospel The last item on my list is that we must keep preaching the gospel in season and out of season. In Acts, when the disciples were scattered due to persecution, they preached the gospel of Christ wherever they found themselves. At another time after they were flogged by the religious leaders for preaching the gospel, they went to their own and prayed together for courage to continue the work (Acts 4:23-31). Think about this: if we decide to fight back, will it change them? If we hate them, we are behaving like pagans. The only Christ like option we have is to pray for them and ask for forgiveness for them. The Christian perspective on such matters must be biblical and Christ-like. It is in times of turbulence that our true godly nature is exhibited. The late evangelist and author Billy Graham said that "No Christian has the right to go around wringing his hands, wondering what we are to do in the face of persecution, confusion, wars, and rumors of wars, we are to comfort one another with the knowledge that Jesus Christ is coming back in triumph, glory, and majesty." May the Lord comfort those affected and change the heart of the perpetrators. Eric Otchere www.erikotchere.wordpress.com [email protected] 0242355152 A certain retired Regional Police Commander in Kumasi has been behaving very irresponsibly in what is clearly excessive bullying towards his next house UK-based Ghanaian burger. He thinks by his immense wealth, acquisition of many properties, huge mansions only to be rivalled by the contents of the will by the late Sir John, if the will is credible at all, he can walk into his neighbours house to carry out the destruction of his property with impunity. He is such a heartless piece of shit! He doesnt want his fence wall to be broken but does expect the entire house of the burger and an adjacent one belonging to his once junior police driver, to be knocked down by his wicked actions. Following the previous publication on this Regional Police Commander who has directed the entire waste water and rainwater from his massive mansions to be discharged openly onto the grounds of the house of the burger, the burger on advice and permission by the boss of the Environmental Protection Department of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) erected an ironclad concrete pillar to block the waste water. This policeman walked into the burgers compound with his team of lawless scumbags to pull down the pillar, rained insults on the person of the burger in his absence and threatened to cause the arrest of the person looking after the burgers house. To prove him stupid and that bullying can go only to a certain extent but not on for ever, the burger notified the KMA and his nephew in Ghana about the incident. The next day, they went to the policemans house. The KMA boss asked him what right he has to destroy the pillar? He answered, I thought he, the burger, had taken the law into his hands to construct the pillar to block the water which action had the potential to cause the collapse of my wall hence I also decided to take the law into my hands to pull it down. The KMA boss said, I gave the burger the permission to put up the pillar after the expiry of the deadline given to you to find an alternative means to evacuate the waste water from your house without it being discharged openly onto his compound. You had not conformed to the date given to you He then said, I am sorry. I never knew you instructed him to do it. I thought he had done so on his own accord that was why I also decided to destroy it. The KMA boss said, you are or were a Regional Police Commander hence knows the law inside out. Why should you take the law into your own hands to destroy it even if the burger had constructed the pillar on his own will? Why didnt you come to the KMA to report it to us when you discovered it but to infringe the law? This case will go to court When it was announced to him that the case will go to court, he started pleading that the court case must be dropped as he is ready to pay for the damages caused, and further abide by the KMAs suggested means to have the waste water from his house safely discharged without causing erosion or destruction to anyones property. Is he scared that his immense wealth could become a matter for investigation; how he acquired such large land and constructed all those massive mansions and hotels on it? I dont know. However, there is an Akan proverb that states, The key to a specific problem, can unlock the doors of other problem I am in a hurry to attend to other urgent duties so I shall end here to update you on the issue later on. But before then, I shall advise that you dont take the laws into your own hands no matter how super rich and a wicked bully you are, or else, you will live to regret one day. Who cares if you are rich man or woman? Wise up and stop fooling about in Ghana when you are blessed with wealth, or else, you will live to regret one day. Dont underrate the intelligence of a burger who is fearless, learned and knows his rights and how to fight for his rights. If you do, he will bite you as the snake does. A snake bite is but deadly! Rockson Adofo Sunday, 12 June 2022 Mr Samuel Kofi Dzamesi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Bui Power Authority (BPA), managers of the Bui Power Generating Station (BGS) has called for concerted and decisive efforts toward building climate-resilient society to mitigate the impact of climate change in the country. He said the water sector in Ghana was one of the major areas that were and would be impacted by climatic change, hence the need to build climate-resilient society, saying policymakers, planners and managers could no longer rely on the past climatic conditions. Mr Dzamesi made the call in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Maxwell Wumbilla Salifu, the Director, of Estates of the BPA at a tree planting exercise to mark the Green Ghana project held at Bui in the Banda District of the Bono Region. The Authority is planting about 20,000 tree species including teak, acacia, mahogany and Cedrela and other economic trees such as mango, guava, citrus and coconuts around the 400 megawatts dam's enclave and its resettlement communities. Mr Dzamesi explained the BPA as renewable energy leaders in the Sub-region was conscious of the impact climate change played on hydropower generation and therefore, developed and is implementing a Forest Resource Enhancement Program (FREP) around the Bui and the Tsatsadu Generating Stations to ameliorate the threats. He said energy remained an important ingredient that supported all facets of life in the world today with emphasis on cleaner and renewable sources due to the growing threats of climate change and global warming. "This is in line with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in which goal 7 advocates for universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services whiles goal 13 advises us on the need to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts", he said. Throwing more light on the FREP, Mr Chrisentus Kuunifaa, Deputy Director, Occupational Health, Safety and Environment, said the formation of the Bui Reservoir created a lake, covering up to 444 km2 of landmass at its full supply level of 183 meters above sea level (masl). He said most of these land areas were gallery forest and savannah woodlots, saying the formation of the Reservoir had therefore contributed to the depletion of forest resources in some areas. "Furthermore, experience after the creation of the Volta Lake in 1964, showed that, anthropogenic factors such as adoption of inappropriate farming methods, bush burning, illegal logging, cattle grazing, fish smoking and sand winning increased rapidly and considerably within the Volta Basin". Thus, these inimical activities caused rapid forest depletion and the tendencies of accelerated soil erosion, siltation and sedimentation, with a resultant adverse impact on climatic conditions within the Basin. Mindful of these consequences, Mr Kuunifaa said BPA FREP which was a flagship program designed to promote reforestation activities and the conservation of the natural forest within the Bui Generating Station region of influence and other BPA Operational areas. "Since climate change is imminent and being exacerbated by land degradation from anthropogenetic activities, the FREP concept was mooted and rolled out in year 2012 to offset and mitigate these impacts arising. The FREP is one of the BPAs primarily climate change mitigation tools being implemented on the Acquired Land within the Black Volta Basin and the Tsatsadu GS environs now and it is involved in two main elements - reforestation and afforestation activities as well as the conservation of gallery forests and savannah woodlots", he added. He said the FREP initiative was encouraging massive tree planting throughout the Black Volta Basin and other BPA operational areas, thus enhancing the hydrological cycle within catchment area to increase precipitation, protecting the lakeshores against siltation, sedimentation and other inimical activities that had the tendency to eutrophication, nitrogen and phosphates loading (to ensure sustainable power generation from the BGS). Mr Kuunifaa said the initiative commenced in 2012 on a pilot scheme and had since planted about 172 hectares of plantation around the Bui Dam enclave. 12.06.2022 LISTEN You sometimes visit some institutions right here in Ghana and you are amazed at the level of development that has been able to be achieved. You cant help but ask yourself, Is this also in this same Ghana!? That is the power of great leadership. It metamorphoses the ordinary into extraordinary. Great leadership will change a lot in Africa. The Ghanaian can manage his own affairs. It is possible to make this nation a place of greener pastures that others will die to come to. It all begins with the crop of leadership we will raise to make this fairy tale a reality. Growing up, every young Ghanaian is somewhat made to glorify corruption. The first shock they encounter is their BECE (Basic Education Certificate Exam). It leaks. Some will see the questions for the first time in the exam hall when others had already seen the answers in their homes. Though they worked hard, some of the former will fail. The first impression it sends to this young victim is that it doesnt pay to be honest in this country. All through the milestones of a Ghanaian, they encounter several reasons why they should not be honest if given the chance. Somewhat, they soon convert from lets build Ghana to lets steal from Ghana if we have the chance to. You see, the ugly future of Ghana and Africa as a whole is not because of its current corrupt leadership. It is because of the more corrupt followers waiting to take over. The vicious cycle of corruption is because of an environment that has raised people who have become apostles of corruption without even knowing. Great leadership begins with a great mindset. The state of corruption today should not only be blamed on the politician. Citizens must equally take the blame. How we think as a people has somewhat pushed those who want to lead us to play a game of lies with us. If we can purge our toxic mindsets, a lot of things will fall in place. 1. If you are in a high position, recruit your family members! I have seen people get chastised by others for not helping anyone when they were in power. It has almost become a Ghanaian thing to appoint your family members to fill certain positions when you are in power. Today, we have seen the consequences of recruiting family and friends into the Ghana Police Service and other service agencies. Ill-qualified people and people with their own evil agenda have been able to legalize their wrongs with their uniforms. It has almost become a norm that every government brings in its family and friends during its tenure. It is an irony how we cry foul when we see other politicians rope in their families yet when our family members become politicians and they refuse to recruit us, we call them demons. Courtesy people in power recruiting their family members into the police service, for instance, the lives of citizens keep being endangered by the same people who are being paid to protect them. after all, we have recruited square pegs to fill round holes. We must change our mindset and the expectations we have of others. Corruption is evil whether it favors us or not. 2. A politician should pay me before I vote for them! When people spend so much on voters before election, you should be concerned where all that money is coming from. A politician is not Santa Claus. If you take a politicians money to vote for them, dont think you have outsmarted them. They will take back everything they gave in a thousand fold when they finally get into power. The costlier we make it for people to assume power, the more corrupt they become. As human as they are, they will devise their own schemes to reap what you took from them. The more expensive we make power, the more it becomes a reserve of the corrupt. They dont mind spending everything because it has become their investment. When they assume power, they will harvest whatever they sowed. When people buy your votes, they have bought your future. They may have given you a pittance but in return, they will steal that opportunity that could have given you and your children good roads or a better education. No amount of money any politician will give you is enough for you to vote for them. You dont deserve any politicians money before you vote for them. If they are giving you money in return for your vote, politics is only a business to them not public service. 3. I am entitled to a politicians money! It is sad how many citizens expect politicians to have so much spare cash to share with them. To many, a good politician is one who is generous. They run to them for money for hospital. Every day, they are on their necks to remit them to pay for one expense or the other. They invite such people to grace their occasions and expect them to dole out thousands of cedis when leaving. Of a truth, our expectations have somewhat molded corrupt leaders. Instead of helping them to set up systems that will make everybody comfortable, we have succeeded in making our personal needs their responsibility. In a bid to meet these needs, they run to the coffers the same money that is supposed to solve our collective needs. Your member of parliament (MP) is not responsible for your hospital bills. They are not responsible for daily upkeep. If they are generous enough to take such up, consider it a privilege. Dont burden them with needs that will burden them with the need to steal to keep up appearances! 4. Dont leave power poor! You will be laughed at if you serve in a high ranking position in government and leave the same as you were before you had that position. Society will mock at you for being foolish enough to not have served yourself while serving the government. We are a society that mocks honesty yet wails at the consequences of dishonesty. We must raise our generation to appreciate the essence of contentment. We must make them understand that public service is not a synonym of public stealing. The day we will come to the understanding that people dont need all the pomp and pageantry to be leaders is the day we will be on our way to that better Ghana dream we have been fantasizing about. Admittedly, you can leave power poor. Politics is not a place to enrich yourself and your family. It is a place to serve. Get that before you get in! 5. Vote for your party, not people who have good intentions! Partisan politics is the cause of many of our woes as a people. Aside the fact that it leaves our front divided, it forces good people out of the politics ring because they cant fight for long. For example, currently, our nation is a two-party state. This means if a third force which has learnt to right all the wrongs of these two parties emerges, they cant stay around for long. Soon, they may have to join the bandwagon. We must attain that political maturity that endorses people who genuinely want to serve this nation even if they dont belong where we do. There may be genuine politicians out there who have an interest in making this nation great again. However, until we look beyond partisan politics, we will never find them and we will continue to languish in pain year after year. We all have a role to play in cleaning the rot that has plunged this nation. There are great leaders who have transformed little opportunities that were entrusted in their care. They may not belong to the party we sympathize with. Are we willing to stick our necks out for them despite our differences? The writer is a playwright and Chief Scribe of Scribe Communications, an Accra-based writing company (www.scribecommltd.com). A Delhi court on Friday sent 30 All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) party activists to 3-day judicial custody on various charges, including rioting, during a protest against suspended Bharatiya Janata Party leaders who had made controversial remarks against Prophet Mohammed. The Patiala House court in the city was dealing with the matter, in which an FIR was lodged against the protesters who were arrested under sections 147 (Punishment for rioting), 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 186 (Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 332 (Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. Several members of the AIMIM had gathered outside the Parliament Street police station to register their protest against suspended/sacked BJP leaders -- Nupur Sharma and Naveen K. Jindal -- over their derogatory comments against Prophet Mohammed. The protesters demanded the immediate arrest of the abovementioned BJP leaders. But as they raised slogans outside the Parliament Street police station, the police detained 33 of the protesters and took them to the Mandir Marg police station. An FIR was also lodged against AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and several others for hate remarks against the backdrop of suspended BJP leaders' comments. "We have lodged the FIR against those who were spreading messages of hate, inciting various groups, and creating situations which are detrimental to the maintenance of public tranquility. One case has been registered against Nupur Sharma and another one has been registered against multiple social media entities based on the analysis. Notices will be sent to the social media intermediaries for the details," Delhi Police PRO Suman Nalwa had said on Thursday. Who are the overwhelming casualties of the countrys economic miracle? No surprises here: the Dalits and Adivasis make up the majority of the millions who have been displaced by mines, dams and major infrastructure projects. by Michael Cooke The lineaments of modern caste Times change, the modes and relations of production change, chieftains become kings, kings become emperors, empires come and go. The vast wooded Indo-Gangetic plain is colonised for agriculture and the original inhabitants of these regions are banished and are either demonised or brushed out of history. The surpluses accruing from this vast colonisation supported great civilisations, like the Maurya and Gupta empires. The Mauryas and Guptas presided over unprecedented artistic, religious and cultural innovation. By 100 BCE caste still existed but it had different configurations. People and cultures intermingled: varna became less important and jati (birth) and endogamy (i.e., marrying within a persons clan/caste/group) became central in the rituals and daily practices of society. A Dalit woman carrying water in Orissa, India. Mikkel Ostergaard/Panops. Photo Couretsy:aeon.co In the Manusmriti, also known as the Manava-Dharamasastra (Laws of Manu), we find set out the rules and caste hierarchy of what the elite of the day saw as the basis of the society they ruled. It is believed to be the first ancient legal text and constitution among the many Dharmasastras of Hinduism. It was written in Sanskrit and can be dated to around 200 BCE to 300 BCE. It is written as a discourse delivered by Manu on dharma. It deals with duties, rights, laws, conduct and virtues, amongst other topics. The fame and influence of the text spread outside India, long before the arrival of Islam and western imperialists. The text influenced Buddhist kingdoms in Burma and Thailand and Hindu kingdoms in Cambodia and Indonesia. Its influence was also felt in Lanka. According to the text, caste was central from the very beginnings of life on earth. The universe was in a deep sleep and the One who is beyond the range of senses brought forth the waters; he was reborn himself as Brahma the Grandfather of all worlds. To fill the land, he created the Brahmin, the highest caste from his mouth, the Kshatriya from his arms, the Vaishya from his thighs and from his feet the Shudra, the lowest of the four varnas. The invisible ones were deemed so low that they were beneath the feet even of the Shudras. Wilkerson, in her study of racial prejudice in the United States, uses the Hindu concept of caste to explain the persistence of racism in the United States. Wilkerson argues that caste is more than rank, it is a state of mind that holds everyone captive; the dominant imprisoned in the illusion of their own entitlement; the subordinate trapped in the purgatory of someone elses definition of who they are, and what they should be. A crippling psychosis which is as much ideological, as economic. Many practicing liberal and urbane Hindus, like Dr Sashi Tharoor, largely ignore this issue The only mention of caste in his book on Hinduism is to illuminate its gradual eradication. To drive home his point, Tharoor refers to a medieval era reformer of caste, Basavanna (1131-1167 BCE), a Brahmin who rejected caste; he also mentions the rejection of caste (in theory) by the Sikh religion. What Tharoor fails to mention is that the later devotees of Basavanna readopted caste positions, with their attendant privileges and inequities. Caste has had its critics over the centuries. Professor Basham points out that religious thinkers and leaders of the late middle-ages such as Basava, Ramanand and Kabir tried to abolish caste practices amongst their devotees. But over time the pull of caste was too strong and the sects they founded took on the characteristics of new castes and in some cases divided into castes themselves. This phenomenon can be observed also amongst the Christians and Muslims in the subcontinent, where unlike their counterparts around the globe developed strong caste biases. Even the devotees of Buddha, who was a strong critic of caste, succumbed. Caste in Modern India Why caste persists is complicated, but a couple of things stand out: economic disparity and religious ideology and cultural practices tied to dharma in Hinduism. Even before the era of British imperialism the subcontinent had been a land of economic extremes. Income and social disparities were huge even under the rule of the Guptas, as visitors remarked. When the Mughal Empire had the largest Gross Domestic Product on the earth, opulence and squalor co-existed. In modern India, which is now an economic colossus, economic inequality is stark. Capitalism and caste intertwine in interesting ways and have accentuated the caste divide, as India transforms itself into an economic powerhouse. Many of Indias socio-economic indicators are on par with some of the poorest African countries. Welfare provision by the state is virtually non-existent, and when it is provided is inadequate. Here caste plays a vital role. It is a social security net. It can be a form of welfare, to help less well-off members of ones clan, family and caste. Notwithstanding this, Basham, trusting in a secular, educated, modern India, was confident that it would in time die out. This did not happen. This is because the ideological and cultural construct of caste intertwined with the economic. The Manusmriti makes clear that dharma is a central ideological and religious construct in the concept of caste. Dharma is the eternal and inherent nature of reality and is regarded in Hinduism as a key construct. As Professor Basham points out, dharma is a general norm of conduct which all must follow equally. There is a dharma that is appropriate to each stage in the life of an individual. The dharma of men of high birth is not the same as that of people lower down the scale. Basham argues that a thoroughgoing recognition that men are not all the same, and there is a hierarchy of classes, each with its separate duties and distinctive way of life, is one of the most striking features of ancient Indian sociology. Complicating this is metempsychosis - the transmigration at death of the soul of a human being or animal into a new body of the same or a different species, depending on how well or badly an individual has lived his or her life -karma. Fused with this is the idea of status, of being pure or polluted. All this is dependent on a past life and the laws of Manu. This is a powerful hegemonic construct that has rarely been questioned or debated within Hinduism, except by a few reformers from higher castes and much more insistently in the modern era by those who bear the brunt of its material consequences the Dalits and tribal people. For all Indias enviable growth rates, 65 per cent of the population live in the countryside, in millions of villages. These villages, regardless of their religious persuasion, are strictly demarcated by caste and complex rules of deference. Each caste has its special role and place to live. Dalits are usually not allowed to live in the village environs. In Indian villages and towns everybody knows or thinks they know the family and caste lineages of others. This is coupled with an economic inequality based on caste and manifested in casual violence, exploitation and assault, especially on women. It is governed by the village elders and the local Panchayats (local governing councils), comprised of men from higher castes who adjudicate rules of behaviour regarding the sharing of food, access to water, rules of social distancing, where people can live, the type of work they can do and who can marry who. It is enforced by the local police, who share the caste positions and assumptions of the governing councils. Sometimes caste issues bubble out of the villages and the suburbs and slum of urban areas and come to the nations attention. In the late 1970s, water rights between castes flared up in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (United Provinces) and Bihar. Caste becomes glaring apparent during elections as many people do not cast their individual vote but their caste vote; this is euphemistically known as vote banks. This has been evident since mass elections have been the norm and accelerated during the 1950s in Nehrus India. At the height of the countrys neo-liberal experiment there was a corresponding rise in the self- consciousness of Dalits, accompanied by an escalation of caste conflict. Dalits began to see themselves as exploited wage workers rather than servants to the landlord. The root of the conflict was in the relations of production, but was expressed in caste terms. The Dalits bore the brunt of the violence from higher castes who were outraged that they were demanding equal rights in terms of wages, working conditions, access to water, and education. The province of Tamil Nadu serves as a bellwether on the issue of inter-caste conflict, as reflected in the conflict between the middle-level landowning caste the Thevars and the Dalits during the 1990s. The Thevars were aggrieved that the Dalits (who had been reduced to scavenging) had taken advantage of the quota system to join the coveted Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Further inflaming the situation, the Dalits had refused to be served tea in a separate area. They also asked for a living wage. These clashes were bloody and at least a 100 people lost their lives. At the same time there was conflict in the North between Dalits and the Sikh jats. The latter resented the assertiveness of the labouring and artisanal classes, who were asking for better conditions and to be treated as human beings. In poorer states like Bihar, where one found the grossest forms of feudalism and very extensive poverty, caste violence erupted and mutated into a protracted guerrilla war, with the Dalits and scheduled tribes on one side and their caste overlords on the other, helped by their allies in parliament, business and the armed forces. This intermittent and deadly warfare has been going on since the late 1960s (even earlier in certain areas). The exploitation of the lower castes has intensified during the turbo-charged capitalism of the new India. The Mandal Commission on affirmative action for lower castes recommended an increase in quotas which favoured the lower castes. This resulted in a storm of anger and violence from the middle and upper castes, who felt they were being unfairly denied jobs and university places. The protest flew in the face of the evidence. A subsequent court case upheld the findings of the Commission. The saga also illuminated the way caste infects even the universities. Dalits, even if they win a university scholarship, find that their rights to accommodation, books, bursaries, stationery and lectures are blocked by academics and the bureaucracy, who are from the higher castes. Harassment and in some cases violence ensues. A number of Dalit students have committed suicide as a result. The figures speak for themselves: the judiciary, academia and media are overwhelmingly run by the higher castes, with a leavening of the middle castes. The owners of capital are largely Vaisyas. It is virtually impossible for a lower caste person to breach the wall of privilege even with a degree and the requisite skills. Whilst there have been notable Dalits who have risen to top jobs in business, politics and finance, as exemplified by the President of the Republic, the vast majority have not broken through. The link between employment and caste status holds firm. Evidence of Caste discrimination Over 1700 years after the laws of Manu were written it is disheartening to see the relationship between caste and profession. Dalit presence in the top echelons of the government bureaucracy is almost non-existent. In 2015 there were none at the cabinet secretary level. Seven of the top 10 billionaires are from the Vaishyas; other billionaires include Brahmins, Parsis, Bohras and Khattris (a mercantile caste). The Dalits are absent. What about the intellectual class? 47 per cent of all Supreme Court judges between 1950 and 2000 were Brahmin. In Tamil Nadu four of the 38 High Court judges are Dalits. In Marxist-run Kerala only one of the 25 High Court judges is a Dalit. Even in progressive universities the figures are depressing. The current figures are 3.29 per cent Dalits and 1.44 per cent Adivasi, though the quota calls for 15 per cent. Given their small numbers compared to the lower castes (4.3 per cent of the population are Brahmins and 25 per cent are Dalit), Brahmins make up a whopping 37.17 per cent of the Indian bureaucracy. They also dominate the media. A recent survey found around 90 percent of the decision makers in the English language print media and 79 per cent in the electronic media belonged to the upper castes, with 49 per cent of these being Brahmin. None were Dalits. The owners of these conglomerations are mainly Vaishyas: three of the most influential English-language dailies are owned by Vaishyas and one is a Brahmin. Who are the overwhelming casualties of the countrys economic miracle? No surprises here: the Dalits and Adivasis make up the majority of the millions who have been displaced by mines, dams and major infrastructure projects. They also make up the vast majority of the low-paid farm workers and the contract labourers who work in the urban construction industry. 70 per cent of Dalits are landless. In states like Punjab, Bihar, Haryana and Kerala the figure is 90 per cent. There is one occupation the Dalits are overrepresented. Almost 90 per cent of those designated as sweepers are Dalits the ones who clean the streets, who go down manholes and the service the overfilled and aging sewerage system, clean toilets and do other menial jobs in the public sector. In contrast, the Dalits are underrepresented when it comes to cleaning modern toilets in the gleaming shopping malls and the pristine toilets in the corporate sector. The caste system is at its most stark when it comes to cleaning traditional toilets. There are officially 1.3 million people, Dalits, mostly women, who earn their living by carrying baskets of human offal from traditional toilets that use no water. The Indian Railways is one of the biggest employers of human scavengers. Every day they pick up the offal of the 25 million passengers who use 172,000 open discharge toilets on the trains. Modernity and democracy have not eradicated caste. They have entrenched and modernised it. Caste prejudice is exported overseas, even amongst the elite graduates who have gained prestigious jobs in Silicon Valley. It seems that high-caste Hindus can now cross the dark water with ease without pollution, while retaining their privileges and prejudices. Conclusion Caste and its social and religious structures are omnipresent. Those who hide their low origins are conflicted and fearful. As Sujatha Gidla poignantly puts it: If you are educated like me, if you dont seem like a typical untouchable, then you have a choice. You can tell the truth and be ostracized, ridiculed and harassed even driven to suicide, as happens regularly in universities. Or like many light-skinned African Americans one can lie; and one survives the endless probing of family connections, then: If they believe your lie, then of course you cannot tell them your stories, your family stories. You cannot tell them about your life. It would reveal your caste, your caste is your life. The benign and righteous version of caste presented to us as early as the Mahabharata must be confronted and examined, freed from a privileged caste lens. Hindus must learn to be critical of the ideology of dharma, rebirth, endogamy and jati. This requires Hindus of goodwill to empathise with and ally themselves with their fellow brothers and sisters from castes lower than theirs. It also needs an analysis of an economic system currently unquestioned by the two leading parties and a willingness to envisage a fairer system which has social inclusion and equity at its core. Such is life Concluded References; Travelers wearing protective face masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease reclaim their luggage at the airport in Denver, Colorado, Nov. 24, 2020. Call to action on the occasion of the 124th Philippine Independence Day This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ST. LOUIS (AP) After a record-setting Midwestern rainstorm that damaged thousands of homes and businesses, Stefanie Johnsons farmhouse in Blandinsville, Illinois, didnt have safe drinking water for nearly two months. Flood water poured into her well, turning the water a muddy brown and forcing Johnson, her husband and their two young children to use store-bought supplies. Even after sediment cleared, testing found bacteria including E. coli, which can cause diarrhea. The family boiled water for drinking and cooking. The YMCA was a refuge for showers. I was pretty strict with the kids, said Johnson, who works with a private well protection program at the local health department. Id pour bottled water on their toothbrushes. Though estimates vary, roughly 53 million U.S. residents about 17% of the population rely on private wells, according to a study conducted in part by Environmental Protection Agency researchers. Most live in rural areas. But others are in subdivisions near fast-growing metro regions or otherwise beyond the reach of public water pipes. While many private wells provide safe water, the absence of regulation and treatment afforded by larger municipal systems may expose some users to health risks, from bacteria and viruses to chemicals and lead, studies have found. Risks are elevated after flooding or heavy rainfall, when animal and human feces, dirt, nutrients such as nitrogen and other contaminants can seep into wells. And experts say the threat is growing as the warming climate fuels more intense rainstorms and stronger and wetter hurricanes. Areas that hadn't been impacted are now. New areas are getting flooded, said Kelsey Pieper, a Northeastern University professor of environmental engineering. We know the environment is shifting and we're playing catch-up, trying to increase awareness. Pieper is among scientists conducting well testing and education programs in storm-prone areas. After Hurricane Harvey caused widespread flooding along the Texas coast in 2017, sampling of more than 8,800 wells in 44 counties found average E. coli levels nearly three times higher than normal, she said. Sampling of 108 wells in Mississippi following Hurricane Ida in 2021 produced a similar bump in E. coli readings. Other studies turned up higher levels in North Carolina after Hurricane Florence in 2018. The following year, above-average snowfall and a March storm unleashed flooding in Nebraska. Levees and dams were breached. Fremont, a city of more than 25,000, turned into an island when the nearby Platte and Elkhorn rivers overflowed. The municipal system continued to supply drinking water but some nearby private wells were damaged or contaminated. Julie Hindmarsh's farm was flooded for three days, and it took months to make the well water drinkable again. At times, the cleanup crew wore protective suits. They didnt know what was in that floodwater, she said. CONTAMINATION RISK Groundwater is often a cleaner source than surface supplies because soil can provide a protective buffer, said Heather Murphy, an epidemiologist at the University of Guelph in Canada. But she said that can give well owners a false sense of security, leading them to forgo testing, maintenance and treatment. There's a big misconception that it's underground, therefore it's safe, said Murphy, who estimates 1.3 million cases of acute gastrointestinal illness in the U.S. are caused annually by drinking untreated water from private wells. Old, poorly maintained wells are especially vulnerable to floodwaters entering through openings at the top. It just runs right in and its full of bacteria, said Steven Wilson, a well expert at the University of Illinois. It doesnt always take a flood or hurricane to pollute wells. Industrial contamination can reach them by seeping into groundwater. Around 1,000 residential wells in Michigans Kent County were tainted for decades with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in landfill sludge from footwear company Wolverine World Wide. The pollution, discovered in 2017, spurred lawsuits and a $69.5 million settlement with the state that extended city water lines to affected houses. We thought we were getting this pristine, straight-from-nature water and it would be much better for us, said Sandy Wynn-Stelt, who has lived across from one of the dump sites since the early 1990s. She said tests detected high levels of PFAS chemicals in her water and blood, leaving her fearful to drink or even brush her teeth with well water. In a suit later settled, she blamed the contamination for her husbands 2016 death from liver cancer. She was diagnosed with thyroid cancer four years later. LITTLE REGULATION FOR WELL OWNERS While many well owners dont have the option of hooking up to a public water system, others are happy with well water. They might favor the taste or want to avoid monthly bills and government regulation. What I hear from people is freedom, said Jesse Campbell, private well coordinator for the Midwest Assistance Program Inc., which addresses rural water needs. Private well owners are responsible for them. While public water systems must meet federal safety standards, those rules dont apply to wells that have fewer than 15 connections or serve fewer than 25 people. State and local standards usually involve only construction and design, although some states set tougher rules. New Jersey requires water quality testing before sales of property with private wells. Rhode Island requires testing when new wells are built and when property with a well is sold. But many states rely on public outreach and voluntary action to protect private well users. Theres an overall lack of education, Campbell said. He meets with well owners from Montana to Missouri, providing free inspections and advice. A lot of harm can be prevented if owners make sure the well's top keeps out debris and that the pump is turned off before a storm to keep out floodwaters. Experts recommend testing after a flood and decontaminating wells with chlorine if a problem is found. People arent regularly testing, said Riley Mulhern, an environmental engineer at the research group RTI International. Indianas health department offers testing for bacteria, lead, copper, fluoride and other contaminants. Some land-grant universities and private labs provide similar services. While many owners know how to maintain their wells, others ignore problems even if the water isnt sanitary. Water that tastes fine can still be contaminated. I wish I had a nickel for everyone who's walked into a workshop and said, Ive been drinking this water forever and it's fine,' said Jason Barrett, who directs a Mississippi State University program that educates well owners. It provides free testing. But where such assistance isn't available, costs can run to a few hundred dollars, according to experts. Some owners avoid testing because they are concerned it will reveal an expensive problem. Johnson, the Illinois resident whose well was fouled by the 2013 downpour that killed four people and caused $465 million in flood damage, paid about $3,500 for repairs and upgrades. Luckily, none of us became ill, she said. Even ordinary rainstorms can carry diseases into groundwater, said Mark Borchardt, a microbiologist formerly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A lot of times people say, Well, no one got sick,' Borchardt said. It's hard to see when people get sick unless it is a huge outbreak." Bea and Neil Jobe live in Primm Springs, Tennessee, an hours drive from Nashville. Several times a year, when there is heavy rain and a nearby creek floods, their well water turns dingy," Bea Jobe said. The discoloration disappears after a few days but Jobe takes precautions such as keeping bottled water available. I guess Im used to it, she said. ___ Flesher reported from Traverse City, Michigan. ___ On Twitter follow Phillis @mjphillis and Flesher @JohnFlesher ___ The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/environment Journal-Courier A 15-year-old boy arrested after police said he pointed a weapon at a person late Friday also has been charged in a May 28 shooting in which one person was injured. The youth, who was not identified because of his age, was arrested about 11:57 p.m. Friday. He was charged with aggravated assault after being accused of brandishing a handgun at someone in the 600 block of Jordan Street. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A school of thought says history is made by great men and women. Presidents and dictators, generals and visionary inventors those are the people who shape the course of human events. Yet there are others whom history seeks out, everyday people who unintentionally and unknowingly blunder into extraordinary events while going about their usual routine. (Think Forrest Gump, only without the funny way of talking.) Those people also reshape our times with their actions. But all too often, things turn out unhappily for them. This is the story of one such figure. There was no reason to suspect anything unusual when Frank Wills arrived in the world in Savannah, Georgia, in February 1948. Just another poor Black kid from the wrong side of the tracks whose story was sadly all-too-familiar: Parents separated when he was young; he dropped out before graduating from high school, a future filled with uncertainty. Frank bounced around for a while. He studied heavy machinery operations, got his GED, and worked on a Ford assembly line in Detroit. Chronic asthma forced him to quit the plant. He drifted down to Washington, D.C., worked menial jobs at a few hotels, then landed the gig fate had reserved just for him. Frank became a private security guard at the spiffy Watergate Office Building near the Potomac River. It was a hot location in the early 1970s; so choice, in fact, the Democratic National Committee had its headquarters on the entire sixth floor. Which was where Frank Wills happened to be in the early morning of June 17, 1972. The 24-year-old security guard, who worked the midnight-to-7 a.m. shift for a whopping $80 a week, spotted duct tape stretched over a door lock. He ripped off the tape, but when he returned, the tape had reappeared. Frank rushed to the lobby, called Washington police, and then led them on an office-by-office search. Five men were found inside the DNC headquarters. But they werent thieves. They werent there to take but to leave something. Specifically, they were planting bugs, electronic listening devices to eavesdrop on private phone calls. And something else was strange. The Washington Post reported police found ... almost $2,300 in cash (nearly $16,000 today), most of it in $100 bills with the serial numbers in sequence. White House press secretary Ron Ziegler dismissed the incident as a third-rate burglary. But investigative journalists at the Post started digging, traced the break-in to Nixons Committee to Re-elect the President (with its never-to-be-forgotten acronym CREEP), and things snowballed from there. The mounting scandal was shortened to the name of the place where it all started: Watergate. It ultimately ended with Nixons resignation in August 1974. Spotting that duct tape had set in motion a chain of events that concluded with a two-term president being driven from office. But what about the man whose vigilance had found it; what happened to him? Frank Wills savored his 15 minutes of fame. But the celebrity treatment took its toll. One news account said he left the security position because he wasnt given a raise after his historic discovery. A string of minimum-wage jobs followed, but constant interview requests from reporters made him miss work. He even had a cameo playing himself in the 1976 hit movie All the Presidents Men, which led to making the rounds on the TV talk-show circuit. Then the attention vanished as quickly as it had arrived. He eventually settled in North Augusta, South Carolina, so he could help his elderly mother after she suffered a stroke. The two barely made ends meet on her $450 monthly Social Security check. There were two arrests for shoplifting, with the second sending him behind bars for a year. When his mother died in 1993, Frank donated her body to science because there was no money for a burial. He scraped by as best he could: living quietly with cats, reading at the public library, and growing vegetables to eat. Every so often there would be a media interview, usually connected to a significant anniversary of the break-in. Frank told the same story and answered the same questions hed heard non-stop since the summer of 72. Everybody tells me Im some kind of hero. ... I did what I was hired to do. There was bitterness, too, as he continued, But still, I feel a lot of folk dont want to give me credit, that is, to move upward in my job. Frank made news one last time when he died of a brain tumor at age 52 in September 2000, alone and utterly forgotten except for his moment of history inside a darkened office building 50 years ago this month. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate After a record-setting Midwestern rainstorm that damaged thousands of homes and businesses, Stefanie Johnsons farmhouse in Blandinsville didnt have safe drinking water for nearly two months. Flood water poured into her well, turning the water a muddy brown and forcing Johnson, her husband and their two young children to use store-bought supplies. Even after sediment cleared, testing found bacteria including E. coli, which can cause diarrhea. The family boiled water for drinking and cooking. The YMCA was a refuge for showers. I was pretty strict with the kids, said Johnson, who works with a private well protection program at the local health department. Id pour bottled water on their toothbrushes. Though estimates vary, roughly 53 million U.S. residents about 17% of the population rely on private wells, according to a study conducted in part by Environmental Protection Agency researchers. Most live in rural areas. But others are in subdivisions near fast-growing metro regions or otherwise beyond the reach of public water pipes. While many private wells provide safe water, the absence of regulation and treatment afforded by larger municipal systems may expose some users to health risks, from bacteria and viruses to chemicals and lead, studies have found. Risks are elevated after flooding or heavy rainfall, when animal and human feces, dirt, nutrients such as nitrogen and other contaminants can seep into wells. And experts say the threat is growing as the warming climate fuels more intense rainstorms and stronger and wetter hurricanes. Areas that hadn't been impacted are now. New areas are getting flooded, said Kelsey Pieper, a Northeastern University professor of environmental engineering. We know the environment is shifting and we're playing catch-up, trying to increase awareness. Pieper is among scientists conducting well testing and education programs in storm-prone areas. After Hurricane Harvey caused widespread flooding along the Texas coast in 2017, sampling of more than 8,800 wells in 44 counties found average E. coli levels nearly three times higher than normal, she said. Sampling of 108 wells in Mississippi following Hurricane Ida in 2021 produced a similar bump in E. coli readings. Other studies turned up higher levels in North Carolina after Hurricane Florence in 2018. The following year, above-average snowfall and a March storm unleashed flooding in Nebraska. Levees and dams were breached. Fremont, a city of more than 25,000, turned into an island when the nearby Platte and Elkhorn rivers overflowed. The municipal system continued to supply drinking water but some nearby private wells were damaged or contaminated. Julie Hindmarsh's farm was flooded for three days, and it took months to make the well water drinkable again. At times, the cleanup crew wore protective suits. They didnt know what was in that floodwater, she said. Groundwater is often a cleaner source than surface supplies because soil can provide a protective buffer, said Heather Murphy, an epidemiologist at the University of Guelph in Canada. But she said that can give well owners a false sense of security, leading them to forgo testing, maintenance and treatment. There's a big misconception that it's underground, therefore it's safe, said Murphy, who estimates 1.3 million cases of acute gastrointestinal illness in the U.S. are caused annually by drinking untreated water from private wells. Old, poorly maintained wells are especially vulnerable to floodwaters entering through openings at the top. It just runs right in and its full of bacteria, said Steven Wilson, a well expert at the University of Illinois. It doesnt always take a flood or hurricane to pollute wells. Industrial contamination can reach them by seeping into groundwater. Around 1,000 residential wells in Michigans Kent County were tainted for decades with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in landfill sludge from footwear company Wolverine World Wide. The pollution, discovered in 2017, spurred lawsuits and a $69.5 million settlement with the state that extended city water lines to affected houses. We thought we were getting this pristine, straight-from-nature water and it would be much better for us, said Sandy Wynn-Stelt, who has lived across from one of the dump sites since the early 1990s. She said tests detected high levels of PFAS chemicals in her water and blood, leaving her fearful to drink or even brush her teeth with well water. In a suit later settled, she blamed the contamination for her husbands 2016 death from liver cancer. She was diagnosed with thyroid cancer four years later. While many well owners dont have the option of hooking up to a public water system, others are happy with well water. They might favor the taste or want to avoid monthly bills and government regulation. What I hear from people is freedom, said Jesse Campbell, private well coordinator for the Midwest Assistance Program Inc., which addresses rural water needs. Private well owners are responsible for them. While public water systems must meet federal safety standards, those rules dont apply to wells that have fewer than 15 connections or serve fewer than 25 people. State and local standards usually involve only construction and design, although some states set tougher rules. New Jersey requires water quality testing before sales of property with private wells. Rhode Island requires testing when new wells are built and when property with a well is sold. But many states rely on public outreach and voluntary action to protect private well users. Theres an overall lack of education, Campbell said. He meets with well owners from Montana to Missouri, providing free inspections and advice. A lot of harm can be prevented if owners make sure the well's top keeps out debris and that the pump is turned off before a storm to keep out floodwaters. Experts recommend testing after a flood and decontaminating wells with chlorine if a problem is found. People arent regularly testing, said Riley Mulhern, an environmental engineer at the research group RTI International. Indianas health department offers testing for bacteria, lead, copper, fluoride and other contaminants. Some land-grant universities and private labs provide similar services. While many owners know how to maintain their wells, others ignore problems even if the water isnt sanitary. Water that tastes fine can still be contaminated. I wish I had a nickel for everyone who's walked into a workshop and said, Ive been drinking this water forever and it's fine,' said Jason Barrett, who directs a Mississippi State University program that educates well owners. It provides free testing. But where such assistance isn't available, costs can run to a few hundred dollars, according to experts. Some owners avoid testing because they are concerned it will reveal an expensive problem. Johnson, the Illinois resident whose well was fouled by the 2013 downpour that killed four people and caused $465 million in flood damage, paid about $3,500 for repairs and upgrades. Luckily, none of us became ill, she said. Even ordinary rainstorms can carry diseases into groundwater, said Mark Borchardt, a microbiologist formerly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A lot of times people say, Well, no one got sick,' Borchardt said. It's hard to see when people get sick unless it is a huge outbreak." Bea and Neil Jobe live in Primm Springs, Tennessee, an hours drive from Nashville. Several times a year, when there is heavy rain and a nearby creek floods, their well water turns dingy," Bea Jobe said. The discoloration disappears after a few days but Jobe takes precautions such as keeping bottled water available. I guess Im used to it, she said. The purpose of the Council is to function as a tool to restrict an authoritative President. The presence of non-partisan members would contribute positively and independently to the decision-making process. by Mass L. Usuf This column focuses only on the Constitutional Council aspect of the proposed 21st amendment. More specifically, on its composition which is core to the entire exercise. The present constitution, when it was adopted in 1978, created a democratic dictator by concentrating power on the Executive President. In order to whittle down this centralization, the Seventeenth amendment to the constitution was enacted in 2001. This amendment, inter alia, established the all-important Constitutional Council to wrest away some of the absolute powers that vested with the President. I will not leave as the failure In doing so, the higher objective of depoliticising appointments to high and very important offices was considered fundamental. Thus, create an environment for those holding such positions to function independently free from coercion, fear and political interference. The consequences of which shall translate into a system of good governance, devoid of corruption, nepotism and arbitrariness. Most significantly, it would strengthen the rule of law and augment the independence of the Judiciary. The Police and public servants would be assured of fairness and justice in their official matters. Finally, the public and the country as a whole would reap the benefits of good governance. Warning! Window Dressing While acknowledging the other vital aspects of the 21st Amendment, the composition of the Council forms the quintessence of any system change and good governance. Therefore, the public must be cautious, judicious and prudent to ensure that a meaningful composition is enacted. It should not be allowed to be another deceptive exercise in window dressing. Our politicians from both sides of the aisle are notorious in fooling the masses. We turned our faces in the past, at the arbitrary use and abuse of power. Today, all are experiencing the consequences of our indifference and, also, seeing how the other people are suffering. The sum and substance of this forewarning is not to allow ourselves to be hoodwinked again. Thanks to the ongoing Aragalaya (struggle) which catalysed an otherwise unthinkable 21st amendment. To be quiet now and, to whimper and whine later would be a disgraceful submission by all of us, clearly demonstrating a lack of will, courage and self-respect in us. Wake up now and let us get it right this time at least for the future of our children. Why Composition Crucial? The areas that are crucial for the Council are (1) Composition (2) Appointment (3) Powers and authority and, (4) appointments to the Independent Commissions. These factors will determine the extent to which the Council will serve its purpose, namely, (a) maintain its own independence and that of the Commissions (b) strengthen Public Administration, the Judiciary and reinforce the rule of law (c) function as a robust system of checks and balances and, (d) ensure impartiality and credibility. The composition was deliberately diluted in the 18th, 19th and 20th amendments by appointing a majority of politicians. As desired, both the President and the government in power were therefore, able to manoeuvre the decision-making processes. In this context, the 18th and 20th amendments were the worst. It reduced the Parliamentary Council to a mere rubber-stamping authority (under the 18th and 20th amendments the Constitutional Council was renamed as Parliamentary Council). The bottom line was an ineffective and weakened Council and, by extension all the other independent commissions. This, also, partly contributed to an exponential rise in corruption leading the country to rot in bankruptcy. As per the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) compiled by Transparency International, Sri Lankas rank has dropped from 94th in 2020 to 102 in 2021. It is the perception that the so-called 21st amendment is engaged in that same exercise of deceptive political exigency. Are you going to be a mere bystander? Composition under 17, 18, 19 & 20 Under Seventeen: The Constitutional Council of the 2001 amendment comprised the Prime Minister, the Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition, One person appointed by the President, five persons nominated both by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and one person nominated by Parliament other than the parties to which the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition belongs and appointed by the President. [Article 41(A) (1), Seventeenth Amendment]. Important: Note that only three members of the Constitutional Council were Members of Parliament. All the others were persons of eminence and integrity who have distinguished themselves in public life and not members of any political party. [Article 41 (A) (4), Seventeenth Amendment]. Due to the low number of Members of Parliament, political interference to a large extent was kept at bay. Under Eighteen: The Eighteenth amendment was introduced in 2010 by the Mahinda Rajapakse government repealing the more democracy friendly Seventeenth. The Eighteenth was focused in further enhancing and concentrating power in an already powerful Executive President. Important: It abolished the seats for independent members and required the Parliamentary Council to consist of only Members of Parliament. [Article 41 (A), Eighteenth Amendment]. Naturally, many were the abuses which followed; the politicisation of public service, the Police, foreign service, nepotism, weakening of rule of law, the list continues and, even today, we are paying the price for our silence then. The manner in which it was rushed through as an urgent bill was itself questionable and a huge blow to constitutionalism. The Centre for Policy Alternatives reviewing the Supreme Court determination on the Eighteenth Amendment had this to say, There were several devices of temporal limitations that the 1978 Constitution commenced with, but as the preceding discussion has shown, are in the process of being gradually whittled down in the pursuit of partisan political advantage by governments and Presidents of the day. Regrettably, there is nothing in the determination to show that the Supreme Court the highest deliberative institution of the republic and the ultimate guardian of its constitution (against depredators that notoriously include elected governments) gave serious thought to these matters. (The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution: Substance and Process, Page 129.) The required 2/3rd majority was obtained via political horse-trading. Remember reading a Nigerian Columnist writing that there are more male prostitutes in the crooked field of politics than there are female harlots in the brothels across Nigeria. Are we are seeing a repetition of the same pattern for the 21st amendment too? Under Nineteen: The Council was again renamed as the Constitutional Council in the 2015 amendment. It consisted of the Prime Minister, the Speaker, Leader of the Opposition, an MP appointed by the President, five appointed jointly by the PM and the Leader of the Opposition (of which two are MPs), and one MP nominated by parties and independent groups in Parliament other than those represented by the other categories. [Article 41 (A) (4), Nineteenth Amendment]. Important: This amendment Bill re-established the independent seats by proposing seven non-members of Parliament. [Article 41 (A) (5), Nineteenth Amendment Bill]. Thus, giving prominence to the engagement of Civil Society in the move towards depoliticization of the appointing process and ensuring credible governance. However, cunningly, at the Committee stage of the Bill, the politicians reduced the civil society membership to three persons thereby, giving the majority in the Council to the politicians. It diluted the strength of persons of eminence and integrity in the Council. Not only that by limiting the non-members of Parliament, they deprived the Council of the benefit of independent and expertise contribution from the civil society. Under Twenty: Then came the 20th amendment in 2020 barely two months after President Gotabaya assuming office. The Council was again renamed as the Parliamentary Council. The composition was the Prime Minister, the Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition, a nominee of the Prime Minister, who shall be a Member of Parliament; and a nominee of the Leader of the Opposition, who shall be a Member of Parliament. Important: All the members of the Council were politicians. Not a single from among persons of eminence and integrity who have distinguished themselves in public life and not members of any political party. Moreover, even with only politicians in Council, the President shall only seek the observations of the Council. The President is not bound by the decision of the Council. A clear assault on the democratic process of checks and balances and good governance. The rejection of the 20th amendment by the people were manifested when 39 Petitions were filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Bill on various constitutional principles. The 21st Amendment Government proposal: This amendment, which is under discussion in the Cabinet and political circles, has the following with regards to the composition. 41A. (1) (a) the Prime Minister; (b) the Speaker; (c) the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament; (d) one Member of Parliament appointed by the President; (e) five persons appointed by the President, on the nomination of both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition of whom two persons shall be Members of Parliament; and (f) one Member of Parliament nominated by agreement of the majority of the Members of Parliament. Important: What is seen here is the increase in the number of Members of Parliament and only three members representing the civil society. Obviously, not giving importance to civil society persons of eminence and integrity. This will result in eroding the mechanism of checks and balances. It will also create the illegitimate space for political interference negativing good governance. SJB Proposal: I looked at the private members Bill presented by Hon. R. M. Ranjith Madduma Bandara, M.P. on 17th of May, 2022 (of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya Party). It had the following composition which is much better than the Government Bill proposed by the Minister of Justice. 41A. (1) (a) the Speaker; (b) the Prime Minister; (c) the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament; (d) five persons appointed by the President, on the nomination of both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition; and (e) one person nominated by agreement of the majority of the Members of Parliament belonging to political parties or independent groups. Important: This proposal has increased the participation by civil society to five members with Parliament representation standing at four. Recommendation The purpose of the Council is to function as a tool to restrict an authoritative President. The presence of non-partisan members would contribute positively and independently to the decision-making process. The membership of eminent persons would enhance credibility and they can share their expertise knowledge. It would create the space to ensure minority participation and, finally, would serve as a depoliticization mechanism. The above analysis indicates that the Seventeenth amendment composition will be the ideal solution. The End. Mass L. Usuf, LL. B (Hons)UK, Attorney at Law (Ex-Advisor to former Presidential Private Department of UAE) This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON (AP) Members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot said Sunday they have uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against former President Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The committee announced that Trump's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, is among the witnesses scheduled to testify at a hearing Monday that focuses on Trump's effort to spread his lies about a stolen election. Stepien was subpoenaed for his public testimony. As the hearings unfold, Rep. Adam Schiff said he would like the department to investigate any credible allegation of criminal activity on the part of Donald Trump. Schiff, D-Calif., who also leads the House Intelligence Committee, said that there are certain actions, parts of these different lines of effort to overturn the election that I dont see evidence the Justice Department is investigating. The committee launched its public hearings last week, with members laying out their case against Trump to show how the defeated president relentlessly pushed his false claims of a rigged election despite multiple advisers telling him otherwise and how he intensified an extraordinary scheme to overturn Joe Bidens victory. Additional evidence is to be released in hearings this week, Democrats say, that will demonstrate that Trump and some of his advisers engaged in a massive effort to spread misinformation, pressured the Justice Department to embrace his false claims, and urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject state electors and block the vote certification on Jan. 6, 2021. Stepien, a longtime Trump ally, is now a top campaign adviser to the Trump-endorsed House candidate in Wyoming's Republican primary, Harriet Hageman, who is challenging Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee's vice chair and a vociferous critic of the former president. A Trump spokesman, Taylor Budowich, suggested that the committee's decision to call Stepien was politically motivated. Monday's witness list also includes BJay Pak, the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta who left his position on Jan. 4, 2021, a day after an audio recording was made public in which Trump called him a never-Trumper"; Chris Stirewalt, the former political editor for Fox News; noted Washington elections attorney Benjamin Ginsberg; and Al Schmidt, a former city commissioner in Philadelphia. The panel will also focus on the millions of dollars Trump's team brought in fundraising in the run-up to Jan. 6, according to a committee aide who insisted on anonymity to discuss the details. The committee has said most of those interviewed in the investigation are coming forward voluntarily, although some have wanted subpoenas to appear in public. Filmmaker Nick Quested, who provided documentary footage of the attack, said during last weeks hearing he received a subpoena to appear. Committee members said they would present clear evidence that multiple GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., had sought a pardon from Trump, which would protect him from prosecution. Perry on Friday denied he ever did so, calling the assertion an absolute, shameless, and soulless lie. Were not going to make accusations or say things without proof or evidence backing it, said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. Lawmakers indicated that perhaps their most important audience member over the course of the hearings may be Attorney General Merrick Garland, who must decide whether his department can and should prosecute Trump. They left no doubt as to their own view whether the evidence is sufficient to proceed. Once the evidence is accumulated by the Justice Department, it needs to make a decision about whether it can prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt the presidents guilt or anyone elses, Schiff said. But they need to be investigated if theres credible evidence, which I think there is. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said he doesnt intend to browbeat Garland but noted the committee has already laid out in legal pleadings criminal statutes they believe Trump violated. I think that he knows, his staff knows, the U.S. attorneys know, whats at stake here, Raskin said. They know the importance of it, but I think they are rightfully paying close attention to precedent in history as well, as the facts of this case. Garland has not specified whether he would be willing to prosecute, which would be unprecedented and may be complicated in a political election season in which Trump has openly flirted with the idea of running for president again. No president or ex-president has ever been indicted. Richard Nixon resigned from office in 1974 as he faced an impeachment and a likely grand jury indictment on charges of bribery, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. President Gerald Ford later pardoned his predecessor before any criminal charges related to Watergate could be filed. Legal experts have said a Justice Department prosecution of Trump over the riot could set an uneasy precedent in which an administration of one party could more routinely go after the former president of another. "We will follow the facts wherever they lead, Garland said in his speech at Harvard Universitys commencement ceremony last month. A federal judge in California said in a March ruling in a civil case that Trump more likely than not committed federal crimes in seeking to obstruct the congressional count of the Electoral College ballots on Jan. 6, 2021. The judge cited two statutes: obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Trump has denied all wrongdoing. Schiff appeared on ABCs This Week, Raskin spoke on CNNs State of the Union," and Kinzinger was on CBSs Face the Nation." ___ AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report. ___ For full coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege Mexico issues 7,000 temporary documents to migrants in south View Photo HUIXTLA, Mexico (AP) Mexicos migration agency has issued nearly 7,000 temporary documents and transit visas over the last few days to members of a migrant caravan which by Saturday had broken up in southern Mexico. Hundreds of people were heading north in buses while others were spread out over various towns north of Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border, resting or waiting to receive money from relatives to continue their trip to the United States. In its statement, the Mexican migration agency did not specify what kind of documents were issued but most of the migrants showed papers that gave them a period of one month or more to leave the country or begin regularization procedures in Mexico. Most want to use the documents to reach the U.S. border. The migrant caravan left from Tapachula on Monday. But it had split up by Thursday, when regional leaders were meeting in Los Angeles at the Summit of the Americas to talk about migration and other issues. President Joe Biden and other Western Hemisphere leaders announced on Friday what is being billed as a roadmap for countries to host large numbers of migrants and refugees. Meanwhile, the bus terminal in the southern Mexican town of Huixtla was filled with migrants looking for tickets north. Alejandro Gonzalez Rincon, his cousin and six other friends from Venezuela were only able to get tickets to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas, because all the other destinations they wanted, such as Mexico City, were sold out. Their plan was to slowly make their way up to the U.S. border, he said. Venezuelan Eddy Jimenez planned to return to Tapachula as soon as his cousins got their documents. He would wait there until his relatives send him money to resume heading north. He wanted to reach Mexico City and then Monterrey, a big city closer to the border. Since October, Mexican authorities have dispersed other caravans by offering to move migrants to other cities where they can legalize their status more quickly. The goal was to lessen migrant pressure in the south. Human rights groups have criticized the migration agencys lack of transparency in carrying out these procedures. Advocates also say authorities sometimes do not respect the documents. Associated Press Tundra fire slows, but still aiming at Alaska Native village View Photo ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) A large fire burning in the tundra of southwest Alaska continued to move toward an Alaska Native village on Saturday, but fire managers said its pace had slowed. The East Fork fire, which was started by lightning May 31, remained about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the Yupik village of St. Marys, a statement from the Alaska Wildland Fire Information said. The fire was listed at 169 square miles (438 square kilometers) in size, more than double the last estimate. The increase was attributed to better mapping. Tundra is a treeless area covered with low-lying plants, and the fire was being fed by extremely dry grass and brush filled with alders and willow. There were 180 personnel working the fire, with more crews expected to arrive Monday. There are no mandatory evacuation orders, but about 700 residents of St. Marys and the nearby community of Pitkas Point were told to prepare in case they needed to leave. There have been voluntary evacuations by residents, as well as others living in the nearby communities of Mountain Village and Pilot Station. Early Saturday morning, firefighters completed a defensive burnout on the west side of the East Fork of the Andreafsky River to protect equipment and structures near a fish weir a fence placed in flowing water to direct the movement of fish. The weirs have traditionally been used to catch fish but also can be used for management and research of a fish stock, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Games website. St. Marys, a subsistence community, sits on the bank of the river. Firefighters were also working to protect structures on the east side of the weir, as well as fortifying a fire line a half mile (800 meters) outside St. Marys. Aircraft have also been dropping retardant along that line. Boats have been used to shuttle firefighters to protect structures upriver of St. Marys. Crews also have also been working to protect Alaska Native properties. Hot, dry conditions were expected to continue Sunday, but a low pressure system moving in from the west could bring favorable conditions and a chance of showers by Monday. It could also bring a wind switch that would help push the fire away from the villages, officials said in the statement. St. Marys and Pitkas Point, which is situated to the south at the confluence of the Andreafsky and Yukon rivers, are located about 450 miles (724 kilometers) west of Anchorage. By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press HUIXTLA, Mexico (AP) Mexico's migration agency has issued nearly 7,000 temporary documents and transit visas over the last few days to members of a migrant caravan which by Saturday had broken up in southern Mexico. Hundreds of people were heading north in buses while others were spread out over various towns north of Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border, resting or waiting to receive money from relatives to continue their trip to the United States. In its statement, the Mexican migration agency did not specify what kind of documents were issued but most of the migrants showed papers that gave them a period of one month or more to leave the country or begin regularization procedures in Mexico. Most want to use the documents to reach the U.S. border. The migrant caravan left from Tapachula on Monday. But it had split up by Thursday, when regional leaders were meeting in Los Angeles at the Summit of the Americas to talk about migration and other issues. President Joe Biden and other Western Hemisphere leaders announced on Friday what is being billed as a roadmap for countries to host large numbers of migrants and refugees. Meanwhile, the bus terminal in the southern Mexican town of Huixtla was filled with migrants looking for tickets north. Alejandro Gonzalez Rincon, his cousin and six other friends from Venezuela were only able to get tickets to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas, because all the other destinations they wanted, such as Mexico City, were sold out. Their plan was to slowly make their way up to the U.S. border, he said. Venezuelan Eddy Jimenez planned to return to Tapachula as soon as his cousins got their documents. He would wait there until his relatives send him money to resume heading north. He wanted to reach Mexico City and then Monterrey, a big city closer to the border. Since October, Mexican authorities have dispersed other caravans by offering to move migrants to other cities where they can legalize their status more quickly. The goal was to lessen migrant pressure in the south. Human rights groups have criticized the migration agency's lack of transparency in carrying out these procedures. Advocates also say authorities sometimes do not respect the documents. An Alabama man who planted flowers on the gravesite of his fiancee and was arrested at the direction of the woman's disapproving father was found guilty of littering this week. About a month after Winston "Winchester" Hagans got engaged, his fiancee, Hannah Ford, was killed in a three-car crash in January 2021 that shattered what was supposed to be the happiest time of their lives. To honor the 27-year-old, Hagans placed a planter box full of fresh flowers and photos of the two of them on her grave in Auburn, Ala. But earlier this year, Hagans was arrested on a charge of criminal littering. City officials had reassured him that he could put the planter at Ford's gravesite unless there was a complaint. Then he discovered that a complaint had been filed - by the Rev. Tom Ford, his fiancee's father. "The police don't enforce the law unless the owner of the plot tries to do something about it," Hagans told The Washington Post earlier this year, adding that his late fiancee's father did not approve of their relationship. Hagans was convicted Thursday on one count of criminal littering and ordered to pay about $300 in fines and court costs, the Opelika-Auburn News reported. The 32-year-old man was also given a suspended jail sentence of 30 days that will remain suspended as long as Hagans does not place any more flowers or planter boxes on his fiancee's grave. After Hagans was found guilty, his attorney, Jeff Tickal, indicated that a written appeal would be filed within 14 days. If Hagans wins the appeal, a new trial would be granted, and the fines and court costs would be dropped. Neither Hagans nor Tickal immediately responded to requests for comment early Saturday. Hagans and Hannah Ford met at a coffee shop in Montgomery, Ala., and bonded over their faith, he wrote on his website. Ford's father was pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Montgomery, and Hagans's father is an evangelist in Opelika, Ala. As the couple kept running into each other at the coffee shop, Hagans said he made sure to bring a deck of cards with him so they could play games of "nines" with each other. Hannah Ford was a rising star in Republican politics in Alabama. She worked on several political campaigns, including Roy Moore's U.S. Senate campaign in 2017. Moore lost the race to Democrat Doug Jones after a woman accused the Republican of initiating a sexual encounter when she was 14. Ford, who went on to lobby for conservative issues in Alabama and work for evangelist Scott Dawson's 2018 gubernatorial campaign, had "a kind heart, happy attitude, great wisdom and many talents," her family wrote in her obituary. "She may have been small in stature, but she was a giant when she walked in a room," Dawson told AL.com last year. "She knew how to deal with senators, members of the House, judicial candidates." Ford got out of politics around the time that her relationship with Hagans was intensifying. The couple took long drives, shared an appreciation for Winston Churchill and talked about what the rest of their lives would look like, Hagans said. They loved cooking together, with Ford wanting to cook big meals when guests came over for game nights and holidays. Her father, however, did not approve of the couple's relationship, Hagans said. At one point, the pastor demanded that the couple not communicate with each other for 30 days, Hagans said. When they decided to keep dating, the decision fractured the relationship between Hannah Ford and her father. "We jumped through all of his hoops to be together," Hagans previously told The Post. "We had to figure out if going through the craziness was worth it. She told me, 'I can't believe you didn't just stop. You had every reason to stop. Why didn't you just move on?' And I was like, 'You're worth it; you're an amazing person.' " When Hagans and Ford got engaged on Dec. 5, 2020, she shared on Facebook how she had cried her eyes out with "happy tears." "I still can't believe I actually got to say YES to you!!!" she wrote. "I LOVE YOU and I simply can't wait to be your WIFE!!!!!" The couple's wedding date was fast approaching, and they began to look at venues. As they were leaving a barn venue, they talked about how they still had much planning to do. She leaned over, kissed Hagans on the cheek and told him she was looking forward to seeing him in a couple days. "I love you so much. I hate leaving you," he recalled her saying. "I just can't wait until we don't have to be apart." It was about 7 p.m. on Jan. 16, 2021, and Ford was driving from the venue to her home in Montgomery. But as she was traveling on Narrow Lane Road, the driver of a sedan lost control and collided with another car, which rammed into Ford's SUV, according to police. When she didn't respond to his texts or voice mails, Hagans contacted her roommate and learned she had not reached home. He knew something was wrong and raced about 60 miles from his home in Opelika to Montgomery. When he approached the intersection of the crash, he asked whether anyone involved in the wreck matched Ford's description. Paramedics took him to see the crushed car, which caused him to collapse in the middle of the street. "I was thinking, 'There's no way she could be gone,' " Hagans said. "She was the most loving and kind and hopeful and generous person I ever met." She died Jan. 17, 2021, just days after her 27th birthday. "She was one mile away from her home," Dawson told AL.com. The sadness of losing his fiancee deepened, Hagans said, when her family made it clear to him that he wasn't welcome at her funeral. Hagans was pulled over by police in Opelika in January. By the time he had gathered his license and registration, he said there were three police cars. Authorities told him there was an arrest warrant for him in Auburn - something Hagans said was "impossible." "The cop said, 'I've never seen this before, but the warrant is for littering,' " Hagans said. "When I was sitting in the back seat of the police car, I saw that [Tom Ford's] name was on there." Certain burial plots in the state are owned and controlled by the family of the deceased and are considered private property. David Dorton, a spokesman for the city of Auburn, confirmed to The Post that Hagans was arrested Jan. 24 "after a warrant was signed by another citizen." "Any citizen has the right to pursue a criminal charge against another upon showing that sufficient probable cause exists to believe that a crime has been committed," Dorton said in a statement. On Thursday, Tom Ford testified in the nonjury trial at Auburn Municipal Court that Hagans had placed a total of 10 planter boxes on the grave since May 2021, which the father either discarded or sent back to the man who would have been his son-in-law. "The first box, when I saw where it was, I picked it up and it fell apart," Ford said, according to the Opelika-Auburn News. "It was a rotten piece of wood with some pictures on it, so I discarded it." Ford testified that the cemetery has regulations on what can be placed at a gravesite. City Prosecutor Justin Clark noted that these regulations outline how "benches, urns, boxes, shells, toys and other similar articles are not permitted to be placed or maintained on any lot of grave in said cemetery." Neither Ford nor Clark immediately responded to requests for comment. Ford acknowledged in court that he "certainly did not" approve of the relationship between his daughter and Hagans, adding that he only found out about their engagement from other people. He said he had asked a friend to tell Hagans to "please not put [planter boxes] there anymore, that they weren't wanted, and that they weren't allowed by the city." When the seventh, eighth and ninth planter boxes were removed, Ford filed a criminal complaint with the Auburn Police Department. A 10th planter box was found after the complaint was filed, he said. "I find no joy to be here, and I did everything I could not to be here," Ford said this week, according to the News. Before he was convicted, Hagans expressed his gratitude on Facebook to the friends and family who have supported him, "or just let me vent," about not just losing his fiancee but also being tried for putting a planter box of flowers on her grave. "It means more to me than you will ever know," he wrote. "It has honestly saved my life." In the early morning hours of June 3, Gaylyn Morris drove up to an Indianapolis pub in a dark blue Chevrolet Impala. She allegedly told patrons that she suspected her boyfriend was cheating on her and that she had tracked him there using an Apple AirTag - a device designed to help people locate personal belongings. She asked them whether a man wearing dreads had been seen inside the bar, according to court records. Witnesses told police that she soon found him, and after a heated confrontation with him and another woman, she allegedly "clipped" him with her car, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by the Indianapolis Star and reviewed by The Washington Post. As he fell to the ground, she allegedly backed over him, pulled forward and hit him again - for a total of three times - the court records said. When police arrived, Andre Smith, 26, was pronounced dead at the scene - his body pinned beneath the vehicle, police said in a statement. Police said Morris, 26, was arrested and accused of murder. Arrest records show that she is being held without bond. It was not immediately clear Saturday whether Morris has an attorney. Apple says its AirTags are designed to protect against unwanted tracking, but a review from The Post found that those safety features are not completely reliable, particularly for people who use Android devices. Authorities said Morris told investigators that she and Smith lived together. She suspected that he had been cheating on her with another woman because he had not been coming home at night, according to authorities. On June 2, she said she confronted him, telling him to pack up and leave, according to the affidavit obtained by the Star. Morris initially denied tracking him, then eventually admitted that she had placed an AirTag in his back seat, authorities said. The woman with Smith, who was identified by the initials "T.N." in court records, told investigators that Smith had mentioned to her that he believed there was a GPS device on his car because Morris kept sending him text messages, saying she knew his whereabouts. After showing up at Tilly's Pub & Grill, Morris spotted Smith and went into the bar, a witness told police. Another witness claimed to police that once Morris was inside, she pointed at the woman with Smith and said she was going to "beat her." Witnesses said Morris then grabbed an empty beer bottle by the neck and took a swing at the woman, but Smith caught it and the three got into an argument, according to court records. During the commotion, the group was asked to leave the bar, witnesses told police. Morris returned to her car a short time later, the affidavit said. A witness told police that when he saw Morris driving her car toward Smith and the other woman, he stepped in front of the car to help them get away. But Morris sped around him and drove into Smith, the witness told police. The driver's side tire ran over Smith's head, according to court records citing the witness. Smith's legs were trapped under the passenger-side tire, several witnesses added. A registered nurse told the police that she ran to the car and found Smith unresponsive. "His eyes were open and he was breathing through his mouth. His head was wedged behind the driver's side front wheel, and his face was facing out," according to the nurse's account, which was detailed in the affidavit. The nurse told police that she tried to check his pulse but that his arms were underneath his body. She said his breathing "was shallow and intermittent," the affidavit said. Smith soon stopped breathing, she told police. The Marion County Coroner's Office determined that Smith had died of traumatic asphyxia and that his death was a homicide, according to the probable cause affidavit. Some of Smith's family members, who saw his body at the scene, said the image still haunts them. His aunt, Reneka Day, told WISH-TV that Smith was "hit like an animal in the street." "It replays every time I blink right now. It replays every time we have to talk about it. And when I'm asleep at night, I can only imagine what my sister is feeling right now," she told the news station. Morris is due in court June 23, arrest records show. Sinisa Kukic/Getty Images A man and a woman were killed after being run over by a boat that they were occupants of while at Canyon Lake on the evening of Friday, June 10, according to officials. The victims were killed by the boat's propeller, according to The Herald-Zeitung. Canyon Lake firefighters and EMS responded to the scene of a boating accident at 4:39 p.m. at a cove that was just north of Canyon Lake Marina. Canyon Lake Fire & EMS Chief Robert Mikel told the New Braunfels publication that the 54-year-old male boat owner and a 22-year-old female got into the water. Other occupants were still in the boat. Somehow, the boat ran over the victims. Albania: Press interview of UK radio amateur held for suspected spying The Scottish Daily Record interviews one of the two radio amateurs who were questioned by Albanian authorities and had their equipment seized and sent to the Albanian Criminality Laboratory The other radio amateur held was from Chelmsford in Essex. The two had travelled to Albania to operate from what is a rare DX entity. The newspaper says "Albanian Polices C Unit (Cybernetic Unit), aided by the Albanian secret service (SHISH), is liaising with prosecutors in the country to establish beyond doubt that Colin is the innocent amateur radio enthusiast he claims to be." Read the Daily Record story at https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scots-radio-ham-says-im-27202744 Courtesy of Lennar Corporation National homebuilder Lennar Homes broke ground Thursday, June 9, on a new residential community about 30 minutes south of San Antonio. Lodi Grove will be a 94-home community and Lennar's first-ever in Floresville, Texas. The homes are scheduled for a grand opening in summer 2023 and will include large living and kitchen spaces, a resort-style master bedroom, and modern technology features, according to a news release from Lennar. Scores of high-temperature records were established Friday from Texas to California's Central Valley as a relentless heat wave continued to build. The heat is poised to expand into the Midwest and Southeast over the coming days. On Friday, triple-digit highs set records in major population centers across the Southwest, including Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Albuquerque, Las Vegas and Phoenix. The National Weather Service in Phoenix described the heat as "extreme and deadly." Many of these areas are forecast to be equally hot on Saturday, as the heat begins to expand eastward. Nearly 60 million Americans are under heat advisories or excessive heat warnings. A heat advisory covers almost the entirety of the states of Texas and Oklahoma and even extends into northwest Louisiana and parts of western Arkansas. Heat advisories and excessive heat warnings also cover parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California. By Sunday, the core of the heat is forecast to shift from California and the Southwest toward the Southern Plains. By Monday, it will ooze into the Central Plains and Midwest before reaching the Ohio Valley and Southeast on Tuesday and Wednesday. What has been a dry heat in the Southwest will evolve into a more sultry nature east of the Rockies, as moist air is drawn north from the Gulf of Mexico. This will increase the risk of heat-related illnesses. Early next week, cities from St. Louis to Charlotte will endure punishing heat with highs from 95 to 100 that will feel like 100 to 110 when factoring in oppressive humidity. Death Valley - home to highest temperatures ever observed worldwide - soared to a simmering 123 degrees Friday. That mark set a June 10 record and was the fourth earliest the mercury has climbed that high on record in the United States, according to Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist who tracks world weather extremes. Other record highs set Friday include: Phoenix: 113 Las Vegas: 109 Paso Robles, Calif.: 106 Stockton, Calif.: 105 Bishop, Calif.: 103 Austin: 103 Victoria, Texas: 102 San Antonio: 101 Albuquerque: 100 Grand Junction, Colo.: 100 (tie with 1981) Houston: 98 Reno: 96 (tie with 1918) Eureka, Calif.: 95 Flagstaff: 87 (tie with 1910) In addition to all of these record highs, numerous locations in the region have set records for warm overnight lows. In Phoenix, it was still 100 degrees at midnight Saturday. "With heat waves, the overnight temperatures are the most dangerous, as your body relies on cooler temperatures while its sleeping to recover," wrote the National Weather Service office in Las Vegas in a forecast discussion. "Without this cooling, your body is less equipped to handle the scorching daytime heat, leading to increased incidences of heat exhaustion or heat stroke." The worst of the heat on Saturday will concentrate from Texas to the Desert Southwest. "The heat the past few days has already proven to be a major societal impact, and possibly even deadly, and it is not done yet," the Weather Service office in Phoenix wrote. Phoenix is forecast to hit 114, a record for the date; Las Vegas is predicted to reach 110, also a record. Death Valley may match Friday's high of 123, setting a record for a second straight day. Abnormally hot weather has punished many parts of Texas since the second half of May and Saturday may be one of its hottest days yet. Forecast highs include: Abilene: 107 Lubbock: 105 San Antonio and Austin: 104 Dallas: 103 Houston: 100 While it will be more of a dry heat in interior parts of Texas, humidity will increase nearer the Gulf Coast, making the heat even more dangerous. "Heat safety will be critical this weekend- remaining hydrated, applying sunscreen, checking in on elderly or ill family and friends, and avoiding strenuous activity during the hottest parts of the day can all combat preventable heat-related illnesses," wrote the Weather Service office in Houston. It will also remain hot in California's Central Valley, but several degrees cooler than Friday. Sacramento hit 104 on Friday; Saturday's forecast high is 101. By Sunday, it's a much more tolerable 85. While the heat gradually eases over California and the Southwest on Sunday and beyond, it will persist in Texas and the Southern Plains and expand eastward: Sunday's hottest weather will focus from Texas to Kansas with widespread triple-digit highs. Phoenix could top 110 degrees one more day, while eastern New Mexico and eastern Colorado will also swelter. Highs well into the 90s will expand across the Midwest, including St. Louis and Kansas City, and the Southeast. Monday's hottest weather will focus in the Plains and Midwest. Highs over 100 will expand from Texas to Kansas, while highs from at least 95 to 100 sprawl over much of the Midwest and Southeast. St. Louis could hit 100 with upper 90s in Kansas City, Springfield, Ill., Charlotte, and Columbia, S.C. Factoring in the humidity, it will feel 5 to 10 degrees hotter. Tuesday's hottest weather will focus from the Midwest to the Ohio Valley and Southeast with widespread mid-to-upper 90s - including Minneapolis, Des Moines, Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, Cincinnati, Roanoke and Raleigh. Again, oppressive humidity levels will make it feel up to 10 degrees hotter. Wednesday's hottest weather will focus from the Midwest to the Ohio Valley, even expanding into the Great Lakes. Highs in the mid-to-upper 90s could reach Detroit, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Cleveland. While some relief from the heat will arrive in parts of the Midwest and Ohio Valley later in the week, the responsible zone of high pressure or heat dome will return to the Southern and Central United States into the weekend. In other words, there is no end in sight to anomalously high temperatures occupying considerable parts of the country. Human-caused climate change is supercharging heat waves like this one, making them more intense and long-lived. Jerri-Lynn here. When I first started visiting India, I sought out and read lots of Indian literature either books written by Indian authors, or books about India itself. At that time, I discovered the work of Amitav Ghosh and can recommend it highly. Years ago, I read some of Joseph Conrads classics. Ive yet to read anything by either Abdulrazak Gurnah or Lindsey Collen but will now seek out their work. By Charne Lavery, Lecturer and Research Associate, University of Pretoria. Originally published at The Conversation Novels make worlds. They create an intuitive sense and mental image of a place. And the senses of space produced by fiction shape how readers see the world itself, just like maps do. For early postcolonial literature, the world of the novel was often the nation. Postcolonial novels were usually set within national borders and concerned in some way with national questions. Sometimes the whole story of the novel was taken as an allegory of the nation, whether India or Tanzania. This was important for supporting anti-colonial nationalism, but could also be limiting land-focused and inward-looking. My new book Writing Ocean Worlds explores another kind of world of the novel: not the village or nation, but the Indian Ocean world. The book describes a set of novels in which the Indian Ocean is at the centre of the story. It focuses on the novelists Amitav Ghosh, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Lindsey Collen and Joseph Conrad. Ghosh is a writer based between India and the US whose work includes historical fiction of the Indian Ocean; Gurnah is a novelist from Zanzibar, who was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature; Collen is an author and activist based in Mauritius; and Joseph Conrad, is a key figure of the English literary canon. These four authors are notable for having centred the Indian Ocean world in the majority of their novels. Each also covers an important region of the Indian Ocean: Ghosh the eastern part, Gurnah the western part, Collen the islands and Conrad an imperial outsiders view. Their work reveals a world that is outward-looking full of movement, border-crossing and south-south interconnection. Theyre all very different from colonially inclined (Conrad) to radically anti-capitalist (Collen), but together draw on and shape a wider sense of Indian Ocean space through themes, images, metaphors and language. This has the effect of remapping the world in the readers mind, as centred in the interconnected global south. As the Kenyan novelist Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor has said, the narrative of particularly Africas interconnection with the world seems to have been lost in our post-independence, postcolonial imagination. As she says, so much of Africa lies hidden in the sea. My book aims to tempt readers to dive into the fiction where it can be found. The Indian Ocean Connection The Indian Ocean world is a term used to describe the very long-lasting connections among the coasts of east Africa, the Arab coasts, and South and East Asia. These connections were made possible by the geography of the Indian Ocean. For much of history, travel by sea was much easier than by land, which meant that port cities very far apart were often more easily connected to each other than to much closer inland cities. Historical and archaeological evidence suggests that what we now call globalisation first appeared in the Indian Ocean. This is the interconnected oceanic world referenced and produced by the novels in my book. The Indian Ocean novel in English is a small but substantial genre, including works also by MG Vassanji, Michael Ondaatje, Romesh Gunesekera, and many others. For their part Ghosh, Gurnah, Collen and even Conrad reference a different set of histories and geographies than the ones most commonly found in fiction in English. Those are mostly centred in Europe or the US, assume a background of Christianity and whiteness, and mention places like Paris and New York. The novels in the book highlight instead a largely Islamic space, feature characters of colour, and centralise the ports of Malindi, Mombasa, Aden, Java and Bombay. To take one example, in Gurnahs novel By the Sea, a teacher in Zanzibar is showing his young students their place in the world, and he draws a long continuous line around the east coast of Africa, up and around to India, and through the Malay and Indonesian archipelagos, all the way to China. This, he says, is where we are, circling Zanzibar and pointing eastwards and out to sea. Just outside the classroom: crowds of sailing ships lie plank to plank in the harbour, the sea between them glistening with slicks of their waste the streets thronged with Somalis or Suri Arabs or Sindhis, buying and selling and breaking into incomprehensible fights, and at night camping in the open spaces, singing cheerful songs and brewing tea It is a densely imagined, richly sensory image of a southern cosmopolitan culture which provides for an enlarged sense of place in the world. Representing Africa This remapping is particularly powerful for the representation of Africa. In the fiction, sailors and travellers are not all European. And Africa is not portrayed as a hydrophobic continent which only receives rather than sends out explorers. African as well as Indian and Arab characters are traders, nakhodas (dhow ship captains), runaways, villains, missionaries, activists. This does not mean that Indian Ocean Africa is romanticised. Migration is often a matter of force; travel is portrayed as abandonment rather than adventure; freedoms are kept from women; and slavery is rife. What it does mean is that the African part of the Indian Ocean world plays an active role in its long, rich history, and therefore in that of the wider world. (Natural News) Claiming to have the main goals of eliminating malaria, hookworm and yellow fever, the Rockefeller Foundation, over a century ago, took over the core education and practical application apparatus of every medical college and hospital in America. Through bribery, price fixing, corporate espionage and creating shell companies as cover for illegal activities, Rockefeller and his evil cohorts succeeded at creating a medical industrial complex that still dominates Western medicine today. John D. Rockefeller was in control of 90 percent of US oil production, and this allowed him to buy favor (literally) with anyone and everyone he needed under his big pharma umbrella. The Rockefeller monopolies: Big Pharma and Big Oil The Supreme Court had to break up the Rockefeller (Standard Oil) monopoly in the early 1900s, but it didnt really matter. The big oil companies still had complete control, including Exxon, Chevron, Amoco, and other recognizable behemoths. In fact, Rockefellers personal wealth INCREASED due to the big oil break up. Thats when Rockefeller infused $100 million into the General Education Board to END all studies of natural medicine (anything holistic) in Americas 150 medical colleges, and install, permanently, only the study and practice (in hospitals) of prescribing pharmaceutical medications that quell symptoms of disease and disorder, but never cure anything. He even called the whole movement, a pill for an ill. Patients then and now who are taking prescription drugs regularly are the sickest people on the planet, and usually die from chronic, preventable illnesses 10, 20, even 30 years before their otherwise normal life expectancy. Abraham Flexner teams up with Rockefeller to reformulate all medical institutions to address germ theory with only prescription drugs The year was 1910. Wave goodbye to healthy eating, clean water, and any knowledge about the power of proper nutrition. And just like that, the pharmaceutical medical industrial complex was created and consolidated. Any competition or backlash from natural medicine enthusiasts would be shut down and termed quackery. Half of all American medical schools were forced to shut down. These were the schools that wanted to continue with education about nutrition, chiropractic care, homeopathy, holistic, functional, integrative, and osteopathy. If you violated this new medical regimes linear approach you went to jail and lost your medical license. Simple as that. If you think Rockefellers control of Big Pharma is ancient history, think again Rockefeller medicine is rooted in complete quackery. From prescription medications that only address symptoms of deeper-rooted disease and disorder, to vaccinations that actually cause and spread infectious disease, the principles of Rockefeller Medicine are embedded in the whole COVID-19 scamdemic. Abraham Flexner, author of the Flexner Report of 1910, was hired like a hit man to wreck all things natural medicine, while helping to promote and install everything pharma-based for educating medical college students. Everything pharma-based was now to be referred to as science-based, while anything that came from nature would be referred to as quackery, conspiracy, snake oil. Science-based standards would now mean only chemical-based prescription drugs could be doled out by medical doctors across the country, and the American Medical Association was created to enforce these ideas. From the beginning, the AMA was all in thanks to the crooks who ran that regulatory agency and JAMA (official medical journal of the AMA) for decades. Drugs were fast-tracked and stamped for approval, just like the FDA and CDC stamp all the drugs and vaccines still today, without any proper or successful clinical trials. Thats how it was a hundred years ago, and thats how it is today. The foundation and framework for all things poisonous and Allopathic, were all but etched in stone a century ago, thanks to mass-funding by Rockefeller. Medical violence through medication was founded and funded in the USA by a business magnate and fake philanthropist, not by groups of doctors or scientists. This should be of great concern for all Americans. The Flexner Report is enforced today as we see all natural preventions, treatments and cures for COVID and other ailments buried, banned, outlawed by CDC, FDA, WHO So the Father of Modern Medical Education was really the Devil of Allopathy, but since it was medical doctors slinging the medications, the majority of Americans bought into the evil health Ponzi scheme, with the in-your-face slogan of a pill for an ill. Still today, Americans who eat processed food every day, usually every meal, are dying a little bit each day, while their medical doctors prescribe them chemical-based, lab-concocted, venomous pharmaceuticals (with horrific side effects) that mask their symptoms of deep-rooted diseases and disorders that only get worse. Two-thirds of all Americans believe they can eat anything they want, whenever they want, and their doctors will fix them and save them with pills. A pill for an ill. Big Pharma was a bigger cash cow for Rockefeller than oil ever was or could be. Prescription medications create patients for life who are chronically ill and spend much more money on doctor bills, hospital beds, diagnostic tests, surgery, co-pays for prescription drugs, chemotherapy, and radiation than they would ever spend on oil and gas. Rockefeller was a notorious professional scammer in the biggest money-making realms the world knows. He was a monopolist. A globalist. A Big Oil and Big Pharma guru with a legacy of evil roots and prodigies. His own father, William Rockefeller, was literally a con artist who sold people snake oil elixirs. Today, most medical boards are highly influenced by the fraudulent Flexner Report. Any doctors who buck the system get their medical licenses suspended or permanently taken away. We see this right now for any doctors who prescribe their Covid-infected patients ivermectin, monoclonal antibodies, high dose vitamin C, or even recommend high doses of vitamin D3 and zinc. Bookmark Censored.news to your favorite websites for truth news thats being censored from the rest of media as you read this. Sources for this article include: NaturalNews.com Censored.news TheEpochTimes.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) For years, it was called a wild conspiracy theory. But the idea that elitists are siphoning the blood and life essence of young people in an effort to live forever has now been vindicated. Ever since The Telegraph reported that so-called youth transplants can help reverse the aging process, the concept of blood-sucking parasites living among us suddenly became more real than ever. They are branding it innocuously, of course, calling it an anti-aging process that taps into the fountain of youth. But the reality is that youth transplants are akin to the adrenochrome scandal that cropped up during the Trump years. Youth transplants is a euphemism for sucking out the vital fluids of baby / child donors and injecting them into aging recipients, writes Ben Bartee for The Daily Bell. The Telegraph claims that nobody is suggesting we siphon the bodily fluids of youngsters into our elderly. But the reality is that this is exactly what is being proposed. Biomedical entrepreneurs are already cashing in on teenage blood Like they usually do, The Telegraph and other media outlets are pretending as though this is some new discovery that is still under investigation. The tone in which they are reporting on this suggests that it is some futuristic thing. We saw a similar tone used when they finally unveiled chemtrails, also known as geoengineering, years after it was already taking place. Once they finally got around to spilling the beans, they pretended as though it had not been happening all along but was soon to come. In both cases, the media presents these disturbing realities in glossed-over terms. Siphoning youth essence is anti-aging while geoengineering, we are told, will save the planet from global warming. These evils are always presented to the masses as being a good thing that will fix some bad thing. This is how they sell the public on accepting things that most people would otherwise reject as evil. Bartee explains that in 2019, a United States-based startup called Ambrosia a name that is creepy in and of itself, considering the focus of its business started selling teenage blood plasma to Silicon Valley billionaires for $8,000 a liter. That company was later forced to shut down temporarily, and the question was never answered as to where Ambrosia obtained its teenage blood plasma. Was it from the wealthy children of DC elites, or some poor farmers daughter in a Guatemalan village, or the Compton streets, or some Appalachian township? Bartee asks. It turns out that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning to Ambrosia at the time about the safety of its product. The company remained closed for only a very short time because, according to its owner, our patients really want the treatment. The mega-rich can disrespect The Science when they really want to harvest the blood of the global poor, but you cant if youre skeptical of experimental COVID-19 mRNA gene therapies marketed as vaccines, Bartee further notes about the hypocrisy of the system. Another Silicon Valley-based biomedical startup called Alkahest sells similar youth transplant products. Not surprising at all is the fact that billionaire eugenicist Bill Gates is involved with these various endeavors. Gates, the quintessential robber baron monopoly man in a non-threatening Mr. Rogers getup, loves nothing more than cornering the market on a valuable new biomedical commodity, Bartee says. So why now? Why is the corporate-controlled media suddenly telling the truth about youth transplants? Perhaps society has now reached the point of such degradation that these kinds of things will no longer shock the average person, who has been fully desensitized to every form of evil that pervades the West. More related news can be found at OrganHarvesting.news. Sources for this article include: TheDailyBell.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) A writer and political activist by the name of Danny Haiphong was suspended from Twitter for questioning the official story about the Tiananmen Square massacre incident of 1989. It is apparently now an offense to speculate that perhaps the mainstream narrative about historical events such as this might be inaccurate, which Haiphong learned the hard way when he was told by Twitter that he had violated the platforms rules against abuse and harassment. About a year ago in conjunction with the Biden regimes ongoing censorship efforts, Twitter quietly put new rules in place that prohibit content that denies that mass murder or other mass casualty events took place, where we can verify that the event occurred, and when the content is shared with abusive intent. In a statement, Twitter added that the rule applies to references that insinuate a historical event was a hoax, or that its victims or survivors might be fake or actors,' the statement said. It includes, but is not limited to, events like the Holocaust, school shootings, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters. NewsGuard and Wikipedia also function as Ministries of Truth Haiphong is hardly the first person to dispute the Tiananmen Square incident. Many have presented contrary evidence and asked poignant questions about this and other historical incidents and this is a good thing because it helps refine our understanding of such events by either verifying or debunking their details. A free and open society is built on this type of inquiry, and yet the Biden regime with the help of Big Tech seeks to dismantle this American value and bury it in the annals of rewritten textbooks or make it disappear entirely. Silicon Valley really is doing all it can to act as a Ministry of Truth on behalf of the regime, which will in effect stamp out the First Amendment if we let things continue down their current course. This idea that government-tied Silicon Valley institutions should act as arbiters of history on behalf of the public consumer is gaining steadily increasing acceptance in the artificially manufactured echo chamber of mainstream public opinion, writes Caitlin Johnstone for the Strategic Culture Foundation. We saw another example of this recently in Joe Laurias excellent refutation of accusations against Consortium News of historic inaccuracy by the imperial narrative management firm NewsGuard. NewsGuard, as you may recall, markets itself as a news rating agency, but the reality is that it exists to rate all truth as lies, and all lies as truth. It really is as simple as that or as Johnstone puts it, NewsGuard functions as an empire-backed weapon against media who question imperial narratives about whats happening in the world. The Grayzones Max Blumenthal outlined the companys many partnerships with imperial swamp monsters like former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and chief propagandist Richard Stengel as well as imperialist cutouts like the German Marshall Fund when its operatives contacted his outlet for comment on their accusations, she adds. NewsGuard seems to operate in tandem with Wikipedia, another misinformation entity that runs endless smear campaigns against all the same targets as NewsGuard. And it just so happens that all of these targets embrace anti-imperialist narratives. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales serves on NewsGuards advisory board, which explains why the two entities engage in the same censorship tactics against the same targets. The social engineering necessary to continually keep people confused and blinkered about whats going on in the world despite a sudden influx of information availability is one of the most astonishing achievements in the history of civilization, despite its depraved and destructive nature, Johnstone concludes. The latest news about Big Tech censorship can be found at Censorship.news. Sources for this article include: Strategic-Culture.org NaturalNews.com (Natural News) An openly gay lawmaker in the California State Senate wants to make drag shows mandatory for all K-12 school children, in response to calls from a state congressman in Texas to ban them. California State Sen. Scott Weiner expressed his intent through a response to Texas State Rep. Bryan Slaton. The lawmaker from the Lone Star State announced his intent to file legislation banning children from drag shows and other inappropriate displays. Slaton cited a disturbing trend in which perverted adults are obsessed with sexualizing young children as his rationale for the anti-drag show proposal. Retweeting the Texas Republican, he wrote: This guy just gave me a bill idea: Offering Drag Queen 101 as part of the K-12 curriculum. Attending Drag Queen Story Time will satisfy the requirement. Pro-life activist Jonathon Von Maren commented on Weiners proposal: A politician who has pushed legislation to assist statutory rapists avoid the sex offender registry list wants to make Drag Queen Story Time mandatory for children. And they say the term groomer is a slur? Von Maren gave two examples of Weiner pushing for laws that enable LGBT grooming in the Golden State. Back in 2019, Wiener introduced Senate Bill (SB) 145 that allows judges discretion over sex-offender registration in all cases involving voluntary intercourse between teenagers 14 to 17, who cannot legally consent, and adults who are less than ten years older. California Gov. Gavin Newsom eventually signed SB 145 into law in September 2020. Wiener worked to decriminalize homosexual intercourse between adults and minors in certain cases, claiming that Californias current laws discriminate against the LGBT community. In short, he worked to help statutory rapists avoid the sex offender registry list, noted Von Maren. Weiner was also responsible for SB 239, which was introduced in 2017. The bill reduced the crime of knowingly exposing a sexual partner to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), without disclosing the infection, from a felony to a misdemeanor. It also applied to HIV-positive individuals donating to blood banks without disclosing their status. Former Gov. Jerry Brown, Newsoms predecessor, signed SB 239 into law during the same year. Weiner also introduced bills to codify LGBT fascism Aside from SB 145 and SB 239, Weiner had also introduced bills that enshrined LGBT fascism. Von Maren noted that one such bill mandated jail terms for healthcare workers opting not to use preferred names or pronouns. However, the California Third District Court of Appeals struck down the proposal in June 2021. Wiener believes that it should not be a crime to have sex with someone without telling [them] that you are HIV-positive, but jail-time is appropriate for those who refuse to refer to a male as a female at his request, the pro-life activist remarked. More nefarious, however, is SB 132 sponsored by Weiner. Newsom signed the bill, which mandated California to imprison men who identify as women in female prisons, into law in 2020. The view of the women locked up with these usually violent criminals is of no account to dangerous ideologues like Wiener, of course, said Von Maren. Feminist group Womens Liberation Front (WLF) pointed to the dangers that emerged since SB 132 took effect in January 2021. It noted that after the bill was signed, almost 300 requests were lodged by male-to-female (MTF) transgender inmates for transfer to the Central California Womens Facility. Exactly zero transfer requests were denied, paving the way for hundreds of transgenders to commit sexual crimes inside the prison complex. In just six months since the enactment of SB 132, the number of incarcerated people self-identifying as trans or non-binary thus becoming eligible to request a facility transfer has increased from 1,088 to 1,237. The nearly 300 pending transfers are only the beginning of the invasion of womens prisons by violent male inmates, including convicted murderers and rapists. As more men arrive at the womens facilities, the crisis will only worsen, warned the WLF. Watch Owen Shroyer of InfoWars below talking about a drag queens performance during a required school event. This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Childrens drag queen dance party draws outrage in New England. Female prisoner sues prison after a transgender inmate allegedly raped her. Groomer alert: School district grants funds to middle school to pay for drag queen show. Transgender activist orders female rape victims to allow biological male trans freaks in female rape crisis centers. Pedophile who raped multiple children avoids prison after he tells woke judge that hes transgender Judge rules it would be too difficult to cope with. Sources include: LifeSiteNews.com Twitter.com 1 Twitter.com 2 WomensLiberationFront.org Brighteon.com (Natural News) The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot make up its mind about whether or not Americans should once again mask up in response to the new alleged monkeypox outbreak. At first, the CDC jumped at the opportunity to push masks on Americans, many of whom never even stopped wearing masks from the last manufactured plandemic. Then, suddenly, the CDC reversed course after it was revealed that the recommendation was politically driven (like everything else at the CDC). The monkeypox virus is supposedly spread primarily through skin-to-skin contact, which renders masks completely useless. Even if monkeypox was capable of spreading through droplets, as Tony Fauci infamously stated about the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19), masks would still be useless. On June 6, the CDC updated its website around 1:00 p.m. with a recommendation that people slap a mask over their breathing holes in order to avoid monkeypox infection, which the CDC was calling a level two threat. Roughly 24 hours later, however, the mask recommendation was dropped from the CDC website. Apparently the CDC thought it could get away a second time with deceiving the masses into interfering with normal respiration as a means of staying safe. That ship has already sailed and many, if not most, Americans are done listening to anything the CDC has to say about anything. Fauci, Walensky and other government doctors are nothing more than disease-creating terrorists At first, it seemed as though the monkeypox threat might actually go somewhere, plunging the world into another round of dark medical tyranny. Now, it appears as though the narrative is cracking before it even had the chance to get off the ground. We must still keep up our guard, of course, because things could change very rapidly without notice, but it really does seem like the powers that be might be having trouble convincing the general public to buy into its latest monkeypox fear campaign. They are political foot soldiers for Washington, D.C., doing their dirty work to skirt the laws, wrote someone at NewsThud about the so-called doctors like Tony Fauci and Rochelle Walensky, as well as everyone else at the CDC and within other corrupt federal government agencies, who continue to try to pull a fast one on the American people. Everything they do is not in any interest to or for the American working people. They are an unelected group. They are a corporation funded by the pharmaceutical companies. Everything theyve done has been atrocious and damaging in every sense. Ignore these disease-creating terrorists and do not listen to their orders, this person added. Another responded that it is ironic how many people were convinced to take the governments experimental Operation Warp Speed injections on demand, despite being raised not to be peer-pressured into taking experimental drugs. Now we are being peer-pressured into taking experimental drugs and people who obey ought to be ashamed of themselves, this same person added. Its all backfiring spectacularly. Still another wrote that We the People must not, and cannot, let the CDC, Fauci, and others mandate our lives again. If you have concerns about monkeypox, get the smallpox vaccine and forget about it, this one further stated. Im old enough to have had mine it was normal in that era. I do not trust anything Big Pharma and never will, this person added. They consider that their cash cow and the government considers it their control agent. Its made me not trust medical doctors either since they have to preach the dogma of Bill Gates, Pfizer and the rest. The latest news about the monkeypox scam can be found at Outbreak.news. Sources for this article include: NewsThud.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) In 2021, the government of Australia colluded with three vaccine manufacturers to oppress the Australian people with various levels of discrimination, coercion, propaganda, unlawful detainment, segregation, digital compliance systems and broader threats to individuals livelihoods. These totalitarian actions were not rooted in any data or science and provided no public health benefit. These actions were designed to break people down psychologically, to subdue their body autonomy and personal beliefs and force experiments into their bodies. Today, healthy young people are dying suddenly and unexpectedly across Australia. Even though journalists are reporting on the matter now, the corporate media still wont dare mention the causes behind this scourge. Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS) is taking the world by storm Fully-vaccinated individuals who maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle are dying unexpectedly. According to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, this new death category is dubbed Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS). People under the age of 40 are now being urged to get their hearts checked, as a wave of young people collapse after being coerced to take part in blood-clotting vaccine experiments. Melbournes Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute has developed a new national register to better record the surge in death among young, healthy populations. This registry is the first in the world to include hospital, ambulance and forensics information. A spokesperson for the Institute said there are approximately 750 cases per year of people aged under 50 in Victoria suddenly having their heart stop. The Institute reports that approximately nine young people are now dying without cause every month, even after a full autopsy. Of course, this autopsy does not include any investigation into the heart-damaging vaccines that these young people are needlessly getting. In the US, a SADS organization was set up to bring awareness of Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndrome in young people. This foundation estimates that 4,000 children now die from SADS annually. The foundation reports that over half of the cases include a family history of a SADS diagnosis; however, the foundation does not mention what similar actions those family members engaged in, nor do they investigate the lifestyle factors and vaccine use that those family members have in common in relation to the SADS diagnosis. Much of the scientific community is ignoring the causes of SADS and SIDS to please their overlords the vaccine industry Genetic screening is used to determine ones risk of SADS, yet genetic screening is just a formality. It does not accurately predict a SADS case, investigate its causes or prevent it from happening. Cardiologist Dr. Elizabeth Paratz said its very hard to combat SADS because its really a diagnosis of nothing. Its a very hard entity to grasp for family and friends of victims, she said. Its not as easy as everyone in Australia getting genetically screened, she said, because scientists are not 100 percent sure what genes cause this. Maybe the scientific community is looking in the wrong place, as they protect their overlords, their sponsors and their government enforcers the vaccine industry. As more people get screened for SADS, the real problems are ignored and patients are given a false sense of security. The real pressures on the heart include covid-19 vaccines and all the oppressive measures that were put in place to force compliance. The persistent genetic interference of the human body with toxic spike proteins is causing heart inflammation, blood clots and emergency heart problems. The persistent oxygen deprivation and cardiovascular strain from masks also plays a role. Living in fear and in an oppressive state, where government and pharmaceutical companies dictate associations and human rights, has also negatively impacted cardiovascular health. These issues can no longer be ignored. The generation that grew up with a runaway, unaccountable childhood vaccine schedule and an ever-increasing rate of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and autism is suddenly becoming the generation that must face a runaway covid-19 vaccine program and all of the sudden adult death and heart damage it has wrought. Sources include: DailyMail.co.uk Euroweeklynews.com SADS.org Infowars.com (Natural News) With each passing day, the left destroys more of our culture, while Americans too afraid to risk their own comfort simply turn their heads and look the other way. To do so, the radical left has turned to the LGTBQ movement essentially after creating it out of whole cloth just a few years ago because most people are too afraid of being called a bigot to resist. And yet, these creeps and weirdos are not limiting their cultural debasement to adults: They are now targeting our children, meaning, if we dont fight back, by the time the current generation of kids become adults, our culture and traditions will have been destroyed forever. Case in point: Sickos organized a Pride in the Park event featuring drag queens and other aberrant behaviors to perform unBaptisms on children. But this wasnt in deep-blue California; this took place in deep-red Idaho, according to a report by EnVolve. The event was scheduled for Saturday in the city of Coeur dAlene, and was falsely described as a family friendly celebration of LGBTQ+ diversity (there is nothing family-friendly about this kind of behavior). The Satanic Temple was scheduled to be there, according to the North Idaho Pride Alliance website, in an attempt to brainwash, groom and recruit children. @TSTIdaho will be at Coeur DAlenes Pride in the Park event next Saturday, June 11th from 10am-3pm! tweeted one Satanist. We will have merchandise and performing unbaptisms for those interested! Just know, Satan loves you for you! Hail Satan! the person added on Twitter. As the Idaho Tribunes Johnston Meadows reported, Among the Satanists, there will be a plethora of LGBT speakers and performers, many of who[m] are drag queens. Among the sponsors, there will be an Idaho HIV, STD & Hepatitis prevention and care booth, for children to learn about how gay people are at a much greater risk of contracting such diseases, due to their poor life choices, he adds. EnVolve notes further: Members of Antifa are also planning to turn up to protect members of the LGBT community from protesters and anyone who might have a problem with their kids being around Satanists or drag queens. Leftists get irate at conservatives for calling them groomers when they advocate exposing kids to drag queens, whose entire act is based on sexualized fetishes. However, at least for the Satanists who will attend the event, they have openly stated their intention to groom children for membership. The issue of using drag queens to groom children actually made national headlines recently, and not a moment too soon. A gay bar in Dallas drew widespread criticism and condemnation for hosting a drag show for kids featuring large neon signage that read, Its Not Gonna Lick Itself. The Drag the Kids to Pride show at the Mr. Misster bar was advertised as a family-friendly version of the bars regular Champagne Drag Brunch. According to local outlet WFAA, during Saturdays event, some drag performers danced with and took dollar bills from children. Do you want to hit the stage with the queens? said a promotion for the event. We have FIVE limited spots for young performers to take the stage solo, or with a queen of their choosing! On a high note, some Dallas residents gathered outside the club to protest what they correctly saw as a blatant attempt to groom children. And to that point, its not at all clear why any parent would be okay with taking their children to such an event. I live in this community, a woman who gave her name as Daisy and was holding a sign that read, Stop grooming children, told WFAA. I have for several years. I dont believe that I should be seeing signs advertising for children to be dancing on stage with men in thongs and in inappropriate clothing and makeup. Sources include: CharlieKirk.com WFAA.com En-Volve.com Heat wave is expected to blanket a vast portion of the United States with soaring temperatures and dry conditions, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). As the official US summer season is more than a week away, over 60 million Americans are already under heat alerts from California to Louisiana as of Saturday, June 11. Extreme heat will especially aggravate drought in the Southwest US, breaking daily record-holders with the hottest temperatures in multiple areas. The weather forecast also brings heat wave warnings, since temperatures could reach dangerous or life-threatening levels. The latest weather advisory highlights renewed risks from heat waves not only for the US but also for Canada. In the summer of 2021 in North America, hundreds of people died in states of Washington and Oregon, as well as in Canada's southwestern province of British Columbia. In May, energy experts issued a warning that the US could face infrastructural problems concerning the energy sector ahead of the summer season. Under the warning, widespread power outages or regional blackouts could swept through the nation; as intense heat may reportedly damage or destroy power grids and other electricity-related infrastructure. Heat Alerts The NWS office Hanford California stated regions affected by the heat alerts could pose potential "heat-related illnesses," especially for people or workers involved in outdoor activities, as cited by CNN. This is possible as the forecast suggests triple digit temperatures of at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit could occur mostly during the morning or afternoon. In spite of the scorching daytime temperatures, the US weather agency also noted that people could expect a relief during the nighttime as temperatures are relatively to be cooler. From the Central Valley in California and towards the Great Plains, 45 million out of the 60 million under the heat alerts could experience the abnormal hot temperatures. Also Read: Worsening Marine Heat Waves Pose Disastrous Consequences for Coastal Habitats Hotspot Areas Over 140 cities are reportedly affected until Wednesday, June 15, with the following urban landscapes emphasized: San Francisco, California Los Angeles, California Salt Lake City, Utah Phoenix, Arizona Denver, Colorado Albuquerque, New Mexico El Paso, Texas Dallas, Texas Houston, Texas New Orleans, Louisiana Omaha, Nebraska St. Louis, Missouri 2021 Summer Season Heat-related deaths spiked as temperatures increased in the Pacific Northwest during the 2021 summer season. Almost 200 people have been reported killed in Washington and Oregon, as above-average temperatures endangered people under the open Sun, according to The New York Times. Last year's heat wave has been considered to be one of the worst natural disasters in North America in modern history. The prevailing catastrophic record-holder was from the so-called 1936 North American heat wave. The NWS summarized that historical heat wave occurred from July 11 to July 14 of 1936, which is reportedly under the "Dust Bowl" years from 1930. The connotation pertains to the hottest summers ever recorded in the US, affecting mostly states in the Great Lakes, Midwest, Great Plains, and Mississippi River Valley. The US summer season normally spans from June 20 to September 23 each year. Related Article: Record-Breaking 2,000-Mile Heatwave to Stretch from Texas to Maine This Week Joe Brown, a man from the town of Gilbert, Arizona, became a social media sensation after uploading an initial video on TikTok, showing his cooking skills under the sun. The setting of his bizarre culinary show took place inside his car, using only the above-average hot temperatures to cook pancakes, streaks, and hamburgers. At the time of the viral video's uploading, Arizona heat already resembled soaring temperatures typically experienced during the summer season, which is still less than 10 days away. With this, Joe was able to cook full fast food meals without using conventional fire. Over recent days, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a weather forecast for extreme heat and above-average temperatures in multiple areas across the United States. Since the onset of June, summer has already started for some parts of the country. Car Cooking Story The viral TikTok video was also uploaded by the YouTube channel NowThis News on June 7 where it can be seen and heard Joe was narrating that it was already summer in Arizona with temperatures of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The first part of the video showed the Gilbert man preparing hamburger meat and buns on a tray, while putting a variety of seasonings on it. He then stated of leaving the raw meat and bread in his car for several hours and used temperature meter showing 186.6 Fahrenheit. He went back after two hours under 203.6 Fahrenheit and showed a completely-cooked meat with the buns being "extra toasty." In mid-part of the video, Joe also mentioned he made a chocolate cake and a pizza in his car utilizing the same method he used with the hamburgers. However, he claimed the pizza was an epic failure since it dissolved under the heat, which was not the way he was expecting. In another part, he was seen cooking "candles" on his rooftop. Joe gained over 2 million followers on TikTok after the viral video, which already has an increasing number of views on YouTube and likely on other social media platforms. Also Read: Weather Service Warn for the Dangerous and Deadly Heatwave in Arizona Food Experiment In a statement cited by local news Fox 10 Phoenix, Joe started his food experimentation in 2020 before even starting posting on TikTok. He said the hot weather in Arizona allowed him to create unconventional ways to cook food outdoors, such as in the rooftop and inside the car. The TikTok star said his idea came when he was younger; guided by popular notion that a person can cook egg on the sidewalk when it is hot, as reported by News 4 San Antonio. The US media outlets also mentioned Joe as being an enthusiast not only posting videos online but also reviewing and rating the food he cooks. The uploaded video is part of the so-called "car series," which Joe reportedly said would run until September. Arizona has a relatively calm and clear weather all-year round but inclement weather and cooler temperatures do occur in some occasions. Related Article: Hottest Weather of the Year Due to Jet Stream is on Track for Southwest US: Meteorological Expert Mammoth teeth dating back from the late Acheulean Stage 200,000 years ago have been discovered, and is currently stored in the Ipswich Museum in Ipswich, UK. Now, scientists are aiming to test the 200,000-year-old fossil with the objective of gaining genetic information never before seen in the history of archaeology and genetic studies. The fossilized teeth possibly encapsulate the oldest mammoth DNA in the UK and Europe. With this, researchers from the National History Museum in London and the Stockholm University in Sweden set on a mission to uncover details behind the massive tusked animals that once roamed the Earth. A potential discovery of significant DNA data from the fossil could also shed light on the raging debate on whether early humans contributed to the extinction of mammoths or not. However, recent research agrees on the prevailing evidence that climate change alone caused the extinctions of the ancient elephants. Mammoth Teeth DNA Scientists from the UK and Sweden will be sampling the mammoth teeth at an unspecified date. The team hopes to gain an older mammoth DNA compared to the currently oldest DNA samples from other mammoth teeth dating from 50,000 years ago, according to Dr. Simon Jackson from the Suffolk Museum, as cited by the BBC. The project comes from the presumption that the older Ipswich mammoth teeth could have preserved DNA, which Jackson reportedly told the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Jackson added that finding a relevant DNA from the Ipswich sample could be ground-breaking and may serve as a basis for future research concerning mammoths. Also Read: 17,000 Years Old Woolly Mammoth Traveled Around the Entire Planet Twice, Say Experts What is a Mammoth? Mammoth (Mammuthus) is an extinct species of elephantid belonging to the Family Elephantidae and Order Proboscidea, a group of trunked mammals called proboscideans with some of its members surviving until the contemporary times. According to the University of California's Museum of Paleontology, mammoths had their ancestral roots from the species African Mammoth (Mammuthus africanavus). Scientists estimate mammoths first evolved and lived in what is now North Africa but disappeared approximately 3 or 4 million years ago. German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenback first described the colossal tusked mammals in 1799, providing the name Elephas primigenius after unearthing elephant-like bones in Europe. The presence of the mammoths in Europe came as mammoths were believed to have traveled into Eurasia from Africa. However, there were no reported mammoth fossils in Australia and South America, indicating the ancient animals only had a limited travel and originated in one region. Overkill Hypothesis In an article by the Smithsonian Magazine in July 2017, the journal referred to now-extinct animals such as cave hyenas, wombats, giant sloths, and woolly mammoths as Earth's "fantastic beasts" which have disappeared hundreds of thousands or several millions of years ago. The disappearance of what is deemed as "remarkable" animals have led to the theory that early humans may have influenced the extinction of these large animals. In 1966, Paul Martin, an American geoscientist and paleontologist, first proposed the "overkill hypothesis," which says the arrival of modern humans in some parts of the world were both directly and indirectly involved in the beasts' extinction; either from hunting or competition. Related Article: Scientists to Bring Extinct Woolly Mammoths Back to Life by Creating 'Arctic Elephant' Champaign, IL (61820) Today Windy and Partly cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low near 75F. Winds SW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Windy and Partly cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low near 75F. Winds SW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Sundiata Cha-Jua is a professor of African American studies and history at the University of Illinois and a member of the North End Breakfast Club. His email is schajua@gmail.com. Globally, preterm birth complications are the leading cause of death for children under the age of 5. Not everyone faces the same risk, though: In the United States, roughly 10% of pregnancies lead to preterm birth, but for Black women, that likelihood is 14%. Recent studies suggest that the vaginal microbiome, which plays an important role in a woman's reproductive health, may influence those outcomes. Findings published in mSystems, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, support that idea. After analyzing data from a large study on pregnant women in North Carolina, researchers found that participants with a high abundance of Lactobacillus crispatus were less likely to have a preterm birth. The researchers also stratified their findings by race and found evidence for the protective effect of L. crispatus in both White and Black populations. Lactobacillus bacteria are common in the vaginal microbiome, but the specific species that dominate may affect outcomes, said microbiologist and lead author Shan Sun, Ph.D., a researcher at the University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC). Some species are more or less protective, but when the vaginal microbiome was dominated by species of L. crispatus, preterm birth was 40% less likely." Shan Sun, Ph.D., Researcher, University of North Carolina Charlotte Sun and her colleagues also higher alpha-diversity, lower abundance of L. crispatus, and higher abundance of L. iners in the vaginal microbiome of Black women. In the gut microbiome, greater diversity is often associated with better health. But the opposite seems to be true in the vaginal microbiome, said bioinformatics scientist Anthony Fodor, Ph.D., at UNCC. "If you have one dominant microbe, ok, that's what you want." Higher diversity may dampen the protective effects of L. crispatus in Black women, said Sun, but further evidence is needed to probe that hypothesis. Sun is a postdoctoral researcher in Fodor's lab. Previous studies have investigated connections between the vaginal microbiome and preterm births, Sun said, but have largely been limited by low numbers of participants. The new findings are based on data on 464 White women and 360 Black women enrolled in the Pregnancy, Infection, and Nutrition (PIN) Study, based at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Between 1995 and 2000, the study enrolled more than 3,000 women and compiled data on a wide range of health, environmental, and social factors. "We can pull in microbiome data to help us describe how all these determinants of health work together to produce outcomes," said epidemiologist Stephanie Engel, Ph.D., at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. "We can get at the entire picture of a woman's experience of pregnancy." Engel is the current principal investigator of the PIN study. She and Fodor are senior authors of the new study. What remains unclear, said Engel, is whether L. crispatus is itself protective or is a consequence of some other factor that lowers the risk for preterm birth. "We don't know if having a specific vaginal microbiome creates a susceptibility for some other agent that's actually the causal agent," she said. Engel said she also hopes researchers will use PIN data to probe the racial disparities in preterm outcomes. "Are we asking the right questions? Is it really race, or racism?" she asked. "There's still quite a bit to be done to describe the nature of the microbiome during pregnancy and what influences outcomes." Older adults with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) are at significantly higher risk of both muscle weakening and cardiovascular complications, say McMaster University researchers. Using gripping power as a measure, researchers compared the muscle strength of 63 participants from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging with T1D to a control group of 63 without diabetes, tracking them over a three-year period. The average age of those surveyed was 59 when first assessed. The research has been published in The Canadian Journal of Diabetes. The study authors also found that older patients with T1D had abnormally low diastolic blood pressure when the heart muscle is relaxed between beats which might be an indicator of early increased cardiovascular disease risk. The study follows related research showing that T1D patients over 40 had reduced leg-muscle strength. Taken together, the studies suggest patients should be trying to preserve their strength with resistance-based exercises such as resistance bands and weights. We now have two pieces of evidence showing that patients with T1D have reduced strength and undertaking resistance-based exercises can compensate for this loss." Thomas Hawke, senior author, professor, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine Hawke explained that some people with T1D avoid exercise, fearing it will lower their blood sugar. "Unlike aerobic exercise, resistance training is not usually associated with lowering blood sugar in T1D. In fact, it can even increase blood sugar levels a little. More and more studies are proving the benefits of resistance exercise. The benefits are multifaceted," he said. Hawke said the evidence is now overwhelming clear that diminishing muscle strength is strongly associated with higher mortality. "It is also significantly correlated with your frailty and ability to live independently. Can you carry a grocery bag, pick up that laundry basket, or even get up from your toilet unassisted? We need to identify these issues before a person suffers a serious fall and requires hospitalization or institutionalization." Maureen MacDonald, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology said that the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging is providing important data to help identify areas for future research. "We have now received a grant to follow-up this research with an exercise training study to determine if we can lessen some of the negative health impacts of T1D we observed in this study." Co-author Lauren Turner, who has T1D herself, said the research can guide clinical practice and help patients with diabetes make better decisions about their health. "This study shows the importance of being active and maintaining one's muscle health to ensure longevity, as well as using insulin and monitoring blood sugar levels," said Turner, who completed her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology in Hawke's lab. She is now completing her master's degree at York University. "As someone with diabetes, I enjoy running and being active, and it is all about finding the balance between what is good for you and what you like." An estimated 300,000 Canadians live with T1D. The disease typically presents in childhood/adolescence and is one of the most common chronic pediatric diseases, resulting in serious complications and reducing life expectancy by as much as 15 years. The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. (Newser) Brad Moline, a fourth-generation Iowa turkey farmer, saw this happen before. In 2015, a virulent avian flu outbreak nearly wiped out his flock. Barns once filled with chattering birds were suddenly silent. Employees were anguished by having to kill sickened animals. The family business, started in 1924, was at serious risk. His business recovered, but now the virus is back, again imperiling the nation's poultry farms, the AP reports. And this time, there's another pernicious force at work: a potent wave of misinformation that claims the bird flu isn't real. "You just want to beat your head against the wall," Moline said of the Facebook groups in which people insist the flu is fake or, maybe, a bioweapon. "I understand the frustration with how COVID was handled. I understand the lack of trust in the media today. I get it. But this is real." While it poses little risk to humans, the global outbreak has led farmers to cull millions of birds and threatens to add to already rising food prices. It's also spawning fantastical claims similar to the ones that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic, underscoring how conspiracy theories often emerge at times of uncertainty, and how the internet and a deepening distrust of science and institutions fuel their spread. The claims can be found on obscure online message boards and major platforms like Twitter. Some versions claim the flu is fake, a hoax to justify reducing the supply of birds in an effort to drive up food prices, either to wreck the global economy or force people into vegetarianism. "There is no 'bird flu' outbreak," wrote one man on Reddit. "It's just COVID for chickens." Other posters insist the flu is real, but that it was genetically engineered as a weapon, possibly to touch off a new round of COVID-style lockdowns. A version of the story popular in India posits that 5G cell towers are somehow to blame for the virus. The reality of the outbreak is far more mundane. Farmers have already culled millions of fowl to prevent the spread. Zoos around the US have moved exotic bird exhibits indoors, and wildlife authorities are discouraging backyard bird feeding in some states to prevent spread by wild birds. The first known human case of the H5N1 outbreak in the US was confirmed last month in Colorado; most human cases involve direct contact with infected birds, so the risk to a broad population is low. While details vary, conspiracy theories about avian flu all speak to a distrust of institutions, and a suspicion that doctors, scientists, veterinarians, journalists, and elected officials around the world can no longer be trusted. Conspiracy theories flourish during times of social unease, said John Jackson, dean of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. "There isn't a phenomena on the planet, whether its the avian flu or 5G, that isn't already primed for conspiracists," he said. (Read more avian flu stories.) (Newser) Marketing departments still havent decided what to call it yet, but there is increasing demand for cultivated (aka cultured, cell-grown, or no-kill) meat, at least in Singapore. Thats where US-based Good Meat has teamed up with food-processing behemoth ADM to build the worlds largest bioreactors to produce cultivated meat, according to the Guardian. Eventually, the facility is expected to produce 13,000 tons of cell-grown chicken and beef per yeara teeny sliver of global meat consumption but enough for a proper test run in the marketplace. Singapore is the only country where cultivated meat has regulatory approval, but the USDA and FDA are working on it. Josh Tetrick, CEO of Eat Just, Good Meats parent company, says the bioreactors present significant engineering challenges and require major investment, but theres also big potential to move society away from slaughtered meat. I think our grandchildren are going to ask us about why we ate meat from slaughtered animals back in 2022, Tetrick said, saying the product will enable us to eat meat without all the harm, without bulldozing forests, and without the enormous carbon and methane footprints produced by the traditional meat industry. Caroline Bushnell of the nonprofit Good Food Institute said it could be a "gamechanger in the race to bring meat grown from cells to restaurants, supermarkets, and dining tables." Another company, Upside Foods, recently raised $400 million to boost production with help from major companies like Tyson and Cargill. Per CNN, company founder Uma Valeti says these products are real meat and the process is "similar to brewing beer, but instead of growing yeast or microbes, we grow animal cells." Scientists start by harvesting real animal cells through biopsy and then give them the nutrients they need to replicate naturally. As for the taste, Upside Foods COO Amy Chen says it was "simultaneously one of the most unremarkable things and one of the most remarkable things Ive ever eaten. Its just meat." (Read more stem cells stories.) (Newser) For almost 40 years starting in the 1930s, as government researchers purposely let hundreds of Black men die of syphilis in Alabama so they could study the disease, a foundation in New York covered funeral expenses for the deceased. The payments were vital to survivors of the victims in a time and place ravaged by poverty and racism, the AP reports. Altruistic as they might sound, the checks$100 at mostwere no simple act of charity: They were part of an almost unimaginable scheme. To get the money, widows or other loved ones had to consent to letting doctors slice open the bodies of the dead men for autopsies that would detail the ravages of a disease the victims were told was "bad blood." Fifty years after the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study was revealed to the public and halted, the organization that made those funeral payments, the Milbank Memorial Fund, publicly apologized Saturday to descendants of the study's victims. The move is rooted in the nation's racial reckoning after George Floyd's murder by police in 2020. "It was wrong. We are ashamed of our role. We are deeply sorry," said Christopher Koller, president of the fund. The apology and an accompanying monetary donation to a descendants' group, the Voices for Our Fathers Legacy Foundation, were presented during a ceremony in Tuskegee at a gathering of children and other relatives of men who were part of the study. The money will make scholarships available to the descendants. The group also plans a memorial at Tuskegee University, which served as a conduit for the payments and was the location of a hospital where medical workers saw the men. Koller said there's no easy way to explain how its leaders in the 1930s decided to make the payments, or to justify what happened. Generations later, because of what's called the racia "Tuskegee effect," some Black people in the US still fear government health care. Lillie Tyson Head's late father Freddie Lee Tyson was part of the study. She's now president of the Voices group. She called the apology "a wonderful gesture" even if it comes 25 years after the government apologized for the study to its final survivors, who have all since died. "It's really something that could be used as an example of how apologies can be powerful in making reparations and restorative justice be real," said Head. (Read more apology stories.) (Newser) Rebel Wilson recently revealed she's found love with another woman, and if she hadn't revealed it on her own, an Australian newspaper was about to do it for her, E! reports. In a column for the Sydney Morning Herald, Andrew Hornery writes that the paper asked Wilson to comment on her relationship with Ramona Agruma on Thursday morning, and within hours, the actress had announced on Instagram that she and Agruma were together. Outlets including the Mary Sue note that Hornery's tone is not exactly friendly: "It was with an abundance of caution and respect that this media outlet emailed Rebel Wilsons representatives ... before publishing a single word. Big mistake. Wilson opted to gazump the story," posting on Instagram, he complains. He goes on to accuse Wilson of "feeding" media interest "when she had a hunky boyfriend on her arm," but not now that she's with a woman. "In an era when same-sex marriage is legal in many parts of the world andthanks to decades of battling for equalitysexual orientation is no longer something to be hidden, even in Hollywood," he writes. "In a perfect world, 'outing' same-sex celebrity relationships should be a redundant concept in 2022. Love is love, right?" The Mary Sue rounds up some of the more appalled Twitter reactions to the column here. (Read more Rebel Wilson stories.) (Newser) Russian forces trying to encircle Sievierodonetsk could be just days from cutting the city off, Ukrainian officials said Sunday. The government has reinforced troops trying to hold onto the last major urban center in the Luhansk region it still controls, the New York Times reports. Capturing the industrial city is a major goal of Russia's military. "The situation in Sievierodonetsk is extremely difficult," Serhiy Haidai, the regional governor, said on Telegram, adding, "The next two or three days will be significant." A senior US defense agreed that Russia is likely to have all of Luhansk soon, per the Washington Post. Developments include: The fight in Severodonetsk: A chemical plant where hundreds of troops and civilians are sheltering is being bombarded by Russian forces, per the Post. Haidai said the shelling caused a huge fire, per the BBC. They knocked out a second bridge to the city and are shelling another one to cut off the inflow of supplies and people, the governor said. The mayor said Ukrainian troops control just one-third of Sievierodonetsk. The twin city: Like Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk's ability to hang on depends on getting supplies, including ammunition and equipment to replace what's destroyed in the fighting, into the city. Thousands of troops already are there, per the Times. "If the help will come, it wont be occupied, said a military police officer in Lysychansk. "If there is no help with military equipment, of course they will drive us out." Missile strike in the west: Four Russian missiles fired from the Black Sea struck Chortkiv, injuring 22 people, local officials said. One hit a pipeline, prompting the shutoff of the city's gas supply. The Russian Defense Ministry said its strike destroyed a warehouse in which Ukraine was keeping antitank and antimissile systems from the US and UK. Ukrainian officials did not comment on the Russian claim. President's assessment: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed pride in his nightly video talk over the way his country's forces have fought in the east. "Remember how in Russia, in the beginning of May, they hoped to seize all of the Donbas?" Zelensky said late Saturday, per the AP. "It's already the 108th day of the war, already June. Donbas is holding on." He said Russia has had three times the number of military casualties that Ukraine has, saying: "For what? What did it get you, Russia?" (Read more Russia-Ukraine conflict stories.) (Newser) A suburban Seattle city will pay more than $1.5 million to settle a dispute with a former assistant police chief who was disciplined for posting a Nazi rank insignia on his office door and joking about the Holocaust. Former Kent Assistant Police Chief Derek Kammerzell, who had been with the department for nearly three decades, was initially given two weeks of unpaid leave after the 2020 incident. Outraged residents and members of the Jewish community prompted Kent Mayor Dana Ralph to put Kammerzell on paid administrative leave and demand his resignation, the AP reports. The citys attempt to essentially discipline Kammerzell a second time led to a dispute between his lawyers and the city that appeared headed for litigation. But interim city Chief Administrative Officer Arthur "Pat" Fitzpatrick, who is also the city attorney, said Friday the city had resolved the matter through negotiation, the Seattle Times reports. Ralph, in calling for Kammerzells resignation in January, acknowledged that the decision to revisit the discipline issue would likely "come at a high cost." The city said Friday it would pay him $1,520,000 to resign. Had the city simply fired him, officials said, he likely would have won back his job through arbitration due to federal and state labor laws. An internal investigation concluded Kammerzell knew the meaning of the insignia he placed above the nameplate on his office door in September 2020, that of an "obergruppenfuhrer"a high official in Hitlers paramilitary Schutzstaffel, or SS, which was responsible for the systematic murders of millions of Jews and others in Europe during World War II. The insignia was taken down after four days when a detective in the investigations bureau, which Kammerzell commanded, filed a complaint. Kammerzell also was overheard joking about the Holocaust, according to the internal investigation. (Read more Washington state stories.) (Newser) A bipartisan group of senators announced Sunday that they'd agreed to an outline of a gun legislation package that could reverse years of congressional inaction on proposals to reduce mass shootings. The deal includes "red flag" laws and enhanced background checks on prospective gun buyers, NBC News reports. It does not include raising the minimum age for purchasing certain rifles from 18 to 21, per the Washington Post, which had the support of President Biden and others, including some Republicans. Although the proposals are modest compared with what many Democrats wanted, passage could still represent a breakthrough in the congressional stalemate over gun control, per Politico. The senators agreed on: "Red flag" laws: A grant program would be used to encourage states to approve such legislation, under which guns could be kept from people once a judge found them to be a potential danger to themselves or others. Background checks: The process would be expanded for those ages 18 to 21. State and local criminal records would be checked before clearance, as would state providers for mental health information that could be disqualifying. Spending: Billions more could be put toward mental health care, school security, and new campus infrastructure. More armed officers would be hired. "Our plan saves lives while also protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans," the senators said in a statement. But the deal is an "agreement on principles, not legislative text," a Republican Senate aide cautioned. "The details will be critical for Republicans, particularly the firearms-related provisions," the aide told Politico. warned. "One or more of these principles could be dropped if text is not agreed to." Ten GOP senators signed on, per CNN; that's the number of Republican votes needed to get around a Senate filibuster. (Read more gun laws stories.) Fairbanks, AK (99707) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 53F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 53F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Jenn Miller is the CEO and co-founder of Renewable IPP, LLC. She is a licensed professional mechanical engineer who grew up in Eagle River and is thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to Alaskas future energy solutions. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Legions of customers are upset over the disallowance of debit and credit cards at petrol pumps across Bahrain, which they say is making their life miserable. A good majority of petrol pumps in Bahrain only accept cash payments or special cards issued by petroleum companies. The customers say this system is not in line with the digitization policy currently being implemented in Bahrain as well as across the region. This comes amid Bahrains authorities planning to increase the number of fuel stations from the existing 48 to 80 in the next two years with an aim to develop and improve oil services across all governorates. This is something that is pulling us backwards. On the one hand, we are talking of digitization of services and on the other, we have systems such as this in place, where our existing digital wallets arent permitted, said a customer, who doesnt want to be named. He added that he has seen debit, credit cards being accepted at petrol pumps in all countries where he travelled. Another customer said it is a practice that should be changed immediately. After entering the premises of petrol pumps, we often realise that we dont have cash with us to pay. And there wouldnt be any ATM machines in the vicinity. Now, one would naturally ask as to why cant I carry the cards issued by petroleum companies to make life easier. There is nothing wrong with it. But, why should I carry them when my digital wallet already consists of two credit cards and three debit cards. He urged the authorities to issue directives in this regard. These petrol pumps can charge us a service fee according to the bill. I am sure nobody would get upset over this service fee as this will clearly make their lives more convenient. Speaking to The Daily Tribune, a financial expert said credit, debit cards are not allowed at petrol pumps for one reason. Apparently, the oil company doesnt want to incur the charges involved in payment transactions, mainly to the payment network companies. To avoid these charges, they have introduced their own cards that could be used across all petrol pumps. But the bigger question is that how many people have these cards with them? Payment network companies generally earn from transaction processing fees. Last year, there was a proposal from the part of lawmakers in Bahrain to turn petrol pumps smart. As per the proposal, reader chips would be installed on the fuel lids of motorists at a particular cost. It would be then linked to the Sadeem fuel payment mobile application while providing options for the type of fuel and amount. Once the tank gets filled, the amount purchased would be automatically deducted from debit or credit cards or BenefitPay. The suggestion has since then sparked a heated debate with worries that pump attendant jobs could be lost as such technological initiatives are implemented. Academic promotions benefit nearly 1,500 teachers, more on way, says Director-General of School Affairs Academic promotions benefit nearly 1,500 teachers, more on way, says Director-General of School Affairs TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Nearly 1,500 teachers were promoted until the start of this month, since the adoption of new standards for teacher promotion last January, said a top official. Dr Muhammad Mubarak bin Ahmed, the Director-General of School Affairs, said the pace of promotions had accelerated to promote 1,489 teachers, thanks to the new standards. "Job performance is the sole criteria for awarding promotions," said Dr Ahmed, adding more promotions will come during the July to September period. To transfer 90 employees He said the School Affairs is also coordinating with the Civil Service to transfer 90 employees to the position of heads and coordinators of administrative affairs in government schools as per available vacancies. "We have already filled some of the vacancies," he confirmed. Moving on, Dr Mohamed Mubarak said the new school organizational structure now allows employees at the technical level (information technician and data technician) to become teaching assistants at the eighth degree. Requirements for this position will be announced in the upcoming weeks. "We created these positions for supporting teachers and giving technicians an opportunity for career advancement," he added. The Director-General further said that the Schools Affairs seeks to make optimum use of the government employee system in coordination with the Civil Service Authority. 600 applications We already received more than 600 applications from people working in other government agencies for several positions available in the educational sector, he added. "The competition is intense among Bahrainis wanting to work in the education sector." He further revealed that work is ongoing to transfer government employees to the position of a teacher and the head of schools. We will announce transfers as heads of the Centre for Gifted Students Care soon, where promotion extends up to the fourth special executive decree. He called on government employees interested in the job to apply if they qualify the criteria that the authority will announce in the next two weeks. Agencies | Riyadh, Beijing The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Dr Khalid bin Hussein Al-Bayari, Assistant Minister of Defence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for Executive Affairs, met in Singapore today on the sidelines of Asia Security Summit (19th Shangri-La Dialogue) with Chinas State Councilor, Minister of National Defence General Wei Fenghe, according to the Saudi Press Agency. During the meeting, bilateral relations between the two countries in the defence and military fields were reviewed and a number of issues of mutual concern discussed. Dr Al-Bayaru led Saudi Arabias defence ministrys delegation to the summit which started yesterday with the participation of a number of defence, interior and foreign ministers as well as senior government officials, military analysts and decision-makers in the diplomatic and security arenas of more than 30 countries. The summit, organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, is scheduled to discuss a number of important issues, topped by the regional security situation, ways of cooperation and exchange in the defence field, and enhancing security partnerships in Asia and the Pacific. WHEATON, Ill. (AP) Public health officials have identified a third case of monkeypox a week after the first two cases appeared in Illinois. WLS-TV reports that a man in DuPage County tested positive for monkeypox after traveling internationally. The adult male was in a country that has reported an outbreak, according to the DuPage County Health Department. Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), today (June 12) rolled out its environment, social and governance (ESG) roadmap to its employees and banks at a meeting with the Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB). The company hosted a delegation of Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB) which was attended by Albas executive management team, BABs Chief Executive Officer Dr. Waheed Al Qassim as well as top C-suite executives of more than 20 national and international banks operating in Bahrain. Aluminium Bahrain, an environment, social and governance (ESG) corporate activist, is charting its journey to meet Bahrains net zero emissions by 2060, stated Albas CEO Ali Al Baqali during the meeting with the Bahrain Association of Banks at Albas Oasis Hall. During the meeting, Al Baqali presented the ESG roadmaps six priority areas and initiatives: (1) decarbonisation, (2) green energy and aluminium, (3) circular economy & secondary aluminium, (4) employee welfare, (5) collaboration, partnership and (6) transparency, communications and due diligence. Addressing the BAB delegation, Al Baqali stated: We believe that small acts, when multiplied by millions of stakeholders, can have bigger impact. Working together collectively is the Only Right Choice to realise our nations objectives under the leadership of HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Bahrain and we believe that Bahrain Association of Banks will play an important role in Albas ESG journey. Dr Waheed Al Qassim, the CEO of BAB, said: This visit is part of the association's commitment to providing an effective link between its members from financial and banking institutions and the various economic institutions. At the same time, BAB appreciates the role played by Alba in contributing significantly to GDP and creating rewarding job opportunities for citizens, while also supporting the economy and development in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Adding further, Dr Al Qassim stated: In terms of applying the best environmental and governance models, Bahrain's financial and banking institutions have several pioneering experiences that can be shared with Alba which include sustainable development, green finance, and other objectives that have been clearly defined in the Central Bank of Bahrain's Financial Services Sector Development Strategy 2022-2026.This high-level meeting with Alba enhances the two sides' solid cooperation in ESG and other areas of joint cooperation. Alba will also reach out to other stakeholder groups who would influence the sustainability of its operations.--TradeArabia News Service DANBURY The public schools are forced to scale back their summer school program this year due to limited staffing. We find ourselves in a really tough position this year, Superintendent Kevin Walston told the school board on Wednesday. Danbury will need to return to offering summer school to students in kindergarten through third grade only. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the district had invited fourth and fifth grade students to summer school. Unfortunately were not alone in this challenge in terms of staffing, and so weve had to revise our letters and invitations to families, Walston said. The exception is the special education department, which will continue to offer its traditional five-week summer school program, said Kelly Truchsess, assistant superintendent for education and pupil services. Our special education summer school program has not been impacted, she said. For other students, two, two-week sessions will be offered, rather than a four-week session. This school year has been like no other, causing burnt-out educators to be less willing to sign up to teach summer school, Walston said. School officials have said theyve seen an uptick in behavioral problems, among other challenges, as students returned to full-time learning this academic year. Our staff is tired, he said. Theyre exhausted, our administrators are exhausted, our teachers, our tech staff is exhausted, and I think it played itself out in our interest in working this summer. Walston acknowledged the change will be tough for families. We understand this is going to be a hardship for many of our families, particularly families who count on child care over the summer, but we unfortunately are going to need families to make some adjustments, he said. The district would ideally return to an expanded summer school program in the future, he said. Im hoping next year its more of a normal school year, and we will be able to return to typical staffing that weve had in years past, Walston said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BROOKFIELD Local officials and residents are calling for action after a tense email exchange between a town official and an attorney working as the towns legal counsel came to light this week. According to copies of the exchange, the attorney, Timothy Herbst, accused Republican Board of Finance Chair Glenn Rooney of making misogynistic comments directed at Republican First Selectwoman Tara Carr. In response, Rooney demanded a written apology for the accusation. I will not apologize to you because, based upon my observations, I dont like how you speak to people. In my opinion, your tone is condescending and misogynistic, Herbst replied in the May 18 email thread. On May 20, Rooneys colleagues on the Board of Finance sent an open letter to the Board of Selectmen, calling Herbsts email insulting and harmful, and crossed the line to personal and professional abuse. The letter demanded action from town officials, including calling for Herbst to be removed from any and all town correspondences and be prohibited from participating in any town-related activities, and for the town attorney and his law firm to publicly apologize to Mr. Rooney for the comments made... The town hired the law firm last December after Carr was sworn into office. Brookfield should have zero tolerance for such behavior, the five other Republican and Democratic members of the board wrote in the letter. Ignoring it is akin to tacitly condoning it, and sets a dangerous precedent for others to attack any public official with whom they disagree. In response, the first selectwoman says she is seeking independent counsel to review the finance board chairs past conduct after she said she was recently provided with a Dec. 7, 2020 letter from prior First Selectman Steve Dunn regarding a Dec. 3, 2020 incident between Rooney and female town employee where he allegedly threatened to get the woman fired, according to a June 8 letter Carr sent to Rooney. Rooney says he apologized to the first selectman at the time. The Brookfield Republican Town Committee Executive Board said in a statement Thursday that its troubled by the allegations against Rooney and called for his resignation from the finance board. Herbst said Friday it would be inappropriate to respond to the Board of Finance letter because it appears other members of the finance board were unaware of the December 2020 incident. The letter from Mr. Dunn outlined threats that were made to Town employees to eliminate their positions of employment because those employees would not deviate from standard procedure to provide a personal benefit to a public official, Herbst wrote in an email. My comments to Mr. Rooney centered around how he speaks to and treats others and the potential liability it creates for the Town. The incidents from December 2020 and other incidents as outlined by First Selectwoman Carr in her recent correspondence to the Board of Finance clearly validate those concerns. The thread The email exchange began on the afternoon of May 18 when Finance Director Marcia Marien informed Rooney, First Selectwoman Tara Carr and the towns Information Technology Director Daniel Secore that the Board of Finance meeting that night would be held entirely remotely because of an uptick in COVID-19 cases among town employees. The outbreak would force more than 10 town employees out of work and would, days later, prompt the town to announce that all board meetings would be held remotely based on the health directors advice. Less than an hour later, Carr responded to the email thread after seeing a message posted to the towns website announcing the remote meeting held because of unsafe conditions at Town Hall. Unsafe? Carr wrote. Who verified with [Public Health Director Dr. Raymond Sullivan] that the building is unsafe? In her response, she added to the email thread Town Attorney Dennis Kokenos and Attorney Tim Herbst, both members of the law firm, Marino, Zabel & Schellenberg, or, MZS. Do not post anything on the Brookfield Town website about health issues at town hall if [Dr. Sullivan] has not concurred and I do not know about it, Carr added. Minutes later, Rooney responded with the comment that would prompt Herbsts accusations. Tara, wrote Rooney. Were you in a meeting with a positive case and did you quarantine after that meeting? We have 9 supposed cases in town hall at this time - what % of employees who are stationed at town hall is that! So since this is a BOF meetingand BOF volunteers could be subject to Covid which is running rampant it is deemed to be unsafe for us to attend, he added. In the future Board of Finance will seek legal request to always meet virtually due to risk of Covid. Herbst responded to Rooney less than 15 minutes later. After reviewing your most recent email to First Selectwoman Carr and seeing some of your other communications, I will note the following, wrote Herbst, the former Trumbull first selectman and a 2018 Republican gubernatorial candidate. First, the First Selectwoman does not answer to you, and, second, you are not a medical professional. Third, I have a real problem with the way you speak to people, especially women. The condescending and misogynistic tone you have taken and continue to take with the First Selectwoman is inappropriate and unprofessional, the attorney concluded. New legal firm Before a vote to confirm the towns legal counsel change, Carr explained at a Dec. 15, 2021 special meeting of the Board of Selectmen how she thought it was in the best interest of the town to appoint by charter, Dennis J. Kokenos and Barbara M. Schellenberg as the new town attorneys, according to the meeting minutes. Carr and Republican Selectman Harry Shaker voted for the firm, while Dunn, the former first selectman, opposed. The move meant longtime Town Attorney Tom Beecher, and his firm Collins Hannafin, P.C., would no longer represent local officials and town employees on legal matters or provide legal counsel. Beecher did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Kokenos and Schellenberg represent the Orange-based law firm, Marino, Zabel & Schellenberg, or MZS. As the new first selectwoman of Brookfield I looked at the charter and I realized had the option to hire my own attorney and I decided it was time for a change - out with the old, in with the new, Carr said last week. Without interviewing any other firms, Carr said she met with the MZS attorneys and recommended the change to the Board of Selectmen. She initially told Hearst Connecticut Media the law firm came recommended to me through a friend, before clarifying, her friend was chair of the states Republican Committee, Ben Proto, Jr., who reached out to her before she took office. Ben Proto contacted me, Carr said. He said, have you thought about what to do about the town attorney? and I said yes I have, and he recommended this firm and I interviewed them. Reached for comment, Proto confirmed they had this conversation. Signed by Kokenos and Carr on Dec. 15, 2021, a copy of the retainer agreement with MZS and the town defines a scope of representation as the town is engaging the Firm to provide legal services for the Town... and outlines a $5,000 monthly retainer agreement that, represents the entire agreement between the Town and the Firm concerning the Firms representation of the Town in connection with the matters described in it. Under the monthly retainer fee with MZS, the firms attorneys and legal assistants provide legal advice as requested by the First Selectman and representation as outlined by the Town Charter for legal matters and non-litigation matters involving the towns top executive and all town departments, along with the boards of selectmen and finance, the Conservation Commission, Planning and Zoning Commission, and the Board of Assessment Appeals, according to the document. Ryan Roudenis, a finance board member who spoke at Mondays Board of Selectmen meeting, said any towns contracted legal firm and attorneys with that firm are employed by the town and essentially funded by us taxpayers. These individuals duty is to only provide legal opinions on town matters and should, under no circumstance, make public opinions on any town officials, he said. Allowing legal representatives to publicly communicate opinions about officials will set a very dangerous precedent that will last well beyond this administrations tenure, he added. Asked if she requested Herbst to send the email to Rooney accusing him of making misogynistic and unprofessional comments, Carr said no, adding in a text to a reporter, and I find your question highly insensitive and insulting. Carr did not respond to a subsequent inquiry asking if she found Rooneys comments to be misogynistic in nature. Carr responds Board of Finance member Dan Devorsetz read the open letter during public comment of Mondays Board of Selectmen meeting, questioning why it wasnt included in the agenda as part of the selectmens correspondence. Roudenis spoke next, noting despite his membership on the Board of Finance, his remarks were made, more importantly, as a citizen of Brookfield. I am deeply concerned with the relationship the town of Brookfield has with one of the towns legal representatives, he said. Following the meeting, Hearst requested a copy of the open letter from the town. Carr responded a day later with the document attached in an email and an added note: Since taking office, town residents and employees have voiced their concerns and displeasure to me about the way I have been spoken to by the Chairman of the [Board of Finance at town meetings. The same demeanor has been directed at me in private interactions as well. Since this most recent incident, other incidents involving the Chairman of the [Board of Finance] and town employees have been brought to my attention by town staff, she added. In a June 8 letter to Rooney that she read at that nights finance board meeting, Carr describes a Dec. 3, 2020 incident at Town Hall. Rooney recalled the incident to a reporter prior to Carr providing the letter to Hearst and admitted, I messed up. Arriving at Brookfield Town Hall for his appointment to have a document notarized, Rooney only carried his drivers license when he needed to have multiple forms of identification, he said. Rooney said he became frustrated over the legal requirement to provide added identification, asking the town employee, do you know who I am? The incident prompted then-First Selectman Steve Dunn to address Rooney in a letter, writing: Understandably, many of the employees you interacted with last Thursday fear retaliation since you went out of your way to remind them that you are on the Board of Finance and have power over them to the extent you control monies that are budgeted for each department and their jobs. wrote Dunn. Such conduct by you may very well constitute violations of the Towns Ethics Code, he added. Carrs letter states that the human resources department confirmed that the town didnt formally investigate the incident. Attorney Herbsts statements of which you took exception challenged the tone and demeanor you use when addressing Town staff and officials, Carr wrote. Just as town employees felt you would retaliate against them in 2020, it appears that you are now using your position on the Board of Finance to retaliate against Town Counsel. Ultimately, Rooney said he apologized for his behavior. I was having a bad day, I was in the wrong and I apologized to Mr. Dunn, said Rooney, who did not sign the finance boards letter calling for Herbst to be prohibited from participating in town-related activities. In further defense of Herbsts accusations against Rooney, Carr provided testimony delivered by Human Resources Director Fern Smenyak earlier this year over how Rooney handled requests from town employees seeking pay raises. You basically accused people of lying and that they were not doing the work necessary to provide you the information. Dept Heads were asked to follow a format and asked to indicate their concerns and issues, Smenyak wrote. Instead of listening and trying to understand or help them, you shut them down. Didnt want to hear it or even entertain it. Rooney acknowledged the exchange but asserted nothing about his behavior qualified has misogynistic. She was sticking up for giving employees big raises and I was trying to say, how do we justify it? Rooney said. My point was, we need to do the research, we need to understand the salaries, he added. The tense email exchange prompted Town Clerk Andrea DiStephan to write that, no legal opinion is needed for meetings to be held virtually while making a request to be removed from the email thread. I take the term misogynistic seriously and I am in disagreement with that accusation against Glenn and, more importantly, do not believe I should be involved in this thread once it moved past my role as a Town Clerk, she wrote. Marien also replied, requesting to be removed from the thread and saying she and Rooney have an excellent working relationship. Rosa Fernandes, elected to the Board of Education in 2017, said during public comment at the selectmen meeting that she supported the finance boards letter. She told Hearst she and Rooney butted heads a lot and it was a tumultuous relationship for quite a while. We learned to work together, and I realized that Glenn is a very fair person, he is just very particular about things, and he can be abrupt when he speaks but he is certainly not a misogynist at all, she added. Correction: This article was updated to clarifty who called the allegations against Rooneytroubling. The statement came from the Brookfield Republican Town Committee Executive Board. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) A Republican candidate for the South Dakota House announced Wednesday he is withdrawing his candidacy amid a challenge from his Democratic rival over his eligibility for the race. Logan Manhart, who was running as a Republican for a District 1 House seat, said in a statement released on Twitter that he had received legal advice and at the end of the day I must abide by all rules and laws that have been set forth for this position. On Monday, when party leader Rahul Gandhi appears before the ED in connection with a money laundering case On Monday, when party leader Rahul Gandhi appears before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case, Congress is preparing to make a political statement. Congress is planning a major rally to demonstrate its strength and send a message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government. The ED issued a new summons to Sonia Gandhi on Friday, asking her to appear in court on June 23 for questioning in the National Herald money laundering case. Congress MPs and members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) have also been requested to be in Delhi on Monday, according to sources. However, on Thursday, the General Secretaries of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), State Incharges, and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) Chiefs met to discuss the plan. Party workers would demonstrate at roughly 25 offices of the investigation agency around the country against political vendetta and the Central governments misuse of the central investigating agencies to suppress the voice of opposition, according to Congress leader Manickam Tagore. Today, Congress organized press conferences around the country in response to the EDs summons issued against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case. Kanpur police nabbed yet another significant suspect in the deadly fights that erupted between two groups Kanpur police nabbed yet another significant suspect in the deadly fights that erupted between two groups in the city after Friday prayers on June 3 over the market closure issue. The apprehended suspect has been identified as Nizam Qureshi of Kanpur, the President of Jamiatul Quresh. Qureshi was frequently spotted with other suspects, according to the police. According to the police, Hayat Jaffar Hashmi and Hafiz Faisal Zafri Qureshi were asked to stop meeting with Hayat during a meeting at Akbar Azam Hall on June 1. A special investigating team attended the violent scene on June 8 and collected evidence. In connection with the event, all of the defendants, including key conspirator Hayat Zafar Hashmi, were sentenced to a 14-day court remand on Sunday. They were transported to Kanpur District Jail by police after being placed on a 14-day remand. The primary offender in the Kanpur violence case, Hayat Jaffar Hashmi, was detained along with three other masterminds earlier on Saturday, according to the Uttar Pradesh Police. Furthermore Kanpur Police Commissioner Vijay Singh Meena, Well look into whether they have any ties to PFI. The Gangster Act would be used to pursue action against NSA and their assets. Hayat Jaffar Hashmi, Javed Ahmed Khan, Mohammad Rahil, and Mohammad Suffian were the four people arrested. Theyre all members of the Maulana Ali Jauhar Fans Association. We will also petition the court to remand them for 14 days stated Meena. On June 5, the district police had placed all of the defendants in the District jail for a 14-day judicial remand, including major conspirator Hayat Zafar Hashmi. Meanwhile, as per authorities, the violence began when some people attempted to close establishments that were opposed by the other group. The conflicts resulted in the injuries of two people and one police officer. amata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, has written to opposition chief ministers and leaders of opposition parties, inviting them to a meeting on June 15 to discuss the presidential elections Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, has written to opposition chief ministers and leaders of opposition parties, inviting them to a meeting on June 15 to discuss the presidential elections and strengthen resistance to divisive force. The meeting will take place on June 15 at the Constitution Club in Delhi. Banerjee has written to 22 politicians, including Arvind Kejriwal, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Sonia Gandhi, the Congresss leader, has also received a letter from her. Mamata Banerjee has called on all progressive opposition forces to gather and deliberate on the future course of action at the Constitution Club in New Delhi, according to a tweet from the Trinamool Congress. The Presidential elections are just around the verge, providing the ideal chance for all progressive parties to reassemble and discuss on the future direction of Indian politics, Banerjee wrote. The election is significant because it allows legislators to vote on who will be the next Head of State and the keeper of our democracy. At a time when our democracy is facing challenges, I believe that a productive coalition of opposition voices is essential; to speak for the underserved and unrepresented groups she continued. Banerjee stated that the countrys progressive forces must remain united and stand up to the dividing factor that is currently afflicting us. She claimed that opposition leaders are deliberately targeted by various central agencies, that the countrys image is maligned abroad, and that bitter internal dissensions are generated. The letter stated, It is past time for us to intensify our resistance. The Indian Election Commission stated on Thursday that the next presidential election will be place on July 18 and the results will be released on July 21. Mumbai police have called suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma to appear at Mumbai's Pydhonie police station on June 25 Mumbai police have called suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma to appear at Mumbais Pydhonie police station on June 25, sources said on Saturday. The summons was issued by Mumbai police in connection with the investigation and recording of Sharmas statement. On the basis of a complaint filed by Raza Academy, police had previously initiated a case against her. This comes as the controversy surrounding suspended BJP spokeswoman Nupur Sharmas comments on Prophet Muhammad has erupted, causing widespread uproar around the world. Several countries, including Malaysia, Kuwait, and Pakistan, have criticised recent remarks made by a few BJP officials in recent days. While Nupur Sharma made statements during a television debate, Naveen Jindal, another leader, made a contentious remark on Twitter. Over the statements, the BJP suspended spokeswoman Nupur Sharma and fired media in-charge Naveen Jindal. The party published a statement emphasizing its opposition to any disrespect for religious figures. Bahrain Car Parks Company (Amakin) and Epic Lion, a brand and digital design agency, have been awarded the Gold Award for the Best Rebrand of a Digital Property for 2022 by the Transform Awards MEA in its 9th Edition. The Transform Awards MEA is the only awards programme awarding the best brand work in the Middle East and Africa. The Best Rebrand of a Digital Property award acknowledges the best rebrand across an organization's digital and online assets, including its websites and digital applications. These awards celebrate the transformative power of brand strategy and design, while recognizing best practice in corporate, product and global brand development work, with categories that focus on strategy, execution, content and evaluation. Established in 1981, Bahrain Car Parks Company is a specialist in parking management, premium add-on services, and property leasing. The company is listed on Bahrain Bourse and traded under (CPARK). In 2021, Bahrain Car Parks had unveiled its new brand Amakin, expanding on the companys 40-year pioneering tradition. The award celebrates Amakins rebrand meticulously executed by Epic Lion. This transformation stands for the companys ambitious and innovative strategy to pave the way for next-generation mobility, and redefine parking experiences for everyone in Bahrain. Creative duo Ramzi Moutran and Scott Clephane recently launched Epic Lion in the Middle East following their global success. The global branding and digital design agency has offices in London, Dubai, Johannesburg and Cape Town. Within a short period, the duo emerged as favourites and they were selected to develop the high-level projects from leading companies in Bahrain such as Amakin, Tamkeen and many more. In the second quarter of 2021, Epic Lion was entrusted with transitioning Bahrain Car Parks from a traditional bricks and mortar firm to a brand that delivers on the present, and paving the way for new mobility experiences in the region. On the big win, Amakin CEO Tariq Al Jowder, said: "We are proud and extremely delighted to be recognized by this prestigious platform among hundreds of brands in the region. This achievement reflects on Amakins continued endeavours to create unparalleled experiences for parking spaces, and transform the way people move." "To rebrand a 40-year old legacy and undergo a transformative shift takes innovative and brave minds. This award has proved the success of this synergy and we look forward to accomplishing more milestones in the region," he stated. Founder and CCO of Epic Lion, Ramzi Moutran said: "Great work only comes with great partnership, and I cannot think of a braver client than the incredible team at Amakin to collaborate alongside." "Everything from working together to giving us the freedom to create a truly customer-centric, human brand pivoting toward a future in mobility and beyond parking. This was an incredible opportunity and a truly future-thinking brief that has transformed Amakin into a future-proofed brand," he added.-TradeArabia News Service West Bengal BJP submitted a memorandum to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday, requesting the deployment of paramilitary forces in the state in response to the violent protests in Howrah and Murshidabad West Bengal BJP submitted a memorandum to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday, requesting the deployment of paramilitary forces in the state in response to the violent protests in Howrah and Murshidabad against suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled leader Naveen Jindals controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad. Mobile squads of Central paramilitary forces have been deployed in impacted areas, including route marches in non-sensitive zones. If the dire situation continues, the armys deployment should be seriously considered , according to the BJP letter. On CCTV, those who coordinated the mobs and gave provocative hate remarks were identified. They should be filed under the appropriate IPC sections , BJP stated. The attacks on BJP offices in various parts of the state, they claim, were planned and intended at scaring the opposition. West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar expressed alarm on Saturday over the states deteriorating law and order situation, days after protests erupted in areas of the state. Dhankar noted in a tweet, Since June 2009, there has been a terrible administration failure that has taken no preventative or precautionary measures. Lawbreakers were given unrestricted access. Only prompt and exemplary action will suffice as a deterrent. The situation has been concerning for almost a month. Protests erupted across the country in response to comments made by suspended BJP spokeswoman Nupur Sharma about the Prophet. Muhammad. After Friday prayers, protests were held in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. Protesters held placards calling for Nupur Sharmas arrest. As protestors clashed with police in various states, stone-pelting incidents were reported. Protests in Murshidabad turned violent for the second day, with protestors hurling bricks at officers who attempted to disperse the throng along NH-34. To disperse the crowd, the West Bengal police used lathi-charge and tear gas shells. During the stone-pelting, just a few cops were harmed. A dispute occurred recently over suspended BJP spokeswoman Nupur Sharmas anti-minority remarks. A number of Gulf countries have also expressed their displeasure. However, India underlined on Thursday that the contentious words against Prophet Muhammad do not reflect the views of the government, and that action has been taken against individuals who made the remarks by concerned parties. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) A senior Turkish official insisted after talks with Swedish and Finnish officials Wednesday that Turkey would not agree to the two Nordic countries joining NATO unless specific steps are taken to address Ankara's objections. We have made it very clear that if Turkey's security concerns are not met with concrete steps in a certain timeframe the process will not progress, Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference after the talks in Ankara that lasted about five hours. Kalin is the spokesman of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and a senior presidential aide. Sweden and Finland submitted their written applications to join NATO last week, in a move representing one of the biggest geopolitical ramifications of Russias war in Ukraine that could rewrite Europes security map. Turkey has said it opposes the countries membership in the Western military alliance, citing grievances with Sweden's and a to a lesser extent Finlands perceived support of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, and other entities that Turkey views as security threats. The PKK, which is listed as a terror organization by several of Turkeys allies, has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey, a conflict that has cost the lives of tens of thousands people. The Turkish government also accuses Finland and Sweden of imposing arms exports restrictions on Turkey and refusing to extradite suspected terrorists. Turkeys objections have dampened Stockholm's and Helsinkis hopes for joining NATO quickly amid Russias invasion of Ukraine and put the trans-Atlantic alliance's credibility at stake. All 30 NATO members must agree on admitting new members. The Swedish and Finnish delegations met with Kalin and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal. The Swedish delegation was led by state secretary Oscar Stenstrom, while Jukka Salovaara, the foreign ministry undersecretary, headed up the Finnish delegation, Turkish officials said. Kalin said Turkeys proposal to lift arms export limits was met with a positive attitude by the Swedish and Finnish delegations. He added that talks would continue once the Nordic governments had responded to Turkeys demands. Turkey also expects the extradition of 28 terrorism suspects from Sweden and 12 from Finland, Kalin said, adding that there was no legal or judicial basis not to extradite them. Turkish state media had previously said Turkey demanded the extradition of 33 suspects from the two countries. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said following a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel in Stockholm that her country wanted to clarify claims that have been floating around during discussions with Turkey. We do not send money or weapons to terrorist organizations, Andersson said. During a news conference with the Estonian prime minister later Wednesday, Andersson said that in these times, it is important to strengthen our security. She said Sweden has a constructive dialogue with Turkey and that Stockholm was eager to sort out issues and misunderstandings and questions. Michel, who is scheduled to head to Helsinki from Stockholm, said it was a pivotal moment for Sweden" and we fully support your choices. Turkey this week listed five concrete assurances it was demanding from Sweden, including what it said was termination of political support for terrorism, an elimination of the source of terrorism financing, and the cessation of arms support to the banned PKK and a Syrian Kurdish militia group affiliated with it. The demands also called for the lifting of arms sanctions against Turkey and global cooperation against terrorism. Turkey said that it has requested the extradition of Kurdish militants and other suspects since 2017 but hasnt received a positive response from Stockholm. The Turkish government claimed Sweden had decided to provide $376 million to support the Kurdish militants in 2023 and that it had provided them with military equipment, including anti-tank weapons and drones. Finland has received nine extradition requests from Turkey in a recent period covering over three years, Finnish news agency STT said Wednesday, citing data from the Finnish justice ministry. Two people were extradited while six of the requests were rejected. A decision was pending regarding one other case. Speaking Tuesday before a meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Russia had left Sweden and Finland no choice but to join NATO. She said Germany would support the two countries membership, calling it a real gain for the military alliance. __ Andrew Wilks in Istanbul, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Jari Tanner in Helsinki contributed to this report. ___ Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine For many people, the work-from-home revolution never happened. Many jobs, especially lower on the income ladder, require in-person attendance, meaning those who were lucky enough to stay employed at the height of the pandemic were never granted the benefit of clocking in from home. Others who had been remote have long since returned to the office. The more we learn about COVID, and the longer weve had access to vaccines, the more some companies have decided to treat exposure as a risk like any other. But there remains a large cohort who have been working from home for more than two years, have weathered various return-to-work initiatives and are resisting yet another push from business leaders to get back to their cubicles. Why, these workers wonder, should we upend a system that has been working and has granted all sorts of unforeseen benefits in terms of work-life balance? As of late last year, according to Gallup, some 25 percent of U.S. workers were working from home exclusively, with another 20 percent at home at least some of the time. That total is down from early in the pandemic, when nearly 70 percent of the workforce was either all or partly home-based, but the numbers have been consistent for the past year. The arguments in favor of at-home vs. in-office work have been well documented. There is a benefit to in-person collaboration that cant be replicated online, according to one line of thinking. This isnt just something bosses made up theres a long history of innovation that only happens in close-quarters contact, which is why cities have throughout world history been hubs of dynamism and growth. On the other hand, they didnt have Zoom in ancient Babylon. A less commonly articulated reason behind the in-office push is that too many bosses simply dont trust that employees are working when they cant see them. If an overseer cant see it, it didnt happen. And it doesnt help to have high-profile CEOs nationwide demanding workers put in face time on pain of employment. Its no surprise workers would be less than enthusiastic about returning to such an environment. Theres also the question of real estate. Companies spend a lot of money on offices, and if theres going to be a fancy space thats been paid for, someone ought to at least be sitting in front of a computer there. But theres an aspect of remote work that doesnt get discussed often enough but is a major factor in many employees reluctance to return, and thats the commute. The office is in many respects neither good nor bad its just a different place to sit. Many who swear theyll never go back into work are ambivalent about the office itself; its everything thats required to get there that matters. Commutes are wasted time. The average commute time in Connecticut is nearly a half-hour one way, which means five hours a week that cant be used for anything else. In the states southwest corner, where so many jobs are concentrated and housing so hard to come by, the commute can be much longer. Weve priced people an hour or more away from their jobs. Commutes by train, at least, allow a rider to read, or sleep, or zone out. Most Connecticut commuters drive, and so arrive at their destination agitated from life on state highways. In an era when so many people have a new appreciation of the value of their time, a commute-free life is something people are not willing to give up easily. Companies are making all sorts of enticements to bring people back in, and civic leaders, especially in New York, are eager to get back to the before-times and support the thousands of businesses that themselves depend on commuters arriving by the thousands each day. But few, if any, have taken the radical step that maybe ought to be common sense pay people to commute. Employers pay for time spent at work, but not for getting there. But that time is just as valuable to an employee, and yet they get nothing in return. It shouldnt be a wonder that people arent eager to give up five or more hours a week for the privilege of sitting in traffic. You can already hear the complaints, about how such an idea is anti-business and would drive people away from Connecticut. But it doesnt have to be a mandate. It would just take a company, acting on its own, to take the sensible move and tell people their time has value. There are already indications that companies are losing out by not offering work-from-home as an option. Connecticut has more jobs than people to fill them, and if workers find a better deal elsewhere, theyre going to take it. Flexibility plays a big part in those decisions. For employers that recognize the changing reality of work but still desire a busy office, its a simple solution pay people for their time. Offer a discrete bonus for commuting, above their salary. From the minute they leave home until they get back at night, theyre on the clock. Its either that or wait for a competitor to start offering it. Hugh Bailey is editorial page editor of the New Haven Register and Connecticut Post. He can be reached at hbailey@hearstmediact.com. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The president of the Brookings Institution resigned Sunday amid a federal investigation into whether he illegally lobbied on behalf of the wealthy Persian Gulf nation of Qatar. Retired Gen. John Allen wrote in a letter to the think tank that he was leaving with a heavy heart" but did not offer a direct explanation. I know it is best for all concerned in this moment, Allen's letter said. A retired four-star Marine general who led U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Allen's announcement came less than a week after The Associated Press was first to report on new court filings that showed the FBI had seized Allens electronic data as part of the lobbying probe. Allen has not been charged with any crimes and, through a spokesman, has denied any wrongdoing. Brookings, which had put Allen on administrative leave the day after the APs initial report, issued a statement thanking Allen for guiding the think tank through the coronavirus pandemic and other contributions. The institution said information about the search for a new president would be forthcoming. The new court filings detail Allens behind-the scenes efforts to help Qatar influence U.S. policy in June 2017 when a diplomatic crisis erupted between the gas-rich Persian Gulf monarchy and its neighbors. An FBI agent said in an affidavit in support of a search warrant there was substantial evidence that Allen had knowingly broken a foreign lobbying law, and had made false statements and withheld incriminating documents. Allens alleged lobbying work involved traveling to Qatar and meeting with the countrys top officials to offer them advice on how to influence U.S. policy, as well as promoting Qatars point of view to top White House officials and members of Congress, the FBIs affidavit says. The federal investigation involving Allen has already ensnared Richard G. Olson, a former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan who pleaded guilty to federal charges earlier this month, and Imaad Zuberi, a prolific political donor now serving a 12-year prison sentence on corruption charges. Several members of Congress have also been interviewed. Brookings, one of the most prestigious think thanks in the U.S., had initially hired Allen as a senior fellow before tapping him as president in late 2017 and paying him more than $1 million a year, according to recent tax records. The integrity and objectivity of Brookingss scholarship constitute the institutions principal assets, and Brookings seeks to maintain high ethical standards in all its operations, the think tank said in its statement Sunday. Qatar has long been a major financial backer of Brookings, though Allen decided in 2019 to stop taking any new donations from the country. Qatari officials have not responded to requests for comment about the Allen investigation. ___ Suderman reported from Richmond, Virginia, Mustian from New Orleans. ___ Contact APs global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/ This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate UVALDE, Texas (AP) Bullet fragments lodged in the children's arms and legs. Traumatic flashbacks flooding their nightmares. For the 17 people injured during a mass shooting last week in Uvalde, Texas, healing will be slow in a community mourning the deaths of 21 others. As the tight-knit town of 16,000 holds funeral after funeral and investigators examine how police responded to the shooting at Robb Elementary School, several of the victims are still in hospitals over an hour's drive away in San Antonio, undergoing treatment for bullet wounds. Uvalde Memorial Hospital, which treated 11 children and four adults in the hours after the shooting, discharged 10 of those patients the same day and transferred five to San Antonio hospitals. The grandmother of the shooter, who was shot in the face before the 18-year-old gunman entered the school, was also hospitalized. On Wednesday, the San Antonio hospitals were still treating five patients, with one 10-year-old girl in serious condition and the rest deemed to be in good condition. Among the injured were several fourth-grade students whose classmates and teachers were shot to death. One young survivor, 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo, told CNN that she and a friend used her dead teachers cellphone to call 911 and waited for what felt like hours for officers to arrive. Miah, who suffered a bullet fragment to her back, said she covered herself with a friend's blood and pretended to be dead. Were just taking it day by day, the girl's father, Miguel Cerrillo, told The Associated Press in a brief phone interview Wednesday. The family is raising money for Miah's medical expenses to treat both injuries caused by the bullet fragment and the mental trauma of surviving the shooting. Cerrillo said that while his daughter is now at home, she has not opened up to him about what happened in the classroom. The long-term devastation of the shooting on those who were closest to it hung heavily on their family members this week as they put together fundraising campaigns to help pay for their treatment. Noah Orona, 10, was trying to comprehend not only his wounds, but witnessing the suffering of his friends, classmates, and his beloved teachers," his older sister Laura Holcek wrote on a GoFundMe page for his treatment. Orona had been struck in the shoulder blade by a bullet that exited his back and left shrapnel in his arm, the Washington Post reported. Family members of 9-year-old Kendall Olivarez posted in another fundraising campaign that she would need several surgeries after she was shot in the left shoulder and hit by fragments of bullets on her right leg and tailbone. Her uncle Jimmy Olivarez said Wednesday that Kendall was doing OK." Yet the mental wounds from the shooting rippled out far beyond the hospital beds to a community where parents have held children with racing hearts, where local police face mounting questions about how quickly they acted to stop the shooter and where mental health experts say the scars of trauma will be indelibly etched. They are holding onto this terrible, horrific memory, said Dr. Amanda Wetegrove-Romine, a San Antonio psychologist who attended high school in Uvalde and assisted in community counseling services in the days after the May 24 shooting. Children were having nightmares and clinging to their parents, she said. One third-grader, 8-year-old Jeremiah Lennon, feared he would be killed if he went back to school after surviving the shooting in a classroom next to the room where three of his friends were slain. He was changed by the shooting, his grandmother Brenda Morales said, now sitting quietly, not eating much and just staring into space. Hes changed. Everythings changed," she said. As Erika Santiago attended the funeral this week for 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza, she recounted how her 10-year-old son, Adriel, watched in horror when the first images came out on the news and he recognized two of his friends from kindergarten: Amerie and Maite Rodriguez. Although the Santiago family has moved and now lives in San Antonio, Adriel did not want to go back to his school: He told me, Mom, I just dont feel safe. Mental health experts said that because most of the victims were children, trauma can have a particularly long-lasting impact. They are in an important stage of development. Their worldview is forming and they are learning whether the world is safe or unsafe, said Dr. Arash Javanbakht, who directs the Stress, Trauma, and Anxiety Research Clinic at Wayne State University. Trauma stays with children the rest of their lives, he said, adding that childhood trauma has been linked to a host of health problems later in life. In the communities across the country shaken by school shootings over the years Columbine High School in Colorado, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, Santa Fe High School in Texas and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut trauma has manifested for years. Survivors of Columbine, now adults, spoke out in recent days to say news of the shooting reopened the wounds of their trauma. I spent the formative part of my career in a Connecticut elementary school. I will never forget the ripple effect of fear and heartbreak that spread among students and teachers in the aftermath of the horrific Sandy Hook shooting," U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement Wednesday as he announced a federal program would be set up to offer mental health support in Uvalde. Mental health experts said a range of support will be needed for the survivors, beginning with what is known as psychological first aid in the immediate aftermath to counseling sessions to address trauma symptoms that can last for months and even years. The ability of the community to come together to heal will also be crucial, with parents playing an important role in discussing emotions with their children. Support and connectedness with community members and fellow survivors can be a powerful source of resilience, collective remembering, collective healing and purpose, said Nicole Nugent, an expert in treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder who works as a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Wetegrove-Romine, the psychologist, said Uvalde was a close-knit community where everyone is connected, yet the intense scrutiny of the speed of the police response has also prompted a conflicted grief. She worried that in the small Texas community, where mental health resources are thin and what she described as a culture of stoicism that prevails among many, people won't get help when they need it. She has begun collecting specialized journals to send to adults in Uvalde to help them process their grief. I worry about the long-term resources there will likely be another shooting like this and resources will need to leave" to treat survivors of that tragedy, she said. "What happens to the people of Uvalde? ___ Groves reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, and Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed. ___ More on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/uvalde-school-shooting Ben Lambert / Hearst Connecticut Media NEW HAVEN A fire tore through an apartment building at the New Haven Housing Authoritys Cornell Scott Ridge complex early Saturday, displacing a family of four, officials said. Firefighters were dispatched to the 400 block of Eastern Street shortly after midnight, according to the New Haven Fire Department. Unless you're Spider-Man, getting bit by an eight-legged critter is something most of us will do anything to avoid, and with good reason: At best, getting bitten by a spider is an icky, slightly painful experience. But at worst, it can be a life-threatening nightmare. The good news is out of the 3,000 or so types of spiders in the U.S., only a handful are known to bite, and of those, only about three have powerful enough venom to put your life at risk, according to research published in American Family Physician. But if you don't happen to be a spider expert, how do you know if your spider bite is cause for serious concern, or how to make the itching and burning stop? The Instagram photos below (all reviewed by experts) will give you an idea of what different types of spider bites look like and what you should do if you spot one on your body. Just be warned: Some of these photos are pretty graphic. 1) First: How can you be sure it's a spider bite? Sometimes, spiders leave behind two distinct puncture holes right next to each other but unless you actually see the spider do the deed, it's hard to know if these marks are caused by an arachnid or another biting bug. In fact, the vast majority of "spider bites" are actually bites from other insects like fleas, ticks and mosquitoes; a rash from an allergic reaction; or skin abscesses from an infection, says Justin Arnold, D.O., assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the associate medical director of the Alabama Regional Poison Control Center at Childrens of Alabama. The symptoms are often similar, too pain, swelling, itching and redness so it's an easy mistake to make. In fact, even spider experts and medical professionals have a hard time differentiating bug bites from spider bites just from visuals Arnold adds. "Many people dont recall an injury or specific bite and hold a common belief that a spider must have bitten them without them knowing," he says. "In a majority of the cases that we see, a spider was never seen by patient and is not responsible for their infection." 2) So what happens when a spider bite becomes infected? While poisonous bites are rare, any bite spider or otherwise can turn serious if it becomes infected, says Arnold. There are three main complications that can arise from bites: cellulitis, blisters and swelling, says Arnold. When a spider bite turns into cellulitis a common (although painful) skin infection a rash begins to spread around the wound and the skin becomes painful and hot to the touch. Another common reaction to many spider bites is to get "weeping" blisters at the site (they look puffy and fluid-filled). Small blisters on their own, with no other symptoms, don't necessarily need special care, but if a blister opens, it becomes at risk for infection, says Arnold. Swelling is another very common symptom of insect or spider bites. Even though the swelling can get quite pronounced, it's not necessarily a problem as long as it goes down within a few days. But if the swelling doesn't go down, gets significantly worse or is accompanied by other symptoms, it's time to call your doctor, says Arnold. 3) Jumping spider and wolf spider bites The two most common spider bites are from house spiders, specifically the jumping spider and the wolf spider. While it can be scary to be bitten by any spider, these bites normally aren't any more painful than a bee sting and shouldn't cause problems beyond some redness, swelling and itching, Arnold says. Treat these at home by washing the site with soap and water, using cold compresses and taking an ibuprofen to reduce pain and swelling, he adds. 4) Black widow spider bites Of all of the spiders, black widows pose the greatest health threat to Americans, according to Rick Vetter, Ph.D., a spider expert in the department of entomology at the University of California, Riverside. Their bite is extremely painful and, while an antivenin (a.k.a. anti-venom) exists now, before it was discovered, about 5% of bitten people died. Think you can ID a black widow bite on sight? Not so fast: The actual bite looks a lot like any other spider bite. However, they do tend to become more swollen and red than your general household spider bite, Vetter says. Black widow spiders are tough to identify as well. Only female black widows have the characteristic, red hourglass-shaped marking on their backs. Male and immature black widows have tan and white stripes, Vetter says. Because these types of bites are so serious, if you strongly suspect you were bitten by a black widow or you develop muscle cramping, abdominal and chest pain, high blood pressure, a racing heart and/or vomiting within two hours of a bite, go to the ER immediately, Arnold says. 5) Brown recluse spider bites The brown recluse spider is one of the most venomous in America, but they are limited to very specific geographic regions if you don't live in one of these places, it's highly unlikely you need to worry about this type of bite, Vetter says. Check out this map to see if you're in the danger zone. And despite what you may have heard, even where brown recluses are present, they rarely bite, he adds. To identify a brown recluse, look for six eyes arranged in pairs, although getting close enough to see the eye pattern on a spider sounds, frankly, terrifying. Brown recluse spider bites do happen though and when they do, they are often described by "sharp, burning pain," Arnold explains. Within several hours, the bite area becomes discolored and forms an ulcer that can takes several weeks to heal. In addition to the wound, individuals can also develop fevers, muscle aches and in rare cases severe anemia as a result of the venom. Start by treating any bite at home with cold compresses and an antibiotic cream, but if you start to show severe symptoms, including a lot of swelling, increased pain, fever, spreading rash or other sign of infection, go to the doctor immediately, Arnold adds. There isn't an antivenin, but they can treat the symptoms and manage the infection. 6) Hobo spider bites The hobo spider is actually a pretty common house spider in the U.S., but despite some scary media reports, it's not aggressive and will only bite if provoked, according to the U.S. Forest Service. In addition, about half of hobo spider bites are "dry," meaning they contain no venom, the service adds. If you do receive a venomous bite, within a few hours, it will become red and hard, similar to a mosquito bite, and within a day or two it will develop blisters. After the blisters open, a scab typically forms, along with a rash that often looks like a target or bull's-eye. Because these wounds can become necrotic (as in, infected to the point they start killing surrounding tissue) and can last for years in some cases, you should see a doctor immediately, Arnold says. There isn't an antivenin, but they can treat the symptoms and manage any infection with antibiotics. Hobo spiders can be hard to identify, according to the Forest Service. They are large and often have chevron-type markings on their backs, but these won't be visible on darker-skinned adult spiders, which is why it's important to get any bite checked out if it starts to show signs of infection or you see a target forming on your skin, Arnold says. 7) Tarantula bites Tarantulas may look big and scary, but most of the North American varieties are fairly passive. And even while the bite itself can be painful, the venom is fairly benign and likely won't cause long-term issues, Arnold says. Like most spider bites, tarantula bites can cause some swelling, itching and irritation. However, he adds, tarantulas also have the ability to flick hairs off of their body and into your skin, which can be very irritating and painful. Furthermore some people are allergic to tarantula venom, which can make the bite even more inflamed, according to the National Institutes of Medicine. Most of the time, it's fine to try treating tarantula bites at home by washing the site, applying ice and taking ibuprofen, Arnold says. But if you find yourself having a more extreme reaction, including symptoms like rapid heart rate or difficulty breathing, get to an emergency room. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate An Ohio couple climbed through a broken window of the U.S. Capitol and livestreamed a video of themselves inside. A Texas mortgage broker posed for a selfie in front of rioters breaching the building. An Indiana hair salon owner celebrated on Facebook a day after she joined the pro-Donald Trump mob. Federal prosecutors did not seek prison time for any of them after they pleaded guilty to petty offenses for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021. The judge had other ideas. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan put them all behind bars, describing it as the appropriate punishment for their participation in the riot that halted the certification of President Joe Biden's victory, sent lawmakers running for their lives and left dozens of police officers beaten and bloodied. As the number of people sentenced for crimes in the insurrection nears 200, an Associated Press analysis of sentencing data shows that some judges are divided over how to punish the rioters, particularly for the low-level misdemeanors arising from the attack. Were asking judges to do what they think is right, and they dont agree on whats right, said Greg Hunter, a lawyer defending several Jan. 6 defendants. A House committee that held it first public hearing on Thursday cast a wide net in its investigation of the insurrection, examining how President Trump and his allies tried to undermine the election results. So far, the Justice Departments criminal investigation has focused primarily on the hundreds of Trump supporters who broke through police barricades, shattered windows, attacked officers and stormed into the Capitol. Chutkan, a former assistant public defender who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, has consistently taken the hardest line against Jan. 6 defendants of any judge serving on Washington's federal trial court, which is handling the more than 800 cases brought so far in the largest prosecution in Justice Department history. Chutkan has handed out tougher sentences than the department was seeking in seven cases, matched its requests in four others and sent all 11 riot defendants who have come before her behind bars. In the four cases in which prosecutors did not seek jail time, Chutkan gave terms ranging from 14 days to 45 days. Overall, the 20 judges who have sentenced riot defendants have given lighter sentences than prosecutors were seeking in nearly three-fourths of the cases. The judges have exceeded prosecutors' recommendation for about only 10% of the defendants, according to APs analysis. Most judges appointed by presidents of both political parties have gone easier on defendants than prosecutors wanted in most or all of their cases so far. While some judges have sentenced few Jan. 6 defendants, no other judge besides Chutkan has exceeded prosecutors' recommended punishment in most of the cases assigned to them. Depending on the judge you get, the same facts could get you anything from probation to months in jail, said Hunter, the defense lawyer. When you can literally look at who the judge is, who has been assigned to a case, and know that every defendant is going to get more time or less time because of the judge they drew ... that doesnt promote respect for the law, he added. In one case, two friends from Indiana, Dona Sue Bissey and Anna Morgan-Lloyd, both pleaded guilty to the same misdemeanor offense for engaging in essentially the same conduct inside the Capitol. Prosecutors did not seek jail time for either, noting their lack of a criminal record. Chutkan sentenced Bissey to 14 days in jail. A different judge sentenced Bissey's friend to probation. While Judge Royce Lamberth did not send Morgan-Lloyd to jail, he has also been among the toughest judges on defendants. In one case, Lamberth, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan, gave a Pennsylvania man two months behind bars for a misdemeanor when prosecutors were seeking only two weeks. More than 300 people have pleaded guilty in connection with the insurrection to crimes ranging from misdemeanors to felony seditious conspiracy. Five others have been convicted at trial. A judge decided two other cases without a jury, acquitting one defendant and partially acquitting the other. The Jan. 6 cases pose a unique challenge for judges in that even though the riot was unlike anything the country has seen before, hundreds of people were charged only with misdemeanors such as illegal entry that typically do not land first-time offenders behind bars. Some judges have criticized prosecutors for what they see as disparities in prosecutors' charging decisions across the cases and their recommendations for punishment. Chief Judge Beryl Howell, an Obama nominee, has sharply questioned whether prosecutors are letting some rioters off too easy with misdemeanor plea deals even as they describe the insurrection as an attack on democracy. To be sure, every case and defendant is different. Also, judges must weigh a slew of factors, including the seriousness of the crime, the persons criminal history, whether the defendant admitted guilt and showed remorse and what sentences similarly situated defendants have received in order to avoid unwarranted disparities. In the case of a Maryland man who sprayed a fire extinguisher at officers defending the Capitol, prosecutors sought more than four years in prison. But Judge Randolph Moss sentenced Matthew Ryan Miller to less than three years, noting that the man was just 22 years old on Jan. 6, 2021, was intoxicated when he stormed the Capitol and has shown remorse. Before handing down the punishment, Moss said he believes judges have done a good job at ensuring the punishments are consistent while also weighing the individual factors of each case. When one looks at these sentencing decisions that have been made by this court across many judges, its remarkable how consistent sentencing has been, said Moss, an Obama nominee. When I see differences, Im able to go back through the record and look at it and understand the basis for those differences. In case after case, Chutkan has expressed her belief that prison can be a powerful deterrent against the threat of another insurrection. Every day were hearing about reports of anti-democratic factions of people plotting violence, the potential threat of violence, in 2024, she said before sentencing a Florida man who attacked police officers to more than five years behind bars the longest sentence so far in the attack. It has to be made clear that trying to violently overthrow the government, trying to stop the peaceful transition of power and assaulting law enforcement officers in that effort is going to be met with absolutely certain punishment," she said. Of the more than 190 defendants sentenced so far, about 20 admitted to felony charges, including nine who assaulted police officers. The rest pleaded guilty to misdemeanors punishable by no more than one year imprisonment. Prosecutors recommended prison terms in more than 70% of the cases. Judges have agreed to prison in about 45% of them, with terms ranging from nine days to more than five years. In one case, prosecutors sought a month in prison for California bartender Kevin Cordon, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. Judge Trevor McFadden, who was nominated by Trump, said jail time was not appropriate given his lack of criminal record. In my experience as a judge and former prosecutor, its almost unheard of for someone who is essentially a first-time offender to get jail time for a nonviolent misdemeanor, McFadden said. I think its important that Im consistent in sentencing, not only compared with other judges in Jan. 6 cases but also with an eye to how misdemeanors are handled more generally outside of this politically fraught event." McFadden has condemned the Jan. 6 riot as a "national embarrassment, while also suggesting that the Justice Department was being too hard on those who broke into the Capitol compared with the people arrested during racial injustice protests following George Floyds 2020 murder. Without naming her colleague, Chutkan slammed McFadden's suggestion days later. "People gathered all over the country last year to protest the violent murder by the police of an unarmed man. Some of those protesters became violent, Chutkan said during an October hearing. But to compare the actions of people protesting, mostly peacefully, for civil rights, to those of a violent mob seeking to overthrow the lawfully elected government is a false equivalency and ignores a very real danger that the Jan. 6 riot posed to the foundation of our democracy." ___ Kunzelman reported from College Park, Maryland, and Richer from Boston. ___ For full coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege BURLINGTON, Vt (AP) A pianist who wants to raise awareness about climate change is going to perform 251 times in each and every town in Vermont. David Feurzeig, a music professor at the University of Vermont, recently gave up airline travel to reduce his carbon footprint. And he'll be traveling for his Play Every Town Vermont concerts in an electric vehicle. A tundra wildfire continued to creep closer to an Alaska Native community in southwest Alaska, but mandatory evacuations have not been ordered, fire officials said Sunday. The East Fork fire was within 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) of St. Marys, a statement from Alaska Wildland Fire Information said. Even though it had moved 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) closer to the Yupik community since Saturday, fire managers said the progress has slowed somewhat because of favorable weather conditions. The temperatures were slightly cooler with rising humidity, which could help moderate fire conditions. However, winds are expected to remain steady out of the north, helping move the fire toward populated areas. The fire is burning in dry grass and shrubs like alder and willow in the mostly treeless tundra in southwest Alaska. The fire was started by lightning May 31. Firefighters are working to strengthen primary and secondary fire lines protecting St. Marys and the nearby communities of Pitkas Point and Mountain Village and properties, including cabins, between them. No structures have been lost in the fire. The fire is also 10 miles (16 kilometers) from another community, Pilot Station. Firefighters were expected to evaluate options of opening a preexisting fire line around that community. Another fire northwest of the East Fork fire is growing, but it still about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Mountain Village. There are 204 personnel working the East Fork fire, which has grown to 190 square miles (492 square kilometers). Additional personnel are expected to arrive Monday, when even more favorable weather conditions are also expected, including increased cloud cover, higher humidity and cooler temperatures. Officials also said the front may switch the wind direction to the southwest, which would help push the fire away from villages. Even though there are no mandatory evacuations, the combined 700 residents of St. Marys and Pitkas Point, located about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south, have been on alert since Friday to prepare for possible evacuation. Nearly 150 residents from the affected communities have already temporarily relocated to the southwest Alaska hub community of Bethel. St. Marys is located about 450 miles (724 kilometers) west of Anchorage. Attack on female diners in China sparks outrage over gender violence Beijing, June 12 (UNI) The brutal attack on several women diners at a restaurant in China has sparked a public uproar over sexual harassment and gender violence while the authorities attempt to silence the backlash. According to Sky News, surveillance footage from a barbeque restaurant in Tangshan in northern Hebei province, time-stamped 2.40 am on Friday, showed one of the men approaching a table where a party of four women were seated and placing his hand on a woman's back. After she rebuffed him several times, he slapped her. About 15 persons were feared dead and many others declared missing Sunday morning after suspected armed herdsmen attacked Igama village in... About 15 persons were feared dead and many others declared missing Sunday morning after suspected armed herdsmen attacked Igama village in Edumoga Ehaje, Senator Abba Moros community, in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue state. It was gathered from a source in the area that the invaders who stormed the community in their numbers at about 7am also razed and pulled down all the houses in the besieged community. They invaded Igama this morning when the people were preparing to attend Sunday morning Church Service. They came well armed and anyone they caught up with was killed. Though we cannot precisely say the number of persons killed because corpses are still being recovered, but from the information we have 15 person may have been killed and several others are still missing. Nine corpses have so far been recovered but the search for more of the corpses is still ongoing, he said. When contacted, the Chairman of the LGA, Mrs. Amina Audu who confirmed the incident lamented that the attack was unprovoked. The Council Chairman who said she was at the Divisional Police Office at Okpoga the Local Government Headquarters to receive the recovered corpses of those killed said a total of nine corpses had been moved to the mortuary while the search for more was ongoing and would continue into the night as many were still missing and unaccounted for. Mrs. Audu who decried the attack disclosed that the armed herders stormed the community in their hundreds. She said: I am at the Okpoga Police Station as I speak with you and I can confirm that we have received nine corpses that have been moved to the mortuary but the number could be far more than that because we learnt they chased the people into the bushes and killed them there. The armed herders invaded the community about 7am today. I was told that they were in their numbers, over 200 of them stormed the community. The people ran for their lives and anyone they caught was killed. Besides, they also pulled down all the houses that were in Igama community. As I speak with you no house is standing in the community. It is a sad day for us and we do not know where the people came from. But I recall that in January a similar incident happened in that village. The herders had at the time attacked that community which led to the death of a member of the community while two of the attackers were killed. After that incident we ensured that there was peace in the area and no such thing occurred again until this morning when this incident happened. We have beefed up security in the community. Affected women and children have also been taken to Ojapo the Ward Headquarters for safety and I am heading there to ensure that they are in good condition. Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent, SP, Catharine Anene who confirmed the development said, I am yet to receive details from officers who went to the scene. President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said he lived daily in grief and worry. Buhari disclosed that he lived in daily grief and worry over vi... President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said he lived daily in grief and worry. Buhari disclosed that he lived in daily grief and worry over victims of terrorists attacks in Nigeria. He disclosed this during his morning nationwide broadcast to mark this years Democracy Day. The president noted that Nigeria can only be safe if citizens prevent crime. He assured that his administration in collaboration with security men are working hard to tackle insecurity. According to Buhari: We can only have a safe country if we are able to prevent crime not after the crime has been committed. On this special day, I want us all to put all victims of terrorist activities in our thoughts and prayers. I am living daily with the grief and worry for all those victims and prisoners of terrorism and kidnapping. I and the security agencies are doing all we can to free those unfortunate countrymen and countrywomen safely. For those who have lost their lives, we will continue to seek justice for their families against the perpetrators. For those currently in captivity, we will not stop until they are freed, and their kidnappers are brought to justice. If we all unite, we will be victorious against these agents of terror and destruction. Manchester Uniteds new boss, Erik ten Hag has been able to convince Frenkie de Jong to leave Barcelona for Manchester United. The deal is n... Manchester Uniteds new boss, Erik ten Hag has been able to convince Frenkie de Jong to leave Barcelona for Manchester United. The deal is now subject to agreement between the two clubs. Both men worked together at Ajax before the midfielder joined Barcelona in 2019 and Erik ten Hag wants to make him his first signing as Manchester United manager. The midfielder, who helped Ajax win the Dutch title and reached the Champions League semi-final in 2019, has continued to impress at Barcelona. The Dutchman has made 140 appearances for Barca over the last three seasons, establishing himself as a key member of the first-team squad. The Daily Mirror reports that Ten Hag has persuaded De Jong to join the Red Devils and reports from Europe on Friday, claimed Barcelona had rejected Uniteds 60m bid for the midfielder and were holding out for a package worth around 80m. The newspaper says that De Jong decided to move to Manchester United following a series of talks with Ten Hag. The Mirror reports that De Jong has had a change of heart after Ten Hag told him about his plan to turn United into title contenders and also reminding him of the success they shared at Ajax. After signing De Jong, the Dutch manager will turn his attention to bringing in a new forward and defender. London to Lagos biker and a member of Rotary Club International, Mr Kunle Adeyanju, on Saturday said he cheated death about four times dur... Adeyanju told newsmen in Ilorin on the sidelines of a reception organised for him by the Kwara Rotary Club that the adventure was tortuous and risky. Truth is that every kilometre of the 12,000km I covered was fraught with challenges, pains and difficulties. Several times I came close to dying. I actually saw death several times. When people say they saw death I never believed that, but when I saw that like four times in Sahara and Mali I now believe that death exists. God just wants to keep me alive that is why death did not take me. But one thing I said to myself was that whatever it took I would not quit, said th3 biker. On the motive behind the adventure, he said that doing this was basically to achieve two purposes of raising awareness of end polio message by seeing how we can see the level of vaccines acceptance. The second objective was to raise fund. For me, the two had been accomplished because everybody is now aware of polio. Polio has got a renewed drive as we have the vaccines to end the virus. I am very happy that the message has taken a global dimension, he said. I covered a total of 12,000km spanning through 13 countries and 41 cities. I left London April 19 and arrived Lagos on May 29, he said. The President of Presidents of Rotary Clubs in the state, Otunba Rich Oladele, said that the bike rider had done the state and in deed Nigeria proud. He has written the name of Nigeria on global map and in the Guinness Book of Records. He is a member of Rotary Club International, Oladele said. (NAN) The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of attempting to scuttle citizens desire to obtain voter... The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of attempting to scuttle citizens desire to obtain voters card A statement at the weekend by Debo Ologunagba, the PDP National Publicity Secretary said APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu was afraid of the popularity of PDP flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar. The spokesman said the ruling party was particularly preventing people of the South-East from collecting their Permanent Voters Cards (PVC). He alleged that it was part of APCs desperate design to use violence to sabotage credible elections in 2023 having realized that Nigerians have rejected Asiwaju Tinubu. The PDP said Tinubu has been in morbid fear of the soaring popularity of Atiku Abubakar and was trying to stop more Nigerians from obtaining their PVCs. Ologunagba noted that the ruling government pretends to have the support of the people but has been chasing away prospective voters. The APC, he insisted, is suffering from Pre-Election Fever Syndrome in trepidation that it cannot win in a transparent process. The party recalled how vocal APC supporters, in previous elections, threatened to throw the Igbos into the Lagoon if they voted for any other platform. Violence was unleashed on Nigerians in the Isolo axis of Lagos in the 2019 general elections, where the APC, discovered that it had been rejected at the polls, he said. The PDP told Tinubu and the APC that they cannot suppress Nigerians ready to take back their country from the stranglehold of the corrupt, incompetent, inhumane and rudderless APC. The statement cautioned the former Lagos Governor and his party to thread carefully and reign in their thugs, hoodlums and terrorists as they will be firmly resisted by Nigerians. A 20-year-old man, Jume Bello has been apprehended by the Katsina State Police Command for allegedly raping his masters wife and two other ... A 20-year-old man, Jume Bello has been apprehended by the Katsina State Police Command for allegedly raping his masters wife and two other married women in Jimkashi, Musawa Local Government Area of the State. SP Gambo Isah, the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) explained that the suspect, aside from having unlawful carnal knowledge of the married women, also robbed them of their money. While confessing to the crime, Jume Bello said, Yes, it is true that I had carnal knowledge of all the three married women forcefully. It is the work of the devil. He explained that it was his masters wife who sent him to call a water vendor for her, adding that when he returned in the evening to tell her that he could not find any, he forced himself on her after noticing that she was alone. According to the suspect, on the second married woman, he entered her compound while she was all alone and knocked on the door, stressing that when she opened the door, he pointed a knife at her, and asked her to follow him to the backyard where he raped her. SP Gambo Isah, in his statement stated that, On the 31/05/2022 at about 0900hrs, three (3) women, all from Jikamshi village, Musawa Local Government Area, reported at Musawa Police Division that at different time intervals, one Jume Bello, male, aged 20 years of the same address, criminally trespassed into their houses, attacked them with a knife and robbed them of their money, handset and forcefully had unlawful carnal knowledge of the victims. He, however, explained that in the course of investigations, the suspect was arrested and he confessed to the commission of the offence. Nollywood actress, Georgina Onuoha has slammed Yul Edochie over his latest comments about his second wife, Judy Austin Moghalu. In an Instag... Nollywood actress, Georgina Onuoha has slammed Yul Edochie over his latest comments about his second wife, Judy Austin Moghalu. In an Instagram post, the actress described Edochies comments as insensitive, saying he cannot force people into polygamy as he did to his first wife. Taking to his Instagram account, Edochie had said that marrying his second wife, Judy, has been a blessing. The actor, who shocked his followers when he announced the arrival of Judy and a male child on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, said that marrying a second wife has brought him blessings. He went on to say that his new marriage has also elevated his two lovely wives, adding that God works in mysterious ways. Yul said that what people see as disappointment could sometimes be the beginning of their blessings and elevation in life. Edochie admitted to have treated his first wife wrongly with the way he went about the second marriage, adding that he has sincerely apologised to her but insisted that in the eyes of God things are different. God blesses differently. His ways are not our ways. In a reaction to this, Miss Onuoha, wrote, ..Its one thing to impregnate another woman (adultery) while you are still married without discussing with your wife your desire to marry a second wife, which our traditions demand. Marrying the same woman without the knowledge of your wife until she finds out on social media via a blog, is the worst kind of betrayal of trust. Eyin, there is nothing noble in what you did. You dont force polygamy on people when they are not prepared for it. Give them an option. Not everyone has the grace to be a polygamist. The lawmaker representing Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Kajola/Iwajowa Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Shina Peller, may defect ... The lawmaker representing Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Kajola/Iwajowa Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Shina Peller, may defect from the All Progressives Congress to enable him contest the Oyo North Senatorial District in 2023 on the platform of another political party. Our correspondent gathered that Peller might announce his new political platform before the deadline for the submission of candidates lists to the Independent National Electoral Commission. Peller and three other aspirants had rejected the outcome of the primary election in which the serving Senator Fatai Buhari was declared the winner. But at the Oke-Ogun General Assembly held on Saturday at Ago Are in Atisbo Local Government Area, monarchs and their subjects lamented the alleged political marginalisation of the region and the underdevelopment of the area. They urged indigenes of the area to contest governorship and senatorial elections. Some of those present at the event were Aare of Ago-Are, Oba Michael Oyetunji; Aare of Ofiki, Oba Adeoye Oyetunji and Oniro of Otu, Oba Sunday Adepoju and the Onjo of Okeho, Oba Rafiu Mustapha as well as hundreds of youths. They resolved to support any politician nominated as the Oyo North Senatorial District candidate on the platform of any political party in the 2023 election. The Oke-Ogun people in attendance said it was unimaginable that they were being marginalised in Oyo North Senatorial District by Ogbomoso with just three local government areas as against Oke-Ogun which has 10 local. government areas out of the 13 LGAs that make up the district. Peller while responding to question on if he was ready to defect to another political party to contest the senatorial election said the people of Oke Ogun had been strategising about that and that he would follow whatever they say. He said some political parties had been coming around to offer their platforms but stressed that he would abide by any decision his people arrive at concerning the election. He said, For me, I have made up my mind to follow my people. If I belong to a political party that has failed to listen to the cry of my people, that has failed to understand their clamour, that has failed to give my people a fair chance- there are three local government areas from Ogbomoso which has about 20, 000 votes and Oke-Ogun has 10 local government areas with about 100,000 votes. Ogbomoso has already done two terms and wants to do the third time. The people of Oke-Ogun are saying there is no going to be third time, then I dont have a choice. I decided to come into politics to fight for my people and I will always listen to them. Our royal fathers are also present here and they have all said this is the time to put the interest of Oke-Ogun first and I align completely with this position. It is not my decision anymore, it is going to be the decision of my people. Our political system has a process and INEC has a time political parties must send in the list of their candidates and we have political leaders in Oke-Ogun that are putting their heads together. There are different political parties that have been coming to speak to us to see how they can help us. If such opportunity comes to the people of Oke-Ogun then I will definitely follow the people of Oke-Ogun to make sure that I am there to fight for what is ours. The people of Oke-Ogun are agitating that the region should have a say in the scheme of things. They are sending a strong message to the political parties that we have because they think that the political system is not being fair and not just to the region. In democracy, the majority must have their way and minority will have a say but that is not the case where it affects Oke-Ogun. For 2023 elections, what they have come to say today is that they will put the interest of Oke- Ogun first. The Zamfara State chapter of the GSM Communication Union has lamented that 50 of its members were abducted by bandits between Sokoto and Zam... The Zamfara State chapter of the GSM Communication Union has lamented that 50 of its members were abducted by bandits between Sokoto and Zamfara States axis on Saturday evening. Addressing newsmen at the Press Center in Gusau, Zamfara State capital, the State chairman of the Union, Alhaji Kabiru Garba Mukhtar, said that their members were attacked by the bandits when their vehicle developed problem that forced them to park along the road. The chairman explained that 20 out of the 50 kidnapped victims were lucky to have escaped from the bandits while he said the remaining 30 victims were still with the bandits. He stated that the bandits used one of the victims handset to call them, informing them that 30 members of their members were in their den. Alhaji Mukhtar explained that as at the time of the press briefing, the bandits have not made any demand regarding ransom, saying that they dont know the condition of their members in the bandits, camps. The union urged the security agencies, state government and other relevant authorities to give the issue a serious attention as the union alone cannot handle the teething problem. The kidnapped victims are mainly youths who are the leaders of tomorrow, so we expect the security agencies and the state government to redouble their efforts for them to regain their freedom, he added. Recall that in the last few days, kidnappers has have been ravaging the State, kidnapping influential people without any challenge. Recently, the wives and daughters of former Accountant General of the State were kidnapped alongside over 20 persons. Also, a former Permanent Commissioner of Zamfara State Independent Electoral Commission (ZSIEC) was also recently abducted with his brother along Tsafe/ Funtua road. New Delhi, June 11 (UNI) The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, that was inaugurated in Tokyo last month by US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with other Indo-Pacific leaders, is a transformative new vision for economies and companies throughout the region, that will ensure that open and rules-based markets will continue to sustain a rising wave of prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, US Embassy Charge DAffaires Patricia Lacina has said. The Indo-Pacific Economic Forum was launched on the sidelines of the Quad Summit in Tokyo last month by the US and 12 other nations, including India. It rests on four pillars: trade, supply chains, infrastructure, clean energy and decarbonisation and tax and anti-corruption. In her address on Friday evening celebrating the 246th American Independence Day, she said Along with our Quad partners the United States and India will collaborate closely in the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) which will make a vital contribution to the peace, stability, and prosperity so important to the greater good of the Indo-Pacific community. She said during the Tokyo meeting between President Biden and PM Modi, the two leaders renewed our countries commitment to a bilateral relationship rooted in a shared tradition of democracy and equal opportunity for all citizens. United in this shared vision, we are tackling some of the worlds most pressing challenges together. From fighting the climate crisis, to leading the global pandemic response, to advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific, the United States and India are collaborating across nearly every field of endeavor to improve the lives of our peoples and contribute to the global good. She said the US-India partnership at 75 demonstrates how vital the bilateral cooperation has been in realizing a more prosperous, free, connected, and secure world, and how much potential there is for our partnership to grow further. But our relationship far transcends our government-to-government engagement. The deep bonds between our peoples are the sinew that binds us together. From Silicon Valley to Bengaluru, Hyderabad to Boston, and Mumbai to New York, our companies, students, entrepreneurs and civil society grow ever more closely linked to the great benefit of bout our countries. There is no more compelling example of these bonds than the way in which Indias own independence movement inspired Dr. Martin Luther King and the U.S. civil rights movement, she added. She added that bilateral trade is growing every year and has reached a new high of $156 billion, supporting tens of thousands of jobs in both our countries. UNI RN Singapore, June 12 (UNI/Sputnik) The defense ministers of the United States, South Korea and Japan met on the sidelines of a security forum in Singapore to discuss nuclear and ballistic missile deterrence in the region. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed "nuclear threats" from North Korea, Taiwan, and Chinas operations in the East China and the South China Seas with South Koreas Lee Jong-sup and Japans Kishi Nobuo. On North Korea, the Pentagon chief said that its continued missile tests underscored the urgency of the need to deepen security cooperation among the allies. "Together, well continue to strengthen our extended deterrence against nuclear arms and ballistic-missile systems. And we remain open to future diplomacy and fully prepared to deter and defeat future aggression," he said. On Taiwan, Austin reiterated commitment to the one-China policy and stressed that the ministers did not support the island nations independence from China but he said the trio categorically opposed any perceived unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. UNI/SPUTNIK MYK Yes, all of it should be forgiven Yes, but only a portion should be forgiven No; none of it should be forgiven Vote View Results Paulina has been deluding her friends, but she really doesnt know better herself. Shes succeeded in impressing them with stories about a relative in the United States who wears high fashions and works at White Castle. It even sounds royal. A castle with food! says Gifty. The girls are classmates at the Aburi Girls Boarding School in a rural area of Ghana. They have no idea what kind of restaurant White Castle is, but Pauline has assured them its high class. She and the other girls have a lot to learn, but theyre not unwise in School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls. The NOLA Project presents the one-act comedy-drama at Loyola University New Orleans Marquette Theater June 16 to July 1. The drama is similar to one of its inspirations, Mean Girls, the popular 2004 teen comedy starring Lindsay Lohan. Paulina is Aburis queen bee. She treats her friends like an entourage and is given to bullying them. Nana, Mercy and Gifty are the wannabes, who try to stay in Paulinas favor. Its hard on Nana, who Paulina ridicules for being overweight. Ama is a bit more independent and is starting to resist Paulinas mean streak. The situation is ripe for change when a new student, Ericka, arrives from the U.S. Shes smart, beautiful and familiar with all of the names Paulina drops. Also due to arrive at the school is Eloise Amponsah, who was Miss Ghana 20 years earlier. Now shes representing the pageant and picking young women from different regions to compete. The winner of Miss Ghana goes on to the Miss Global Universe contest. Paulina was sure shed be chosen to represent Aburi, but that path is no longer clear when Ericka signs up for the pageant. Now, everything in Paulinas world is threatened, including losing her friends. The New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane opens its season with the comedy 'As You Like It' Plenty of people have heard the line All the worlds a stage and many know its from Shakespeares work, if not that its from As You Like It. If youre by yourself, then whos there to tell you that youre the prettiest or smartest, says Tenaj Jackson, who is directing the show for The NOLA Project. She keeps looking for new minions, and it keeps working. She gets away with it until the new girl comes, and then its like, Oh, theres someone prettier and smarter than you. Thats wild. She does her best to take back her power and take back her friends, who she hasnt been treating fairly. The young women also have to deal with some more difficult issues, including colorism. Ericka, whose father is a Ghanian cocoa tycoon, is biracial. With her light complexion, shes just the kind of contestant Eloise would like to see in the pageant. She might have a better chance against candidates from Brazil, Sweden, France and the U.S., Eloise believes. Paulina had already internalized such sentiments, and secretly uses skin creams to alter her look. A lot of (the drama is about) colorism and beauty standards that we put on ourselves based on what society tells us we should look like, Jackson says. Or how smart we should be, or not too smart, because 'pretty girls shouldnt be smart.' Theres so much of that. All the girls have things in their lives that they keep private and away from the prying eyes of friends and bullies alike. Its a hurt-people hurt people kind of thing, Jackson says. Paulinas dealing with a lot, and we get to see really human moments from her. Its like, Oh honey, youre so mean, but I get it. The classmates often are more concerned with schoolgirl things, including sneaking verboten snacks and sweets and their shared love of Bobby Brown. The story is set in 1986, and Whitney Houston also is a looming icon. Jackson introduced her young cast to some of the pop culture of the 80s, including scenes about Black beauty standards from Spike Lees School Daze. Jackson also is a fan of Mean Girls. I loved it, she says. I have lived all of this. I have been bullied. I have at times been a mean girl, unintentionally, but we all go through these phases. Part of the audition was either tell me a time you were bullied or you were the bully. We have a couple mean girls here. The cast features many young actresses attending or recent college graduates at Loyola and University of New Orleans. The drama is by Jocelyn Bioh, whose parents immigrated to New York from Ghana. As an actress, she noticed the lack of good roles for Black women and decided to start writing them herself. School Girls premiered off-Broadway in New York in 2017. The play has some similarities to Biohs own life. Her mother attended the Aburi school, a Christian school in eastern Ghana. Bioh went to college in Ohio, where Ericka has grown up prior to going to be closer to her father in Ghana. There also was an American woman from the Midwest who competed in the Miss Ghana pageant in 2011, and that inspired Biohs play. Regardless of whether she won or lost, Bioh thought that had plenty to say about what Ghanians and others held up as standards for young women. For tickets and information, visit nolaproject.com. Hey Blake, The Symphony Book Fair last week had some 1984 Worlds Fair posters for sale. One was labeled the official theme poster. What can you tell me about it and the artist? Dear reader, Although there were many posters created to commemorate the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition, better known as the Worlds Fair, only two were officially licensed. The official theme poster you saw was by artist and architect Wellington Reiter. Another limited-edition official lithograph was designed by local commercial artist Hugh Ricks. Reiter was an Ohio native and Tulane graduate who worked for Perez Associates, the fairs architectural designers. His poster depicted the fairs theme, The World of Rivers: Fresh Water as a Source of Life. A lot of the things in the poster are reminiscent of the kinds of things we at Perez designed as architecture for the main entrance gate, Reiter told The Times-Picayune | The States-Item in December 1982. The columns on either side of the poster, for example, replicated those at the gate. The poster includesfish, sea creatures and Louisianas state bird, the brown pelican, as well as Neptune, the Roman god of water. Reiter described two male figures on the poster as the good and bad sides of water. The left is the beauty and goodness of rivers, of water, he said. The other side is the evil side, man grappling with the alligator, and that represents pollution. The poster, printed in both black and white and color editions, sold for between $15 and $300 at the time. After the fair, Reiter earned a masters degree from the Harvard University School of Design and later served as dean of the School of Design at Arizona State University. In recent years, he was president of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before returning to ASU in 2011 to serve in a variety of roles. In 2004, a gunman fired a hail of bullets toward 26-year-old Tyrone Lawrence, killing him just around the corner from his grandmothers house in New Orleans St. Roch neighborhood. Five months earlier, the family had buried his cousin, Quentin Eugene, killed at age 23 by a bullet someone fired through the door of his home in Village de lEst. Like so many local families, the Lawrences have been battered repeatedly by this citys long-running plague of gun violence. To Lawrences mother, Margaret Lawrence George, 61, little has changed. On Saturday, for the Peace Up, Guns Down rally against firearms crime, she showed up at the Treme Community Center in an orange T-shirt emblazed with two pleas: Stop the Violence and Not Another Child. The rally capped an especially crushing week in New Orleans, which since 1986 has ranked among the five deadliest cities in the United States. In the previous six days, 11 people were killed one on Monday, another Tuesday then three per day on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, which ended with a man gunned down at Lafayette and South Rampart Streets just as late-leaving Central Business District office workers were heading home. During the year that Georges son was killed, New Orleans saw 274 homicides, about five a week. Eighteen years later, the city is again awash in homicides, on pace to finish 2022 with 290 killings. Through Saturday evening, New Orleans had logged 129 homicides this year - 34% more than the same period last year. In the face of so much violence, many New Orleans residents have again become accustomed to living within a crime scene. First they hear the gunshots, often fired from automatic weapons, then they see the flashing blue lights of squad cars, the coroners van, the police tape and the yellow or green evidence markers. Saturday's rally formed a procession through the Treme neighborhood, behind a brass band led by trumpeter James Andrews, who lost a younger brother to gun violence. Behind him, parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters of victims held up signs with photos of those that theyd lost. To fight crime, said Rev. Jonathan Everett of Rock of Ages Baptist Church in the 7th Ward, people must take practical steps and public stances against violence in their own families and communities. Certainly, some homicides claim random victims, such as 80-year-old grandmother Augustine Greenwood, felled May 31 by an errant bullet during a fight between two other families outside the Morris Jeff Community School graduation ceremony at Xavier University. NOLA Business Insider The biggest stories in business, delivered to you every day. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up But many shots are fired from more familiar corners. In Tyrone Lawrences death, the key suspect was someone whod grown up like a brother to him. And in 2019, when his mothers 22-year-old niece, Tyshika Tudy Lawrence, was found shot dead in a silver sedan near Miltenberger Playground in Gentilly, the dead womans father, Edward Lawrence, theorized that the killer was someone she was glad to see, because when he found her dead in her unlocked car, her eyes were wide open and she had a smile on her face. In recent weeks, Tamara Jackson, director of the anti-violence group Silence is Violence, has received referral after referral for people trying to recover from the emotional scars of gun violence. Those victims who survive gunshot wounds are often uninsured and are discharged from the hospital without addressing the psychological trauma. And mothers and fathers who lose a child to gun violence often feel that they are judged by people who might consider them poor parents, Jackson said. In her work, Jackson sees extremely limited resources for the large numbers of New Orleanians who are struggling with trauma, on top of the pandemic and hurricanes and rising rents and gasoline and grocery prices. How are we supposed to sustain? she asked. Folks who get into conflicts cant balance their emotions. It spirals out of control. Everett, the 7th Ward pastor, sees hope in numbers, in the crowd he saw outside the Treme Center on Saturday. This is the way its been, but its not the way it has to be, said Everett, citing an African proverb: When spiderwebs unite, you can tie up a lion. Jeff Adelson and Drew Broach contributed to this story. A New Orleans jail inmate died Saturday afternoon, less than 24 hours after a fight with three other inmates at the Orleans Justice Center sent him critically injured to a hospital. The Sheriff's Office confirmed the death but did not release the names or ages of the inmates, or say whether any weapons were used in the brawl, the most serious known outbreak of violence in the jail since Susan Hutson was inaugurated sheriff on May 2. The agency said the inmate died at 1:39 p.m., and it released this statement from Hutson: I am deeply saddened to have a loss of life occur within the family of OJC residents. We have the lives of every OPSO resident in our hands; the courts housed them here, and they are all members of our community - we must protect those who live here. I have instructed our Investigative Services Bureau and the Internal Affairs Division under the leadership of Assistant Sheriff Kristen Morales to conduct a full investigation and commit to inform our community of their findings. I have a plan to reform this jail and ask the city to continue to stand with us as we work to reform a broken system. A Sheriff's Office spokesperson, Timothy David Ray, said the agency will provide more information next week, and that Hutson intends to release surveillance video of the fight once the investigation is complete. He said the fight erupted Friday at about 4 p.m. Two other inmates remained hospitalized at University Medical Center on Saturday; the fourth inmate did not require hospital treatment. Islamabad, June 12 (UNI) Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa led a senior-level tri-service military delegation to China from June 9 to 12 where they held wide-ranging discussions with the senior military leadership and other government departments of China, Geo News reported on Sunday. An apex meeting held on June 12 saw the Pakistani side being led by General Bajwa while the Chinese side was led by Vice Chairman Central Military Commission of China General Zhang Youxia, a statement issued by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. The two sides discussed their perspectives on the international and regional security situation and expressed satisfaction with the defence cooperation between the two countries. The first of four suspects in the errant killing of a grandmother outside Morris Jeff Community School's graduation ceremony has been arrested. New details of the deadly melee emerged Saturday, after New Orleans police booked Brandon J. Rock, 18, with manslaughter and possession of a weapon on school property. In court records, police wrote that women from two Morris Jeff School graduates' families began scuffling outside Xavier University's Convocation Center on May 31, drawing men from both families into the fight. One man retrieved a gun from a car, and another man tried to wrestle it away but was himself shot in the armpit, police said. 80-year-old tries to flee A witness told investigators that Rock fired a gun at one of the families, and surveillance video showed him shooting in the direction of Augustine Greenwood, 80, who was struck by a bullet and killed while trying to flee the fracas, the police wrote. As Rock ran away, a woman shot him in the leg. NOLA Business Insider The biggest stories in business, delivered to you every day. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Police said they soon found Rock with a gun in his waistband, and he admitted shooting in Greenwood's direction. They did not immediately book him with a crime, however. After his arrest late Friday, Magistrate Commissioner Robert Blackburn set his bond at $750,000. The other three suspects identified by police are: The disastrous effects of the hurricane highway can be seen where Arthur Johnson is pointing, out among stumps of dead cypress trees in wetlands on the edge of the Lower Ninth Ward. You look at each one of those stumps out there, imagine those are cypress trees, said Johnson, head of the Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, a community advocacy group. So it really protected this area from anything that came up the Gulf of Mexico. This broke up the wind and water surge. The plan is to restore that protection. The problem is figuring out wholl pay. The Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, or Mr. Go, which many environmentalists and state officials labeled a hurricane highway that helped funnel a wall of storm surge into New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, was closed more than a decade ago. But much of the widespread environmental damage it caused remains. Legislation pending in Congress could ensure that the federal government foots the bill to repair wetlands destroyed by the shipping channel that once led from the Gulf to New Orleans doorstep. Beyond being an integral part of the local ecosystem in southeast Louisiana, those wetlands served as natural hurricane protection, providing a buffer for storm surge barreling in from the Gulf. The dispute boils down to a long-simmering legal fight over how much the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should pay for the restoration, which was estimated at $3 billion a decade ago but would almost surely amount to far more now. The Corps has previously set out a cost split that would see it pay 65% and the state the remainder. The state believes the Corps should pay the full cost, and contends that was made clear in previous legislation. A bill recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives seeks to clarify that full responsibility falls on the federal government. The Senate version, which is yet to be passed, specifies that the federal government pay 90%. It is yet to be determined what the final version will say. The provision is part of a larger bill on water-related projects. U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, the former chair of the states Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority who has worked on the issue in the House, said the Corps is the one that caused all of this loss of coastal wetlands. By coming in and doing the restoration work, you're helping to ensure you have speed bumps or barriers that no longer allow for unimpeded storm surge to be able to come and hit St. Bernard and New Orleans and the north shore, and even the whole Lake Pontchartrain Basin, from that south or that eastern direction, said Graves. Storm surge alley The MRGO and the damage it caused were among the many government missteps that Katrina helped bring to light. Fully opened in 1968, the 76-mile channel wasn't used as heavily as intended. In the meantime, it ate away at vast areas of marsh and changed the ecosystem by flooding it with saltwater, killing cypress and tupelo trees and altering fisheries. After Katrinas 2005 devastation, momentum built to close the shipping channel. The Pontchartrain Conservancy, part of the MRGO Must Go Coalition of environmental, community and social justice groups, concluded that the channel impacted more than a million acres of coastal habitat. The closure eventually occurred in 2009, when a rock dam was constructed at Bayou La Loutre, near Hopedale. Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up But a federal plan by the Corps to restore and protect around 57,000 acres of wetlands and coastal habitat has stalled because of the funding dispute. The disagreement has included a lawsuit filed by the state that was ruled premature by a federal appeals court in 2016. The state is still seeking to clarify the matter, but has not waited in the meantime. It has gone ahead with about $455 million in work on its own. The work has included marsh creation in various areas, such as around the new Lake Borgne Surge Barrier, the wall that's part of the the post-Katrina hurricane protection system to block storm surge, said Chip Kline, chairman of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. Having the Corps cover the cost of the entire project would free state coastal restoration resources to be used elsewhere. Speaking of the importance of the project, Kline said: I think it was one of the greatest lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina. That area served as storm surge alley. That channel undoubtedly allowed for storm surge to get into populated areas, said Kline. But then it also killed thousands of acres of marsh because of that salinity intrusion. For him, the issue is clear: The federal government built the channel. It should pay to fix the damage. Corps spokesman Ricky Boyett said he could not comment on the proposed legislation. Lives were sacrificed The waterways closure has already reduced the salinity in some area waters. You're seeing things like cypress trees being able to survive in areas all the way up to Manchac and the Maurepas area that weren't doing that before, said Amanda Moore, director of the Gulf program at the National Wildlife Federation. You're seeing oysters come back in areas like Biloxi Marsh. In addition to the state, volunteers and environmental groups have sought to fill the gap through efforts like tree planting. That includes the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, which has planted nearly 66 acres of wetlands with 9,250 cypress, tupelo and swamp red maple trees with help from more than 600 volunteers, said the organizations Gardner Goodall. For Johnson, the community activist, efforts to restore the wetlands have special meaning. His grandmother used to live in the Lower Ninth Ward. He now lives in New Orleans East and rebuilt his home after Katrina badly damaged it. He believes the federal government should pay. As he stood on a platform built by volunteers overlooking wetlands near Bayou Bienvenue, he said the channel was built with no regard for the majority Black community in that area. He also noted it had been little-used by the shipping industry. All of this was sacrificed, and peoples lives were sacrificed through Katrina, he said. Unfortunately for no real reason that came out in the end. St. Tammany residents concerned about FEMA's controversial new flood risk ratings have been invited to send their questions to an agency representative who will hold forth this week on the changes to the national flood program that are expected to cost homeowners a lot more to insure their homes. The meeting Wednesday begins at 3 p.m. in the St. Tammany Parish Council's chambers at 21490 Koop Drive in Mandeville. A representative of the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be on hand to address the questions, which must be submitted in advance. To submit a question, go to www.stpgov.org/riskrating. The meeting will also be live streamed on the parish's website, and on St. Tammany Parish Governments Facebook page. FEMA's new guidelines, called Risk Rating 2.0, have drawn a loud chorus of opposition from Louisiana elected officials and residents who will face big increases in the amount of money they have to plunk down to insure their homes. One particular point of contention is the complexity of the new ratings, which make the system hard for many people to understand. The new ratings mark the most extensive overhaul since the National Flood Insurance Program was created in 1968. "We are tremendously concerned over the impacts of FEMAs Risk Rating 2.0," St. Tammany Parish President Mike Cooper said in a news release. "My administration has been demanding information and a delay to the implementation of the program, which could skyrocket flood insurance rates for some of our citizens." During a press conference in March with the area parish presidents, even the state's insurance commissioner, Jim Donelon, said he wasn't certain how factors such as improved levees and elevations would work into the cost equation. Some elected officials have also complained about a dearth of information coming from the federal agency. St. Tammany top stories in your inbox A weekly guide to the biggest news in St. Tammany. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Cooper and other St. Tammany officials joined others from across the region opposing the new rating system. Proponents of the new system say it will more accurately reflect risk for each individual property and end the practice of older, lower-priced homes essentially subsidizing premiums for newer, expensive houses. But there are concerns of unintended consequences in flood-prone south Louisiana, where everyone lives near water of some kind. The system caps the annual increases that Louisiana's 500,000 flood program participants will see at 18%. But since it could take years for many policy holders to reach their "target rate," that will mean years of increases for many. Earlier this year some real estate agents and residents said they were seeing rates jump from $600 annually to $3,000 or more. FEMA's new system took effect in October for new policies and in April for existing policies. "It is still unclear how our citizens may be impacted," Cooper said in a statement. "I strongly encourage residents to address their concerns, submit questions and be in attendance to receive this vital information directly from the entity that has imposed these new regulations upon us." With Lake Pontchartrain running along the southern edge of the parish and numerous rivers and streams criss-crossing it, St. Tammany has seen a number of flood incidents in recent years. A Corps of Engineers study released in 2021 outlines a series of pump stations and home elevations as the best way for the parish to cope. But those improvements also come with a staggering $4 billion price tag. Staff writer Mike Smith contributed to this story. Since all federal judges are appointed for life, the unfit ones are notoriously hard to get rid of, as the late Tom Porteous of Metairie was the most recent to demonstrate. If Porteous had any sense of decency, he would have resigned, but then if he had any sense of decency, he wouldn't have taken money from trial attorneys and bail bondsmen, and lied in his confirmation hearings and bankruptcy proceedings, in the first place. When he refused to budge, impeachment was the only way to way to consign him to the scrapheap where he belonged. That happened in 2010. Federal district judges as corrupt as Porteous don't come along often, but a few others will have stayed put after turning ga-ga, hitting the booze or otherwise falling down on the job over the years. And what a sweet job it is $223,000 a year, plush chambers and flunkies everywhere. Fair enough. That is a reasonable price for judicial independence and integrity. The rewards are calculated to keep judges honest, while total job security enables them to rise above the partisan considerations that helped get them nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. That's why I distinctly remember a time when Americans assumed their federal judges would always rule purely according to the facts and the law. Or does hindsight come with rose-colored glasses? It makes no never-mind, because federal judges these days are regarded as political animals pure and simple, as the brouhaha over congressional redistricting in Louisiana is now demonstrating. The Republicans who dominate the state Legislature decided that, although Black people now make up one-third of the electorate, they should continue to be crammed into one of our six districts. That way they can carry on voting Democrat while voters in the other five districts stick with White Republicans who believe government should let regular citizens bear arms designed for the battlefield while forcing women to bear children they do not want and cannot care for. Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed the new maps, as was only to be expected from a Democrat, but was quickly overridden and litigation ensued. The case fell to Judge Shelly Dick, who, as an appointee of President Barack Obama, accepted Democratic math that said one-third of the electorate should have a shot at two of the six districts and ordered a remap that would make such an outcome likely. Republicans were unfazed because an appeal was filed and the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit is stuffed with GOP appointees. Republicans, therefore, had no doubt that Dick would be overturned, and a stay was granted Friday. So much for any idea that the federal judiciary will rule on the merits without fear or favor. Jurists are expected to support their own tribe, just like the humblest ward-heeler. Although they may never have been held in such high esteem as eminent jurists, politicians of old did sometimes give priority to the common good. Louisiana legislators of 20 years ago, for instance, were able to agree on an enlightened constitutional amendment proposed by then-Rep. Vic Stelly, R-Lake Charles, and approved by voters in 2002, that raised income taxes on wealthier citizens and reduced sales tax taxes on the poor. Bobby Jindal put the kibosh on that when became the most reactionary of governors, while comity and fiscal sanity shrank from view. Email James Gill at gill504nola@gmail.com. Washington, June 12 (UNI) Thousands of Americans joined rallies and marches across the US to advocate for gun reform in the wake of two mass shootings. The demonstrators gathered at the National Mall in Washington, DC, while others protested in hundreds of other cities in at least 45 states, international media reports. Those taking part at the hundreds of marches on Saturday carried slogans like "I want freedom from getting shot, reports BBC. US President Joe Biden backed the protests, calling on Congress to "pass common sense gun safety legislation". The marches are in response to the May 24 shooting at a Uvalde elementary school that killed 19 students and two teachers, as well as the May 14 massacre at a Buffalo grocery store where 10 people, all of whom were Black, were gunned down in an alleged hate crime. The nationwide event was organized by March For Our Lives (MFOL), a group founded by student survivors of the 2018 high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people. "We will no longer allow you to sit back while people continue to die," Trevon Bosley, a MFOL board member, said in a statement. Speaking to protesters in Washington DC, one of the survivors of the Parkland shooting, David Hogg, said the killings of children in Uvalde "should fill us with rage and demands for change, not endless debate, but demands for change, now," reports BBC. Garnell Whitfield, whose 86-year-old mother was killed in the racially-motivated shooting in Buffalo, New York on 14 May, told crowds in Washington: "We are here to demand justice. "We are here to stand with those who are bold enough to demand sensible gun legislation." US President supported Saturdays protests and said: Today, young people around the country once again march with @AMarch4OurLives to call on Congress to pass commonsense gun safety legislation supported by the majority of Americans and gun owners. I join them by repeating my call to Congress: do something. The group said some 450 rallies would be held across the country, including Washington DC, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. UNI MYK Jainardhan Sathyan travelled to most of the countries and tried to study each version, its differences and cultural relevance. "We extensively researched and created art that would cut across. This initiative was funded by a large multinational brand and a Malaysian network. For some reason, that project got paused, only for the better and I moved to Los Angeles. Now, after getting a formal education and training in filmmaking, the Hollywood way, my aperture has opened to see the project through a wider lens, relevant to the world over," says Sathyan, who has produced multiple seasons of television shows, aired on Viacom, Disney, Star, Sony, National Geographic, Sun Network and worked as Visual Effects Producer in more than 20 feature films internationally, talks about "Princess Sita", an animated feature film, retelling of the Ramayana through Sita's eyes, which he is working on. Written by Paul Hamilton Magid ("The Guardian Monk"), the project involves animation, live-action, virtual reality, visual effects, virtual production, motion and capture. Sathyan feels that while Sita has been revered in the historic epic and traditions of India and Southeast Asia for thousands of years, the story of "Ramayana" has almost always been told from the vantage point of Lord Rama. He adds, "It feels worthwhile and meaningful to tell the great legend from the matriarchal feminine vantage point that will provide a new and fresh perspective on a legendary epic, a story every family should know." The producer feels that looking at her story track, birth, marriage, exile, abduction, reunion and then separation again, everything seems to happen around her and that is what is fascinating about the character. "Despite being a princess, she is the only character in Ramayana who is extremely relatable." Talk to him about the fact that over the past decade and a half there has been a hurricane of literature and television content made on mythology, and he asserts, "These are timeless classics. Every content creator who is attracted by great stories, cannot ignore the fact that some of the most fascinating tales are the gems hidden in our scriptures, time-tested, society and culture agnostic. I feel it is the audience whose tastes change as they favour one genre over the other. Right now, there is a growing appetite for stories from our past and it is a moment to cherish and celebrate," he concludes. LOWELL Harvest Tyme Family Farm is about to become a Jurassic Park. Giant, life-sized dinosaurs, including colossal T-Rexes and Brontosauruses that stand up to 14-feet tall, will soon invade Harvest Tyme at 17904 Grant St. in Lowell. More than 20 moving and roaring animatronic dinosaurs will be displayed for the Dino Tyme exhibit later this summer. The prehistoric attraction also will include larger-than-life dinosaurs kids can ride, a fossil dig and a 14-foot-tall volcano that will erupt, emitting smoke. "It will be a first of its kind that's never been seen in Northwest Indiana," owner Josh Sickinger said. "They've had bigger dinosaurs in Chicago, but nothing like this in this area. The dinosaurs will be a great family experience for all ages." Sickinger's 6-year-old son Conrad helped pick out which dinosaurs would be featured. It includes his favorites, the T-Rex and Triceratops. "He's very well-versed in dinosaurs," he said. "He had an important role." The farm has grown into a regional attraction in recent years with a pumpkin patch, corn maze and Christmas light show. Dino Tyme will feature live stage shows throughout the day and a dozen amusement rides, including new rides like a carousel and spin ride. It also will have more static dinosaur statute and a baby dinosaur. For an extra charge, aspiring paleontologists will be able to comb through a sandbox for fossils they can take home. There also will be concessions, including doughnuts, kettle corn and pizza. Kids can get up close and marvel at the dinosaurs, posing for as many pictures as they'd like. "It's a prehistoric exhibit with realistic dinosaurs for fans," he said. "They're animatronic, so the eyes move, the head turns and it looks like they're breathing. The tails move. They're replica dinosaurs." Harvest Tyme has been bringing in more and more attractions as it looks to become a year-round destination. Sickinger previously worked as a certified public accountant but quit his full-time job as a controller last year to focus on bringing new events to Harvest Tyme. "This is something I had in mind for a while," he said. "The new Jurassic Park movie was an inspiration." It took hours of research to find a manufacturer of the type of dinosaurs he had in mind. "It was not the easiest," he said. "I had to do a lot of due diligence to find a good quality product I could be confident in." The hope was for the attraction to come around the time of the "Jurassic World Dominion" opening, but it's been delayed. The dinosaurs are coming in from China, and the shipments are held up due to pandemic-induced supply chain issues. "They are halfway across the Pacific Ocean," spokesperson Diane Poulton said. "They're supposed to be in Los Angeles by June 10 and unloaded by the 17th. They have yet to be sent by train to Chicago and trucked to Lowell. It's probably going to be August by the time we get opened." Excitement has been mounting. "I knew there was a general love of dinosaurs," Sickinger said. "But I underestimated the appeal to kids. It's generated so much excitement from the little bit we've put it. It's been amazing." He estimates families could spend about a half-day there between the dinosaurs and amusement park rides. It will be on display temporarily but may become an annual attraction every summer. "Our pumpkin patch has been drawing visitors far into Illinois and the Chicagoland area," he said. "We're looking to give out a great experience to get people to visit the farm." Harvest Tyme also plans a dinosaur-themed corn maze this year, potentially in the fall. "We're definitely excited to bring full-sized, lifelike dinosaurs," he said. Tickets will be $18.95 in advance and $22.95 at the door. For more information, visit harvesttymefun.com, follow the business on Facebook or call 219-440-2386. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. CROWN POINT In the 2 1/2 years since the federal government ended its oversight of the Lake County Jail, three inmates have taken their own lives, two died from drug overdoses, one died from COVID-19 complications and one died because of a preexisting heart condition. Attorneys for the families of four of those inmates have filed lawsuits against the county, Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. and others alleging correctional officers violated the inmates' civil rights by failing to provide adequate medical care and supervision to prevent their loved ones' deaths. In court filings, the defendants denied allegations the Lake County Jail has a history of insufficient medical staffing, inadequate acute and chronic medical care, inadequate training relating to suicide prevention and inadequate comprehensive suicide assessments. In a statement, Martinez said a report released in December 2021 by the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics showed local jails had a mortality rate in 2019 of 16.7 per 10,000 bookings. "Lake County Jail does approximately 10,000 bookings per year," he said. "So far this year, we have had two deaths at the jail, which is fewer than the national average." The federal report also showed the rate of jail suicide deaths in 2019 was 4.9 per 10,000. The rate of jail deaths due to drug or alcohol intoxication was 2.6 per 10,000. In the latest death at the Lake County Jail, a 33-year-old Lake Station man booked in April 13 was found unresponsive about 12:30 a.m. May 6 by a correctional officer conducting a routine check, the sheriff said. Correctional officers and jail medical staff attempted life-saving procedures and called an ambulance, but the man was pronounced dead after he was transported to Methodist Hospitals Southlake Campus in Merrillville, according to police and the Lake County coroner's office. The man's cause of death was asphyxia by hanging, the coroner's office said. The man was being held at the jail on a petition to revoke his probation in an August 2021 case in which he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of methamphetamine. Two inmates died by suicide in 2021, according to information provided by the Lake County Sheriff's Department. A 62-year-old Lakes of the Four Seasons man, identified in U.S. District Court records as Christopher DeRisi, died from asphyxia caused by hanging March 3, 2021, records showed. He was incarcerated in March 2021 on domestic battery charges, records show. A 23-year-old Crown Point man, identified in court records as Daniel Skonieczny, died in mid-September 2021, also from asphyxia caused by hanging. Skonieczny was arrested Sept. 13, 2021, on several drug-related charges. His date of death was listed as Sept. 16, 2021, by the Sheriff's Department and as Sept. 17, 2021, in a lawsuit. The men's deaths were the first suicides at the jail since Lake County, former Sheriff Rogelio "Roy" Dominguez and other county boards and officials entered into a consent decree with the Department of Justice in December 2010. The agreement was reached after federal officials investigated a series of inmate suicides, injuries and disease outbreaks and determined in 2009 that the jail had violated inmates' constitutional rights by repeatedly, deliberately and consistently disregarding known or serious risks of harm. Under former Sheriff John Buncich, who was convicted in a bribery scheme in August 2017, the county poured money into fixing the problems, and the jail's annual operating budget swelled to more than $22 million. That money was in addition to a $7.2 million settlement paid in 2012 to former inmates who alleged they were held for weeks or months in overcrowded holding cells, forced to sleep on a concrete floor stained with human waste and provided "nearly nonexistent" medical care. One of Martinez's goals after taking office in 2017 was to end the federal oversight. He conducted a nationwide search and hired former Warden Michael Zenk, a longtime corrections manager who had served as the warden of federal prisons in Pennsylvania, New York and Georgia. Under Zenk's leadership, the Justice Department noted particular improvements in the jail's use of force and mental health standards during an October 2018 review. At the time, Zenk said understaffing issues continued to plague the jail, but Martinez had implemented changes to address the problem. A federal judge signed an order in December 2019 officially terminating federal supervision. Zenk, who retired in January, was replaced by Warden Todd Wasmer, who came to Lake County after serving as warden at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution in Nebraska. Wasmer previously held a variety of roles, ranging from corrections officer to assistant warden, over a 14-year period at Florida and Arizona facilities operated by CoreCivic, a private prison operator. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 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. President Joe Biden soon is expected to sign into law a measure sponsored by U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, D-Highland, aimed at improving health care services for American military veterans. Mrvan's "VA Electronic Health Record Transparency Act" is headed to the White House for enactment after winning unanimous Senate approval May 26 and previously passing the House without opposition in November. The legislation seeks to hold the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs accountable to taxpayers as the VA implements a $16 billion project to modernize the electronic health records of former military service members. In his role as chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization, Mrvan said he's learned through the VA inspector general that the VA is not conducting reliable and complete estimates for infrastructure upgrades and costs under the Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program. His new law will require the VA provide Congress with quarterly reports assessing the full costs, performance metrics and outcomes of its EHRM project. "I have seen the great need for Congress to conduct oversight and have accurate information to ensure that the Electronic Health Record Modernization program is able to meet the needs of our veterans," Mrvan said. "I thank the leaders of the Senate for also seeing the value of this legislation, and as we move forward, I look forward to obtaining the requested information and continuing our work to ensure that all veterans receive the world-class health care they deserve." This will be the second veterans-related measure sponsored by Mrvan that's signed into law by the Democratic president. On Sept. 30, 2021, Biden signed Mrvan's plan to extend various veteran benefits, including transportation benefits and dental insurance for veterans, their dependents and other VA health care members before the programs expired at the end of the federal budget year. Mrvan's track record of assisting veterans extends back to the 16 years he served as North Township trustee in Lake County before he was elected in 2020 to succeed retired U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Gary, and represent Lake, Porter and northwest LaPorte counties in Congress. "Throughout my career at the trustee's office, I have had a very positive and collaborative relationship with veterans and veteran organizations in Northwest Indiana, and they have brought to my attention many pressing issues, including those related to technology and health care," Mrvan said. Mrvan is competing at the Nov. 8 general election for a second two-year term in the House against Republican Jennifer-Ruth Green, a U.S. Air Force veteran from Crown Point. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. GARY In 2012 Griffith High School graduate Kimberly Anyce Lindsay lost her life to gun violence; however her legacy continues on through an organization that empowers girls to achieve their dreams. On Saturday, her loved ones celebrated what would have been her 30th birthday at a place known as "Grandma's House" at 4215 West 25th Ave. in Gary, which serves as headquarters for Butterfly Dreamz. Kimberly Anyce Lindsay grew up in the house, which has seen five generations of her family, said her mother Heather Lindsay, Butterfly Dreamz board chair. Kimberly's sister, Joy Lindsay, founded Butterfly Dreamz in 2013 after the 20-year-old Gary native was fatally shot while she attended college in Jackson, Tennessee, in July 2012. "This would have been her 30th birthday," Joy Lindsay said. "Kim was, is, a light. She was not just my little sister but my best friend. She was still so young when she passed. We would talk about building something together, so that's been a big part of building Butterfly Dreamz. As I worked through the grief, I wanted to honor her legacy. I wanted to do something that not only would she be proud of but that she would be doing if she were here." The event also marks the release of the annual Butterfly Dreamz Leadership Journal, a combination of writings by girls in the internship programs. The organization itself is centered on mentorship, scholarships and youth-led community action, providing a variety of paid internships to high school- and middle school-age girls. Joy Lindsay said her sister aspired to help others and had a bright future ahead. Now, she wants to give other girls that chance to pursue their dreams, even when it feels like an uphill battle. Jada Cross, Kimberly Lindsay's best friend, said Kimberly wanted to buy up blocks of Gary, seeing the potential in every corner of the city and in every person. "She was a person filled with hope," Cross said. "This program reminds people to dream again in Gary. It reminds them they don't have to do it alone. If you asked Kim for help, she would take you all the way. If you say to her, 'I need help,' that's all she needed." The organization currently supports more than 600 girls nationwide, providing paid internships and stepping stones in career-building. "We have girls who come from all types of places, from here in Gary to New York and New Jersey," Joy Lindsay said. Regan Bandy, of Gary, shares Kimberly Lindsay's passion for poetry. The local teen is a "Write to Lead" intern whose poetry about overcoming mental health struggles was published in The Leadership Journal. She aspires to be a writer and a lawyer. "My favorite part of the internship has been writing my leadership journal entry piece," Bandy said. "It helped me know what I wanted to do. ... I think this can help other girls in Gary by giving them scholarships and to be able to network and really just learn about themselves." Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Matthew J. Vlasic came to Gary from Pennsylvania in 1911 at 7 years old. During his first summer break from Frobel, he earned his first dollar as a messenger boy for South Side Trust and Savings Bank. There he developed an interest in finance. As a young adult, Matthew worked as an assistant bookkeeper at the Tolleston Branch of a Standard Oil Company fuel oil distributor at 2220 W. Ninth Ave. until 1920. Vlasic worked at Gary Works' No. 4 open-hearth facility as a delay clerk until 1922, when he became a teller and assistant cashier at Peoples State Bank. During this period, Matt would court Geneva Tanner. The couple married in 1926 and resided in Gary's posh Glen Park neighborhood at 3625 Jackson St. By 1930 he was assistant secretary of the Glen Park Building and Loan Association. When this firm went belly up in 1935, he was its liquidating agent. Matt was also a Home Owners Loan Corporation appraiser in Hammond, where he specialized in helping distressed homeowners secure HOLC loans. In addition, he was director of the American Savings and Loan Association. Later, he reorganized it, renamed it the First State Savings and Loan Association and relocated its headquarters to 100 W. Ridge Road in Glen Park. Matt was on the Calumet Township board, an up-and-coming leader inside the Lake County Democratic party by 1933. He was a protege of William Schroeder, president of the Lake County Council. According to The Times, Matt got implicated in an insurance racket in which underling insurance agents overcharged the Crown Point Tuberculosis Sanatorium's compensation insurance bill. As a result, he was fined $4,676, about $122,000 in today's money. He and various other members of the Lake County government got with legislators of the state of Indiana and enjoyed lavish payouts through the latter years of the Great Depression. These payouts came in "commission" and were paid by Firemens Insurance, United States Fire Insurance and Royal Insurance. Vlasic and his ilk locked horns constantly with the Lake County commissioners, but the corruption didn't stunt his rise. In 1935, Vlasic was appointed Deputy County Assessor after James Costello, the previous assessor, died. By 1937 Vlasic was designated chief cashier of Lake County Treasurer Ray Madden. The now wealthy Vlasic and his family moved to 3600 Monroe, where his neighbors described him as "conscientious, industrious and efficient." In April 1940, Matt announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination as Lake County Treasurer. He lost to Frank Martin, the Mayor of Hammond, by 1,500 votes out of 35,000. Vlasic was snubbed entirely, with his old job as chief cashier being taken away from him and given to his mentor, William Schroeder. Additionally, Martin appointed Vlasic's campaign employees as aides in his new administration. There was bad blood between Vlasic and Martin. Martin tried to set up Dorothy Wolfe as deputy treasurer but she was under a voter fraud investigation. In March 1942, Matt again announced his candidacy for Lake County treasurer. His campaign headquarters were at 542 Broadway and 4747 Indianapolis Blvd. in East Chicago. A Black man, Frank Martin (not Treasurer Frank Martin), was paid an undisclosed amount of money to enter the primary by an unnamed white man. According to The Times, the Black Frank Martin was to move votes away from "a certain candidate ." He was also instructed not to vote for himself but another candidate. Vlasic urged with aggression for the Black Frank Martin's name to be removed from the ballot. In April, the Black Frank Martin withdrew his name as authorized by Chief Deputy Sheriff Fred L. Stults. "I think I can win a clean campaign on the issues alone," Vlasic said. Martin edged Vlasic by 770 votes, 730 votes less than the previous primary. Twice defeated, Matt Vlasic did not back down. He was appointed treasurer of the Lake County Democratic Party and immediately began soliciting campaign funds for the party. Two years later, in 1944, Vlasic applied to run for treasurer a third time. The actual Frank Martin did not participate. He lost to John Knotts. However, Knotts appointed him as chief deputy treasurer. By 1948, Vlasic was ready to give it a fourth try, this time seen as the sure winner. He ran against Anthony Dobis Jr. in the primary. Finally, Vlasic won, beating Dobis by 4,000 votes. He moved on to face Bernard A. Becker Jr., a Republican from Hammond. But things did not go well for Vlasic. On May 15, he was rushed to Mercy Hospital with serious ailments caused by viral pneumonia and a preexisting cardiac condition. It turned out Vlasic was sick the entire campaign. A week later, he was reported by the press as "improving" in what was probably an attempt to ease his supporters. Eight days later, Vlasic was in critical condition. On June 5, 1948, Mr. Matthew J. Vlasic, 41, was dead. Immediately, Matt's wife, Geneva, was brought up in conversations with the Democratic higher-ups. After Matthew's funeral, the Lake County Democratic Party decided that Geneva should be appointed as Matt's replacement. The decision was unopposed. Perhaps, due to sympathy for her husband's death, she won. The widowed Vlasic served two terms as Lake County Treasurer, as limited by law. Her successor was Michael Truchan, who appointed Geneva deputy treasurer. Truchan was the first Lake County treasurer to serve a four-year term. Korry Shepard is an amateur Gary historian and runs the Gary Historical Collective group on Facebook. The opinions are the writer's. Thank you! You've reported this item as a violation of our terms of use. Error! There was a problem with reporting this article. This content was contributed by a user of the site. If you believe this content may be in violation of the terms of use, you may report it. Report Abuse Log In to report Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 2 Sad 0 Angry 0 Her remark echoed as I watched and rewatched the video, which features fetish wear, girl-on-girl, the Pose star Dominique Jackson, vogueing death drops and Chloe Sevigny, the patron saint of gay designers. What do you think? Jessica Testa Not to mention that Casey Cadwallader, Muglers creative director, has christened one of his new designs the Hoochie dress, according to collection notes accompanying the video. It reminded me that weve seen so much bondage fashion on the runways lately the gimp suits and harnesses and strappy corsets and latex everything that dominatrix style fails to shock or move me anymore. When a minidress or bodysuit is slashed all over with cutouts, the very concept of a cutout loses all meaning! Vanessa Friedman Well, there does seem to be a latent desire among an astonishing number of viewers to embrace the idea of fetish fashion apparently Mr. Cadwallader has tapped into the secret dominatrix desires not just of his all-star cast, who look as if they are having a ball camping it up while flashing various body bits and writhing on cars (hello, Lourdes Leon), but of the rest of the watching population. Todays Theme Theres no doubt that the arrangement of theme entries today took a lot of strategizing; the blend between asymmetry and symmetry is really interesting and artful. There are four sets of a seed word, clued innocently enough, and a separate, lengthier and more elaborate entry that includes a repetition of that word in an appropriate term or expression. The longer entries are symmetrical, but each ones seed is hidden somewhere to its north, in such a way that if you solved this puzzles clues in order, those repetitions (which rarely occur in a crossword puzzle) might sneak up on you. The first example in this puzzle stems from an exceptionally mundane entry, 18-Across: Doohickey. This solves simply to THING. If you were to move on just a few entries to 27-Across, Argument extender [ref. 18-Across], you would find some fighting words AND ANOTHER THING that also describe the second appearance of THING in the grid. Right beneath THING in this puzzle is 23-Across, Contest with a lot of tied scores, which solves to RODEO (because the little dogies get tied up with a lasso? I dont know). Just a little further on, at 48- and 87-Across, the clue is Ive been around the block a few times [ref. 23-Across], which is another way of saying THIS ISNT MY/FIRST RODEO. Of course, its not this puzzles first RODEO either! I should have picked up on the purpose of 33-Across, Eerily familiar feeling, before I reached this puzzles showstopper at 70-Across, the Classic Yogi Berra quote [ref. 33-Across]. I had to get to ITS DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN to connect each expression to the reiteration that it executed in the puzzle. Its quite ingenious! Constructor Notes A couple of names in this one might be unfamiliar to a lot of solvers. If Luigi RUSSOLO is new to you, I hope you read up on this fascinating figure, who invented his own experimental musical instruments and wrote a manifesto called The Art of Noises. On an unrelated note: Id like to state for the record that I dont think 78-Across parsed as AN I is a legitimate crossword answer (I clued it as ANI). Singing a sad refrain? Subscribers can take a peek at the answer key. Trying to get back to the puzzle page? Right here. What did you think? Follow live updates on the House committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Former Vice President Mike Pences chief counsel laid out in a memo the day before Jan. 6, 2021, that the vice president would violate federal law if he bowed to pressure from President Donald J. Trump to interfere with the certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.s victory. The three-page memo, obtained by Politico and confirmed as authentic by The New York Times, included arguments from the chief counsel, Greg Jacob, that Mr. Pence could find himself in a legally precarious situation if he decided to block the certification of the Electoral College results either unilaterally or by calling for a 10-day delay in the proceedings. A lawyer advising Mr. Trump, John Eastman, had insisted that Mr. Pence had the power to take both of those actions, emphasizing the 10-day delay as Jan. 6 grew closer. Mr. Eastman pressed his claims in a meeting with Mr. Pence and Mr. Jacob in the Oval Office on Jan. 4. Scored for an octet of piano, vocalist, trumpet, bass clarinet, violin, vibraphone, bass and drums, Colsons music occasionally felt like a thrilling update of the soul jazz tradition particularly when the composers piano took a subtly swinging yet harmonically unpredictable background role. At other points the work had all the high-energy markers of the 1970s avant-garde. And thanks to some stirring playing from the violinist Marlene Rice, the music also proposed a lineage with some of Ellingtons chamber-adjacent music with Ray Nance on violin (as in Dance No. 3 from the Liberian Suite). During Searching Harlem, the first movement of this premiere, the composers wife and longtime collaborator and vocalist Iqua Colson gave affecting voice to Maynors intentions in founding this institution. She brought crisp intonation to some mournful melodic lines that described the historical dearth of spaces for the neighborhoods children to sing or dance or act a part. And later in the suite, during the explosive, uptempo penultimate movement, Resilience, she channeled the fiery sense of artistic expression made possible by the school, with an inventive solo of scat singing. It wasnt supper-club-style scat, either but an ingeniously shaped solo, concluding with some darting phrases that earned one of the nights biggest rounds of applause. It brought to mind the couples long and fruitful collaboration, going back to 1980s releases like Triumph! and No Reservation. The interdisciplinary nature of the school and of the A.A.C.M. itself was brought into enjoyable focus thanks to contributions by students, during the third movement (Our Beautiful Children). Two dancers, Kendall McDowell and Jenelle Henry, provided fluid accompaniment to funk-inflected rhythms of the percussionist Pheeroan akLaff and the bassist Luke Stewart. Russia closes in on Sievierodonetsk Moscows forces could encircle the key city of Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine and cut it off within days, the governor of Luhansk said. Ukraine has poured troops and resources into holding the city, its last holdout in Luhansk. Capturing Sievierodonetsk would give President Vladimir Putin a key victory in his bid to control the industrial Donbas region, which includes Luhansk. Civilians in Lysychansk, a neighboring city, are leaving. Ukrainian troops in the east are suffering heavy casualties at least 100 soldiers are dying each day and running short on ammunition. The countrys leaders are pressing the U.S. and other Western allies for longer-range weapons as Russia targets artillery supplies: Moscow said it had destroyed American and European antitank and antimissile systems in a military warehouse in western Ukraine. Here are live updates. As former W.T.O. ambassadors from both political parties, we worked to advance an ambitious agreement while in office. Now, the Biden administration has the opportunity to bring home a result that would benefit the global environment and U.S. fishing and seafood companies by leveling the global playing field and enhancing the long-term durability of the fishing industry. In the W.T.O. negotiations, the United States needs to lead the world in reaching a deal that includes strong prohibitions on subsidies that fund illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, as well as distant-water fishing fishing in other countries waters or on the high seas just outside them. Over half of high-seas fishing grounds would be unprofitable without subsidies and low wages (in some cases unfair wages or even forced labor) that are distorting the market and artificially propping up fishing in those areas, according to a study published in the journal Science Advances in 2018. Strong rules in a W.T.O. agreement could eliminate harmful subsidies while tackling the use of forced labor on fishing vessels exactly the kind of environmentally and socially supportive trade paradigm that the W.T.O. should, and can, foster. A W.T.O. deal could also help enhance transparency of these subsidy programs and help hold governments accountable. As with other W.T.O. agreements, violators could be subject to legal action. To reach a meaningful agreement, the countries parceling out big subsidies will need to move beyond their supportive statements and be willing to cut their most harmful handouts. That includes the United States. But the W.T.O. is the sum of its members. Sustained leadership by the United States will be critical but major members such as China, the European Union and Japan, and the rest must act in the interests of sustainability. Peter Allgeier was a deputy U.S. trade representative and U.S. ambassador to the W.T.O. in the George W. Bush administration. Michael Punke was a deputy U.S. trade representative and U.S. ambassador to the W.T.O. in the Obama administration. MEGAN KEAVENEY, 17, PORTSMOUTH, N.H. I completely broke down after seeing the news of Uvalde. I sobbed in my moms arms. I felt, and still feel, helpless. Every day that goes by is just another day that I have to simply hope that I or someone I love is not in the wrong place at the wrong time. A few days after the Uvalde shooting, I visited my school resource officer in tears and asked about our precautions. She told me that the teachers are well trained, our doors are always locked. She also said she wished she could say it would never happen. TOM NUNN-RUTLEDGE, 17, NEW YORK Every time someone drops a book in a classroom I look for the nearest exit. Its insane that this reaction is in no way irrational. As long as seemingly anyone can get access to firearms without a sufficient background check, mental health screening or training, I will never feel safe. In our current reality, we must be prepared for insanity. Lauren Lamson, 16, Middleton, Wis. I remember my first lockdown drill vividly. I was 7. My teacher pushed desks against the door, quickly taped black paper over the windows and huddled us into a corner. She told us to open our scissors and take off our shoes if an intruder came in, to throw stuff at them. I felt safe at the time. I dont anymore. This past January, on the first day of the semester, my school went into lockdown. I was in the hallway. A teacher unlocked the doors to the gym and shepherded about 30 of us inside. We didnt know where to hide in such a wide-open room. No one knew what was happening. Once it was over we were told to go straight to our next class. Then we were congratulated for making it through the lockdown. No apologies for the lack of communication, no acknowledgment of our stress just an assumption that our numbness would dissipate. We know going to school isnt safe. In our current reality, we must be prepared for insanity. I dont dispute these fears. But theyre an indictment of laws that make projects so easy to block, not a defense of the process we have. Congestion pricing taxes cars to fund trains. It cuts pollution and frees up roadways. Its not a hard call, environmentally. Yet everyone involved in the process fears the lawsuits that will be brought under the auspices of legislation like the California law or the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, that was passed to protect the environment. We live in this wildly litigious environment, Janno Lieber, the head of the M.T.A., told me. At some level I cant fix that. I cant fix that NEPA became a tool for attacking pro-environmental initiatives. I want to get congestion pricing started here in the countrys biggest city, prove it out, and show its environmental worth. And I think thatll be a stronger argument against environmental lawsuits than the accusation that you missed the five low-income cabdrivers in East New York. Another argument is that this will be the first major congestion pricing plan in the United States, and everyone wants to see it go well. Im sympathetic to this, too. Imagine youre an experienced traffic engineer at the Federal Highway Administration. You read through New York Citys congestion pricing plan and have some thoughts on how it could be better or how local officials could gather relevant data that they had missed. Of course youll let them know. Thats your job. You want this project to succeed. But this is a place where whats rational for each individual is irrational for the process. All of this, for now, is just predictions, modeling exercises and speculation. The way to improve congestion pricing is to implement it, gather data and then improve it. Delaying the program delays when officials can begin learning from actual operations. And there are more direct consequences. Every year the plan is delayed is a year that the M.T.A. doesnt get the revenue it could otherwise use to improve New Yorks groaning buses and subways. Every year without congestion pricing is a year with more cars, more pollution, more asthma attacks. Whose job is it to tally those costs? The law as its been developed does not recognize or weigh who benefits environmentally across the board it only identifies who is disadvantaged environmentally, Lieber said. It has no mechanism for weighing the positives as part of an environmental review. Thats what is missing a metric for capturing positive environmental benefits. He was like a pirate landing among an Indigenous population. Instead of appreciating the elegance of the culture and history of its rites, he focused on its weaknesses, scheming ways to exploit it, and if need be, destroy it. Donald Trump didnt create the modern American right, but he arrived in a moment when it was thirsty for unapologetic white nationalism, when it was terrified of white replacement and when it had flung open its arms in its willingness to embrace fiction. He quickly understood that these impulses, which establishment Republicans had told their base to suppress and only whisper, were the things the base wanted to hear shouted, things the base wanted to cheer. Now, millions of Americans have fallen for a lie and follow a liar. This means that our politics still exist in Trumps shadow. Republican politicians, afraid to buck him and afraid of the mob he controls, toe the line for him and parrot his lies. The conservative media echo chamber, hermetically sealed and resistant to reality, ensures that Trump propaganda is repeated until it is accepted without examination. The Democrats also exist in Trumps shadow. A large part of the reason Joe Biden was selected as the Democratic nominee was not because he had the most exciting set of policies, but because Democrats desperately wanted to beat Trump, and saw Biden as the safest bet to do so. Now that he has been elected, many factions of his winning coalition feel like constituencies held hostage. Any critique of Biden, even mild and legitimate, must be tempered so as not to give ammunition to the Mar-a-Lago Menace who looks poised to attempt another run for the White House. SAN FRANCISCO Google placed an engineer on paid leave recently after dismissing his claim that its artificial intelligence is sentient, surfacing yet another fracas about the companys most advanced technology. Blake Lemoine, a senior software engineer in Googles Responsible A.I. organization, said in an interview that he was put on leave Monday. The companys human resources department said he had violated Googles confidentiality policy. The day before his suspension, Mr. Lemoine said, he handed over documents to a U.S. senators office, claiming they provided evidence that Google and its technology engaged in religious discrimination. Google said that its systems imitated conversational exchanges and could riff on different topics, but did not have consciousness. Our team including ethicists and technologists has reviewed Blakes concerns per our A.I. Principles and have informed him that the evidence does not support his claims, Brian Gabriel, a Google spokesman, said in a statement. Some in the broader A.I. community are considering the long-term possibility of sentient or general A.I., but it doesnt make sense to do so by anthropomorphizing todays conversational models, which are not sentient. The Washington Post first reported Mr. Lemoines suspension. The Tony Awards were back at Radio City Music Hall for the first time since June 2019. The awards ceremony, which honors the plays and musicals staged on Broadway and resumed its traditional calendar after a long pandemic disruption, honored work that opened on Broadway between Feb. 20, 2020, and May 4, 2022. (Girl From the North Country opened on March 5, 2020, just a week before theaters shut down for the pandemic.) Ariana DeBose, the former Broadway understudy turned Oscar winner, hosted the three-hour broadcast portion of the Tony Awards on CBS, which was preceded by a one-hour segment hosted by Darren Criss and Julianne Hough on Paramount+. A Strange Loop won best musical and The Lehman Trilogy was awarded best play at a glittering ceremony celebrating Broadways comeback. Myles Frost won his first Tony for best leading actor in a musical for MJ, his Broadway (and professional acting) debut. And there were performances from some of the past years most prominent musicals: Company, Girl From the North Country and Paradise Square, among others. Heat advisories and excessive heat warnings were in effect for more than 75 million people in the southern and central United States on Sunday, a continuation of a scorching heat wave that resulted in record high temperatures on Saturday in 16 cities from the Southwest to the Southern Plains, according to the National Weather Service. On Saturday, the temperature reached 114 degrees at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, tying a record set more than a century ago. Temperatures rose to 100 degrees and above in Las Vegas and even in Denver, where it snowed less than a month ago. In Death Valley in California, one of the hottest places in the world, temperatures soared to a daily record of 123 degrees on Saturday. COEUR DALENE, Idaho Dozens of members of a white supremacist group were arrested on Saturday in Idaho before they could act on plans to riot at a local Pride event, the police said. After receiving a tip from a concerned citizen, the police detained and charged 31 people who belonged to a far-right group known as Patriot Front, said Lee White, the chief of the Coeur dAlene Police Department, at a news conference. They are being charged with conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanor, he said. Bob Norris, the sheriff of Kootenai County, said that a person reported seeing a group of people jump into a U-Haul van near the intersection of Northwest Boulevard and Interstate 90 in Coeur dAlene. Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba Like so many articles, our project in Sundays newspaper on the once-secret Pentagon photos from the earliest days of U.S. detention operations here, in 2002, started out with a tip. Somewhere inside the Pentagon was a trove of pictures taken by photographers from the elite Combat Camera unit, someone who had worked at the prison told me last year. The military photographers spent months documenting the goings-on at Guantanamo Bay in the first year after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The pictures had been taken for senior leaders at the Pentagon especially for Donald H. Rumsfeld, the defense secretary who took a personal day-to-day interest in the detention center. And they were definitely not meant for the public to see. John R. Allen, the retired four-star general who once commanded American troops in Afghanistan, resigned on Sunday as president of the Brookings Institution, six days after a court filing revealed evidence that he had secretly lobbied for Qatar. His resignation is the latest indication of the seriousness of the federal investigation involving the general. Brookings, a 106-year-old research center and a pillar of Washingtons liberal establishment, had placed General Allen on administrative leave last Wednesday. The integrity and objectivity of Brookingss scholarship constitute the institutions principal assets, and Brookings seeks to maintain high ethical standards in all its operations, Glenn Hutchins and Suzanne Nora Johnson, the co-chairs of the institutions board of trustees, wrote on Sunday in an email to the staff. Our policies on research independence and integrity reflect these values. The special election will be held on Aug. 16, which is also the day of Alaskas primary contest for the House seats 2023-2025 term. So, voters will see some candidates names twice on one ballot: once to decide the outcome of the special election and once to pick candidates for the falls general election for the full two-year term. For Ms. Palin, the race is a political comeback. As Senator John McCains running mate in the 2008 presidential race, Ms. Palin lost to a Democratic ticket that included Joseph R. Biden Jr., and she resigned from the governors office, seeking to parlay her newfound profile into work as a well-paid political pundit. Ms. Palin had tapped into a similar anti-establishment, anti-news media vein of the Republican Party that later galvanized Donald J. Trumps unexpected rise to the White House in 2016. The results announced on Sunday are preliminary and could change over the next few weeks, as more ballots are processed and counted. Alaska is a thinly populated state, with two U.S. senators but only one representative in the House. That small population is spread across an area that is larger than Texas, California and Montana combined, with about 82 percent of communities in the state inaccessible by roads. WASHINGTON Former President Donald J. Trumps attorney general testified that he believed the president had grown delusional as he insisted on pushing false claims of widespread election fraud that he was told repeatedly were groundless, according to a videotaped interview played on Monday by the special committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Hes become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff, William P. Barr, the former attorney general, told the panel, adding, There was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts were. In a hearing focused on the origins and spread of Mr. Trumps lie of a stolen election, the panel played excerpts from Mr. Barrs testimony, as well as that of a chorus of campaign aides and administration officials who recounted, one after the other, how his claims of election irregularities were bogus. Edson Fachin, a Supreme Court judge and Brazils top election official, said in an interview that claims of an unsafe election were unfounded and dangerous. These problems are artificially created by those who want to destroy the Brazilian democracy, he said. What is at stake in Brazil is not just an electronic voting machine. What is at stake is maintaining democracy. Mr. Bolsonaro and the military say they are only trying to safeguard the vote. For the love of God, no one is engaging in undemocratic acts, Mr. Bolsonaro said recently. A clean, transparent, safe election is a matter of national security. No one wants to have doubts when the election is over. Brazils Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Brazilian armed forces act in strict obedience to the law and the Constitution, and are directed to defend the homeland, guarantee the constitutional powers and, through any of these, of law and order. Mr. Bolsonaros tactics appear to be adopted from former President Donald J. Trumps playbook, and Mr. Trump and his allies have worked to support Mr. Bolsonaros fraud claims. The two men reflect a broader democratic backsliding unfolding across the world. The riot last year at the U.S. Capitol has shown that peaceful transfers of power are no longer guaranteed even in mature democracies. In Brazil, where democratic institutions are far younger, the militarys involvement in the election is heightening fears. RTHK: Two killed in Hindu-Muslim clashes over Prophet slurs Two teenagers were killed in clashes between Hindus and Muslims in eastern India following derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammad made by two ruling party officials, police said on Saturday. Police opened fire to break up the violence in the city of Ranchi in Jharkhand state on Friday, but it was not clear if the two victims were killed by the police or by rioters. Senior police official Surendra Kumar Jha said at least 14 police officials were injured in the incident in Ranchi and other areas. A curfew was imposed and internet services were suspended to stop the unrest escalating. In the northern Uttar Pradesh state, meanwhile, police said they had arrested 230 alleged rioters after unrest spread across several towns after Friday prayers. Muslims have been protesting about comments made recently by two officials from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) about the Prophet's private life, with the demonstrations often turning into violence between Hindus and Muslims. The BJP has suspended its spokeswoman Nupur Sharma and expelled another leader, Naveen Kumar Jindal, for making the anti-Islamic remarks, which as well as upsetting Indian Muslims caused a diplomatic row with several Muslim countries. The BJP a Hindu nationalist party said the offensive remarks did not reflect the government's position and that the comments were made by "fringe elements". Party leaders have also instructed officials to be cautious when talking about religion on public platforms. Police in New Delhi said on Thursday they had filed a complaint against Sharma and others for "inciting people on divisive lines" on social media. However, some in the minority Muslim community see this as the latest instance of pressure and humiliation under BJP rule on issues ranging from freedom of worship to the wearing of hijab head scarves. (Reuters) This story has been published on: 2022-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. SINGAPORE China will not flinch from war if Taiwan takes a decisive step toward independence, and it does not trust the United States assertions that it opposes that course for the island, the Chinese defense minister warned on Sunday, a day after Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III accused Beijing of increasingly bellicose activity near Taiwan. The defense minister, Gen. Wei Fenghe, spoke on the last day of the Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional security forum in Singapore that Mr. Austin also attended. In their exchanges over the weekend, the two men have played out in miniature the tensions between Beijing and Washington over disputes across Asia, particularly over Taiwan. In his speech to diplomats, defense officials and security experts at a five-star hotel, General Wei said that China was sincerely doing everything it could to bring about peaceful unification with Taiwan, the self-governed island that Beijing considers its own. But, he said, no one should ever underestimate the resolve and capabilities of Chinas armed forces to defend its sovereignty claims. Pastor Chang said he went through a late political awakening in the 1980s while in seminary, devouring forbidden texts that discussed this political repression and pushed the idea of a distinct Taiwanese identity. He joined large protests to call for freedom of speech, the first buds of a movement that would eventually lead to democracy in Taiwan in the 1990s. Pastor Chang emigrated to the United States in 1991 following his parents and siblings, assured in his own Taiwanese identity. He led a small church in Camarillo, Calif., before joining Irvine Presbyterian in 1999. Over time, the congregation grew beyond 150 people and became the largest of about 40 official Taiwanese Presbyterian congregations in the United States. Immigrants from Taiwan joined waves of Chinese-speaking immigrants from mainland China and Hong Kong, and they included both benshengren and waishengren. By and large, they have all coexisted peacefully in their adopted country, and tensions over homeland politics have rarely risen to the surface. In the United States, Taiwanese Presbyterian churches have become a social hub for older congregants to bond over their common language and shared experiences. At church bazaars, grandmothers and aunties cook beloved Taiwanese snacks, including sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, and oyster pancakes. Thats what I remember church being: celebration and remembrance of your culture, said Peggy Huang, 51, a Yorba Linda city councilwoman whose parents are members of the Laguna Woods church. While the church was not overtly political, the belief in a separate Taiwanese identity suffused the institution. Unlike some Taiwanese-led churches that offer services in Mandarin or English, most Taiwanese Presbyterian churches in the United States adhere to the Taiwanese language. Pastor Chang said it stemmed partly from their view of Mandarin as the language of the oppressors. Those Western supplies that have made it through to the front line are neither as plentiful or as sophisticated as Ukraine would like. And some never even make it into battle, hit by Russian strikes before they can even be deployed. Late Saturday, Russian missiles hit a military warehouse in western Ukraine, wounding nearly two dozen people, and, according to Russias Defense Ministry, destroying antitank and antiaircraft missile systems supplied to Ukraine by the United States and the European Union. The Ukrainian government has poured troops and resources into its effort to hold on to Sievierodonetsk, a strategically important industrial city and the last major urban center in the Donbas region of Luhansk that has not yet fallen. Russian forces have destroyed two bridges leading to the center of Sievierodonetsk and were shelling the remaining one, an important supply line for Ukrainian forces, the regional governor said. Now, the battle may be about to shift to its sister city, Lysychansk. On Sunday, from atop a hill in Lysychansk, it was evident why the soon to be focal point of the Russian offensive appears easier to defend than other parts of Donbas: It is on high ground. The sprawling plains of the region are rich in natural resources, but elevation is a rarity. It looks like JavaScript is either disabled or turned off. Please enable JavaScript to correctly view this web site. Parece que JavaScript esta desactivado o apagado. Por favor, activar JavaScript para ver este sitio de web. Afigura-se o JavaScript esta desativado ou desligado. Por favor ative o JavaScript para visualizar este site. Il semble que JavaScript est dasactive. S'il vous plait, activer JavaScript pour visualiser ce site. A Council official recently warned councillors, during the May meeting of Nenagh Municipal District, that rising costs could lead to a reduced roadworks programme. We are facing big challenges, said Barry Murphy of the Council's roads department, because of the rising cost of fuel and the rising cost of construction work and materials. If the economy faces further economic shocks then we may have no choice but to drop some planned roadwork projects in the county. As it is, we are having to renegotiate things with our contractors. Cllr Michael O'Meara said it's a time of flux and crisis. Rising costs, he said, are very worrying for everyone. Hopefully things will improve and we will be able to stick to our roads programme target. The condition of our roads is a huge issue for us councillors. We are often getting complaints about roads from the public. The roads are in a bad state in quite a few places in the county. Cllr Ger Darcy added that there has been a lot of foliage growth this year. The sightlines at a number of road junctions are very bad. We need to cut back the foliage at quite a few junctions, to make it safer." Cllr Joe Hannigan said that because we are going through an energy crisis, the proposed decommissioning of the wind farm in Derrybrien, East Galway, made no sense to him. Director of Services Marcus O'Connor pointed out that unfortunately the process followed during the construction of the wind farm was flawed. He said that in November 2019, Ireland was fined 5 million in the European Court of Justice for the states failure to carry out an environmental impact assessment at the Derrybrien site. Seven food businesses across Ireland were forced to close in May this year for food safety legislation breaches. According to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), closure orders and one prohibition order were served on businesses located in counties Donegal, Offaly, Monaghan, Wexford and Dublin. Pygamalion Public House in Dublin 2, Go Go Pizza and Kebab in Wexford, HG Ritchie Limited in Dublin 8, and the Mart Cafe at Raphoe Mart in Donegal were issued closure orders under the FSAI Act 1998. Three closure orders were served to Sillis Green Veg in Monaghan, Milne Foods Limited in Birr, Offaly, and Golden Beach Supermarket in Dublin 1 under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations 2020. A prohibition order was served under the same legislation to Bullet Duck & Dumpling in Dublin 7. The Enforcement Orders were issued by environmental health officers in the Health Service Executive (HSE) for a multitude of reasons including inadequate food hygiene and safety procedures and rodent activity. No hot water was available in any sinks at the Mart Cafe in Donegal with no wash basin provided in the staff toilet, and inspectors noted the premises was not kept clean with accumulation of food debris, grease and encrusted dirt. Live rodents and rodent droppings at Pygmalion Public House in Dublin were noted by inspectors and cited as a reason for closure. An electric fly killer full of dead insects was located directly above a production line at HG Ritchie Limited, and rodent activity was also noted by inspectors. A fly infestation was observed at Go Go Pizza & Kebab as well as encrusted dirt and grease on floor surfaces and shelving. A number of ready-to-eat foods at Milne Foods Limited in Offaly were deemed unsafe after Listeria monocytogenes was detected following sampling. According to the FSAI report, these foods were placed on the market between October 2021 and February 2022. Commenting today, Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive, FSAI, said that it is disappointing to see such disregard for consumer health in these food businesses. She said, "It is simply unacceptable that some food businesses across Ireland continue to operate without fully adhering to food safety and hygiene legislation. In particular, multiple occurrences in Enforcement Orders issued in May show a complete lack of adequate procedures in place to control pests. Consumers of food in Ireland have a right to safe food and hygienic food premises. "As we move into warmer summer months, it is disappointing to note that some food businesses are also inadequately monitoring their electric fly killers, and in some cases are preparing food directly beneath leading to a risk of possible contamination. The health of consumers must never be put at risk, and we urge food businesses not to be so careless." The Lady of Heaven is a 2021 British epic historical drama film written by the Twelver Shia radical cleric Yasser Al-Habib, the spiritual leader of The Mahdi Servants Union and founder of Fadak TV. Produced by Enlightened Kingdom, the film bills itself as the first movie on the life of the historical figure Fatimah during and after the era of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It is written from a Twelver Shia perspective of Fatimah's story, which differs substantially from that of the Sunni Muslim majority. Melbourne singing duo Vika and Linda Bull have been recognised in the Queens Birthday Honours for their contribution to the performing arts. Rory McIlroy puts himself in a strong position to defend his Canadian Open title as a five under 65 moves him into a share of the lead heading into the final round. 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. Brahim Saadoun, 21, was sentenced to death for "mercenary activities and terrorism" after being captured in Ukraine fighting against Russian forces. McDonald's has reopened its doors under a new name in Russia after the fast food giant pulled out of the country over its invasion of Ukraine. The Sydney Morning Herald says it "simply asked questions" after being accused of outing the actress. NYTimes.com 15 Jun 2022 The British government said it would stick with a plan to send asylum seekers to the African country despite the first flights.. An Australian newspaper has denied outing actress Rebel Wilson as it faces outcry over its reporting on her new relationship. NASA has announced the purchase of five additional crewed flights from SpaceX as part of their efforts to maintain uninterrupted operations at the International Space Station through 2030. In a blog post, NASA described the update as "a sole source modification" to its Commercial Crew Transportation Capabilities (CCtCap)... Japan and Singapore will start negotiations to reach a deal on the transfer of defense equipment and technology, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Saturday, setting the stage for The latest Covid-19 data is due ahead of a possible review of the country's traffic light pandemic response settings.The Ministry of Health will release the data at about 1pm, as New Zealand continues grappling with the Omicron... Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is planning to visit Toyota Motor Corp's headquarters as early as this week, two people familiar with the matter said, highlighting his push TED 13 Jun 2022 The Russian invasion of Ukraine has destroyed so much -- including hundreds of schools, where the country's children were forging.. Oakhill, in Somerset, has 750 residents and more than 10 families are hosting the refugees. Jordan Gatley's father Dean said that he was informed on June 10 that his son was killed while fighting on the front line in the.. Daily Record 13 Jun 2022 MANHATTAN (PIX11) --- Puerto Ricans flooded Manhattan on Sunday to celebrate their homeland after a two-year hiatus on the annual parade. The Puerto Rican Day Parade was canceled back in 2020 over COVID concerns. Organizer Louis Maldonado said there was a particularly high level of excitement for this years parade after two years off. Its [...] French voters are choosing lawmakers in a parliamentary election Sunday as President Emmanuel Macron seeks to secure his majority while under growing threat from a leftist coalition. As the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) becomes more institutionalized, the BRICS is raring to induct new members. These moves reveal how great powers compete to draw countries by their side as their rivalry deepens. On May 24, leaders of the United States, Japan, Australia, and India met in Tokyo to push for greater... autoevolution 13 Jun 2022 Over the weekend, the Puerto Rican Day Parade took place in New York City, and it was a celebration to remember. And Fat Joe had a.. Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Libyan Presidential Council has given 72 hours to the Ministers of Defence and Interior to submit a report on the armed clashes that took place on Friday evening in the capital, Tripoli Photo: (Photo : FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images) A preteen girl's "addictive" use of Instagram resulted in self-harm, an eating disorder, and thoughts of suicide over several years, according to a lawsuit filed against the social media platform's parent company, Meta. The suit, filed late on Monday, June 6, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, heavily cites the Facebook Papers, a trove of internal Meta research documents leaked last fall. It revealed that the tech giant knew Instagram was worsening not only body image but also other mental health issues among teenage girls. NBC News reported that the case was filed on behalf of Alexis Spence, who was able to create her first account on Instagram at the age of 11 without the knowledge of her parents and in violation of the social media platform's minimum age requirement of 13. Lawsuit blames Instagram for Spence's problems The complaint alleges that the artificial intelligence engine of Instagram almost immediately steered the then-fifth grader into an echo chamber of content that glorified self-cutting and anorexia and systematically fostered her addiction to using the social media app. The lawsuit was filed by the Seattle-based Social Media Victims Law Center, a group that advocates for families of teenagers harmed online. Now 19 years old, the formerly happy and confident Spence has been hospitalized for anxiety, anorexia, and depression, the Independent reported. According to the lawsuit, Spence fights to stay in recovery every day due to the harmful features and content Instagram relentlessly promoted and provided to her in its effort to increase engagement. All eyes are on this case as it is the first lawsuit of its kind to draw from the Facebook Papers, which according to Spence's attorneys, exposes the real human harm behind its findings. The lawsuit also features previously unpublicized documents from the Facebook leaks, including one in which tech giant Meta identified "tweens" as "herd animals" who "want to find communities where they can fit in." Read Also: Louisiana Mom Desperate For Runaway Daughter To Return To Their Lafayette Home Meta knew exactly what they were doing to children Spence's attorneys argue that such documents demonstrate the efforts of Meta to recruit underage users to its platforms, according to Acrofan. Matthew P. Bergman, the founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center and the one representing Spence and her family, said that if you look at the extensive research that Meta performed, they knew exactly what they were doing to kids, and they kept doing it. Bergman added that he wishes he could say that Alexis' case is aberrational, but it is not, and the only aberration is that she survived. Apart from Spence, Bergman also represents Enfield, Connecticut native Tammy Rodriguez. She filed a lawsuit back in January against Meta and Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, over the two companies' alleged roles in the suicide of her 11-year-old daughter last summer. Liza Crenshaw, a spokesperson for Instagram, declined to comment on the Spence lawsuit, citing that the case is "active litigation." Related Article: Louisiana Dad Surprises Visually-impaired Son at School in Viral Video Photo: (Photo : Getty images ) The parents and staff of Advocate Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit finally sent Max Do, a toddler who had been confined to NICU for 11 months due to a rare genetic condition. The little boy, whom the hospital staff has dubbed the "mayor of the NICU," has captured the hearts of Max Do, a smiling and happy baby. As the nurses held him, he walked out of NICU wearing a bowtie and graduation cap. Max took a few steps and was known as the first toddler to walk out of the NICU of the said hospital. Rare genetic condition Nearly a year ago, Dr. Michael Cappello, Advocate Children's neonatologist and vice chairman of pediatrics, described Max as very sick. He was born nine weeks early on June 2, 2021, via emergency C-section, Fox News reports. His father, Dan Do, said he is now a chunky little boy, but when he was born, "he fit in our hands." Dan admitted that there were times when they thought they would lose little Max, and they were ready if it would happen. When the mom, Kim Nguyen, was pregnant with Max, doctors already recognized that he had an abnormally distended belly, Dr. Capello explained in the Advocate Aurora Health forum. When Max was born, a team was assigned to care for the baby and investigate his bowel complications. The doctors also did genetic testing. The little boy was later diagnosed with congenital sodium diarrhea, a rare condition caused by a genetic mutation. The mutation regulates the amount of sodium and water that enters the intestines. Capello said that no one has ever recorded having such a mutation, Good Morning America reports. His intestines lose sodium and water faster the normal babies. Hence, he is fed through a line similar to an IV to prevent dehydration and ensure his growth. The condition had only 50 cases reported. Max had surgeries within his first two months and had a year of treatment at the NICU. Max had the proper food replacements and doses of electrolytes which became his sustainable treatment and put him on the right track for development. Read Also: Formula Milk Price Skyrockets Despite Price Control Measures The little mayor of NICU Dr. Capello said that the hospital dubbed Max "mayor of the NICU" because of his fantastic charisma. The physician admitted that it was difficult to turn away from Max. The doctor admitted that it took them months to figure out how to care for and manage Max's condition, and during that time, staff members fell in love with the smiling, happy baby. The father said that Max loves people and prefers to engage in social interaction rather than play with toys. According to NBC 5 Chicago, Max was smiling when he returned home, while her sister Ivy was trying to get to know his little brother more. The dad said Ivy had been a good and sweet big sister. Baby Max will continue to visit the GI team at Advocate Children's Hospital frequently to monitor his progress, and an at-home nurse will also help in caring for him. Related Article: Scientists Explain Why Women Have Complicated and Difficult Childbirth In May Patently Apple reported on a rumor that Samsung was preparing to introduce the worlds first-to-market Slide-Out Smartphone later this year. On June 2 we followed-up with a Samsung patent report presenting 10 patent application filed covering future smartphones with slidable, rollable, scrollable displays to illustrate Samsungs dedication to this new form factor. Today, our report covers yet another round of 10 newly published Samsung patents from WIPO, focused on all aspects of their next-gen slidable form factor. Thats 20 new patents on this form factor in the last three weeks. Is it a sign that Samsung is in fact planning to launch their first Galaxy Slide smartphone later this year? Well, thats what the rumor in May forecasts. While patents never reveal a release date, the sheer number of patents running up to a product release could be telling, but never a guarantee. Below is the latest list of Samsung patents that weve linked to so that curious techies could check out some of the concepts and features the company is considering. 10 New Samsung Slidable Smartphone Patents 01: Samsung Electronic Device (WO2022119337) 02: Electronic Device including Sliding Structure, Flexible Display & Antenna 03: (Slide-out Display) Electronic Device including Speaker Module 04: Rollable Electronic Device Comprising Flexible Display 05: Electronic Device Comprising Flexible Display and Operating Method 06: Electronic Device Comprising Rollable Display 07: Slidable Electronic Device 08: Electronic Device Comprising Flexible Display (2nd Patent, same name) 09: Electronic Device including Flexible Display 10: Electronic Device Comprising Structure Compensating Gap As a reminder, Patently Apple has covered a few scrollable display patents from Apple (01 02, 03 and 04), though it doesnt appear to be a priority with them at this point in time. Until Samsung or another competitor can prove that the slidable-display form factor is a winner with consumers, Apple is likely to remain on the sidelines and continue to file patents in an evolutionary manner until needed. The United States late Friday rescinded a 17-month-old requirement that people arriving in the country by air test negative for COVID-19, a move that follows intense lobbying by airlines and the travel industry. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky issued a four-page order lifting the mandate, effective at 12:01 a.m. ET (0400 GMT) Sunday, saying it is "not currently necessary." The requirement had been one of the last major U.S. COVID-19 travel requirements. Its end comes as the summer travel season kicks off, and airlines were already preparing for record demand. Airlines have said that many Americans have not been not traveling internationally because of concerns they will test positive and be stranded abroad. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the CDC decision is based on science and available data, and said the agency "will not hesitate to reinstate a pre-departure testing requirement, if needed later." The CDC will reassess the decision in 90 days, an administration official said. The United States has required incoming international air travelers to provide pre-departure negative tests since January 2021. In December the CDC tightened the rule to require travelers to test negative within one day before flights to the United States rather than three days. The CDC has not required testing for land border crossings. Many countries in Europe and elsewhere have already dropped testing requirements. The CDC is still requiring most non-U.S. citizens to be vaccinated against COVID to travel to the United States. Two officials told Reuters the Biden administration had considered lifting the testing rule only for vaccinated travelers. JetBlue Airways (JBLU.O) Chief Executive Robin Hayes told Reuters on Friday that the testing requirement was "the last obstacle to a really full international travel recovery," saying that it "served no purpose anymore." IATA, the world's biggest airline trade group, said it was "great news" that the administration is "removing the ineffective pre-departure COVID test for travel to the US." In April, a federal judge declared the CDC's requirements that travelers wear masks on airplanes and in transit hubs like airports unlawful and the Biden administration stopped enforcing it. The Justice Department has appealed the order, but no decision is likely before fall at the earliest. The CDC continues to recommend travelers wear masks and get COVID-19 tests before and after international flights. Raymond James said in a research note that lifting the restrictions "is an important catalyst for international travel." Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) Chief Executive Ed Bastian told Reuters last week that dropping the requirements will boost travel, noting that 44 of 50 countries Delta serves do not require testing. U.S. Travel Association CEO Roger Dow said Friday's move will "accelerate the recovery of the U.S. travel industry," which was hard hit by the pandemic. Source: REUTERS Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, the Minister of Work and Housing, says Government has completed the design for the "Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) to give prior warning to residents in flood-prone areas. Government is engaging a service provider to deliver the system, which will alert residents about impending floods to enable them protect their lives and valuables. The Minister, who said this at a media briefing in Accra on Sunday, noted that flooding had been a perennial occurrence in Ghana for decades, and was mostly prominent in Accra. The situation has resulted in the loss of lives and livelihood and damaged properties and recently affected other urban centres like Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi, Koforidua and Tamale. There had also been a reinstallation, maintenance and monitoring of hydrological gauging stations within the White Volta, Oti and Pra River Basins, with plans to extend the coverage to other significant water bodies, Mr Asenso-Boakye said. He said Government, for the last four years, had invested GHS450 million in drainage and flooding management programmes. A total of 35 kilometres of drains had also been constructed with over 1,000 kilometres excavated, rechanneled and maintained under governments "National Flood Control Programme," between 2018 and 2020. Mr Asenso-Boakye charged Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to strictly enforce the planning laws on flooding and punish officials who flouted them in Governments bid to protect lives and livelihoods. "MMDAs and District Chief Executives must ensure that the obstructions to the free flow of water as well as development along waterways are removed immediately," he directed. 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. Featured Video Ningo Prampram Member of Parliament, Samuel Nartey George, has said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is celebrating 30 years of existence, today Friday June 10. Series of activities, he said, have been outlined to take place today, as part of the celebrations. Speaking on TV3 Friday June 10, he sated that the democracy that Ghana is enjoying at the moment is the result of the work of the NDC, founded by the late former President Jerry John Rawlings. Sam noted that the current governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has messed up the economy leading to untold suffering of Ghanaians. He assured that his party is re-strategizing to win the next elections to resolve the challenges facing the people. NDC is re-strategizing to come back to power to fix the mess, he said. Source: 3news Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Former Head of the Monitoring Unit of the Forestry Commission, Charles Owusu has snapped at the Special Prosecutor for freezing all assets of the late Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, a former Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission. Mr. Kwadwo Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John, became the General Secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) from 2010 to 2014. The late Sir John's Will recently surfaced on social media shocking many Ghanaians as it revealed him purportedly giving some State lands to his children, nephews and other relatives. It is a long list of 75 properties including houses, parcels of land, bank accounts, investments, businesses, guns and clothes. The Will raised public concerns following the discovery that he owned lands in the Achimota Forest. The Will of the former CEO of the Forestry Commission has therefore come under intense scrutiny and a statement signed by the Special Prosecutor (SP), Kissi Agyebeng, folllowing the leak of the Will indicated that Sir John including other persons will be investigated. The Office of the Special Prosecutor served notice last month that it has begun full investigations into the alleged and unlawful acquisition of lands at the Achimota forest enclave and the Ramsar site by the former CEO of the Forestry Commission. As part of investigating the suspected corruption involving the late Sir John, the SP has frozen all his assets. Charles Owusu was named as an executor to the Will. Appearing on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme Friday morning, Charles Owusu broke his deafening silence over the matter as he expressed worry over a treatment meted out to him by the Special Prosecutor regarding the issue. He disclosed that he received a letter from the office of the Special Prosecutor last Wednesday informing him about the embargo on Sir John's assets. He, therefore, went to the SP's office yesterday but was met by some soldiers at the gate who transferred him to another office. "After an hour, about four people entered the room I was kept in asking about Charles Owusu and I responded I am the one. They then told me they are from court to present a writ of summons to me. After receiving the summons, an officer who initially was supposed to speak with me now appeared and took me to a corridor informing me that he would be recording our conversations. He was asking me why I had come to the office which is after they had presented me with the summons. Being in a state of shock, I replied him that I had been in the office for a very long time. "Then the officer said he heard I would come there at 2 pm and I asked him 'who told him?' because nobody had invited me. I came on my own accord because I was about traveling but wanted to first find out if they need me personally, so, I suspend my travel to make it easy for them to contact me. He (the officer) responded that they have a court case with Sir John on 23rd (June) but because I was his aide, I should come to the court," Charles Owusu narrated. He noted that he agreed to appear in court and was dismissed from the SP's office only for him to be met by a military officer who prevented him from leaving the premises. "What saddens me is that, on my return to sit in a car, a soldier met me that he's been told they should not allow me to leave the premises," he said. Speaking on 'Kokrokoo', Charles Owusu registered his distaste over how he was treated by the Special Prosecutor. "If Mr. Kissi Agyebeng is listening to me, what crime have I committed? What crime? Is it a crime for me to walk with someone I love?", he fumed. He added that it is no fault of his that the late Sir John made him an executor to his Will. "I can't deny Sir John. I cannot deny him. I'm very sad. I can't deny Sir John; he was a good man. He did me good; I cannot deny him!", he exclaimed. 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. Featured Video Paul Adom-Otchere, the host of Good Evening Ghana, has conceded to criticisms that his perceived harsh and controversial editorials are fueled by his disdain for the National Democratic Congress and its members, as well as his dislike for people whose opinions he views to be against the interest of the Akufo-Addo government. Adom-Otchere confirmed on the Thursday, June 9, edition of his show that he is anti-Mahama and NDC and sets up his show to prosecute issues that align with his interest, which is to protect the Akufo-Addo government. Adom-Otchere justified his decision with the reason that he has direct access to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and will use that channel to communicate his displeasure to him if there is any. Adom-Otchere urged his critics to use their social media and other platforms to hit out at the government instead of directing him to do so. He however shares the principle that all governments, including that of Akufo-Addo, ought to be criticized. "I support Akufo-Addo, you support John Mahama, there should be no problem. People write to me and say, 'why don't you use your programme to criticise the government?' Is the programme for you?," Mr Adom-Otchere quizzed. "Do your programme and criticise the government, I don't understand it... Other people are criticising the government, watch that one. Today we all have media, If you like go on Facebook and criticise the government, there is no problem with that. "The government ought to be criticised, governments are there so that they are criticised. I support Akufo-Addo because of my conviction and I feel there is something in there that is not good or not working well, I would not criticise him on this television because I have access to him, I would go to him and tell him...". Adom-Otchere was justifying his attacks on persons who act in ways which he posits to be attempted at making the Akufo-Addo government unpopular. The latest victim of his unrestrained rants is the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV. Togbe Afede got on the wrong side of Adom-Otchere after he returned an amount of money paid him as ex-gratia for his works as a member of the Council of State from 2017 to 2020. Adom-Otchere on Tuesday, June 7 and Thursday, June 9, 2022, made a number of allegations against Togbe Afede in an attempt to discredit his gesture. Togbe Afede XIV has however rebutted and denied the claims by Adom-Otchere, labelling him a stomach journalist. He knew me very well. [So its] surprising that he of all people, and I dont want to go into details; will be the one to criticise me. But why am I not surprised? Because he had done something similar before. When I was fighting Agyapa, he granted an interview to the Minister of Finance and sought to denigrate me even in that interview. Source: Ghanaweb.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Usually, when you talk about reunions or homecomings, you refer to a group of people who have been connected with each other, lived or worked together for a long time, and who are getting together after some time apart. Not with the MQF Family! They're doing things in reverse and what feels like a Homecoming will actually be the first time many of the family members will be meeting in person. More on that later. Back to flipping the script. At the height of the Covid 19 Pandemic, when people were closing their doors and being shut in, Ekow Akyeampong, a Communications Studies Professor and Cyber Security Analyst in the DC area, in what he describes as an unexpected turn of events, opened his virtual doors to thousands of individuals the world over. These folks had one thing in common - A love for music. Especially the music of the "Old School" and "AfroBeats" variety. The formula was deceptively simple - DJ Fisho (aka Professor Akyeampong) set up his equipment in his living room on Sunday, April 5, 2020, played music and went on Facebook Live as an experiment. Unknown to him, he would create a spark that very quickly would become a global phenomenon. He named the phenomenon "Music for your Quarantined Feet" (MQF). Week after week, hit after hit, MQF connected people at a time when there was physical disconnection like nothing the world had ever experienced. Soon, he added interviews to the program, and he would have conversations with fascinating individuals - musicians, philanthropists, politicians, authors, students, business owners, pastors... the audience. Old friends were rediscovered, and new friends were made. The comment threads on Facebook, and on Zoom, during the live shows, and the mini dance parties that were hosted in homes from Accra, Ghana, to Milton Keynes, UK and to Maryland, USA, all pointed to the resilience of the human spirit, the unifying magic of music and the power of community - even if that community was virtual. Nothing has reflected the power of community more than the philanthropic work MQF has done. During the course of the pandemic, the MQF family raised over $25,000 and made donations to several hospitals, orphanages and individuals in need in the US and Ghana. All because DJ Fisho hit "play" on a Sunday afternoon in 2020. While the pandemic is not over, quarantine is, and MQF has undergone a brand change. On March 28, 2022, DJ Fisho announced the end of "Music for Your Quarantined Feet" and introduced "Music for your Quality Feet." Same great family. Same great music. Same great interviews. Same mission - Uniting people through quality music and conversations, and together, effecting change in the world. In that vein, MQF's next goal is to be registered as an official charitable non-governmental organization. Now every family loves a good party. The MQF family is no different! On Sunday, June 19, 2022, there'll be a Homecoming and Reunion like no other!!! The first-ever MQF Dinner Dance will be held at The Hotel At Arundel Preserve. This will be the culmination of a weekend of activities, including a family picnic at Granville Gude Park, Laurel MD. On June 19, 2022, when DJ Fisho says "we liiiiiive", this time, it will be for real, as many MQF family members meet each other in person, for the first time. You don't want to miss what promises to be an event to remember! Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Opposition B.C. Liberal Party Leader Kevin Falcon is sworn in during an oath ceremony and introduction to the house in the Hall of Honour at legislature in Victoria, Monday, May 16, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito Denis Nesterenko Wins Event #20: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw ($108,250) June 12, 2022 Cottrell van Wingerden Event #20: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw at the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at Ballys and Paris Las Vegas attracted 350 runners, generating a prize pool of $467,250. On Saturday, June 11th, just nine players returned for the third and final day of the tournament with all eyes on the $108,250 prize and the WSOP gold bracelet due to the eventual winner. After just over eight hours of play, Denis Nesterenko of Moscow, Russia bested the Day 2 chipleader Von Altizer in heads-up play to record the largest cash of his career. Im very happy, said a visibly emotional Nesterenko on the victory. This was Nesterenkos second-ever WSOP tournament entry and first cash. A cash that in itself dwarfs his entire lifetime earnings of $35,201. 2022 WSOP Event #20: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Final Table Resuts Position Name Country Prize 1 Denis Nesterenko Russia $108,250 2 Von Altizer United States $66,910 3 Evan Sayer United States $44,347 4 Hieu Luu United States $30,107 5 Yufei Zhong China $20,948 6 Benny Glaser United Kingdom $14,947 7 Peter Lynn United States $10,945 Denis Nesterenko Coming into Day 3, the tournament was two eliminations away from the official seven-handed final table. The two players unfortunate enough to fall just short of the final table were James Maguire (9th-$8,230) and Kenny Hsiung (8th-$8,230). Final Table Action Last years runner-up in this event and the shortest stack coming into Day 3, Peter Lynn, was the first to fall at the final table; his king-high bested by Yufei Zhongs eight-seven. Next to go was four-time bracelet winner and mixed game specialist Benny Glaser, again at the hands of a rampant Zhong, with Glasers made eight-seven falling to Zhongs drawn seven-six. Five-handed play continued for some time before Zhong, who came into the day second in chips, was ousted by Nesterenkos nine-eight. Play slowed down again after that until eventually Hieu Luu, riding the short stack since Day 2, paired up on the last draw when at risk against Nesterenko. Not long after that Evan Sayer headed to the exits in third when his ten-eight was pipped by Altizers nine-eight, setting up a heads-up battle between Altizer and Nesterenko. Nesterenko began heads-up play with a slight chip advantage, a lead he never lost. Altizer was down to her last card twice, and Nesterenko could not seal the deal. Von Altizer Eventually, the end came when Altizers eight-five was not good enough to beat Nesterenkos seven-six. Though Altizer, who finished seventh in a similar version of this event back at the 2012 WSOP, will undoubtedly be disappointed, her runner-up finish worth $66,910 does secure the largest cash of her career. Meanwhile, Nesterenko gets to join the elite club of poker players with a WSOP gold bracelet. Congratulations to Denis Nesterenko on winning Event #20: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw! check out the latest updates on the 2022 WSOP hub Sharelines Check out the latest results from Event #20: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw at the 2022 WSOP Jonas Kronwitter had most of his short stack in before the flop and was called by Sam Stein. The German and Austria resident jokingly said "good luck" before they headed to the flop. Kronwitter jammed for around 250,000 and Stein snap-called. Jonas Kronwitter: Sam Stein: Kronwitter had plenty of outs to make a straight and potentially chop. Some of them vanished on the turn as Stein had diamonds covered, and the river only gave Kronwitter an inferior pair of sevens. As a result, the German was eliminated in 11th place and the final 10 are now on two five-handed tables. Once the next contender bows out, they will combine to the nine-handed unofficial final table. Event #20: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw at the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at Ballys and Paris Las Vegas attracted 350 runners, generating a prize pool of $467,250. On Saturday, June 11th, just nine players returned for the third and final day of the tournament with all eyes on the $108,250 prize and the WSOP gold bracelet due to the eventual winner. After just over eight hours of play, Denis Nesterenko of Moscow, Russia bested the Day 2 chipleader Von Altizer in heads-up play to record the largest cash of his career. Im very happy, said a visibly emotional Nesterenko on the victory. This was Nesterenkos second-ever WSOP tournament entry and first cash. A cash that in itself dwarfs his entire lifetime earnings of $35,201. 2022 WSOP Event #20: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Final Table Resuts Position Name Country Prize 1 Denis Nesterenko Russia $108,250 2 Von Altizer United States $66,910 3 Evan Sayer United States $44,347 4 Hieu Luu United States $30,107 5 Yufei Zhong China $20,948 6 Benny Glaser United Kingdom $14,947 7 Peter Lynn United States $10,945 Coming into Day 3, the tournament was two eliminations away from the official seven-handed final table. The two players unfortunate enough to fall just short of the final table were James Maguire (9th-$8,230) and Kenny Hsiung (8th-$8,230). Final Table Action Last years runner-up in this event and the shortest stack coming into Day 3, Peter Lynn, was the first to fall at the final table; his king-high bested by Yufei Zhongs eight-seven. Next to go was four-time bracelet winner and mixed game specialist Benny Glaser, again at the hands of a rampant Zhong, with Glasers made eight-seven falling to Zhongs drawn seven-six. Five-handed play continued for some time before Zhong, who came into the day second in chips, was ousted by Nesterenkos nine-eight. Play slowed down again after that until eventually Hieu Luu, riding the short stack since Day 2, paired up on the last draw when at risk against Nesterenko. Not long after that Evan Sayer headed to the exits in third when his ten-eight was pipped by Altizers nine-eight, setting up a heads-up battle between Altizer and Nesterenko. Nesterenko began heads-up play with a slight chip advantage, a lead he never lost. Altizer was down to her last card twice, and Nesterenko could not seal the deal. Eventually, the end came when Altizers eight-five was not good enough to beat Nesterenkos seven-six. Though Altizer, who finished seventh in a similar version of this event back at the 2012 WSOP, will undoubtedly be disappointed, her runner-up finish worth $66,910 does secure the largest cash of her career. Meanwhile, Nesterenko gets to join the elite club of poker players with a WSOP gold bracelet. Congratulations to Denis Nesterenko on winning Event #20: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw! A member of Aiken County's delegation to the South Carolina General Assembly will likely be determined Tuesday. S.C. Rep. Bart Blackwell, R-Aiken, is running against Betsy Lamb in the primary for House District 81. The race will likely decide who represents House District 81 when the General Assembly returns in January because Blackwell and Lamb are the only two candidates to file. House District 81 is a roughly triangular shaped district that includes the southern part of the city of Aiken, the south Aiken suburbs and rural Aiken County along S.C. 19 and 302 to U.S. 278. Blackwell, 61, is the owner of B&S Machine Tool. He has represented District 81 since 2017. Blackwell said his biggest accomplishment in the most recent session of the House was working with Gov. Henry McMaster and the Republican majority to pass changes to the state's election laws. "This law brings much needed reform to our states election process so that it is now easier to vote and harder to cheat in South Carolina," Blackwell said via email. "My constituents demanded action and my colleagues and I delivered." Blackwell added that he was pleased the work done to provide additional funding for law enforcement and first responder agencies and to make South Carolina more attractive for veterans by eliminating state income tax for veterans' retirement pay. Lamb, also 61, is a semi-retired real estate agent and farmer. She said she decided to run because she was concerned about the overreach from the federal government and a lack of legislation from the General Assembly to protect the state's residents from it. Lamb said she was redistricted into House District 81 when the S.C. House of Representatives redrew its districts after the 2020 Census. "After looking at his [Blackwell's] record, I was pretty appalled by his failing to support any gun rights bills, any anti-abortion bills or to have introduced one piece of legislation in the six years, he's been in office," Lamb said. Blackwell has voted in favor of a concealed carry with training act and a bill that would have banned abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat. Blackwell has introduced several resolutions since he was elected, however, most of them have been referred to a committee and have never moved forward from there. Lamb said what really pushed her to run was Blackwell's vote in favor of an amendment that removed protections for people working in the private sector that chose not to get one of the COVID-19 vaccines. Blackwell previously said that every member of the House Republican Caucus voted in favor of the amendment. Lamb said over 600 people in House District 81 lost their jobs for refusing the vaccines. "I have a real problem with that and that's what pushed me over the edge," Lamb said. She also criticized Blackwell for receiving most of his campaign financing from special interest groups and political action committees. She added she had already been fighting to use alternative treatments to COVID-19 and to stop social credit scoring. Blackwell said since he being elected in 2016, it has been his goal to work hard to make Aiken and South Carolina a better place to live, work and raise a family. "I will work to this end by using my experience as a manufacturer and entrepreneur along with my position on the Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee to promote economic development and growth for our region with a conservative, pro-business approach that will attract industry and the good paying jobs that come with it," Blackwell said. He added he would push for a budget that provides additional funding for education and law enforcement while continuing to return surplus revenue to the taxpayer. "Finally, in order to improve competition and provide more choices for health care services in our community, I will work to reform or repeal our states Certificate of Need (CON) program," Blackwell said. Lamb said she would work to stop censorship of conservative voices, to stop gender fluency, to stop employer-mandated vaccines and masks, and to prevent social credit scores and digital currency from taking over the country. She also said she would work to make South Carolina a Second Amendment sanctuary. A list of precincts and their locations is included in today's paper. Information about where to vote is available on SCVotes.gov or on voter registration cards. Results of the House District 81 primary, the Aiken County Council races and several statewide races will be available on AikenStandard.com Tuesday evening and in the Wednesday print edition. Whit Gibbons knows a lot about the animals of the world, and he wants everybody to share his enthusiasm. As the director and a founder of the Savannah River Ecology Laboratorys Environmental Outreach and Education Program, Gibbons introduced thousands of children and their teachers and parents to snakes, turtles and other creatures. With his encouragement, many overcame their trepidation and touched the scaly skin of a serpent for the first time or learned to appreciate an animal they once feared. Gibbons also is the author, coauthor or editor of more than 20 books, including Salamanders of the Southeast, Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia and the recently published Turtles of the World: A Guide to Every Family. In addition, the outgoing herpetologist writes the weekly Ecoviews column that has appeared in the Aiken Standard for many years. Im not trying to make people become ecologists, he said. Im trying to make them understand that the environment is special and something we need to protect. Thats whats important. Gibbons, 82, was sitting on the screened porch at his home in Aiken Estates while reflecting on his life. Right outside was a busy bird feeder that was attracting a lot of robins. A curious young opossum strolled by, pausing for a moment to look at Gibbons and his interviewer. I think we have a lot to learn about animals, and I think they can teach us a lot, Gibbons said. Animal behavior is fascinating. Gibbons is a native of Alabama. While growing up, he also lived in the New Orleans area for a while. Gibbons father, Robert Faucett Gibbons, was a college English professor and a novelist. The elder Gibbons wrote Bright is the Morning and The Patchwork Time, which were published in the 1940s. Reviewers compared his books and short stories favorably to the works of more renowned authors such as Thomas Wolfe, William Faulkner and Erskine Caldwell. Harper Lee, who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, was a family friend and neighbor. She was engaged to one of my uncles, one of my dads brothers, Gibbons said, but it didnt work out for them. Gibbons met the famous writer when he was around the age of 6. She was at my grandparents house where I lived, Gibbons said. My mother told me to come into the living room, and she (Lee) was there with a handful of other people. She and my daddy were in writing club together. Gibbons told the group story. It was about an exciting experience that I had had, he recalled. I was taken to a baptism in a creek by our housekeeper. Coincidentally or not that incident, Gibbons said, was similar to one in To Kill a Mockingbird, when the Finch children Jem and Scout attend church with their familys housekeeper, Calpurnia. To Kill a Mockingbird first was published in 1960. Also among Gibbons memories are his adventures outdoors. With the blessing of his parents and grandparents, he explored the nearby fields and forests. I grew up looking for animals and plants, Gibbons said. Fortunately, my family was receptive to it. They let me keep snakes and turtles in the house. When he was a teenager, Gibbons served as a field assistant to a scientist, Don Tinkle and helped him capture critters for his studies. That set the stage for Gibbons enrollment at the University of Alabama, where he earned B.S. and M.S degrees in biology. He also met his wife-to-be, Carolyn, when they wound up in the same herpetology course and he assisted her with water snake research. They got married in 1963 and not long afterward, left Alabama. I decided I wanted to continue in graduate school outside the South, Gibbons said. I applied to a few of the Ivy League schools, the Big 10 schools and California schools. Michigan State had the best fellowship, so thats where I went. But the effort to expand his horizons didnt produce the result that Gibbons expected. I wanted to learn more about the world and people and society, and you know what I found out? People are the same everywhere, whether they are in Michigan or Alabama or Louisiana, and probably in other places, Gibbons said. Because of the move to Michigan, Gibbons plan to focus his research on snakes didnt work out. There are not that many snakes there compared to turtles, Gibbons said. There are lots and lots of turtles, so it was a place where I could do a long-term study on turtles, and for years and years, I kept going back there and catching the same turtles. After getting a doctorate in zoology, Gibbons was ready to live someplace closer to his regional roots. It happened to be in an era when a lot of World War II veterans who had come back were retiring from positions that they had had (at universities) before the war, Gibbons said. There were jobs everywhere in academia. Everybody who was a graduate student then had job offers. From his options, which included positions in New York, Illinois and Mississippi, Gibbons selected the University of Georgias Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, or SREL, at the Savannah River Site. It was the lowest paying job, Gibbons recalled, but they said, You can have a post-doc. Come down for two years and just do what you want to do in terms of research, which meant looking for reptiles and amphibians. The fit was a good one for the both Gibbons and SREL. Their association has lasted for decades. Gibbons, who retired officially in 2008, is a senior research ecologist emeritus at SREL and a professor of ecology emeritus at the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia. Among the fruits of Gibbons labor were stacks of scientific papers, many of them detailing the environmental impacts of humans. He also received numerous awards for his research and teaching. Ive had a lot of students undergraduates and graduates who have gone on to do good things, Gibbon said. In terms of his legacy, Gibbons believes, his mission to educate probably will be more important than the studies he has conducted. Im just trying to make the world a better place, he said. Gibbons especially enjoys interacting with the public. Its amazing how you never have a bored audience when youre showing them a rattlesnake in a cage or something like that, he said. I love it. Gibbons, who has four children and four grandkids, also gets a kick out of taking visitors to the 100 acres he owns in northeastern Aiken County near Salley, where there are swampy areas, a stream and a longleaf pine ecosystem. Some dragonfly experts came out, and I spent the day with them, Gibbons said. We didnt look for a single reptile or amphibian, but we found 32 different kinds of dragonflies. Some were purple, some were red, and some were blue. I was amazed. Ive brought a lot of biological experts out there, too, he continued. Geologists have been out there, and archaeologists have been out there. There is so much to learn outside, and were never going to ever going to learn it all. But its something thats fun to try to do. Aiken, SC (29801) Today Intervals of clouds and sunshine. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. High 99F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight A few clouds. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. Low 73F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Tiara Boyd, Monte Sano Elementary, celebrates the event as she receives a special prize in addition to her mini grant award. Educators from the greater Aiken-Augusta area recently received grants ranging from $500 to $1,000 as a part of this years Savannah River Nuclear Solutions Innovative Teaching Mini Grants Program. Approximately 14,500 students from 50 schools will be directly impacted by the grants this year. Chickadees, wolf spiders, wood storks, alligators and hognose snakes were topics of discussion and occasional hands-on contact over the past few days for members of the Environmental Education Association of South Carolina, as the organization held its annual conference in Aiken County. The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory's conference center played host to most of the activities, with an overall theme of "Educating Outside the Box," and field trips reached out to such locales as Silver Bluff Audubon Center and Aiken Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve. Participants represented a variety of public- and private-sector schools and other organizations from around South Carolina and Georgia, and activities ran from Wednesday morning through early Saturday afternoon. Sharing insight with other educators was a huge part of the package for some, including Annie Boyd, an education coordinator with the Beaufort Soil and Water Conservation District. She said she particularly appreciated input from naturalist Sean Poppy, with SREL; and former SREL employee Tony Mills, now largely known as the writer and host of SCETV's popular "Coastal Kingdom" show. Boyd added, "We were just really stoked on all of the stuff that we were learning on how to incorporate more 'outdoorsy-ness' and hands-on activities into our program." Discussions and demonstrations touched on such topics as loggerhead turtles, dung beetles, bald eagles, crayfish/crawdads and fire-building tools "an abundance of spectacular opportunities," in the words of Mike Walker, an interpretive ranger with Huntington Beach State Park, in Murrells Inlet. He described his job as "one-third zookeeper, one-third teacher and one-third wildlife biologist." Aiken Standard columnist and longtime SREL leader Whit Gibbons, one of the South's most prominent herpetologists, was among the weekend's guests, as he attended a gathering Friday evening and autographed copies of some of his books. The event as a whole was "a fantastic opportunity," in the words of longtime educator John Kassel, now preparing for his first year as a math and science teacher at Mead Hall. He said he particularly appreciated a presentation by renowned naturalist Tom Mancke, from Hopkins, near Columbia, with emphasis on primitive technology, such as firemaking skills involving flint and steel or rubbing two sticks together. Among the short-distance travelers was Kandace Cave, a program coordinator for Aiken County. "It was amazing very eye-opening," she said. "It was more geared towards formal educators and non-traditional educators, to kind of get young people interested in the environment, and ... I learned a lot of new strategies that I can implement in my programming ways that I can help support teachers in the classroom when it comes to environmental education so it was very exciting and worthwhile." Walker, referring to the EEASC, said, "They have grown and they have really gotten organized over the years. I was super-impressed at the quality of the conference the presentations and just the organization of it." His only "beef," he said, was in having to choose between simultaneous activities of interest, as occurred Friday morning, when one group went to the Audubon facility, for a look at wetlands management and the process of banding birds; while another went to the tortoise preserve, to focus on solitary reptiles largely known for their digging ability. Membership in the EEASC is "open to all with a desire to promote the study, care, conservation and wise use of our natural resources," according to the organization's website. The conference is normally annual but was not held in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID-19. As for the conference, "Overall, it was great," Cave said, confirming that she appreciated the chance to attend a conference without logging significant mileage. "It was never a dull moment, and it was very affordable," she added. The event was sponsored by such organizations as Sonoco Recycling, Columbia Water, Walther Farms, Palmetto Pride, Roper Mountain Science Center, South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, South Carolina Education Association and Sand River Woman's Club. An international property dispute that draws together China, tariffs and a container load of tires that were seized after they arrived in South Carolina has taken a slight detour. The case started out simply enough. In March, the government filed a federal lawsuit to take formal ownership of 746 tires that a Texas company tried to bring into the country in early 2021 through the Port of Charleston, saying the cargo is tied to a decade-long global trade fraud. Prosecutors have pointed to an alleged plot by Winland International Inc. to falsify official shipping records to circumvent punitive "anti-dumping" fees of as much as 210 percent that are slapped on foreign-made goods sold in the U.S. at below fair-market value. The Houston-area company, also known as Super Tire, has circled the wagons. Winland recently filed a claim to take back the impounded shipment. It's also hired a former U.S. Attorney for South Carolina as its legal counsel and asked that the entire case be tossed. "The property legally belongs to Winland, was lawfully obtained by Winland during the course of its lawful business, and is not the proceeds of any illegal activity," the company said in an April 19 court filing. In the latest twist, the government is now calling for a time-out, asking that its forfeiture complaint be put on hold. Its reasoning: Any information shared or obtained during the pre-trial "discovery" process in the civil matter "will adversely affect" its "ability to conduct a related criminal investigation or the prosecution of a related criminal case, it said. The "eleventh-hour" move drew a lengthy legal rebuke last week from Winland defense lawyer Bart Daniel, who was the top federal prosecutor in South Carolina from 1989 to 1992. "The government chose the time and place for these proceedings," Daniel said in a June 8 response. He also argued that the request to put the forfeiture lawsuit on ice be denied because it "lacks any specificity and instead relies on unfounded speculation," among other reasons. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel had not issued any rulings as of Friday. It took about a month for the container filled with Royal Black-branded tires to make its way to the Wando Welch Terminal in Mount Pleasant in January 2021 from China's busy Port of Qingdao. When it arrived, the U.S. Customs & Border Protection placed the cargo on hold for inspection, citing "Winland's history of utilizing a scheme" to defray or avoid anti-dumping penalties, according to the government's complaint. In this specific instance, the company filed paperwork declaring that Hong Kong-based Riversun Industry was the exporter. But prosecutors suspect another Chinese company that had been flagged for unfair trade practices actually made the tires. The identity switch allowed Winland to take advantage of Riversun's more favorable tariff treatment, resulting in about $22,400 in savings by the government's count. The broader investigation into the Lone Star State company's import practices extends beyond the Palmetto State. A federal grand jury in Houston charged Winland and two of its executives, along with six associates from California and China, in December 2020 for conspiring to falsify U.S. Customs documents and skirt an estimated $6.5 million in tariffs on tire shipments over a 10-year period. We recognize the importance of ensuring that U.S. manufacturers are competing on a level playing field, a Justice Department official said when the indictment was unsealed. Winland also is named in several related civil complaints along with various other defendants. The wheels of the justice system often turn slow, but they are turning in this instance. The trial in the criminal case is scheduled to begin Sept. 19. Theres a lot of blame being passed around this month over the Uvalde, Texas, shooting. Some people accuse the Oasis Outback, the store where the shooter legally bought two semiautomatic rifles and more than 1,600 bullets. (No age requirement for the latter, just sobriety.) Lawsuits are being initiated against the gun manufacturer, Daniel Defense, following the template of the Sandy Hook case that bankrupted Remington. Many are asking why the critical outside door was unlocked. But much of the blame is focused on the incident commander for delaying entry to the classrooms. Gratefully, none of the attention is being directed toward you and me. Thats because we had nothing to do with it, right? We are among the innocent. Or are we? What are you saying, chaplain? I was nowhere in the vicinity. Im asking you to consider the prayer of the Psalmist who said, Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting (Ps.139:23-24 New International Version). With that teaching in mind, I have to ask myself some heart questions. When I purchase a movie ticket for a violent blockbuster, do I affirm the use of guns for conflict resolution? Are we feeding a thirst for violence with our obsession for true-crime shows, violent books and music? Do I own T-shirts or car stickers glorifying guns? Sign up for our new opinion newsletter Get a weekly recap of South Carolina opinion and analysis from The Post and Courier in your inbox on Monday evenings. Email Sign Up! Am I part of the problem if I vote for the candidate whos posing with her guns? Has our loud insistence of personal rights become a denouncement of life? And perhaps even the most responsible gun owners must ask eventually themselves, Have I helped to create an arms race in personal protection that has encouraged the gun violence in this country? Hey, Im not pointing fingers. Im just asking big-boy questions, spiritual questions. Each of us has to examine our own hearts. Or as AA says, We are there to sweep off our side of the street, realizing that nothing worthwhile can be accomplished until we do so (Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 77-78). But the worst of my sins may be the violence contained in my silence. The violence of silence is referenced in James 2:16. If one of you says to them, Go in peace; keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? (New International Version). In todays terms, this is the person who sends only their thoughts and prayers and remains silent to injustice. So this week, I confessed my sin of being silent to violence, and I wrote my congressman calling for his attention to three things. 1. Outlaw the assault style of guns used in most of these shootings. Use a government buyback program to recover guns already purchased. 2. Raise the age limit required for the purchase all guns to 21. 3. Implement Red Flag laws to allow police or family members to petition a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who poses a danger to others or themselves. I know many of you have better ideas than mine, so dont waste your time criticizing me. Use your time writing your lawmaker with workable suggestions to end this. Use your voice. Refuse to be part of the violence of silence. June 16 is a very good day for Leopold Bloom. Bloom is the main character who in James Joyce's "Ulysses" famously traverses Dublin on a single day in 1904, sharing his unfiltered, unvarnished, often bawdy stream-of-consciousness observations on every day life. A modern-day Odysseus, he stumbles across contemporary versions alluding to figures like the Cyclops and the sirens. That trek, which became a seminal and, to some, scandalous event in modern literature when the book was first published in 1922, now marks it centenary. But Ireland has long toasted it as Bloomsday, an annual event when Joyce-besotted merrymakers are known to deck themselves out in turn-of-the-century finery or take a ceremonial dip in what the author deemed in the book as the "snotgreen" sea. Bloomsday out of Ireland When it comes to national Irish celebrations, most know about St. Patrick's Day, when the snake-banishing saint is feted with parades and the revelers paint the town green, if in emerald garb and green beer only. Others may also be up to speed on St. Brigid's Day, which honors Irish women in history, paying tribute to the Matron Saint of Ireland. But Bloomsday has radiated far from the city of Dublin. This centenary year is particularly robust, with events spanning cities around the world. Many are gathered on the Ulysses 100 website (ulysses100.ie). Among the events is Ulysses 2.2, which brings together three of Irelands most innovative arts organizations and practitioners ANU, Landmark Productions and MoLI in a year-long, nationwide odyssey of creative responses to the 18 episodes that chronicle an ordinary day in the life of Leopold Bloom. The website is ulysses22.ie. Caoimhe Ni Chonchuir, consul general of Ireland to the Southeast United States, says of the flurry of activity, "This is being celebrated from South Bend, Ind., to Kuala Lumpur and everywhere in between. It's really amazing to see the breadth of the celebration of Bloomsday this year." Ni Chonchuir, who is based in Atlanta and started in her post in January, is keen to bring more Irish culture to the region. That starts on Bloomsday, when Atlanta's Aris! theater company unrolls the U.S. premiere of a production by acclaimed Irish author Dermot Bolger, "Ulysses," a dramatization of the novel that will run for 10 days and that is funded by the Consulate General of Ireland. "What he (Bolger) wants to do is create a piece of theater that people who'd never read Joyce could enjoy, and that would be a passport into the book. So that's our hope with this production." A Dublin native, Ni Chonchuir is a "Ulysses" devotee herself. "It's one of my favorite books," she said. "It's just a fabulous humane and very universal book, and I think that's why Bloomsday is close to St. Patrick's Day as a moment of celebration of Irish life, and as a moment for promotion overseas for the Irish diplomatic network." It also aligns with the 100 years of Irish independence. "What better way to get to grips with the history of Ireland over a hundred years then in an encompassing view of Irish life at that time?" Charleston to Ireland While Charleston has yet to establish a robust Bloomsday tradition, there are signs that it could resonate in this cultural hub with such a deep Irish history. Some with Charleston connections are already on board with Bloomsday. Take Christy Pleasant. A Charleston-based performer who is owner and artistic director of Historic Performance Events, she regularly portrays rigorously historic personae, among them Charleston's own Eliza Lucas Pinckney. "To me, 'Ulysses' is the cacophony of a city revealing itself to Leopold Bloom," she said. Pleasant discovered the soliloquy delivered by Leopold's wife Molly Bloom in the novel while enjoying her father-in-law Joe Cabaniss' library in the late 1980s. "I have always loved good dialogue with excellent transitions and beats. When I realized the last chapter of 'Ulysses,' Molly's soliloquy, was 25 pages with only four periods, if I remember correctly, I was fascinated," Pleasant said. "The twists and turns her mind made felt so familiar to me. We all think so quickly and our minds move through memories with our own unique connections. Hers were sensual, spiritual, poetic and opinionated and simply feminine. She was Joyce's connection to everything Irish when he was in Italy. I loved it and knew I had to put it on its feet." Pleasant's first performance as Molly Bloom was at the Neighborhood Theater in Charlotte, which was included for Bloomsday in an Irish festival. Accompanied by a violinist and a piccolo player to help accentuate the transitions, Pleasant fashioned a small set with Leopold Bloom asleep in bed with his boots on, as Molly mentions in the soliloquy. There have been other small performances over the years. Pleasant has also gone straight to the source. In 2015, she traveled to Ireland, complete with a period costume to wear for the Bloomsday festivities. "The whole city seemed abuzz for Leopold Bloom and his travels through Dublin," she said. "I've never been in a city that loves literature like Dubliners do. Even the cabbies quote poets and discuss or share their favorites." A few days prior to the celebration, Pleasant went to Dublin's International Bar, which is on the site of a pub that gets play in Joyce's novel and is among the few that has been designated a Joyce Pub. When the manager heard she performed Molly Bloom, he invited her to give a performance there on Bloomsday to a group set to tour the pub. "I was shocked that he would ask an American to perform, but he did and I did," she recalled. "My accent didn't seem to bother anyone and that, of course, was my first worry." Another Charlestonian with a demonstrated penchant for Bloomsday is celebrated television host and Irish American Stephen Colbert. Colbert has been known to regularly participate in an annual New York City Bloomsday initiative presented by Symphony Space, participating in readings of the books with other artists that can span several hours. In a 2010 Wall Street Journal article, he was cited as reading from the citizen passage from the Cyclops episode, as well as from book nine, set in the monster's cave. In 2020, he launched Symphony Space's first Virtual Bloomsday on Broadway with a reading from Episode I: Telemachus. Tackling the text Even in the opening scenes set on the seaside stretch of Dublin's Sandycove, it should be noted that reading "Ulysses" is not always a walk on the beach. Laden with Greek mythology and surging with unfettered mental wendings, it can throw some readers. But the Irish have your back. Daniel Mulhall, Ireland's Ambassador to the United States, recently wrote "Ulysses: A Reader's Odyssey" to guide readers through the challenging work, which he underscores as worth the effort of the undertaking. "I see the book as an odyssey in language, an odyssey in character and an odyssey in the ways of the world," he said in a recent live-streamed conversation with D.C. Public Library Executive Director Richard Reyes-Gavilan. Ni Chonchuir also recommends "Ulysses and Us," by Declan Kiberd, which can help navigate the book's use of mythology, too, which was more commonly taught in school at the time Joyce wrote it, but can now be a hurdle today. Virtual centenary For those who want to have a crack at the book in the days surrounding Bloomsday, resources abound. Five short films inspired by Joyce's work and shown at the 2020 Bloomsday Film Festival are available to view via bloomsdayfestival.ie. Tourism Ireland's short video "Bloomsday in Dublin" is available via https://bit.ly/BloomsdayinDublin. A short animated film "Why Should You Read James Joyce?" is available via https://bit.ly/whyreadjoyce. The National Library of Ireland's online exhibition "Dubliners: The Photographs of J.J. Clarke" offers a unique record of how Dublin and its people looked in 1897-1904; 1904 is the year in which "Ulysses" is set. It's available via bit.ly/clarkeimages. As part of the celebration, the Consulate General is giving away free copies of "Ulysses," while supplies last. They will be available starting on Bloomsday, June 16, at Buxton Books at 160 King St. in downtown Charleston. Then perhaps we can stage Charleston's own full-on Bloomsday in the years to come. What better place than surrounding the South Carolina Irish Memorial, a granite map of Ireland on 1 Charlotte St., astride the Charleston harbor where so many Irish immigrants arrived Charleston, with great hopes and a keen love for language, over a snotgreen sea. When Dr. Roy Guerrero, a pediatrician in Uvalde, Texas, testified before a U.S. House committee on June 8 about gun violence, he told lawmakers about the horror of seeing the bodies of two of the 19 children killed in the Robb Elementary massacre. They were so pulverized, he said, that they could be identified only by their clothing. In recent years, the medical profession has developed techniques to help save more gunshot victims, such as evacuating patients rapidly. But trauma surgeons interviewed by Kaiser Health News say that even those improvements can save only a fraction of patients when military-style rifles inflict the injury. Suffering gaping wounds, many victims die at the shooting scene and never make it to a hospital, they said. Those victims who do arrive at trauma centers appear to have more wounds than in years past, according to the surgeons. But, the doctors added, the weapons used arent new. Instead, they said, the issue is that more of these especially deadly guns exist, and these weapons are being used more frequently in mass shootings and the day-to-day violence that plagues communities across the nation. The doctors, frustrated by the carnage, are clamoring for broad measures to curb the rise in gun violence. Weeks after the Uvalde school shooting, what steps the country will take to prevent another attack of this magnitude remain unclear. The House on June 8 and 9 passed measures aimed at reducing gun violence, but approval in the Senate seems uncertain at best. Many physicians agree something substantial must be done. One solution wont solve this crisis, said Dr. Ashley Hink of Charleston, who was working as a trauma surgery resident at the Medical University of South Carolina in 2015 when a white supremacist killed nine Black members of the Emanuel AME Church. If anyone wants to hang their hat on one solution, theyre clearly not informed enough about this problem. The weapons being fired in mass shootings often defined as incidents in which at least four people are shot arent just military-style rifles, such as the AR-15-style weapon used in Uvalde. Trauma surgeons said they are seeing a rise in the use of semiautomatic handguns, such as the one used during the Charleston church shooting. They can contain more ammunition than revolvers and fire more rapidly. Overall gun violence has increased in recent years. In 2020, firearm injuries became the leading cause of death among children and adolescents. Gun-related homicides rose almost 35 percent in 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in May. Most of those deaths are attributed to handguns. Still, trauma surgeons such as Dr. Rob Todd at Atlantas Grady Memorial Hospital blamed military-style rifles and the end of the national assault weapons ban in 2004 for higher levels of deadly gun violence. A study recently published by JAMA Network Open found that for every mass shooting death, about six other people were injured. Trauma surgeons interviewed by Kaiser Health News said the number of wounds per patient appears to have increased. I feel we are seeing an increase in the intensity of violence over the past decade, said Dr. Joseph Sakran, a trauma surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He cited the number of times a person is shot and said more gun victims are being shot at close range. Survival rates in mass shootings depend on multiple factors, including the type of firearm used, the proximity of the shooter, and the number and location of the wounds, said Dr. Christopher Kang of Tacoma, Wash., who is president-elect of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Several recent shootings have left few survivors. Last year, shootings at three Atlanta-area spas left eight dead only one person who was shot survived. The chaos at a mass shooting scene and the presence of an active shooter can add crucial delays to getting victims to a hospital, said Dr. John Armstrong, a professor of surgery at the University of South Florida. With higher-energy weapons, one sees greater injury, greater tissue destruction, greater bleeding, he added. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon who is chief medical correspondent for CNN, wrote about the energy and force of gunshots from an AR-15-style rifle, the type also used in the recent mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y. That energy is equal to dropping a watermelon onto cement, Gupta said, quoting Dr. Ernest Moore, director of surgical research at the Denver Health Medical Center. Medical advances over the years, including lessons learned from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, have helped save the lives of shooting victims, said Armstrong, who trained U.S. Army surgical teams. Those techniques, he said, include appropriate use of tourniquets, rapid evacuations of the wounded and the use of whole blood to treat patients who need large amounts of all the components of blood, such as those who have lost a significant amount of blood. Its used instead of blood that has been separated into plasma, platelets and red blood cells. Another effective strategy is to train bystanders to help shooting victims. A protocol called Stop the Bleed teaches people how to apply pressure to a wound, pack a wound to control bleeding and apply a tourniquet. Stop the Bleed arose after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six adults were killed. The CDC, which in the past two years has been able to conduct gun research after years of congressional prohibitions, has funded more than a dozen projects to address the problem of gun violence from a public health perspective. Those projects include studies on firearm injuries and the collection of data on those wounds from emergency rooms across the country. For some doctors, gun violence has fueled political action. Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician at the Medical University of South Carolina, is running as a Democrat for a seat in the U.S. House on a platform to prevent gun violence. After the school shooting in Uvalde, Andrews said, many women in her neighborhood reached out to ask, What can be done about this? Im worried about my kids. Dr. Ronald Stewart, chair of surgery at San Antonio-based University Health, told KHN that the people shot in Uvalde had wounds from high energy, high velocity rounds. Four of them including three children were taken to University Hospital, which offers high-level trauma care. The hospital and Stewart had seen such carnage before. In 2017, the San Antonio hospital treated victims from the Sutherland Springs church shooting that left more than two dozen dead. Two of the four Uvalde shooting victims have been discharged, University Health spokesperson Elizabeth Allen said, and the other two remained hospitalized as of June 9. It will take a bipartisan effort that doesnt threaten Second Amendment rights to make meaningful change on what Stewart, a gun owner, called a significant epidemic. Stewart noted that public safety measures have curbed unintentional injuries in car crashes. For intentional violence, he said, progress hasnt been made. MYRTLE BEACH During a phone call with a business associate in April, Doc Antle, the controversial "Tiger King" star from Myrtle Beach, appeared to talk about disguising the origin of money believed to come from smuggling illegal immigrants from South America. Antle suggested the business associate use his Myrtle Beach Safari as cover so the money would not be easily traced by the government. You put on the check Ape House,' the associate said according to tapes released by federal authorities. What do you want me to put on my books so it can match? Yea, you can just put ape house, Antle replied, You can just put bathroom like were doing it for the green bathroom, the rainforest. The conversation was part of an FBI sting that ultimately resulted in the June 3 arrests of Antle, 62, and his Myrtle Beach Safari employee Andrew Sawyer, 52, on charges of money laundering out of the popular 50-acre tourist attraction located off of S.C. 707 in Socastee. A third man, William Dallis, a building contractor from Murrells Inlet, also was arrested in connection with the case and charged with money laundering. Lawyers for Antle, Dallis and Sawyer declined to comment. Their clients are facing up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted. The money laundering case has received national attention because Antle was featured on the hit Netflix series "Tiger King," about animal handler and zoo operator Joe Exotic, who was sent to prison in a plot to kill a rival, Carole Baskin. Antle has also been a controversial figure among animal rights advocates who have accused him of mistreating lions and other wildlife, including allowing people to hold the animals at Myrtle Beach Safari. Antle has received more than 35 U.S. Department of Agriculture violations for mistreating animals, and he is facing an Oct. 31 trial on animal cruelty charges in Virginia tied to trafficking lion cubs. A recently unsealed 26-page federal criminal complaint sheds details on how federal authorities first learned of the alleged money laundering operation and the steps taken to gather evidence with secret recordings. The FBI first received a tip in October 2019 from an unnamed informant that a member of the Myrtle Beach business community, later identified as Dallis, requested the informants assistance with a $200,000 check transaction involving Antle, according to court documents. The deal never transpired, however federal authorities decided to investigate Antle. Two years later, the FBI recorded a meeting between Antle and the informant at his Myrtle Beach-area preserve in November 2021 where they allegedly discussed Antle assisting with laundering cash. The FBI documents do not say why they needed the cash laundered or who else was involved. It goes to the company, Antle told the informant. So then it looks good like Im buying lots more (supplies from your company) and so its also tax-deductible at the same time. Antle reportedly told the informant to avoid communicating through text messages because of past encounters with authorities. Now, when I got in trouble before is because they walked up and said we think youre being a bad guy, Antle said. Let me see your phone. And they took my phone." During a meeting a month later, Antle allegedly told the informant that he would be a third party during a money laundering transaction with a "washing fee" of 20 percent. Antle also reportedly expressed concern about the cash being counterfeit. Because you dont have anything to lose, Antle said. "The only thing to lose if the money is counterfeit then theyll come kill me. In February, the FBI initiated a reverse money laundering operation due to Antles willingness to participate, court records said. Agents created a fake business as well as a bank account that was used to provide cash to Antle for laundering money to smuggle illegal immigrants from South America. The informant reportedly met with Antle and Sawyer routinely and hand-delivered cash to them on three separate occasions. It is unclear how Sawyer got into the alleged scheme, but the duo in return signed a check over to the FBIs business minus a 15 percent fee. During a March meeting, the informant and Antle discussed a woman that Antle believed was being flown into the United States to work at the Myrtle Beach Safari, including how she would make it into the country by walking through tunnels to cross the border. Antle, along with Sawyer and Dallis, were arrested June 3. Antle and Sawyer remain in custody at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center in Conway pending a June 16 bond hearing in Florence. Dallis was released on a $75,000 bond on June 6. JOHNS ISLAND Charleston police are investigating after a man was fatally shot late June 10 in a residential neighborhood. Charleston patrol officers and Charleston County sheriff's deputies were dispatched around 10:30 p.m. for a 911 call about shots fired on Bozo Lane near Dunmovin Drive, Inspector Mike Gillooly said. Police also received calls about an injured man near Walpole Way and Hay Road. Officers found the man suffering "obvious signs of trauma," Gillooly said, and he was later pronounced dead at the scene. Charleston police are investigating the homicide. It's the third homicide reported in the city this year, and the 19th reported in the county. The Charleston County Coroner's Office has not identified the victim. The department is asking anyone with information about the shooting to call the on-duty central detective at 843-743-7200. Anonymous tips can be made by calling Lowcountry Crime Stoppers at 843-554-1111. Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations. Will Republicans forgive a South Carolina congressman who voted to impeach Donald Trump? Will Democrats make history with their pick for governor? Will more people cast ballots early than on Election Day? All will be reveled June 14, when South Carolina voters head to the polls in this year's statewide party primaries where they get to have their say in who they want representing them. This year's ballot includes a slew of important contests, from the governor's race down to local races, like who should be Charleston County's next register of deeds. Some of these primary matchups could land South Carolina in the national political spotlight, especially the pair of congressional races along the coast that are seen as a critical test of Trump's continued influence on the Republican Party and in an early presidential primary state, no less. But those aren't the only races worth watching Tuesday. Here's what you need to know about the South Carolina primaries and how to participate. Governor Republicans, unfortunately for you, most of the competitive action is solidly on the Democratic ticket. The two leading candidates for the Democrats' nomination are former Charleston congressman Joe Cunningham and state Sen. Mia McLeod of Columbia, the first Black woman to run for governor in South Carolina. Three other candidates are also on the ballot, but they've struggled to stand out. McLeod is leaning on her state government experience in the Legislature, while Cunningham is trying to draw a line between his successful 2018 bid for Congress in a reliably Republican district to why he thinks he has the crossover appeal needed for a Democrat to win. McLeod has urged Democrats to "try something different" in voting for her, which would carry historic implications if she wins. Whoever wins the nomination faces brutal odds come November since the last time a Democrat was elected governor in South Carolina was 24 years ago with Jim Hodges. The other Democrats on the ballot are Carlton Boyd, a former page in the Legislature who has worked with various state health care agencies, Calvin CJ Mack McMillan, a musician and former barber, and William Cowboy Williams of Florence, a retired postmaster. Republican Gov. Henry McMaster faces one GOP primary challenger, activist Harrison Musselwhite, who on the trail calls himself "Trucker Bob." U.S. House This year, all seven of South Carolina's U.S. House members are up for reelection, but two contests along the coast are getting all the attention: the Charleston-to-Beaufort 1st Congressional District and the Myrtle Beach-to-Florence 7th Congressional District. Both Republican incumbents are facing challenges from the right flank after Trump called on "good and smart" Republicans to run against them. The former president then flew to Florence, where he held a March 12 rally that sought to boost his preferred candidates and settle political scores. But the districts and their primary races are distinctly different affairs. 1st District U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a freshman lawmaker from the Charleston area, is fighting to hold onto her Lowcountry seat in Congress after she became an outspoken Republican following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. In the aftermath, Mace said the events of that day had "wiped out" Trump's legacy. She also cast herself as "a new voice for the Republican Party." She's facing a challenge from former state lawmaker Katie Arrington, who landed Trump's endorsement within 24 hours of jumping into the race earlier this year. Arrington has cast Mace as a "liberal" who "turned her back on us" and on Trump. This is Arrington's second bid for this seat. In 2018, Arrington defeated U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford in the GOP primary but lost the general election to Cunningham. 7th District U.S. Rep. Tom Rice, a Myrtle Beach Republican who has represented the 7th District seat since its creation a decade or so ago, is one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. He has defended that vote as "the conservative vote" to defend the U.S. Constitution. All six of Rices primary challengers have cited the impeachment vote as a top reason for getting into the race. Rice is now facing a tough challenge from state Rep. Russell Fry, a Surfside Beach attorney who won Trumps endorsement in an area where the former president remains popular. Given the size of the field, a June 28 runoff is widely expected but not guaranteed. U.S. Senate Three Democrats believe they are the best candidate to take on the state's junior senator, Republican Tim Scott in November. In what could be a first, all three of the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination are Black women. Democrats will get to choose between state Rep. Krystle Matthews, D-Ladson; past Spartanburg County Democratic Party Chairwoman Angela Geter; and author and preservationist Catherine Fleming Bruce. Whoever wins faces a tough road ahead as a Democrat after Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham defeated Democrat Jaime Harrison in a record-shattering, multimillion-dollar 2020 race; it's doubtful that whoever wins will get significant outside help. Sign up for updates! Get the latest political news from The Post and Courier in your inbox. Email Sign Up! Additionally, Scott is a household name and a rising national star in the Republican Party who is also the Senate's top Republican fundraiser. Superintendent of Education The race to become South Carolina's next state Superintendent of Education has been a surprisingly dramatic one. After Molly Spearman chose not to seek a third term as state schools chief, multiple candidates have stepped forward. On the Republican side, six Republicans are vying for their party's nomination, including Kathy Maness, the executive director of the Palmetto State Teachers Association, and the races top fundraiser, Ellen Weaver. The other candidates are Travis Bedson, Bryan Chapman, Kizzi Gibson and Lynda Leventis-Wells. On the Democratic side, three candidates are in the running for their party's nomination, including Lisa Ellis, the founder of the grassroots teachers group SC for Ed; former Anderson County superintendent Gary Burgess; and longtime state lawmaker Jerry Govan of Orangeburg. The Republican field shrank in April after two GOP hopefuls acknowledged they lacked a masters degree as required for the post under a 2018 change to state law and dropped out. The winners will face each other in November to determine who will be South Carolina's next public schools chief. Whoever wins will take over the job at a time when school boards and public education have emerged as unlikely political battlegrounds in America's culture wars, from COVID-19 to critical race theory. Other races Congress and the state's constitutional offices aren't the only nomination races to be decided. Local elections for the state House of Representatives and your local courthouse seats are also being decided. The state Senate is not up this year. When can I vote? Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. statewide and in all counties. Still standing in line when the polls close? Fear not. You will still be able to cast a ballot. Also: there are no COVID-19 restrictions in place but you are free to wear a mask in the polling place if you feel the need. Who can vote in South Carolinas primary? South Carolina has an open primary system. This means any registered voter may cast a ballot in either party's primary but not both. You must vote either all Republican or all Democratic. That's important in case a contest goes to a runoff. For example, if you vote in the Republican primary for governor, you cannot vote in the Democratic primary runoff in the same contest two weeks later. Candidates must secure more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. If no candidate secures more than 50 percent of support, the top two vote-getters will face off in a June 28 runoff. Where do I vote? Your voting precinct and polling place are determined by your address, and should be listed on your voter registration card. To check your voting location, visit the S.C. Election Commission website at scvotes.org. On the homepage, click the tab that says "Voters." Then, click "Check your voter registration." You can also contact your county voter registration office directly. What should I bring to vote? To vote in the election, you will need one of the following forms of photo ID: S.C. drivers license U.S. passport Federal military ID S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles ID card S.C. voter registration card with photo If you do not have proper photo ID but are registered to vote, you can cast a provisional ballot. Which races can I vote for? It all depends on where you live, but even if you haven't moved, your voting precinct may have. As a result of the decennial redistricting process, congressional lines have shifted. In the 1st District, some 100,000 people whose addresses had them voting in the 1st District for the past decade will learn they are now 6th District voters. Before voting, you can view your sample ballot online at scvotes.org. (You can even print it out and take it with you into the voting booth, if you want.) Click the "voters" tab and then select "Check your voter registration." When will we know who won? It all depends on how quickly election officials can tally up the results. The Post and Courier will be covering the races all day and night. Check postandcourier.com for results and analysis. The first operational exchange between the regional command of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Japan Coast Guard concluded June 7, the military stated in a press release. The joint force training was focused on counternarcotics operations. The mission represents areas of mutual interest, such as addressing maritime security and smuggling concerns in Micronesian waters. The exercise, called, Operation SAPPHIRE, stands for Solid Alliance for Peace and Prosperity with Humanity and Integrity on the Rule-of-Law-Based Engagement. This years iteration was the second such exercise held between the U.S. Coast Guard and the Japan Coast Guard, the first being held in San Francisco in May. What an incredible opportunity to conduct joint training with the Japan Coast Guard and be able to share law enforcement capabilities which will enhance future joint mission planning, said Capt. Nicholas Simmons, commander of Coast Guard Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam. These exercises further solidify our great maritime relationship and will prove to be invaluable during future missions. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. A patrol vessel from Japan called Mizuho and the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Oliver Henry were used during the training event. While law enforcement officials have touted more drugs being confiscated at Guams commercial port and post offices, illegal drugs in the past have washed ashore. Notably, in 2018, a large number of cocaine packages found their way to the island. Some of the drugs were discovered on military property, and investigations led to police confiscating more than 35 pounds of cocaine from an Inalahan home the largest seizure of its kind to date. According to the release, participating crews deployed for an at-sea exercise consisting of two counternarcotics drills, where the crews simulated locating and boarding a target of interest fishing vessel suspected of drug smuggling. The two crews also conducted a personnel exchange and rendered passing honors between the vessels. Conducting exercises based off of real-world threats strengthens our combined readiness to respond more effectively, said Lt. Jack Hamel, commanding officer of the Oliver Henry. The cooperation and teamwork demonstrated today by the crews of Mizuho and Oliver Henry (exemplify) our Coast Guards commitment to maintaining rules-based order in the Pacific. If you talk to any of my friends, they will tell you the same thing: "McNinch doesn't think like everyone else." It is true. I am crazy about Read more The decline of the University of Minnesota Law School is only a small part of a much larger story and of limited interest at that, but it is my alma mater and traditionally a beneficiary of state funding as part of a public university. I found evidence of rot at the law school in a Zoom webinar promoted in the law schools recent email newsletter and wrote to Associate Dean for Academic Affairs William McGeveran to follow up. The law school has posted the Zoom webinar here on YouTube. I posted the text of my message here (no response as yet) on Power Line. Moderated by Dean McGeveran, the webinar featured four of the law schools professors bashing Justice Alitos leaked draft opinion in the Dobbs case. They came at it from a variety of approaches, all hostile to the draft opinion. Meaning no disrespect to any of the four, I think it is fair to say that Jill Hasday was the star of the show. Her faculty profile is posted here. In her comments Professor Hasday rehearsed points she made in her May 9 Washington Post op-ed column On Roe, Alito cites a judge who treated women as witches and property. Now comes Richard Doerflinger. Doerflinger subjects Professor Hasdays Washington Post column to critical scrutiny in his Public Discourse column Women, Witches, and Abortion: A Misguided Attack on Justice Alito.. As it was, the uniformity of opinion in the webinar made it a crashing bore. Doerflinger would have set a few sparks flying. I found the uniformity of opinion in the webinar reflective of the sad condition of the law school. The missing sparks do likewise. Doerflingers column is illustrative of the dog that didnt bark, to borrow the famous clue from the classic Sherlock Holmes story. Courtesy of Mark Pulliam. A bipartisan group of senators have announced an agreement on gun legislation. I am not sure whether their deal has been reduced to legislative language, and I dont know whether it will get through the Senate, or whether Democrats in the House will vote for it. (If I were a Democrat, I would think that the deal is extremely weak, and its main effect may be to take gun control off the table in November.) As summarized by the senators press release (link above), the deal sounds pretty good to me. There is no foolishness about assault weapons. It includes a focus on mental health, recognizing the fact that our country is essentially without a mental health care system since the institutions were emptied and closed several decades ago: Investment in Children and Family Mental Health Services National expansion of community behavioral health center model; major investments to increase access to mental health and suicide prevention programs; and other support services available in the community, including crisis and trauma intervention and recovery. I dont have much faith in this kind of government program, but at least it gestures in the right directionmental healthrather than toward pointless gun control regulations. And this, I think, is a great idea. It actually closes a genuine loophole: Under 21 Enhanced Review Process For buyers under 21 years of age, requires an investigative period to review juvenile and mental health records, including checks with state databases and local law enforcement. As I understand it, the NICS system currently does not have access to juvenile justice records. Thus an 18 or 19 year old will show up as having no record, and therefore no impediment to buying guns. And yet, juveniles commit a high percentage of violent crimes. This strikes me as a good step in the direction of not coddling juveniles to the extent we have in the past. I am not sure what this next point means. Is it intended to incentivize states to enact red flag laws? Here we need to see the actual legislation: Intervention Orders Provides resources to states and tribes to create and administer laws that help ensure deadly weapons are kept out of the hands of individuals whom a court has determined to be a significant danger to themselves or others, consistent with state and federal due process and constitutional protections. The bill apparently will help to finance school safety officers. This is really a local function and support[ing] school violence prevention efforts probably just means putting more liberals on the public payroll. But still, to the extent that it means more armed guards in schools, it is a move in the right direction, not the wrong direction: Funding for School Safety Resources Invests in programs to help institute safety measures in and around primary and secondary schools, support school violence prevention efforts and provide training to school personnel and students. There is more to the bill, which you can see summarized at the link. The bottom line, based on the descriptions we have so far, is that it could have been a lot worse. In particular, bringing juvenile records into the NICS system is an excellent idea. And if doing something deflates the gun control issue politically, at least for the time being, this is not a bad price to pay. STEVE adds: Everyone assumes that this bill is a lock to pass in the House, since there is no filibuster, etc. Im not so sure. With the House so close, I could easily see five to 10 House Democrats in tough, semi-rural districts (like Virginias Abigail Spanberger) who will not want to cast a gun control vote. And some lefties like AOC might oppose the bill because it isnt strong enough. UPDATE: For what its worth, Maxine Waters says the House will quickly pass the Senate bill, and, per Waters, Nancy Pelosi believes the same. As Steve points out, it wouldnt take many defectors to falsify that prediction. If the bill does pass the House, it seems to me that it will take the air out of the gun control balloon, as Democrats are desperate for accomplishments and will defend it as a positive compromise. The Big Brother Naija Shine Ya Eye reunion show got off to a rough start this week with shocking revelations and exposes by the ex-housemates themselves. The reunion show is where all the juicy details and hidden secrets are unveiled to the fans, and the moment the housemates voice their thoughts and opinions and correct false gossip. The organisers promised that the Shine Ya Eye Reunion Show, hosted by Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, would be one of the hottest reunions ever. All 26 BBNaija Shine Ya Eye housemates; Angel, Peace, Jackie B, Tega, Arin, Maria, Liquorose, Beatrice, Princess, Saskay, JMK, Nini and Boma appear on the show. Also featured on the reunion show are Queen, Yousef, Pere, Whitemoney, Niyi, Yerins, JayPaul, Saga, Emmanuel, Kayvee, Michael, Sammie and Cross. This week, the focus was on (Emmarose) Liquorose and her ex-love interest, Emmanuel, as they shared never-been-heard details that led to the collapse of their short-lived and tumultuous affair. Aside from Emmanuel and Liquorose, several unresolved feuds made the reunion show very thrilling for fans. The episode was action-packed; from Arin versus Nini to Angel versus Maria and Boma. On Friday, during an edition of the reunion, Liquorose accused Emmanuel of flirting and showering with other girls in Biggies house and outside the home. Emmanuels relationship with Liquorose, which fans fondly describe as EmmaRoses ship, was one of the highlights of the BBNaija Shine Ya House edition. Speaking at the reunion, the 27-year-old revealed that she caught Emmanuel showering with Angel and JMK even when she had never seen him naked. Liquorose said the scene got her mad as she only told Emmanuel to be free with the female housemates and not to flirt with them. The dancer further disclosed that she ended her relationship with Emmanuel because of his numerous escapades in and outside the house. According to the reality TV star, she caught him with a lady in his hotel room during their infamous Dubai trip. Liquorose said she walked in on her estranged lover, Emmanuel and a masked woman in his hotel room in Dubai. After waiting to be let into his room for fifteen minutes, Liquorose revealed Emmanuel did not attempt to explain his compromising situation. The mystery woman at the centre of it has been identified as Natukunda Precious, a Ugandan. Reacting to the allegations, Ms Precious, on her Instagram stories on Saturday, wrote that she met Emmanuel in Dubai in 2021 and he never told her he was in a relationship. According to the Ugandan, they only met last year, and Emmanuel told her he was single. Emmanuel and I are just friends. He met me in Dubai, where all this happened. I never knew he was in a relationship. He told me he was single, she explained. You guys should stop attacking me and keep me out of these. I have a boyfriend. You guys should attack Emma because I never wanted any of these. Precious statement comes 24 hours after Liquorose dropped the bombshell on how their relationship crashed during their trip to Dubai. Boma vs Queen The 37-year-old Boma Akpore turned out to be the primary villain of the episode. The former housemate called Queen out over claims that she slandered him before Tega and spearheaded an infamous rumour about his relationship. Boma vs Beatrice The Boma and Beatrice moment was clearly what fans of the show long anticipated. Beatrice on the reunion show was everything fans expected from the star on the show. Both housemates traded words over Bomas comment, describing her as irritating while in the house. Beatrice took no prisoners, attacking Bomas looks and behaviour while in the house. Boma reciprocated, describing Beatrice as local. Maria Vs Angel On day three of Big Brother Naijas Shine Ya Eye reunion, one major rift and altercation occurred between Maria and Angel. Angel and Maria got into a heated argument which resulted in name-calling and some unpleasant words. Angel opted for the most gruesome weapon in her arsenal when she brought back Marias 2021 Married Man scandal. Both housemates have been at loggerheads from the beginning of the reunion show after host Ebuka asked Nini, Maria and Peace to speak about the snide remarks they made about Angel. Angel accused Maria of infidelity. ALSO READ: How to audition for BBNaija Season Seven She said: Youre a patriarchy princess. When you were sleeping with a married man, you didnt think of that. In response, Maria also threatened to reveal Angels dirty secret. Is that what you want to bring up here? Dont even allow me to bring up all the things you did in Dubai, she replied. In December 2021, socialite Cubana Chief Priest accused Maria of allegedly snatching his sisters husband. According to him, the reality TV star didnt only have an affair with his in-law but also threatened his sister. Cubana Chief Priests in-law, Kelvin, and his wife, MaryAnn, are in court already for the dissolution of their marriage. MaryAnn had recently filed a suit for the dissolution of their marriage. Following the collapse of their marriage, Kelvin moved to Dubai, while MaryAnn stayed back in Nigeria with their children. The reality TV star met Kelvin on a flight where they hit things off. Things changed when Maria found out that he was still legally married. Nini vs Arin It turns out that there is an unresolved controversy between house besties Arin and Nini. The ladies stunned fans during the episode when they disclosed that they were not on talking terms over a comment Arins social media handler left on Crosss page. Both stars had a go at each other for a few minutes, enough time for Nini to accuse Arin of fabricating issues to gain attention. The gunmen who attacked a Kaduna-bound train in March, and abducted several passengers, have released 11 of the hostages. The release of the hostages was facilitated by a Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi. Mr Gumis spokesperson, Tukur Mamu, told PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday evening that the cleric negotiated with the terrorists and suggested a location where the hostages were reunited with their loved ones. After reaching agreements about the release, they (the gunmen) insisted that sheikh Gumi must intervene and identify a location where the captives will be handed over, Mr Mamu said. Mr Mamu said the cleric, for several weeks, has been negotiating with the gunmen, which led to the eventual release of the some of the hostages. He said the captives were handed over to representatives of the cleric at a location at Kidandan forest which had been selected by Mr Gumi. He said negotiation is ongoing to free the remaining 51 hostages still in captivity. When asked if a ransom was paid for the release of the hostages, Mr Mamu said he was not aware. Mr Mamu identified those released as Jessy John, Amina Mohammed (Gamba), Rashida Busari, Hannah Ajewole, and Amina Jibril. Others are Najib Daiharu, Gaius Gambo, Hassan Aliyu, Peace Boy and Danjuma Saidu. The gunmen killed a total of nine passengers during the attack. Several others sustained gunshot injuries. The gunmen had earlier released a couple of hostages after they reportedly paid ransoms to secure their release. President Muhammadu Buhari has restated his commitment to ensuring the 2023 general elections are peaceful and transparent. Mr Buhari stated this in his address to Nigerians on Sunday to mark the 2022 Democracy Day. The 2022 Democracy Day is Mr Buharis last as Nigerias president as he leaves office on May 29, 2023. I remain committed and determined to ensure that the new president is elected through a peaceful and transparent process, the Nigerian leader said. He said most political parties elected their candidates in peaceful primaries and ran issue-based campaigns. I followed the party primaries closely from the state level to the Presidential level. I was very impressed to see across all the political parties that, most candidates ran issued-based campaigns. The language and tone throughout were on the whole measured and controlled, the Nigerian leader said. Details later Although many Nigerians see him as incompassionate and lacking empathy, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari says he lives daily with grief and worry due to the insecurity pervading the country. Mr Buhari said this in his speech on Sunday to mark this years Democracy Day. On this special day, I want us all to put all victims of terrorist activities in our thoughts and prayers, he said. I am living daily with the grief and worry for all those victims and prisoners of terrorism and kidnapping. The Nigerian leader said he and the security agencies are doing all we can to free those unfortunate countrymen and countrywomen safely. Hundreds of Nigerians are kidnapped monthly by armed groups across the country. The victims are usually held for days and weeks until a ransom is paid. Over 50 train passengers kidnapped in March from a Kaduna-bound train are still with their kidnappers. Beyond kidnapping, dozens of people are killed monthly across Nigeria by various non-state actors, PREMIUM TIMES has reported. Many Nigerians have criticised Mr Buhari for not showing empathy whenever there are tragedies in the country. He was criticised during mass kidnappings in Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna, Katsina the presidents hometown and Kebbi State when he refused to visit any of the schools. The president was also criticised when former Chief of Army Staff, Ibrahim Attahiru, alongside ten other military personnel died from a military plane crash in Kaduna. Many Nigerians criticised Mr Buhari for failing to attend the funeral rites of the personnel. Justice for victims In his speech on Sunday, President Buhari assured that his government will continue to seek justice for victims of insecurity. He said all hands are on deck to rescue kidnap victims and bring their captors to book, For those who have lost their lives, we will continue to seek justice for their families against the perpetrators. For those currently in captivity, we will not stop until they are freed, and their kidnappers are brought to justice. If we all unite, we will be victorious against these agents of terror and destruction, Mr Buhari said. He said his government has reformed some security structures, adding that the defence assets procured three years ago have arrived and are being put to use. Our cyber security and surveillance systems are being upgraded to further enhance our ability to track and trace criminal elements. We are also recruiting and training new personnel across all our security and intelligence agencies to strengthen the countrys overall security, he said. Troubled nation Almost every geopolitical zone in the country is suffering from one form of attack or the other, from armed groups such as Boko Haram/ISWAP, IPOB separatists and bandits. Nigeria is also witnessing, arguably, the highest number of abductions and hostage-taking since 2014 when the Chibok schoolgirls were abducted. Besides, the country is also witnessing jailbreaks as no fewer than four prisons were affected in the past year. Also, bandits have overshadowed the Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists as they have made some states in the North-west and North-central the epicentres of killings in the country. Gunmen on Saturday abducted more than 50 wedding guests travelling along the Sokoto-Gusau Road. Some of the wedding guests who managed to escape told PREMIUM TIMES that the bandits, as the gunmen are called locally, shot into the first vehicle they were travelling in around 6 p.m. They said many of those abducted were returning to Gusau (capital of Zamfara State) after attending a wedding in Tambuwal, Sokoto State. The bandits, who operate mainly in the northwestern states of Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, Kebbi and Kaduna, and Niger state in the north-central, have killed thousands while displacing hundreds of thousands of people. In the past year, the bandits have blocked roads including highways. Important federal highways including Abuja-Kaduna, Gusau-Sokoto-Birnin Kebbi, and Birnin Gwari-Kaduna have become travellers nightmares with attacks and abduction or killing of travellers becoming a daily occurrence. The abduction Lawal Jao, one of those who escaped, told PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview, that they were attacked just before reaching Dogon Awo in Tureta Local Government Area. We started hearing the sounds of gunshots before the first vehicle was hit, he said. PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the two vehicles conveying the wedding guests were a Toyota coaster bus belonging to the Universal Basic Education Commission UBEC and a Gusau Local Government Secretariat staff vehicle. Two other private vehicles were also involved. Mr Jao said he does not know how many people were abducted from the two vehicles but those taken in the two buses were more than 45. He said when the bandits started shooting, he and some of his friends ran into the bush on the other side of the road. We kept hearing the voices and screams of our colleagues and friends but there was nothing we could do. After we heard the arrival of security men, we came out of the bush and identified ourselves. A student of Shehu Shagari University of Education, Sokoto, Jabiru Shehu, who was going to Talata Mafara from Sokoto, said their vehicle escaped miraculously We met four empty vehicles with some belongings including a phone and some travelling bags. We were there when some policemen from Tureta arrived at the scene. From what I heard, they were more than 50 people with the bandits because we were there also when some of the travellers who ran into the bush returned to the main road, Mr Shehu said. Phone sellers PREMIUM TIMES gathered from other sources that some of the abducted passengers sell phones and phone accessories at Bebeji Plaza Communication Market (GSM village) in Gusau As of now, we are looking for over 45 of our people because some of them have communicated to us this morning (Sunday) that they ran into the bush, Sharhabilu Moba, a member of the Bebeji Plaza committee told PREMIUM TIMES over the phone. Bashir Muhammad, whose two brothers escaped the attack, said they and three others have returned home. All my brothers and their friends have returned but one of them was shot in the leg. He is at the hospital receiving treatment. We thank God as we keep waiting for the whereabouts of the others, he said. Calls and SMS sent to the police spokesperson in Sokoto State, Sanusi Abubakar, since Saturday night were not returned. Non-state actors last week (June 5 to 11) killed at least 113 people in various attacks across Nigeria. The figure last week indicates over 50 per cent increase when compared to the previous week when at least 48 people were killed. The killings occurred in seven incidents recorded across four of Nigerias six geopolitical zones. One of the incidents was that of the gruesome killing of church worshipers at Owo, a town in Ondo state where at least 40 people were killed. Another incident recorded in Owo targeted residents of a particular community and is believed to be a reprisal. PREMIUM TIMES compiled the incidents from media reports. Thus, unreported cases are not included. Below are the recorded incidents: South-west At least 40 worshipers were killed on Sunday in Owo, a town in Ondo State, when gunmen invaded St Francis Catholic Church and shot sporadically. The lawmaker representing Owo Constituency 1 at the state house of assembly, Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi, initially said 70 people were killed in the attack. However, the Ondo State Government later said 40 people were killed in the attack which the Nigerian government said was likely carried out by the terror group ISWAP. The Owo attack has been condemned by Nigerians, President Muhammadu Buhari and the international community. In what appears to be a reprisal attack, gunmen on Wednesday killed six people in the Sabo area of Ondo town. The victims were reportedly buried Wednesday according to Islamic rites while one of the victims was still receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital in the state. North-west Gunmen, locally called bandits, killed the wife of a village head and wounded several people in Isa Local Government Area of Sokoto State in a Saturday afternoon attack. At least 57 people were abducted from two villages Gebe and Alkammu during the attack. In Kaduna, no fewer than 32 people were reportedly killed following an attack by gunmen on Ungwan Gamu, Dogon Noma, Ungwan Sarki and Maikori villages near Maro in the Kajuru Local Government Area of Southern Kaduna. The communities were reportedly attacked on Sunday, June 5, from 12 noon until around 6 p.m. without military intervention, a statement by the Adara Development Association noted. North-central Gunmen in Kwara killed two passengers while abducting several others in an attack on an 18-seater bus in Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State. The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Okasanmi Ajayi, confirmed the attack via a statement issued on Sunday, saying the incident occurred on Saturday along Obbo-Aiyegunle-Osi Road. In the FCT, suspected herders killed a farmer, Hussaini Takuma, and dumped his body in an abandoned well in Kuje Area Council. The assailants reportedly rustled about 30 cattle and 20 goats after killing the farmer. The suspects were later arrested while the body of the deceased was recovered and re-buried. South-east Gunmen reportedly killed a youth leader of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in Utuh, a community in Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State. The victim, Emeka Alaehobi, was abducted, Thursday, by gunmen from his residence in Ukpor community. Buhari reacts to Owo massacre President Muhammadu Buhari while reacting to the Owo incident condemned the killing of worshippers at the St Francis Catholic Church. The president said in a statement by his special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, that only fiends from the nether region could have conceived and carried out such a dastardly act. President Buhari condoled the families of the victims, the Catholic Church, and the Government of Ondo State. No matter what, this country shall never give in to evil and wicked people, and darkness will never overcome light. Nigeria will eventually win, he said. The Nigerian leader also said on Sunday that he lives daily with grief and sorrow because of the insecurity across the country. President Muhammadu Buhari has urged candidates of political parties to continue running issue-focused campaigns and to treat opponents with dignity, saying politics should never be seen as a do-or-die affair. The president made the appeal in his 2022 Democracy Day broadcast to the nation on Sunday in Abuja. The Nigerian leader commended the leaderships of the nations political parties for the smooth conduct of their parties primary elections. I will therefore take this opportunity on this very special day to ask all candidates to continue running issue-focused campaigns and to treat opponents with dignity. As leaders, you must all showcase high character and never forget that the world is watching us and Africa looks up to Nigeria to provide example in governance. The tone you set at the top will surely be replicated in your followers, he said. The president particularly noted with delight the significant increase in women and youth participation in the primaries, saying this trend should be sustained and improved upon in forthcoming electoral exercises, including the 2023 general elections. Another positive that came from the 2022 party primaries was the significant increase in women and youth, particularly across all parties. I was very pleased to see this development, he said. This augurs well for the future. These trends clearly show the level of maturity our democracy has achieved in the last 23 years. As we move into the general election campaign season, we must sustain this mature attitude to campaigning and ultimately, voting. We must never see it as a do-or-die affair. We must all remember democracy is about the will of the majority. There must be winners and losers, he maintained. The Nigerian leader reassured voters that adequate measures had been put in place to safeguard their votes during the forthcoming elections in the country. He said his administration had made significant investments to reform and enhance the nations electoral laws, systems and processes to safeguard their votes. The president, therefore, expressed the commitment of the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary to ensure the successful implementation of the ongoing reforms of the electoral laws. For the voters, I am pleased to inform you that in the last 7 years, our government across all tiers, has made significant investments to reform and enhance our electoral laws, systems and processes to safeguard your votes. The Executive, Legislature and Judiciary were and still remain united and committed to ensure these reforms are fully implemented in the 2023 general elections. Fellow Nigerians, your right to choose your government will be preserved and protected. (NAN) The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Sunday warned intending Hajj pilgrims against drug trafficking. Habiba Zubair, an official of the agency, gave the warning in Ilorin while addressing those travelling to Saudi Arabia to perform the 2022 Hajj. She warned that pilgrims could take only prescription drugs to Saudi Arabia as the government there would not tolerate anything outside that. You should avoid drugs capable of getting you arrested, she admonished. Ms Zubair also admonished the pilgrims not to take kola nuts or ground pepper to Saudi Arabia as they would be confiscated. Do not take any luggage from strangers in any circumstance as you may be tricked into taking on prohibitive substances, she warned. The NDLEA official also told the intending pilgrims to always wear the states uniform while in Saudi Arabia for easy identification. (NAN) A former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, said as the country marks this years Democracy Day, the spirit of June 12 would expand to become the spirit of Nigeria and the national greatness of their dreams. Mr Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress in the 2023 general election, made this known in a statement signed by his media aide, Tunde Rahman, in Lagos on Saturday. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Government had declared Monday a public holiday to mark the event. NAN recalls that June 12 was declared democracy day by the present administration to celebrate MKO Abiolas victory in the presidential election of June 12, 1993. Mr Tinubu prayed that Nigerians from all walks of life and all parts of the country should unite to build a more industrious and peaceful society such that all Nigerians might enjoy a greater future. The presidential candidate said this occasion also compels Nigerians to again thank President Muhammadu Buhari for his successful efforts to name June 12 as Democracy Day for their beloved republic. The former governor said on this Democracy Day, he will dedicate himself and his upcoming campaign to the spirit of June 12 and what it best symbolises for todays Nigeria. Just like democracy finally won against dictatorship, I know that prosperity shall overcome poverty, peace shall outlast violence, compassion will conquer hatred and good will defeat evil. Justice, security and economic development will visit and reside in every hamlet, household, village, and city in our nation. The spirit of June 12 shall expand to become the spirit of Nigeria and our national greatness and destiny. My prayer, on this day, is that people from all walks of life and all parts of the country unite to build a more industrious and peaceful society such that all Nigerians may enjoy a greater future. Mr Tinubu noted that on this day, Nigerians will be celebrating democracy and commemorating those who had sacrificed so much to establish this most benign and noble form of governance in the land. The former governor added that Nigerians should never treat this day as just another holiday on the yearly calendar. According to him, We must remember why June 12 is Democracy Day and why all Nigerians should honour it. He noted that the June 12, 1993 election would remain the freest and fairest election Nigeria had experienced up to that moment and it yet remains one of the best elections the nation had seen. Mr Tinubu said a new way has come to the country even though the present democracy would not have been established without greater struggle, adding that dictatorship would not recede willingly and without struggles. The annulment compelled the nation into an epic struggle of democracy versus dictatorship, choice versus coercion, and people versus power. In this confrontation between a bright future and bleak past, goodness and the belief that we can become our better selves triumphed over cynicism and the blatant disregard of a powerful few for the collective welfare of the many. Democracy won but it did so at a high price. The man who should have been president lost his life while suffering in unlawful detention. Other democratic patriots suffered the same fate. Lives and livelihoods were endangered and shattered. But the love of the human spirit for freedom and justice is unstoppable. No amount of weaponry, no measure of suppressive force, and no amount of propaganda can no longer restrain the cry for liberty and the rightful demand for a voice in how society is governed. That election, though almost 30 years ago, provides vital and reassuring lessons to Nigeria today, he said. The APC presidential candidate said first, it showed that Nigerians were capable of democratic excellence and conducting elections as good as anywhere else on earth. Mr Tinubu noted that secondly, Mr Abiola won a truly national mandate, his victory and mandate, though unfairly and unlawfully stolen, showed Nigerias unity was not an impractical dream. According to him, although we are diverse in terms of ethnicity and religion, we all seek good governance, a better life and the positive things that result from sustained good governance. The former governor said this years Democracy Day holds greater significance because they just concluded fair, transparent, and open primaries in his party. Mr Tinubu congratulated all the other candidates on their nominations and their parties for doing their part to sustain democratic processes as the mainstay of their political life. He said APC was able to conduct a successful primary election due to the good leadership of President Buhari, and key party stakeholders like the governors, party leadership and the delegates. (NAN) The drivers union in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, on Sunday, staged a protest over the killing of one of their members during the political fracas between two rival political parties in the state. Thugs allegedly loyal to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on Saturday clashed in Itaji Ekiti, leaving at least one dead and several injured. The deceased, a driver, was identified as Tope Ajayi. Both political parties had claimed they were at the receiving end of the attack. On Sunday morning, the protesting drivers, backed by other members of the APC in the state, marched around the capital, sparking tensions and fears of possible reprisal attacks on members of the SDP. The APC had accused the SDP campaign of masterminding the shooting of its supporters including Mr Itaji, a member of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, who was shot and killed during the clash. It was gathered that the protest forced many residents to cancel going to church in the morning, locked, and the streets were deserted for fear of being caught in the fray. Roads to major places like Ijigbo, Odo-Ado, Okeyinmi, Atikankan and Ajilosun areas, were blocked by the protesters, who brandished dangerous weapons, forcing motorists and commercial motorcyclists to take other routes to avoid being attacked. However, a combined team of the Nigerian Police, Nigerian Army and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, was deployed to flashpoints in Ado Ekiti to forestall any major violence. The security forces took over areas such as Ijigbo, Atikankan, Basiri, Ajilosun and Ilawe road in the state capital, to avert a looming reprisal attack. Besides patrolling the streets in Hilux trucks, they stationed three Armoured Personnel Carriers in strategic locations in the state capital Although normalcy had gradually returned to various parts of Ado Ekiti as of the time of filing this report, it was learnt that the Assumpta area, where Tosin Alukos motor park was located, was still witnessing a lockdown. When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Sunday Abutu, said his men had been able to quell the crisis and restored calm to Ado metropolis, after the early morning bedlam. He added that the Police Commissioner, Morounkeji Adesina, had ordered a heavy deployment of anti-riot and plain-clothed policemen to some of the identified flashpoints across the state, to ward off violence and bloodshed. The Police Commissioner and other security outfits have been trying to ensure that this election is violence-free, and other stakeholders, especially the political actors must join us, because no election is worth the blood of any citizen, said Mr Abutu. Concerning what has been happening in the political scene, the CP had ordered full investigations into reported cases of shooting and disruption and we are assuring you that those found guilty will be severely dealt with. Governors across the six states in the South-west region have declared three days of mourning for victims of the terror attack at Saint Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State. The governors made the decision in a virtual meeting held on Friday to review the state of insecurity in the region. According to a communique issued after the meeting, the governors condemned the June 5 attack in Owo which claimed at least 40 lives, and scores hospitalised. The communique read in part: The Governors agreed to declare a 3-day mourning period in memory of the victims of the 5th June 2022 terror attack on St Francis Catholic, Owaluwa Street, Owo, Ondo State, starting from Monday, 13th June, to Wednesday, 15th, June 2022 to symbolise our collective loss across all South Western States in Nigeria. The meeting agreed that all the Governors should direct the flying of Flags at Half Mast in all public buildings, facilitates and official residences across all the States in the South West in honour of the victims of the Owo terror attack, the communique reads in part. The Governors expressed concern over the rising wave of insecurity in the country, especially the South West, and considered measures to stem the tide of banditry, kidnapping and terror attacks in the region. They also expressed concerns about the influx of Okada riders into all parts of the South-west, especially the state capitals. While pledging to cooperate with federal security agencies in improving the security situation in the region, they resolved that it was time to reconvene the South-west Security Committee. They also resolved that Efforts be geared toward identity management of Okada riders and stringent regulation put in place for their operation. The communique, which was signed by all the six governors in the region, further read: The Governors noted, with great discomfiture, the increasing agitations about spaces taken over by unidentified and unknown migrants in all South West States. The meeting, therefore, recommends that, the scope of surveillance of the activities of these undocumented settlers by relevant security agencies in all the States. The Governors, as Chief Security Officers, resolved to continue to assist the security agencies in the areas of crisis management and intelligence gathering at ALL times. The Governors reviewed reports from various States on the factors militating against peace and security in the region. They expressed grave concern on the influx of Okada riders into all parts of the South West, especially the State capitals. The Forum agreed to convene forthwith a physical meeting of the South West Governors to deliberate on the security challenges confronting the region. The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), on Saturday, traded blames in Ekiti after a shootout at Itaji Ekiti. The clash left at least one person dead and several others injured. Both parties claimed they were at the receiving end of the attack. The SDP said that thugs from the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), wearing APC vests and armed with automatic rifles, shot sporadically at their campaign venues in Itaji-Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area of the state, while Segun Oni was addressing the rally. Mr Oni, a former governor of the state, is the candidate of the SDP. Trading blames Jackson Adebayo, the spokesperson of the Segun Oni campaign, organisation said three persons were shot during the attack and one of the attackers was arrested and handed over to the police. But Taiwo Olatunbosun, the director of Media and Publicity of the Biodun Oyebanji Campaign Organisation, said the APC supporters were attacked by the SDP thugs, killing one Tope Ajayi and injuring several others. According to Mr Olatunbosun, an unspecified number of other APC members are presently hospitalized where medical personnel are battling to save their lives following life-threatening injuries they received in the attack carried out SDP thugs. He said one of the victims, Joshua John, who is presently at a critical condition at the State University Teaching Hospital, said he was tortured and shot in the leg in the presence of Mr Oni and Mr Daramola, a former lawmaker. Mr Olatunbosun said the APCs campaign procession in Ekiti North senatorial district was peaceful earlier in the day until it was disrupted by SDP thugs under the command of Mr Daramola at Itaji-Ekiti. He said the attack was carried out in broad daylight. He noted that the attack on Mr Ajayi was carried out by violent thugs who arrived in one Toyota Hilux and Tacoma vehicles. He alleged that the SDP thugs shot at many vehicles in its campaign procession including the one belonging to the Special Adviser on Roads, Sunday Adunmo. It is very disturbing that Daramola was seen by eyewitnesses personally leading thugs parading as security officials, and instructed them to shoot directly at our members in Itaji-Ekiti, said Mr Olatunbosun. He and others culpable of the breach of peace are to be held accountable. The death in Itaji-Ekiti is an addition to the statistics of politically-motivated fatalities allegedly traced to Oni in his desperation for power. It is tragic that within one week of Daramola decamping to the SDP, we have recorded a spate of violence including an attack on our campaign rally at Oke Ayedun on Friday, and now the brutal killing of our member today, and the maiming of many others who are now battling for their lives in the hospital. I assure all our peace-loving members and the good people of Ekiti State that despite the scheming of Bimbo Daramola and his newfound desperate cohorts in the SDP, the June 18 governorship election would be peaceful and the APC would be victorious. He said the Oyebanji Campaign wants the police to invite Mr Daramola and other SDP leaders to state all they know about the attack for justice to be done to the deceased and the injured and prevent a reoccurrence in days ahead. He also said the Oyebanji Campaign was in possession of intelligence that hundreds of thugs and youths had been armed with guns and other dangerous weapons across the state to cause mayhem at the instance of Mr Oni, whom he accused of being desperate for power. In its statement, the SDP said the APC thugs were allegedly sent by Rotimi Olanbiwoninu, a-k-a Mentilo, the Ekiti State Chairman of RTEAN, to disrupt the SDP Itaji campaign by shooting at its supporters. Mr Adebayo noted that it took the mobile police and some soldiers on patrol about 30 minutes to bring the situation under control. The unlucky thug confessed that they were sent by Mentilo and that he (Mentilo) was working for the Biodun Oyebamiji Campaign Organisation, said Mr Adebayo. At Oye, said Mr Adebayo, the RTEAN drivers allegedly shot three members of the SDP who were waiting for the arrival of Oni who was due to address party supporters in the town. He, however, said in spite of the violence at Itaji and Oye, the people trooped out enmass to welcome Mr Oni, promising to vote for him. He said the APC thugs could not intimidate or prevent them from coming out to vote on the election day. He said the injured SDP members were taken to the hospital while the matter was reported to the Commissioner of Police. Sunday Abutu, the spokesperson of the police in Ekiti State, told PREMIUM TIMES that the situation had been brought under control and that investigations were ongoing to determine the facts of the incident. As part of activities of marking his 85th birthday, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has donated 85 tricycles to young people across the 36 states of the country. Mr Obasanjo challenged Nigerian youth not to abandon the country to those who are currently messing it up. He spoke on Saturday, in Abeokuta, Ogun State, at an event tagged OBJ @85 Free Keke Programme, where the tricycles were distributed to beneficiaries. The tricycles were donated through the Youth Development Centre of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) with beneficiaries drawn from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. In his remarks, Mr Obasanjo said despite many challenges confronting Nigeria, there are opportunities galore for the younger generation to take advantage of. He also charged them to roll up their sleeves and make needed contributions towards addressing challenges of the nation. The first thing we want to prove is that there are opportunities galore in this country, said the former president. Yes, things are not what they should be but you, as youths, individually and collectively, must make up your mind, make contributions in order to make things the way they should be. If you leave things to those who are messing it up for you and who are saying you are the leaders of tomorrow, you will never have that tomorrow. Today is your day. Then the third point is; yes, sometime you may get people who would help you and a times you may not even get who would help you; you must remember God has given you innate ability to be what He wants you to be and if you make up your mind on what you want to be, God will help you and He would provide those people who would help you to reach the sky which should be your limit. The Chairperson of the Centre, Bisi Kolapo, implored the youth to emulate Mr Obasanjos passion and commitment in an effort to build the Nigeria of our dreams. She harped on courage, fortitude, forthrightness, respectability, knowledge, loyalty, passion and responsibility as some of the virtues expected of the youths in order to move the country forward. In their reaction to the gesture, two of the beneficiaries, Bashir Alimodu and Asembe Ngumimi, respectively from Borno and Benue states, applauded the centre for the donation, which they said would enhance growth and development of their trades. ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA ON THE OCCASION OF COMMEMORATION AND CELEBRATION OF DEMOCRACY DAY 12TH JUNE, 2022 Fellow Nigerians, Today, June The 12th, marks another Democracy Day anniversary and an occasion to celebrate freedom and unity of our Nation. 2. From 1999, we consistently celebrated Democracy Day to mark the end of military rule and the return of power and control into the hands of those freely elected by the people. On this day, Nigerians recommit themselves to ensuring we protect and preserve the ideals of democracy. 3. In 2018, we moved Democracy Day from 29th of May to the 12th of June. This change was to remind all Nigerians of one free election after which the presumed winner along with Nigerians were denied their rights and their choice. 4. On June 12th 1993, Nigerians saw the best in our citizens as we all went out to vote peacefully. By June 24th 1993, we also saw the worst of our leadership as the elections were annulled. 5. We must never forget the sacrifices of the heroes of Nigerias democracy during 1993. Their patriotism and peaceful struggle should guide our actions especially when it comes to electing our leaders and holding them accountable, now and in future. 6. Fellow Nigerians this is my last Democracy Day speech as your President. By June 12th, 2023, exactly one year from today, you will already have a new President. I remain committed and determined to ensure that the new President is elected through a peaceful and transparent process. 7. It is important for all of us to remember that June 12th, 2023 will be exactly 30 years from the 1993 Presidential elections. In honour and memory of one of our national heroes for democracy, Chief M.K.O Abiola, GCFR, we must all work together to ensure this transition is done in a peaceful manner. 8. I am hopeful that we can achieve this. The signs so far are positive. Recently, all registered political parties conducted primaries to select their candidates for the 2023 general elections. 9. These primaries were peaceful and orderly. Those who won were magnanimous in their victories. Those who lost were gracious in defeat. And those aggrieved opted to seek judicial justice as opposed to jungle justice. 10. I followed the party primaries closely from the state level to the Presidential level. I was very impressed to see across all the political parties that, most candidates ran issued based campaigns. The language and tone throughout were on the whole measured and controlled. 11. Another positive that came from the 2022 party primaries was the significant increase in women and youth particularly across all parties. I was very pleased to see this development. This augurs well for the future. These trends clearly show the level of maturity our democracy has achieved in the last 23 years. 12. As we move into the general election campaign season, we must sustain this mature attitude to campaigning and ultimately, voting. We must never see it as a do or die affair. We must all remember democracy is about the will of the majority. There must be winners and losers. 13. I will therefore take this opportunity on this very special day to ask all candidates to continue running issue-focused campaigns and to treat opponents with dignity. As leaders, you must all showcase high character and never forget that the world is watching us and Africa looks up to Nigeria to provide example in governance. The tone you set at the top will surely be replicated in your followers. 14. For the voters, I am pleased to inform you that in the last 7 years, our government across all tiers, has made significant investments to reform and enhance our electoral laws, systems, and processes to safeguard your votes. 15. The Executive, Legislature and Judiciary were and still remain united and committed to ensure these reforms are fully implemented in the 2023 general elections. Fellow Nigerians, your right to choose your government will be preserved and protected. 16. I know many of us are concerned with the rise in insecurity due to terrorist activities in parts of the country. As a government, we are working hard to contain and address these challenges. And ensure that the 2023 general elections are safe and secure for all Nigerians. 17. To achieve this however, we must all contribute. It is not the job of government alone. I ask all citizens to support and cooperate with our security agencies by reporting any suspicious characters and activities to law enforcement agencies. We can only have a safe country if we are able to prevent crime not after the crime has been committed. 18. On this special day, I want us all to put all victims of terrorist activities in our thoughts and prayers. I am living daily with the grief and worry for all those victims and prisoners of terrorism and kidnapping. I and the security agencies are doing all we can to free those unfortunate countrymen and countrywomen safely. 19. For those who have lost their lives, we will continue to seek justice for their families against the perpetrators. For those currently in captivity, we will not stop until they are freed, and their kidnappers are brought to justice. If we all unite, we will be victorious against these agents of terror and destruction. 20. We have reformed some of our security structures. Some of the defence assets we procured three years ago have arrived and have been deployed. 21. Our cyber security and surveillance systems are being upgraded to further enhance our ability to track and trace criminal elements. We are also recruiting and training new personnel across all our security and intelligence agencies to strengthen the countrys over-all security. 22. I will conclude this Democracy Day speech, my last as President, by assuring you of my commitment to protect Nigeria and Nigerians from all enemies from within and outside. 23. I am also promising you a free, fair and transparent electoral process. And I am pleading with all citizens to come together and work with Government to build a peaceful and prosperous nation. 24. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As part of its Hunger Crisis Appeal project, the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) has distributed cash to 30,000 people in 5,000 households who are reportedly facing acute hunger in the North-west and North-central regions of the federation. The intervention, which is in collaboration with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), has concluded the second round of cash distribution in seven states: Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, Nasarawa and Benue. In a press statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES, the society said it planned to reach 200,000 more people who are in dire need of humanitarian support and facing food insecurity due to a combination of climate change, conflicts and COVID-19. Speaking on the intervention, the secretary-general of NRCS, Abubakar Kende, said: The situation is critical and is one that needs immediate attention. Millions are being affected, particularly women, the elderly, and vulnerable children. A good number of them are now in a situation where they do not know where their next meal will come from, and this is something that concerns us greatly. We are grateful to our funding partners; the American Red Cross, British Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross, Japanese Red Cross and Netherlands Red Cross, who have gone ahead to provide the needed resources to reach the most vulnerable people in 7 states. However, more support is still required as the funding gap is still huge vis-a-vis the needs. War against hunger The NRCS also stated that it is taking action to fight hunger in the selected northern regions specifically because the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UNFAO) estimated that about 19.4 million people in the regions will be facing acute hunger between June and August 2022. The UNFAO report which was released in March 2022, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development -FMARD and other stakeholders, analyses acute food and nutrition insecurity in the Sahel and West African region. The report noted that the food crisis will affect Nigerians in 21 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), including 416,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). It added that about 14.4 million people including 385,000 IDPs in 21 States and FCT of Nigeria are already in the food crisis as of May 2022. More intervention As part of the measures to fight hunger, the NRSC disclosed that it has decided to make Mothers Club an integral part of the Hunger Crisis Emergency Appeal to teach mothers in local communities how to ensure proper nutrition for their children to reduce child mortality, prevent acute malnutrition. We know that if mothers have better information, it will lead to healthier children and a better society, that is why we have set up 140 Mothers Clubs in the 7 states. We are working closely with the Federal Ministry of Health on this, says the NRSC Coordinator, Health and Care, Manir Jega. He added that the red cross society launched a 4.1million Swiss Francs Emergency Appeal in 2021 and is in the process of revising it upwards to meet the growing needs on the ground but funding requirement has been a challenge due to the crisis in Ukraine. From his adulations for General Abacha, it may not be out of sync to say that even General Buhari provided a convenient pillow for the pall of June 12 to lie in the cemetery. So, are the so-called heroes of that struggle not the fools, the cowards of today who Achebe referred to? Is it worth it to die for any struggle at all? Are the villains of June 12 not pointing at the graves of the fighters of the war and laughing at their foolishness? By the way, let us all thank the hero of democracy, Governor Atiku Bagudu and all other bagmen of democracy. After last weeks national convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari wrote, profusely thanking the governor of Kebbi State, Abubakar Bagudu, for his yeoman role in the conventions success. Buharis letter commended Bagudu for the extraordinary role he played in ensuring the successful conduct of the convention. Bagudu is the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, and in this role, he conducted the recent national convention that ensured the victory of a man who was the son and protege of the winner of the June 12, 1993 election annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida and whose pallbearer was General Sani Abacha. This man, who became the Kebbi State governor thereafter, was reported to be Abachas bagman, serially enfolded into the narrative of the siphoning of billions of dollars from Nigeria in the 1990s. In his Arrows of God, Chinua Achebe said that we often stand in the compound of a coward to point at the ruins where a brave man used to live. So, on May 1, 1998, the city of Ibadan was enveloped, not by an earthquake but a violence-quake. Indeed, some of the bloodiest battles against the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election were fought in Ibadan. On that day in May, armed policemen and soldiers formed a ring round the heart of Ibadan. In the melee, killings and maiming were foisted on the land. Being the headquarters of agitations against the regime of the infernal military despot, General Sani Abacha, Ibadan boasted of villains and the valiant in disproportionate quantity. While Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Azeez Arisekola-Alao and his sidekick, Lamidi Adedibu, strongman of Ibadan politics, led the band of the former, Generals such as Dr Ola Oni, a former Economics teacher at the University of Ibadan and former Governor Bola Ige, led the garrison of the latter. Oni and Ige scripted the war against the military for its temerity to ride roughshod on the people by annulling the June, 1993 election. Today is the 29th anniversary of the June 12, 1993 election, which was cruelly annulled on June 24, 1993. Apart from the token of government finally agreeing to make the day a public holiday, the baffling speed with which Nigerians have consigned the pains, trauma, deaths, maiming and institutional losses of the last 29 years to amnesia should be a subject of research for psychologists, political scientists and students of society. For South Africa, March 21, 1960 was the day of one of the most violent demonstrations against apartheid happened. It resulted in a massacre in the township of Sharpeville, near Vereeniging, where police shot at a harmless crowd of Black people. In the process, about 250 people were killed and wounded and South African remembrancers still commemorate the day with awe and trepidation. June 12 has not been as lucky. August 6 and 9, 1945 are also luckier. Those were the days atomic bombing raids on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were conducted by the Allied Forces during World War II. The eyes of the world had riveted towards Ibadan once Abacha began to make subterranean plots to transmute into a civilian dictator. Being the traditional capital of the Western region, with the stiff resistance to military rule coordinated in Lagos, Abacha looked the ancient city of Oluyole. He then planned a two million man rally slated for the Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan. He got the above leading sons of Ibadanland, renowned for being his lickspittles as an infernal dictator, Arisekola-Alao and Adedibu, to handle the rally. The former was a contractor to government who became friends with Abacha while he was General Officer Commanding (GOC) the Second Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army in Ibadan. Organisers of the march got an Islamic musical group, Alasalatu, to sing as pep up to the event. Also, renowned Ibadan masquerade, Jalaruru was recruited for a traditional icing on the cake of infamy. In the process of transforming into a civilian ruler, Abacha had established five political parties, superintended over by his lackeys, as springboard to achieving this aim. He then attempted to get all of them to adopt him as their single leader and presidential candidate. Ige, in a very apt analogy, likened the five political parties to the five fingers of a leprous hand, a description that riled the dictator. As a counter to Abacha, leaders of the South formed what they called the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and indeed established a radio abroad whose signals became very clear at home. It was handled by Kayode Fayemi, who was to later become the governor of Ekiti State. The Lekan Salami Stadium in Adamasingba, Ibadan, quaked on that day. Comrade Ola Oni leapt into the engine room of the organisation to scuttle the plans of Abacha and his hirelings. They flawed the rally, getting its organisers scampering in a death race outside the stadium. Members of the Alasalatu group were so thoroughly beaten by militants of the pro-democracy group that their songs changed immediately to that of ululation. They sang: SebAlasalatu la ba de bi, a dori fidi lo ba dAbacha, sebAlasalatu la ba de bi We came here as prayer group, only to become hirelings of Abacha. Jalaruru removed his costume and fled when he saw the firepower of the pro-democracy groups onslaught. For those who were too young to understand what actually transpired on this day in 1993, June 12 marked a turnaround in the political narrative of Nigeria. Since 1966 when those youthful soldiers crashed the pot of Nigerias federalism, setting Nigeria on a long tiresome road laced with guns and koboko, June 12 came to confirm that the Nigerian elite, rather than ethnicities, were the reason for the countrys tragic stagnation. It impeached the arrogance of an ethnic group that it was born to rule On that day of the protest, the stadium was filled to the brim. I was there to report for my news medium, Omega Weekly. For the Tribune at the stadium were Dapo Ogunwusi, Tinu Ayanniyi, Lasisi Olagunju and other journalists like Francis Awowole of Vanguard, and Yemi Giwa of PUNCH newspapers. It was a day of war. Many journalists could not enter the stadium as it was filled to the brim. Protesters of the pro-democracy group soon took over the stadium. They were estimated to be above 5,000 people and were singing acidic songs, which demanded that Abacha should relinquish power. They also sang demanding that Generals Oladipo Diya, Olanrewaju, Abdulkareem Adisa and three other prominent soldiers from the South-West region, who had been sentenced to death a month earlier for plotting a coup, should have their sentences commuted. Arisekola-Alaos property on Ring Road, which housed his Monitor newspaper, and eleven cars parked in the premises were completely set ablaze. Adedibus six cars and three houses also got razed, while Arisekolas multi-million naira flour mill was however prevented from being razed. Words soon got to Arisekola-Alao that some of those who escaped from the burning of the Monitor ran into the opposite building, which housed a hospital called Lifecare. It was owned by the brother of one of the pro-democracy activists called Niyi Owolade. Gunmen were immediately ordered to storm the hospital. They ransacked the hospital, shooting sporadically at the infirm who were killed in cold blood in their scores. In the process, one of the then editors of Monitor, Chiedu Ezeanah, got shot. The current News Editor at the Tribune, Akin Durodola, escaped death by the whiskers on his way to the office. A gunshot grazed his skin and missed his spine by a hairs breadth. Loquacious Oyo State military administrator, Ahmed Usman, who himself was a marked man by the Abacha regime, having been a protege of General Olanrewaju, one of the arrested officers of the Abacha phantom coup, seeking to cry more than the bereaved, immediately sprung into action and arrested leaders of the pro-democracy group, who he immediately declared Prisoners of War. Forty people were said to have been ordered arrested by Usman. They were subsequently charged to court. The list included Femi Adeoti, the editor of the Sunday Tribune; Ola Oni; Moshood Erubami; Honourable Owolade; Lam Adesina; and Chief Bola Ige. For those who were too young to understand what actually transpired on this day in 1993, June 12 marked a turnaround in the political narrative of Nigeria. Since 1966 when those youthful soldiers crashed the pot of Nigerias federalism, setting Nigeria on a long tiresome road laced with guns and koboko, June 12 came to confirm that the Nigerian elite, rather than ethnicities, were the reason for the countrys tragic stagnation. It impeached the arrogance of an ethnic group that it was born to rule, either with guns or in civilian clothing, over 250 other ethnic groups. On this day in 1993, the voting masses demonstrated that the suffering poor of Ayetoro-Gbede was not different from their counterparts in Mbaise or Koko-Bese. What united them was their poverty and what they desired was development. So they voted en masse, according to the dictates of their yearnings, for a better life. However, the military, in connivance with their political elite sidekick, quashed that dream and annulled the election, said to be the freest in Nigerian history, thus setting Nigeria farther on the path of military autocracy. In the duel between the military, represented by Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha on one side and the patriots of democracy on the other side, hundreds of lives were lost, many maimed for life, while many others never regained their livelihoods. Most of those who died in the war were Southerners. The list is endless but the most prominent was Mrs Kudirat Abiola, wife of MKO Abiola. She was shot dead on the streets of Lagos for daring to peer the torchlight into the dilating eyes of the lion of Aso Rock. Toyin, son of Abachas attorney general, Chief Olu Onagoruwa, was also shot dead by persons suspected to have come to even scores with his father for protesting the inhuman decrees passed by the military government without his imprimatur. Pro-democracy activist, Chima Ubani, was killed in what appeared on the outward to be a road accident, somewhere in Potiskum, Yobe State. General Ndubuisi Kanu also suffered deeply for standing with the people; and so also did General Alani Akinrinade. Have our situations been better since democratic government was won in Nigeria? Scrutinise the list of those who suffered for the struggle that I mentioned earlier, how many of them, their children or family members, are governors, senators, House of Representatives members and all that today? I dare say that, Prisoner of War ala Usman, Comrade Ola Oni, died in penury. Does anybody care about the family he left behind today? Only a sprinkle of the heroes of that era and villains of the period are the real beneficiaries of today. In the twilight of Babangidas days in government, many Nigerians were shot at rallies to protest the annulment of the election. Babangida was still defiant in his termination of the Abiola presidency. This was continued by the Abacha military government that literally took over from him. Abacha, who wanted to transmute into a civilian head of state, brought out various repressive strategies to achieve this. Ibadan, the capital of the Western Region, became a battlefront. Killer squads went round the Southern part of Nigeria eliminating voices against his reign of terror. Alex Ibru lost an eye to the shot of these attackers and Suliat Adedeji, an ex-nurse and political stalwart, was shot and killed in Ibadan in the most maniacal manner. Chief Abraham Adesanya survived the onslaught on him due to what many referred to as his having been steeped in the concoctions that served as his metaphysical shield from his Ijebu homestead. The list also included pro-democracy activists and even targeted military non-conformists. Top soldiers were roped into coups, even as the Ikeja Military Cantonment, the Air Force Base, Lagos and a police station in Zaria were bombed. The media also paid dearly for its role on the side of democratic activism. Till date, the body of The News magazine journalist, Bagauda Kaltho, is yet to be found. Journalists lost their means of livelihood as their working places were shut down peremptorily by the duo of Babangida and Abacha. Many pro-democracy activists like Professor Wole Soyinka, Kayode Fayemi and nationalist, Chief Anthony Enahoro, fled into exile for their dear lives. Chief Frank Kokori survived by the whiskers, having led many activisms against the continuation of the military. You may wonder what the purport of this long recent history of Nigerian democratic struggle that I have just recounted is? The lessons or takeaways are kind of two-fold. One is that, for the people who suffered various degrees of calamity to bring about this current democratic setting, it was like running from sickness to encounter death in its house, something that Yoruba will express as, a tori ka ma ba ku, a sa lo sOkuku, a dOkuku, won lOlokuku sese ku. Literally translated, in the bid to escape death, we ran to Okuku, only to be told, upon getting to Okuku, that the king of Okuku had just died. Our fate is indeed similar. Have our situations been better since democratic government was won in Nigeria? Scrutinise the list of those who suffered for the struggle that I mentioned earlier, how many of them, their children or family members, are governors, senators, House of Representatives members and all that today? I dare say that, Prisoner of War ala Usman, Comrade Ola Oni, died in penury. Does anybody care about the family he left behind today? Only a sprinkle of the heroes of that era and villains of the period are the real beneficiaries of today. They have since melted in the furnace of want and penury. Respected journalist, Kunle Ajibade, was almost executed for alleged coup plotting. Who remembers him and his sacrifices today? Gani Fawehinmi, who must have died progressively from his war against autocracy, got stoned on the streets of the same Lagos during a democracy that he helped to midwife, after valiantly challenging the military. His stoning was organised by some Lagos democrats, bed bugs busy sucking the blood of democracy. Where is his family in this democracy? Again, check the list of those who have grown rotund bellies at the helms of affairs of Nigeria today. Many of them are either children of those who fought fighters for democracy to a standstill between June, 1993 and 1998 or their accomplices. From his adulations for General Abacha, it may not be out of sync to say that even General Buhari provided a convenient pillow for the pall of June 12 to lie in the cemetery. So, are the so-called heroes of that struggle not the fools, the cowards of today who Achebe referred to? Is it worth it to die for any struggle at all? Are the villains of June 12 not pointing at the graves of the fighters of the war and laughing at their foolishness? By the way, let us all thank the hero of democracy, Governor Atiku Bagudu and all other bagmen of democracy. Festus Adedayo is an Ibadan-based journalist. To the children of the Ajanakus who were suddenly made orphans through the killing of both their parents, and to all families affected by the tragedy, I have nothing but an invocation: God will beam His light into the present darkness and expose the savages. God will comfort you and turn your mourning into joy. The Lord God will wipe your tears and heal you from within. I still cant live down the horror of terrorists unleashing their version of holocaust on worshippers at the St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, on Pentecost Sunday. In these days of high-wire politics and circus-show presidential primaries, It is tempting to succumb to our usual malaise of unshockability. The razzmatazz of political jostling takes the centre stage while a depopulation programme is being clinically executed. Even if life must go on, what manner of life are we living if scores of people can be so savagely wiped out by terrorists in broad day light, while the rest of us simply shrug this away? We are all potential victims of these savages, just as we are victims of the political class which regularly promises us paradise but consistently consigns us to a hellish existence. At the turn of every electoral cycle, the best and the worst of our emotions are skilfully harnessed by politicians so that we may replace one lord with another without any fundamental change in the defective contract that binds us together. As at the time this column was going to bed, several political parties had announced their candidates: Malik Ado-Ibrahim (Young Progressives Party); Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (New Nigeria Peoples Party), Omoyele Sowore (African Action Congress); Peter Obi (Labour Party); Adewole Adebayo (Social Democratic Party); Kola Abiola (Peoples Redemption Party); Bola Ahmed Tinubu (All Progressives Congress); Atiku Abubakar (Peoples Democratic Party); Hamza Al-Mustapha (Action Alliance); Christopher Imumulen (Accord Party); Dumebi Kachikwu (African Democratic Congress); Yusuf Mamman Dan Talle (APM); Peter Umeadi (All Progressives Grand Alliance); Okwudili Anyajike (National Rescue Movement). You are welcome to read your Tarot cards whichever way you want but take wise counsel disagree agreeably and never agree disagreeably. The political elite may seem to be at each others throats but at the end of the day, blind supporters will find out that the bond of Bribe is stronger than that of Tribe. We are not confronted with competing ideologies but different models of the same political brand. Am I communicating? In this circumstance, perhaps one should weigh what each candidate is bringing to the table. What kind of vision? What quantum of integrity? A simple test may aid you in making up your mind: If you were to buy a second-hand car from one of the candidates, who would you buy from? An unnamed wise man once said: The biggest flaw of democracy is the underlying assumption that everybody thinks and is rational. Unfortunately, that is not so. The vote of an idiot is the same as that of a genius Now, in any society, the geniuses, or those with the capacity to reason, are always in the slimmest minority so the idiots of the society will always win Thats why politicians dont waste their time on intellectuals They know what to do and where to go to get their votes. Immediately I got up, said one of the survivors, I saw right by my side, in my front, dead bodies. There were a lot of dead children. Two siblings; their brains were right on the floor, right in my face. Old women in their CWO (Catholic Women) uniform, dead. I saw people dead on the altar, but the priest was alive My dad was by the church door, He said that they were in military camouflage, and he saw one of them with an AK-47. He said they were shooting through the windows . Whatever we do, we must always remember that we have to live with the choices we make. If we choose stomach infrastructure or primordial ethnic sentiments over and above integrity and vision, we will have to lie on the bed we make will it be made of thorns or of roses? The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind. But I digress! The hoopla generated by politics shouldnt deaden our sensitivity to the Owo massacre. Every family affected will never be the same again. There are some injuries that are everlasting. Some absences create a void impossible to fill. Some survivors will never be able to wrap their heads around the fact that in one moment their fellow parishioners were in front of the sanctuary and the next moment they were on their way to the mortuary. Some minds have been damaged forever! According to the renowned psychohistorian, Robert Lifton, Survivors of disaster often sense that their world has collapsed and they engage in a struggle to go on living. One of the inner battles they have to fight is finding meaning in death and locating deaths place in the continuity of life. I mourn with all the families affected, even as I nurse my own personal pain at the gruesome killing of a fine couple, Dr (Sir) John Adesina Ajanaku and his wife, Lady Susannah Adebimpe Ajanaku. Both were devoted parishioners who wouldnt miss Sunday mass for any reason, more so on Pentecost Sunday. The self-effacing Dr Ajanaku and I served the Great Ife Alumni for many years. He was the chairman of Owo Branch and it was during his tenure that the branch became one of the most vibrant among the 30 odd branches all over the federation. According to eye witnesses, the attack was carried out by gunmen disguised as worshippers before entering the churchs premises just as the mass was winding up. Once they entered the church premises, they threw an IED before starting their shooting spree. They were not hooded. They shot indiscriminately, not minding women or children. Immediately I got up, said one of the survivors, I saw right by my side, in my front, dead bodies. There were a lot of dead children. Two siblings; their brains were right on the floor, right in my face. Old women in their CWO (Catholic Women) uniform, dead. I saw people dead on the altar, but the priest was alive My dad was by the church door, He said that they were in military camouflage, and he saw one of them with an AK-47. He said they were shooting through the windows . Bishop Jude Arogundade, the chief shepherd of Catholics in Ondo Diocese was inconsolable: This is madness! All over the world, there is nowhere people will plan to come and kill babies, children, husbands and wives worshipping on a special day, the Pentecost day. Its quite unbelievable that somebody will come and the intention is to kill everybody in that church. Those who were running out were being shot from outside, and those who were inside were being shot inside . Video clips showing the extent of the massacre have elicited condemnation from every corner of the globe. The Vatican issued a statement stating that, The Pope has learned of the attack on the church in Ondo, Nigeria and the deaths of dozens of worshippers, many children, during the celebration of Pentecost. While the details are being clarified, Pope Francis prays for the victims and the country, painfully affected at a time of celebration, and entrusts them both to the Lord so that he may send his spirit to console them. As always, critical questions are being asked by analysts. Could the fact of Owo being the hometown of Governor Akeredolu be of any significance in the terrorists choice of target? Is someone trying to get back at the man who is most vociferous about his campaign against open grazing? Both Governor Akeredolu and President Buhari have promised that the government will ensure that the killers are brought to book. Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola later informed a grieving nation that the attack had been linked to the terrorist group, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Not a few people wondered how the government could have so swiftly identified the killers when the police investigation was still ongoing. As always, critical questions are being asked by analysts. Could the fact of Owo being the hometown of Governor Akeredolu be of any significance in the terrorists choice of target? Is someone trying to get back at the man who is most vociferous about his campaign against open grazing? In that same Owo axis, indeed in nearby Ifon, the traditional ruler of the town, the Olufon of Ifon, Oba Israel Adeusi, was killed by bandits in November 2020. His killers have never been found. Indigenes of the town have complained of harassment by the security agencies who, instead of going after the murderers, seem to be more intent on caging the bereaved community. Residents of several communities in that area have had to abandon their farming activities and relocate to safer places when armed bandits took over their communities. In retrospect now, it was a matter of time before the assailants hit Owo. It is a black Sunday in Owo, lamented Akeredolu. Our hearts are heavy. Our peace and tranquillity have been attacked by the enemies of the people. This is a personal loss; an attack on our dear state. Last May, an expatriate engineer was kidnapped at Ogbonmo area of Ijebu-Owo in Owo Local Government Area. The kidnappers also killed a soldier who was serving as a security escort of the victim, together with the driver. Some communities such as Okeluse, Elegbeka and Ute near Ifon (the same Ose LGA) have relocated to Akure for security reasons, while Osomalo camp has reportedly been attacked by suspected herdsmen. Insecurity has become part and parcel of life in some of those places. Abominable! To the children of the Ajanakus who were suddenly made orphans through the killing of both their parents, and to all families affected by the tragedy, I have nothing but an invocation: God will beam His light into the present darkness and expose the savages. God will comfort you and turn your mourning into joy. The Lord God will wipe your tears and heal you from within. Wole Olaoye is a public relations consultant and veteran journalist. He can be reached on wole.olaoye@gmail.com. Twitter: @wole_olaoye; Instagram: woleola2021. The people should rise up and play their active roles in order for democracy to work. Voting is one of such important responsibility. But it doesnt end there. They must continue to actively participate in the political process. This way the politicians and voters will, respectively, do their bits so that the political space as a market place will be beneficial to both voters and politicians who solicit for votes. It is this mutually beneficial and reinforcing relationship that can save us from the onslaught of election anxieties. Over the years, I have come to realise that many Nigerians are often traumatised by elections. These elections come with their pressures. The stakes are usually very high both emotionally and financially. They are often winner-takes-all kind of scenarios, and are not helped by ethnic and religious tensions. If you add the slipperiness of some politicians and the gullibility of some voters, then you have a perfect recipe for collective anxieties. But should elections and our democracy be such humongous psychological burdens? What can be done to save us from the angst and anguish of our politics? Politics in a true democracy is like a market exchange where the bargain is about good governance. In this bargain, vote is the currency of the exchange. Whoever has more votes carries the day. Politicians are the bidders, while voters are offering the vote. The politicians try to win over the voters through the electoral promises of good governance. The voters cast their votes on the basis of their judgments of who among the politicians holds better promise for them. Election then is the marketplace and the platform of this contestation and exchange. Its a fascinating scenario because in this analogy we see clearly what the stakes are and what the role of each player is. Each player needs the other because in this political marketplace none of the actors can do without the other. The politicians need the voters; the voters in turn need good leaders that will emerge at the conclusion of the political exercise. That is what it is, no matter what some people might say. The bidders know too well that their wishes only come through when voters as critical stakeholders support them and vote for them. It is a common narrative in Nigeria that politicians can do without the voters. That is not correct. Those who are active politicians know that attracting votes is not easy at all. They work very hard to get it. In fact in Nigeria today, the politicians work harder than the electorates in this marketplace of politics. Now, we are in another cycle of elections. We see the politicians travelling to every part of the country or states, engaging in wide consultations, having long meetings, building alliances and bridges, wooing stakeholders and seeking support from constituencies. The politicians are busy day and night to realise their dreams. The ongoing party primaries, in view of the 2023 elections, is a litmus test of the amount of work politicians are doing to become party flag-bearers for the different elective positions. If it were easy, if they have a shortcut, they wouldnt put themselves through such stress. The electorates also have their own responsibilities in this electoral equation, as described already. For this marketplace to be maximally beneficial to everybody, we all must play our respective roles. For the political marketplace to be able to deliver not just governance but good governance, we all have our roles to play, whether as bidders for or as sellers. It is important that we all understand this to help us make a decision to get involved in seeing that our political processes are successful by delivering good governance. Voters elect those who occupy political offices to deliver good governance, protect installed facilities in communities and continue their participation as watchdogs. Voters have to critically examine the promises of all contesting politicians in the light of good governance and the expected dividends of democracy. Unfortunately, the dominant narrative in our country is where the bidders are projected as having the sole responsibility to deliver good governance, while the people, the voters, just sit back and do nothing. I think that the politician and the voter must remain mindful of this contractual relationship. It is not right for the voter as seller to simply sit back and relax; s/he must continue to play an active part in the political process by doing all he/she should as a voter to see that his interests are represented well through good governance. Even if a politician fails the voter by not redeeming his pledges during the first time, should the voter allow himself to be deceived a second time when the politician comes back to bid for votes for a possible second term? Such a time is a good payback time, I suppose. As the Igbo people say, only a fool lets the same stick poke him oIn the same eye twice. The voter has enormous power. When a state government, for instance, fulfils its electoral promises by installing some facilities in communities, the communities should look after the facilities against vandalisation. The protection of installed facilities or infrastructure is the responsibility of the community or the neighbourhood where the installation has been made. It is painful to see that electrical installations or hospital equipment or even roofs and windows of school blocks put in place by governments, which are dividends of democracy to a community, are neglected and sometimes left to be stolen under the watch of the community. This is not a good development at all; and communities are worse off for it. In order to prevent such backwardness, communities should protect their own dividends of democracy. How many voters ever listen to budget announcements? In the budget, the government outlines the capital projects that are to be executed in communities or locations. But many voters are not interested in the activities of government. They just vote and turn their back on the system. The contracts are awarded to companies belonging to members of the communities. The people should show greater commitments and ensure that these awarded contracts are executed, since they are the ones to enjoy it. It doesnt help anybody if these contractors receive money and refuse to carry out contracts as expected. Unfortunately, vandals are protected by the same community members who are supposed to be beneficiaries of projects. The people should rise up and play their active roles in order for democracy to work. Voting is one of such important responsibility. But it doesnt end there. They must continue to actively participate in the political process. This way the politicians and voters will, respectively, do their bits so that the political space as a market place will be beneficial to both voters and politicians who solicit for votes. It is this mutually beneficial and reinforcing relationship that can save us from the onslaught of election anxieties. MacDonald Ebere holds a PhD in political philosophy and writes from Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. As the dust of the primary election of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) begins to settle, a chieftain of the party, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has congratulated Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on his victory at the exercise, and wished him victory at the general election. Mr Tinubu, a former Senator and former governor of Lagos defeated 13 other contestants to emerge as the flag bearer of the party at a special convention held at the Eagle Square, Abuja last Wednesday. In a statement from his media office in Abuja on Sunday, Mr Olawepo-Hashim said the primary election, which he said was competitive more than the final results indicated, also highlighted our fault lines which the final tally may disguise. He therefore urged the winner to truly walk the talk of his victory speech at the convention that he holds no bitterness against those who did not support him at the Primaries for the task at hand needs everyones support. In the spirit of good sportsmanship, he maintained that it is a welcome development that the standard bearer has kicked off this initiative. These consultations, according to him, must be deepened and the policy frame work and engagement of the APC standard bearer must be broad having the capacity to cut through all the divides in the country. Certainly the coalition that will produce victory at the general election is different from the one that gave victory at the primaries, he said . He noted that in the last forty eight hours, the APC Presidential candidate has visited President Buhari, the Party Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and fellow contestants like Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi, and Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State among others. Mr Olawepo-Hashim, who was a presidential candidate in the 2019 general elections, also congratulated all those who participated in the exercise especially Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi for a good impact; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo for a robust campaign that raised hope; Senate President Ahmed Lawan for a great showing within two weeks of joining the contest. Also I must not fail to mention the youthful Governor of Kogi state who brought a lot of energy to the contest and all others who competed, he said. He equally saluted the hard work of our National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and the entire party leadership for a well organised convention. Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR), also deserves our felicitations for being a father to all .We thank God almighty for a great convention. According to him, now is time to unite the party and face together the huge challenge to win again, the road is sure going to be rough and tough but it is a task that is doable. The police in Jigawa State said a man who was found Sunday morning hanging from a tree in the Kanti area of Kazaure Local Government, committed suicide after his girlfriend married another man. Residents of the area had found a body of the man they could not immediately identify with a noose around his neck hanging from a tree in the community. But after retrieving the mans body from the tree, the police told PREMIUM TIMES that an invitation card to the wedding of his girlfriend was found on him. The spokesperson of the police in the state, Lawan Adam, added that the family of the man confirmed that the man killed himself because he was heartbroken. ALSO READ: Man attempts suicide after allegedly murdering pregnant wife Mr Adam identified the deceased as Ibrahim Adamu Mohammed, 42, a resident of neighbouring Kano. Mr Adam said the deceased travelled from neighbouring Kano to commit suicide in the area, saying that was why he was not immediately identified by residents who spotted his body dangling from the tree. The body of the deceased has been deposited at a mortuary in the Kazaure council area. Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi on Saturday announced that the Federal Government is set to take over the King David University of Medical Sciences, Uburu, Ebonyi. Mr Umahi, who made the disclosure in Uburu during the maiden matriculation ceremony of the institution, noted that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the modalities for an immediate take-over. The governor also announced that President Buhari approved that the university should be named after him, Mr Umahi. I thank the president for the gesture and also the Minister for Education, Adamu Adamu, the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, for their efforts, he said. Mr Umahi, who is the visitor to the university, disclosed that the state government offered scholarships to 14 indigent students to study medicine. The awards will last for five years. We also offered scholarships to six other students from various parts of the country, including the Federal Capital Territory. The duration of their scholarships however, is one year and we would repeat same for both categories of students during the next admission circle, he said. Mr Umahi noted that issues such as cultism, examination malpractice, and industrial actions would not be condoned in the university so as to preserve its uniqueness. All senior staff of the university will live within its environment and none would be employed on a part-time basis. I congratulate the matriculating students for being part of history and direct that their photographs and those of other founding members of the university be developed and displayed in our archive, he said. Jesse Uneke, the acting vice-chancellor of the institution, described it as an architectural masterpiece, poised to checkmate medical and educational tourism in the country. The wonder (university) was constructed under 30 months and had been adjudged as the most beautiful university in the country. This is unprecedented as the governor has proven that any exceptional feat achieved in any part of the world can be achieved not only in Nigeria but Ebonyi, he said. Goodwill messages were delivered on the occasion by dignitaries, including a NUC representative. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a total of 54 students, drawn from three faculties Natural Sciences, Basic Medical Sciences and Health Sciences and Technology participated in the matriculation ceremony. (NAN) Seven motorcyclists called Okada riders and 70 passengers have been prosecuted at a magistrate court, the police in Lagos have said. The commands spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, on Saturday, on his Twitter handle, said many Okada riders escaped. So far, seven riders and 70 passengers have been prosecuted. So far still, magistrates have been awarding N50,000 fine or 6 months imprisonment (especially for the unruly/confrontational ones), he said. For those wondering, many offenders abscond leaving motorcycles behind. Back story In May, the state governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu issued a fresh total ban on okada riders operations in six local government areas, which are Eti-Osa, Ikeja, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, Apapa, and Surulere. ALSO READ: Okada riders clash with Lagos taskforce officials over enforcement The move was triggered by the death of a sound engineer lynched by some Okada riders in Lekki, an upscale area of the state. By June, the government would begin to crush over 2,000 sized motorcycles in the state. The security operatives have promised to sustain the enforcement of the ban. NEW YORK, June 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Austria bestowed one of its highest honors on American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris. The Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria was presented today to Harris during the AJC Board of Governors meeting. "Throughout his life, David Harris has made it his goal to prevent and combat all forms of antisemitism. In doing so, he also had a major influence on Austrian activities in the fight against antisemitism, BDS, and terrorist groups like Hezbollah, and in support of Israel," said Austrian Member of Parliament Martin Engelberg, who, together with Austrian Consul General Helene Steinhaeusl, presented the award on behalf of Austria President Alexander van der Bellen. "David has made a significant contribution to Austria being today one of Israel's closest friends in Europe and one of the leading nations in the fight against antisemitism and being recognized internationally for these efforts, especially in the United States and Israel." Harris, the son of Holocaust survivors, "has spent his life promoting international understanding and coming to terms with the crimes of the Shoah, especially the dialogue with postwar Austria and the often difficult confrontation with its role in the Nazi era," Engelberg said. He noted that Harris's father was a Jew from Austria "who was able to save himself from persecution by the Nazi regime" by fleeing initially to France, "While his father, until his death in 1998, never managed to be reconciled with Austria, David was able to recognize the steps taken to come to terms with what is happening in today's Austria, and to send a clear signal by accepting Austrian citizenship." "I grew up in a home that had strongly negative feelings about Austria. My father personally experienced Austria's betrayal of the Jews before, during, and even after the war," said Harris. "But in recent years, I've seen a welcome turnaround in Austria's outlook towards its own history and, notably, regarding Israel, largely triggered by Sebastian Kurz in his role as foreign minister, then as chancellor. That gave me new confidence in Austria, a willingness to accept the citizenship offered to me, and, today, a sense of gratitude for this meaningful award presented by my dear friend, Martin Engelberg." Past recipients of the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold include Kofi Annan, Willy Brandt, Stuart Eizenstat, Anna Freud, and Simon Wiesenthal. David Harris is the most decorated Jewish organizational leader in American history, having been honored nearly 25 times by foreign governments. SOURCE American Jewish Committee Coinsfera is now allowing the people of UAE to buy Cryptocurrency in Dubai with Fiat currency of their choosing. DUBAI, UAE, June 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In a recent announcement, Coinsfera has revealed that they will now allow users to buy cryptocurrencies in Dubai with fiat currency. This move will make it easier for people living in the region to invest in digital assets and should help boost the local cryptocurrency industry. Coinsfera is one of the leading exchanges in the Middle East and this new development is sure to increase its presence in the region. Coinsfera has announced that its customers will now have the ability to buy cryptocurrency in Dubai like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin with fiat currency. This reflects the continuing evolution of their best-in-class platform and enables customers to interact with the broader crypto ecosystem. In recent news, the regulatory policy in Dubai has shifted to be more cryptocurrency-friendly. This is expected to spur a huge demand for the variety of cryptocurrency services available in the city. Coinsfera crypto shop is fully ready and well-equipped to assist prospective clients looking to exchange crypto for cash. Their office is located in the city center, and they are excited to help new investors get started in this growing market. In a move that is sure to make it easier for people in Dubai to invest in cryptocurrencies, Coinsfera is now accepting cash payments for the purchase of Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, and other digital currencies. This makes Coinsfera one of the easiest and most reliable ways to buy cryptocurrency in UAE . With different branches of Coinsfera around the world, where cash can be exchanged for crypto, buying crypto has never been more convenient. For those who want to take advantage of price swings, this could be a great way to get into the market. Coinsfera is excited to announce its expansion into the United Arab Emirates. This move will allow residents of the UAE access to the crypto market and a host of additional services like buying property in Dubai or luxury watches with digital currencies. The company looks forward to hearing more customer and community feedback as they continue to enhance its digital currency capabilities. Coinsfera has opened Dubai's first physical Bitcoin shop in the city center. The company has decades of work experience and a staff of professionals who can help both experienced crypto consumers and newcomers to the digital currency trend. The store is entirely prepared and equipped to assist potential clients wishing to buy cryptocurrency with cash . With this new development, Coinsfera looks to solidify its position as a leading player in the Middle East region's cryptocurrency market. When it comes time to buy cryptocurrency in Dubai, Coinsfera is the one-stop-shop. The company allows users to swap a variety of cryptocurrencies for cash or bank transfers, making it one of the most competitive platforms in the region. In addition to its expansive services, Coinsfera offers rapid transfers and large-scale exchanges, ensuring that users have everything they need while buying cryptocurrency in Dubai. Name: Coinsfera Address: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Cluster F, Indigo-Icon tower Office # 501 5th floor Dubai United Arab Emirates Phone: +971 58 535 0505 Email: [email protected] About Coinsfera Coinsfera is an OTC cryptocurrency exchange shop where you can securely buy and sell any cryptocurrency with cash in Dubai, Istanbul, London and Kosovo. PRESS CONTACT NAME Saif Ahmed PHONE 0585350505 WEBSITE https://www.coinsfera.com SOURCE Coinsfera Carrier celebrates national holiday with sweepstakes offering up to 15 million Rapid Rewards bonus points, round trip air travel for winners and guests, and promotional Companion Passes throughout its birthday week DALLAS, June 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) (the "Company") is celebrating its 51st birthday and national holiday, Wanna Get Away Day, with Customers this week by offering a daily sweepstakes counting down the days until its official birthday on June 18. Starting today, Customers have daily opportunities to win prizes like round trip travel for two, Rapid Rewards bonus points, and the highly coveted promotional Companion Pass (only on June 18) by visiting WannaGetAwayDay.com1. Wanna Get Away Day Last year, in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of its first commercial flight, Southwest declared June 18 as Wanna Get Away Day and registered the day with the National Day Calendar. In 1996, Southwest coined the phrase "Wanna Get Away" to highlight the Company's expansion and create humorous moments relevant to its Customers within its marketing. As Wanna Get Away has become an iconic and recognized expression for the brand, Southwest took it a step further to celebrate its 50th Anniversary in 2021 by announcing this new annual day. "Wanna Get Away Day is about celebrating our colorful, 51-year history of connecting People to what's important in their lives," said Bill Tierney, Southwest Airlines Vice President of Marketing & Digital Experience. "We are thrilled to not only have a day that celebrates our past and present history, including our iconic Wanna Get Away campaign, but also highlights our future expansion, and brings together our amazing Employees and Customers." Wanna Get Away Day Sweepstakes This year, Southwest is celebrating early, counting down the days to Wanna Get Away Day. Beginning on Sunday, June 12, Customers have daily opportunities to play fun sweepstake games, themed to illustrate the different perks of the carrier's newest fare product, Wanna Get Away Plus, for a chance to win daily prizes like round trip air travel for two and Rapid Rewards bonus points, all leading up to major prizes like Southwest's promotional Companion Pass on June 181. Visit WannaGetAwayDay.com through Saturday, June 18, 2022, at 11:58:59 p.m. CT to enter1. 1 NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. Open to legal residents of 50 United States and the District of Columbia (excluding Alaska, Florida, New York, and Rhode Island) age 19 or older at time of entry. Void where prohibited. Limit one entry per person. All fields must be completed. Points bookings, Companion Pass bookings, and International air travel does not include taxes and fees of at least $5.60 per one-way flight. Approximate retail value of prize: $200,180.00. For complete details and Official Rules, visit WannaGetAwayDay.com. By submitting this entry, you agree to the Official Rules. By entering, information collected will be used in accordance with Sponsor's Privacy Policy at Southwest.com/privacy. Sponsor: Southwest Airlines Co., 2702 Love Field Drive, Dallas, TX 75235. Enter by June 18, 2022, 11:58:59 p.m. CT. Countdown to Wanna Get Away Day Countdown to Wanna Get Away Day with daily opportunities to play sweepstake games, themed to highlight perks available when booking Wanna Get Away Plus. Themed days include: 6 Days until Wanna Get Away Day: Sweepstakes launch day! Sweepstakes launch day! 5 Days until Wanna Get Away Day: 8X Rapid Rewards bonus points 8X Rapid Rewards bonus points 4 Days until Wanna Get Away Day: Transferable flight credit 2 Transferable flight credit 3 Days until Wanna Get Away Day: Same day change or standby 3 Same day change or standby 2 Days until Wanna Get Away Day: Bags fly free 4 Bags fly free 1 Days until Wanna Get Away Day: No change/cancel fees 4 No change/cancel fees Wanna Get Away Day and Southwest's 51st Birthday! 2 Transferable Flight Credit Both must be Rapid Rewards Members and only one transfer is permitted. The expiration date is up to12 months from the date the ticket was booked. For bookings made through a Southwest Business channel, there is a limitation to transfer only between employees within the organization. 3 Same Day Change or Standby For same-day changes, a confirmed seat, if there's an open seat on a different flight on the same day as original flight and it's between the same cities, the Customer can book a confirmed seat on the new flight free of airline charges. If there isn't an open seat, the Customer can ask a Southwest Gate Agent to add them to the same-day standby list. If there are any government taxes and fees associated with these itinerary changes, the Customer will be required to pay those. The Customer's original boarding position is not guaranteed. For both the same-day change and same-day standby benefits, the Customer must change their flight or request to be added to the same-day standby list at least 10 minutes prior to the scheduled departure of their original flight or the no-show policy will apply. 4 Flexibility Terms At Southwest Airlines, there are no change fees (fare difference may apply), no cancellation fees (failure to cancel a reservation at least 10 minutes prior to scheduled departure may result in forfeited travel funds), and Bags fly free (two free checked bags, weight and size limits apply). ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. Southwest Airlines Co. operates one of the world's most admired and awarded airlines, offering its one-of-a-kind value and Hospitality at 121 airports across 11 countries. Celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2021, Southwest took flight in 1971 to democratize the sky through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel and now carries more air travelers flying nonstop within the United States than any other airline1. Based in Dallas and famous for an Employee-first corporate Culture, Southwest maintains an unprecedented record of no involuntary furloughs or layoffs in its history. By empowering its nearly 59,0002 People to deliver unparalleled Hospitality, the maverick airline cherishes a passionate loyalty among as many as 130 million Customers carried a year. That formula for success brought industry-leading prosperity and 47 consecutive years3 of profitability for Southwest Shareholders (NYSE: LUV). Southwest continues to develop tangible steps toward an environmental sustainability goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, including offering an opportunity for Customers to contribute toward helping Southwest offset its carbon emissions. For more information, please visit Southwest.com/wannaoffsetcarbon. Learn more at Southwest.com/citizenship about how Southwest Airlines leverages a unique legacy and mission to serve communities around the world. 1) U.S. Dept. of Transportation most recent reporting of domestic originating passengers boarded 2) fulltime-equivalent active Employees 3) 1973-2019 annual profitability SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co. NEW YORK, June 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of the securities of Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE: CS) between March 19, 2021 and March 25, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important June 28, 2022 lead plaintiff deadline. SO WHAT: If you purchased Credit Suisse 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 Credit Suisse class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=5868 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 28, 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: According to the lawsuit, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Credit Suisse had deficient disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting; (2) Credit Suisse's practice of lending money to Russian oligarchs subject to U.S. and international sanctions created a significant risk of violating rules pertaining to those sanctions and future sanctions; (3) the foregoing conduct subjected the Company to an increased risk of heightened regulatory scrutiny and/or enforcement actions; (4) a synthetic securitization deal, in which Credit Suisse sold off $80 million worth of risk related to a $2 billion portfolio of loans backed by assets owned by certain of the bank's ultra-high net worth clients (the "Securitization Deal") concerned loans that Credit Suisse made to Russian oligarchs previously sanctioned by the U.S.; (5) the purpose of the Securitization Deal was to offload the risks associated with these loans and mitigate the impact on Credit Suisse of sanctions likely to be implemented by Western nations in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine; (6) Credit Suisse's request that non-participating investors destroy documents related to the Securitization Deal was intended to conceal the Company's noncompliance with U.S. and international sanctions in its lending practices; (7) the foregoing, once revealed, was likely to subject the Company to enhanced regulatory scrutiny and significant reputational harm; and (8) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages. To join the Credit Suisse class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=5868 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. FARMINGTON, Conn., June 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Otis Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: OTIS) Chair, CEO & President Judy Marks and CFO Rahul Ghai are meeting with international investors on Monday, June 13th and Tuesday, June 14th, respectively. A corresponding presentation can be found at www.otisinvestors.com. About Otis Otis is the world's leading elevator and escalator manufacturing, installation and service company. We move 2 billion people a day and maintain more than 2.1 million customer units worldwide, the industry's largest Service portfolio. Headquartered in Connecticut, USA, Otis is 70,000 people strong, include 41,000 field professionals, all committed to meeting the diverse needs of our customers and passengers in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. To learn more, visit www.otis.com and follow us on LinkedIn , Instagram , Facebook and Twitter @OtisElevatorCo. Media Contact Katy Padgett +1-860-674-3047 [email protected] Investor Relations Contact Michael Rednor +1-860-676-6011 [email protected] SOURCE Otis Worldwide Corporation Addis Ababa, June 12 : The Ethiopian government has launched a new Covid-19 vaccination campaign to boost inoculations and control the spread of the pandemic. State-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate, citing Dereje Duguma, Ethiopia's State Health Minister, reported on Saturday that the number of infected people who are going to the intensive care unit has been increasing over the past month in Ethiopia. The State Minister said that the dynamic nature of the virus coupled with lax precautionary measures by citizens are the major factors exacerbating the infection rate during the past month, Xinhua news agency reported. The East African country, which has so far administered more than 29.7 million Covid-19 vaccine doses, reported 736 new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking the national count to 477,742 as of Saturday as the death toll stood at 7,516, according to the latest figures from the Health Ministry. Ramallah, June 12 : Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah with visiting US senior diplomats ahead of an expected visit of US President Joe Biden. During the meeting on Saturday, Abbas urged the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Barbara Leaf and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs, Hady Amr to remove the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) from the list of terrorism and reopen the US consulate in East Jerusalem, Xinhua news agency reported. The Palestinian President said the PLO "is a full peace partner and had signed a series of peace agreements, sponsored by the US, with Israel," the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. Abbas also urged the US side to work on reopening the closed offices of the PLO in Washington, noting that the PLO "is committed to the peace process and stopping all unilateral actions". According to WAFA, Leaf reiterated that the US is committed to the two-state solution and the mission of her delegation "is to prepare for the visit of President Biden, who wants to meet the Palestinian President". She said that the US President would discuss with Abbas strengthening the Palestinian-American partnership and relations and finding ways to stop the escalation in the region and move to the political horizon. "The US administration is keen to create an appropriate environment and to give hope to the Palestinians and people of the region," Leaf said, according to WAFA. Tehran, June 12 : Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his visiting Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro signed a 20-year partnership agreement to boost cooperation in energy, economy, tourism, culture, and politics, local media reported. Speaking at a press conference after the signing of the agreement on Saturday, Raisi said that Iran has always sought to have ties with "independent countries" and that "Venezuela's resistance against imperialism and enemies was exemplary". The Iranian President added that Iran "has decided to leverage" sanctions imposed against it and make them "improvement opportunities for the country". Maduro, who arrived in Tehran on Friday with a high-ranking politico-economic delegation, said at the press conference that a weekly flight from Caracas, Venezuela's capital, to Tehran would begin on July 18, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported. The Venezuelan President's first visit to Iran comes amid the impasse of Iran's nuclear talks with world powers. Sanctions imposed by the United States and rising global food prices are putting additional strain on Iran's government and people, Xinhua news agency reported. On Saturday, the Venezuelan leader met with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during which Maduro said his country is drawing up a "precise roadmap for improving cooperation with Iran in various fields, particularly science and technology". "Venezuela has succeeded in fully confronting the US aggression through resistance," said the Venezuelan President, adding that the economic situation in the South American country has improved greatly over the past few years. Lauding the relationship between the two sides, Khamenei said that by strengthening ties with Venezuela, Iran has shown that "it takes risks in times of danger and offers a helping hand to its friends". Iran has provided several fuel cargos to Venezuela and helped it in refinery repairs, despite the pressure from the United States. Venezuela started importing Iranian heavy crude in May, expanding on a swap agreement signed in 2021 to trade Iranian condensate for Venezuelan heavy crude. Iran is the third country Maduro visited this week after trips to Turkey and Algeria. Srinagar, June 12 : Three terrorists have been killed in an encounter between terrorists and security forces at Drabgam area in south Kashmir's Pulwama district, police said on Sunday. "Two more terrorists killed (Total 3). Identification and affiliation being ascertained. Incriminating materials, including arms and ammunition recovered. Search going on," police added. There have been a series of anti-terror operations in Kashmir over the last few months in which many terrorists and their commanders have been eliminated. Most of the operations have been jointly conducted by the police and the Army on the basis of specific intelligence inputs. Earlier on Saturday, one Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist was killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir's Kulgam district. There were two encounters on Tuesday in Kashmir. One terrorist was killed in an encounter in south Kashmir's Shopian district while two LeT terrorists were killed at Chaktaras Kandi area in north Kashmir's Kupwara district. On Monday, Pakistani terrorist, Hanzalla, was killed in an encounter between terrorists and security forces at Sopore in north Kashmir's Baramulla district. New Delhi, June 12 : The massive victory in the recent by-poll in the Champawat Assembly constituency of Uttarakhand has silenced Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhamis critics in the party and cemented his position as a leader in the state BJP. In the recent by-poll, Dhami defeated his nearest rival Nirmala Gahtori by 55,025 votes, the highest winning margin by any Chief Minister of Uttarakhand since the formation of the hill state in 2000. Dhami got 58,258 of the 62,684 total votes polled while his rival Congress candidate Gahtori got only 3,233 votes. A party insider said that the victory has cemented Dhami's position within the party and in the political landscape of Uttarakhand. "By winning with such record votes, Dhami has weakened his opponents inside the party too. By leading the BJP to the state assembly poll win in February, Dhami has already proved his political mettle to the central leadership of the BJP," he said. Another senior party functionary pointed out that all the seniors who were Chief Ministers of the state are almost out of electoral politics except two Lok Sabha members, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Tirath Singh Rawat. "Before the assembly polls, former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had announced that he would not contest the assembly polls. The party central leadership hinted to him to make the announcement. Former chief ministers are asked to make way for new leadership and a message has already been sent to challengers that Dhami enjoys the confidence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other central leaders," he said. The BJP has created history by becoming the only party to retain power for a second consecutive term in the state since its formation. The BJP has won the second term in Uttarakhand by winning 47 seats out of 70 but the incumbent chief minister Dhami lost the poll from Khatima. Sources in the party said that an internal assessment report on the assembly election concluded that Dhami lost due to factionalism and internal sabotage. The BJP report finds out the reasons behind the party's defeat in 23 assembly constituencies including the Khatima seat from where Dhami contested and lost by a margin of 6579 votes. A senior party functionary said that the BJP central leadership decided to give a second chance to Dhami who was made chief minister of Uttarakhand in July last year, for the work he has done in the last six months before the assembly polls. "The young leadership of Dhami is the only local factor for the BJP's historic victory in Uttarakhand apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said. Agartala, June 12 : India is now generating around 50,000 MW solar power and scientists and experts are developing solar power driven boats, wheelchairs, cold storages and various other utilities, Green Oscar awardee solar scientist Santi Pada Gonchaudhuri said. Gonchaudhuri stated that Helsinki (Finland) based International Solar Innovation Council (InSIC) has been providing funds for the innovative solar based products, projects and various other utilities in Asian and African countries. "Researchers in IIT Kharagpur are now developing a solar power driven boat. Within the next two months the innovation process would be completed and then the boat propelled by the solar energy driven engine would be commissioned in Ghoramara island. The project is sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) of the central government," the solar scientist told IANS. Ghoramara island is located in the Sunderbans delta of West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district. He said that such solar power driven boats would also be available soon in Kerala, Odisha and other places and the Solar Committee of the DST, headed by him, would sponsor these boat projects. Gonchaudhuri, who is a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology and strategic advisor to many solar based projects across India, said that solar energy can help physically challenged people. "We are trying to develop a solar powered wheelchair through Icfai University in Tripura. I have recently visited the University to check the progress. The project is funded by InSIC where I am the founder chairman. "Faculty members of Icfai guided by the Vice-Chancellor of Icfai University are doing good work. I am hopeful that the solar energy product (wheelchair) would be ready for use in the next six months," the scientist said. He recently visited Don Bosco school in a remote tribal village of Tripura to set up a solar pumping system combined with rain water harvesting. "This is a new concept to conserve groundwater. I always get pleasure in working in tribal areas that are deprived for many many years," he added. Gonchaudhuri, who was conferred the Ashden Awards for sustainable energy, globally known as the "Green Oscars" in 2003, said that the central government funded solar energy driven cold storages are being set up in Gujarat, West Bengal and Maharashtra. He said that India is now generating around 50,000 MW solar power with Karnataka leading the country and producing 5,000 MW. A few other states including Gujarat and Rajasthan are also generating reasonable amounts of solar power. "Once West Bengal was the pioneer in generating huge quantities of solar power but now Karnataka is leading the country in this renewable energy sector," he pointed out. Gonchaudhuri, who guided many solar projects in the northeastern states, said that different states of the region are now generating around 300 MW solar power. "Efforts are on to set up a two MW capacity solar power plant at ONGC's Palatana (in southern Tripura) power project complex," he said. The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation in 2013-14 had set up its first commercial gas based 726 MW capacity power plant at Palatana, 64 km south of Tripura capital Agartala. To promote solar energy in the residential sector, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has been implementing the Rooftop Solar Programme. Under this programme 4,000 MW rooftop solar capacity additions are targeted in the residential sector through central financial assistance. Northeast India's biggest solar power project, with a generation capacity of 70 MW, was inaugurated by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at Amguri in Sivasagar district on May 31. The Rs 300-crore Amguri solar park project was executed by Jackson Power Private Ltd, a solar power developer, with the government-owned Assam Power Generation Corporation Ltd (APGCL) acting as solar power park developer. Inaugurating the plant, the Chief Minister said that four more solar power projects with 25 MW generation capacity each would be commissioned soon in different parts of the state. Noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasised to generate more energy from solar and renewable sources, Sarma announced that 1,000 MW solar power would be generated within three years in Assam. (Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in) Lucknow, June 12 : His death has given life to three persons and eyesight to two others. Pradeeep Vishwakarma, a 39-year-old electrical engineer was critically injured in a road accident near Dubagga on Friday night after a nilgai rammed into his two-wheeler. He was rushed to a private hospital on Hardoi road, and from there, referred to KGMU where he passed away on Saturday. His elder brother Hriday Prakash, remembered that Pradeep would often talk about organ donation so he informed the doctors and gave his consent. He said: "Our family is devastated. But we agreed to fulfil my brother's wish to serve humanity. We believe that he has become immortal." After the family's consent, KGMU doctors got to work and the organs of the deceased gave life to three persons while his eyes are being transplants to two recipients. Lucknow, June 12 : In a shocking revelation, it has been found that minors have been at the forefront of the recent violence in Uttar Pradesh against the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad. According to a senior police official , majority of the protesters in Kanpur, Prayagraj, Saharanpur and Moradabad are minors. ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar admitted that minors have been found to be actively involved in violence after the weekend violence. "We are identifying the credential of these minors to ascertain whether they have been involved in incidents of crime in the past too. We are also probing the larger conspiracy to stoke violence in the state," he said. Moradabad SP Hemant Kutiyal said police have invoked relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Act against 50 unidentified minors. "We are identifying the minors and teenagers who pelted stones despite appeals from police teams. Investigation will also be done first to known whether they are locals, and secondly, if they were lured into this," he said. In Saharanpur, over 100 teenagers were involved in stone-pelting. "We have booked unidentified teenagers protesting and raising slogans," the police said. ADG, Prayagraj zone, Prem Prakash, told reporters that the crowd had been dispersed following the Friday prayers by the cops. But children, teenagers equipped with stones and covered faces started emerging and raising slogans. "Police exercised maximum restraint as a significant number of kids were involved. They were pelting stones intermittently. Mischievous elements incited kids based on faith and pushed them to attack," said Prakash. For the state police, this is a new and seemingly dangerous trend. "It appears that the children are being radicalized to indulge in violence in the name of religion. We are trying to find out those responsible for this and strict action will be taken against them. The agitators know that the police will not go beyond a point against children and are now using them as pawns," said an official. Meanwhile a source said that since schools are closed, children, especially teenagers, are free and they are being lured into protests for money. "These children do not even realize the consequences of their actions. They are happy getting some money in the holidays," the source said. Shimla, June 12 : Residents of Shimla, the former summer capital of the British Raj, are craving for water, not exactly for the first time. So are the tourists, whose influx has reached an all-time high with the northern states seeing the hottest summer. A majority of localities in the picturesque hill station are facing the worst water crisis, getting potable water once or twice a week. The reason: Most of the water channels in Shimla and its suburbs, which are normally quenching the thirst of the people, have dried up this summer largely owing to the intense heat and deficit rainfall in the past three months. Locals say for Shimla, which supports more than 450 hotels, restaurants and guesthouses, water crisis is an annual feature, even in winter. They say the problem aggravates with the spike in tourist footfall. Planned by the British for a maximum population of 16,000, Shimla is now home to 2.47 lakh people with a floating population of 75,000 as per the 2011 Census. These days as life in the plains of northern India has become unbearable with the temperature hovering over 42 degree in several places, Himachal Pradesh's tourist resorts, including the state capital, are luring visitors. "It's really pleasant to be here (Shimla)," said Deepak Jindal, a tourist from Chandigarh. "Even the days are pleasant here at around 30 degrees Celsius compared to Delhi's sizzling weather," his wife Gauri said. "But water is a luxury here, literally. Our hotel is welcoming guests with a caution notice not to overuse water as they say they depend on private tankers for water," she added. Hospitality industry representatives say pleasant weather in the morning and late in the evening in Shimla, Kasauli, Chail, Narkanda, Kalpa and Manali towns is drawing holiday-makers like magnets. "There is a spike in tourist arrivals, mainly due to the prevailing hot weather in the plains. Most tourists are heading to those destinations where they can enjoy gurgling streams," an official with the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corp (HPTDC) told IANS. He said Shimla, one of India's most popular tourist destinations, and its nearby areas like Chail and Narkanda, Kalpa, Sangla and Chitkul in Kinnaur district and the entire Kullu-Manali region are choc-a-bloc with tourists. Currently, the shortage of water is there at almost every hill station, but it's more acute in Shimla which faced the worst crisis in 2018 when there were widespread protests, marches to the Chief Minister's residence at midnight and even interventions by the high court. A total of 107.63 million litres of water per day (MLD) is estimated for Shimla by 2050. Currently, the town requires 40 MLD that is largely met from two major sources -- the Giri and Gumma streams. The Shimla Jal Prabandhan Nigam Ltd (SJPNL) is running the city's water and sewerage system. "Due to the prolonged dry spell and deficit water in sources, we have resorted to water rationing in the city. The residents are getting water on alternate days till the availability of water improves," SJPNL Assistant General Manager Anil Jaswal explains. However, residents of Totu and its nearby areas complain that they are getting water once a week. The crisis is aggravated in several other overpopulated areas like Sanjauli, Panthaghati, Vikasnagar and Mehli where the water supply is on the third day or later, depending upon the water availability. So how will Shimla overcome the water crisis? Urban Development Minister and four-time Shimla legislator Suresh Bhardwaj told IANS, "I am monitoring the situation. Actually the water level at the sources has declined due to rising temperatures." "We are working on lifting water from the Sutlej river. All the formalities have been completed. Civil work is going on. Hopefully we will meet the deadline. This scheme will end the water woes in Shimla for the next several decades." With the assistance of the World Bank, a project named the Sutlej Water Supply Scheme with an outlay of $250 million (Rs 1,813 crore) will cater to the demand of the Shimla Planning Area, comprising the suburbs of Kufri, Ghannatti and Shoghi. According to Bhardwaj, for whom the 24-hour water supply to residents is his dream project and a major poll promise, the timeline of the project for laying a 23.65-km long pipeline from Sunni tehsil is June 18, 2024. He said the Sutlej Water Supply Scheme will add 67 MLD to the total capacity. "This will be sufficient to meet water demand in the Shimla Planning Area till 2050. The existing water source will continue to remain the primary source of water. The Sutlej supply will supplement the existing sources." Of the Rs 1,813 crore, the World Bank will provide Rs 1,160.32 crore and the state government will put in Rs 652.68 crore. Old timers blame the water crisis over the years to losing green cover and natural water streams and springs due to haphazard urbanization, while experts say lack of rains in the past three months triggered drought-like conditions this summer. Octogenarian Ramesh Sud, who was born and brought up in Shimla, said the British ensured conservation of water sources by restricting human activity and regenerating forests in Shimla's catchment areas. "The British had dug several wells on Mount Jakhu where the snow is stored during the winter. The wells helped in recharging the groundwater, which enabled spouting of perennial springs in the peak summer. Where have those wells gone?" he said. The Chadwick Falls, deep inside the Glen Forests in the suburbs of Shimla, have disappeared silently, Sud added. In the 2018 water crisis, residents were forced to lock their water tanks and the government had to provide security to the employees supplying water. The civic authorities, responsible for supplying water, blame leakages in the distribution network, a significant portion of which goes back to the British days. According to the India Meteorological Department in Shimla, the maximum temperature in most parts of Himachal Pradesh is three to six degrees above average these days. "From June 1 to June 11, the state received a deficit rainfall of 95 per cent, while in Shimla district it is 95 per cent," an official told IANS. The monsoon season in the hill state is from June 1 till September 30. (Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in) Beijing, June 12 : Covid-19 cases related to a bar cluster in Beijing has increased to 115, local authorities in the Chinese capital said. The cases have been found citywide, including 107 visitors to the bar in Chaoyang district, two staffers and six close contacts, Xinhua news agency quoted Liu Xiaofeng, deputy head of the Beijing municipal disease prevention and control centre, as sayingat a press conference. It is expected that more cases related to the cluster will be found, and the risk of the virus resurgence spreading is high, Liu added. The Chinese capital will adjust its original plan announced on June 5 to resume offline classes in primary, middle and high schools as well as kindergartens, said Xu Hejian, a spokesperson for the Beijing Municipal Government. The ninth graders who are not involved in infections are scheduled to return to campus for offline classes on June 13, while students of other grades will still attend online classes, according to Xu. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Kabul, June 12 : Abdullah Abdullah, former Chairman of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation, has returned to Kabul after a 43-day personal visit to India, the media reported. Upon arriving at the Kabul airport, Abdullah told reporters that he travelled to India to visit his family, TOLO News reported. "I hope all Afghans live in a just, calm and good environment in the country," he said and called on the officials of the "caretaker government" to pay efforts in this regard. Despite the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah have remained in Kabul. The Islamic Emirate has established a commission of "Return and Communications with Former Afghan Officials and Political Figures". Earlier, a spokesman for the commission said that many Afghan officials living abroad have filled out forms to return to the country. Srinagar, June 12 : Three terrorists killed in an encounter in South Kashmir's Pulwama district have been identified as being linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group, police said on Sunday. In a tweet quoting Inspector General Police Kashmir Zone Vijay Kumar, the J&K Police said: "All three killed terrorists are locals, linked with terror outfit LeT. One of them has been identified as Junaid Sheergojri, involved in killing of our colleague Martyr Reyaz Ahmad on 13/5/22." This encounter took place in Drabgam area. There have been a series of anti-terror operations in Kashmir over the last few months in which many militants and their commanders have been eliminated. Most of the operations have been jointly conducted by the police and the army on the basis of specific intelligence inputs. Earlier on Saturday, one Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist was killed in an encounter in South Kashmir's Kulgam district. There were two encounters on June 7 in Kashmir. One terrorist was killed in an encounter in Shopian district, while two LeT militants were killed at Chaktaras Kandi area in Kupwara. The previous day, Pakistani terrorist Hanzalla, was killed in an encounter at Sopore in Kashmir's Baramulla district. New Delhi, June 12 : It's been more than two months since the Indian students studying in Ukraine returned home from the war-torn country, but they are still worried about their studies and future. The only question on the minds of the parents and students is 'What next?' The students are feeling cheated by the government. Kamal, who returned home from Ivano city of Ukraine, is currently completing his first year studies in Varanasi. "The government is not listening to us; it has been more than two months. What will happen next? I am unable to understand anything. Medical education cannot be done online, while teachers are going through the formalities to collect fees. We have reached a point from where we cannot go back to study and we cannot study from here as well," he added. Kamal claimed that "Some students have even left their studies. They include three or four of my friends." Ritika Nigam, a third-year student who returned from the city of Ternopil in Ukraine said, "No specific instructions have come from the government regarding our studies, but a couple of states have provided practical and other education-related assistance in government colleges. We want to be accommodated in a government college. The Madhya Pradesh government is not helping as compared to the Karnataka and West Bengal governments." "We have got assurances so far that something can happen by July, so we are just waiting. My exam is still going on but I do not understand what will happen next, how to complete my studies," she said. The Parents Association of Ukraine MBBS Students had written a letter to the Uttar Pradesh government on the issue on June 10, in which it said that there are 2400 medical students in Uttar Pradesh alone while there are about 16,000 students across the country, most of them are now in depression. Under Operation Ganga, the students and their parents who have returned home are demanding arrangements for further education in the medical colleges of the state itself. They are also demanding that arrangements should be made for the medical students of UP in the nearest medical colleges only till the next orders of the Central Government. Apart from this, the parents have also sought time to meet the Chief Minister on this issue. Harsha Singhal, Coordinator of the Parents Association of Ukraine MBBS Students said, "Our applications for the education of the students have been sent to all the places from the PMO to the district level, we are making every effort from our side. From the government side, it was said that they will get the students admitted in Hungary. Studying in Hungary is very expensive. The second problem will be about the language and how will thousands of students study in places where only 10 children can be admitted?" "It is only because they don't get admission in India that we have sent them abroad to study. We are not begging, we are suffering from war. If the government is not able to help, we will approach the Supreme Court," she stated. The Association's national general secretary Pankaj Dheeraj said, "There are 596 medical colleges in India. No authentic statement has been given by the government regarding thousands of students. However, the students whose studies are almost complete, they are allowed to do internship by NMC. But the children from the first year to the fourth year are in depression." "We are not willing to send them to Hungary, Poland and Germany. The government should make a policy in 596 colleges in which students can study semester-wise, parents are ready to give the same fees here which they used to pay in Ukraine," he added. President of the Federation of Resident Doctors Association of India, Dr. Manish said, "It is a bit difficult for the government to take some decision for these students. It will be difficult to accommodate so many students in any hospital or college, so the government seems to be taking some time." However, according to some doctors, if the government makes any arrangement for them then the students who do not get a good rank in the medical examination will also start raising their voices. National President of Indian Medical Association, Dr. Sahajanand Prasad Singh said, "The government has to take a decision on this issue, our association wants that the future of the students can be saved. Some doctors want that they are not adjusted here. But some believe that they should be helped. Right now everything is in the hands of the government, only the government can do anything. The Indian Medical Association stands with all those students whose future is in danger." The number of students is different in different states of the country -- Delhi has 150 medical students who returned home due to the Ukraine war, Haryana 1,400, Himachal Pradesh 482, Odisha 570, Kerala 3,697, Maharashtra 1,200, Karnataka 760, Uttar Pradesh 2,400, Uttarakhand 280, Bihar 1,050, Gujarat 1,300, Punjab 549, Jharkhand 184 and West Bengal 392. Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War Seoul, June 12 : North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday expressed full support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite international condemnation for Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The Russian people have "achieved great successes in accomplishing the just cause of defending the dignity and security of their country, while braving all sorts of challenges and hardships", Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted Kim as saying in a message to Putin on the occasion of Russia Day. "The Korean people extend full support and encouragement to them." Kim's apparent reference to the unprovoked attack against Ukraine as a "just cause" for defending Russia's security is the latest sign that illustrates decades-old close bilateral ties between the two countries, reports Yonhap News Agency. Pyongyang has recently stressed its close ties with Moscow despite growing criticism from the international community on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kim also expressed conviction that the friendly relations will continue to strengthen in all areas and in the "journey for defending the international justice and ensuring the global security", the KCNA reported. In 2019, Kim held his first summit with Putin in Russia's far eastern city of Vladivostok. Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War Kiev, June 12 : The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has arrived in Kiev to investigate Russian war crimes in the wake of its continued invasion. In a social media post on Saturday, deputy head of Ukraine's parliament Olena Kondratiuk said: "The UN Independent International Commission has arrived in Ukraine to investigate the crimes related to Russian aggression. Erik Mose is the head of the commission; Jasminka Dzumhur and Pablo de Greiff are also members of the commission." Kondratiuk stated that the Commission was created in order to record human rights violations, violations of international humanitarian law, and other crimes in the context of the aggression against Ukraine by Russia, reports Ukrayinska Pravda. The Commission's main goals are establishing a list of suspects, gathering evidence, and preparing relevant materials. The members of the commission have noted that their task is to conduct an independent investigation of the violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law in Kiev, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Sumy that took place in late February and early March. The investigation will be conducted according to international standards. The head of the commission said that the members will gather information about war crimes committed in Ukraine and in turn report it to the UN Human Rights Council. The Commission will also deliver a report to the UN General Assembly at its 77th session. In a report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that it had documented several cases of Russian military forces committing laws-of-war violations against civilians in occupied areas of the Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Kiev in the period between February 24 and March 14. The crimes included rape, executions, unlawful violence and threats against civilian and looting civilian property. Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War Thiruvananthapuram, June 12 : Kerala police have "forced" even elderly people to remove black masks -- worn as a precaution against Covid -- fearing protest in Malappuram and Thrissur districts as part of security measures for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is in the districts for public programmes. The "unprecedented" security measures during the Chief Minister's visit to Kottayam and Ernakulam districts on Saturday had drawn flak from the people, but the state police is continuing the same. On Saturday, people returning after treatment at Kottayam medical college hospital were blocked by the police -- even children and old men and women not spared. In Kochi, two transgenders who arrived at the metro station wearing black clothes and black masks were "forcefully" taken into a police vehicle drawing protests. Avantika, one of the transgenders, told mediapersons that she and her friend were boarding the metro train but police "forced them out just because they were wearing black dresses". In Kunnamkulam, Thrissur four youth Congress workers were taken into preventive custody on the possibility of protests against the Chief Minister. The youths were taken into custody from their respective homes in the wee hours of the morning. Opposition leader and senior Congress leader, V.D. Satheeshan said that Pinarayi Vijayan has turned into a "coward and is fearing" people of the state. He also accused the Chief Minister of "creating trouble for the common people including women, children, old-aged, who were forced to wait for three to four hours in scorching heat at Kottayam and Ernakulam on Saturday". The Congress leader said that the same situation was continuing on Sunday in Malappuram and Thrissur districts. State police deployed 700 policemen including several officers for the two programmes of the Chief Minister at Malappuram district on Sunday. The heavy force deployement comes in wake of claims made by a gold smuggling case accused, Swapna Suresh, who alleged that the Chief Minister and his family including his wife and daughter had "links" with the gold smuggling racket. This led to protests across the state and the police and state intelligence reported that there could be protests against the Chief Minister who is also holding the charge of the home portfolio, and hence the "unprecedented" security arragements have been put in place for the Chief Minister. Since the drubbing defeat of the CPM candidate at Thrikkakara by-elections, the Chief Minister has not appeared before the media in person. The Chief Minister, following the Swapna Suresh's claims, became totally cut-off from the people and travels in an escort of more than sixteen vehicles. Kiev, June 12 : Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the European Union (EU) to impose a seventh package of sanctions against Russia due to its continued war against Kiev. He made the remark at a joint press conference in Kiev with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday, Ukrayinska Pravda reported. "The war continues, so a seventh package of sanctions is needed," the President said. He believes sanctions should be imposed on all Russian officials and judges who are working on repression. "Sanctions are also needed against companies that are helping the Russian state in one way or another, whether in the military sphere or in suppressing democracy," Zelensky said. He also insisted that the EU should completely abandon Russian energy resources. "The EU must work for its own benefit to completely eliminate Russian energy resources. This is a fundamental security issue for all." Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has already signed a letter to the EU setting out Ukraine's vision for the seventh package of sanctions. Zelensky's statement came just days after he signed a decree on June 9 to impose personal sanctions on his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, and a number of other high-ranking officials in Moscow. The sanctions list comprise a total of 35 Russian figures, and some of the important ones include Secretary of Russia's Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Sanctions include bans on entry to Ukraine; revocation of visas and permits; revocation of state awards of Ukraine; revocation of all issued licences and permits; blocking of financial assets; and a ban on transportation of property belonging to the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine. In addition, Zelensky also signed a decree imposing sanctions on 236 Russian universities. Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War New Delhi, June 12 : The 23-year-old woman who has accused Rajasthan Cabinet Minister Mahesh Joshi's son of rape, suffered an ink attack in the national capital, an official said on Sunday. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast District) Esha Pandey said a PCR call was received on Saturday night that some miscreants had thrown something on the woman and ran away. After the attack, the woman was immediately rushed to AIIMS Trauma centre. The victim told the police that she was walking with her mother near Kalindi Kunj Road at around 9.30 p.m. when two boys threw something at her and fled. "The blue liquid prima facie looks like ink," DCP Pandey said. Based on her statement, the police registered an FIR under section 195 A (Threatening any person to give false evidence), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation), 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at the Shaheen Bagh police station. Earlier, the victim had lodged a complaint at the Sadar Bazar police station regarding sexual assault by Rohit Joshi, the son of Rajasthan Cabinet Minister Mahesh Joshi. "She had alleged that Rohit Joshi came in contact with her through Facebook in 2020. He took her to Sawai Madhopur on January 8, 2021, gave her cold drink laced with sedatives and made sexual relationship without her consent," DCP (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi said. Further allegations of sexual assault in Jaipur and other places have also been made. The Delhi Police have registered a zero FIR on May 8 under sections 376, 377, 328, 366, 312, 506 and 509 of the IPC. Meanwhile, Delhi Commission for Women Chairperson Swati Maliwal said that she will be issuing a notice to the Delhi Police over the ink attack. Maliwal even asked Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot not to try to save his Minister's son and rather get him arrested. Hyderabad, June 12 : An offensive social media post has sparked strong protest creating mild tension in Telanganas Adilabad town. On Saturday night, a large number of people gathered in front of the One Town police station, demanding action against the man who made derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad in a WhatsApp group. The protest sparked tension as some of the people tried to barge into the police station. Police resorted to baton charge to stop them. A couple of protestors also pelted stones but they were chased and dispersed by the police. Superintendent of Police Udaykumar Reddy, who rushed to the spot, told the protesters that a case has been registered and that police were making efforts to arrest him. He appealed to the people to cooperate with the police in maintaining peace, adding that strict action would be taken against those trying to vitiate the communal harmony or trying to take law into their hands. Following the incident, police beefed up security in the town by deploying additional forces to prevent any untoward incident. Police registered a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) against one Dongre Pinto. The complainant told police that when he and some others raised objection to the derogatory post, the accused used abusive language. Chennai, June 12 : The CB-CID team of Tamil Nadu police is interrogating Police inspector M. Saravanan, who has been arrested for kidnapping a businessman in 2019. Saravanan is the first police personnel arrested in this case in which a DSP ranked officer, Sivakumar, Sub Inspector Pandiaraj, and three other constables are absconding. Sources in Tamil Nadu home department told IANS that a businessman, Rajesh had complained to the DGP that the then Assistant Commissioner of police Sivakumar, inspector Saravanan, sub-inspector Pandiaraj, and three constables wrongfully detained him. In the complaint to the DGP, according to sources in the Tamil Nadu home department, the businessman complained that he, his mother, his fiancee, and her brother were forcibly held in a farmhouse at Red Hills, Chennai in 2019 and he was forced to transfer valuable properties in the name of Tharun Krishna Prasad and Srinivasa Rao. The DGP forwarded the petition to the CB-CID who registered a case on illegal detainment, forcible transfer of valuable properties and woman harassment charges in May 2022. The CB-CID team has already arrested Sri Kandan, Venkita Sivanaga kumar, Dhanapal, Shaukath Ali, Nandakumar and Saravanakumar in connection with the case for aiding and abetting the policemen in the kidnapping and transfer of properties. Los Angeles, June 12 : Addressing a crowd at the fundraising gala for Hollywood star Sean Penn's humanitarian relief organisation CORE, Ukrainian President Volodymyr urged the wealthy and powerful attendees to find ways to support his war-torn nation. His five-minute pre-recorded plea at the Hollywood Palladium event on Saturday was inter-cut with scenes of the detritus of war large and small, from buildings being blown up to a close-up of a battered and bloodied stuffed animal left behind on a road by a fleeing family, reports 'Variety'. "This is our reality," said a grim-faced Zelensky, who wore a green T-shirt and fatigues while sitting in front of a tactical map. The former actor, who became Ukraine's President in 2019, addressed the attendees as a fellow professional. "It's not VFX, it's not computer graphics. All of this is our reality," he said. Ukrainians have been resisting Russian advances for 107 days and counting, Zelensky said, while citing the symbolic gesture that Hollywood made during World War II in making Oscar statuettes out of plaster when all available metal was needed for the war effort. "Any help is valuable and important" for combatting "this evil which is called Russian full-scale aggression", the President said. "Fight for Ukraine because Ukraine is fighting for the whole world." Earlier in the evening, Ukraine's cause was also championed by Dakh Daughters, an avant-garde trio of female musicians, who performed several numbers (under white pancake makeup) and closed by unfurling a large Ukrainian flag emblazoned with "Arm Ukraine". Penn's Community Organized Relief Effort was born out of the actor's desire to bring help to Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake that devastated the island. Penn recalled how former President Bill Clinton and CAA's Bryan Lourd "saved our a***s" when the fledgling organisation needed help on the ground in Haiti. A dozen years later, surveying the scope of the organization and its work, Penn reflected: "I walk into this building tonight and I think, 'How the hell did this happen?'" Clinton was on hand to present one of the night's honors to investor Frank Giustra. John Legend came out for a solo piano rendition of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song". Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti also took the stage to pay tribute to CORE for its help in running the country's largest Covid testing and vaccination sites. Host Aida Rodriguez got the crowd's attention from the start, ribbing them about being "woke" and warning that "my comedy is confrontational". The long night also included an auction component. Auctioneer Letitia Frye, a familiar fast-talking voice from the Hollywood charity circuit, was on hand to help bring in the bucks. She sold off original artworks as well as the chance to have Legend perform a solo concert in the winning bidder's living room, a one-of-a-kind offering that went for $1 million, reports 'Variety'. Frye at one point got a little help from attendee Sharon Stone, who cut quite a figure in a bright pink suit. Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War Bhagalpur, June 12 : At a time when the country is celebrating 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav', memories of Anand Mohan Sahay, general secretary of Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army (INA) and secretary of Dr Rajendra Prasad, are fading. People of Bhagalpur are demanding that the Girls High School, the school established by Sahay, should be included in the Smart City plan to renovate it and give it a new life. Anand Mohan Sahay was born on September 10, 1898, in the family of Lal Mohan Sahay in Puranisarai village of Bhagalpur district. In 1916, when he was studying in TNB Collegiate High School, he chanted Vande Mataram in front of his Christian teacher, for which he was punished. During his school days, he got in touch with a revolutionary organisation in Dhaka and started participating in revolutionary activities. When Sahay was 25 year old, he went abroad and visited many countries including Japan, South East Asian nations and some European countries to unite the Indians living there to fight for the independence of the country. It formed the basis of the formation of the INA. On the call of Mahatma Gandhi, he left his studies and jumped into the Independence movement. He actively participated in the non-cooperation movement. He served as private secretary to Dr Rajendra Prasad from 1921 to 1923. Sahay along with Mahatma Gandhi and Dr Rajendra Prasad toured the country to create public opinion about the struggle for freedom. When the country got independence in 1947, he was appointed in the foreign service, where he worked in the West Indies and Mauritius. In 1960, he resigned from the foreign service and started educating girls. The Nathnagar Girls High School and Sundarvati Mahila College are examples of this. Social worker Ashish Banerjee said that by establishing the Nathnagar Girls High School in 1959, Sahay realised the vision of girls' education. At that time, not a single high school was located within a 10 kilometre radius of the area. Today, even after 61 years after the school's establishment, the situation is the same. Banerjee said that due to there being no other school in Nathnagar rural and urban areas, pressure is mounting on the existing educational institute. Banerjee said that the school with 12 rooms has 3,500 students. Of the 12 rooms, two are being used as office and staff room. There are over 1000 Urdu students but there is no teacher to teach them the language. The school does not even have a library. The school has 10+2 status but it does not have teachers to teach Maths, Hindi, Geography, Sociology, among other important subjects. It has a hostel, but it doesn't have boundaries or night guards due to which it has not been made operational. Netaji Youth Federation president Shailendra Sopal said after a lot of effort, a statue of Anand Mohan Sahay has been installed in the premises of the school. After the inclusion of Bhagalpur in the Smart City project, there was some hope that the school will be included in the project, but in vain as the school still operates under the municipal council. Prasoon Latant, a journalist who has been brought up in the area, said the the government on the occasion of the Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav should rename the organisation in the name of Anand Mohan Sahay and give respect to him. Shailendra said people of the area are proud of the achievements of the institute. Bihar deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad's wife is an alumni of this school. BJP MLC Dr N.K. Yadav and former MP Subodh Rai have urged the deputy chief minister on this matter. They have also approached the Commissioner, Dayanidhan Pandey and the Mayor of the municipal corporation. For the appointment of teachers and other issues, they have met state Education Minister Vijjay Kumar Chaudhary. So far, they have only got assurances from all of them. Hong Kong, June 12 : The Hong Kong government announced that it will distribute around 40,000 sets of Covid-19 rapid antigen test (RAT) kits as part of a follow-up on the recent detection of the virus in sewage samples. The test kits will be distributed to residents, cleaning workers and property management staff working in estate in Kwun Tong with positive sewage testing results showing relatively high viral loads, in order to help identify infected persons, reports Xinhua news agency citing the government as saying. The government also urged RAT kit users to report any positive results for Covid-19 via its online platform. In an effort to combat Covid-19, the Environmental Protection Department and the Drainage Services Department have strengthened the sampling of sewage in all districts for virus testing. On Saturday, Hong Kong registered 491 new cases by nucleic acid tests, and 360 additional cases through self-reported RAT, official data showed. Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, Hong Kong has reported a total of 1,218,361 Covid cases and 9,390 deaths. Los Angeles, June 12 : Hollywood actor Tom Hiddleston said that the Marvel Cinematic Universe must "reflect the world we live in." That's why the actor is so happy his Disney+ series, 'Loki', finally made it clear within the MCU that his eponymous anti-hero is bisexual. Hiddleston was in a conversation with Lily James during their conversation as part of Variety's 'Actors on Actors' series, presented by Apple TV+, reports 'Variety'. "Back from my early days of researching the character in the ancient myths, the identity of Loki was fluid in every aspect and in gender, in sexuality," Hiddleston said when she mentioned that Loki is the first explicitly queer character in the MCU. "It's a very ancient part of the character and I think I thought about it. ... It hadn't emerged in the stories we've told. And I was really pleased and privileged, actually, that it's came up in the series." Hiddleston continued: "It's a small step. There's so much more to do. But the Marvel Cinematic Universe has to reflect the world we live in. So it was an honour to bring that up. It was really important to me. It was really important to (director) Kate Herron and (showrunner) Michael Waldron, and I'm pleased that we could bring it into our story." James told Hiddleston about Loki's coming out: "How incredible. What an impact that can make on such a widely seen universe, which becomes people's religion. And for people to feel represented and to see themselves, it's just so important." Loki came out on the third episode of the series after telling Lady Loki (Sophia Di Martino) that he's had a romantic past with both princes and princesses. That line of a dialogue was the extent to which 'Loki' addressed the character's bisexuality. Not everyone was thrilled with the way 'Loki' handled the character's coming out. 'It's a Sin' and 'Queer as Folk' creator Russell T. Davies slammed the show for boiling down Loki's sexuality to a single line of a dialogue and then never mentioning it again. Mumbai, June 12 : Actress Mahima Chaudhary, who recently opened up about battling breast cancer, joined veteran actor Anupam Kher for a photoshoot, where she is seen with tears in her eyes and is followed by glimpses of her smiling and laughing. Mahima has recently recovered from breast cancer and is currently filming for her comeback film 'The Signature' co-starring Anupam. The clip shows a glimpse of Mahima in her post-cancer look and how she opted for a wig in later parts of the video. Anupam wrote: "Sometimes you gotta laugh through the tears, smile through the pain so that you can live through the sorrows!" These wonderful pics are shot by @manichintamani on the sets of #TheSignature. #MahimaAndI #AgainstAllOdds #Hero #LifeIsBeautiful." 'The Signature' is touted as a "beautiful story of a common man" and is helmed by Gajendra Ahire. Thiruvananthapuram, June 12 : Leader of the opposition in Kerala V.D. Satheesan on Sunday said that the state is turning into a police raj under Pinarayi Vijayan and asked whether the Chief Minister was a Hitler. He said that the youth Congress workers were taken into preventive detention at Kunnamkulam in Thrissur district just because there was a fear that they would wave black flags or raise protests against Vijayan. He also said that a youth Congress leader, who is also an advocate in Kochi, was taken to the Island police station and was stripped by the police. V.D. Satheesan said that an advocate was stripped and made to sit in a police station in undergarments just for protesting against a Chief Minister. The opposition leader also said that the Kerala Chief Minister is behaving unusually which can be seen in the heavy security which is being deployed during his visits. He said that the Chief Minister is seeing everything in black. Satheesan was referring to the police forcefully removing black masks used by even octogenarians out of fear that the black mask would be waved against the Chief Minister. Lashing out at the central agencies, the opposition leader asked as to why they are keeping a studied silence even after gold smuggling case accused, Swapna Suresh levelled serious allegations against the Chief Minister and his family. He also said that the protests conducted by the state unit of the BJP is a farce and that the Sangh Parivar organisations are hand in glove with the Chief Minister and the CPI-M and hence the lethargy on part of the central agencies. He also asked as to why the Kerala Police was not registering even a petty case against the mediator, Shaj Kiran whose audio clips with Swapna Suresh were released by her. In the released audio clippings, Shaj Kiran was heard stating that he would help Swapna out of the imbroglio and that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan were parking their money in the United States with the help of controversial Believers Church, opposition leader said. He also said that the state Congress party and the UDF do not trust the central agencies and hence want a probe under the supervision of the Kerala High Court. The opposition leader said that this case cannot be investigated by state vigilance as it involves intra-state and international crime. V.D. Satheesan said that Swapna Suresh has deposed before the Kerala high court under Section 164(5) of the CrPC and that is an oath and if this statement was false, she could face seven years jail term. He said that the Chief Minister can also opt for legal recourse in the high court but Vijayan was not approaching the court as he was afraid of the outcome. Singapore, June 12 : Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe on Sunday accused the US of being a "bully" and "hijacking" countries around the region, and said Beijing would "fight to the very end" to stop Taiwanese independence. He made the remarks while addressing the ongoing 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia's premier defence summit. On a question regarding Taiwan, Wei said that "Taiwan is part of China, and the Taiwan question is China's internal affair", reports Xinhua news agency. "China will definitely realise its reunification." Those who pursue "Taiwan independence in an attempt to split China will definitely come to no good end, and foreign interference is doomed to failure", he said. "If anyone dares to secede Taiwan from China, we will not hesitate to fight, we will fight at all costs," Wei added. The Minister's remarks, which came just weeks after US President Joe Biden said Washington would respond "militarily' if China attacked Taiwan, capped a weekend of confrontational exchanges between the American and Chinese military chiefs, CNN reported. Wei also called out US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who had told the Summit a day earlier that China was engaged in coercive, aggressive and dangerous actions that threatened to "undermine security, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific". Austin had also talked about US coalition-building in the region and its joint military exercises with Japan, Australia, India and Indonesia, but Wei said this was a kind of "power politics" that China rejected. "No one and no country should impose its will on others, or bully others under the guise of multilateralism. We notice Secretary Austin's remarks on the US Indo-Pacific strategy. "To us, the strategy is an attempt to build an exclusive, small group in the name of a free and open Indo-Pacific, to hijack countries in our region and target one specific country. It is a strategy to create conflict," he added. New Delhi, June 12 : Prime Minister Narednra Modi will visit Maharashtra to inaugurate the Jal Bhushan Building and Gallery of Revolutionaries at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai on June 14, said the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). During his visit, the Prime Minister will inaugurate Jagadguru Shri Sant Tukaram Maharaj Temple in Dehu, Pune, and Jal Bhushan Building and Gallery of Revolutionaries at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai. In the evening, the Prime Minister will participate in Dwishatabdi Mahotsav (200 years' celebration) of 'Bombay Samachar' (now Mumbai Samachar) at Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. Sant Tukaram was a Warkari saint and poet, famously known for Abhanga devotional poetry and community-oriented worship through spiritual songs known as Kirtans. He lived in Dehu. A Shila Mandir was built after his demise, but it was not formally structured as a temple. It has been rebuilt in stone masonry with 36 peaks, and also has an idol of Sant Tukaram. In Mumbai, PM Modi will inaugurate the Jal Bhushan Building and Gallery of Revolutionaries at Raj Bhavan. Jal Bhushan has been the official residence of the Governor of Maharashtra since 1885. Upon completing its lifespan, it was demolished and a new building was sanctioned in its place. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the President of India in August 2019. All distinctive features of the old building have been preserved in the newly constructed building. In 2016, the then Governor of Maharashtra, Vidyasagar Rao had found a bunker in Raj Bhavan. It had earlier been used by the British as a secret store for arms and ammunition. The bunker was renovated in 2019. The Gallery has been developed in the bunker as a one of its kind museum to commemorate the contributions of freedom fighters and revolutionaries of Maharashtra. It is a tribute to Vasudev Balwant Phadke, the Chapekar brothers, Savarkar brothers, Madam Bhikaji Cama, V.B. Gogate, Naval Mutiny in 1946, among others. Celebrating the Dwishatabdi of Mumbai Samachar, the printing of this paper as a weekly started on July 1, 1822 by Fardunjee Marzbanji. It became a daily in 1832. The newspaper has been in publication continuously for 200 years. To commemorate the oldest running paper in India, a postage stamp will also be released on the occasion. History used to be full of battlefields, instead of being a battlefield itself, as the discipline has now become. The past, and the accounts of it, are continuously reassessed as new information becomes available, but the inclination now is to cherry-pick certain aspects, present/see them as per predilections, and ignore inconvenient facts. The Crusades are an apt example -- we tend to see them as a prime instance of religious conflict, ignoring the fact that while faith was, indeed, a key driver, territorial and other ambitions were also present. The Christian and Muslim rulers, who fought each other so fervently, also happened to fight battles together against common enemies with as much gusto. As Amin Maalouf tells in his "The Crusades Through Arab Eyes" (1986), there was at least one example in this over two-century conflict where a Christian army and a Muslim force jointly took the field -- against another Christian-Muslim combine. History is never so black and white as it is generally painted, but that doesn't stop some people from trying to do so for their personal/political reasons. As a celebrated and somewhat cynical observer and chronicler of such attempts once said: "Every nationalist is haunted by the belief that the past can be altered. He spends part of his time in a fantasy world in which things happen as they should -- in which, for example, the Spanish Armada was a success or the Russian Revolution was crushed in 1918 -- and he will transfer fragments of this world to the history books whenever possible." That was George Orwell, who was painfully correct in certain things he predicted for our future based on the trends he observed -- the watchful Big Brother, thoughtcrime, doublethink, and so on -- in his essay "Notes on Nationalism". It must be stressed that this trend of a "fanciful alternative history" is different from alternative history, or counterfactual history, where some trained historians take one particular event -- the absence or elimination of a particular individual, an order getting lost in transit, a decision not taken or taken late, and so on -- to change it and fashion a parallel outcome of what could have happened. This is not as easy as it sounds -- it needs a rigorous approach and a deep understanding of cause and effect. History, academic or popular, or on Whatsapp, is likely to remain contested, as the fringe community of revisionist historians gains traction, with everyone trying to recast or interpret history according to their own beliefs. Let us see how this plays out in our focus area of books, especially in historical fiction. In this trend, one particular country/kingdom/empire, culture, or political theory is favoured disproportionately at the expense of its contemporaries -- say, Alexander the Great lived longer, Rome withstood the barbarians that led to its collapse, the Mongols managed to sweep away everything before them, the British Empire never lost North America and even extended farther into the hemisphere, the Confederacy was triumphant in the American Civil War, the Nazis won/won by developing nuclear weapons. These fanciful accounts have some fundamentally implausible points, or they bring in extraneous forces -- aliens, zombies, time travel -- into the calculations. Most commonly, they show clear signs of favoritism towards their preferred country / kingdom / empire, culture, or political theory, and present the others as inexplicable bunglers / irredeemable villains. And the other things that cause problems in countries / empires, such as supply lines, internal rifts / differences, resource crunches, outmoded ideas and mores and norms are conveniently overshadowed. At this point, it must be said that this trend may not necessarily be a bad thing -- some of these scenarios can be informative, entertaining, or have other intrinsic value. Both these types do require some willing suspension of disbelief but the plausibility cannot be dispensed with, nor can the shortcomings be wished away. Let us check out examples of both -- from the good to the bad (and very bad). Orwell's "1984" (1950) is one of the best examples of an intelligently plotted alternative history, while Len Deighton's "SS-GB" (1978) -- in prominence again due to the web series -- is a chilling look at how Britain would fare if it had been conquered by the Nazis early into the Second World War, but the actual reasons why this happened have never adequately explained. A better, yet equally dark look is offered by "Dominion" (2013) by C.J. Sansom, who is otherwise known for his Elizabethan era thrillers, which is set in the 1950s of a Britain that surrendered to the Germans soon after the fall of France. And then, on the other hand, there is Robert Conroy's "1901" (1995), which tells us of a German invasion of the US in the eponymous year, after Washington refuses to share its newly acquired territories wrested from the Spanish Empire to Kaiser Wilhelm II's Germany. Leave alone its reliance on the questionable device of "All Germans Are Nazis" and stupid evil, it ignores that the alliances that would fight World War I were already in place and would not sit back to such a radical reshaping of the balance of power, such as taking over the US. And then,there is the matter of Britain's Royal Navy, which would remain the world's most powerful for another four decades at least. Conroy went on to sketch what would have happened if Britain intervened in the American Civil War in "1862" (2006), "1945" (2007), where Japan refuses to surrender following the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, "Red Inferno: 1945" (2010), where the Western Allies and the Soviet Union begin fighting each other in the closing days of World War II, and "Castro's Bomb" (2011), where the Cuban leader seizes Soviet nuclear bombs during the Cuban Missile Crisis. You can understand some of these from the fact that most were published electronically only. Harry Harrison's "Stars and Stripes Forever" trilogy (1998, 200, 2002) takes it up to another level, or depth, rather. Based on the premise of Britain declaring war on the United States, in the throes of its Civil War, it sees this somehow making the Union and Confederacy tying up to take on the aggressor -- and even mounting a land invasion of the British Isles. It only goes downhill from there -- Britain is depicted as a Middle Ages-style monarchy rather than the parliamentary democracy it actually is, its military technology is half a century old, and British characters are shown as ridiculously and inhumanly stupid and evil. Americans, on the other hand, are all utterly heroic, enlightened and invincible -- and have our times' outlook on race and gender. There is much more, especially when it culminates in the US "introducing" democracy to the British. Then, there is Naomi Novik's "Temeraire" series, which sets out to answer something that may have perplexed historians for ages -- or maybe not: how would the Napoleonic Wars have played out if sentient dragons were available to the various belligerents? We learn in its nine novels, spanning "His Majesty's Dragon" (2006) to "League of Dragons'' (2016), that Napoleonic France, the premier European power, invades Britain, while Imperial China, the Incan Empire, and South Africa's indigenous Tswana team up to drive out all probable colonists from Africa, and the trends that could have ensured the arrival of imperialism are squelched early. Of course, the dragons help. There are many more and it may be so that some of these may appeal to someone. For the discerning reader, it is better to stick to proper alternative histories, like by Robert Cowley Jr, Niall Ferguson, and for the Indian context, Roderick Matthews' "The Flaws In The Jewel: Challenging The Myths of British India" (2013), for its enlightening chapter on 10 alternative scenarios and their consequences. (Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in) Srinagar, June 12 : Jammu and Kashmir police said on Sunday that so far this year, 99 militants have been killed in the Valley in different encounters. Vijay Kumar, IGP (Kashmir) told reporters that 3 militants belonging to LeT outfit were killed on Sunday in Drabgam area of Pulwama district. "The encounter started yesterday evening in which 3 local LeT militants were killed while two AK-47 rifles and a pistol were recovered from the encounter site. "One among the slain militants was involved in the killing of a police constable, Riyaz Naikoo on May 13 and also in the attack on labourers at brick kiln in Budgam in which one non-local labourer was killed and two others sustained injuries on June 2", the IGP said adding that so far this year, 99 militants have been killed in different encounters across the Valley. New Delhi, June 12 : H&M India celebrated the world of H&M HOME with Mira Kapoor at its existing store in Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj. The brand offers trendy dAcor and accessories for every room and style. The collection includes everything from high-quality bed linen and timeless dinnerware to diverse textiles, all with a focus on contemporary style and craftsmanship. It enables interior lovers to create spaces that are unique and reflective of their personalities by combining modern design and quality with sustainability and affordable prices. The newly designed store offers the latest interior trends and products, as well as it's latest summer collection, which is inspired by the beautiful Greek islands. The eventful evening at the store showcased the latest collection across categories, providing guests with a dynamic and immersive shopping experience. "I am delighted to be part of the celebration of H&M HOME where each collection is so thoughtfully designed for actual life, for actual needs and for everyone. A mix of abstract prints and muted color palettes, it is interesting that their collection is on-trend and perfectly blends in more sustainable materials," says Mira Kapoor. "Introducing H&M HOME, both online and offline, has truly been a landmark moment for H&M India. With our new store's stylish and welcoming environment, we are determined to offer fashion and design that enables people to be inspired and to express their own personal style, while ensuring sustainability is in the backbone of everything we do," says Yanira Ramirez, Country Sales Manager, H&M India. The dAcor at the event was inspired by a floral theme and featured a burst of colour and natural plants. The evening included curated activities, summer drinks, and a special performance by a saxophonist. The brand collaborated with local artists to create engaging experiences for the guests during the exclusive celebration. In collaboration with Greenish Affair, attendees enjoyed creating their own plants out of microgreens. There was a DIY scent-making booth where guests could personalise Alafolie's handcrafted fragrances. The exclusive event also included a personalization station run by calligraphy artist Saachi Dhawan for guests looking to gift products to friends and family! IANSlife spoke exclusively to Kapoor to find out about her decor sstyle, interior preferences and favourite products. Read Excerpts: Your home speaks volumes about your personality, it's an extension of you, do you agree? Mira: I agree, your home is an extension of your personality and this stands true especially post pandemic and the second lockdown. During this time, our homes had become our safe space. We all, including me, spent and invested so much of our time at home with our loved ones. Your space proves to be an ideal reflection of yourself, your likes, dislikes, what moves you and what you believe keeps you sane. How important is it to personalize your home with accessories once interior designers are done with it? Mira: Getting your home designed is only half the job done. I personally believe personalizing your space makes a house a home. Personalizing helps me inspire the creativity in me and also makes my house more welcoming. It reflects my taste and what I truly believe in. If the pandemic has taught us anything, is that when it comes to utility, spaces need to double up to cater to different needs of different members, do you agree? Mira: Yes for sure, as I mentioned our homes are our sacred spaces especially post the pandemic. There is absolutely nowhere I'd rather be than at home with my loved ones. That being said, utility spaces differ from family to family but everyone loves a multi-function space that is personal to them. If you have kids like I do - you do require a dedicated space just for them. And H&M Home has just the ideal accessories for every kind of room and every kind of house! When it comes to entertaining at home good quality server wear makes or breaks a soiree? Mira: Most definitely, hosting guests comes with a whole lot of responsibility! For me, I always try to make dining a curated experience. Server wares and dinner wares are the true essence for that. For instance, for the table, I like to set it with a beautiful bunch of fresh flowers that straight away accentuates the look, paired with some gorgeous bowls, serving plates and a dedicated food cover completes the look. It is also comfort over fad for me. That is something I absolutely love about the kitchen and dinnerware collection at H&M Home - it so effortlessly makes dining experiences so gorgeous yet makes you feel at Home. Your favorite pieces from the H&M Home collection? Mira: I love the Gorgeous hand painted vases in grey, white and pink in two sizes perfect for both your living room and outdoor spaces to add a chic rustic vibe and this picturesque sunset blanket made in recycled cotton, soft and pretty at the same time. For summer in particular, this HOT pink and white geometric cushion cover is great to inject some electric colors in your living space. (IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in) New Delhi, June 12 : Two Andy Warhol screen prints of Queen Elizabeth II in 'The Art of Literature: Auction Highlights Exhibition', are on display in London till June 14 at Christie's. Created in 1985, Warhol's Reigning Queens series brought together four ruling monarchs, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Margarethe II of Denmark, Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. The series was issued in two editions, a standard edition of forty, and a Royal Edition of thirty with diamond dust. (Illustrated on page 1 right, blue screen print), Queen Elizabeth II, from: Reigning Queens (Royal Edition), 1985, (estimate A200,000-300,000) and (illustrated on page 1 left, red screen print), Queen Elizabeth II, from: Reigning Queens (Royal Edition), 1985, (estimate A250,000-350,000) both from the 'diamond dust' Royal Edition. The source image for Warhol's celebrated portrait of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II was the official photograph taken by the Royal photographer Peter Grugeon (1918-1980), released for the Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977. The two works are on display in conjunction with Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee celebrations, which commemorate her coronation in June 1953. After 70 years of service, Her Majesty The Queen will become the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, as well as the world's third longest reigning monarch and the longest-reigning female monarch in history. Following the recent record-breaking sale on 9 May 2022 at Christie's New York, where the Shot Sage Blue Marilyn by Andy Warhol sold for $195 million from The Collection of Thomas and Doris Ammann Evening Sale, establishing it as the most expensive 20th-century artwork to sell at auction, Andy Warhol is very much in the news. (IANSlife can be contacted at IANSlife@ians.in) New Delhi, June 12 : The formal process for electing the next President has started and as per the Election Commission (EC), the voting for the presidential election will take place on July 18 while the name of the next President will be officially declared on July 21. Given the current political equations, it can be said that whoever the BJP will declare its presidential candidate would easily win the election. This is the reason why political pundits are curiously waiting for announcement of the candidate name by the BJP. The working style of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always sprung a surprise. During the 2017 presidential poll, he had surprised everyone by announcing Ram Nath Kovind as the BJP's candidate for the presidential poll. By electing Kovind to the top constitutional post five years ago, the BJP delivered its message to the Dalit community across the country, and subsequently carved advantages out of it in other elections. Not just this, the BJP also managed to break the unity among the Opposition parties with nomination of a candidate belonging to the Dalit community. Five years later, in 2022, the major question before the BJP is whether the party should give more importance to its core ideology while choosing the presidential candidate, or field a candidate, who would balance the current political equations and with the help of which the party can deliver a special message to the people across the country. It is being speculated that during the current 'Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' marking 75 years of country's independence, BJP may field a tribal leader as its presidential candidate. This candidate could be some woman. Amid all the speculations, the saffron party may come up with some surprising candidate yet again as the Modi-Shah duo are known for making "unpredictable and path-breaking" political decisions. Next week, around June 15, a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Board is likely to be held, after which the party could announce the name of its presidential candidate. In the same meeting, the names of both the President and Vice President candidates will be discussed as the BJP wants to set the political equations right. However, the Vice Presidential candidate will be announced by the saffron party only after announcement of the election date for the Vice-Presidential poll. In the recent elections held over 57 Rajya Sabha seats from 15 states, BJP has won over 22 seats. Previously, out of these 57 seats, the saffron had hold over 25 seats. The NDA alliance previously had total 31 seats out of the 57, including AIADMK's three, JDU two and one Independent candidate seat. However, in the recent polls both the allies of the BJP -- AIADMK and JDU have lost one Rajya Sabha seat each. Though the number of BJP MPs in the Upper House has reduced by three, but with 301 MPs in the Lok Sabha, BJP is still far ahead in terms of numbers as compared to the Opposition parties. Despite losing three seats, the BJP's current strength in the Rajya Sabha is still higher than that of 2017. In the Lok Sabha, out of 540 MPs (three seats lying vacant), the saffron party has 301 members. On the other hand, in the Rajya Sabha, out of the current 232 MPs (excluding seven nominated members), the BJP will have a strength of 92 after the newly elected MPs are sworn in. Compared to 2017, this year the number of elected MLAs of the BJP and the NDA in various Legislative Assemblies across the country has fallen. However, with the increase in number of BJP MPs in Lok Sabha, and with the support of non-NDA and non-UPA regional parties, the saffron party is confident that its presidential candidate will easily win the poll. The BJP is hopeful that the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) of Orissa and the YSR Congress Party of Andhra Pradesh, would support the NDA's presidential candidate. If the BJP fields a tribal leader as its presidential candidate, it may lead to political dilemma for Opposition leader like Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who leads the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress alliance. Sources say that as part of the process of building a consensus for the top constitutional post such as President of the country, BJP leaders will interact with the Opposition parties. However, given the current political atmosphere in the country and preparations by the Opposition parties, there are slim chances of a unanimous Presidential candidate and thus the election is almost certain. New Delhi, June 12 : The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Sunday issued a notice to the Delhi Police in connection to an attack on the 23-year-old woman who has accused Rajasthan Cabinet Minister Mahesh Joshi's son of rape. On Saturday night, the woman was walking with her mother near the Kalindi Kunj Road when two unknown persons approached her and threw a blue liquid on her face, according to the police. She was immediately taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre. The Commission said that it has received a complaint regarding the attack. The victim informed the DCW that the miscreants attacked her and threatened her to withdraw the rape case against Rohit Joshi, the son of Rajasthan Cabinet Minister Mahesh Joshi.. Terming the incident as a "very serious matter", the DCW has issued a notice and asked the Delhi Police to provide a copy of the FIR registered in the matter. The Commission has also asked to provide information about the steps taken by the police to ensure the safety and security of the complainant and her family, as well as a detailed action report by June 15. New Delhi, June 12 : Two criminals were shot at while another one was arrested during a combing operation conducted by Delhi Police in the Yamuna Khadar area of the national capital, an official said on Sunday. Yamuna Khadar which comprises forest and abundant area has become a vulnerable point for robbery and other heinous crimes and is a hideout of criminals. Over a few days, it has emerged that criminals after committing robbery etc on nearby roads disappear in the Khadar area. The two accused who were injured during the encounter were identified as Deepanshu Chauhan and Suraj. Another accused, identified as Neeraj, was also nabbed while he was trying to flee. Furnishing details, Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast) Sanjay Kumar Sain said on Saturday, an information was received about the presence of robbers in the Khadar area after which a comprehensive combing operation was planned and sub-division teams of Seelampur & Khajuri Khas and operation wings were roped in. During the combing operation, around 8.20 p.m., the police team reached deep forest and noticed the suspicious presence of 4-5 people there. The police team secretly moved towards that place, but the persons sensed the police presence and suddenly opened fire in the direction of the police team. "Police team warned them and opened fire in the air to deter them, but they started running away and again fired upon the police. In retaliation police team also fired in that direction, resulting in the bullet hitting a person," the official said. The injured person was shifted to JPC hospital and after primary aid, he was referred to RML Hospital. "He is currently under treatment and his condition is stable," said the official. Accordingly, the police registered a case under sections 186 (Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 307 (Attempt to murder) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and section 27 of the Arms Act at New Usmanpur police station. The combing operation continued to nab the suspicious persons who had opened fire upon the police team. At around 2.15 a.m, 2-3 more suspicious people were noticed in the Khadar area near the pipe line alongside the road towards Garhi Mendhu Village. Seeing the police team, they also started running away and when the police team asked them to stop, they opened fire at the police team. "The police team warned them and asked them to surrender, but they again fired upon the police. Having left with no option, the police team retaliated and fired in self defence. In that process a bullet hit one of them," DCP Sain said, adding the injured accused was then shifted to hospital. In addition, during the said combing operation, a total of 25 suspicious persons were rounded up from the Yamuna Khadar area. Their antecedents are being verified and further enquiries are being conducted to find reason of presence in the area in odd hours, the official added. Kolkata, June 12 : A major diplomatic row could have erupted had any of the 10 bullets fired by a Kolkata Police constable hit a staffer of the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission outside which he was posted, a senior official posted at the neighbouring countrys high commission in New Delhi said. Even as security agencies continue their probe into the shooting that left a young woman dead and two others injured, the Bangladesh High Commission has taken up the matter with Indian officials. "It is certainly a matter of concern. From what we have come to know, the policeman had received treatment for a mental illness barely a couple of months ago. Even after that, he was issued a weapon and posted outside a foreign mission. The police are saying that he fired 10 rounds at others before shooting himself. A staffer from the Deputy High Commission could have been hit. This may have led to an embarrassing situation," the Bangladeshi official said. Chodup Lepcha, the constable, was a traffic policeman till about a month ago. He was recently posted to the Kolkata Armed Police's 5th Battalion and issued a Self-Loading Rifle (SLR) that fires the deadly 7.62 mm round. The SLR, developed by Rifle Factory Ishapore (RFI) before the 1965 India-Pakistan War, is a 'one shot, one kill' weapon. The Insas Rifle, developed later, is a 5.56 mm semi-automatic rifle and is the mainstay of security forces across the country. Experts say that Rima Singh, the young physiotherapist from Howrah, may not have died had a 5.56 mm bullet hit her. This round is meant to incapacitate rather than kill a person outright. "We are appalled at what happened. We are carrying out our own probe. We think that other policemen posted nearby should have reacted much faster. He wasn't firing an automatic weapon and must have taken a while to fire 10 rounds. There ought to have been movement immediately after the first round was fired. Such a weapon makes a lot of noise. This could have been a terrorist strike and had policemen reacted in the manner in which they did, the Deputy High Commission would have been at great risk. We are discussing all this with security agencies," another Bangladeshi diplomat said. It has been over two days now but the police have still not arrived at any conclusion as to why Lepcha behaved in the manner in which he did. His father was also a policeman who died in harness. The young man from Kalimpong in north Bengal was then appointed on compassionate grounds. "We have a lot of people from the Hills in the Force. They are considered disciplined and highly motivated. Maybe, this belief worked in Lepcha's favour during his last posting. This is a learning for us all. Maybe, more checks will have to be carried out before personnel are posted at vital locations," a Kolkata Police officer said. Ahmedabad, June 12 : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has made it a practice to announce the Chief Ministerial candidate in the run up to assembly elections. In Gujarat, the party said it will announce the name "at an appropriate time". Sandeep Pathak, Gujarat in-charge for AAP said that "Once the party announces the candidate for Chief Minister, votes should multiply. The party will announce the CM candidate at the right time for the state too." He also made it clear that journalist-turned-politician Isudan Gadhvi has not been sidelined after he was appointed as national joint general secretary. "He has been given an opportunity to play national role, and the party has recognised his competence and skill." The party dissolved its organisation last week and has reorganised it with 850 party leaders appointed to various posts. While making appointments, the party has taken care of caste equations, regional balance and social engineering which can help the party reach out to each and every community. Pathak stated further that it is a "false image that BJP is a small organisation as it has less number of office bearers and AAP is a large organisation because it has appointed office bearers to district, block, assembly, and Lok Sabha seat wise." The party has appointed one state-level general secretary and four vice presidents. Twenty-six office bearers are Lok Sabha Pramukhs concentrating on 26 Lok Sabha seats. It has appointed 33 district presidents and eight city presidents. There are 182 assembly seats, and for each seat, there is one Vidhan Sabha Sangathan Mantri. Pathak also clarified that state unit president Gopal Italia has been asked to continue as president because the party is happy with his leadership. Pathak and Gujarat election in-charge Gulab Singh are confident that this is a direct fight between BJP and AAP; Congress is not at all in the picture of state elections and AAP will perform well. Srinagar, June 12 : The terrorist responsible for the killing of Jammu and Kashmir police personnel Reyaz Ahmad was among three LeT terrorists neutralized in an overnight encounter with security forces at Drabgam area in South Kashmir's Pulwama district, officials said on Sunday. "Yesterday, at about 1855 hrs, acting on specific information generated by Police regarding presence of terrorists in village Drabgam area of Pulwama, a joint cordon & search operation was launched by Police, Army (44RR) and CRPF (182/183Bn) in the said area," police said. During the search operation, as the joint party approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated effectively leading to an encounter. "In the ensuing encounter, three local terrorists of proscribed terror outfit LeT were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter," police said. They have been identified as Junaid Ahmad Sheergojri of Gadoora, Pulwama, Fazil Nazir Bhat of Drabgam, Pulwama and Irfan Ahmad Malik of Arabal Nikas, Pulwama. "As per police records, all the three killed terrorists were part of groups involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on Police/Security Forces and civilian atrocities. The killed terrorist Junaid Sheergojri along with his associate Abid Hussain Shah of Monghama Pulwama, who stands neutralised on 30/05/2022, was involved in killing of police personnel Reyaz Ahmad at his residential house on 13th May 2022. Besides, he was also involved in recent attack on outside labourers at a brick kiln in Chadoora on 02/06/2022 in the outskirts of Pulwama-Budgam axis in which one labourer was killed and others injured," police said. Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including two AK-47 rifles and one pistol have been recovered from the site of encounter. Meanwhile, Inspector General Police Kashmir zone Vijay Kumar has congratulated the joint teams for carrying out the anti-terrorist operation in professional manner without any collateral damage. He also appreciated the joint team for tracking and neutralizing the terrorists involved in the recent killing of policeman in Pulwama. Police have registered a case and investigation has been initiated. Anand : , June 12 (IANS) Prime Minister's dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat can be achieved only through Atmanirbhar village. And to make Atmanirbhar village, passed out students of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) have a major role to play, said Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah here on Sunday. Participating in the 41th convocation at the IRMA campus on Sunday, Shah said, "I would like to say that IRMA must contribute more towards strengthening and development of the cooperative sector. The cooperative sector is inclusive. To make it more inclusive, transparent, modern, and technology-enabled and through this medium of cooperatives, people, sectors and villages can be made Atmanirbhar. This can be achieved when institutions like IRMA increase their contribution towards cooperatives." He further said, "What a farmer cultivates needs to be marketed well. Cooperative model is the way forward for marketing these products. The entire cooperative sector got impetus as a Ministry of Cooperation was formed under PM Narendra Modi's leadership." Shah is of the opinion that without rural development, India's development is not possible. Today, 70 per cent of Indians live in rural areas. If our villages become active contributors to development and progress, India can become a $5 trillion economy over the next five years. Therefore, our responsibility is to focus on rural development." At the convocation, 251 students were awarded degrees in Post Graduate Diploma (PGDM) in Rural Management. Chennai, June 12 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has appealed to people not to employ children below the age of 14 at their workplaces and asked the parents to take a pledge that they will not send their children to work. In a statement on the World Day Against Child Labour, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said that sending children to work at a young age would rob them of their childhood. Stalin in the statement said, "Taking away the freedom of children and turning them into child labourers is a serious social crime and everybody should refrain from it and it should be condemned." He also called upon people not to employ children between the age of 14 and 18 in hazardous industries. The Chief Minister said, "Every child has enormous potential and it should be harnessed through education which should not be denied to them. Each child should be ensured of his/her right to safety, education and better future." The Chief Minister said that the Tamil Nadu government has been taking several measures to eradicate child labour. He said that the state government has been providing free books, uniforms, noon meal schemes and free bus travel to ensure that children reach school. However, in many firecracker units of Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu, several children under the age of ten years are employed, throwing to wind the caution and care taken by the Tamil Nadu government. The textile industry is also employing child labour in dyeing and stitching areas, again not caring about the state government's measures in eradicating child labour from the state. Kolkata, June 12 : At least five devotees have succumbed to extreme heat and several others fell ill as they were attending a religious festival at Panihati in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal on Sunday. On Sunday morning, several devotees participated in the 500-year-old Danda Mahotsav at the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) temple at Panihati. The festival had been suspended for the last two years because of the Covid pandemic. However, as the religious festival resumed this year, public enthusiasm to participate was quite high. But because of the extreme heat and humidity, around 50 devotees fell severely sick and five, including a woman, died. The ailing have been admitted to local hospitals. The conditions of some of them are reportedly critical. Initially, it was estimated that three persons have died from the heat and humidity. The number later increased to five. Soon after the news of death of three persons flashed, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took to Twitter, expressing condolences to families of the deceased. "Distressed to know of three devotees' death due to heat and humidity in Danda Mahotsav at ISKCON temple at Panihati. CP and DM have rushed, all help being provided. My condolences to the bereaved families, solidarity to devotees," she said in her tweet. On getting the news, Trinamool's North 24 Parganas district president and state Forest Minister, Jyotipriyo Mullick rushed to the spot and supervised the rescue process. "The state government will render all assistance including medical aid," he said. Following the tragedy, the temple authorities have suspended the festival for the time being. Lucknow, June 12 : As many as 19 big-ticket housing and commercial property projects worth Rs 4,344 crore have been proposed in Uttar Pradesh following the third ground breaking ceremony (GBC-3) held in Lucknow on June 3 to attract the industrial investments, an official statement said. This does not include construction of structures for other sectors such as warehousing, logistics, IT, data centres, supporting infrastructure for industries such as power substations etc, hotels and hospitals, it said. According to the statement, the sector-wise distribution of all the 1,406 proposals presented in GBC-3, presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of top industrialists, shows that investors not only from India but from many parts of the world are keen to invest in UP. The presence of M.A. Yusuf Ali, chairman of the Lulu Group International, at the GBC was significant as it indicated the presence of global retail industry giants in UP Among the proposals presented in GBC-3, there are retail spaces, housing and group housing projects, cooperative housing projects and townships. It is a sign of the confidence of the real estate and construction sector in the state and its government policies that the sluggish trend has been reversed, the statement said. A government spokesman said that prominent among the proposals is from One97 Communications (PayTM) which proposes to set up a commercial office space in Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar, which would include ample retail space on ground floor. The proposed investment is to the tune of Rs 504 crore and it is expected to generate 8,000 employment opportunities. It is expected to be completed and commissioned by July 2024. Among other housing and commercial property projects is the Aissphra Lifespaces (Palm Emporio) project in Gorakhpur with an investment of Rs 250 crore. The project is expected to commission in January 2025 and is likely to generate employment for 400 individuals. A project by Amrawati Residency Private Ltd with an investment of Rs 225 crore in Lucknow has been operational since January 202, providing employment to 300 persons. Also in Lucknow, there are three projects by ANS Developers Private Ltd. The first is named Valencia County with an investment amount of Rs 405 crore and it is expected to be commissioned by January 2025, providing 800 jobs. The second is Belvedere Suites at a cost of Rs 400 crore and is likely to be commissioned by January 2025. It is expected to create 300 jobs. The third, named Whispering Woods, coming up at a cost of Rs 325 crore, is likely to be commissioned by December 2025 with employment generation for 200 people. Another project in Lucknow is from GK Orthocity Private Ltd, at an investment of Rs 250 crore. It is likely to be commissioned by December 2023 with 700 employment options. The Pardos Lucknow Developers Private Ltd project with an investment of Rs 200 crore is likely to be commissioned by July 2022, giving 400 jobs. The project by Ruvik BuildTech Private Ltd, with an investment of Rs 350 crore in Greater Noida, is expected to be completed by June 2022, creating 2,100 jobs. The Uppal Chadha Hi-Tech Developers Private Ltd project with Rs 350 crore in Ghaziabad will be completed by March 2027, giving 300 jobs. Other projects in the housing and commercial property sector are in Agra - Tripurari Infrastructure Private Ltd (Rs 112 crore), Ghaziabad - Adarsh Nagar Pragatisheel Sahkari Awas Samiti Ltd (Rs 180 crore), Agarwal Associated Promoters Ltd (Rs 125 crore), and Sarna Projects LLP (Rs 30 crore); Lucknow - Eldeco Housing and Industries Ltd (Rs 60 crore), MJ Luxuries Private Ltd (Rs 100 crore) and Shalimar Educational and Charitable Trust (Rs 80 crore.) Ahmedabad, June 12 : In protest of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) summoning Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi to appear before it, Congress leaders and workers on Monday will stage Dharna in front of ED office in Ahmedabad. Both the leaders have been issued summons in connection with the National Herald issue. Rahul Gandhi will appear before the ED officials on Monday. Party's national spokesperson Pawan Khera said, "National Herald was passing through financial crisis, so from 2002 to 2011, Congress party used Rs 90 crore fund for the payment of salaries of employees, retired employees, electricity bills, and taxes, which BJP and its associates and followers are terming it as an offence. Even the Election Commission has given it clean chit." Allegations against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are baseless, ED action is nothing but political revenge by the ruling party. The paper was founded by Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Purshottam Tandon, Acharya Narendra Dave, and Rafi Mohammad Kidvai, it is a historical heritage and pride for the party and nation, and at any cost, the pride will never be compromised, the Congress said. It is a fight of truth versus lie, Congress will stand with Rahul Gandhi, party national spokesperson is confident that the truth will prevail. Party state unit president Jagdish Thakor said that on Monday party leaders and workers will protest before the ED office in Memnagar area at 10 a.m. He alleged that the ruling party believes that by targeting party's national leaders, party cadre and workers will be demoralised, they are living in a fool's world. Party workers will unitedly fight this injustice, he said. He claimed the ruling party is targeting national leaders, because its internal survey says that this time it is nowhere close to the magic figure of 92 seats, it can hardly win 70 seats, this has shaken the party. The Congress has always fought for truth and will continue to fight for truth, it is not going to bow down or surrender to the party that believes in taking revenge, said Thakor. Guwahati, June 12 : Intensive search operations are underway in forward areas of Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district to trace two Indian Army personnel missing since May 28, defence officials said on Sunday. A defence spokesman said that Naik Prakash Singh and Lance Naik Harender Singh were presumed to have accidentally fallen into a fast-flowing river in close proximity to their post. Despite immediate and extensive searches, including aerial reconnaissance and tracker dogs being pressed into action, no success has been achieved yet. A court of inquiry to investigate the incident has been convened by the Army. The family members of the two soldiers, who belong to Uttarakhand, have been informed of the unfortunate incident and are being regularly updated, the spokesman said. The Anjaw district in northeast Arunachal Pradesh shares borders with China and Myanmar. Chennai, June 12 : Even after several complaints from locals against unabated bike racing at Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), racing still continues. On Sunday morning, the bike racers hit a 60-year-old woman who was seeking directions to turn to Tambaram area in Chennai. The unidentified woman was hit by a high-end race motorbike which had two youths mounted on it. According to eye witnesses, the bike was at full throttle and when it hit the scooty the woman was driving; she was kicked up and fell to the road. The woman was declared brought dead at a local hospital. The bike rider, Vishwa, 25, of Mudichur was hospitalised with a fracture. Police said that the identity of the deceased woman is yet to be confirmed but she was carrying a canteen card of Tamil Nadu state police. The body of the woman has been sent to Chrompet Government Hospital for postmortem. R. Radhakrishnan, a software engineer who lives near the OMR highway, while speaking to IANS said: "The bike stunts are routine in this area and on holidays, it is much more frequent. Ordinary people and the elderly who are travelling for their small purchases and house visits are suffering due to this undue pace of two-wheeler racing. This accident is a result of lethargy of the local police even after we have complained several times against this." Bhopal June 12 : Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be visiting New Delhi on Monday, the chief minister's office (CMO) said in an official statement on Sunday. During the visit, Chouhan will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah and some other Union Cabinet ministers. The CMO informed that during the meeting with Union Cabinet ministers, Chouhan will hold a discussion over development issues in Madhya Pradesh. Apart from Shah, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister will also meet Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to hold a discussion on the development of Centre's 'Nal Se Jal' scheme in the state. Meanwhile, he will also meet some other Union Cabinet ministers. "MP CM will visit Delhi tomorrow (Monday). We will be meeting with Union Cabinet ministers Amit Shah, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and some others to discuss several development projects in the state," Chief Minister's office said in the official communication. Last time, Chouhan had visited New Delhi along with his two Cabinet colleagues to discuss the legalities of the OBC reservation issue with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior party leaders. OBC reservation is at the centre stage in Madhya Pradesh's politics, especially when the local body and three-tier panchayat polls are to be held. The state Congress unit had on Friday appointed Congress MLA Siddharth Kushwaha as president of Madhya Pradesh Congress OBC department. Recently, the party had given the ticket to Kushwaha for mayor elections from Satna. Notably, the BJP has not yet appointed any leader as OBC Morcha president after the removal of Bhagat Singh Kushwaha from the post. The contribution of OBC category is, however, a big issue in the upcoming urban body elections in the state. New Delhi, June 12 : The BJP on Sunday authorised party chief J.P. Nadda and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to consult other political parties for next month's Presidential election. In a statement, BJP national general secretary Arun Singh said, "In view of Presidential election, the BJP has authorised BJP chief J.P. Nadda and Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for consulting." "They will hold consultations with NDA partners, UPA constituents and even Independent Members of Parliament," Singh said. Singh further stated that Nadda and Rajnath Singh will soon start process of consultation. Sources said that consultation will focus on proposed BJP led NDA nominee for the post of President of India. Presidential polls, if required, will be held on July 18 and counting of votes will take place on July 21. In an electoral college of around 10.86 lakh votes for the polls, the BJP and its alliance partners are a little short of the halfway mark Los Angeles, June 12 : Actress Elsa Pataky "worked really hard" to get in shape for "Interceptor". The 45-year-old actress has upped her workouts in recent months after pushing herself hard to be in peak physical condition for her role as soldier JJ Collins in the new action film, reports aceshowbiz.com. "I've been always been really into fitness. I like doing gym or yoga, either the gym or just at home, whatever I have," Pataky, who has always been "really into fitness," said. "I've been doing more lately, because I worked really hard for the movie to just get really strong. I really felt all the changes in my body. The weights really tone your muscles and your body to keep everything strong." She admitted getting older has taken a toll on her body. Pataky told Australia's Marie Claire magazine, "With age, everything feels like (shrugs)... it's gravity. Turn that gravity off!" And the Spanish star knows hitting the gym will always make her feel good. She added: "I love the endorphins (you get from working out). Even when I'm in a low energy, working out gives me that power to just go through the day. It makes me feel really good. It makes me happy. I do that at least three times a week if I can. It's just finding the moments, even though sometimes we get busy, it's just like, 'Okay, just half an hour.'" Pataky was able to turn to her husband and actor Chris Hemsworth, with whom she shares her kids India, nine, and seven-year-old twins Sasha and Tristan, for tips and advice on building muscle for the role. She previously said, "He gives good tips, especially about nutrition. He was shooting the latest 'Thor' movie while I was doing 'Interceptor', so we took turns training and looking after the kids." New Delhi, June 12 : Following incidents of violence in Prayagraj, Hathras, Firozabad etc after Friday prayers in Uttar Pradesh and the subsequent police crackdown, RLD chief Jayant Choudhary on Sunday attacked the state government over the issue. Jayant Choudhary said, "The use of bulldozer is not the enforcement of the rule of law. Rather it has become a symbol of state sponsored hooliganism!" RLD chief's statement came at a time when a bulldozer was moved to the 'illegal' house of Prayagraj violence mastermind Mohammad Javed alias Javed Pump. Taking action against those involved in the violence, the Uttar Pradesh Police have so far arrested more than 300 persons in the state. Of these, 91 people have been arrested from Prayagraj, 51 from Hathras, 71 from Saharanpur, 34 from Moradabad, 15 from Firozabad, six from Aligarh, 34 from Ambedkar Nagar and two from Jalaun district. All of them are accused of indulging in stone pelting, disturbing the atmosphere and instigating people. At present, the security arrangements in the violence-hit areas of all these districts are normal and the situation is under control. Chennai, June 12 : Actor Vemal on Sunday showered praises on the unit of the recently released Sivakarthikeyan-starrer 'Don', saying that the film was a good entertainer. Taking to Twitter, the usually reticient actor wrote in Tamil that he had watched the film only on Saturday on Netflix and that he found it to be a good entertainer. "I am happy that this film has turned out to be yet another successful venture for my younger brother Sivakarthikeyan. S J Suryah, who played a character that started off looking like a villain before turning into a responsible teacher, was lovely. "My wishes to elder brother Samudrakani, actor Soori, music director Anirudh, actor Bala Saravanan and cinematographer Bhaskaran and entire crew of the film. "Really special that director Cibi Chakravarthi's first film itself has emerged a winner." The film, which hit screens on May 13, began streaming on Netflix on June 10 this year. Ahmedabad, June 12 : As many as 20 Muslim leaders, including women were arrested by the police on Sunday afternoon after they gathered in the Juhapura area in Ahmedabad to organise a march without permission, to protest against BJP's former spokesperson Nupur Sharma's statement on Prophet. Police tried to convince them to return home, but when they did not agree and tried to proceed, police had to resort to a mild lathi-charge to disperse the mob. Ahmedabad Zone-7 Deputy Commissioner of Police B.U. Jadeja told the media, "Since Saturday evening, fake messages were in circulation on social media about a protest march to be organised in the Juhapura area. To ensure that no untoward incident occurs, police were deployed well in advance in the area." Police were expecting that large numbers of women would join the march, and women police too were deployed in the area. In the afternoon, when they attempted to march, police stopped them and some leaders were arrested while rest were convinced to return home, said the officer. Heavy police deployment has been made in the area. The arrested Muslim leaders were taken to Vejalpur police station in Ahmedabad. In another development, Surat police have arrested five persons for printing and circulating posters of Nupur Sharma. These posters were posted in Kadarshani Nal Road area in Surat city, they had even circulated video of posters on social media. Surat's Deputy Commissioner (Zone-3) Sagar Bagmar told the media that these posters were printed and circulated with an intention to create communal enmity in the society, based on technical surveillance, these five persons were identified and arrested by the police. In the video and posters they had printed, "Now we need to turn Gujarat into Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand." New Delhi, June 12 : Flipkart Co-founder Binny Bansal has sold his stake worth $264 million (more than Rs 2,000 crore) in the homegrown e-commerce platform to Chinese Internet giant Tencent, at a time when the neighbouring country has once again hardened its positions along the Indian border. The news about Bansal selling Flipkart stock to Tencent came at a time when US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, said on Saturday that China is hardening its positions along the Indian border. Addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Austin said that China is taking aggressive and illegal approaches to the territories it claims in the South China Sea. "Further to the West, we see Beijing continuing to harden the position along the borders it shares with India," he noted. Tencent bought Bansal's stake, via its European subsidiary called Tencent Cloud Europe BV, in October last year, and now holds 0.72 per stake in Walmart-owned Flipkart, according to media reports, which was later confirmed by reliable sources. Bansal now holds nearly 1.84 per cent stake in Flipkart. A query sent to Flipkart went unanswered. India and China have been engaged in a border dispute for nearly two years. India also banned several Chinese apps and Internet platforms in the aftermath of the tense border standoff in eastern Ladakh in May 2020. Army Chief General Manoj Pande said last month that China seems to lack the intention to find a resolution to the border dispute at the Line of Actual Control, stressing that Indian troops continue to hold important positions along the LAC. During an interaction with media persons, General Pande said, "Our guidance to them (troops deployed at LAC) is to be firm and resolute and prevent any attempt to alter the status quo." Sachin and Binny Bansal, who received their B.Tech degree in computer science & engineering from IIT-D in 2005, built one of the largest e-commerce marketplaces in India. Sachin led Flipkart as its CEO from its inception in 2007 till 2015, and took over as the Executive Chairman in 2016. He is currently leading and mentoring the startup and internet ecosystem in India and is an angel investor in several technology startups. Binny served as the Chief Operating Officer of Flipkart till January 2016 before being promoted as its Chief Executive Officer. He exited Flipkart in November 2018, and became a prolific angel investor. Flipkart, Amazon, Reliance's JioMart, and Tata-backed BigBasket have fired up India's online retail market that is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 19.8 per cent to reach $85.5 billion by 2025, according to a report by Forrester. Flipkart raised $3.6 billion (about Rs 27,000 crore) in funding led by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, CPP Investments, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Walmart in July 2021. The funding round had taken Flipkart's valuation to $37.6 billion. Shimla, June 12 : A massive fire has erupted in a huge stretch of chilgoza pine natural forest, an important conifer of the Western Himalayas, just ahead of the cold desert in Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh, posing threat to the endemic wildlife too. Locals on Sunday said the fire, in the past three days, has burnt down thousands of native chilgoza, juniper, and birch trees in the Akpa-Jangi region of Pooh division with no major initiative by the government to bring it under control despite the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) being stationed there to man the Indo-China border that lies ahead. The forest, located at a 10-hour drive from the state capital Shimla, is one of the biggest chilgoza pine forests in the country. Spread in inner dry tracts of temperate zones of North-Western Himalayas at an altitude from 1,800m to 3,000m above the sea level, the forest is home to the Himalayan tahr, the black bear, and the blue sheep. "Due to the massive forest fire, the only world famous and most endangered plant species chilgoza is under threat," local Chhering Tandup said. The chilgoza pine faces the risk of extinction. Jangi village is one of the main sources of chilgozas in India. "If the government failed to timely intervene to extinguish the forest fire, the near to extinction species will extinct in days to come," he said. The chilgoza pine, a slow growing tree with an average life of 150-200 years, is the only conifer which bears highly nutritious edible nuts. It is one of the indigenous and socioeconomically important conifers of inner drier regions of the state. Nature Watch India national convener Rajeshwar Negi told IANS the chilgoza pine (pinus gerardiana) trees are a source of livelihood for people in remote areas of the state. He said the state government should order an inquiry into the failure of the district administration to either control the fire, or report and seek the assistance of the state and central governments. "This summer season forest fires are a common sight across the state largely due to lack of preventive steps taken by the Forest Department. Billowing smoke from the hills of Shimla has become common these days. A huge track of forest in the Tara Devi hills (overlooking Shimla town) was ravaged in the past," he said. "Now the precious chilgoza pine forest is burning and nobody is there to take care of. It is the last stretch of the natural forest just ahead of the cold desert," he added. Negi demanded a detailed survey of the loss and damage caused by the forest fire to the flora and fauna. Tandup said the locals are anguished with the government because of the delay in extinguishing the fire. "Usually when forest fires take place, local villagers extinguished it at local level but this time the scale of forest fire is at large so it is not possible for local population to control the fire," he said. "Though local authorities are assisting the locals to control the fire, it is not possible for them to extinguish it. We are demanding the use of helicopter service to control the fire so that the most endangered plant species chilgoza can be saved from extinction," Tandup, who belongs to Jangi village, told IANS over phone. Forest officials say most forest fire incidents are deliberate acts. The villagers also tend to set grasslands afire to get softer grass after the rains. In most cases, the fire from grasslands spreads to nearby forests. Besides Kinnaur, Chamba district's Pangi and Bharmour areas have small patches of chilgoza trees. (Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in) New Delhi, June 12 : India is a young country and currently has nearly 30 crore students. Of these, 2.72 crore students have registered themselves for higher studies through the Swayam portal. This is for the first time that in first five months of the year, 2.72 crore students have registered themselves on Central education ministry's portal. Of them, many students are completing 40 per cent online credit of their regular courses. These involve youths, professionals and homemakers who have registered on Swayam to enhance their skills. According to the union education ministry, this portal has been developed keeping every section of society and every age group in mind. That is the reason the portal is having over 7,000 courses including science, research and marketing. BE, B Tech students stand first in taking admissions in the top ten courses. Many students have enrolled in M.Sc, MA, MBA, PhD, B. Com, BA, M.Com. Swayam portal was launched with an aim to enhance knowledge in multi-disciplinary subjects other than traditional subjects. In May, the education ministry conducted a survey of Swayam Online Learning portal, during which it was found that since January, 2.72 crore children have studied on the basis of the portal. Across the country, highest number of registration on the portal was recorded by students from Tamil Nadu, while Uttar Pradesh ranks second and Andhra Pradesh third, Jammu and Kashmir fourth and Chandigarh 24th. University Grants Commission secretary Prof Rajnish Jain has appealed to over 1,000 universities to adopt credit framework through the Swayam portal. It may be noted that in all the universities across the country, in one semsester of various curricula, 40 per cent online study can be conducted. Prof Jain said that on Swayam portal, 7,115 curricula are available. Around 11.13 lakh certificates have been issued via the portal. He said during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, usage of Swayam Platform increased by 2.15 lakh times. The Education Ministry had conducted an online survey to understand the approach of students towards Swayam's massive open online courses. The survey provides insights and inputs into students preference. More than 70 per cent of students in 338 universities and institutes of the 29 states have expressed interest in taking the credit benefit of the Swayam. According to Union Education ministry, Swayam offers more chances and flexibility to students. Its aim is that students complete their curriculum and get certificate. According to the ministry, on Sawayam portal, study material and video lecture of all courses is available free of cost. However, if a student or professional wants certificate, then he/she has to give National Testing Agency examination based on multiple choice questions. Students are provided certificate after they qualify in the exams. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) En el marco de la publicacion del reglamento de la Ley 31458, que reconoce las ollas comunes y garantiza su sostenibilidad y trabajo productivo, el premier Anibal Torres acompana al presidente Pedro Castillo en el encuentro con representantes de estas organizaciones sociales. pic.twitter.com/hljehupz2B Srinagar, June 12 : A LeT terrorist, involved in the killing of two Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel, was in killed in an encounter between terrorists and police in Srinagar district on Sunday, police said. The enccounter was reported fromPalpora Sangam area of the districtt. "LeT terrorist Adil Parray of Ganderbal who was involved in killing of two JKP personnel Gh Hassan Dar in Sangam and Saifulla Qadri in Anchar Soura and injuring a 9 year old girl, killed in a chance encounter with a small team of Police," Jammu and Kashmir Police said in a tweet, citing Inspector General Police Kashmir, Vijay Kumar. This is a second encounter in J&JK on a single day. Earlier on Sunday, three terrorists were killed in an overnight encounter between terrorists and security forces at Drabgam area in Kashmir's Pulwama district. There have been a series of anti-terror operations in Kashmir over the last few months in which many terrorists and their commanders have been eliminated. Most of the operations have been jointly conducted by the police and the army on the basis of specific intelligence inputs. On Saturday, a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist was killed in an encounter with security forces in SKashmir's Kulgam district. Chennai, June 12 : With fresh Covid-19 cases crossing 200 per day in Tamil Nadu, parents are worried as schools are set to reopen on Monday, June 13. Priya Sethumadhavan, a housewife, said that she is worried about her daughter Akansha going to school. While speaking to IANS, she said: "I am worried as children will mingle with one another and we don't know what is in store for our child. If they were conducting classes in two shifts it would have been better, but most of the classes are in a single shift." Teachers, however, said that there is no other option than to reopen schools. Selvanayagan, a teacher at a private aided school in Madurai told IANS, "Connecting with students during online classes was very difficult and students were even confused about the basics. We have to start with basics again and then move ahead." He said that students of classes 1 to 5 need strong foundation and if there is any delay in reopening of schools, learning basics would be affected and this would lead to students losing out, which the state cannot afford after prolonged lockdowns due to the pandemic. State School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi in a statement had announced that schools in Tamil Nadu will reopen on Monday, June 13. New Delhi, June 12 : A 34-year-old man was stabbed in the national capital for naming the accused in another 'attempt to murder' case, an official said on Sunday. The accused, identified as Prince Kumar Malhotra, was arrested in the case while two juveniles were apprehended. Furnishing details, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka district) M. Harsh Vardhan said a PCR call was received on Thursday, June 9, at Bindapur police station, stating that man has been stabbed. The victim was shifted to a nearby hospital where the cops took his statement. In his statement, the man also named the accused Prince Malhotra. Accordingly, the police registered an FIR under section 307 (attempt to murder) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and took up the investigation. A police team was constituted which scanned CCTV footage of place of occurrence, nearby streets and roads and zeroed down the location of the accused people in Haridwar. All the three accused, including two juveniles, were nabbed from Haridwar and brought back to Delhi. The official said during the interrogation it was revealed that victim was assaulted because accused were annoyed on him for getting one of the accused minor apprehended in an another attempt to murder case. Islamabad, June 12 : Pakistani politicians and activists have raised fears about the military increasing its control over the country's public life after the new prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, gave the ISI spy agency vetting power over civil service appointments. The move has placed the verification and screening of government officials in charge of postings, appointments and promotions in ISI hands, leading to concerns of a shrunken civilian space. Pakistan's powerful military, which ruled the country directly for three decades, and its premier intelligence agency have a long history of meddling in politics and controlling politicians. It is widely perceived in Pakistan that politicians need the military's backing to come to power, but many now fear that bureaucrats could also need the same support for their appointment and postings. "If we keep in mind Pakistan's history of takeovers and the sway that military has over our politics, this decision will weaken civil bureaucracy and compromise their independence," said senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar. "We have shot ourselves in the foot and it's a decision worth reconsidering," The Guardian reported. Raza Rabbani, the former chair of the senate, called Sharif's decision an attack on the constitution. "The concept of civilian supremacy is tarnishing," he said. Before ousting the former prime minister, Imran Khan, in a no-confidence vote in April, opposition parties now in power had criticised the military for its meddling in politics, rigging elections and bringing Khan into office. Ayesha Siddiqa, an author and expert on military affairs of Pakistan, said it was depressing that none of the senior leadership of the major political parties had condemned Sharif's move, The Guardian reported. "The government's notification has legalised military intelligence's power over other institutions," she said. "At the same time [it has] sown seeds for a long-term disempowerment of the political class to strengthen its position and that of the parliament to weaken the military's control over politics." Bengaluru, June 12 : A petition has been submitted to Karnataka Home Minister to provide security and legal action in connection with death threats to multilingual actress Anushka Shetty's brother Gunaranjan Shetty. The members of Jayakarnataka Janapara Vedike run by Gunaranjan Shetty have submitted a petition to Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Sunday, seeking protection and legal action. The members have alleged that the death threats are issued by friends-turned-foes Manvit Rai and Rakesh Malli. Gunaranjan Shetty, Manvit Rai and Rakesh Malli worked for reformed don Muttappa Rai, after whose death, they separated. Gunaranjan Shetty, brother of actress Anushka Shetty, had identified with the close circles of late don Muttappa Rai. He has become popular in Mangaluru and Bengaluru. It is alleged that the opponents Manvit Rai, who is also a relative of Muttappa Rai, and Rakesh Malli are planning to execute Gunaranjan Shetty. The members who submitted petition to the Home Minister demand arrest of the accused persons. On the other hand, Manvit Rai has clarified that he is abroad and unable to understand why these allegations are made against him. He claimed that no threats are being made at anyone, adding that there are no criminal cases against him either. However, police sources stated that Rakesh Malli had been questioned by the police in this regard. Further investigation is underway. New Delhi, June 12 : Delhi Police have arrested a 20-year-old man who created fake Facebook accounts to befriend people and extort money from them after recording their nude videos, an official said on Sunday. The accused was identified as Afsar Khan, a resident of Alwar in Rajasthan. Furnishing details, Deputy Commissioner of Police Manoj C. said that a complaint was received at the Cyber police station of the South West district in which the complainant stated that he got a friend request on Facebook by a certain Anjali Sharma. He accepted the same and the person started talking with the complainant and recorded his nude video by video calling him on messenger. After some time the alleged person sent the nude video to the complainant through two unknown WhatsApp numbers, the official said. "The accused also threatened the complainant to circulate his video to his relatives and on social media if his demand of Rs 20,000 is not fulfilled. The alleged person extorted Rs 1,000 from the complainant through Google Pay," the DCP said. Accordingly, a case under Sections 384 (Punishment for extortion) and 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 of the IT Act was registered at Cyber police station in South West district and investigation was taken up. A police team analysed the technical surveillance and bank account details of the alleged person and subsequently, the location of the accused was zeroed in on and he was nabbed. Upon intensive interrogation, Khan disclosed that he has been involved in this crime since a year. "Three victims have been identified so far and others are being identified," the official added. New Delhi, June 12 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged everyone to observe Yoga Day and make Yoga a part of daily lives. Prime Minister Modi also shared a film on 'Yoga in our daily lives'. In a series of tweets in different languages, the Prime Minister said, "In the coming days, the world will mark International Day of Yoga. I urge you all to mark Yoga Day and make Yoga a part of your daily lives. The benefits are many." On the 'International Yoga Day' on June 21, Prime Minister Modi is set to lead celebrations from Mysuru. He would perform Yoga at the Mysuru Palace premises as part of the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav', where as many as 15,000 Yoga enthusiasts are scheduled to join the Prime Minister. This year, the International Yoga Day celebrations are being held in a big way at 75 prominent Heritage spots of the country. Srinagar, June 12 : The Indian Army on Sunday paid tribute to Rifleman Lokendra Singh who made the supreme sacrifice on June 10 at a forward post along the Line of Control (LoC) in North Kashmir's Baramulla district, in a solemn ceremony at BB Cantt in Srinagar. Lt Gen ADS Aujla Corps Commander, and all ranks of Chinar Corps paid homage to the gallant soldier. Late Rifleman Lokendra Singh was deployed at a forward post along the Line of Control in Gulmarg Sector. On June 10 at around 10.15 p.m. while observing enemy from a surveillance post in an inclement weather, he was struck by lighting. "Rifleman Lokendra Singh got grievously injured due to lightning strike and was immediately provided first aid at the post. He was evacuated to nearest medical facility, where he was declared dead at 11.45 p.m.," the Army said. Late Rifleman Lokendra Singh was thirty years old and joined the Army in 2011. He belonged to Village Bhadrauli of Bah Tehsil, Agra District in Uttar Pradesh and is survived by his wife, two children. "The mortal remains of Rifleman Lokendra Singh are being taken for the last rites to his native place, where he would be laid to rest with full military honours. In this hour of grief the Army stands in solidarity with the bereaved family and remains committed to their dignity and well being," the Army said. New Delhi, June 12 : The Dwarka district police of New Delhi on Sunday said that it has arrested as many as 10 criminals during a surprise foot patrolling in Dabri area. DCP of Dwarka, M. Harsh Vardhan said that to catch the criminals they took many initiatives, and foot patrolling was one of them. "On Saturday evening, we did surprise foot patrolling in the area. We arrested ten criminals in order to instil confidence in the public. The exercise was carried out under the supervision of Dabri ACP Vijay Singh with police teams of Uttam Nagar, Dabri and Bindapur," said Harsh Vardhan. The official said that in Uttam Nagar area they arrested three criminals. SHO, Uttam Nagar was leading the team which arrested Nitin Tiwari and Shubham, both wanted in Gambling act. The police recovered Rs 2,740 cash from them. After this the team held one Sunny with 102 quarters of illicit liquor. "In Dabri area we held five criminals. The foot patrolling team was headed by Dabri SHO. Those who were held by this team were identified as Aman, Praveen, Vicky, Manohar and Rohit. Stolen items were recovered from them," said the police official. The official said that apart from stolen items, 174 quarters of illicit liquor were recovered from Vicky and 120 from Manohar. In Bindapur area, two were held by the police team. They were identified as Kishori and Mohammed Khalid. Police recovered some money from them and impounded the car. "Apart from above, four motorcycles have been impounded for violation of MV rules and action against encroachment on public roads was taken," said Harsh Vardhan. Hyderabad, June 12 : Hyderabad police on Sunday carried out scene reconstruction in gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in the up-scale Jubilee Hills. The police carried the six accused including five juveniles to different locations in Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills for scene reconstruction as part of the investigation into the gang rape which occurred on May 28. Amid tight security, the investigators first brought the accused to Amnesia Pub on Road Number 36 Jubilee Hills where the victim and the accused had attended a daytime party, Consu Bakery on Road Number 14 Banjara Hills and the isolated place on Road Number 44 Jubilee Hills where five of the accused sexually assaulted her. The police gathered information as to who among the accused first approached the victim in the pub and who misbehaved with her. The accused were also questioned about who trapped the victim after she came out of the pub and how they convinced her to board Mercedes car with them for Consu Bakery and what happened in the vehicle enroute. The investigators also collected information as to why the accused left Mercedes and boarded Innova at the bakery. They were also questioned about the sequence of events that finally led to the sexual assault in the vehicle. Police questioned all the six accused on Sunday, the second consecutive day. As the four-day police custody of Saduddin Malik, the only major accused in the case, ended on Sunday, he would be produced before the court and will be sent back to Chanchalguda Central Prison. Potency test was conducted on five accused who were involved in the gang rape. The test was conducted at government-run Osmania Hospital. Potency test established whether a person is capable of engaging in sexual acts or not. The police officials will continue questioning the juveniles on Monday. The Juvenile Justice Board had granted their five-day police custody. The custody of three juveniles began on Friday while for the remaining two the police custody began on Saturday. The Children in Conflict with Law (CCL) as the minors are called by the police, are being questioned from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. After 5 p.m., CCL are taken back to the Juvenile Home. Meanwhile, there were allegations on Sunday that the accused were served 'chicken biryani' during lunch at Jubilee Hills police station. The food was reportedly ordered from a leading hotel. Videos of them were circulated over social media. Since the accused belong to politically influential families, police had come out under flak from going soft on those who helped them flee after committing the crime. Since the victim's family lodged a complaint three days after the crime and the victim revealed to police only on June 2 what exactly happened with her, the accused got sufficient time to escape from the city. They were reportedly arrested in neighbouring states. Out of five accused who sexually assaulted the girl, four are aged 16-17. The fifth accused is 18-year-old Malik, who has been named as number one accused. The sixth accused who has been charged only with molestation is one month short of turning 18. He is the son of a MLA of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM). Four minors charged with gang rape include son of a leader of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). The leader is also the chairman of a government-run body. Two others are said to be sons of TRS corporators in Greater Hyderabad and Sangareddy. One of them is said to have played the key role in trapping the victim and lure her to board the car. Malik (18) and four CCL have been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 376 D (gang rape), 323 (causing hurt), Section 5 (G) (gang penetrative sexual assault on child) read with Section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 366 (kidnapping a woman) and 366 A (procuration of a minor girl) and Section 67 of Information Technology Act . Police say the accused could face punishment for not less than 20 years or imprisonment for life till death or even death penalty. The sixth CCL was not involved in rape but he kissed the victim in the car. He has been booked under IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 323 and Section 9 (G) read with 10 of POCSO Act. He could face 5-7 years imprisonment. ?? En vivo | El presidente de la Republica, @PedroCastilloTe, ofrece una entrevista en @noticias_tvperu. #SiempreConElPueblo https://t.co/k1L8u5tDi7 Bhopal, June 12 : The police on Sunday, referring to a shocking incident in which three members of a family were found dead at their home in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district, claimed it was a murder and suicide case. Dharmendra Gurjar and his wife killed their 12-year-old son and also tried to kill their 10-year-old daughter. Later, they hanged themselves. They were found dead on Saturday. Police made the claims on Sunday on the basis of the statement of the couple's daughter who fortunately survived and is being treated at a hospital in Gwalior district. During questioning, the girl told the police that her parents first strangulated her brother to death and then tried to kill her as well. This shocking incident was reported early on Saturday after Dharmendra's brother and some neighbours broke the door of the house and found three members of the family dead and another (girl) unconscious. "On Saturday morning, neighbours knockd on the door but they (couple) didn't respond. After getting no response, Dharmendra's brother broke the door and found them dead. Their daughter was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital," said a police officer. Police said since the girl was under medical treatment, they have not asked much questions. Meanwhile, Dharmendra's brother told the police that his brother did not had any financial problem but was distressed due to an old case of abetment of suicide against him, and that could be the reason behind the extreme step. However, the police are yet to ascertain the exact reason behind the incident. "Family persons are sharing some old case of abetment of suicide against him, but we are still investigating to find out the exact reason that led to the family at this position. The case is still under investigation," said Shailendra Chouhan, Superintendent of Police, Bhind. Patna, June 12 : A BJP legislator was held hostage by angry villagers in Bihar's Bhagalpur district for around two hours on Sunday after he allegedly ignored their demands. Engineer Kumar Shailendra, the MLA from Bihpur Assembly constituency, went to Shihkund village in Lokmanpur Panchayat to give details of what the Narendra Modi government achieved in the last 8 years. A public function was organised in the village where he was giving the speech. Meanwhile, the villagers complained that that they are living under huge fear of the Kosi river being in spate, as its water is rising all the time and soil erosion is taking place. They urged the MLA to take effective measures to stop soil erosion in the village, as if this is not done, a number of houses may be damaged or even submerge. However, villagers said that Shailendra tried to ignore them, which caused anger and they held him hostage for around two hours. Local police and the MLA's supporters subsequently pacified the villagers with assurance of adequate measures and got the MLA freed. Attempts were made to contact Shailendra but he did not respond to phone calls from IANS. Mahabalipuram, June 12 : The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has unanimously decided to support the candidature of Viswanathan Anand for the post of deputy president of World Chess Federation (FIDE), the sport body confirmed in a statement on Sunday. After the Annual General Meeting of AICF, held on Saturday, the house unanimously decided to endorse the candidature of five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand for the deputy president post in the forthcoming FIDE election as well as nominated Bharat Singh Chauhan to be the AICF delegate. The house congratulated and applauded the swift action taken by Bharat Singh Chauhan for successfully bringing the chess Olympiad spectacle at a short notice. The house unanimously extended its gratitude to the Government of Tamil Nadu and the Government of India for the overwhelming support for the Olympiad enabling the AICF to hold the event in a short span of time. In another important decision the house accepted the resignation of IM Dinesh Sharma on personal grounds and nominated International Master Neeraj Kumar Mishra to fill the selector post as well as increased the remuneration of Arbiters substantially for National and International events. Earlier, the house gave a standing ovation to Bharat Singh for his dynamic action for bringing the chess Olympiad to Indian soil first time ever as well as ensuring the record number of participating countries in just two months' time. The house also passed a resolution to honour and felicitate Bharat Singh during the closing ceremony of Olympiad for his mammoth efforts. Two Chinese nationals arrested for illegally crossing the Indo- Nepal border in Sitamarhi. Image Source: IANS News Two Chinese nationals arrested for illegally crossing the Indo- Nepal border in Sitamarhi. Image Source: IANS News Two Chinese nationals arrested for illegally crossing the Indo- Nepal border in Sitamarhi. Image Source: IANS News Patna, June 12 : Two Chinese nationals were arrested on Sunday for illegally crossing the India-Nepal border in Bihar's Sitamarhi district, the Sashastra Seema Bal said. The two Chinese nationals are identified as Lo Lung, 28, and Yung Hai Lung, 34. SSB personnel apprehended them over 300 metres inside Indian territory near pillar number 11/6. Nepalese passports, 3 ATM cards, cigarettes, and some other items were seized from them. The two were handed over to the Surshand police. During brief interrogation, the two Chinese nationals said that they came from China to Nepal via Thailand, and from Kathmandu, hired two bicycles to reach the Bihar border. Bhopal, June 12 : A woman has received as many as 118 stitches on her face during a surgery after she was attacked with a paper-cutter here for objecting to sexual remarks during an altercation, the police said on Sunday. On June 10, the woman had gone to a hotel in the TT Nagar area to meet her husband. Suddenly, an altercation over bike parking broke out between her and some men. One of the accused made a sexuals remark which made her furious and she slapped him, the police said. After slapping one of them, the woman went inside the hotel to meet her husband. Later, when the couple came out of the hotel, the men, who were reportedly irked with her, attacked her with a paper-cutter, the police said. Her husband then rushed her to the hospital where the doctors conducted a surgery to treat her injuries. Meanwhile, the police said that two accused -- Badshah Beg and Ajay a.k.a. Bitti Sibde -- have been arrested, and the search is on to nab the third accused. On Sunday, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan met the woman at hospital and praised her for resistance against the sexual remark. Chouhan also announced financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh to the woman. New Delhi, June 12 : The Congress' two Chief Ministers, Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan and Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh, will be part of the party's protest on Monday against the Enforcement Directorate, following its summons to party leader Rahul Gandhi. Before leaving for the national capital, Baghel said: "All of us from the AICC will go with Rahul Gandhi... the government is misusing the ED, the CBI, and the IT Department." The Congress has called a show of strength on Monday and Delhi Congress has asked its workers to reach the party head office to protest against the ED. The party MPs will also accompany former party president Gandhi to the ED office. The Congress on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Centre, alleging that the ED is being used to cover the failures of the government. "When the caretaker of the country failed in his duty to protect the integrity of our borders, it sent in the ED to cover its failures. But we will not allow the security of our country to be at risk. "India is raising its voice against the hate instigated by the BJP. Now the ED has come in to silence this voice. But our voice against hate cannot be quelled. The fight goes on," the party said. "When the truth begins to come out, so does the ED. But the truth can't stay hidden for long, because we will always fight for it." The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Rahul Gandhi on Monday and party chief Sonia Gandhi on June 23 in connection with National Herald case, lodged against various Congress leaders, including the Gandhis, for allegedly misappropriating funds. New Delhi, June 12 : Delhi Police on Sunday told the Congress party that its proposed rally to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office here on Monday cannot be permitted, citing certain reasons including law and order issues. "Keeping in view the present communal situation in Delhi and heavy law and order/ VVIP movements in the jurisdiction of New Delhi district, the said rally could not be permitted in the jurisdiction of New Delhi district," Deputy Commissioner of Police Amrutha Guguloth said in a letter to the All India Congress Committee (AICC). It also said that the police got the information about the rally through various sources -- that the Congress is planning to organise a rally from the AICC headquarters to the ED office, Paryawaran Bhawan, here. The police also noted that a call was given to the Congress supporters all over India to join the said rally. Denying the permission, the Congress has been requested to cooperate with the police. The Congress party had planned to carry out a march in wake of its leader Rahul Gandhi's scheduled appearance at the ED office on Monday. The ED has summoned Rahul Gandhi on Monday and party chief Sonia Gandhi on June 23 in connection with the National Herald case, lodged against various Congress leaders, including the Gandhis, for allegedly misappropriating funds. New Delhi, June 13 : A team of National Monuments Authority (NMA) will visit ancient monuments, specially bordering Tibet-China region of Arunachal Pradesh, from June 14-18. The team will also meet local tribal leaders to find out places of indegenous faith which connect Arunachal Pradesh with other parts of the country through legends and verbal history. The team will meet village elders and leaders of various tribes seeking dharma and cultural connect through ancient monuments with mainland India. A report on this tour will be submitted to the Prime Minister and the Culture Minister suggesting new additions in the list of centrally protected monuments and identifying cultural tourism sites. NMA Chairman Tarun Vijay will lead the two-member team of Hemraj Kamdar and Kailash Rao. "The credit goes to Prime Minister Modi who initiated an annual yatra from Arunachal to Porbandar in Gujarat, strengthening the cultural threads woven around the legacy of Rukmani in a most thrilling and enlightening manner," said Vijay. He added that Arunachal Pradesh has lagged behind in the area of heritage protection and enlisting of new monuments in centrally protected list of national archaeological sites. The stream of the local indegenous faiths and their monuments, tangible and intangible heritage connecting them to the western coast in Gujarat and other parts of India, has remained relatively unnoticed and unrecognised. "The Parushuram Kund, Bhishmak Nagar, Bhalukpong and Tawang are a few indigenous sites of archaeological importance which connect Arunachal Pradesh with Gujarat, Goa, Kerala and the Yadava community," he said. Moscow, June 13 : The Russian Navy will receive 46 warships and support vessels in 2022, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Nikolay Yevmenov said. The global military-political situation requires Russia to have a strong and balanced fleet, Yevmenov added on Sunday at a keel-laying ceremony for two diesel-electric submarines in Russia's second-largest city of St. Petersburg. He reiterated President Vladimir Putin's desire for the Russian Navy to maintain a share of modern ships of at least 70 per cent, Xinhua news agency reported. Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War Moscow, June 13 : Russia has asked the United States to explain its military biological activities in some post-Soviet countries. On Sunday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the United States must fulfill its obligations under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), which is essential for international security. Russia plans to hold consultations with other BTWC members on measures to increase control over the activities carried out by the United States in bio-labs in the post-Soviet space, Zakharova added. During a special military operation in Ukraine, the Russian military found that US-funded biological laboratories conducted research on dangerous viruses, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The Russian side has repeatedly urged Washington to explain the purpose of these facilities to the international community, Xinhua news agency reported. Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War Convencido de que el dialogo es primordial para lograr los objetivos del pais, le transmiti al presidente @JoeBiden las necesidades y posibilidades de desarrollo que tiene el Peru. Tambien el compromiso del Gobierno peruano de respeto a la democracia y lucha contra la corrupcion. pic.twitter.com/UTdjclUolJ Beirut, June 13 : The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has urged the Lebanese Armed Forces to ensure the safety, security and freedom of movement of UNIFIL forces, local news media reported. There were "attacks, threats and acts of intimidation against UNIFIL peacekeepers who serve the cause of peace are a matter of grave concern," UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said on Sunday. His remarks came after a group of civilians on Saturday stopped a group of UNIFIL peacekeepers outside of the Lebanese southern village of Louaize, threatening to disarm them while they were on routine patrol. Tenenti added that UNIFIL enjoys full freedom of movement and the right to patrol within its areas of operations under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Xinhua news agency reported. He said that the mission's "primary concern is maintaining stability in southern Lebanon in coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces and with the support of residents in the area". Cairo, June 13 : Egypt has rehabilitated 210 km of its northern coast and pushed forward projects mitigating or adapting to the effects of climate change, the country's Irrigation and Water Resources Minister said. Egypt is still working on restoring 50 km shores across the country as part of its strategy to preserve coastal areas from climate ramifications and protect existing investments in industrial, agricultural, and tourist zones, official Ahram Online news reported, citing the Minister Mohamed Abdel-Aty. Meanwhile, Abdel-Aty's Ministry has launched a climate adaptation project on the North Coast and the Nile delta to counter sea-level rises, the impact of weather hazards on low-lying coastal areas and seawater intrusion, Xinhua news agency reported. The project, set to be completed by 2023, is being implemented over an area of 69 km in five coastal governorates, namely Port Said, Damietta, Daqahliya, Kafr El-Sheikh and Beheira, said Abdel-Aty, adding it includes the establishment of an early weather warning centre in the Mediterranean. Additionally, the Ministry was proposing a multi-year management plan to preserve investments and natural resources of the North Coast, according to the report. Egypt, which will host the 27th session of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in November, is seeking to promote its national green transition. Vendux, the leading provider of contract sales leadership, has published the industrys first Bill of Rights for Fractional and Interim Executives today. The Vendux Bill of Rights seeks to establish operating principles that address the most fundamental rights of a Fractional and Interim Executive as they engage with client assignments. It covers elements such as aligned compensation, severance, due diligence, as well as termination clauses in assignments. According to Henning Schwinum, the co-founder and managing partner of Vendux, "the Bill of Rights looks to establish a balance and common framework between the fractional executive and the client contracting their services. All parties will increasingly benefit with greater transparency in the due diligence process and beyond. Mr. Schwinum further said that while the demand for fractional sales leaders is growing, many companies are still learning how to better integrate senior fractional leaders into their organizations. Based on their extensive experience, these executives deliver an immediate and lasting impact on any business, whether they fill a skill gap, turn around a business, or help launch the revenue side of a startup. As contractors, their position within a company is constantly evolving and extremely demanding. We are extremely proud and humbled by the opportunity to work with such amazing talent, shares Mr. Schwinum. These executives are industry veterans, have over 20 years of relevant experience, and have chosen a career path that enables them to deploy their knowledge, talent, and skills across a variety of business environments. They thrive on delivering value, on organizational challenges, and on situations requiring the management of change. As such, the Vendux Bill of Rights is another tool in our toolkit to better align expectations between all parties and facilitate smooth working relationships. We are also looking for opportunities to collaborate with other industry leaders to help further amplify and leverage the Bill of Rights, shares Mr. Schwinum. There are many evolving opportunities in the world of fractional and interim senior leadership, and were proud to be laying some of the foundations for the industry. Launched in 2019, Vendux has grown to become the largest community of sales leaders for interim and fractional assignments in the US. Vendux has developed a proprietary matching algorithm based on deep semantic search, context-weighted, and role-relevant data points to facilitate the process of identifying the perfect match between both parties. This model has slashed turnover rates to near zero, while impact rates have soared. The diversity and depth of the community allow Vendux to match every client with a sales leader who has demonstrated success in a very similar business scenario before. The Bill of Rights can be found on the Vendux website (https://www.vendux.org/for-sales-leaders/#bill_of_rights) and downloaded as a PDF. Vendux is making this document available to any other organization that would like to share it. About Vendux LLC: Vendux roster of seasoned executives helps growth-stage companies by eliminating trial-and-error when building sales into an effective and repeatable process. Founders, Owners, and CEOs can tap the largest talent pool of vetted interim and fractional sales leaders and focus again on the bigger vision of their company. The partners who started this business are former sales leaders who have been successful leadership practitioners. Vendux, based in Kansas City, MO, focuses on interim and fractional placement in commercial leadership roles throughout the United States. Please visit http://www.vendux.org to learn more. ### A number of Athens business leaders gathered May 25th for the presentation of the Annual Globe Award for Exporter of the Year to principals at Athens Research & Technology. "The Georgia Department of Economic Development is proud to recognize ART as Exporter of the Year. Exporting may not be easy, but ART is a fantastic case study of how Georgias small businesses successfully serve the global market ...," said Mary Waters, Deputy Commissioner of Intl Trade. The Georgia Department of Economic Development announced the winners of their annual Globe Awards on May 23rd, 2022. Among the awards were three top designations for Exporter of the Year. Athens Research and Technology, Inc. (ART) was the recipient of the Exporter of the Year award for a business with less than 20 employees. The award was presented at the laboratory to ART's CEO, John Mitchell, on May 25th by Mary Waters, the Deputy Commissioner of International Trade for the State of Georgia. "The award is really a recognition of the excellent work ART has done over the past 30 years in the international marketplace," said Mitchell. "We appreciate the support and resources that Georgia's International Trade Group provides to small businesses." Waters and her colleague, Alex Hinton, traveled from Atlanta to present the Crystal Globe Award to a crowd of local business leaders and ART's first employee (now retired), Jinx Patel, Ph.D. Georgias record-setting trade numbers are achieved by the hard work of small businesses all across the state. These companies have demonstrated long-term commitment to pursuing new international customers, even in challenging times. Athens Research and Technology is an important example of how companies continue to find new avenues for global growth. While ART has served global customers for years, in 2021 they found new ways to support existing customers while engaging new contacts in key markets. The Georgia Department of Economic Development is proud to recognize ART as Exporter of the Year. Exporting may not be easy, but ART is a fantastic case study of how Georgias small businesses successfully serve the global market. We look forward to continuing to support a great company as they look at new markets in the years to come, Waters explained. We are extremely proud of long-time Georgia Bio member, Athens Research & Technology, Inc., for their adaptability and tenacity in overcoming pandemic challenges to win this award. It is well deserved, said Maria Thacker Goethe, CEO, Georgia Bio and the Center for Global Health Innovation (CGHI). ART is renowned for defining the industry standard for proteins, and Georgia is lucky to have them. Athens Research and Technology was founded in 1986 by a handful of University of Georgia researchers and local physicians. As an early start-up out of the University of Georgia, the success of ART and the recent Globe Award is an enormous point of pride for UGA's Innovation Gateway program. "As one of the very first companies founded on University of Georgia research (circa 1986), ART has been a trailblazer for UGA innovators and entrepreneurs for more than 30 years. The company's success and engagement in the local life science community have contributed to our region's rapidly growing innovation ecosystem," said Derek Eberhart, the Associate Vice President for Research and Executive Director, Innovation Gateway at the University of Georgia. Athens Research & Technology is well known throughout the life science industry as a leader in producing purified proteins for further manufacturing and research. The company has been included in more than 1500 scientific publications in just the past decade, and exports its products to 28 countries, enjoying strong relationships with universities and pharmaceutical research labs around the globe. In attendance at the May 25th awards ceremony were Athens' Mayor, Kelly Girtz, Athens-Clarke County Chamber President, David Bradley, and Ilka McConnell, the Director of Economic Development for Athens-Clarke County. All expressed appreciation and excitement for the crucial strides ART has made to not only make Athens, GA, known worldwide but also for its innovation and dedication to life sciences and the betterment of the industry. Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Unleashes the Bubbles Disobedient Champagne is in the brands identity - meaning they do things a little differently. Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte is a young champagne house, less than 50 years old, that is on a mission to disrupt the industry; a mission to which they proudly attribute their rapid growth. Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, the #1 Champagne in France, is Unleashing the Bubbles in NYC for a month. Starting June 9th at 5pm, the famous Stone Street is getting a Bubbly makeover - complete with giant champagne bottles, outdoor bubble dining domes, Champagne cork stools, thousands of bubble balloons, a bubble ball pit, photo opps, music, free giveaways, ice sculptures & more - while several participating bars and restaurants will be offering special Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte menu items, unexpected pairings and drink experiences. Disobedient Champagne is in the brands identity - meaning they do things a little differently. Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte is a young champagne house, less than 50 years old, that is on a mission to disrupt the industry; a mission to which they proudly attribute their rapid growth. Champagne is a drink that can and should be enjoyed by anyone, anytime, with many foods. Great Champagne doesn't need to cost a lot, it certainly doesn't need to be reserved just for special occasions, and it absolutely can be enjoyed with Burgers, Thai, Mexican, and so much more. This partnership with Stone Street, a historic NYC staple, was the perfect embodiment of those beliefs, said Anne-Laure Domenichini, Director of Communications for Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte. Participating restaurants include The Dubliner, Stone Street Tavern, Route 66, Ulysses, Becketts Bar and Grill, Adriennes Pizza Bar, The Cauldron, Mad Dog & Beans, Harrys and Harrys Cafe, as well as a few in the surrounding area - Tavern 29, Taproom 307, The Factory 380, and Le District. Each establishment will be featuring a unique Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte offering as part of the activation (unexpected Champagne pairings, creative Champagne cocktails, Bubble showers whenever you order a glass or bottle, etc.). A few examples include: The Cauldron: Cocktail: A refreshing Passionfruit Martini paired with an extra bubbly Brut shot (Insta-worthy dry ice Champagne shot) Ulysses: Cocktail: French Martini Fizz (Nicolas Feuillatte Reserve Exclusive Brut, Absolut, Chambord, Pineapple, Lemon) Food Pairing Special: Crispy chicken sandwich paired with Brut Harrys: Cocktail: French 75 (Nicolas Feuillatte Reserve Exclusive Brut, Gin, Fresh Lemon, Cream Sherry) Food Pairing Special: dozen blue point oysters on the half shell pair with Brut Harrys Cafe: Cocktail: Airmail (Nicolas Feuillatte Reserve Exclusive Brut, White Rum, Fresh Lime, Honey) Food Pairing Special: Tuna Tartare, Sesame Wonton, Caviar paired with Brut Adriennes Pizzabar: Cocktail: Froze Royal (featuring Nicolas Feuillatte Reserve Exclusive Rose) Food Pairing: Small Pie choice of white or red paired with Brut The Becketts Bar & Grill Food Pairing Special: Prosciutto Di Parma and bottle of Brut Prosciutto, Arugula , Fig Jam, Brie Cheese , Olive Oil , Sea Salt , on a Baguette The Dubliner Food Pairing Special: Crab Cake Burger and bottle of Brut Lettuce , Tomato, Remoulade , Homemade Crab Cake , on Sourdough Bread Stone Street Tavern Food Pairing Special: Pretzel & Champagne Mac N Cheese & Champagne Mad Dog and Beans Cocktail: Champagne Margarita Food Pairing Special: Mad Dog Caviar Guacamole Route66 Glass/Bottle of Brut with Bubble Shower experience ASSETS: BROLL PHOTOS MENUS & BRAND PHOTOS About Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte: Born in 1976 at the heart of the Cote des Blancs, Nicolas Feuillatte is both the youngest of the major Champagne brands and the largest house that unites 5,000 committed and passionate wine growers. In 45 years, Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte has become the most popular brand in France and the worlds third leading brand of Champagne. Their belief: Champagne is an exceptional wine, but it should not only be reserved for exceptional circumstances. For the brand, luxury is about elegance and attitude, emotion and pleasure, appreciation of the great and the good. Luxury is to share a precious moment, an enchanting interlude around a bottle of Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte. The range is varied, reflecting the richness and diversity of its regions. It testifies to the know-how and the style of the brand, of which finesse and elegance are the key words. Nicolas Feuillatte Champagnes are available in more than 100 countries worldwide. Learn more at nicolas-feuillatte.com/us/ Peanut Butter Chip and Maple Almond Butter, new cookies from natural peanut butter brand Peanut Butter & Co This marks a new chapter for Peanut Butter & Co, as the company, known up until now for their spreads, expands into snacking. Zalben adds, Were really excited for all of the new ways peanut butter lovers will be able to discover our brand now." Peanut butter lovers, rejoice! Its National Peanut Butter Cookie Day and Peanut Butter & Co, the family-owned peanut butter brand available at more than 15,000 stores nationwide, is announcing a new line of cookies crafted with simple, honest ingredients. The two new cookies are Peanut Butter Chip and Maple Almond Butter: Peanut Butter Chip is a delicious cookie with a rich peanut butter taste and extra bursts of peanut buttery flavor from peanut butter chips. Maple Almond Butter has the rich taste of almond butter with crunchy pieces of toasted almonds and a touch of real maple syrup for even more flavor. Both cookies are 100% plant-based and made without any animal ingredients but still have the rich flavor and taste experience of a traditional homemade cookie. The new line of cookies is a result of Peanut Butter & Co Founder & CEO Lee Zalbens own isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Like so many others, I went from working in an office with amazing and inspiring people, to working from home by myself and seeing co-workers only through a screen for months on end. With the lines between work and personal time so blurred, Id work every week until I just about came undone and then Id watch way too much Netflix to try to unwind. Finally I found relief from the stress and some new creative purpose through baking and developing these cookies, he says. I baked so many batches of cookies, week in and week out, each time making small adjustments to improve the flavor and the texture. Our team was remote, so it wasnt easy to share and get feedback. It felt like I was starting over, going back to the beginning when I first started Peanut Butter & Co in 1998. It was both scary and exhilarating at the same time. Zalben brought the recipes to a small commercial bakery which baked several test batches. It came together very quickly, he shares. All of the time I spent testing paid off and we had recipes that required very few adjustments to work at a larger scale. The entrepreneur is excited to finally be sharing his cookies with peanut butter and almond butter lovers everywhere. This marks a new chapter for Peanut Butter & Co, as the company, known up until now for their spreads, expands into snacking. Zalben adds, Were really excited for all of the new ways peanut butter lovers will be able to discover our brand now." Peanut Butter & Cos Peanut Butter Chip and Maple Almond Butter cookies items are launching on the Companys website ilovepeanutbutter.com and also on Amazon and Walmart Marketplace. The company intends to offer the products to other channels in the coming months. About Peanut Butter & Co Peanut Butter & Co. is made by peanut butter lovers, for peanut butter lovers. Founded in 1998, Peanut Butter & Co. began as a sandwich shop in New York City and has since expanded to add delicious and unique varieties of peanut butter, peanut powder, and other nut butters to its lineup, available at more than 15,000 retailers nationwide. The company sources peanuts exclusively from U.S. farmers and also grows peanuts at the Peanut Butter & Co. Farm in Northeast Arkansas. Led by founder Lee Zalben, Peanut Butter & Co. is committed to social responsibility, and in 2021 became the first national peanut butter brand to earn plastic neutral certification. For more information about Peanut Butter & Co., please visit ilovepeanutbutter.com, or follow on Facebook @PeanutButterCo, Twitter @PeanutButterCo, Instagram @PeanutButterCo, and Tiktok @PeanutButterCo Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. By subscribing to rdrnews.com you agree to recurring payments and your credit card will be billed at the subscription intervals selected, cancel anytime. As he recently said in an interview with TV Peru, the U.S. First Lady expressed her commitment to visiting the South American country, during a conversation held within the framework of the IX Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, United States. "She is a teacher and has decided to visit Peru to discuss issues over open admission to public universities and education. It (the date of her visit) will depend on her schedule, but the commitment is there," Mr. Castillo stated. Moreover, the top dignitary underscored that his U.S. counterpart has a good impression of Peru. "We have reiterated that we are fully democratic," he emphasized. Likewise, the Head of State said that they have agreed on the importance of being attentive to the emergence of possible new pandemic diseases and of working together. (END) VVS/RMB Students at NewBrook Elementary School, in Newfane, Vt., learn about where their food comes from during their Community Farm and Field Day on Friday, June 10, 2022. LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) Bridging the digital divide has become a priority for Louisiana since the COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the crucial role high-speed internet plays in the state's education and economic systems. Using federal funds, the state launched a $180 million program last year to provide underserved areas with high-speed internet. In March the Acadiana area welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris to Ville Platte to announce another $30 million federal grant to build fiber internet across 11 rural towns in the area. Although major federal investments are aiming to bridge that gap, the funds can only go so far without an increase in the number of workers capable of building and installing high-speed internet infrastructure, The Advertiser reported. We have so much work today that we cant keep up. Wed almost have to double our workforce without taking on any new clients, said Nathan Carbo, who runs internet infrastructure company System Services alongside his wife Kristin Carbo. I need 30 people yesterday, he added. Its a similar story for LUS Fiber, particularly after the city-owned telecom was awarded $21 million of that $30 million federal grant earlier this year and is asking for a $19 million piece of the states $180 million GUMBO program to expand in other rural Acadiana communities. Its hard finding the workers that want to work in the house and that can do the critical thinking side of troubleshooting this technology, but also be skilled enough to do the operational side of running those cables, dressing it in and making sure it looks nice, plus have that customer experience so that they can articulate how to use the product, LUS Fiber Director Ryan Meche said. So, there are a lot of pieces. But the issue is presenting an opportunity to invest in local communities and to develop a workforce that can capitalize on the need for workers who can install and repair high-speed internet infrastructure. Why dont we invest in our local communities and create jobs locally with all that were doing?, Nathan Carbo said. To that end, both the Carbos and Meche are working with South Louisiana Community College to launch a new fiber-optic install technician program this summer to meet the expanding workforce needs of the region and help residents develop skills to launch their careers. Weve been working with the industry now for just a little over two years to design a program that is versatile enough to produce entry level employees into each aspect of this industry, SLCCs Director of Transportation, Distribution, & Logistics Charlotte LeLeux said. The schools new fiber optic technician program is expected to launch at SLCCs Crowley campus in July, LeLeux said, with room for about 25 to 30 students to complete the 18-20 week course. It will cover how to splice fiber optic cables, how to hang cable on telephone poles, how to operate installation equipment and other skills. The goal will be to cover everything from construction to putting fiber in the home, LeLeux said, so that when theyre hired on by these companies, their training with them would be very minimal. "That would be a win for the college, a win for the student and a definite win for our industry partners, she said. Ideally, that collaboration is a path to building gainful employment opportunities locally, while also developing a workforce to meet the needs of increasingly connected communities in Acadiana. Were getting involved at the right time, so we can start building the (workforce) pipeline, start seeing whats working, so that, in so many years, well have a continuous pipeline, Meche said. It will be good for everybody, he added. I think itll create higher paying jobs, better quality of life. I think everyones gonna win from it. This years nursing school graduates matriculated before the pandemic took hold, and over the course of their studies, theyve seen the profession go through an upheaval. Waves of COVID-19 delayed students clinical rotations at patient care facilities. When they were allowed back into hospitals, clinics and long-term care facilities, the work was more intense than many had expected. I was shocked, said Jillian Levesque, one of the University of Connecticut School of Nursings five valedictorians from the class of 2022. I remember thinking, Oh, Ive got time to get better at my vital signs, and then it was the second day and I was giving medication, she said. There was no getting better and practicing your vital signs. It was the real world because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A prolonged shortage of nurses across the state became more acute during the pandemic. And the graduating class of 2022 roughly 2,000 in number statewide wont be able to fill those yawning gaps in the workforce. Over the last two years, mid-career and older nurses experienced burnout, left emergency departments and intensive care units for less stressful positions or retired early. Many younger nurses opted for lucrative traveling assignments. Nurses periodically fell ill with COVID and had to stay home, placing further stress on health care facilities. The health care field accounts for 16% of the states total workforce, and nurses and certified nursing assistants are in high demand. In late 2020, the Governors Workforce Council estimated the states registered nurse (RN) workforce was roughly 50,000, more than half of whom were over the age of 50. There were significant shortages in health care workers, the council reported, estimating an annual need of 3,000 new RNs and 2,500 openings for certified nursing assistants. Its been nearly two years since that report. At the time, deaths from COVID-19 in the United States had just passed 200,000. Today, that number is over 1 million. Weeks ago, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory about health care worker burnout, warning that the publics ability to get routine preventive care, emergency care, and medical procedures is at risk. Dyed-in-the-wool, hardcore, ED, ICU nurses, whove been that forever COVID has just burned them out, said Beth Beckman, chief nursing officer at Yale New Haven Health. These nurses who would have never dreamed of leaving their practice, because thats what they do and who they are, are now moving to ambulatory settings or areas where they can work 9 to 5 and they can create physical and emotional respite for themselves. Those nurses have left vacancies in critical areas. Weve got to do something to increase the pipeline, Beckman said. 77% of qualified applicants turned away As it stands, that pipeline for Connecticut nurses is too narrow. Sherri Dayton, a registered nurse and health care division leader within the AFT union, said with experienced nurses choosing traveling gigs, telemedicine or the steady schedule of a doctors office or surgery center, acute care facilities have to recruit primarily among recent graduates. Its really just brand new nurse residents coming out of school that are applying, she said. And there arent enough of them. Thats not for a lack of interest. Colleges and universities in the state lack the capacity to meet both the industrys workforce needs and students level of interest. Last year, 13,175 applicants qualified to attend RN programs in Connecticut, but there was only room for 2,992. Of those accepted, 2,781 enrolled. Marcia Proto, executive director of the Connecticut Center for Nursing Workforce, said another shortage is exacerbating the nurse shortage: a lack of instructors. Faculty is paramount, because if we dont have people to teach, it doesnt matter how many people we have wanting to go to school, she said. Earlier this year, CCNW surveyed the states nursing schools and found theyd need more than 300 additional faculty and staff statewide in order to expand capacity by 20% within three years. And that was only for undergraduate pre-licensure RN programs. The shortage is the worst I have seen in over 19 years that I have been working in health care in Connecticut, she said. Still, for nurses who might be interested in the transition to teaching, the decision often doesnt make sense financially, Dayton said. You go to school to get your masters in nursing education, and then you make pretty much what youd make as an acute care nurse in the hospital but now you have $40,000 in debt, she said. Who wants to do that? Even if Connecticut schools had the faculty and resources to add seats in their RN and Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) programs, there would still be hundreds of graduates each year who take jobs in other states. Everyone is going so many different places, UConn graduate Levesque said, listing California, Florida and North Carolina among her classmates destinations. Levesque grew up in Massachusetts and she said shes hoping to work in Boston. Ive always felt sort of this desire to go back there, because thats where my family is, and thats where most of my life has been, she said. Stabilizing the workforce State lawmakers took various steps to shore up the states health care workforce during this years legislative session. The annual budget bill included funding for tuition repayment and housing for health care workers, as well as bonus premium pay for those who worked through the height of the pandemic. New legislation expanding mental health services is expected to create more opportunities for nurses in those fields. The mental health bills also expanded loan repayment for those workers. And Senate Bill 251, signed into law May 22, calls for the Office of Workforce Strategy to expand health care academic programs, develop distance learning, on-the-job and other health care education opportunities for people looking to change careers, and to recruit and retain people within underserved populations for health care careers. A plan for that program is due Jan. 1, 2024. A lot of what we tried to accomplish was to try to deal with a need that is immediate and urgent but also recognizing that some of these things cant be fixed overnight, said Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, co-chair of the Public Health Committee. Steinberg said the work isnt done. We didnt get everything we asked for, he said, and we also want to prove out some programs pilots or experiments that have been successful on a local level. Those are the kinds of things we hope to revisit in the coming years. Some of the states health care systems are funding their own programs to develop the future workforce. Yale New Haven Health plans to spend more than $7 million over the next four years to enhance programs at Fairfield University, Gateway Community College, Quinnipiac University and Southern Connecticut State University, with the goal of educating more than 500 additional new nurses. Kimberlee Richard, vice president of patient care services at Griffin Health, said Griffin is partnering with high schools in the Naugatuck Valley to offer dual curriculum training in classroom and clinical settings so students can begin working in various certified assistant roles upon graduating from high school. Still, as the states population ages and more health care workers are expected to retire, theyll join the ranks of other retirees who need medical care, which could further compound the states health care workforce needs. Recruiting and training the next generation of nurses and health care workers is just one part of the solution, industry leaders say. The other part is preventing burnout among established people in the field. Stephanie McGuire, who leads government relations for the Connecticut Nurses Association, said much of the organizations focus during this years legislative session was on stabilizing the workforce. That means making sure nurses find the career rewarding and valuable, especially after what theyve been through the last two years, she said. Its a lot of rebuilding, McGuire said. Just as the pandemic has driven other professions to envision new models for work, nursing professionals are trying to recreate the new norm, she said. CNA has held forums and online hearings to try to connect with newer nurses and gather ideas to avoid burnout. I think its incumbent upon us to maintain what weve learned over this time, McGuire said. The pipeline, a lifeline This past year, UConn rising junior Zaheer Turtem served as a floor mentor in UConns Nursing Learning Community, helping incoming freshmen make friends, settle in and get comfortable with the rigorous academic experience. That camaraderie is important. Often asked by non-nursing students why theyd pursue such a stressful often messy profession, Turtem and his classmates have ready responses. Its about helping people, Turtem said. Its about understanding your privilege as a guide for patients throughout their health care journey. Turtem started out pre-med at UConn but switched to nursing. The urgency of the pandemic made him eager to help. The way I saw it, nursing school was a way to fast-track getting into the field, instead of waiting on medical school to happen, he said. Many young people in Connecticut have felt a similar calling over the last two years. This fall, UConns nursing school is set to welcome its largest-ever incoming class. Since the start of the pandemic, undergraduate applications to UConn are up 25%. Connecticut State Universities has expanded from 61 graduates of its nursing bachelors programs in 2010-11 to nearly 340 last year. Connecticut State Community Colleges train roughly 1,600 more students in nursing and patient care-related fields each year. And Sacred Heart University in Fairfield just awarded degrees to its first cohort of graduates from an accelerated 15-month nursing bachelors program, available to students who already have a bachelors degree in another discipline. Joan Palladino, nursing professor and interim dean of the School of Professional Studies at Western Connecticut State University, said the pandemics effects on the profession arent all negative. Observing students in patient-care settings, the level of enthusiasm was tremendous, she said. We see all the challenges with nursing over the last few years, and Im sure in some ways it turned some people away, Palladino said. I think it brought some other people in. Questions remain on where smaller Southeast Asian nations feature in the U.S. grand strategy. China's Defence Minister Wei Fenghe (4rd R) and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (L) attend the ministerial roundtable luncheon at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore, June 11, 2022. When Cambodias Minister of National Defense General Tea Banh was seen taking a leisurely dip in the Gulf of Thailand with Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a Cambodian naval base being built with China's help earlier this month, no one in the region batted an eyelid. As U.S.-China friction is getting more intense, Phnom Penh seems to have tilted towards its big neighbour, which has been offering cash and assistance to not only Cambodia but other nations in Southeast Asia. Cambodia and China aren't good at hiding their relationship, said Virak Ou, President of Future Forum, a Cambodian think tank. It's obvious that we are choosing sides, he said. Yet most countries in the region so far remain reluctant to pick sides, and analysts say it is crucial that Washington realize the need to engage Southeast Asian nations in its Indo-Pacific strategy, or risk losing out to Beijing. Cambodian Minister of Defense Tea Banh and Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian are seen swimming following Ream Base groundbreaking ceremony in Sihanoukville. Credit: Tea Banhs Facebook page. Right to decide own destiny At the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, Tea Banh lashed out at what he called baseless and problematic accusations against the Cambodian government in relation to a naval base that Phnom Penh is developing in Ream, Sihanouk Province, with help from Beijing. The Ream Naval Base provoked much controversy after the U.S. media reported that Hun Sens government was prepared to give China exclusive use of part of the base. It would be Chinas first naval facility in mainland Southeast Asia and would allow the Chinese military to expand patrols across the region. Unfortunately, Cambodia is constantly accused of giving an exclusive right to a foreign country to use the base, the minister said, adding that this is a complete insult to his country. Cambodia, he said, is a state that is independent, sovereign, and has the full right to decide its destiny. As usual, the Cambodian defense chief refrained from naming countries involved but it is clear that both the U.S. and China are vying for influence over the ten-nation Southeast Asian grouping. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in his remarks at the Shangri-La forum stated that the Indo-Pacific is our center of strategic gravity and our priority theater of operations. But questions remain on where smaller Southeast Asian nations feature in that grand strategy of the United States. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (L) stands with Vietnam's Defense Minister Phan Van Giang during a bilateral meeting ahead of the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore, June 10, 2022. Credit: AFP Lopsided cooperation The region, noted Indonesias Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto, has been for many centuries the crossroad of imperialism, big power domination and exploitation. We understand the rivalry between the established world power and the rising world power, he said, implying the United States and China. Prabowo, who joined the military in the thick of the Vietnam War and retired at the rank of Lieutenant General, told the audience at the Shangri-La Dialogue that Southeast Asian countries are the most affected by big powers competition. Despite divisions and differences between member countries, weve come to our own ASEAN way of resolving challenges, he said. It may seem that were sitting on the fence," Prabowo said, but this seeming inaction reflects an effort of preserving neutrality by ASEAN countries. Indonesia opted to be not engaged in any military alliance, the minister said. The same stance has been adopted by another ASEAN player Vietnam whose White Paper on defense policy stated three nos including no military alliances, no basing of foreign troops in the country and no explicit alliances with one country against another. Yet its unlikely that Hanoi, often seen as anti-China as Vietnam has experienced Chinese aggression at many occasions in history, will embrace the U.S. to counter Beijing. Its better to nurture a relationship with a close neighbor rather than relying on a distant sibling, Vietnamese Defense Minister Phan Van Giang explained, quoting a Vietnamese proverb. Two of ten ASEAN nations - the Philippines and Thailand - are U.S. treaty allies. But even in Manila and Bangkok, there have been signs of expanded cooperation with China. Southeast Asia and China are neighbors thanks to the geography, and their cooperation is natural, said Collin Koh, Research Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. Koh suggested that in order to maintain the foothold in the region, the U.S. need to embrace and appreciate local cultures and not try to force regime changes. The cooperation between the U.S. and the region has been too one-dimensional and lopsided, too security focused, and needs to expand, he said. China's Defence Minister Wei Fenghe attends the opening reception at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore, June 10, 2022. Credit: AFP Limited leverage Southeast Asia is a difficult region for the U.S. to grasp, said Blake Herzinger, a Singapore-based defense policy specialist. The region needs to foster ties with China and Washington needs to accept and work with that, Herzinger said, adding that its time to recognize that U.S. leverage is limited in a competitive region where the opposite number is China. According to Southeast Asia analyst Koh, its not too late for the U.S. to adjust its policy towards Southeast Asia. There are still demands for an American presence here and a reservoir of goodwill that the U.S. has built over the past, Koh said, but warned that this may risk running dry if Washington doesnt truly recognize the importance of engagement in the region. The U.S. and allies should also bear in mind regional geopolitical calculations, he said. Southeast Asian countries dont want to pick sides but they find themselves being sucked into the super power competition and being pragmatic as they are, some of them are making efforts to try to benefit from it, Koh said. I think the Biden administration has done a good job in relation to Southeast Asia in the last six months. Before, not so good because they had a lot on their plate, said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. In her opinion, to try benefitting from U.S.-China competition is short-sighted. Countries in the region should consider a long-term strategy to hold up a rules-based world order where smaller countries also have rights to speak as they dont want China to dictate to them what to do, Glaser said. On the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Southeast Asia defense ministers on June 10 to discuss ways to deepen cooperation, especially in maritime security. In May, President Joe Biden hosted the first U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit and the U.S. has just announced a new initiative to permanently deploy a Coast Guard cutter in the region. This is a good sign that theyre listening and trying to adjust, said China expert Glaser. As the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues with large-scale and long-term lockdowns on major cities, mass incarceration in quarantine camps and on university and college campuses, coupled with blanket digital surveillance and control over people's movements, some signs of mass discontent have begun to emerge. Shanghai entrepreneurs called in a open letter for the release of all political prisoners and for the CCP to begin a process of political reform at the 20th Party Congress later in the year, warning of mass capital flight and a widespread loss of public confidence in Xi Jinping's leadership. The letter also called on the government to overturn the guilty verdicts against entrepreneurs Ren Zhiqiang and Dawu, as well as punishing officials responsible for "violating the law and disregarding public opinion" as part of the zero-COVID policy and loosening CCP controls on the media. Public anger at the policy was glimpsed during the Shanghai lockdown, as residents clattered pots and pans from the relative safety of high-rise balconies, sang protest songs composed for the occasion, or yelled anonymous protests into the night air. "Most people were locked up at home, and they couldnt even buy food for a while at first, so they had to think about it three times a day," he said. "Normally, people from Shanghai, people in the middle classes, wouldn't have to think about such things ... they would definitely have felt that their rights had been violated." The deprivation of personal freedom, loss of control over economic activity, and no guarantee even of basic subsistence would have caused many people to start thinking more about politics, even those who were previously uninterested in the topic, Ceausescu said. "I think if young people are unable to go about their lives in peace, they will definitely stand up," he said. Some have wondered whether the feisty attitudes of sophisticated Shanghainese with their keenly developed sense of middle-class entitlement translate readily to other parts of the country. Protests involving hundreds of students have sprung up at university campuses in Beijing and Tianjin following months of draconian COVID-19 restrictions imposed on higher education institutions. The scenes at Tianjin University, Beijing International Studies University and Beijing Normal University were eerily reminiscent of the early stages of the 1989 student movement, which later took over Beijing's Tiananmen Square for weeks on end with demands for democratic reforms and the rule of law. Similar protests had sprung up at the Wuhan University of Science and Technology and Sichuan University in March. But, possibly due to the proximity of the sensitive anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre that ended the nationwide pro-democracy movement, the authorities appear to have largely given the students what they wanted: the right to take online classes at home, and to return to campus only to sit exams. University protests, clockwise from top left: Beijing International Studies University, May 8, 2022; Peking University, May 14-15; Beijing Normal University, May 24; and Tianjin University, May 26. RFA collage. Xi taking China backwards A Shanghai resident born in the year of the Tiananmen Square protest movement, who gave only the pseudonym Li Bing, said the students had clearly decided to take their fate into their own hands. "I think they chose to protest on campus because it had become very clear to them that you have to fight for your rights; that nobody is going to just hand them to you," Li told RFA. But he said he wasn't sure if he would join a similar protest, despite the privations of lockdown in Shanghai's Pudong district. "Of course I want to resist, but when the call came, I am pretty sure [I wouldn't]." Li is no stranger to public dissent. He once reposted a list of the victims of the Tiananmen massacre issued by the Tiananmen Mothers victims group. The move brought him a slew of threatening phone calls from local officials, imprinting the shadow of fear firmly on his mind. A Henan resident who graduated from college just a year ago, and who gave the pseudonym Zhou Xiao, had no hesitation, however. He expects some form of mass popular uprising against the CCP in the next few years, largely spurred by zero-COVID and the government's program of forced vaccinations. "Vaccines have been administered on a large scale in the past two years," Zhou said. "Anyone who reported side effects had their posts deleted and their accounts blocked." "Nobody really knows what side-effects there could be from the vaccine ... I was forced into getting vaccinated because of my work," he said. According to Zhou, the CCP under Xi had already been going backwards in terms of freedom of expression even before the pandemic emerged in Wuhan in 2020. "I'm totally disappointed," he said. "Most obviously, the suppression of speech is getting worse." Zhou expects public anger to translate into action at some point in the next few years. "The big one is coming, and I feel that this regime will face huge problems within the next 10 years, due to various factors causing a chain reaction," he said, citing the economic hardship caused by the government's response to the pandemic. People stand in line at a COVID-19 testing site in Beijing on June 9, 2022. Thousands of testing booths have popped up on sidewalks across Beijing and other Chinese cities in the latest twist to the country's "zero-COVID" strategy. Credit: AP Indifference Wang Juntao, U.S.-based chairman of the China Democracy Party (CDP), which is banned in China, said now is the likely time for protests to emerge, however. "From my experience of the student movements of the 1980s, they were all sparked by particular real-life problems," Wang said. "They started slowly, in dribs and drabs." "It was hard at first, but then the students started to see their own strength, and it got easier and easier as more students joined them," he said, citing the recent campus protests numbering a few hundred students at different universities. Some read more into those protests than others. The use of a slogan from a historical peasant revolt caused one person to comment via Twitter: " is coming soon." But a college student from Wuhan who gave only the nickname Wu said such protests were unlikely to gather momentum in the same way. "Our generation of college students isn't as elitist as they were in 1989, and back then, there was a pervasive sense of longing on campuses for freedom and democracy," Wu said. "Judging from my own classmates, most people now are actually politically indifferent, and more concerned with their own interests, like leisure activities, hanging out with friends, taking postgraduate entrance exams, finding a job and so on," he said. He said some of the more general campus slogans, including "oppose bureaucracy" and "oppose formalism," were intended to target specific inconveniences affecting the students' daily lives. "Regardless of whether there is a lockdown on campus or not, you still have to swipe a card to register your comings and goings," Wu said. "Before the pandemic, people could come and go freely, including people from outside." "In my opinion, that's not just because of the pandemic, but because the authorities want to take the opportunity to tighten controls over universities," he said. "It actually plays a role in maintaining stability [preventing concerted public action]." U.S.-based legal scholar Teng Biao said the "stability maintenance" regime was highly effective in preventing protest or public dissent. "A large number of dissidents and human rights activists have been arrested and sentenced," Teng said. "It's very common." "The cost [of resistance] is higher, including daily tea drinking [enforced 'chats' with state security police], warnings, the revocation of lawyers' licenses, job losses [due to dissent], all of that is getting increasingly common," Teng said. He said a nationwide surveillance network that includes the SkyNet system means people in China are now living under a form of high-tech totalitarianism, making mass, organized popular protest and rebellion far less likely than in previous decades under the CCP. "The CCP's propaganda and brainwashing methods are still very effective and powerful, which means that people lack a clear understanding of their rights," Teng said. Yellow barriers lie scattered on the street during a protest against the COVID-19 lockdown order in Shanghai on May 30, 2022. Credit: Reuters Cult of personality Hu Ping, honorary editor-in-chief of the overseas political journal "Beijing Spring", said zero-COVID is being driven by the cult of personality around Xi Jinping, citing parallels with the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution under late supreme leader Mao Zedong. "The key characteristic [of such movements] is that a single indicator is set up as an overriding priority, and everything else has to serve that priority," Hu told RFA. "[For the leadership], the gains outweigh the losses, but the secondary disasters outweigh the initial disaster [the pandemic]," he said. Hu said zero-COVID is now the top political priority in Xi's China. "That zero is now paramount," Hu said. "It regards COVID-19 as the only disease, ignoring all of the other diseases." "Only those who die of it are counted among the dead, while those who die from other causes are not," he said. "Local leaders know that implementing it will lead to losses in other areas, but they don't care, because their superiors only look at their COVID-19 figures." Wang Juntao said that while the college protests may not have gathered momentum this time round, it doesn't mean they won't in future. "This country will definitely change in the future, and if it does there will be more such incidents," Wang said. "And college students will still play an active role, as is the case ... all around the world." Women embrace at a memorial to those killed in the Uvalde mass shooting A cross-party group of US senators have agreed a framework for potential legislation on gun safety, following a spate of mass shootings. This would include support for tougher checks for buyers aged under 21 and cracking down on illegal gun purchases. Crucially, the proposals are supported by 10 Republicans, meaning they have the numbers to be voted into law. President Biden said the plans were "steps in the right direction" but they fall far short of what he called for. Previous attempts to tighten gun laws failed to get the required support in Congress. Tens of thousands of protesters rallied across the US on Saturday to call for stricter gun laws in the wake of two mass shootings. "Today, we are announcing a common sense, bipartisan proposal to protect America's children, keep our schools safe, and reduce the threat of violence across our country," the Senate group said in a statement. "Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities." The senators also called for increased investment in mental health services and school safety resources, as well as including domestic violence convictions and restraining orders in the national background check database for people buying firearms. President Biden urged lawmakers to pass the proposals quickly, while making clear that they did not go as far as he wanted. The president has pushed for far bigger reforms - including a ban on assault rifles, which were used in the Texas and Buffalo mass shootings - or at least an increase in the age at which they can be purchased. "Obviously, it does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades," he said in a statement. Story continues Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat who said the plans were "a good first step", said he wanted to move a bill quickly to a Senate vote once legislative details were worked out. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said the measures showed "the value of dialogue and cooperation". He added: "I continue to hope their discussions yield a bipartisan product that makes significant headway on key issues like mental health and school safety, respects the Second Amendment, earns broad support in the Senate, and makes a difference for our country." Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said a "substantial" part of the deal had been nailed down by negotiators, allowing the drafting of legislation to get under way on Monday, Reuters news agency reported. The news has also been welcomed by some gun control activists. "This is a first step and it's actually a lot more than I thought it would be. This is progress even if small," tweeted David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting and co-founder of March for Our Lives, a student-led movement focused on gun violence prevention. "Even if it stops one Parkland it's worth it." "Our grassroots army is ready to fight like hell to make sure it becomes law. 26 years for federal action on gun safety is unacceptable," tweeted Moms Demand Action, a gun control advocacy organisation. The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) said it would respond once the full text is released but said it would "continue to oppose any effort to insert gun control policies, initiatives that override constitutional due process protections & efforts to deprive law-abiding citizens of their fundamental right to protect themselves/loved ones into this or any other legislation". The US has the highest rate of firearms deaths among the world's wealthy nations, but is a country where many cherish gun rights that are protected by the Constitution's Second Amendment to "keep and bear arms". These are the first gun safety laws to receive bipartisan support of this kind in decades, with previous attempts by Democrats for strengthened controls frustrated by Republicans. Attempts to tighten the laws in the wake of a previous school shooting at Sandy Hook in Connecticut nearly a decade ago - in which 20 children and six adults were killed - failed to get the required votes in Congress. The Senate, or upper chamber of Congress, is currently split - with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans - and legislation must have 60 votes to overcome a manoeuvre known as the filibuster. Ten of the 20 senators who proposed the new measures are Republicans, meaning the proposals have the numbers needed to overcome the filibuster. The Democrat-controlled lower chamber, the House of Representatives, this week voted through a series of measures regulating the sale of guns. But Republican opposition in the Senate means the bill has little chance of entering law, leaving the bipartisan deal agreed on Sunday as the only realistic hope for federal measures to address firearms violence. Chinese Defense Minister hits back at U.S. comments that Beijing aims to undermine security and stability. China's Defence Minister Wei Fenghe salutes from the podium at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore on June 12, 2022. Chinas Defense Minister Wei Fenghe delivered scathing remarks about the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy in a speech in Singapore on Sunday, calling it an attempt to form a clique to contain China. In his speech on Chinas vision for regional order at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum he hit back at U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austins remarks a day earlier, saying China firmly rejects Americas accusations and threats. In his keynote speech on Saturday, Austin said that China had adopted a more coercive and aggressive approach to territorial claims and that Beijings moves threaten to undermine security, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. In his remarks Wei said that to us, the Indo-Pacific strategy is an attempt to build an exclusive small group to hijack countries in our region to target one specific country China. It is a strategy to create conflict and confrontation to contain and encircle others, said the minister, who is also a general in Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). This is the second time Wei has attended the major regional security forum, hosted by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). This years conference, which resumed after a two-year suspension due to COVID, is taking place amid the war in Ukraine, increased tensions around Taiwan and in the East and South China Sea. Say no to bullying The forum once again highlights U.S.-China rivalry in the Indo-Pacific, with both sides trading criticisms, while at the same time calling for the rule of law to be upheld. We should respect each other and treat each other as equals and reject a zero-sum game in which the winner takes all, General Wei said. We should seek peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation rather than hegemony and power politics. Hegemony seems to be the word of choice when Chinese officials talk about the United States and its foreign policy. As the U.S. defense secretary insisted that his countrys military will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, the Chinese minister called the U.S. freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea a navigation hegemony. Wei said the U.S.-China relationship is at a critical and crucial juncture but to improve it depends on Washingtons efforts. We require the U.S. side to stop smearing and containing China, stop interfering in China's internal affairs and stop harming China's interests, Wei said. The bilateral relationship cannot improve unless the U.S. side can do that, he said, adding: If you want to talk, we should talk with mutual respect if you want confrontation, we will fight to the very end. At the same time, the Chinese minister called on regional countries to say no to bullying. Only the one who wears the shoes knows if they fit or not, he said, implying that countries should pick their own paths and resist what he called interference from outsiders. Two Su-35 fighter jets and a H-6K bomber from the People's Liberation Army air force fly in formation during a patrol near Taiwan on May 11, 2018. CREDIT: Xinhua via AP Chinas only choice The Chinese defense minister resorted to forceful words when speaking about Taiwan, insisting: Taiwan is first and foremost Chinas Taiwan. Reiterating that Taiwan is a province of China, Wei said the islands reunification with the mainland is a historical trend that no one, no force, can stop. This is the only choice for China, he said. The minister accused Washington of violating its promise on the One China principle by supporting the separatist forces in Taiwan and playing the Taiwan card against China. China is firmly opposed to such acts the pursuit of Taiwans independence is a dead end, Wei said, adding we will not hesitate to fight to defend Chinas core interests. This year the PLA celebrates the 95th anniversary of its foundation and the Chinese defense minister dedicated a segment of his remarks to speak about the PLA which he called a force of peace. We have never proactively started a war against others or occupied one inch of others land, Wei said. The Chinese defense minister said those who question the factual truth behind this statement should re-read history. Since Moscow's February invasion of Ukraine, Central Asian governments have sought to limit their reliance on Russia and grapple with the economic fallout from economic sanctions that the Kremlin's war has brought to their region. For China and Turkey -- two powers with long-standing ties to Central Asia of different magnitudes -- this has opened the door to new opportunities as the region's leaders reassess their balancing acts between various world powers. Turkey recently expanded its footprint in Central Asia, signing trade and defense agreements, stepping up arms sales, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan conducting high-profile meetings with his counterparts in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. China, meanwhile, has continued to follow the course it set out decades ago by pursuing its security interests in the region and ensuring access to energy exports and valuable minerals. It has also stepped up its diplomatic engagement and hardened its rhetoric. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi wrapped up a visit to Kazakhstan on June 7 and the third annual China + Central Asia foreign ministers' meeting in Nur-Sultan on June 8, where he "expressed deep concern about the serious spillover impact of the Ukraine crisis," urged Central Asian governments to stay out of geopolitical conflicts, and reaffirmed Beijing's economic interests in the region. "There's a noticeable increase of activity both from Turkey and China in Central Asia [since the war started]," Erica Marat of the National Defense University in Washington told RFE/RL. "Both countries see an opportunity to expand their own presence in the region." The interest in strong ties is also mutual, she adds. The Kremlin still wields strong influence over Central Asian capitals and governments have been careful not to criticize Russia, but they've also moved to distance themselves and are eager to find alternative partners to Moscow, especially as they face a dimming regional economic forecast and key political transitions. In March, Serdar Berdymukhammedov, son of longtime autocratic Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, took office as president. And Kazakhstan voted in a June 5 constitutional referendum that will reduce the powers of the presidency and strip former President Nursultan Nazarbaev of his remaining influence. The amendments came after violent unrest in January and a shadowy political struggle behind the scenes between current President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev and Nazarbaev. Toqaev says the changes are meant to limit future nepotism by barring the president's relatives from holding government positions, although critics say the new constitution won't alter the nature of Kazakhstan's authoritarian system. "Russia doesn't have the capacity to follow through on all the initiatives it has brought to Central Asia over the years, so while [Moscow] is looking elsewhere, other states are trying to take advantage of it," Luca Anceschi, a Eurasian studies professor at the University of Glasgow, told RFE/RL. "But for Central Asia, it's about the domestic context. They want to limit and contain any fallout from the war." The New Business As Usual Despite Wang's calls to keep geopolitics out of the region during his visit this week, the Chinese official took veiled aim at the United States in the readout from his meeting with Toqaev, which happened shortly after a late May tour of Central Asia by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu. "China hopes that Central Asian countries will stand firm, eliminate interference, strengthen coordination, cooperate in good faith, and safeguard regional peace and stability," the Chinese statement said. "China has never sought geopolitical interests in Central Asia, and never allows nonregional forces to stir up trouble in the region." Wang was referring to Washington -- already a target before the Ukraine war -- but the acrimony has grown as China has sought to shift blame for any economic pain felt inside Central Asia on the United States and the West for imposing sanctions against Russia. The Kazakh readout of the meeting between Toqaev and Wang did not include the Chinese foreign minister's warning about geopolitics, instead focusing on Chinese President Xi Jinping's backing of Toqaev's political agenda at home and his plan to visit Kazakhstan in the fall. The summit with all five Central Asian foreign ministers ended with mostly boilerplate statements of cooperation and deepening trade ties, with local governments using the talks to call for improved transport links, including a long-discussed railroad project linking China with Uzbekistan through Kyrgyzstan making it into the final readout. While Chinese engagement has deepened in recent years and continues to accelerate, there are still lingering questions from regional observers about how entwined Beijing wants to become in Central Asia and whether China can be the economic engine for the region that local governments have hoped. "I don't know if the war has changed how the region is seen by Beijing," Anceschi said. "I'm also not sure if China wants any more of a footprint in Central Asia than it already has." A Push From Ankara Amid the regional reshuffle and Russia's changing financial fortunes, Turkey has made a renewed push into Central Asia. In March, Erdogan wrapped up a two-day trip to Uzbekistan and left with 10 agreements and a pledge with Tashkent to increase their annual bilateral trade volume to $10 billion. A similar figure emerged from Toqaev's May 10 state visit to Turkey, which both Ankara and Nur-Sultan heralded as a new era of ties. "The Russian invasion of Ukraine has served as yet another impetus" for Turkish engagement in Central Asia, Emil Avdaliani, from the European University in Tbilisi and director of Middle East studies at the Georgian think tank Geocase, told RFE/RL. Turkey has had a long-standing presence in Central Asia, but it has developed unevenly since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, with Ankara generally struggling to make significant gains for influence. But Turkish hard power -- particularly its drones that gave Azerbaijan a decisive advantage in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and are now being deployed by Ukrainian forces -- has helped boost its image. Turkmenistan is a longtime client for Turkish arms, especially the Bayraktar TB2 drones, and Kyrgyzstan also bought its own in 2021 following a border conflict with Tajikistan. But perhaps the greatest opportunity that Central Asia and Turkey provide for each other is on trade. Avdaliani says Ankara still faces limits in the size of its economy and the resources available to it when compared to Russia, China, or the United States, but that a larger Turkish role is currently welcomed in the region and is well-placed to fill part of the void left by Russia following the Ukraine invasion. In particular, Turkey is looking to position itself as a viable alternative to Russia's role along China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which ferries goods from western China through Central Asia and Russia to European markets. With sanctions against Russia now cutting off that route, Turkey could become a convenient way to bypass Russia. "The Central Asian states, and Kazakhstan in particular, are seeking greater Turkish engagement because of changes in connectivity patterns across Eurasia," Avdaliani said. Authorities in Argentina have seized a Venezuelan Boeing 747 cargo plane with links to Iran due to questions over stated reasons for the aircraft entering the country. The Emtrasur cargo plane arrived in Buenos Aires on June 8, flight-tracking data show. It was then seized by the authorities, an Argentinian opposition lawmaker and Iranian media said on June 12. Questions remain over the ownership of the plane. Argentina's government has not publicly confirmed the action. But an Interior Ministry document shared with Reuters said authorities had grounded the craft because of suspicions over the stated reason for its entry into the South American country. According to Mahan Air, the company sold the plane to a Venezuelan company a year ago and has no connection to the airline or Iran. "Mentioning Mahan Air in connection with the impounded airplane is aimed at political purposes," airline spokesman Amir Hossein Zolanvari told Iranian state media. He said the plane's crew has no connection to Mahan Air. The U.S. Treasury Department in 2011 placed sanctions on Mahan Air for allegedly "providing financial, material, and technological support" for Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which the State Department has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. The department also accused Mahan Air of transporting weapons, goods, and personnel to Lebanon's Iran-backed Hizballah group. Iran and Venezuela are both subject to U.S. sanctions and have developed close ties. The two on June 11 signed a 20-year cooperation plan in the fields of oil, petrochemicals, tourism, and culture. Based on reporting by Reuters and AP The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has called on Iran to resume talks "now" on reviving the 2015 nuclear accord before things get "much more problematic." "Recent history tells us that it is never a good thing to start saying to international inspectors, go home...things get much more problematic," IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said in an interview broadcast on June 12 on CNN. Grossi said he was telling Iranian leaders that "we have to sit down now. We have to redress the situation, we have to continue working together." Iran last week turned off 27 cameras used by UN inspectors to monitor uranium enrichment in response to an impending IAEA adoption of a Western-led resolution criticizing the country for failing to cooperate. The resolution criticizing Iran for failing to explain uranium traces found at three undeclared sites was approved by 30 members of the IAEA board, with only Russia and China voting against it, according to agency reports quoting unidentified diplomats. Senior Iranian nuclear officials had warned that passing the resolution could seriously damage attempts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. The sanctions returned after then-President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the United States from the accord. Talks to restore it have been stalled since April. Tehran, which denies that its nuclear program seeks to build a bomb, has backed away from some of its commitments since 2019, and European powers have been expressing concerns over how far Iran's nuclear activities have gone. Grossi told CNN that without observation cameras, the IAEA will soon be unable to declare whether the Iranian nuclear program is "peaceful" or whether Iran is in the process of developing an atomic weapon. Based on reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, AFP, and CNN Ten years after passing landmark legislation to protect minorities, including the much-persecuted LGBT community, a recent survey has revealed that most people in Moldova still hold negative attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. A national survey in the small, impoverished Eastern European country of some 2.6 million people found that 64 percent of respondents would "exclude" LGBT people from Moldova. The results from the survey on perceptions and attitudes toward equality were unveiled at a meeting of the country's Equality Council in Chisinau on June 9. Public acceptance of LGBT people in Moldova ranked just above other marginalized groups, including HIV-positive people, Roma, those with disabilities, and religious minorities. In 2022, advocacy group ILGA-Europe ranked Moldova 37th out of 49 European countries on its respect for LGBT rights. Moldovan President Maia Sandu, elected in November 2020, has chartered a pro-Western course, promising democratic reforms. In March, Sandu signed a formal application for her country to join the EU, a campaign hastened by Russia's invasion of neighboring Ukraine. The landmark Law on Ensuring Equal Opportunities was passed in May 2012 despite much opposition from conservatives and those associated with the Orthodox Church in Moldova, which has long been against an expansion of rights for LGBT people. At the time, Moldovan lawmakers with more tolerant and pro-European views were able to secure the needed votes, explaining, in large part, that the legislation did not only protect LGBT people but that its adoption was a prerequisite for the EU instituting a visa-waiver program for Moldova, something that occurred two years later, after the law was passed. However, not only does the survey suggest much work still needs to be done, but that attitudes toward the LGBT community in Moldova may actually be getting worse. Similar research conducted in Moldova in 2018 found public perceptions of the LGBT community were more positive then, explains Doru Petruti, the head of IMAS, the Moldovan-based research firm that carried out the survey. The nationwide results were a bit of a shock to LGBT activists in Moldova, who recently presented polling data conducted in the capital that suggested rising acceptance of LGBT people. That survey found that the percentage of people who do not feel comfortable in the presence of LGBT people had decreased to 36 percent. In 2019, that figure was 54 percent. Those results had raised spirits among LGBT activists ahead of the Pride march in Chisinau, scheduled for June 19, the first such demonstration in two years due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the planned Pride march has already stirred much controversy and opposition among conservative circles in Moldova. The Russian Orthodox Church in Moldova, the largest faith community in the country, urged authorities in March to block the march and other LGBT-linked events planned between June 16 and 19, claiming the LGBT community had no support in Moldova and only received backing from "agents abroad." Ion Ceban, the mayor of Chisinau and a member of the pro-Russian Socialist Party, has also spoken out against the march. Writing on his Facebook page, Ceban told the LGBT community, "Do what you want at home, not in public." The post was later taken down by Facebook for inciting hatred. But such inflammatory speech in Moldova directed at the LGBT community seems more the rule than the exception, explains Yan Feldman, chairman of the Equality Council. According to Feldman, 2021, an election year, was marked by much hate speech, thanks to all the preelection campaigning, although 2022 has been marked by several homophobic verbal attacks by politicians as well. In April, after years of languishing in parliament, the legislature finally passed a bill to punish hate speech. Activists say it was finally adopted mainly because Moldova is eager to fulfill conditions in an EU questionnaire it received shortly after applying for membership, as a first step toward gaining candidate-country status. The mixed results in Moldova come amid what experts say was a slide in LGBT rights across Europe, especially in former communist states. From physical attacks to online abuse and legislative setbacks, the LBGT community in Central and Eastern Europe had little to cheer about in 2021. Populist governments in Poland, Hungary, and elsewhere were able to exploit frustrations and fears, some stoked by church leaders, some by the grinding COVID-19 pandemic, to push through anti-LGBT legislation. However, ILGA-Europe notes it may be unfair to paint Eastern and Central Europe with a broad brush. In 2021, there was "positive legislative movement in Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia, countering the narrative that there is an East/West divide on LGBTI rights in Europe." Kyiv has defied a Moscow ultimatum to surrender Syevyerodonetsk despite the Russians controlling most of the key eastern city as Western defense ministers gather in Brussels to decide on sending more heavy weapons to the outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian forces. Russia has told Ukrainian defenders holed up in the Azot chemical plant in the city to give up their "senseless resistance and lay down arms" early on June 15, promising a "humanitarian corridor" for the civilians sheltering in the plant along with the fighters. The Russians had planned to take the civilians to territory under the control of Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. 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. British military intelligence said in its daily bulletin on June 15 that several hundred civilians were currently in underground bunkers in the Azot plant together with Ukrainian fighters. The mayor of Syevyerodonetsk, Oleksandr Stryuk, said after the early morning deadline passed that Russian forces attempted to storm the city from several directions but were held back by Ukrainian forces. "We are trying to push the enemy towards the city center," Stryuk said on television. "This is an ongoing situation with partial successes and tactical retreats." Stryuk said Ukrainian forces were not completely cut off. "The escape routes are dangerous, but there are some," he said. Serhiy Hayday, the head of the Luhansk region containing Syevyerodonetsk, said the army was defending the city and keeping Russian forces from Lysychansk, the twin city on the opposite bank of the Siverskiy Donets River. "Nevertheless, the Russians are close and the population is suffering and homes are being destroyed," he posted online. The bulletin issued by Britain's Defense Ministry said that it was "highly unlikely" Moscow had anticipated such stubborn opposition from the Ukrainians during its original planning for the invasion. It added that in the face of the determined Ukrainian response, Russia has resorted to urban-warfare tactics that rely on the heavy use of artillery, causing extensive collateral damage throughout the city. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called both for more heavy weapons and for more EU sanctions against Russia. In an address via video link to Czech lawmakers on June 15, Zelenskiy urged the European Union to adopt a seventh package of punitive measures against Moscow for its unprovoked invasion after the one agreed last month that will halt the majority of imports of Russian oil. Earlier, Zelenskiy said late on June 14 that Ukraine needed modern anti-missile weapons now, adding there could be no justification for partner countries to delay delivery. "We keep telling our partners that Ukraine needs modern anti-missile weapons," Zelenskiy said. "Our country does not have them yet at a sufficient level, but it is in Ukraine and right now that there is the greatest need for such weapons. Procrastination in providing them cannot be justified." Zelenskiy said Ukraine was also seeing "painful losses" in the Kharkiv region to the east of Kyiv, where Russia is trying to strengthen its position after being pushed back. Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar said earlier that Ukraine had received just 10 percent of the weapons it has requested from the West to help fight the Russian invasion. "No matter how hard Ukraine tries, no matter how professional our army is, without the help of Western partners we will not be able to win this war," Malyar said in a televised briefing, saying the West should speed up the delivery of the arms. Western countries have promised to send sophisticated weapons, including advanced rockets, but deploying them is taking time. Malyar said there should be "a clear time frame" for the deliveries "because every day there's a delay, we're talking about the lives of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians." Speaking ahead of a June 15 gathering of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said there was an "urgent need" to send Kyiv more advanced weaponry, but cautioned that familiarizing the Ukrainian military with such weapons systems takes time. "Ukraine is really in a very critical situation and therefore, there's an urgent need to step up," Stoltenberg told journalists. Ahead of the two-day NATO meeting in Brussels, dozens of defense ministers from the Ukraine Defense Contact Group are expected to discuss more weapons deliveries to Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is poised to lead the discussions of the group of nearly 50 countries, officials said. NATO is not officially participating in the talks, to avoid being militarily involved in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, and as nonaligned countries are also part of the group chaired by the United States. With the Luhansk region with its key city of Syevyerodonetsk almost completely in Russian hands, a senior NATO official told CNN that the war in Ukraine had reached a critical point. "I think that you're about to get to the point where one side or the other will be successful," said the official. "Either the Russians will reach Slovyansk and Kramatorsk [in the Donetsk region adjacent to Luhansk] or the Ukrainians will stop them here. And if the Ukrainians are able to hold the line here, in the face of this number of forces, that will matter." With reporting by Reuters, AP, BBC, CNN, and AFP Tajik authorities say they have arrested Muslim Sherzamonov, the brother of fugitive opposition politician Alim Sherzamonov, who is wanted for allegedly organizing and financing deadly anti-government protests in the volatile Gorno-Badakhshan region. The Interior Ministry said that Muslim Sherzamonov was arrested during a special operation to "neutralize" two informal leaders of the restive region, Khursand Mazorov and Zoir Rajabov, on June 12. According to the ministry, the 56-year-old Sherzamonov was arrested after police found an AK-47 assault rifle, ammunition and two grenades in his possession. Tajik law enforcement officials on June 12 said Rajabov and Mazorov "ignored demands to surrender" and were "neutralized" during a "special operation." The Interdepartmental Headquarters for Security and Public Order in Gorno-Badakhshan said in a statement that the two "were officially summoned to law enforcement agencies for interrogation several times, but each time they deliberately refused to comply with the legal requirements of the administrative bodies." The statement said 10 "accomplices" had been also detained during the operation. Alim Sherzamonov, who is currently outside of Tajikistan, told RFE/RL that his brother's arrest was politically motivated. "His only guilt is the fact that he is my brother," he said, adding that the arrest might be linked to his work in the past as an officer of the border guard service, which was under the direct command of a late informal leader of the region, Mahmadboqir Mahmadboqirov. Mahmadboqirov was killed by security forces last month. Rajabov and Mazorov were reportedly associates of Imomnazar Imomnazarov, a former field commander who fought against the government in the 1990s Tajik civil war. He was slain in 2012, although the government claims it was not involved in the killing. Rajabov and Mazorov, both 50 years old, are considered by many to be civic activists in GBAO, but authorities have regularly referred to them as "leaders of criminal gangs in Khorugh." Attaining information in the vast but lightly populated area remains difficult due to regular disruptions in Internet and mobile communications. On June 11, Tajik authorities said three influential figures in the region had been detained, accused of murder and smuggling drugs and weapons among other series crimes. As a result of a special operation, the leaders of organized criminal groups of the city of Khorugh -- Talib Ayombekov, Niyozsho Gulobov, and Munavvar Shanbiev -- were detained," local police authorities said in a statement. The report said all three "are involved in the commission of a number of serious and especially serious crimes such as murder, hooliganism, robbery, smuggling, and illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs, weapons, ammunition and precious stones, the creation of a criminal community, banditry, mass riots, incitement of parochial discord." The authorities in Tajikistan have made a series of arrests and allegations following violent anti-government protests in mid-May. It is not clear if the men slain on June 12 or the three detained on June 11 participated in the protests, but they were among about a dozen so-called "informal leaders" or influential figures in the Central Asian republic. Detainee Ayombekov is a longtime opponent of the authoritarian regime in Tajikistan. AFP reported he fought against Tajik forces in the bloody civil war but that he was integrated into the government along with other so-called warlords as part of a Moscow-brokered peace deal. It is also unclear as to whether those men have been formally charged. Families of the accused could not be reached for comment because Internet service was down in the region. The escalating violence in the region has sparked a call for restraint from the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Western diplomatic missions in Tajikistan, and human rights groups. Gorno-Badakhshan, a linguistically and ethnically distinct region, has been home to rebels who opposed government forces during the conflict in the 1990s. While it makes up almost half of the country, its population is a mere 250,000. The region is difficult to travel around because of the mountainous terrain, while its economy suffers from unemployment, difficult living conditions, and high food prices. With reporting by AFP Three weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the ex-mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Volodymyr Saldo, wrote on his Facebook page claiming he tried to stop idiots seeking to declare independence from Kyiv. "I did not betray my soul," Saldo, 66, wrote in a post punctuated with an icon of the Ukrainian flag. "Kherson is my soul, and Kherson is Ukraine." While it's impossible to see into Saldo's soul, his passport has certainly changed. Now the Kremlin-backed leader of the self-declared authorities in the Kherson region, Saldo over the weekend became the first in the region to receive a fast-tracked Russian passport as Russian and Ukrainian troops continue to fight over control of the Ukrainian region. "For me this is truly a historical moment," Saldo, who served as Khersons mayor from 2002 to 2012, was quoted by separatist authorities as saying on June 11. "I have always thought that we are one country and one people." Saldo is among a handful of separatist leaders that were plucked from Ukraine's political margins as Moscow began occupying parts of the country following the February 24 invasion. Ukrainian officials and opponents of Russias invasion regularly denounce these separatist officials as "collaborators" or "Gauleiters." "They couldnt find anyone with social capital or authority in a single township, district, or city in the Kherson region," Kyiv-based political scientist Serhiy Danilov told Current Time, the Russian-language television network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with RFE/RL. "Not a single person with a clean reputation could be found in the entire region." Few Russian-backed officials have backstories as unusual as Saldo's, who in 2015 -- a year after Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula -- invested in a yoga-drum business in the Czech Republic, and the following year became enmeshed in a bizarre kidnapping case in the Dominican Republic. 'I Would Break His Face' Saldo served in the Ukrainian parliament in 2012-14 with the Party of Regions led by Kremlin-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled Ukraine to Russia in February 2014 amid the mass street protests that precipitated Russias land grab in Ukraine. The following year, he took a 15 percent stake in a Czech firm called Agriatis, headquartered in the small town of Neveklovice, about 85 kilometers north of Prague, Czech corporate records show. Among the company's products are meditation drums. Saldo on June 3 was hit with EU sanctions, meaning his assets in the bloc -- such as his stake in the Czech company -- could be targeted. The Czech daily Denik spoke with Saldo's business partner, Czech-based Ukrainian businessman Volodymyr Erekhynskyi, who said he hadn't spoken with Saldo in years and denounced him as a "collaborator." "If I met him, I would break his face,' Denik quoted Erekhynskyi as saying. In August 2016, meanwhile, Saldo was arrested in the Dominican Republic after a fellow Ukrainian accused him of kidnapping him. The following month, a court in the Caribbean nation ordered Saldo to be held for three months. Saldo, however, returned to Ukraine in December of that year, and his representative and relatives claimed that he, in fact, had been kidnapped by the Ukrainian man, Denys Pashchenko, who had accused the former Kherson mayor of abducting him. 'Ticket To Flee' According to the statement by Saldo's own separatist administration, he was among 23 Kherson region residents who received Russian passports on June 11. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose government called Moscows fast-tracked passport initiative "a flagrant violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," framed the meager turnout as evidence that Ukrainians dont want to join Russia. "I had a look at who was shown on the news as Kherson and Melitopol residents that allegedly wanted Russian passports," Zelenskiy said. "A few collaborators and people close to them. Well, it looks less like a line for passports and more like an attempt to get a ticket to flee." While Saldo is now a Russian citizen, his Facebook page still reflects other loyalties: His main profile picture expresses his love for Kherson with a heart icon in Ukrainian blue and yellow. Written by RFE/RL's Carl Schreck with reporting by Current Time's Yury Baranyuk All bridges out of the eastern Ukrainian city of Syevyerodonetsk have been destroyed and conditions for people remaining in the city are "extremely difficult," the military governor for the Luhansk region told RFE/RL. "All the bridges have been destroyed, so it is impossible to bring anything to the city today, unfortunately," said Serhiy Hayday, adding that evacuations were not possible. Russian forces have destroyed the entire infrastructure for gas, water, and electricity, he said, noting there were also "huge problems" with medical care. According to Hayday, the Russian Army currently controls 70 percent to 80 percent of Syevyerodonetsk. He added on Facebook that Syevyerodonetsk was not blocked, and there is communication with the city. The Ukrainian military said that its forces were pushed back from the center of Syevyerodonetsk, the Donbas city that has seen ferocious battles as Ukrainian and Russian forces fight for control. Eduard Basurin, a senior separatist figure, said on June 13 that Syevyerodonetsk had been "de facto" blocked off after Russian forces blew up the "last" bridge connecting it to Lysychansk. Ukraine's General Staff said earlier that Russia troops had gained a foothold in the village of Bohorodychne, a village about 50 kilometers west of Syevyerodonetsk. Taking Bohorodychne puts Russian forces in good position to attack Slovyansk, a bigger, more important town. According to Basurin, Moscow-backed forces have begun an offensive on Slovyansk. Hayday commented earlier about the situation at the Azot nitrogen chemical plant in Syevyerodonetsk, where hundreds of civilians have reportedly taken refuge, saying it was being "heavily shelled." 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. Moscow-backed separatist fighters said over the weekend that they had surrounded the plant and claimed that Ukrainian defenders were trapped there. The claims could not be independently confirmed. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on June 13 that the battle for Syevyerodonetsk was taking a "terrifying" toll. "The human cost of this battle is very high for us. It is simply terrifying," Zelenskiy said. He told Ukrainians on June 12 that Russia's "key tactical goal" had not changed. "They are pressing in Syevyerodonetsk, severe fighting is ongoing there -- literally for every meter," Zelenskiy said, adding that Russia's military was trying to pour reserves into the Donbas. Zelenskiy said Russia was deploying undertrained troops and using its young men as "cannon fodder" in the "very fierce" battle. "Every meter of Ukrainian land there is covered in blood -- but not only ours, also the occupier's." The British Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin on June 13 that in the coming months, river crossing operations "are likely to be amongst the most important determining factors in the course of the war." The British intelligence said Russia had so far struggled to demonstrate the "complex coordination necessary to conduct successful, large-scale river crossings under fire." Despite the increasingly difficult situation, Zelenskiy remained defiant, saying that Ukrainian forces have prevented Russian troops from quickly overrunning eastern Ukraine. "Remember how in Russia, in the beginning of May, they hoped to seize all of the Donbas?" Zelenskiy said. "It's already the 108th day of the war, already June. Donbas is holding on." Syevyerodonetsk has been the focal point of recent fighting that Kyiv has said could determine the outcome of the war, which began on February 24 with Russias unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The city itself has been all but turned into rubble by the Russian forces' shelling, with the situation resembling conditions seen at the southern port of Mariupol, which fell to Russian forces after a long, bloody battle last month. In the western region of Ternopil, at least 22 people were wounded when four Russian cruise missile hit a military installation and some residential buildings, the regional governor said on June 12. Mykhaylo Podolyak, a top adviser to Zelenskiy, meanwhile, made a plea for thousands of heavy weapons and equipment to achieve parity with Russia at the front and end the war. "Being straightforward -- to end the war we need heavy weapons parity," he said on Twitter. He listed 1,000 howitzers, 300 multiple launch rocket systems, 500 tanks, 2,000 armored vehicles, and 1,000 drones. "Contact Group of Defense Ministers meeting is held in #Brussels on June 15. We are waiting for a decision," he said. In his nightly video address to Ukrainians, Zelenskiy renewed his call for Western countries to speed deliveries of weapons. Ukrainian troops "are doing everything to stop the offensive, as much as they possibly can, as long as there are enough heavy weapons, modern artillery -- all that we have asked for and continue to ask for from our partners, he said. Zelenskiy asserted Russia wanted to destroy every city in the Donbas, the eastern Ukrainian region that includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Every city, thats not an exaggeration, he said. All of these ruins of once-happy cities, the black traces of fires, the craters from explosions -- this is all that Russia can give to its neighbors, to Europe, to the world. With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service Australia's new Deputy Prime Minister has sent a blunt message to China over its military build-up in the South China Sea. Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue defence meeting in Singapore on Saturday, Richard Marles, also the country's new Defence Minister said Australia would continue to invest in its military capabilities to deter China as it tries to "deny the legitimacy of its neighbours' claims" in the region. Mr Marles cautioned China's use of force in the Indo-Pacific as it builds up its military presence. "Chinese militarisation of features in the South China Sea needs to be understood for what it is: the intent to deny the legitimacy of its neighbours claims in this vital international waterway through force," he said. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Richard Marles delivers his speech during the third plenary session of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-la Dialogue. Source: AAP "Australia does not question the right of any country to modernise their military capabilities consistent with their interests and resources ... [But] Chinas military build-up is now the largest and most ambitious we have seen by any country since the end of the Second World War. Its critical that Chinas neighbours do not see that as a risk to them." When it comes to China's relationship with Australia and its allies, Mr Marles painted a picture of economic co-operation balanced with military deterrence. He said Russia's invasion of Ukraine had shown economic interdependence was not enough to dissuade conflict between nations. Investment in regional military deterrence will continue to be necessary to show the risks of conflict outweighed any benefits. "China is not going anywhere and we all need to live together and hopefully prosper together," Mr Marles said. "China's economic success is connected to that of our own and the region. "Australia's approach will be anchored in a resolve to safeguard our national interests, and our support for regional security and stability based on rules." Story continues He said the rule of law, not power, would govern conduct between states. China's Defence Minister Wei Fenghe (R) talks to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (L), Singapore's Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen (2nd L) shakes hands with Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles. Source: Reuters 'There will be continuity in Australian defensive policy': Marles While there were parallels in substance, Mr Marles comments were, diplomatically speaking, a far cry from that of his predecessor Peter Dutton who publicly stated Australia "needed to prepare for war" in the face of China's growing threat. That, he said, was the best way to preserve peace. Mr Marles at the very least used decidedly more tactful language. Speaking at the Singapore gathering, he paraphrased former Australian prime minister Paul Keating, saying China would need to accept restraints on its power as it looked to take a leadership role in the region. "When it comes to the security and stability of our own region, there will be continuity in Australian defensive policy," he said. This would mean a continuation of the Australia-US alliance, commitment to AUKUS and an "accelerated" push to military quantum technology, AI, undersea warfare capabilities and hypersonic munitions. "Australia's investments in defence capability are a necessary and prudent response to the military buildup we see taking place in the Indo-Pacific," Mr Marles said. "They aim to contribute to an effective balance of military power. A balance of ensuring no state will ever conclude here that the benefits of conflict outweigh the risks." China's State Councilor and Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe leaves after a bilateral meeting with US on the sidelines of the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. Source: Reuters with AAP Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play. WASHINGTON Americans who watched Thursday night's congressional hearing on the Jan. 6 insurrection heard then-President Donald Trump's attorney general dismiss his claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, calling it, well, cattle dung. They learned that when Trump heard rioters chanting "hang Mike Pence," he replied that maybe his vice president "deserves it" for refusing to play along with his plot to stay in office. And they saw harrowing footage of the melee in the Capitol, where a police officer recalled getting knocked unconscious and later slipping on the spilled blood of her colleagues. But it is as though some top Republicans in New York didn't see or hear any of that. Claudia Tenney: a complicated conservative congresswoman-in-waiting for WNY The woman who would be the Southtowns' congresswoman lives near Utica, but she wants you to know that will soon change, and that she knows Buffalo and points south and a thing or two about being a hometown Republican representative in the Trump era. Rep. Claudia Tenney, a Utica-area Republican who's running to represent a redrawn district stretching from rural Niagara County to the Watertown area, issued a statement dismissing the work of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. "It is partisan performance art produced by the mainstream media to defame President Trump, attack his supporters, divide the American people and advance the federal takeover of our elections," Tenney said. And while Tenney described the hearing as "a sham," Rep. Elise Stefanik of the North Country, the House's third-ranking Republican, did several television interviews on friendly right-wing outlets where she called the investigation into the riot a "partisan witch hunt." North Country's Stefanik rises in GOP leadership Stefanik's election means lawmakers from New York will serve parallel roles on both sides of the aisle in the House. In other words, Tenney and Stefanik are continuing to do what many Republicans have done in the aftermath of an unprecedented attack by Americans on the nation's Capitol, and an unprecedented attempt by an American president to stay in office after losing an election. In essence, they tried to change the subject. The Buffalo News contacted both Tenney's office and Stefanik's with several questions about the hearing, but neither responded. That meant the two lawmakers missed out on reacting to some of the hearing's most dramatic moments, such as: Then-Attorney General William P. Barr's dismissal of Trump's election fraud claims as "complete nonsense" and the response of the president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, who testified on video, saying: "I respect Attorney General Barr. So I accepted what he was saying. Rep. Liz Cheney's statement that when Trump heard protesters chanting "Hang Mike Pence," the president said: "Maybe our supporters have the right idea." Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards' description of being knocked out in the riot and her later comment: "I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people's blood." Cheney's preview of the investigation's findings, in which she said: You will see that Donald Trump and his advisers knew that he had, in fact, lost the election. But despite this, President Trump engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information to convince huge portions of the U.S. population that fraud had stolen the election. D.C. officer details alleged attack by Amherst man, others As Amherst resident Thomas F. Sibick remains in custody on charges connected to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the officer he is accused of assaulting told a congressional committee of the brutal beating he suffered that day. In statements and appearances on right-wing media outlets, Tenney and Stefanik focused on none of that, instead emphasizing other issues. The American people are deeply concerned about the historic and unprecedented failures of Joe Bidens Administration, from skyrocketing costs, soaring fuel prices, rising crime, and the erosion of our Constitutional rights," Tenney said in a statement. "Tonights event was a distraction from these very real issues facing our nation." And on NewsMax, Tenney lit into Cheney, the Wyoming congresswoman who serves as one of two Republicans on the panel and the committee's vice chair. Tenney accused Cheney of "Trump derangement syndrome," adding: "She is currying favor with the Democrats because she has an obsession with Donald Trump." Meanwhile, Stefanik appeared on Fox News, Fox Business, NewsMax and Steve Bannon's War Room to offer her alternate take on the hearing. "This committee is illegitimate," Stefanik said on NewsMax's "Spicer & Co." "It's illegitimate because for the first time in the history of Congress, (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi shred 232 years of precedent by not allowing the minority party, the Republicans, to appoint members of Congress" to the panel. Then again, the committee that's investigating the insurrection exists only because congressional Republicans rejected legislation calling for an independent commission to do the job. Both Tenney and Stefanik opposed that proposal, but Rep. Chris Jacobs, an Orchard Park Republican who's leaving Congress at the end of his current term, supported it. Jacobs' spokesman did not respond to a request for comment for this story, and the congressman did not post any reaction to the hearing on his website or on social media. But Rep. Brian Higgins, a Buffalo Democrat, offered a blunt reaction on Twitter. "Clearly, substantial evidence exists of an attempted coup," Higgins said. "Donald Trump & others responsible must have their actions fully exposed & be held accountable." FBI questions organizers of Buffalo buses to Capitol rally that led to riot Rus and Jul Thompson, well-known right-wing activists, told The Buffalo News on Monday that agents discussed the deadly events in Washington during a two-hour session. Meanwhile, Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the other Republican on the panel, lashed into lawmakers who continue to support Trump. "I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain," Cheney said at the hearing. And on Twitter, Kinzinger offered a cutting critique of Stefanik's Newsmax performance. "Man. Id hate to be on your side of the insurrection right now," he said. "Today was just a taste. Truth always wins." Jerry Zremski is The Buffalo News Washington bureau chief. Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 2 Authorities have captured an alleged dealer they say led a violent drug ring in at least two sprawling housing projects in Puerto Rico and trafficked narcotics to the U.S. mainland. The arrest of Angel Ayala Vazquez, also known as Angelo Millones, has dealt a hard blow to drug trafficking in Puerto Rico, Javier F. Pena, special agent in charge of the Caribbean division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said Tuesday. Vazquez was arrested Friday in the San Juan suburb of Bayamon and charged with drug possession with the intent to distribute. U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez told reporters Monday that Vazquez allegedly trafficked thousands of kilograms (pounds) of drugs to the U.S. mainland and distributed narcotics to other Puerto Rican trafficking gangs since 1995. Vazquezs attorney, Juan Ramon Acevedo Cruz, said Tuesday that his client is innocent of charges that could send him to prison for life. Advertisement Puerto Ricos police chief, Jose Figueroa Sancha, while not disclosing specifics, said officers are closely monitoring the housing projects where Vazquez operated. There is at least one drug distribution point in each of the U.S. territorys 240 housing projects, according to Rodriguez. June is Pride Month. Pride Month is celebrated in remembrance of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, a critical moment for the LGBTQ+ community in the United States. Pride Month is observed globally with parades, parties and demonstrations to acknowledge and celebrate the struggles and accomplishments of the LGBTQ+ community. These events promote the ideals of equality, equity and political awareness of the current issues the LGBTQ+ community is facing. Same sex relationships and gender expression not conforming to the cisgendered cultural norms are often considered inherent flaws in human nature or nurturing. This perspective fundamentally invalidates diversity and individuality, and does not recognize how LGBTQ+ peoples gender identity and sexuality are affected by other social, economic and political issues. For example, members of the LGBTQ+ community experience an overwhelming amount of workplace discrimination. The Williams Institute reports that lesbian, gay, and bisexual employees are more likely to report being fired from a job or denied a position compared to their straight counterparts. According to the Movement Advancement Project, LGBT youth also face disproportionate rates of homelessness, and in rural areas, a lack of services providers with competency serving LGBT youth means this homelessness may be more difficult to recognize and redress. The Trevor Project states, LGBTQ+ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers ... being LGBTQ+ alone does not put a young person at higher risk for suicide; the discrimination, rejection, fear, and harassment that may come with being LGBTQ in an unsupportive environment are what increase the risk. Clearly, even with significant progress members of the LBGTQ+ community are still victims of pain, suffering and bigotry everywhere in the world, and yes, even here in Auburn, New York. It is an unpleasant truth a community must face in order to bring change. This unpleasant truth promotes shame, secrecy, and boundaries enforced upon the LGBTQ+ community that affect their families, careers and mental health, to name a few. A community that supports Pride Month is able to recognize this unpleasant truth and takes action to cultivate change, hope and pride in ones identity and individuality. It is a community that inspires people to love others and themselves, proudly and passionately. It is a community that encourages individuals to be unapologetically themselves. It is a community that is an ally with the LGBTQ+ community. I believe Auburn, New York, is becoming such a community. Auburn, like the LGBTQ+ community, is constantly evolving. Over the last few years, I have seen most of our community become allies to not only the LGBTQ+ community, but to other marginalized populations as well. We have city officials who support the marginalized, school board members who seek inclusion in our schools and local businesses and organizations that proudly display Pride flags. Auburn is becoming a beacon of light and hope for individuals in troubled waters. School book ban debate arrives in Auburn AUBURN The Auburn school board has been hearing from parents upset about the presence of a nonfiction young adult book in the high school li One question I am asked frequently is, How do I become an ally, and what do I have to do? There are many ways to become an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. Learning about LGBTQ+-related issues, including basic terms and concepts, is the first step. Accepting and loving ones identity regardless of gender or sexuality is an essential and affirmative step against discrimination. Also important is understanding that each individuals journey toward self-discovery is not alike some individuals are out, proud and comfortable with their identities, while others still struggle with theirs. And so is donating time or resources to LGBTQ+ organizations and events. As allies, we must learn to listen to the voices of the marginalized, help raise those voices and not claim the spotlight as our own. Most importantly, allies act. We confront bigotry, discrimination and any perspective that does not encourage individuals to find strength and pride in their uniqueness. We create safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth and educate parents, guardians and educators about the issues LGBTQ+ youth face. We teach our children that gender and sexuality do not define a person. When we become an ally, we realize that gender and sexuality are not related to the human desire for love, respect, and acceptance. I believe George M. Johnson, author of All Boys Arent Blue, perhaps said it best: We are not as different as you think, and all our stories matter and deserve to be celebrated and told. If you go WHAT: 2022 Interfaith Pride Service, A Light in Troubled Waters" WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 29 WHERE: Westminster Presbyterian Church, 17 William St., Auburn INFO: Visit westminsterauburn.org Christopher Patch is the children's and youth coordinator for REACH Ministries and coordinator of Pride House at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Auburn. He is also an adjunct professor of business and information technology. He holds a master's in theology from Northeastern Seminary. He lives in Auburn with his wife, Kimberly, and their three children. For more information, visit westminsterauburn.org. Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 AUBURN Auburn fourth-graders performed a musical tribute and strawberry cake was served during a celebration of iconic abolitionist Harriet Tubman's 200th birthday. The Genesee Elementary School students who wrote the song with folk duo Magpie sang at the New York State Equal Rights Heritage Center Saturday. Strawberry cake was later served, as strawberries are said to have been one of Tubman's favorite treats. Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino of Magpie have been creating songs about Tubman with Genesee students during week-long projects for nine years. This year's song is called "Our Gift To You," and Artzner said visiting Auburn every year has "become like coming home." "Our fourth-grade students this year wrote an absolutely amazing song. We wanted to do a song this year that was a happy birthday song for Harriet, but not sing, 'Happy birthday, Harriet,' since Harriet's been deceased now for over 100 years. It's 'happy birthday to us,' for you. In other words, we're celebrating your birthday," he said. As Artzner and Leonino sang the song with the students, Leonino and the students communicated the lyrics through American Sign Language as they sang. Parents and others had their cell phones trained straight at the performers in order to get video or pictures. Artist Arthur Hutchinson was also on hand to talk about a planned mural for downtown Auburn honoring Tubman. The work will depict and reference Tubman's efforts during the Civil War, her work as a suffragist and the Thompson Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, where she worshipped, among other aspects of her life. Saying that art is "probably the oldest form of teaching and learning," Hutchinson said he wanted to portray different parts of Tubman's life. He later noted he was proud to have the opportunity. "It means a lot to be able to actually use my ability and my passion to teach, to change and have an impact, so thank you all for being a part of this and being here today," he said. The project, in which a 61-by-26-foot mural will be put up on the Nolan Block wall facing the corner of Genesee and North streets, is being organized by the Harriet Tubman Boosters, which educates people about the famed former city resident. The boosters group has been raising funds for the undertaking's $40,000 cost. Laurel Ullyette, a board member with the boosters group, recently said the organization is about 80% toward that overall goal following a recent $8,475 grant from the Cayuga Community Foundation, with $7,000 remaining. A raffle at the Strawberry Social is supporting the project, while other promotions are also meant to raise funds. "It's just so rewarding. It makes us feel so proud. I'm so proud of the kids, of what they're capable of," Ullyette said. "The art of music, it just really gets the kids totally involved. They study Harriet during the school year and then they put it altogether, writing this original song." Josh Thomas and Christina Deuel were at the event to see their daughter Alexis Thomas perform, noting they had never been in the heritage center before Saturday. Deuel said Alexis went on a field trip to the center about a month ago and she had enjoyed herself. Deuel called the event "amazing" and added that she recently learned about Tubman's birthday. "It's awesome that what Harriet Tubman did for everyone was remembered this way, and I'm glad my daughter was a part of it," Josh said. Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau. Love 2 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. One statement changed everything. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, on May 18, 2021, announced his opposition to legislation that would establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He criticized Democrats, namely Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for not negotiating in good faith. He then picked apart the bill, questioning whether a commission's work would be "duplicative" since there were other investigations already in progress. McCarthy's comments did not just signal to Republicans that they should oppose the bill. It was a public betrayal of U.S. Rep. John Katko, the lead Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee whom McCarthy tasked with negotiating the legislation. As the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack holds prime-time hearings, it's easy to forget there was bipartisan support for a commission until there wasn't. Katko worked with House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, who is now the chair of the select committee, to negotiate the Jan. 6 commission bill. During their conversations, Katko secured concessions from Thompson that were key to reaching an agreement. Before talks began, House Democrats proposed an 11-member commission, seven appointed by Democrats and four named by Republicans. Katko was able to get Thompson to agree to a 10-member commission, with each party appointing five members. The other significant concessions: Democrats would name the chair, but Republicans would choose the vice chair. Working together, the chair and the vice chair would appoint the commission's staff and agree on the issuance of subpoenas. (The majority of the commission could agree to issue subpoenas, too.) After Katko and Thompson announced their agreement on May 15, Katko believed it was a good bill. "As I have called for since the days just after the attack, an independent, 9/11-style review is critical for getting answers our (Capitol Police officers) and all Americans deserve," he said. "This is about facts, not partisan politics. I appreciate Chairman Thompson's robust collaboration and strong commitment to working together on this effort." Three days later, McCarthy's statement made it clear that Republican leadership would not endorse a bipartisan commission. House Democrats moved ahead with a vote, but House Republican Whip Steve Scalise urged GOP members to oppose the bill. During the House floor debate, Katko was in an awkward position. Most of his party opposed the legislation, but he was leading the GOP side on the floor. He also had to fact-check comments made by Republicans as they panned the bill. When the House passed the legislation on May 20, 35 Republicans including Katko broke with their party's leadership to support the creation of a Jan. 6 commission. There wasn't enough support in the Senate to advance the bill. With no hope of a bipartisan panel, House Democratic leaders opted to create a select committee, which is now presenting its findings to the American people. Even as Republicans railed against the select committee, Democrats hoped GOP members who were outraged at the attack would join them in the investigation. There were two takers: U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican who has been the most vocal critic of former President Donald Trump and his role in inciting the Jan. 6 attack; and U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican. Both not only joined the committee, but they had voted to impeach Trump in January 2021. Katko was viewed as a prime candidate to join the committee for a few reasons. He also voted to impeach Trump, he is the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee and he had played a leading role in crafting the commission legislation. But after the failure of the commission bill, Katko wasn't interested in participating in the Democratic-led investigation. "It would be a turbo-charged partisan exercise, not an honest fact-finding body that the American people and Capitol Police deserve," he said in June 2021. There was no mention of the partisanship that thwarted Katko's attempt to create a bipartisan commission. It was his party, not Democrats, that derailed his hopes for an independent review. The events that occurred on Jan. 6 were too serious to ignore, so the House majority pushed forward with the select committee. On June 30, 2021, the House voted to establish the select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack. Two Republicans Cheney and Kinzinger joined with Democrats to support the committee's creation. Katko sided with GOP leadership McCarthy and others who shot down his Jan. 6 commission bill to oppose the measure. Politics reporter Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 2 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Self-described free speech absolutist Elon Musk is waffling on his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, citing concerns that the company misrepresented the number of bots or automated accounts on the platform, according to news reports. For the sake of Black and brown Twitter users who use the platform to discuss social issues, myself included, I hope the deal falls apart. Musk used to maintain an online facade of being apolitical, but his Twitter-flurries since April have provided clarity to some of his social and political beliefs. He has called the Democratic Party a party of division and hate. He hinted at lifting the ban on former president and constant Twitter-rule breaker Donald Trump. In Trumpian fashion, Musk has claimed critical media reports about him are veiled political attacks. Prominent conservatives in the U.S. who claim companies like Twitter are somehow silencing their agendas while amplifying liberal ones have applauded Musks takeover bid. But Twitter isnt a welcoming space for marginalized voices, and Musk at the helm of the company would only make the environment more toxic. Theres a tremendous amount of racial name-calling that I get. Its the kinds of things that, if I wasnt a journalist, would make me think more than twice about not being on Twitter, said Erika D. Smith, a columnist at the Los Angeles Times who often writes about issues related to race. Because seriously, why would you want to be subjected to that kind of abuse? Twitter allows for public dissent and the challenging of antiquated power structures. But hate speech has also long been part of the platforms DNA. The groups subjected to it most are people of color, particularly Black women, meaning those with the heavy burden of carrying social justice movements in this country are also the most likely to be harassed into silence on Twitter. Twitters own conduct policy says the company wants to combat abuse motivated by hatred, prejudice or intolerance, particularly abuse that seeks to silence the voices of those who have been historically marginalized. In a transparency report last summer, Twitter claimed that between July and December 2020, it took action against more than 1 million accounts that violated its policy on hateful conduct, a 77% increase from the same period in 2019. Clearly, Twitter has room for improvement in limiting hate speech. Smith told me shes been called a Black bitch on the site often. Ive personally been told to go back to Africa on multiple occasions. Progressive Oakland City Council Member Carroll Fife, a Black woman, told me it isnt unusual for her to receive threats of physical violence. It was a lot, and it continues to be a lot. Sometimes I think about what would be the next step for someone who says these things, Fife told me. Would someone try to harm my family? Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle 2020 This level of abuse tracks with what an Amnesty International study in 2018 revealed about the experiences of women of color on Twitter. The report showed Black women were 84 percent more likely than white women to be targeted by hateful tweets. Some of this race-based harassment is nuanced, but no less stinging. A 2021 Brookings Institution study on cyberbullying and online reactions to systemic racism described several forms of racist discourse on Twitter, including reverse racism, where its alleged that members of a racial group typically considered victims of racism acted as perpetrators of racism, and racial scapegoating, which involves shifting the blame for racist actions, behaviors, policies, and institutions onto the marginalized racial group. 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. Last month, Musk said: Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square. Though its too early to say for sure how he may formally change the platforms guidelines around hate speech, Musk has argued against removing offensive comments on social media, if theyre legal. Meanwhile, Musks multibillion-dollar electric car company, Tesla, has been embroiled in multiple lawsuits involving accusations of racial discrimination, particularly against Black workers. Tesla tried to frame one of the lawsuits as a publicity stunt. We have to wonder if our voices can be trusted in the hands of someone with this kind of history, said Ashley Weatherspoon, the founder of the Black-women-focused lifestyle blog Dear Young Queen, who in 2009 helped popularize the #UKnowUrBlackWhen hashtag. Or will we all lose it while hes out preaching about giving people freedom of speech? Musk will go on revealing more of himself, politically, as his attempt to acquire Twitter drags on. Hell again rail against censorship while lambasting the left and teasing support from the right. To his more than 97 million followers, hell go on obfuscating the fact that his dream for Twitters future is a nightmare for Black and brown people. Truth is, a lot of us are living through a version of that nightmare right now. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Justin Phillips appears Sundays. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he was not at all surprised that San Francisco voters recalled progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin last week, and he decried the national attention it drew. That was so predictable, predictable, particularly after the school board recall, Newsom said Friday in an interview with Fox 11 Los Angeles. Nothing about that was surprising. What was unexpected was the scrutiny it attracted, Newsom said, particularly the view that it was an arbiter of something farther reaching. I thought the punditry was a little overwhelming on it, he said. But the governor, who served as San Franciscos mayor from 2004 to 2011, said he understood why Boudin was decisively voted out of office in Tuesdays recall election. I think the issue in San Francisco, in particular, is people want the streets cleaned up period. Full stop. Enough, Newsom told Elex Michaelson, the host of the political podcast and television show The Issue Is. They want the streets cleaned up. They want a sense of order from the disorder theyre feeling on the streets. He said while many factors contributed to the state of the city, including mental health problems and open air drug use, crime was one of the most visible components. And tag, the D.A. was it, meaning there was some attachment of accountability and responsibility, said Newsom, who was in Los Angeles to attend climate-related events at the Summit of the Americas hemispheric conference. Boudin, a former public defender, was narrowly elected in 2019, pledging to hold police officers and corporations accountable. But supporters of the recall said Boudin failed to protect the citys broader population due to inexperience and fixed ideology, and that in moving to charge fewer arrestees and emphasize diversion more he was siding with offenders over victims. Under Boudin, prosecutors were not allowed to seek cash bail, charge juveniles as adults, or request longer sentences due to gang affiliations. While Newsom acknowledged such some of those policies contributed to the problems San Francisco is facing, he underscored that many Republican-led regions face similar issues. Its right to focus on where we need to improve not necessarily unique and distinctive, he said. Newsom, who handily beat back his own recall challenge last year, sailed through last weeks primary election and now will face Republican State Sen. Brian Dahle on the November ballot. He said he didnt have an election night party as he knows how quickly political tides can turn. November is a lifetime away, he said. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Newsom added that he is frustrated with what is going on with the Democratic Party on a national level, with pressing issues such as gun control and reproductive rights hanging in the balance. He stopped short of blaming President Biden. Its not his job to organize at all levels the Democratic Party, Newsom said, Thats the Democratic Partys responsibility. He also declined to criticize House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco or Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. I dont want to take a cheap shot, Newsom said. Repeating his reaction after recent news that the Supreme Court was poised to overturn abortion rights, he said, Where the hell are we as a party to capture the narrative, to capture the imagination of the American people? Aidin Vaziri (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avaziri@sfchronicle.com Trinity Place, a recently completed complex of 1,900 apartments in San Franciscos perpetually troubled Mid-Market area, is a place of extremes. Its a baffling but beguiling sculpture garden, and a case study in how politics shape the urban landscape. Four interlocked slabs that wall out the community, and two spacious plazas that invite it in. The architecture manages to be overwhelming and subtle at once. Anywhere else in the city, a dense puzzle of right-angled forms ranging in height from 17 to 24 stories would be deadly. At the corner of Eighth and Market streets, Trinity Place may prove to be the anchor that pulls the disparate blocks together. The complex has been evolving since 2003, when the first conceptual designs were unveiled for the 4-acre site framed by Market, Eighth and Mission streets. The initial phase, a 24-story bar set perpendicular to Mission Street with 18 stories of gray metal poised atop six levels of glass, opened in 2010. Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle During that period, the project grew in size by nearly 500 units a change driven not by developer greed but by San Franciscos political dynamics. The site held a motel converted to 377 apartments and owned by Angelo Sangiacomo, whose battles with tenant groups in the 1970s led to his being dubbed the father of rent control. So when Sangiacomo and his real estate firm Trinity Properties set out to replace the former motor lodge with 1,410 apartments, activists went to battle until a deal was worked out: Sangiacomo agreed that the complex would include replacements for each of the former rent-controlled units. In return, the project was allowed to grow to 1,900 units of which 528 are either rent-controlled or below market rate. That level of density is daunting especially since the blocks heights are tightly capped by a 1984 voter initiative that keeps new shadows from being cast on city parks, including nearby Civic Center Plaza. Thats why the easternmost building on Mission Street is 24 stories, but the corner at Eighth and Market steps down to 16 stories. But only with this springs opening of a Whole Foods Market along Market Street does the scale of Trinity Place sink in. It is huge no surprise. Its also more inviting than you might expect. Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle The invitation is literal, with the new building along Market Street punctured by an eight-story portal thats 45 feet wide and leads into a large courtyard. Another, lower portal is carved through the building beyond. Semi-public spaces often are designed and managed with cues to keep outsiders out, to keep passersby passing by. Here, its the opposite. If the vast portal doesnt whet your curiosity, maybe the herringbone pattern of the white-and-black marble pavers will. No? Then try and resist the lure of life-size classical figures carved from white marble and encased in thick clear glass. Youll want a closer look if only to confirm that youre not hallucinating the juxtaposition of rigid modernism and curvaceous Greek bodies, male and female alike. Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle Im not saying Lawrence Argents statuary qualifies as great art. But the six figures arranged in a diagonal line between the two portals succeed at something more primal. They draw you in and make you look. Once inside, theres plenty to see. On the left is a public seating area where, again, white Carrara marble sets the tone as seating along raised planters that hold Chinese elm trees, or two long tables that (consumer alert!) can be blistering hot in direct sun. The low portal leads into Angelos Piazza, which opened in 2017 and is dominated by a swirling 92-foot-tall Venus, also by Argent, rising from a meadow of artificial turf in reflective swirls of stainless steel. Below are statuesque chunks of marble sprinkled through the piazza. One is carved with beaming portraits of Angelo Sangiacomo and his longtime wife, Yvonne, who died last year. Adding to the slightly surreal air of Trinity Place are the buildings themselves, four structures that present cliff-like backdrops to the public spaces and adjacent streets. Theyre designed by Arquitectonica, a firm founded in Miami in 1977 by Bernardo Fort-Brescia and Laurinda Spear. Now it has 10 offices on four continents, and a half dozen San Francisco buildings that showcase the firms affinity both for sleek glass such as the Lumina condominium towers on Rincon Hill and boxy geometric modernism such as, well, Trinity Place. Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle Fort-Brescias design concept at Eighth and Market is nothing if not ambitious, with the facades of each structure treated like a cubist collage. Or, as he wrote in 2016, large-scale prisms in concrete and glass (that) interact with each other to create a series of geometric compositions. He was more blunt when speaking with The Chronicle in 2010: These buildings have to be slabs, and I was afraid they would feel static, like monoliths. 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. Good wishes aside, static wins out. The Eighth Street walls show this all too well: There might be large swaths of great precast concrete here and tan precast concrete there, or multistory rectangles of flat silver metal framing flat windows, but a slab is a slab. Instead of energetic overlapping layers, its a big monotonous facade. The same blur of tones and materials looms over Angelos Piazza and the courtyard between the portals but within the complex theyre softened by the down-to-earth ebullience of the landscape. The lavish whimsies more than hold their own. This is reinforced by the fact that, happily, the public spaces of Trinity Place are starting to be used. Customers trickle out from Whole Foods, which is tucked below ground in a 35-foot-high basement space with a cavernous grandeur all its own, and settle down on a bench or under a tree for lunch. People pass through the portals on their way through the block, some on skateboards and others walking dogs. Visitors stop by to veg out and check their cell phones in exotic comfort. Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle Even with construction complete, theres a long way to go in terms of knowing whether this mega-project will succeed as anything beyond a real estate deal. BART is rebuilding its station entrance outside the Market Street portal, which means Trinity Place still looks like a construction site from some angles. The courtyard is lined by retail spaces waiting to be filled. And the social ills that have long plagued this part of town remain tragically apparent; look no further than the squalid scene at Eighth and Mission streets, directly across from the second phase of Trinity Place. It might be that Trinity Place wont move the needle in a positive direction, falling short like all the other supposed Mid-Market salvations of recent decades. But the public gestures are genuinely engaging. With luck, things will only get better than here. John King is The San Francisco Chronicles urban design critic. Email: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @johnkingsfchron Google Street View A pair of 14-year-old friends died when their all-terrain vehicle struck a tree on Thursday afternoon, California Highway Patrol said. A third boy needed hospitalization for minor injuries. According to CHP, Michael Bazan, Noah Lichwa and their 15-year-old friend were riding on an quad ATV on Margaret Lane in Winters, Calif., when the vehicle veered off the roadway. It then hit a tree and all three boys were ejected, killing Bazan and Lichwa. The boys were pronounced dead at the scene. Police are investigating an incident that occurred during a Drag Queen Story Hour at the San Lorenzo Library on Saturday afternoon after Panda Dulce, the San Francisco drag performer hosting the reading, said they were targeted by a group of 8-10 Proud Boys who stormed the room and shouted homophobic and transphobic threats at them, forcing them to leave the event with a security guard and hide in a back office. The Alameda County Sheriffs Office said that police responded to a report of a disturbance at the library at around 1:30 p.m. and discovered five men "described as members of the Proud Boys organization." The men were "described as extremely aggressive with a threatening violent demeanor causing people to fear for their safety," the sheriff's office said. It is not clear whether they are members of the national Proud Boys organization or were simply representing themselves as such. The sheriff's office said an "active hate crime investigation is underway, as is an investigation into the annoying and harassing of children." In an Instagram post that was first reported by KQED, Dulce said the men also attempted to record them on their phones. They got right in our faces. They jeered. They attempted to escalate to violence, Dulce wrote, adding that the confrontation totally freaked out all of the kids. In a press release, the sheriffs office said they escorted the men from the premises. But after they were out of the building, Dulce said the group of protestors then proceeded to form a line in an attempt to cut off the exit doors to the library. At this point, Dulce returned to the library and finished the reading, which was geared toward preschool-aged children in celebration of Pride Month. I eventually got out. Im safe. Ill be fine, wrote Dulce. Drag queen story hours have always seen protestors. And Ive always received hate mail. But today hit different. Dulce was one of the first drag performers to lead a Drag Queen Story Hour when author Michelle Tea spearheaded the program in San Francisco in 2015. While the events quickly garnered positive feedback and are intended to encourage open-minded discussion of gender identity among children and their parents, theyve been frequently targeted for harassment by anti-LGBTQ, far-right extremists, who have attempted to dox the participants and attendees. Notably, Saturdays event was amplified late last month by Libs of TikTok, an influential right-wing social media account that was suspended on Instagram and had some of its tweets removed earlier this week after posting the locations of drag-focused events for children taking place across the country. A spokesperson for the Alameda County Library told SFGATE on Sunday afternoon that it would continue to celebrate Pride Month and offer similar programming. Libraries are open to all and are places that foster inclusion of all our communities. Attempts to intimidate and silence others are not tolerated in libraries, the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. We are grateful to Panda Dulce for showing bravery and resilience and finishing the Storytime event. ...We appreciate the support that has poured in from communities throughout the Bay Area. There are only a handful of local chefs who have become so successful that their names are synonymous with the Bay Area. When you hear a name like Alice Waters, for example, you immediately think of her as a Bay Area chef and the queen of California cuisine. Or Martin Yan and Cecilia Chang, the forebearers of Chinese American cuisine in San Francisco. But in that pantheon of celebrated Bay Area chefs, theres also Tanya Holland, who brought West Oakland local and national recognition as a food destination with Brown Sugar Kitchen in 2008. When the soul food restaurant opened, Holland was serving up to 1,800 customers per week. Most folks wanted to check out her take on chicken and waffles, where the waffles were made from cornmeal and the chicken was fried in a batter seasoned with tarragon. Brown Sugar Kitchen relocated to downtown Oakland in 2019, where it continued to dish out catfish po boys, Creole meatloaf, warm buttermilk biscuits and, of course, Hollands signature chicken and waffles. However, in January 2022, she abruptly closed the groundbreaking restaurant. When youre not fully resourced for decades, it adds up, Holland told SFGATE in January. I hung in there as long as I could. I fought the resistance probably a lot longer than I should have. Nonetheless, in all the work she is currently doing to advance the hospitality industry, theres always a perspective of equity and inclusion. What she cares about most is equity for women and marginalized groups in their respective work environments. One of the reasons she closed Brown Sugar Kitchen was because the demographics of Oakland had changed significantly. It was becoming increasingly difficult for employees to live close to the restaurant, she explained. That's pretty significant. A lot of my employees were coming from Vallejo, Modesto, Hayward just because there werent as many good-paying restaurant jobs out there. They were just trying to have a quality of life. Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE In the end, it wasnt a sustainable business for Holland or her employees. So what is one of the Bay Areas most esteemed chefs doing now? Even though Holland is no longer associated with any of the restaurants that she originally opened, she is still making waves in the food world more visibly. Holland was regularly featured on short TV segments, dating back to 2000, when she appeared on The Today Show. Her media profile grew to new heights in 2017, when she was a contestant on season 15 of Top Chef, an experience she later confessed to Food & Wine Magazine was unpleasant and the continuation of the bro culture. Later, she hosted a cooking show on Oprah Winfreys OWN network called Tanyas Kitchen Table with Tanya Holland. When the pandemic struck in 2020, though, she decided to use this newfound media platform for good and on her own terms. With the help of a few connected friends, she started her own podcast called Tanyas Table, where she interviewed different people with and without ties to the food world. Her first guest was Questlove, a founding member of the Grammy award-winning hip-hop group The Roots, where the two talked about music, culture and, of course, food (Questlove has a community Instagram account called Quest Loves Food). Shes interviewed the likes of Bay Area chef and Salt Fat Acid Heat author Samin Nosrat, Danny Glover and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. If I could host a dinner party and invite a diverse group of people, who would I ask? she said, describing how she came up with the idea for the podcast. I got athletes, musicians, activists, writers, restaurateurs. Those are the people that I would want at a dinner party to have a conversation. So that's why we call it Tanyas Table. The idea for the podcast was influenced by a recurring dinner party that her parents hosted, with family friends from different cultures and backgrounds, when Holland was about 8 years old. It was called the gourmet club, she said. But it wasn't like the cuisine was always reflecting the heritage of the members. They would just pick something I think they did a soul food dinner one night, one month, they did a Jewish Seder. Spain, Italy, Mexico I was exposed to all the things. Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Growing up in Rochester, New York, Holland said her neighborhood wasnt very integrated. When her parents hosted these meals, which were actually for adults and couples, Holland was allowed to tag along because she was an only child. These meals helped introduce Holland to the importance of diversity, while cherishing and uplifting a different culture through food. This early life lesson stuck with Holland and shaped her social impact in the community both locally in the Bay Area and abroad. Just this year, she partnered with an organization called Global SF, a not-for-profit economic development agency paving the way for international companies to locate, invest, and grow in the San Francisco Bay Area. As an ambassador for the organization, along with Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski of State Bird Provisions and Brandon Jew of Mister Jius, Holland recently visited Sweden and Denmark on a sustainability-minded food and biotech tour. She consistently brings people together in a special way she brings a genuine warmth, Brioza said. Over the years, I've heard her speak on various panels and I admire her articulation and compassion for the industry, and perhaps mostly, love her positivity, no matter the challenges. One of the panels she keeps busy with is the James Beard Foundations Chefs and Restaurateurs Awards ceremony Holland is the chair of the awards and a trustee on the foundations board. This yearly awards ceremony is like the Oscars for the restaurant and bar industry. Holland has certainly cemented her place in the food history books, and continues to push for working toward a better, more inclusive, world. Yet her most significant addition to the food worlds canon might be her newest cookbook, Tanya Hollands California Soul: Recipes from a Culinary Journey West, which comes out in October of this year. Courtesy of Ten Speed Press Its about how California has influenced my cooking but we're also talking about the migration of African Americans from the South to California, which includes some of my great aunts and uncles, she said. This is a subject that has not been covered. Nobody's looked at African American food contribution in California, which is significant. While it is technically a cookbook, with over 80 recipes, it will focus on the key ingredients, cooking techniques and traditions that Black Americans brought with them from the South to California. Much has been written about the food traditions that migrated from the South to Chicago, but Hollands book will be the first of its kind to highlight how those traditions and recipes evolved once they settled in the Golden State. Among the recipes featured are collard green tabbouleh, fried chicken paillards with arugula and sea shoots salad, rhubarb upside-down cake and honey lavender chess pie, which will fuse Southern traditions with California flair. Holland's departure from the restaurant that brought her critical and cultural recognition may have felt unexpected, but given the stresses of the pandemic, it feels as if she wants to reorient her passion for food into something more sustainable. Frankly, the restaurant business is still, at least for me, not a place of empowerment. There's still a ways to go there, she said. Rather than get burned out in the industry, Hollands genuine warmth has led to her to make new connections in different parts of the food world like connecting with 10 Speed Press to create a cookbook that doubles as a history lesson to empower the lives and stories of Southern folks that made the treacherous move out West. Some of those stories will be highlighted in the local artisans section of the book. Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE While running a restaurant may not be sustainable, what is sustainable is being a role model and helping make the world a better place one human being at a time. Hollands commitment to hospitality showcases that sentiment. It is not a commodity there is no price tag. I'm very passionate about hospitality. I was raised in a house where that was an important value, she said. Back then, people would just stop by and my parents would say, Would you like something to eat? And they'd find something to offer them. That hospitality in whatever forum is just rare these days. And while shes left the restaurant industry for now, she wants to see more women of color helming restaurants like she did. When asked what advice she would give to up-and-coming women of color in the restaurant industry she said, Follow your passions. Continue to build your network and learn from others as much as possible. I remain an open book and although it might not look like what you think its gonna look like its like the old adage: when one door closes, another one opens. A luxurious "glamping" company is stirring up controversy in Hawaiis quiet Waimanalo community, Hawaii News Now reported. The outlet says that Glamping Hawaii, which provides a "high-end camping and event experience," has been accused of illegally propping up tents just yards away from homeless families in the county beach park. This controversy comes just after Bill 38 was signed into law, which prohibits most commercial activities like weddings and photo shoots from Waimanalo to Makapuu. Now, the company which is also run by a group of Californians who recently moved to Hawaii is reportedly under investigation by the city of Honolulu. "This was not just a camping outfit. This was glamping in its full hewa source. I mean, it was a bar, a tall bar, set up with bar stools," Waimanalo Neighborhood Board Member Kapua Medeiros told the outlet. According to their website, Glamping Hawaii offers extravagant tent packages that can be outfitted with five-foot-tall teak kitchens, fire pits, and bars for extra fees. Though they dont list package prices, Hawaii News Now says they cost several hundred dollars per night. Company representatives told the outlet they didnt think they were violating the law, stating that patrons are responsible for obtaining camping permits. However, Hawaii News Now says this might also be illegal as permits are not transferable. Emma Koa, a Waimanalo native and business owner, told the outlet that she confronted the business owners in person and accused them of peddling a romanticized version of Hawaii to tourists. (However, company representatives told the outlet that 70% of their clients are locals.) "We dont need more people prostituting and exploiting Hawaii and her people and her aina, and the whole paradise depiction of Hawaii," Koa told the outlet. "People pay to come and exploit Hawaii and have an authentic Hawaiian experience, she continues in a recorded video, zooming in on the glampsite. Meanwhile, right there is the authentic Hawaiian experience, she says, panning to the homeless encampment. Thats embarrassing." One Yelp user, Keks Manera5, left a one-star review admonishing the company's actions. " ... This is such a slap in the face to Native Hawaiians/kanaka Maoli and the local generations that been here for decades who are struggling to survive and get by. ... Hawaii is so over the greed and exploitation of the islands. PACK IT ALL UP ..." "This is not an attack on commercial activity, but it is a warning, a shoutout to all business owners who are operating on our parks and beaches that you are not welcome here. And we passed a law to cement that," Waimanalo Neighborhood Board Member Kapua Medeiros told Hawaii News Now. Glamping Hawaii did not respond to SFGATEs request for comment at the time this article was written. Editors note: This story was updated at 6:00 p.m., June 13, to correct information about Dole Whip's invention and include information about the creator of Dole Whip. Dole was founded in Hawaii, so I always thought Dole Whip was a Hawaii creation. I grew up seeing pineapple fields, the Dole name splashed around many places, going to the movies at Regal Dole Cannery, and seeing people in line for Dole Whips at the heavily touristed Dole Plantation and at shops around corners in Waikiki. I never understood Dole Whips immense popularity until I visited Disneyland a few years ago and saw the lines for Dole Whip there as well. As a child, I ate a Mickey Mouse-shaped ice cream bar with my parents at Disney World, and now I crave them each time I visit to relive that memory again. I imagine its a similar feeling for some people, but with Dole Whip. Everything you eat at Disneyland just tastes better there, and I think that the guest just knows that it is part of the experience, Marcy Smothers told SFGATE. Shes the author of three Disney books, including Eat Like Walt: The Wonderful World of Disney Food. The atmosphere makes the treat as great as the treat itself. People grow up with that treat and would have the treat they had when they were kids. James Dole founded the Hawaiian Pineapple Company in Hawaii in 1901. Though he wasnt the first to grow pineapples in Hawaii, he was the most successful. Tim Rue/Corbis via Getty Images The cousin of Sanford Dole (the president of the provisional government following the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii), James developed pineapple plantations on Oahu and Maui, and bought the island of Lanai, covering most of it with pineapples. To the world, Dole made Hawaii synonymous with pineapples, though the fruit is not native to Hawaii. Its why the makers of pineapple pizzas name them Hawaiian a name that makes actual Hawaiians cringe. The company held offices in San Francisco, where the pineapples were shipped to and sent to other markets in the United States. The industry boomed: In 1900, Hawaii shipped 1,200 cases; by 1909, James Dole proclaimed in the San Francisco Chronicle a year later, it increased to 510,000 cases. In the 1960s, another Hawaii company, Castle & Cooke, acquired the Hawaiian Pineapple Company and renamed it to Dole Food Company. Today, Castle & Cooke is owned by billionaire David Murdock and the majority of Lanai was sold to ex-Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. It was in 1976 that Dole Packaged Foods, a division of Dole Food Company, became a sponsor for Walt Disneys Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland Park, serving pineapple spears and juice. And in 1983, Dole also became a sponsor at Walt Disney World Resort. Diane S. W. Lee Dole Whip was created at the Dole Technical Center in San Jose by food scientist Kathy Westphal, who started working at Dole right after graduating from UC Davis. Dole had been serving a vanilla soft-serve ice cream with pineapples on top at a Disney World booth, and Westphals job was to create a non-dairy, dry-mix version that would withstand Floridas heat. I had a lot of ice cream experience, so it was a real easy leap, the 64-year-old Westphal told SFGATE. She left Dole in 1987 and has amassed 40-year career in product development. The original flavors were just pineapple, orange and strawberry. A dairy-free, fruit-based dessert, Dole Whip, then known as Dole Pineapple Whip, launched into the market in 1983, according to William Goldfield, director of corporate communications of Dole Food Company. It first debuted at Disney Worlds Magic Kingdom Park in 1984, then Disneyland Park in 1986. Kathy Westphal Dole kitchens were focused on creating a brilliant fruit flavor and colorful true-to-fruit soft serve product, Goldfield told SFGATE. It was made primarily for Disney but was just introduced a short time before being added to the parks. The soft serve dessert was licensed to third party food-service establishments back then as it still is today, but the pineapple treat became an enormous hit with Disney fans, and its popularity is still going strong. Westphal says no one expected Dole Whip to take off the way it did, even calling it the "Rodney Dangerfield of frozen dessert because no one respected it," but she is happy with the public response. "It cracks me up that Dole Whip is a big deal now which is kind of fun," Westphal says. "I think it's great; it's a treat. My brother always tells everyone that his sister gets to eat for a living, and it's great giving pleasure to people." Yelp At the Disney theme parks, Dole Whip has become one of the most ubiquitous park foods in the same class as smoked turkey legs and my childhood go-to, the Mickey-shaped ice cream. Im in the parks all the time, and its still a tremendously popular treat, Smothers said. Walt Disneys Enchanted Tiki Room was this tropical show and here was this tropical treat that you could take into the show and watch it, you know, youre welcome to take your Dole Whip into the attraction. I think that made it really special. One Laredoan is in the middle of the biggest election of her life as she tries to make history by being elected as commissioner of a major county. Lesly Mitchell Briones, 41, is the new Democratic nominee for Harris Countys Commissioner Pct. 4. The Houston precinct she aims to represent has over 1.2 million people. That makes the county itself bigger than 26 states in terms of population. Briones visited her hometown of Laredo this weekend. If elected, Briones would become the third woman ever, and the first mother, to be elected into the commissioners court in Harris County. I feel grateful, deeply grateful, that I have come this far with the two races to date, because there were seven Democrats, including me, in this Harris County Commissioner race, and we finished first on March 1. But, of course, there were seven of us, so we had to continue to the May 24 runoff, Briones said. I was grateful to receive 54% of the vote and now onward to November where we are up against the incumbent Republican who has been serving in that role for 10 years. Briones said the final race now with Republican challenger Jack Cagle is not an easy one, as he has raised more than $2 million for his campaign. However, she feels confident she can win as redistricting following the 2020 Census made the district lean 52% Democratic. Briones said she will not depend on this to win but will rather try to expand her outreach efforts to the women of the district and minorities. This especially applies to Latinos, as she said many in her district tend to cross over, even if they are Republicans, to elect somebody who represents them. Still, with a little under five months to go until the general election, Briones used the weekend to travel to Laredo in efforts to reconnect with her family and friends, as well as show her daughters her hometown and the places she has lived, been to and worked in. Briones is married and has three teenage daughters ages 12, 8 and 4, who all came to Laredo to see her mothers home. It fills my soul being here in Laredo, Briones said. It just fills my soul with peace and joy being home, because Laredo made me who I am. Laredo is the foundation of my life, my values and my character. To be home (I can) see what formed me, what inspired me and what made me. Briones took her daughters and the rest of her family to the Chaparral Village area near Calton Road, where she grew up, and several of the places she also used to visit as a teenager as a student of St. Augustine High School. She even worked as a teacher during her early years after graduating from Harvard University. She taught eighth grade at Memorial Middle School and 10th grade in Nixon High School. Afterward, she went to Yale for graduate school after a few years of teaching. Volunteering was also part of her family during her teen years. My mom every Saturday used to cook for Bethany House, as she was very involved in Bethany House back in the day, so then again that helped shape me as well, she said. I was part of the Interact Club in high school, which is like the Rotary Club for high school students basically, and we would go to Nuevo Laredo to orphanages there to volunteer, and that was always very impactful for me. Briones recalls a time when she would cross the border constantly with her friends, many of whom lived in Nuevo Laredo, and they would study and have a good time in the sister city. She hopes such sisterhood would return once again like they were a couple of decades ago. When I was little, we would go walk the border back and forth, as in my school half of my class lived in Nuevo Laredo, and they would come every day and we would study over there, eat over there, quinceaneras, as it was like a fluid order over there, she said. I liked growing up in Laredo because it was like living in two nations at once. I like how binational and bicultural Laredo is. She said some of the most important landmarks for her personally were several of the restaurants in the area. She said she remembers this vividly as she believes the best food can be found in Laredo despite the fact she has been living in Harris County for some time. All I do when I am at home is eat, she said. A few of my favorites are La Carreta, I really love Chalu Burger, and other restaurants I love are Taco Tote for quick food. I like the Tack Room, I like Paulitas and I used to like Cotullas, where they have those really nice mariachis back in the day, but they closed and it is so sad. I love the mole from La India. She recalls she used to have such a good relationship with the owner of Chalu Burger when she was young, as she would buy burgers and then pay when she had money. Briones said in her early years in Laredo, she never thought she would be running for office -- much less for such an important post in one of the largest counties in the country. To be honest, I never really planned for running for office, and I almost feel like it found me. There was a vacancy on the judicial bench in Harris County, and they were interviewing applicants for the bench. And so it was an interview process, and there is multiple rounds, and so I interviewed and I was appointed, she said. I love being a judge, but if I wanted to stay being a judge in Texas, you have to run into office. So I kind of got thrown into it because I got into the bench without having to run for, and frankly I never intended to run for office. But when I was there at the bench and I felt that I was able to help people as a judge, I was like, Well, Lesly if you want to stay there, you have to run to keep the bench.' I was judge by day and candidate by night. If elected into the seat in November, Briones wants to focus on increasing public safety in Harris County because it is the predominant worry of many residents in her community. Flood mitigation, economic opportunity and the rebounding from the pandemic are the main key issues she wants to work on if elected. Briones is also part of the recently made organization Texas Latinx Judges, which she created with a variety of judges from around the state as they have a membership of close to 200 members, and she is currently serving as president of the organization. She anticipates they will offer soon several summer programs in Laredo showcasing what judges do to students. County Court at Law II Judge Victor Villarreal from Webb County has worked closely with Briones to make the organization a possibility, and he will become the new organization president later this fall when Briones term is over. She said her judicial experience to be a neutral party during the explanation and debate of policy will allow her to keen an open mind and calm in efforts to not increase political theatre but rather to make sure policies affecting the constituents are considered and implemented. She also plans to hold as many town halls as possible to keep her constituents informed. Being a judge, I can help the community, but it is very reactive as the laws have already been implemented but being a commissioner will be very proactive, so Ill get to be in the community all day every day helping people, she said. June 12, 2007 AUBURN Anyone near SS. Peter and Paul School on Washington Street Sunday afternoon couldn't help but hear the Ukrainian music blaring from loudspeakers outside the building. As they descended the steps into the school's basement cafeteria, people were likewise treated to the mouth-watering aroma of pierogies, kapusta and kielbasa drifting up from the kitchen. The music and food were part of the school's annual Spring Bazaar, which took place at the school at 134 Washington St. The affair, which was a fundraiser held to raise money for future building renovations, included the sale of delectable Ukrainian dishes, desserts and breads, face painting, games and various raffles. We've been cooking all week to prepare for today's (event), said Joann Regets, school secretary and organizer of the bazaar, from the cafeteria Sunday afternoon. The Spring Bazaar is an annual benefit, she continued, and has been held for as long as anyone can remember. I've been the school secretary for 38 years, and we've had the (bazaar) every year that I've worked here. In addition to recently renovating the church next door, Regets said that there are plans to paint the school and do work on its floors this summer. Running a school obviously has its expenses, so this bazaar will help pay for a lot of those things. With polka music drifting in from outside, scores of community residents stood in line in the lunchroom to buy their meals, which Regets said is different from bazaars past. We used to just sell each food item separately, but this year we're offering entire Ukrainian dinners, and I think it's working out well, she said. In the back of the room, older students painted children's faces, while others bid on theme baskets, with assorted merchandise donated by local merchants. Spread across another table were all sorts of baked goods, including a monstrous pile of homemade bread loaves. We baked somewhere around 175 loaves this week, said Joanie Short, a longtime school volunteer who manned the baked goods sale. Compiled by David Wilcox Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 RIDGEWOOD, N.J. (AP) A fire in a room at a senior living facility in New Jersey left one person dead, authorities said. The blaze at the Ridgecrest Apartments was reported at about 7:30 p.m., Ridgewood police said. The fire was knocked down" within minutes, officials said. Sgt. Kevin McKeon said the victim was found in one of the rooms and the blaze was contained to that room. The name of the victim wasn't immediately released. The police chief, Jacqueline Luthcke, said a few other residents were taken to the hospital for evaluation of medical concerns unrelated to the blaze. McKeon said residents of the Bergen County facility were temporarily relocated to another part of the facility but were later returned to their units. There was no immediate word on a possible cause of the fire. which McKeon said was under investigation by local police and county prosecutors. Mayor Susan Knudsen called the death a terrible tragedy." Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, she said. The Ridgecrest Apartments houses more than 150 residents that are subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to the facilitys website. LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) A 10-year-old Louisiana girl is responding to discussions about banning books in public libraries by creating her own tiny library box decorated with a rainbow an a LGBTQ flag. Cora Newton had been thinking about building a tiny library in Lafayette for a while, but decided to go with the Little Queer Library theme after attending a Lafayette Public Library Board of Control meeting a few months ago, where the board discussed banning a book called This Book is Gay." I think there should be all kinds of books in the library. There are a lot of people that are LGBTQ. I think people would like to see books theyre like, too," Cora told The Advocate. The library board did not ban This Book is Gay, but did decide to move all books currently in the teen nonfiction section to the adult nonfiction section. Library Director Danny Gillane also told library managers to stop displaying books about LGBTQ topics right before the beginning of June's Pride Month, which celebrates LGBTQ history and culture. The free libraries like the one Cora is building provide books in small, weatherproof boxes. People are encouraged to take a book or leave a book. Coras Little Queer Library received its first book donation Friday, a copy of Bye Bye, Binary by Eric Geron. She is accepting other donations. She and her mom are still working on a location for the free library. Cora's mother Kati Salts warned her daughter that a similar Little Queer Library in Waltham, Massachusetts, has been damaged and had book stolen. Its probably going to get vandalized or destroyed, Salts said. Cora hopes along with giving people a safe place to share LGBTQ books, her library also changes minds. I hope that if the library sees this there will really be no point in banning LGBTQ books and so they wont actually do it, she said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Forgotten chapters of Greene County history are gathering dust in attics and basements. The T. Elmer Cox Genealogical & Historical Library is eager to recover and preserve record books and other documents so that the information is available for future generations. Christopher Gose, assistant director of the Greeneville/Greene County Public Library and Cox Library, hopes a recent example of a citizen coming forward with a significant donation inspires others to do the same. An 1893 Greene County Tax Record book was recently donated to the Cox Library, which is a repository for all things relating to the countys history. Gose and the donor discussed the winding journey taken by the tax record book. Gose was working one day at the Cox Library at 229 N. Main St., when John Haynes stopped by. Haynes, who operates the Davy Crockett Trading Co. antique shop on East Andrew Johnson Highway in Limestone with his son Nicholas, brought the tax record book with him. The book contains the names, addresses, property acreage and tax amounts assessed to those listed, categorized by Greene Countys 25 polling districts in 1893. The information offers valuable insights into the Greene County of 129 years ago. Its a fascinating book. It shows who owns the property but it also shows who owns the adjoining properties, Gose said. Haynes said he and his son Nicholas went to an estate sale in March in Hendersonville, North Carolina. The tax record book was among items for sale. We knew it needed to come home, so we purchased it, he said last week. The Hayneses paid $250 for the well-preserved volume. Were not wealthy or anything. We felt it was to give back to the history of the county. The love of history is why me and my son had an interest in getting into antiques, John Haynes said. We felt it would be useful to people doing their family history. The tax records book came with a bonus. Tucked inside was a flyer advertising an antique show in December 1975 in Kingsport sponsored by the East Tennessee Antique Dealers Association. That gave Haynes a clue as to where the purchaser acquired it. How the book turned up at a Kingsport antique show nearly 47 years ago is a matter of speculation. Ive got a theory about that, Haynes said. The Greene County Courthouse was remodeled and renovated in the 1970s. I believe it was thrown out or given away. I really think that they did not realize the importance of (historical) information at that point. Haynes and his son knew it was important and needed to be brought home. Gose was pleasantly surprised when he saw what Hayneses brought to the library. When I took the book in, it was great to see the excitement when he saw the book. That was pretty cool, Haynes said. He just seemed thrilled. Gose opened and carefully turned the pages of the tax records book one day last week. It helps with genealogy, who owned the land and who it was passed on to, Gose said. This would have been stored at the courthouse. The reach of the book quickly becomes evident. June Pinkston, who has worked at the Cox Library for nearly 20 years, opened it to a section detailing property owners in the 21st District, a section of north Greene County. Her finger moved down the page and stopped at a line with a hand-written name and other notations on columns to the right. Jacob Fleming Morrison. He is my great-grandfather, Pinkston said. The 21st District is where he lived. Cross Anchor. The property is where North Greene High School sits today, Pinkston said. Pinkston lives on land once farmed by Morrison, who owned parcels of 60 acres and 12 acres. The 60-acre parcel was valued at $260 in 1893, not quite $5 an acre, Pinkston said. Taxes assessed to each landowner include a poll tax, state tax, county tax, school tax, road tax and poor tax. Morrisons property tax bill for 1893 totaled $1.38. Money was awfully scarce at the time, Pinkston said. Neighbors who owned adjoining land include another family named Morrison, along with the Kendry and Hawkins families. This is the most detailed list I have ever seen. I was just excited to see it, Pinkston said. Gose is grateful that Haynes chose to donate the book to the library. He said its contents far outweigh monetary value. It is invaluable to us, Gose said. It should be back in Greene County That is how he put it to us. Although the courthouse was renovated in the 1970s, From our perspective in city and county government, its highly unlikely it was thrown out, Gose said. Gose referred to a Tennessee law known as the Replevin Law, which prohibits the removal of all records created by state, county or municipal government from agency custody. On occasion in the past, Gose said that people looking for family records such as wills or marriage licenses would be allowed access to stored documents. Relevant pages would be torn out of a book, or a whole volume would be removed from the courthouse. The full story of the journey taken by the 1893 tax record book will likely never be known, but Gose hopes the generosity of the Haynes family may inspire Greene County residents to look at what they have stored in out-of-the-way places and consider making similar donations to the library. There is no criminal or civil liability. We are giving the option to return it to its rightful owner. I am sure there are others out there that people have, Gose said. Greene County still has a wealth of historic records and documents dating back more than 200 years that are securely stored. Gose has worked with Circuit Court Clerk Chris Shepard for several years to help protect them. Our job will ultimately be to clean every page, digitalize them and preserve them, Gose said. Its our mission at the Cox to preserve these things for Greene County. He said artifacts like the 1893 tax records book help make a long bygone era come alive. This is Greeneville. This is tangible history, Gose said. Its all about preservation and making sure these records are preserved for generations to come. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Detectives pursued active leads Sunday as they investigated a shooting that left two dead and two wounded after a birthday party dispute in a neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee, police said. An exchange of gunfire took place Saturday night at an apartment complex in the Antioch neighborhood, the Nashville Metro Police Department said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin leads in early results from Saturday's special primary for the state's only U.S. House seat, as voters whittled down the list of 48 candidates running for the position that was held for 49 years by the late U.S. Rep. Don Young. The early results showed Palin, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, with 29.8% of the votes counted so far; Republican Nick Begich had 19.3%; independent Al Gross had 12.5%; Democrat Mary Peltola with 7.5%; and Republican Tara Sweeney had 5.3%. A candidate whose name is Santa Claus, a self-described independent, progressive, democratic socialist, had 4.5%. The initial results released by the state Division of Elections included 108,729 votes. It was not immediately clear how many ballots were outstanding. The division reported late Saturday that it had received about 139,000 ballots so far. Ballots had to be postmarked by Saturday. The Associated Press has not called any winners in the special primary. The top four vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to an August special election in which ranked choice voting will be used. The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of Youngs term, which ends in January. Young died in March at age 88. This election was unlike any the state has seen, crammed with candidates and conducted primarily by mail. This was the first election, too, under a system approved by voters in 2020 that ends party primaries and uses ranked choice voting in general elections. Saturday marked the first ballot count; state elections officials plan additional counts on Wednesday and Friday, and a final count on June 21. They have targeted June 25 to certify the race. Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, released a statement expressing gratitude to all of my wonderful supporters who voted to make Alaska great again! Earlier Saturday, the Alaska Supreme Court reversed and vacated a lower court order that had barred state election officials from certifying the results of the special primary until visually impaired voters were given a full and fair opportunity to participate. Attorneys for the state had interpreted Friday's order from Superior Court Judge Una Gandbhir as preventing elections officials from concluding voting as scheduled on Saturday. They asked the supreme court to reverse the order. The ruling came in a case filed days earlier by Robert Corbisier, executive director of the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights. Corbisier sued state elections officials on behalf of a person identified as B.L., a registered voter in Anchorage with a visual impairment. The sheer number of candidates left some voters overwhelmed, and many of the candidates themselves faced challenges in setting up a campaign on the fly and trying to leave an impression on voters in a short period of time. The candidate filing deadline was April 1. Relatively few candidates were running for the seat before Young's death. Begich was among the early entrants; he launched his campaign last fall and worked to win support among conservatives. The businessman, who hails from a family of prominent Democrats, was endorsed by the Alaska Republican party. Peltola, a former state lawmaker from Bethel who has been involved in fisheries issues, said earlier this week that she entered the race with low name recognition but believes she's changed that and has momentum behind her candidacy. Palin's run marks her first bid for elected office since resigning as governor partway through her term in 2009. She was endorsed in this campaign by some national political figures, including Trump, who participated in a telerally for her and said Palin would "fight harder than anybody I can think of, particularly on energy issues. Palin sought to assure voters that she is serious about her bid and committed to Alaska. During the campaign, opponents poked at that. Gross, an orthopedic surgeon who made an unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate in 2020, said Palin quit on Alaska. Begich and Sweeney made points of saying they are not quitters. Gross, in an email to supporters during the campaign, said Palin and Begich are candidates who will be hard to beat but said he is ready and able to take on this fight. Sweeney was assistant secretary of Indian Affairs in the U.S. Interior Department under Trump and was endorsed by a group that represents leaders of the states influential Alaska Native regional corporations. She said she understands the pressure cooker environment of Washington, D.C. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) Growing up, Christina Wood never considered becoming a pilot. She was from a big family, and it was the 1960s her brothers went to college, her sisters to nursing school. She became a photographer instead, like her great-grandfather. But the subjects of his work compelled her the most the glistening fighter planes just debuting in World War I. Throughout adulthood and the quiet moments of parenting her only daughter, she longed to take flight. At 47, she became a flight attendant. You know when you just love something right away? the Clearwater resident said. I would read the training manual over and over. It was like, I would do this for free. It quelled some of her yearning. But she dreamt about the days when passengers could feel air on their faces as they zipped through the sky, and wondered what it would be like to journey in planes last in vogue during her fathers service in World War II. Last week, she got her chance. Wood, now 74, was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer last July. Doctors told her she had six months to live. Almost a year later, she stood on the tarmac of Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg, donning leather Amelia Earhart boots and a crisp ivory scarf, in front of a World War II biplane. A friend complimented her sharp appearance. I just wish I had hair for it, she said with a twinkle in her eye. Wood was chosen to receive the aid of My Jump!, a nonprofit that helps seniors fulfill the items left on their bucket lists, with a particular focus on low-income older adults. A cadre of friends stood waiting to see Wood take off, holding signs that read, We love you and Hold onto your a--! A pilot from her tenure at American Airlines, Bill Norris, 66, was among them. This wont scare me after flying with you! she quipped at him with a chuckle. Steadied by her daughters boyfriend and maintaining her humor, Wood boarded the deep barrel seats of the ancient aircraft like a pro. A pilot took the seat behind her. The propellers started. Wood reflexively gripped her head with both hands, allowing herself a moment of genuine excitement and perhaps fear for the first time that day. She left the earth, the plane gingerly teetering up and down before steadying into its climb, as onlookers hugged her daughter Heidi Stubbs, who fervently wiped her eyes. Flying has always been the thing that makes her heart glow, Stubbs, 52, said. Im so glad she felt good enough to come. In the air, the pilot surprised Wood. He turned over control to her, switching command to the front seat where she sat. For 10 minutes, she flew by herself, stick in hand turning around over the waters of the beaches and heading back to downtown St. Petersburg. It was just as shed suspected. Easy. Natural. Like coming home. I thought, I could have done this, Wood said. But everything happens in the timing and way its supposed to. Thats one thing this diagnosis has taught me. I would change it if I could, she added. But you learn youre capable. You see the way people step up. You realize you have no control, but whatever being has control of the universe you have to just appreciate that it happens the way its supposed to. CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) Vendors at Charlestons city-run farmers markets used to be able to donate unsold food and produce to a nonprofit that distributed it to those in need. But after the markets returned from a COVID-19 hiatus, the organization has lost too much manpower both in volunteers and staff to continue providing the service. City leaders are trying to find new options to keep thousands of pounds of food from the Marion Square and West Ashley markets from going to waste. Just in 2019 I believe the amount of food collected was between 4(thousand) to 6,000 pounds from Marion Square alone, said Charleston Farmers Market Manager Harrison Chapman. It makes a huge impact. Over the ten years that Chapman has served in his role the collection service has been available to vendors. A group of about ten to fifteen volunteers across the two markets would give out crates about 30 to 45 minutes before closing. Any produce that was still in good condition but too old to make it to the next weeks market would get donated. It was then distributed to senior homes, the Lowcountry Food Bank and other similar organizations. Chapman said he is in talks with the previous provider as well as other nonprofits to find ways to provide the collection service but so far has not been able to find a group with enough capacity. Charleston Director of Sustainability Katie McKain is working on another solution. In April, her office applied for a grant to pay the city to set up a compost service at the farmers markets. The city will find out by the end of July if the funding is approved. It takes the pressure off vendors to take home their food scraps if they dont have a way to repurpose them, she said. When food gets put in a landfill it gets trapped and without air to help it decompose naturally, it creates methane. McKain said she is still determining whether the program would work best with a series of bins for anyone to use on site or by smaller bins provided to each vendor. More open collection spots would probably need to be accompanied by paid staff to educate the public on what items can properly be disposed of in the bins, she said. If awarded the funding, the city would get the collection service up and running by the fall, she said. The city is currently operating a pilot compost program for residents. Those who participate take an online course about composting and when approved, receive an access code for two bins set up in local parks. McKain hopes the program will receive permanent funding in next years budget. In the meantime, Chapman is making an open call for volunteers and nonprofits interested in helping the market. He can be reached at farmersmarket@charleston-sc.gov. CHICAGO (AP) A Chicago police officer who was shot during an attempted traffic stop last week was released from the hospital on Sunday. Officer Erik Moreno was greeted by fellow officers, who cheered as he left a Chicago hospital in a wheelchair. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SINGAPORE (AP) China's defense minister accused the United States on Sunday of trying to hijack the support of countries in the Asia-Pacific region to turn them against Beijing, saying Washington is seeking to advance its own interests under the guise of multilateralism. Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe lashed out at U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, rejecting his smearing accusation the day before at the Shangri-La Dialogue that China was causing instability with its claim to the self-governing island of Taiwan and its increased military activity in the area. Austin had stressed the need for multilateral partnerships with nations in the Indo-Pacific, which Wei suggested was an attempt to back China into a corner. No country should impose its will on others or bully others under the guise of multilateralism, he said. The strategy is an attempt to build an exclusive small group in the name of a free and open Indo-Pacific to hijack countries in our region and target one specific country it is a strategy to create conflict and confrontation to contain and encircle others. China has been rapidly modernizing its military and seeking to expand its influence and ambitions in the region, recently signing a security agreement with the Solomon Islands that many fear could lead to a Chinese naval base in the Pacific, and breaking ground this past week on a naval port expansion project in Cambodia that could give Beijing a foothold in the Gulf of Thailand. Last year U.S. officials accused China of testing a hypersonic missile, a weapon harder for missile defense systems to counter, but China insisted it had been a routine test of a spacecraft. Answering a question about the test on Sunday, Wei came the closest so far to acknowledging it was, indeed, a hypersonic missile, saying, As for hypersonic weapons, many countries are developing weapons and I think there's no surprise that China is doing so. China will develop its military, he added. I think it's natural. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month said China represented the most serious long-term challenge to the international order for the United States, with its claims to Taiwan and efforts to dominate the strategic South China Sea. The U.S. and its allies have responded with so-called freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, sometimes encountering a pushback from Chinas military. Wei accused the U.S. of meddling in the affairs of our region with the patrols, and flexing the muscles by sending warships and warplanes on a rampage in the South China Sea. China has squared off with the Philippines and Vietnam, among others, over maritime claims and Wei said it was up to the countries in the region to find their own solutions. China calls for turning the South China Sea into a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation, he said. This is the shared wish and responsibility of countries in the region. Taiwan and China split during a civil war in 1949, but China claims the island as its own territory, and has not ruled out the use of military force to take it, while maintaining it is a domestic political issue. Washington follows a one-China policy, which recognizes Beijing but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei. It provides arms to Taiwan and follows a strategic ambiguity approach about how far it would be willing to go to defend Taiwan in the face of a Chinese invasion. At the same time, it does not support Taiwanese independence. President Joe Biden raised eyebrows and China's pique last month saying that the U.S. would intervene militarily if Taiwan were attacked, though the White House later said the comments did not reflect a policy shift. Austin on Saturday accused China of threatening to change the status quo on Taiwan with a steady increase in provocative and destabilizing military activity near the island. Wei fired back Sunday that the U.S. was not adhering to its one-China policy, saying it keeps playing the Taiwan card against China." He said Chinas greatest wish was peaceful reunification with Taiwan, but also made clear Beijing was willing to do whatever it took to realize its goals. China will definitely realize its reunification, he said. China's reunification is a great cause of the Chinese nation, and it is a historical trend that no one and no force can stop. He added that China would resolutely crush any attempt to pursue Taiwan independence. We will not hesitate to fight, we will fight at all costs and we will fight to the very end, he said. This is the only choice for China. Wei and Austin met one-on-one on Saturday, and Taiwan featured prominently in their discussions, according to the U.S. On Sunday, Wei met with Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles, which the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported was the first high-level meeting between the two countries in more than two years. Marles said it had been three years since Chinese and Australian defense ministers had met, and called the meeting a critical first step." As Sec. Austin observed after his own meeting with Defense Minister Wei, it is really important in these times to have open lines of dialogue, he told reporters. Australia and China's relationship is complex and it's precisely because of this complexity that it is really important that we are engaging in dialogue right now. _____ Rising reported from Bangkok. Zen Soo in Hong Kong and Caroline Chen in Beijing contributed to this report. Many thanks to Barb VanDitto of Port Byron for sharing with us her memorabilia on the Auburn Vochestra, after reading the recent columns about this great piece of Auburns history. She was kind enough to provide us with another photo taken of the Vochestra at a Christmas performance in 1950, as well as a program from May 4, 1954, when they performed in Penn Yan. In addition, Barb had a real old treasure from March 11, 1938 a program from the Auburn Orchestral Society performance at the Emerson Auditorium. You are sure to recognize many names from these programs and sponsors. Thanks, Barb, for sharing these terrific memories with us! The Vochestra is definitely a great Legend of Auburn! P.S. on a separate note, I recently received this nice message from Michael Porten, who grew up here in Auburn on Lake Avenue. I often receive message from out-of-state locals, but other countries is a rarity, so I thought you might enjoy this, and Im sure many of you remember Michael and his family! Greetings Ormie. My name is Michael Porten, Jim's brother, (you did a nice piece on him a few years back) as well as Dick, who we lost recently, as well as sister Debs husband about the same time (Peter Ciani). So I live in Nice France, at the moment, a journey that started on 43 Lake Ave. for me, 65 years ago on May 19. I thoroughly look forward to The Citizen being electronically delivered and your always interesting article and the keeping ups of my hometown. I am in Italy this morning heading out to the F1 racing in Imola. I got my first taste of Formula One back in Watkins Glenn in the 60/70s. Been hooked ever since seeing Mario, James, Niki, Jody, Sir Jackie, Emo and the likes, smells/sounds. Oh my, what a childhood. Take care and keep up the history and smiles for us Ex Pats of Auburn. Au revoir, Michael Porten Ormie King's column appears Sundays in The Citizen and he can be reached by email at ormie5king@gmail.com. Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 City Park was packed with crowds, vendors and pets on Saturday for the annual Edwardsville Route 66 Festival. Geoff Ladd, assistant director of Illinois section of Route 66, based in Springfield, said it had been a great day. Im really impressed at the turnout, the variety of vendors, the music, etc., he said. He and his intern, Maria Scrito, talked to eventgoers about the Mother Road. Its been steady all day, despite the heat, Ladd added. The fountain in the parks northeast corner looked more like an oasis with an air temperature of 86 F and 55 percent humidity in the late afternoon. The Nudge Band played classic rock hits like Eddie Moneys Two Tickets to Paradise to visitors who enjoyed the music from shady spots of the park. Nearby, Emma DeLong, of Troy, and Emma Schleckte, of Marine, sold T-shirts, caps and more for Local618. Its been busier this year than last year, DeLong. Two T-shirts, a navy one with Illinois emblazoned on it and a black one bearing the name Rustys, proved to be the days best-sellers. We definitely want to come back in 2023, DeLong said. Many inflatable rides were in the park to keep the younger kids busy such as bounce houses and obstacle courses. East Park was closed to traffic to give the variety of food trucks a place to park and serve their wares. Much of the west side of the library grounds became a petting zoo, which featured a calf, bunnies and other farm animals. Across East Vandalia Avenue, public works officials blocked off the block of North Kansas between East Vandalia and Hillsboro avenues and the Cassens Transport Companys parking lot for owners to show off their classic and custom vehicles. Approximately 105 of them participated in the capstone event, a short car cruise around town. Before heading out, hoods went up, trunk lids, hatchbacks and cargo areas were opened and it all attracted onlookers. There were classic Corvettes, Camaros, Firebirds and Mustangs. There were Tri-Fives (any 1955-1957 Chevrolet that was not a Corvette), modern Dodge Chargers and Challengers, 1964-1972 GM A-body cars (Chevelles, LeMans GTOs, Cutlass 442s and Skylark Gran Sports), which are commonly included in the muscle car category and more. Jeeps, Ford Broncos and VW Buses represented the truck and van side of the coin. Larry Thomas, of Troy, decided a new tactic was needed. I wasnt here last year but in the past, I brought my $40,000 hot rods and nobody paid attention. This year, I brought my $4,000 toy, [a Smart Fortwo] and everybody notices, he quipped. Thomas has owned the tiny car since February. He had wrapped, a yellow roof and a shot of his sandaled feet at the base of the doors. Then, he produced an almost matching little toy car to put alongside it. Quite possibly the oldest vehicle in the show and the cruise was a 1919 Ford Model T Touring Sedan. Pat Wagner spent some time in the back seat, enjoying some shade while her husband and their son, Scott, roved around looking at the other vehicles. She said Scott bought it from them a few years ago. They live just outside of Edwardsville. Shortly before 6:30 p.m., Edwardsville police and public works officials moved the barricades aside and at the half-hour mark, the car cruise began, starting with a yellow, seventh-generation Chevrolet Corvette, the last generation with the engine in front. The cruise route left from North Kansas, headed a block east on East Vandalia then turned right on Buchanan Street. The line then traveled south until Center Grove. There, they headed west to Plum/Main Street and back north to Vandalia before dispersing. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Authorities arrested 31 members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front near an Idaho pride event Saturday after they were found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear. The men were standing inside the truck wearing khakis, navy blue shirts and beige hats with white balaclavas covering their faces when Coeur d'Alene police stopped the U-Haul and began arresting them on the side of the road. They came to riot downtown, Coeur dAlene Police Chief Lee White said at a news conference. All 31 were charged with conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanor, White said. The men were going through the booking process Saturday afternoon and are scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, he said. Based on evidence collected and documents, authorities found that the group was planning to riot in several areas of downtown, not just the park, White said. Police found riot gear, one smoke grenade, shin guards and shields inside the van, White said. They wore arm patches and logos on their hats that identified them as members of Patriot Front, he said. Police learned about the U-Haul from a tipster, who reported that it looked like a little army was loading up into the vehicle in the parking lot of a hotel, White said. Officials spotted the truck soon after and pulled it over, he said. Videos of the arrest posted on social media show the men kneeling on the grass with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. Reclaim America was written on the back of one shirt. Police led the men, one by one, to the front of patrol cars, took off their masks and then brought them to a police van. Those arrested came from at least 11 states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia, and Arkansas, White said. Only one was from Idaho, he said. The truck was stopped near where the North Idaho Pride Alliance was holding the Coeur dAlene Pride in the Park event. Police had stepped up their presence in the area during the event. It appears these people did not come here to engage in peaceful events, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told a Coeur dAlene Press reporter. Patriot Front is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white nationalist hate group that formed after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. Patriot Front focuses on theatrical rhetoric and activism that can be easily distributed as propaganda for its chapters across the country, the Southern Poverty Law Center said of the group. The group's manifesto calls for the formation of a white ethnostate in the United States, the Southern Poverty Law Center said. ___ Bellisle reported from Seattle. KEOTA, Iowa (AP) The sound of grinding coffee beans joins the rich aroma of roasted arabica inside the narrow confines of the Rural Revival mobile coffee truck as three self-taught and happily caffeinated baristas prep their stations for what will become a busy morning. In a small parking lot in the middle of a small town 40 miles from the nearest Starbucks, the trio of former public school teachers navigate around each other in the back of their truck as people begin to arrive. Naomi Gretter stands at the espresso machine, Sky Hahn at the smoothie station. Kari Berg leans over to the window and greets the first customers three young women. Good morning! Chai smoothie, ladies? Berg asks. No. The first order is a salted caramel latte, iced. Caramel is a top contender for favorite drinks, according to Berg. Anything caramel. The smile on Bergs face is contagious, even this early in the morning. The customers line up outside the truck and over the next three hours the baristas barely have a chance to catch their breath. The pace is fast, chaotic at times, yet the coffee truck owners remain calm and upbeat, laughing and chatting with customers as they sling beverages, both hot and cold. They are, in a word, revived. Were trying to live a life of slowing down and having balance, said Hahn, 33, a former fourth grade teacher. We also wanted to be our own bosses. The women keep a copy of Growing Slow, a book by former Des Moines Register reporter Jennifer Dukes Lee, on display in their truck. Its a book they say they try to live by now. While slowing down in a caffeinated world may seem like an oxymoron, for these new entrepreneurs the revitalization couldnt have come at a better time. We saw (the coffee truck) as our time to try to do something new and revive, Berg, 38, told the Des Moines Register. Its been really rough with teaching. Berg, who spent the previous 15 years teaching, recently retired from the Keota preschool to pursue this new passion. Gretter, Berg and Hahn realized their mental health was suffering as they were trying to maintain their careers in the public school system during the COVID-19 pandemic while juggling family responsibilities at home. All are married to farmers, who have demanding schedules of their own. The decision to leave teaching was bittersweet. Were sad about (leaving) all the kids and our coworkers, Hahn said, but we also have to think about ourselves and whats going to continue to let us go on that path of having balance in our lives. The idea behind Rural Revival started out somewhat as wordplay two years ago. Gretter, 41, said she was joking around one night about starting up a mobile coffee shop. But what began as a joke quickly grew when Miss Emma (Junktiquing at Slims), an antique business on Broadway Avenue in Keota, posted something on social media about looking for a mobile coffee truck to set up in the parking lot for an upcoming Rural Road Trip. Created in 2019, the Rural Road Trip is a self-guided route across various parts of Iowa showcasing the shopping and attractions in the states hidden gem communities. I was like, Oh, I would love to do that, Gretter said. She reached out to Berg and Hahn and one night over margaritas they decided to make it happen. They pitched the idea to their farmer husbands (selling them on the fact that there is more coffee traded around the world than corn or soybeans), expecting some resistance. Instead, Gretter said their husbands have been their biggest fans and supporters. Berg agrees. We really couldnt have done any of this without them, she said. Like any heavy food truck, the fuel economy is poor and in these days of high gas prices the women are for now keeping business close to Keokuk and Washington counties, but they will be at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines on June 8-10, for the World Pork Expo. They keep an updated list of locations on their social media pages (Rural Revival on Facebook). But despite the high cost of fuel, Gretter says the idea of being mobile appealed to all three of them. We wanted to be able to go to people in different areas and kind of market that way instead of being a brick and mortar, just stuck to one spot and waiting for people to come to us, Gretter said. Outside the truck in Keota, four-year-old Peyton Fagen, a former preschool student of Bergs, slurps down a strawberry smoothie, complete with a copious amount of whipped cream and sprinkles. He gives the business owners a thumbs-up. This is what its all about. People like drinks, Berg said. Its a stress-free environment when youre spreading happiness. He had means, motive and opportunity. But did Donald Trump commit a crime? A House committee explicitly declared that he did by conspiring to overturn an election. The attorney general, however, has not weighed in. And a jury of his peers may never hear the case. The first prime-time hearing into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol this past week confronted the fundamental question that has haunted Trump, the 45th president, ever since he left office: Should he be prosecuted in a criminal court for his relentless efforts to defy the will of the voters and hang on to power? For two hours Thursday night, the House committee investigating the Capitol attack detailed what it called Trumps illegal and unconstitutional seven-part plan to prevent the transfer of power. The panel invoked the Justice Department, citing charges of seditious conspiracy filed against some of the attackers, and seemed to be laying out a road map for Attorney General Merrick Garland to their central target. Several former prosecutors and veteran lawyers said afterward that the hearing offered the makings of a credible criminal case for conspiracy to commit fraud or obstruction of the work of Congress. In presenting her summary of the evidence, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the committees vice chair, demonstrated that Trump was told repeatedly by his own advisers that he had lost the election yet repeatedly lied to the country by claiming it had been stolen. He pressured state and federal officials, members of Congress and even his own vice president to disregard vote tallies in key states. And he encouraged the mob led by extremist groups such as the Proud Boys while making no serious effort to stop the attack once it began. I think the committee, especially Liz Cheney, outlined a powerful criminal case against the former president, said Neal Katyal, a former acting solicitor general under President Barack Obama. A crime requires two things a bad act and criminal intent, Katyal said. By citing testimony by Trumps own attorney general, a lawyer for his campaign and others who told him that he had lost, and then documenting his failure to act once supporters stormed the Capitol, Katyal said, the panel addressed both of those requirements. A congressional hearing, however, is not a court of law, and because there was no one there to defend Trump, witnesses were not cross-examined and evidence was not tested. The committee offered just a selection of the more than 1,000 interviews it has conducted and the more than 140,000 documents it has collected. But it remains to be seen what contrary or mitigating information may be contained in the vast research it has not released yet. Trumps allies have dismissed the hearings as a partisan effort to damage him before the 2024 election when he may run for president again. And legal defenders argued that the facts presented by the panel did not support the conclusions that it drew. Unless theres more evidence to come that we dont know about, I dont see a criminal case against the former president, said Robert Ray, a former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton and later served as a defense lawyer for Trump at his first Senate impeachment trial. Whatever the Proud Boys had in mind when they stormed the Capitol, I dont see how youd be able to prove that Trump knew that that was the purpose of the conspiracy, Ray added. Whether or not he lit the fuse that caused that to happen, the government would have to prove he knowingly joined that conspiracy with that objective. Beyond the legal requirements of making a criminal case, the prospect of prosecuting a former president also would entail far deeper considerations and broader consequences. Criminal charges against Trump brought by the administration of the man who defeated him would further inflame an already polarized country. It would consume national attention for months or longer and potentially set a precedent for less meritorious cases against future presidents by successors of the opposite party. Thats a hill that no federal prosecutor has tried to climb, prosecuting a former president, said John Barrett, a former associate independent counsel in the Iran-contra investigation. Its very fraught, he said. Its a massive undertaking as an investigation, as a trial, as a national saga and trauma. But he added that accountability was important and that the threat to the continuity of our government is about as grave as it gets. All of which is almost certainly going through the mind of Garland, a mild-mannered, highly deliberative former federal appeals court judge who has largely kept mum about his thinking. A Justice Department spokesperson said Garland watched the hearing but would not elaborate. Democrats have attacked Garland for not already prosecuting Trump, even though a federal judge opined in March in a related civil case that the former president and a lawyer who advised him had most likely broken the law by trying to overturn the election. Garland has resisted the pressure. Although he has called the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack the most urgent work in the history of his department, he has refused to forecast where the inquiry will go as investigators continue evaluating evidence. We are not avoiding cases that are political or cases that are controversial or sensitive, he told NPR in March. What we are avoiding is making decisions on a political basis, on a partisan basis. Many officials and rank-and-file prosecutors scattered throughout the 115,000-person Justice Department have long believed that Trump acted corruptly, particularly in pressuring their own department to parrot his baseless claims of election fraud, according to several people involved in such conversations who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. But some career employees expressed fear that as the hearings continued, they would raise expectations for a prosecution that may not be met. The committee was good at making the case that Donald Trumps actions were completely horrific and that he deserves to be held accountable for them, said Matthew Miller, a former Justice Department spokesperson during the Obama administration. But an open-and-shut case on television is different from proving someone violated a criminal statute. With public attention fixated on Trump, the Justice Departments work has proceeded along three tracks: Charge the people who attacked the Capitol; piece together larger conspiracies, including sedition, involving some of the assailants; and identify possible crimes that took place before the assault. In the 17 months since the attack, more than 840 defendants from nearly all 50 states have been arrested. Of those, about 250 have been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding the police, and members of two far-right groups have been charged with seditious conspiracy, a rare accusation that represents the most serious criminal charges brought in the departments sprawling investigation. Prosecutors are scrutinizing the plan by Trumps allies to create alternate slates of pro-Trump electors to overturn President Joe Bidens victory in key swing states, with a federal grand jury issuing subpoenas to people involved. That investigation brings federal prosecutors closer to Trumps inner circle than any other inquiry. Trump also faces the threat of prosecution by a local Georgia prosecutor investigating his efforts to overturn the states vote. No sitting or former president has ever been put on trial. Aaron Burr was charged with treason after leaving office as vice president in a highly politicized case directed from the White House by President Thomas Jefferson, but he was acquitted after a sensational trial. Ulysses S. Grant, while president, was arrested for speeding in his horse and buggy. Spiro Agnew resigned as vice president as part of a plea bargain in a corruption case. The closest a former president came to indictment was after Richard Nixon resigned in the Watergate scandal in 1974, but his successor, Gerald Ford, short-circuited the investigation by preemptively pardoning him, reasoning that the country had to move on. Clinton, to avoid perjury charges after leaving office, agreed on his last full day in the White House to a deal with Ray in which he admitted giving false testimony under oath about his affair with Monica Lewinsky, temporarily surrendered his law license and paid a $25,000 fine. Should the Justice Department indict Trump, a trial would be vastly different from House hearings in ways that affect the scope and pace of any inquiry. Investigators would have to scour thousands of hours of video footage and the full contents of devices and online accounts they have accessed for evidence bolstering their case, as well as anything that a defense lawyer could use to knock it down. Federal prosecutors would probably also have to convince appeals court judges and a majority of Supreme Court justices of the validity of their case. For all of the pressure that the House committee has put on the Justice Department to act, it has resisted sharing information. In April, the department asked the committee for transcripts of witness interviews, but the panel has not agreed to turn over the documents because its work is continuing. Although critics have faulted Garland, attorneys general do not generally drive the day-to-day work of investigations. Garland is briefed nearly every day on the inquirys progress, but it is being led by Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney in Washington, who is working with national security and criminal division officials. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco broadly oversees the investigation. Whether fair or not, Garlands tenure will be defined by whether or not he indicts Trump, Miller said. The Justice Department may not indict Trump. Prosecutors may not believe they have the evidence to secure a conviction. But that will now be interpreted as a choice by Garland, not as a reality that was forced upon him by the facts of the investigation. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. MECOSTA COUNTY People can overlook others drowning if they dont know how to spot it. Dave Benjamin is the co-founder of Great Lakes Surf Rescue project. The nonprofit was started when the founder, Bob Pratt, witnessed coast guard searching for a drowning victim while out with his son, Benjamin said. He was brought on as a co-founder after he survived his own drowning. When a person drowns, he said theyre vertical in water with their face just above water. It can go unnoticed. Thats why its so important to know what drowning looks like, especially in open bodies of water like Lake Michigan," Benjamin said. "If theres waves and dangerous currents at the time of the incident, its like a moving needle in a moving haystack to be able to find them and get them out of the water. If you find yourself beginning to drown, he said to follow flip, float, and follow. Flip onto your back, float to conserve energy, and find a path out of where you are. He said floating is the most important step. Because of how common it is for someone to drown, Benjamin argued that people should refer to drownings differently. The World Health Organization defines drowning as any time someone cant breathe while submerged in a liquid whether it would be fatal or non-fatal. For example, media often refers to car crashes as non-fatal car crash, while drownings are near-drownings, he said. Its like if I survived a car crash, you wouldnt call it a near-car crash, he said. Youd call it a car crash, and I got lucky that I survived. To help those that are drowning, Benjamin said his organization is working to support legislation to require life rings at every waterfront to help save lives, he said. Illinois recently signed a law requiring life rings at every waterfront and beach. "We would like to see that in other states to follow in the Great Lakes area, because right now its kind of hit or miss whether a beach has rescue equipment or not," Benjamin said. During Memorial Day weekend, drownings increase by 71% from last year, he said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) Ahead of a potential presidential bid, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem handily won the Republican nomination last week for a second term. Many of the candidates she hoped to elect to the Statehouse, however, did not have such a good night. She had hoped to replace contrarians with personal allies in the Republican-controlled Legislature, which has consistently defied she wishes, so the governor rallied behind roughly a dozen candidates who challenged incumbents. Two-thirds of Noems favorites lost. The setback was a reminder that while endorsements often draw attention and financial resources, they do not always translate into support from voters. It's a lesson that Donald Trump, Noem's ally, is learning as he falls short, notably in Georgia, in trying to punish Republicans who have crossed him. In the GOP primary last month, Georgia voters overwhelmingly backed Gov. Brian Kemp, who had rebuffed Trump's lies about widespread fraud during the 2020 election. Trump has tried to shake off his initial losses, but it is unclear whether Noem will be able to move forward so easily. Some incumbents who survived her efforts to defeat them are left wondering why a governor they support and generally agree with went to such lengths to try to oust them. "There was a belief system that the party was a family -- you do not campaign against other members, said state Sen. Al Novstrup, a longtime lawmaker who perennially scores high on conservative organizations scorecards. Obviously, that concept has broken dramatically in this primary. Noem entered the primary election with a somewhat strained relationship with Republican lawmakers. The results from the vote could only deepen the tension. Those tenuous bonds with the Legislature could raise further questions about her ability to make a competitive bid for the Republican presidential nomination as multiple contenders, including Trump, take steps to announce campaigns later this year. She spent most of her first term crafting a vision of South Dakota as an exemplar of conservative policy, tapping into activist fervor in what was widely seen as a play to be part of the White House conversation. But she also tempered her proposals with consideration for state government operations and the business community. That fueled conflict with some House Republicans in the Legislature over proposals aimed at transgender children, exemptions to COVID-19 vaccine requirements and tax cuts. Even though her party held 90% of the legislative seats, Noems agenda foundered this year. House lawmakers hamstrung her proposals and often brushed aside her input. They even openly criticized her. One-third of the House Republican caucus voted for an unsuccessful effort to publicly scold Noem for taking a hands-on role in a state agency while it was evaluating her daughters application for a real estate appraiser license. Among them was Republican Rep. Fred Deutsch, who has mostly been supportive of the governor but said he makes votes based on his conscience. He had also sparred with Noem before: His proposal in 2020 to bar puberty blockers and gender confirmation procedures to transgender children under 16 was rejected in the Senate after Noem expressed reservations about the proposal. As primary campaigns ramped up in April, the governor publicly criticized Deutsch and put her support with a candidate she could trust her childhood babysitter, Stephanie Sauder. But Noems wishes in the primary race were only partially fulfilled in the contest where two House candidates advanced from a field of four Republicans. Sauder received the most votes but Deutsch beat out the two other candidates for the Republican nomination. Noem was able to see off one of her loudest Republican critics, House Speaker Spencer Gosch, as he challenged a state senator for the GOP nomination to that chamber. She also gained several other allies in the Legislature, including a former chief of staff. Her decision to wade into the primaries did not go unnoticed by the grassroots groups animating the current divide in the state GOP. Noem received blowback from conservative media after a newspaper report that she was working with state Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, the president pro tempore, to rid the Statehouse of certain conservatives. Sensing trouble ahead, Noem tried to minimize damage and maintain her ties with conservatives. The effort included a private meeting in mid-May at a church in Sioux Falls with a group called Patriot Ripple Effect. Noem seemed eager to convince the dozens of people who filled a conference room at the church that she was like-minded. She pointed to her decision during the COVID-19 pandemic to forgo statewide lockdowns and mask mandates despite plenty of criticism and objections. She also clapped back at Republican lawmakers who pushed sweeping vaccine exemptions, espousing a hands-off approach to government that extends to businesses as much as individuals. They were blowing me up saying I wasnt conservative because I would not come in and tell Sanford (the states largest hospital system) and tell big businesses that they couldnt require vaccines for their employees, she said. My answer for them was, Youre telling me as the government to tell them as a private business what to do. Her assertions drew some applause. But their questions mostly challenged Noem, picking at her record throughout the 45-minute meeting. They wanted to know why she would target reliably conservative lawmakers? My babysitters running for office. I kind of like her, she responded. The group continued to press the question, with one member pointing to Noems statement backing a challenger to Novstrup, the state senator. Noems answer suggested her support for Rachel Dix was based more on personal connection than political ideology: Shes a friend of mine and has been for years. As the primary results crystallized, it became clear the internal party conflict is not going away. Rep. Tom Pischke, who is from the party's hard-line conservative wing and easily beat Noem's pick for a state Senate seat, said he got a boost after being targeted by Noem's allies. A letter was even circulated among voters pointing out that Noem's preferred candidate, Lisa Rave, was married to the chief lobbyist for the state's hospital systems a favorite target of certain conservatives during the pandemic. That was the nail in the coffin for her, Pischke said of the letter's effect on his rival. He added that the fallout from the race may have even spread to the governor's standing among ardent conservatives: "It actually hurt Gov. Noem a little bit," he said. ___ Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ap_politics This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate HELSINKI (AP) NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday that Turkey has legitimate concerns over terrorism and other issues that need to be taken seriously. Turkey has accused Finland and Sweden of supporting Kurdish militants and says it will not back the two Nordic nations joining NATO until they change their policies. Speaking at a joint news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Stoltenberg stressed that no other NATO ally has suffered more terrorist attacks than Turkey and pointed to its strategic geographic location with neighbors like Iraq and Syria. These are legitimate concerns. This is about terrorism, its about weapons exports, Stoltenberg said. We have to address the security concerns of all allies, including Turkish concerns about the terrorist group PKK. He spoke at Finland's presidential summer residence Kultaranta in western Finland. After decades of military non-alignment, Russias war in Ukraine pushed Finland and Sweden to apply to join NATO in May. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, accuses the Nordic nations of supporting Kurdish militants deemed by Turkey to be terrorists and has vetoed their entry into the 30-member alliance. When a vital key ally as Turkey raises concerns on terrorism then of course we have to sit down and take them seriously. And thats exactly what we do, Stoltenberg said. The demands from Ankara to Helsinki and Stockholm also include lifting restrictions on arms exports to Turkey and extraditing members of certain Kurdish organizations that are opposed to Erdogans government. In the past weeks, NATOs chief has been trying to resolve the dispute but he did not disclose Sunday whether any progress has been made. He was to attend an annual discussion panel in Kultaranta later Sunday together with Finnish and Nordic politicians, foreign and security policy experts and military representatives. Stoltenberg will visit Sweden on Monday for talks with the Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. ___ Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine ATALAIA DO NORTE, Brazil (AP) A main line of police investigation into the disappearance of a British journalist and an Indigenous official in the Amazon points to an international network that pays poor fishermen to fish illegally in Brazils second-largest Indigenous territory, authorities said. Freelance journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous official Bruno Pereira were last seen last Sunday morning near the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which sits in an area the size of Portugal bordering Peru and Colombia. The two men were in the Sao Rafael community. They were returning by boat to the nearby city of Atalaia do Norte but never arrived. After a slow start, the army, the navy, civil defense, state police and Indigenous volunteers have been mobilized in the search. On Saturday, federal police said they were still analyzing human matter found the day before in the area where they disappeared. No more details were provided. The scheme is run by local businessmen, who pay fishermen to enter the Javari Valley, catch fish, and deliver it to them. One of the most valuable targets is the worlds largest freshwater fish with scales, the arapaima. It weighs up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) and can reach 3 meters (10 feet). The fish is sold in nearby cities, including Leticia, Colombia, Tabatinga, Brazil, and Iquitos, Peru. The only known suspect in the disappearances is fisherman Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, also known as Pelado, who is under arrest. According to accounts by Indigenous people who were with Pereira and Phillips, he brandished a rifle at them the day before the pair disappeared. He denies any wrongdoing and said military police tortured him to try to get a confession, his family told the Associated Press.. Pereira, who previously led the local bureau of the governments Indigenous agency, known as FUNAI, has taken part in several operations against illegal fishing. In such operations, as a rule the fishing gear is seized or destroyed, while the fishermen are fined and briefly detained. Only the Indigenous can legally fish in their territories. The crimes motive is some personal feud over fishing inspection, the mayor of Atalaia do Norte, Denis Paiva, speculated to reporters without providing more details. The AP had access to information police shared with Indigenous leadership. While some police, the mayor and others in the region link the pair's disappearances to a fish mafia, federal police do not rule out other lines of investigation. The area has a heavy narcotrafficking activity. Fisherman Laurimar Alves Lopes, 45, who lives on the banks of Itaquai river, where the pair disappeared, told the AP he gave up fishing inside the Indigenous territory after being detained three times. He said he endured beating and starvation in jail. I made many mistakes, I stole a lot of fish. When you see your child dying of hunger you go get it where you have to. So I would go there to steal fish to be able to support my family. But then I said: Im going to put an end to this, Im going to plant, he said during an interview on his boat. He said he was taken to local federal police headquarters in Tabatinga three times, where he was beaten and left without food. One of the arrests was made by Funai official Maxciel Pereira dos Santos. Lopes said he was falsely accused of hunting in an Indigenous area this time. He said he spent a night in the local FUNAI base before being sent to Tabatinga. In 2019, Santos was gunned down in Tabatinga in front of his wife and daughter-in-law. Three years later, the crime remains unsolved. His FUNAI colleagues told the AP they believe the crime is linked to his work against fishermen and poachers. Lopes, who has five children, says his familys primary income is $80 monthly from a federal social program. He also sells watermelon and bananas in Atalaia do Nortes streets, which earned him around $1,200 last year. He claims he only fishes near his home to feed his family, not sell. Rubber tappers founded all the riverbank communities in the area. In the 1980s, however, rubber tapping declined and they resorted to logging. That ended, too, when the federal government created the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory in 2001. Fishing has become the main economic activity since then. A fishing trip to the vast Javari Valley lasts around one month, according to Manoel Felipe, a local historian and teacher who also served as a councilman. For each illegal incursion, one fisherman earns at least $3,000. The fishermens financiers are Colombians, Felipe said. In Leticia, everybody was angry with Bruno. This is not a little game. Its possible they sent a gunman to kill him. In mayor Paivas view, it is not a coincidence that the only two killings of Funai officials in the region occurred during the administration of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has often advocated tapping Indigenous territories resources, particularly minerals, by the non-Indigenous and companies. This government made people more prone to violence. You talk to someone today and he says he has to take up arms. It was not like this before," he said. AURORA The tented pavement floor of the MacKenzie-Childs Barn Sale was mostly empty when Jerry Ryan walked through it Tuesday. But one of th CLANTON, Ala. (AP) Plans for a large agriculture center in central Alabama have fallen through, with leaders unable to agree on final details about a project that was delayed during the pandemic and projected to cost about $150 million. First announced in 2019, the Alabama Rural Economic Center, a joint effort between the city of Clanton, Chilton County and the Alabama Farmers Federation, was projected to attract more than 900,000 visitors annually to Clanton for agriculture shows, festivals and other events. Leaders said it could created about 400 jobs. But Chilton County Commission chair Jimmie Hardee said Tuesday the project was off after negotiations to reach a final agreement failed. He blamed the federation for adding late demands and making changes to the project. "We are indeed disappointed that the farm center is not going forward. However, the commission has other sites and properties we are promoting for economic growth and opportunities in out county," Hardee said. Local officials refused to sign a non-binding agreement aimed at keeping the project going by delaying some decisions until the center began producing revenue, said Jimmy Parnell, president of the Alabama Farmers Federation, which was backing the project through the Alabama Farmers Agriculture Foundation. We remain committed to building the Farm Center and have begun evaluating other locations. The work weve done over the last two years has strengthened our resolve to develop a premier farm center and event complex in our state, Parnell said in a statement. Initial plans for the project included a 5,000-seat air-conditioned arena, 150,000-square-foot (13,900-square-meter) exhibition building, and a 400-stall horse barn. Clanton is located roughly halfway between Birmingham and Montgomery, making it an easy drive from either city. Danny Jones, who owns Durbin Farms Market just off Interstate 65 in Clanton, said the center would have brought a lot of money to the area. It creates more business for everybody. Not just us because were a market and you know were already a tourist stop but everybody needs more, Jones told WBMA-TV. ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) The Anne Arundel County Police Department sees true crime podcasting as a new way to revive interest in cold cases where investigators are still searching for leads. Titled The Crime Journal, the true crime podcast is an attempt by the department to get new information on the countys 82 cold homicide cases. The department believes renewed interest in certain unsolved homicides could lead to crumbs of new information that eventually crack a case open. A lot of times, the public and citizens in general, they watch the news at night and kind of forget about it unless it personally touches them, said Lt. Jacklyn Davis, who heads the departments media relations office, which runs the podcast. Thrusting additional information on older cases into the public sphere could jog a witness memory, or provide leads from other sources, she said. The more time that passes, the more relationships change, loyalties change, more people are willing to come forward as time goes on, Davis said. In addition to renewing interest and bringing up information, the show also creates an opportunity for internet sleuths to present their own theories. These criminal podcasters are superhot, and people listen to them, said Cpl. Chris Anderson, who hosted the podcasts first episode and will continue to host alongside his colleagues in the departments media relations section. Anderson is a 20-year veteran of the department, recently starred in HBOs We Own This City as former Baltimore Police Department Deputy Commissioner Dean Palmere. They start digging in, they start looking at stuff and next thing you know, a 30-year-old cold case is getting solved by some man or woman sitting at home behind their keyboard, doing some internet sleuthing. He cited the release of former Mississippi death row inmate Curtis Flowers, whose murder conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court after American Public Medias In the Dark podcast shed light on racial bias during jury selection and the fact that multiple witnesses admitted they had lied about Flowers confessing to them in jail. A few other police departments run podcasts on their own homicide cases, but Anne Arundel is one of only a few locally trying out the strategy. The podcasts first episode, which aired on major streaming platforms in May, focused on the Glen Burnie shooting death of Myra Elizabeth Cason, a 63-year-old retired Meade High School teacher who was found dead in her vehicle in 2011. In the episode, Anderson interviews acting Southern District Sgt. Regina Collier, a former homicide detective, who gives additional facts on the cold case of the beloved teacher, whose death has puzzled police and devastated her family. A lot of the things we found were very strange, and they didnt add up to her normal way of acting, Collier said in the episode. There was definitely something going on. Homicide detectives remain in touch with the families of the victims and make an effort to notify the families if an episode about their loved one is about to be released, Davis said. The podcast hosts work closely with the homicide department to check off information that can be released without impeding an investigation and choose information that could increase solvability. Mostly, its little tidbits that werent released during the initial push for information. If somebody remembers something, but we didnt release a detail at the time, that might be something that jogs peoples memories, Davis said. The department started setting up the podcast about six months ago by purchasing podcasting equipment, a few microphones, and recording software for less than $500. In addition to cold cases dating as far back as the 1970s, future episodes will dig into current and closed cases. The police department is hoping to release episodes about twice a month. SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) A man was found dead following a fire in a Southern California mobile home that police believe was deliberately set, authorities said. Firefighters responding late Friday in Santa Ana found the mobile home engulfed in flames, said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Thanh Nguyen. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Five people were wounded in a nighttime shooting at a park in Louisville, Kentucky, police said Sunday. Officers were called to Waterfront Park near the base of the Big Four Bridge on Saturday night, the Louisville Metro Police Department said in a statement. NEW VINEYARD, Maine (AP) A New Vineyard man was discovered dead in his vehicle after fleeing from officers who were attempting to arrest him for murdering his wife last year, state police said. Wilfred Daggett Jr., 43, took his life on Friday, little more than a year after the death of Collette Daggett, 43, in New Vineyard, state police said. BATH, Maine (AP) Police have made an arrest following a suspicious fire that damaged an elementary school in Bath. Police said a 30-year-old man was arrested by the fire marshal's office and local police Saturday evening. The man was jailed Sunday for burglary and arson. It was unclear if he had an attorney. GRESHAM, Ore. (AP) Federal law enforcement is investigating a fire that broke out on Friday morning at an anti-abortion center in a suburb east of Portland. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said on Twitter that they considered the fire at a First Image Pregnancy Resource Center in Gresham to be suspicious in nature." KOIN-TV reported that the fire began at around 3 a.m. on Friday morning and that the investigation would involve multiple agencies. NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) A ravenous species of earthworm has arrived in Connecticut with the potential to cause all sorts of damage to forests and wildlife. The so-called jumping worms can destabilize the soil and make it harder for some plants to grow, state scientist Gale Ridge told Hearst Connecticut Media Group. They also can accumulate toxic metals like mercury and lead, which are then eaten by birds and other animals. Russia is likely to seize control of the entire Luhansk region of Ukraine within a few weeks, a senior U.S. defense official said, as Ukraine sustains heavy casualties and its supplies of ammunition dwindle. Such a move would leave Russia short of its war aims of capturing all of Luhansk and Donetsk, which together make up the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. But it would still amount to a win for Russian forces and create a new de facto front line that could last for some time. The Ukrainian cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, in Luhansk, are increasingly under duress and could fall to Russian forces within a week, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Fierce street fighting continued Saturday in Severodonetsk, a strategic city near the Donets river. Ukrainian forces control a third of the city, Mayor Alexander Stryuk told the BBC's Ukrainian service. Russian troops had not been able to make advances in the city's south as of Friday, according to the latest intelligence update from Britain's Defense Ministry, released Saturday. But they are combining artillery firepower with airstrikes to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses, the ministry said. Ukraine has called for faster deliveries of Western arms to its outgunned military. Russia's progress remains incremental overall and is coming at great cost to its own forces in terms of deaths and injuries, the U.S. defense official said. Ukrainian forces have been fighting a very effective "mobile area defense," in which Russia presses forward with its assault as Ukrainian forces fall back, only for Ukrainian forces to then rebound and take back land. "The Ukrainians are doing a really good job here," the U.S. official said. Ukrainian troops pushed on with a counteroffensive in the Kherson region Saturday, retaking full control of the village of Tavriis'ke, the Kherson city council said in a Facebook post. The claim could not be independently verified. Roughly 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the Russian invasion began, Oleksiy Arestovych, a military adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Saturday. At least 200 to 300 Ukrainian soldiers are being killed each day, he said, though he claimed Russia has suffered even greater losses since February. The Washington Post could not immediately verify the figures. Zelensky said Saturday that it was "too late" to persuade Russia to end its invasion, calling on the world to avoid compromise with Moscow and take stronger action against Russia. Zelensky's comments, delivered via video at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security summit in Singapore, came a week after French President Emmanuel Macron sparked the ire of Ukraine and Eastern European allies when he said it was crucial not to "humiliate" Russia, to preserve the option of a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. Paris appeared to be doing damage control Friday, with a presidential official telling reporters that France wants a Ukrainian victory and was unwilling to make concessions to Russia, Reuters reported. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen traveled to Kyiv on Saturday on an unannounced visit. She was expected to discuss Ukraine's desire to join the European Union with Zelensky. Ukraine hopes to obtain "candidate status," an early step on what is usually a long path to E.U. membership. The commission is expected to make a recommendation on Ukraine's status next week. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said Friday that the bloc's legislative body supports Ukraine's bid. But rifts have emerged between Central European countries and Baltic states, which support swift action on Ukraine's candidacy, and Western European countries that are more reluctant to fast-track the process for a country with a history of corruption. Some E.U. diplomats said membership for Ukraine might be decades away. Rare tension appeared to surface between the United States and Ukraine early in the weekend, after President Biden said Zelensky "didn't want to hear it" when U.S. intelligence officials warned of a Russian attack before the Feb. 24 invasion. Biden spoke about the United States' commitment to Ukraine at a Democratic fundraising event in Los Angeles on Friday night, the Associated Press reported. "Nothing like this has happened since World War II," he said. Ukrainian officials rejected Biden's account that his administration's warnings had fallen on deaf ears in Kyiv. Zelensky adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told the Ukrainian news website LIGA.net that Ukraine knew Russia was planning to invade but that uncertainty had remained over the scale of any attack. The White House declined to comment. Anxiety over the ramifications of the conflict for global food security continued to mount, with Germany's agriculture minister accusing Russia of using starvation as a weapon. Cem Ozdemir decried the "particularly disgusting kind of warfare" on a German television news program. Moscow continues to blockade Ukraine's Black Sea ports, preventing the export of millions of tons of grain to countries around the world. Meanwhile, in the Russian-controlled city of Kherson, the first 23 Russian passports were presented to Ukrainian citizens in a ceremony Saturday, Russian state media reported. Kremlin-installed authorities have offered expedited Russian passports to residents of the Kherson area and Russia-controlled parts of the Zaporizhzhia region. Ukrainian and Western officials fear Moscow intends to annex the captured areas. Over the past two years, Russia has distributed passports to Ukrainians living in separatist-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine in an apparent effort to create the conditions to justify the fresh invasion. Russia has taken a number of other measures to exert administrative and cultural control over the Ukrainian regions it has occupied. Russian officials are reportedly planning to train teachers in eastern Ukraine using Russian curriculums, according to the pro-Moscow Ukrainian news site Strana. And occupation authorities in Mariupol, the southern port city Russian forces captured last month, have begun introducing Russian textbooks into schools, Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the Ukraine-backed mayor of Mariupol, wrote on Telegram on Friday. But occupation authorities still struggle to provide basic services, including medical care, to residents, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War reported Friday. - - - The Washington Post's David L. Stern in Mukachevo, Ukraine, Timothy Bella in Washington, Victoria Bisset and Ellen Francis in London, and Katerina Ang and Amy Cheng in Seoul contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON (AP) Senate bargainers on Sunday announced the framework of a bipartisan response to last months mass shootings, a noteworthy but limited breakthrough offering modest gun curbs and stepped-up efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, the accord was embraced by Biden and enactment would signal a significant turnabout after years of gun massacres that have yielded little but stalemate in Congress. Biden said in a statement that the framework does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades. Given the bipartisan support, there are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House, he said. Leaders hope to push any agreement into law rapidly they hope this month before the political momentum fades that has been stirred by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. Participants cautioned that final details and legislative language remain to be completed, meaning fresh disputes and delays might emerge. In a consequential development, 20 senators, including 10 Republicans, released a statement calling for passage. That is potentially crucial because the biggest obstacle to enacting the measure is probably in the 50-50 Senate, where at least 10 GOP votes will be needed to attain the usual 60-vote threshold for approval. Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities," the lawmakers said. The group, led by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., produced the agreement after two weeks of closed-door talks. The compromise would make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 available when they undergo background checks. The suspects who killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde were both 18, and many perpetrators of recent years' mass shootings have been young. The agreement would offer money to states to enact and put in place red flag laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns from people considered potentially violent, plus funds to bolster school safety and mental health programs. Some people who informally sell guns for profit would be required to obtain federal dealers' licenses, which means they would have to conduct background checks of buyers. Convicted domestic abusers who do not live with a former partner, such as estranged ex-boyfriends, would be barred from buying firearms, and it would be a crime for a person to legally purchase a weapon for someone who would not qualify for ownership. Congressional aides said billions of dollars would be spent expanding the number of community mental health centers and suicide prevention programs. But they said some spending decisions are unresolved, as are final wording on juvenile records and other gun provisions that might prove contentious. Yet underscoring election-year pressures from Buffalo and Uvalde, the parties shared desire to demonstrate a response to those shootings suggested momentum toward enactment was strong. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the accord a good first step to ending the persistent inaction to the gun violence epidemic" and said he would bring the completed measure to a vote as soon as possible. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has supported the talks, was more restrained. He praised the bargainers' work and said he is hoping for a deal that makes significant headway on key issues like mental health and school safety, respects the Second Amendment, earns broad support in the Senate, and makes a difference for our country. The agreement was quickly endorsed by groups that support gun restrictions including Brady, Everytown for Gun Safety and March for Our Lives, which organized rallies held around the country on Saturday. The National Rifle Association said in a statement that it opposes gun control and infringing on people's fundamental right to protect themselves and their loved ones, but supports strengthening school security, mental health and law enforcement. The group has long exerted its sway with millions of firearms-owning voters to derail gun control drives in Congress. The agreement represents a lowest common denominator compromise on gun violence, not a complete sea change in Congress. Lawmakers have demonstrated a newfound desire to move ahead after saying their constituents have shown a heightened desire for congressional action since Buffalo and Uvalde, but Republicans still oppose more sweeping steps that Democrats want and Sunday's agreement omits. These include banning assault-style firearms such as the AR-15 style rifles used in Buffalo and Uvalde, or raising the legal age for buying them. AR-15s are popular and powerful semi-automatic weapons that can fire high-capacity magazines and have been used in many of the nations highest-profile slaughters in recent years. One of them, the killing of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, occurred six years ago Sunday. Democrats have also wanted to ban high capacity magazines and to expand required background checks to far more gun purchases. None of those proposals has a chance in Congress. Highlighting that, the Democratic-controlled House approved sweeping bills this past week barring sales of semiautomatic weapons to people under age 21 and large-capacity magazines, and giving federal courts the power to rule when local authorities want to remove guns from people considered dangerous. Currently, only 19 states and the District of Columbia have red-flag laws. Those measures will go nowhere in the Senate, where Republicans can block them. The last major firearms restrictions enacted by lawmakers was the 1994 assault weapons ban, which Congress let expire 10 years later. For years, congressional Republicans representing rural, pro-gun voters have blocked robust restrictions on firearms purchases, citing the Constitutions Second Amendment. Democrats, whose voters overwhelmingly favor gun restrictions, have been reluctant to approve incremental steps that they have thought would let GOP lawmakers argue they have tried stemming the tide of violence without meaningfully addressing the problem. This month marks the 50th anniversary of the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. A stunning, but mostly forgotten, aspect of the broader Watergate scandal was the revelation that the Nixon administration conspired to use the federal governments contracting and grant-making authority to reward supporters, punish enemies and solicit campaign contributions. Some of those contributions led to indictments under a statute prohibiting federal contractors from making political expenditures. That statute remains in effect today. But, thanks to the Supreme Courts 2010 Citizens United decision, a contractor can now make unlimited political expenditures without violating the law and keep it all a secret. While this is a depressing state of affairs, President Joe Biden could address some of this absurdity with the stroke of a pen. The justification for a contractor contribution ban is that public officials might be tempted to trade contracts for favors and, too often, they do. The 2008 scandal involving former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich provides an object lesson. Besides trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat, Blagojevich also attempted to extort campaign contributions in exchange for increased Medicaid payments. Notably, this occurred soon after Blagojevichs predecessor was convicted for selling state contracts. In a 2015 decision upholding the constitutionality of the federal contractor contribution ban, then-U.S. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland referenced a litany of public corruption cases involving contractors. Those cases might never have been discovered if not for clues in publicly disclosed campaign contributions. But most of the political spending in which contractors may engage as a result of Citizens United is unlikely to see the light of day. An episode involving energy utility Southern Company, which receives tens of millions of dollars a year through federal contracts, shows how the current regime works. In 2020, Southern Company gave $1 million to a 501(c) nonprofit called One Nation, which was run by a former chief of staff to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The nonprofit spent nearly $100 million that year on advertisements praising Republican Senate candidates and attacking Democratic ones. One Nation mainlined an additional $85 million into the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC also operated by McConnells former chief of staff. The sole goal of the Senate Leadership Fund is to build a Republican Senate majority, which happens to be McConnells primary job. Because 501(c) groups are not officially political entities, contractors are allowed to contribute to them even if they make political expenditures. Here, Southern Company was able to make an unlimited contribution essentially to a Republican campaign committee without violating the ban on contractors making political expenditures. We know about Southern Companys million-dollar gift to McConnells network because the company voluntarily disclosed it, which is a relatively uncommon practice. Those giving with corrupt intentions are not likely to be so forthcoming. Consider the case of another utility, Ohio-based FirstEnergy. An internal FirstEnergy presentation in 2017 expressed the companys preference for giving to 501(c) groups as these are considered dark money (entities) because they are not required to disclose where the donations come from. Three years later after FirstEnergy spent $60 million in dark money successfully pursuing an unfathomably generous bailout from the state legislature a U.S. attorney accused the company of participating in likely the largest bribery, money-laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio. FirstEnergy agreed to pay a $230 million penalty to settle the charges. Campaign finance law should be updated to vastly increase disclosure requirements and close the loophole that allows contractors to evade the contribution prohibition. While passing legislation like this will be a challenge, a partial remedy could be applied right now. Biden could issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to disclose their contributions to entities that seek to influence elections. Such a step would increase taxpayer confidence in the contracting process. It would also strike the first blow against dark money at the federal level since the Citizens United decision was handed down more than a decade ago and offer a tangible way to address the perception and reality of corruption in our system. Taylor Lincoln is research director of the Congress Watch Division of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. Lisa Gilbert is the organizations executive vice president. They wrote this for InsideSources.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 CONNELLY SPRINGS, N.C. (AP) Authorities in North Carolina say two women have been arrested on felony child abuse charges after the children of one of the women were hit with a pair of metal knuckles in their home. Burke County Sheriff Steve Whisenant said in a Facebook post that the children were hospitalized with serious injuries Friday after an anonymous complaint led to the arrests of the children's mother, Jessica Renee Sanders, 26, and Natalie Shane Childress, 25, both Connelly Springs residents. TUPELO, Miss. (AP) From the parking lot, it looks pretty quiet on this bright June morning at the Orchard Church in Tupelo. But up on the second floor, things are buzzing. SummerSALT the Orchards month-long free reading program for struggling early-elementary-age readers is in full swing, and the 100-or-so Tupelo-area children enrolled are having so much fun, they dont even know theyre learning. They dont even know this is school, said Merissa Rambo, who is in her 10th year as the programs director. She said the catchy name came from one of the Orchards pastors. Jay Stanley, who is retired from the Orchard Northside, came up with it, she said. He loves a good acronym. It stands for studying and learning together." Each year, the Orchard hires 10 certified teachers and an equal number of teachers assistants to lead the SummerSALT program. Along with a crew of volunteers, they spend every Monday through Thursday morning in June helping struggling readers hone their skills. The teachers, who tend to return year after year, seem to have as much fun as the students, Rambo said. We dont pay as well as public school, but we take good care of our teachers, she said. We give them what they need, and they feel well-loved. Most of them say its their favorite time of year. Rambo said SummerSALT grew out of a desire to do mission work in the Orchards local context. We dont always need to go somewhere else to make a difference, she said. We said, Lets do something where we live, for students in our own community. Rambo said low childhood literacy rates in Mississippi were a problem she and others felt they needed to address. Usually, if theres a bad list, were at the top, and if theres a good list, were at the bottom, she said. In Mississippi, we tend to be near the bottom of the literacy rates. We felt like God was calling us to do something to help. Problems associated with poor reading skills begin early, but they have a long shelf life, Rambo said. Kids would rather be seen as bad than dumb, she said. They act out to keep you from knowing they arent getting it. That pattern doesnt change that much in adults. If you go to any prison or jail, theres always a high level of illiteracy in that population. SummerSALTs focus on the youngest readers is intentional, Rambo said. Our primary focus is struggling readers in kindergarten through third grade, she said. Once theyre in upper elementary, they arent learning to read; theyre reading to learn. And if they cant read well, they cant learn. We want to catch them as early as we can. Prison population and future workforce concerns aside, Rambo said increased literacy rates have spiritual consequences as well. God is a God of story, she said. We want these kids to have access to that story and to be able to read it for themselves. We give each kid a story Bible when they leave because we want them to know the story of Jesus. Jennifer LeSure is a kindergarten teacher at Carver Elementary in Tupelo. This summer marks her third year as a teacher at SummerSALT. She said the program is the highlight of her teaching year. Its my favorite time of year, she said. I love it because were allowed to just teach the kids and help them where theyre struggling. LaSure said the programs focus and pace make the learning environment a pleasant one for teachers and students alike. Its fun, she said. They know even if they get it wrong, were gonna make it right. We dont have to hurry. We take it slow and take as long as we need to make sure its solidified. LaSure said even though the program only lasts a month, she and her students develop a bond. At the end of the program, theyre our new little best friends, she said. I get to see them grow over those four weeks. Theyre so confident after the program; its like a new child. LaSure said the daily Bible story time is her favorite part of the program. I love the Bible stories, she said. Being able to teach and bring God into it is so special. You have to have both, in my opinion. I count it a joy to get to be a part of it. RUTLAND, Maine (AP) The Rutland Police Department is investigating a suspicious death in an apartment building, officials said Sunday. The investigation began early Sunday but police declined to disclose further details about the death. Police said there was no risk to the public. Police said more information would be released later. Vermont State Police were assisting in the investigation. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate VISBY, Sweden (AP) Having to defend Gotland against a foreign invasion seemed such a far-fetched notion to Swedish decision-makers at the start of the century that they demilitarized the Baltic Sea island. Now, the Swedish Armed Forces are back, and they are practicing with U.S. troops not just how to defend the island with a population of 58,000, but how to take it back from a foreign aggressor. U.S. Marines have conducted air drops and amphibious landings on Gotland as part of a NATO exercise in the Baltic Sea. Though the annual BALTOPS exercise isn't held in response to a specific threat, this year's edition comes amid heightened tensions with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. About 7,000 military personnel and 45 ships from 14 NATO countries, as well as Sweden and Finland, took part. Despite their non-aligned status, the two Nordic have practiced regularly with NATO countries, and their governments decided in the wake of the Ukraine war to seek full membership in the Western military alliance. Im feeling really prepared. I mean, we have made a big deployment on Gotland, and we will defend Gotland, Swedish Col. Magnus Frykvall, the islands regiment commander, said as military hardware was being deployed on the coast. Its a really hard task to take a defended island. Strategically located in the middle of the southern part of the Baltic Sea, Gotland has seen foreign invasions throughout its history, the most recent one in 1808, when Russian forces briefly occupied it. But after the Cold War ended, Sweden felt the risk of a Russian aggression was so remote it refocused its armed forces on foreign peacekeeping operations rather than territorial defense. The Gotland regiment was closed in 2005 as Sweden downsized its military. Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in 2014 led to a rethink, and a new regiment was established on Gotland in 2018. There are now around 400 Swedish soldiers permanently based on the island. Further reinforcements are planned following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Nonetheless, many Gotlanders feel Sweden would not be able to defend the island on its own. If we were to be invaded, we wouldnt stand a chance because our defense is too small. We have a really modern and good defense, but its too small, said Lars Soderdahl, a 33-year-old chef in the islands main town, Visby. Sweden, which has stayed out of military alliances since the Napoleonic Wars, applied for NATO membership together with Finland in a historic move last month. NATO's existing 30 members are set to discuss the issue this month. Turkey has threatened to hold up the applications over the two countries' perceived support for Kurdish groups. Finland and Sweden have sought security assurances from the U.S. and other NATO countries during the application period. Kicking off the BALTOPS exercises last weekend in Stockholm, U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it was important for the NATO allies to show solidarity with both Finland and Sweden. Their membership in the alliance would leave Russia in a difficult military position, with the Baltic Sea encircled by NATO members except for in Russias Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad and the Russian city of St. Petersburg and its surrounding areas. The strategic importance of Gotland, a popular summer vacation spot for Swedes, is often viewed in relation to the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which are particularly worried about any Russian aggression following the Ukraine invasion. Gotland is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from mainland Sweden and 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the coast of Latvia, The thing is, from here, you make supplying and supporting the Baltic states a lot easier or a lot more difficult, depending on who is in control of the island, Mikael Norrby, an Uppsala University academic, told The Associated Press. Coinciding with the NATO exercises, Russia's Baltic Fleet launched its own military exercises this week. The fleets press service referred to the maneuvers Tuesday as a scheduled exercise focused on various types of security tasks, including the tracking and destruction of enemy submarines. There are more than 20 warships and boats in the sea ranges of the Baltic Fleet, performing combat tasks both individually and as part of ship search-and-strike groups and ship strike groups, the press service said in a statement. It added that corvettes, patrol ships, small missile carriers, anti-submarine vessels, minesweepers, and landing hovercraft were among the vessels taking part in the exercises. ___ Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NEW YORK (AP) The Latest on the Tony Awards (all times local): 11 p.m. A Strange Loop, an utterly unforgettable, idiosyncratic trip into one mans psyche, has won the best new musical Tony Award, beating more commercial fare. Michael R. Jacksons 2020 Pulitzer Prize drama winner is a theater meta-journey a tuneful show about a Black gay man writing a show about a Black gay man. That show is also called A Strange Loop. At its center is Usher, an unhappy playwright slumming as an usher at The Lion King. He is haunted by a Greek chorus of voices his thoughts as well as homophobic family members who pummel, undercut and berate him. Jackson, who in real life was an usher at The Lion King, is also the songwriter, and he wrote the 18 songs within the Broadway tradition, a cocktail of rock and R&B, melded harmonies, ballads and belting. A Strange Loop beat out Girl From the North Country, MJ, Mr. Saturday Night, Paradise Square and Six: The Musical. ___ MORE ON THE TONYS Tony Awards begin with non-acting honors handed out List of Tony winners On Broadway, more visibility, yes, but also an unseen threat ___ 10:50 p.m. Joaquina Kalukango has won the Tony Award for best leading actress in a musical. Kalukango won for her work in Paradise Square, a musical about Irish immigrants and Black Americans jostling to survive in New York City around the time of the Civil War. Kalukangos credits include Lifetimes The Mahalia Jackson Story, starring her former The Color Purple castmate Danielle Brooks, and Amazons One Night... in Miami as Betty Shabazz. She said her name means established by God and she gave thanks to God and her parents during her acceptance speech. She was also in the ensemble of Holler If Ya Hear Me on Broadway and appeared in Ava DuVernays Exonerated Five miniseries When They See Us. She was Tony-nominated for Jeremy O. Harris ground-breaking Slave Play. For the Tony, she beat out Sharon D Clarke in Caroline, or Change, Carmen Cusack from Flying Over Sunset, Sutton Foster in The Music Man and Mare Winningham from Girl From the North Country. ___ 10:45 p.m. Myles Frost has moonwalked away with the award for best lead actor in a musical for playing Michael Jackson and becomes the youngest solo winner in that category. MJ represents the 22-year-old Frosts Broadway debut as he plays Jackson with a high, whispery voice, a Lady Diana-like coquettishness and a fierce embrace of Jacksons iconic dancing and singing style, right down to the rhythmic breathing and swiveling head. Frost thanked his parents and sang during his acceptance speech. Frost was raised by his mother in Fort Washington, Maryland. After high school, he put theater aside to pursue a career in music. He attended Belmont University in Nashville for two years to major in audio engineering. He transferred to Bowie State University in Maryland for his final two years. The bio musical is stuffed with the King of Pops biggest hits, including ABC, Black or White, Blame it on the Boogie, Bad, Billie Jean, Off the Wall, Thriller and Ill Be There. Frost beat Billy Crystal in Mr. Saturday Night, Hugh Jackman from The Music Man, Rob McClure in Mrs. Doubtfire and Jaquel Spivey in A Strange Loop. Frost unseated Ben Platt as the youngest performer to win best leading man in a musical on his own for Dear Evan Hansen. (Three young men won for playing Billy Elliot in 2009). ___ 10:31 p.m. Deirdre OConnell has won the Tony Award for best actress in a play for her work in Dana H. Dana H., which has been described as harrowing fugue state of a play, is about a woman kidnapped by a former convict and member of a white supremacist brotherhood and held hostage for five months. It is written by Lucas Hnath and directed by Les Waters. OConnell never speaks in the play. Instead, she sits on a set that resembles a Florida motel room and lip-syncs to an edited recording of the survivor, Dana Higginbotham. In her acceptance speech, OConnell said she wanted her award to be a token to those wondering if they should try to create something fort he theater. OConnells other Broadway credits include Magic/Bird and The Front Page. For the Tony, OConnell beat Gabby Beans, LaChanze, Ruth Negga and Mary-Louise Parker. ___ ___ 10:30 p.m. Simon Russell Beale has won the Tony Award for best leading actor in a play for his work in The Lehman Trilogy. Stefano Massinis play about what led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers adapted by Ben Power and directed by Sam Mendes stars Adrian Lester and Adam Godley alongside Beale. Its Beales third time on Broadway, having made his debut in 2004 in Jumpers and returning to play King Arthur in Spamalot. He has had roles in projects like the Christina Ricci horror flick The Gathering, the Michelle Williams dramatic adaptation My Week With Marilyn and the drama The Deep Blue Sea with Rachel Weisz. For the Tony, Beale beat his The Lehman Trilogy co-stars Godley and Lester as well as David Morse in How I Learned to Drive, Sam Rockwell in American Buffalo, Ruben Santiago-Hudson in Lackawanna Blues and David Threlfall in Hangmen. ___ ___ 10:15 p.m. The Lehman Trilogy, which tells the story of an American financial giants downfall, has won best new play honors at the Tonys. Stefano Massinis play about what led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers adapted by Ben Power and directed by Sam Mendes stars Adrian Lester, Simon Russell Beale and Adam Godley. Spanning 150 years and running three and a half hours, The Lehman Trilogy illustrates the trajectory of western capitalism by following the fortunes of a single family into the financial crash of 2008, when their Wall Street institution filed for bankruptcy. The play first arrived at the National Theatres Lyttelton Theatre in 2018 and went on to have an off-Broadway run and then a West End bow. The English-language version is a marathon: Three actors doing 185 roles. For the Tony, it beat Clydes, Hangmen, The Minutes and Skeleton Crew. ___ 9:45 p.m. A revival of Stephen Sondheims Company that gender-switches the lead character has won the Tony Award for best musical revival. The show is an exploration of a single persons conflicted feelings about commitment, traditionally focusing on a 35-year-old bachelor. This time, it had a bachelorette and the sexes of several couples swapped around. The revival starred Katrina Lenk and Patti LuPone with direction from Marianne Elliott. The songs include You Could Drive a Person Crazy, The Ladies Who Lunch, Side by Side by Side and the Being Alive. For the Tony, it beat The Music Man and Caroline, or Change. ___ 9:15 p.m. Take Me out won the Tony Award for best play in 2003 and this year has won it for best play revival. Richard Greenbergs Pulitzer Prize-nominee explores what happens when a Major League Baseball superstar comes out as gay, tracing the way it unsettles the team and unleashes toxic prejudices. Greys Anatomy star Jesse Williams plays the star baller and Jesse Tyler Ferguson plays his unathletic gay accountant, Mason Marzac, a sweetly zealous convert to the game. It beat out American Buffalo, How I Learned to Drive, Trouble in Mind and for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf. ___ 8:40 p.m. Marianne Elliott has made Tony history by becoming the only woman to have won three Tonys for directing. The latest prize comes for her work on the Stephen Sondheim revival of Company. The show is an exploration of a single persons conflicted feelings about commitment, traditionally focusing on a 35-year-old bachelor. This time, it had a bachelorette and the sexes of several couples swapped around. Thank you, first and foremost to Stephen Sondheim for trusting me to tell his story in a different way and putting a woman front and center, Elliott said while accepting the award. She was an associate director at the National Theatre in the UK for 10 years, where she directed Angels in America and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time both of which transferred to Broadway and she was a co-director of the international hit War Horse. She earned directing Tonys for War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. For her third directing Tony, she beat Stephen Brackett of A Strange Loop, Conor McPherson from Girl From the North Country, Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage of Six: The Musical and Christopher Wheeldon from MJ. ___ 8:38 p.m. Sam Mendes has won the Tony Award for best direction of a play for helming The Lehman Trilogy. Mendes last won for directing The Ferryman and he has won for producing Red, Take Me Out and The Real Thing. Stefano Massinis The Lehman Trilogy about what led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers stars Adrian Lester and Adam Godley alongside Simon Russell Beale. Among Mendess films are the James Bond installments Skyfall and Spectre and he won an Oscar for directing American Beauty. He also was nominated for 1917. For his latest Tony, Mendes beat Lileana Blain-Cruz of The Skin of Our Teeth, Camille A. Brown from for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, Neil Pepe of American Buffalo and Les Waters for Dana H. ___ 8:30 p.m. Patti LuPone has won the third Tony of her illustrious career for her work in a revival of Stephen Sondheims Company. The show is an exploration of a single persons conflicted feelings about commitment, traditionally focusing on a 35-year-old bachelor. This time, it had a bachelorette and the sexes of several couples swapped around. LuPone plays Joanne, the acerbic character who sings the anthem The Ladies Who Lunch. She has had a long history with the character and this legendary song in particular, performing Ladies Who Lunch at Sondheims 80th birthday concert. LuPone won her first Tony for Evita, earned two more nominations for revivals of Anything Goes and Sweeney Todd before winning her second prize in 2008 for her performance as Rose in Gypsy. For the latest Tony, LuPone beat Jeannette Bayardelle in Girl From the North Country, Shoshana Bean in Mr. Saturday Night, Jayne Houdyshell from The Music Man, L Morgan Lee from A Strange Loop and Jennifer Simard in Company. ___ 8:10 p.m. Host Ariana DeBose has kicked off the Tony Awards and Jesse Tyler Ferguson has won the first acting award of the night. DeBose, wearing a sparkling white jumpsuit and wide-brimmed hat, danced and sang a song that mashed up shards of musical theater favorites, like Chicago, The Wiz, Evita, Rent, Hair, Cabaret, Hairspray and West Side Story, the movie remake for which she won an Oscar. Still panting while welcoming viewers, she told the crowd that this was the season Broadway got its groove back. Moments later, Ferguson won the Tony Award for best featured actor in a play for his work in the revival of Take Me Out. I cant believe I get to do this for a living, Ferguson said, thanking his mother and father for letting him move to New York City to pursue his acting dream. Richard Greenbergs play is an exploration of what happens when a Major League Baseball superstar comes out as gay, tracing the way it unsettles the team and unleashes toxic prejudices. Ferguson plays the superstars unathletic gay accountant. Ferguson, a five-time Emmy-nominated star of TVs Modern Family, has had previous roles on Broadway, including On the Town, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Fully Committed. This is his first Tony. Ferguson beat out Alfie Allen from Hangmen, Chuck Cooper in Trouble in Mind, Ron Cephas Jones from Clydes and two of his Take Me Out co-stars Jesse Williams and Michael Oberholtzer. ___ 8 p.m. Eleven Tony Awards were handed out Sunday before the main telecast, spreading trophies across seven shows. Six: The Musical picked up awards for best score and costumes for a musical. The revival of Company nabbed best scenic design for a musical. Best orchestrations went to Girl From the North Country. And The Lehman Trilogy won for best scenic design of a play and lighting design of a play. The Skin of Our Teeth won best costumes for a play, MJ won for choreography, best lighting of a musical and sound design of a musical and Dana H. won for sound design of a play. The main event with host Ariana DeBose will start live at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS. ___ 7:15 p.m. Darren Criss and Julianne Hough have kicked off a one-hour Tony Award celebration at Radio City Music Hall, handing out mostly technical awards like best scenic and lighting design on Paramount+. Hough and Criss opened their portion of the telecast with his original song, Set the Stage, celebrating the artists who keep theater alive. The first award of the night for best score went to Six: The Musical, with music and lyrics by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. Marlow is the first out nonbinary composer-lyricist to win a Tony. A total of eight design awards will be handed out along with best score, as well as the award for orchestrations and ending with choreography. The main event with host Ariana DeBose will start live at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS. A Strange Loop, a theater meta-journey about a playwright writing a musical, goes into the telecast with a leading 11 Tony nominations. Right behind with 10 nominations each is MJ, a bio musical of the King of Pop, and Paradise Square, a musical about Irish immigrants and Black Americans jostling to survive in New York City around the time of the Civil War. ___ 6:30 p.m. It has taken playwright Michael R. Jackson almost two decades to take his musical A Strange Loop to Broadway and he says the recognition is a sort of validation. It feels wonderful. It feels like a real validation of all the time, the blood, the sweat, the tears we put into this piece. Ive worked on this musical for almost 20 years, and so to be here after having stuck to my guns feels like such a validation, Jackson said on the Tony red carpet. In the musical, we meet the character Usher, an unhappy playwright slumming as an usher at The Lion King. Usher is haunted by a Greek chorus of voices his thoughts as well as homophobic family members who pummel, undercut and berate him. Jackson said theres a little Usher in him. Usher is a character that Ive certainly created to sort of deal with some things that I was thinking about. But hes grown so far beyond that and Ive grown so far beyond that, he said. Watching every night feels really exciting because Im watching a piece of art that I started from like a really formative time, sort of really become something bigger than any sort of personal experience that I was having. ___ 9 a.m. Darren Criss favorite night of the year has arrived. Its the Tony Awards. Ill never shut up about the Tonys. I love the Tonys, he says. Criss will not only be watching the Tonys on Sunday, hell also be working. Hes co-host with Julianne Hough of a one-hour pre-Tony celebration at Radio City Music Hall, and hes even written an original song about the show that hell perform, revealing a bit of my nerdy proclivities. Criss and Hough will be handing out creative arts Tonys on Paramount+ and then pass hosting duties to Ariana DeBose for the main three-hour telecast on CBS from the same stage, live coast to coast for the first time. vitpho/Getty Images/iStockphoto RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) A retired truck driver from Texas has been charged with killing a woman whose body was found along a freeway onramp in a Southern California desert nearly 30 years ago, prosecutors said. Cold-case investigators used advances in DNA technology to link Douglas Thomas to the 1993 killing of Sherri Herrera, the Riverside County District Attorney's Office said in a statement. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate KOLONSCHYNA, Ukraine (AP) As Russian tanks and trucks rumbled close to their village, a Ukrainian teenager and his father stealthily launched their small drone into the air. Working as a team, they took bird's-eye photos of the armored column moving toward Kyiv and pinpointed its coordinates, swiftly messaging the precious information to the Ukrainian military. Within minutes, artillery batteries rained shells down on the invading forces, with deadly effect. Andriy Pokrasa, 15, and his dad, Stanislav, are being hailed in Ukraine for their volunteer aerial reconnaissance work in the early days of the invasion, when Russian troops barreling in from the north made an ultimately failed attempt to take the capital and bring the country to its knees. For a full week after the Feb. 24 invasion, the pair made repeated sorties with their drone risking capture or worse had Russian troops been aware of their snooping. "These were some of the scariest moments of my life, Andriy recounted as he demonstrated his piloting skills for an Associated Press team of journalists. We provided the photos and the location to the armed forces," he said. They narrowed down the coordinates more accurately and transmitted them by walkie-talkie, so as to adjust the artillery. His father was happy to leave the piloting to the boy. I can operate the drone, but my son does it much better. We immediately decided he would do it, Stanislav Pokrasa, 41, said. They aren't sure how many Russian targets were destroyed using information they provided. But they saw the devastation wrought on the Russian convoy when they later flew the drone back over the charred hulks of trucks and tanks near a town west of Kyiv and off a strategically important highway that leads to the capital. There were more than 20 Russian military vehicles destroyed, among them fuel trucks and tanks, the father said. As Russian and Ukrainian forces battled furiously for control of Kyiv's outskirts, Ukrainian soldiers finally urged the Pokrasa family to leave their village, which Russian troops subsequently occupied. With all adult men up to age 60 under government orders to stay in the country, the elder Pokrasa couldn't join his wife and son when they fled to neighboring Poland. They came back a few weeks ago, when Andriy had finished his school year. I was happy that we destroyed someone, he said. I was happy that I contributed, that I was able to do something. Not just sitting and waiting. ___ AP journalist John Leicester contributed to this report from Kyiv, Ukraine. ___ Follow APs coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Another familiar face is departing the San Antonio airwaves. KENS 5 anchor Sharon Ko announced she is departing the TV station after eight years. Ko first joined the team in January 2014 as a news anchor and multimedia journalist before taking over the 6 p.m. newscast in January 2020. She posted the announcement to her Facebook page on Wednesday night, June 1, letting viewers know her last day would be Friday, June 3. A 601,000-square-foot outdoor mall in Reno is hitting the market, the Reno Gazette Journal first reported. About a 20-minute drive from North Lake Tahoe, the Summit mall features an Apple store, a Century movie theatre, anchor tenant Dillard's and eateries like Bay Area chain Ike's Love and Sandwiches. Earlier this year, Hyatt announced construction on a new hotel on the property as well; the 132-room Hyatt Place Reno South is expected to open in 2023. "Sales, currently, are off the charts and tenants are doing well," Kyle R. Miller, executive managing director for Newmark Capital Markets' West Coast team, told the Gazette Journal. "Were targeting north of $100 million on this deal." The Summit mall has been open about 15 years. According to Bayer Properties, which currently operates the mall, over 680,000 people visit the shopping center annually and spend an average of 84 minutes browsing. Miller said interest in acquiring the mall is high due to Reno's exploding population and proximity to the tourist delights of the Tahoe area. According to recent census data, Nevada's population grew 15% between 2010 and 2020, more than double the national average. "Were very excited about the growth metrics and the runway that the Reno market has," Miller told the Gazette Journal. "Just looking at residential, the pending construction is pretty significant and a lot of that is still going on in south Reno." Update: 12-06-2022 | 16:32:46 Malaysia is calling on the EU-ASEAN Business Council (EU-ABC) to work more closely to further explore the full potential of the country and the wider region, the country's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has said. Malaysia's PM Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob Despite the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Malaysias total trade with the EU grew by 26 percent to 180.2 billion ringgit (43.5 billion USD) in 2021, reflecting that the EU remains an important trading partner to Malaysia, he said during the EU-ABC AGM Gala Dinner in collaboration with EUROCHAM Malaysia on June 10. Regarding the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, Ismail Sabri said Malaysia welcomes initiatives by the European Commission to engage the Indo-Pacific region in establishing a more inclusive, multi-pronged and robust partnership between the EU and the region, through the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. The strategic framework will act as a catalyst to revive the economies in the region, he said, adding that this will strengthen the ASEAN market which lies at the crossroads of global economic interactions, while serving as a major gateway for businesses to enter the Indo-Pacific markets. On the ASEAN-EU relations, Ismail said as a strategic partner to ASEAN, Malaysia is optimistic that the EU will continue to assume a vital role in the region's development including continuing to advocate for the ASEAN Community Vision 2025. It is noteworthy that despite the adverse impacts of the pandemic, the EU continues to be one of ASEANs most important trade and investment partners. With a total trade of 220.9 billion USD recorded in 2020, the EU was ASEAN's third-largest trade partner, he was quoted by Bernama news agency as saying. He reaffirmed that Malaysia remains resolute in its commitment to ensure that the country continues to be a business-friendly nation with greater certainty, accountability, efficiency and transparency in its initiatives and policies. Malaysia's parliament has approved a record budget for 2022, amounting to 332.1 billion ringgit (75.4 billion USD). It aims at bolstering post-pandemic economic recovery through three main pillars namely strengthening recovery, building resilience, and driving reforms./. VNA WFO SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, June 11, 2022 _____ EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Hanford CA 753 PM PDT Sat Jun 11 2022 ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IS CANCELLED... Temperatures will continue to drop through the night across the desert. ...HEAT ADVISORY IS CANCELLED... region. ...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM PDT /11 AM MST/ TO 8 PM PDT /8 PM MST/ SUNDAY... ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING WILL EXPIRE AT 8 PM PDT /8 PM MST/ THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 45 mph expected. * WHERE...Portions of northwest Arizona, southeast California and southern Nevada. * WHEN...From 11 AM PDT /11 AM MST/ to 8 PM PDT /8 PM MST/ Sunday. * IMPACTS...Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Use extra caution when driving, especially if operating a high profile vehicle. Secure outdoor objects. * WHAT...Southwest winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph and south central and southern Nevada. ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING WILL EXPIRE AT 8 PM PDT THIS EVENING... The excessively hot temperatures will come to an end on Sunday as a cooling trend begins, and near normal temperatures are forecast for the first part of the upcoming week. ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM PDT /8 PM MST/ SUNDAY... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with heat index values up to 106. * WHERE...In Arizona, Lake Havasu and Fort Mohave. In California, San Bernardino County-Upper Colorado River Valley. * WHEN...Until 8 PM PDT /8 PM MST/ Sunday. * IMPACTS...Extreme heat and humidity will significantly increase the potential for heat related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities. Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO ALBANY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Sunday, June 12, 2022 _____ SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT Special Weather Statement National Weather Service Albany NY 638 PM EDT Sun Jun 12 2022 ...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southwestern Hamilton and central Herkimer Counties through 715 PM EDT... At 637 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near Northwood, or 17 miles east of Boonville, moving northeast at 30 mph. HAZARD...Winds in excess of 30 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. Locations impacted include... Ohio, Northwood, Grant, Nobleboro, Atwell, Wheelertown, Herkimer Landing, Caswell Lake, Mountain Home, Wilmurt, Pardeeville Corners, Wilmurt Corners, Morehouseville, Hoffmeister and North Wilmurt. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building. 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. 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. Persons in campgrounds should consider seeking sturdy shelter until this storm passes. LAT...LON 4366 7475 4343 7456 4327 7503 4334 7508 4344 7509 TIME...MOT...LOC 2237Z 238DEG 25KT 4339 7501 MAX HAIL SIZE...0.50 IN MAX WIND GUST...30 MPH _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO BUFFALO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Sunday, June 12, 2022 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in Buffalo has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Central Wayne County in western New York... * Until 530 PM EDT. * At 429 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Sodus, or 16 miles east of Webster, moving east at 20 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Minor damage to vehicles is possible. Expect wind damage to trees and power lines. * Locations impacted include... Williamson, Marion, Clyde, Sodus, Chimney Bluffs State Park, Rose, Huron, Savannah, Wolcott and Sodus Point. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO BUFFALO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Sunday, June 12, 2022 _____ SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT Special Weather Statement National Weather Service Buffalo NY 449 PM EDT Sun Jun 12 2022 ...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southwestern Monroe County through 530 PM EDT... At 449 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near Scottsville, or near Chili, moving northeast at 20 mph. HAZARD...Winds in excess of 30 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. Locations impacted include... Rochester, Greece, Chili, Brighton, Gates-North Gates, Henrietta, Scottsville, Riga, Rush, Strong Memorial Hospital, North Chili, Martin, Rochester International Airport, Industry, Mumford and Garbutt. This includes the following highways... Interstate 390 between exits 11 and 12. Interstate 90 near exit 46. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building. Torrential rainfall is also occurring with this storm and may lead to localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways. 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 4299 7773 4299 7788 4302 7791 4304 7791 4304 7792 4305 7793 4324 7768 4298 7752 4298 7773 TIME...MOT...LOC 2049Z 245DEG 19KT 4305 7781 MAX HAIL SIZE...0.50 IN MAX WIND GUST...30 MPH _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO AMARILLO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, June 11, 2022 _____ HEAT ADVISORY URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Amarillo TX 858 PM CDT Sat Jun 11 2022 ...HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 10 PM CDT SUNDAY... ...HEAT ADVISORY WILL EXPIRE AT 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...High temperatures of 105 to 109 degrees are expected. Lower terrain areas such as the Canadian River Valley will likely see temperatures in the 108 to 112 range. * WHERE...The central and eastern Oklahoma Panhandle and all of the Texas Panhandle except Dallam County. * WHEN...From Noon to 10 PM CDT Sunday. * IMPACTS...Hot temperatures may cause heat illnesses. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Take extra precautions when outside. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing. Try to limit strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Take action when you see symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 10 PM CDT SUNDAY... ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING WILL EXPIRE AT 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures 110 to 113 degrees. * WHERE...Palo Duro Canyon State Park. * IMPACTS...Heat related illnesses increase significantly during extreme heat. Do not leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles. Car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes. Stay cool, stay hydrated, stay informed. * WHAT...High temperatures 105 to 107 expected. * WHERE...In Oklahoma, Cimarron County. In Texas, Dallam County. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO MIDLAND/ODESSA Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Sunday, June 12, 2022 _____ HEAT ADVISORY URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Midland/Odessa TX 242 PM CDT Sun Jun 12 2022 ...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Temperatures up to 109. * WHERE...Portions of western Texas. * WHEN...Until 9 PM CDT this evening. * IMPACTS...Hot temperatures may cause heat illnesses to occur. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. * WHAT...Temperatures up to 112. * WHERE...Ward and Loving Counties, and Reeves County Plains. ...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CDT /8 PM MDT/ THIS EVENING... * WHERE...In New Mexico, Guadalupe Mountains of Eddy County. In Texas, Eastern Culberson County, Van Horn and Highway 54 Corridor, Marfa Plateau and Davis Mountains Foothills, and Chinati Mountains. * WHEN...Until 9 PM CDT /8 PM MDT/ this evening. * WHERE...Terrell, Central Brewster and Pecos Counties, and Chisos Basin. * WHAT...Temperatures up to 114. * WHERE...Rio Grande Valley. ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CDT /8 PM MDT/ THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures up to 103. * WHERE...Guadalupe and Delaware Mountains in Texas, and Davis Mountains. * IMPACTS...Extreme heat will significantly increase the potential for heat related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather Laotian and Cambodian students studying in Ho Chi Minh City share their experiences of wearing Vietnamese ao dai with former Vice President Truong My Hoa (Photo: SGGP) The fruitful fostering program Vietnamese families with Laotian and Cambodian students studying in Ho Chi Minh City' was launched by Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in HCMC in coordination with social and political organizations in the city. Cambodian student Lun Leangchheng has been a member of a Vietnamese family for three years in HCMC, the southern largest city. Lun Leangchheng's adoptive mother is Ms. Truong Thuy Uyen, Vice Principal of Van Don Secondary School in District 4. During the time staying with mother Uyen, Lun Leangchheng felt the love of family members, and the relationship between her and the adopted family members is increasingly close. Lun Leangchheng was moved, saying that although Ms. Uyen is not her biological mother, she takes care of her with heart. Lun Leangchheng added that she has always been supported by her adoptive mother; therefore, she feels warm though she lives far from home. Lun Leangchheng also feels confident and integrated while living in Vietnam. That motivated Lun Leangchheng to actively learn and promote cultural exchange between Vietnam and Cambodia. Lun Leangchheng is one of more than 50 Cambodian and Laotian students studying in Ho Chi Minh City who are supported and nurtured by Vietnamese families in 17 districts and Thu Duc City. This activity also aims to tighten the diplomatic relations between Vietnam - Cambodia, and Vietnam - Laos. Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in District 6 Pham Van Pho said that over the years, the district has held gatherings for Vietnamese families to adopt Lao students to participate in cultural and culinary exchanges between the two countries. Along with that, many cultural activities have been organized so that Laotian and Cambodian students can understand more about Vietnamese culture. Many activities have been held citywide to support special students coming to the southern metropolis for pursuing education. Lately, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in HCMC in collaboration with socio-political organizations organized the program 'Vietnamese families with Lao and Cambodian students studying in Ho Chi Minh City' at the Vietnam Ao Dai Museum in Thu Duc City. At the program, students from Laos and Cambodia had a chance to put on the awarded Vietnamese traditional ao dai. Vice Chairman of Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in Ho Chi Minh City Ngo Thanh Son commented that the program 'Vietnamese families with Lao and Cambodian students studying in Ho Chi Minh City' helps strengthen exchange activities between the three countries. It will be widely popularized among all classes of people in the city and international students from Laos and Cambodia. International students from Laos and Cambodia have a valuable opportunity to experience the traditional culture of Vietnam. They will understand more about the neighboring country, people, culture, history, traditions, great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. At the meeting with the high-ranking delegation of Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of the delegation's visit and work in Laos , many Lao alumni who studied in Ho Chi Minh City sent their thanks to residents in the city. Ms. Pathoummath Philapphandeth, a former international student in Ho Chi Minh City, shared her special and warm at home feeling when studying in the city. She said her classmates and city dwellers have supported and helped her a lot. Lamphanh Ounmano, who studied Education Management at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, said that while studying in Ho Chi Minh City, he received special help from highly qualified teachers and friends. Speaking at the meeting, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Ngo Minh Chau said that over the years, over 600 Lao students have studied at 26 universities, academies, and colleges citywide. Under the program 'Vietnamese families with Lao and Cambodian students studying in Ho Chi Minh City', in 2022, 51 Lao and Cambodian students are living with 34 Vietnamese families in Ho Chi Minh City. By Minh Nghia - Translated by Anh Quan On Saturday, the Herald published an article about Australian actor Rebel Wilson and her new partner Ramona Agruma. The article ran online and was a small item on page 36 of Saturdays print edition. The article has promoted some public attention and Ive been reading this feedback closely. In the interests of transparency I wanted to offer the Heralds view on this issue. Our weekly Private Sydney celebrity column last week asked Wilson if she wished to comment about her new partner. We would have asked the same questions had Wilsons new partner been a man. To say that the Herald outed Wilson is wrong. Like other mastheads do every day, we simply asked questions and as standard practice included a deadline for a response. I had made no decision about whether or what to publish, and the Heralds decision about what to do would have been informed by any response Wilson supplied. On the afternoon of June 10, Chairman of the Provincial Peoples Committee Nguyen Van Phuong had a meeting session with the delegation from Sekong, Laos led by Leklay Sivilay, Secretary of the Party Committee and Governor of Sekong province on the occasion of the working visit to Thua Thien Hue province. An overview of the working session Over the time, the special traditional friendly relationship between Thua Thien Hue and Sekong province has continued to be strengthened, becoming increasingly closed, reliable, effective, and practical in all fields including politics, diplomacy, security, national defense, economy, culture, education, and healthcare, etc. Over the past 2 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the implementation of foreign projects and plans of each province. In this context, the two sides have continued to maintain the good traditional relationship through various flexible forms to maintain the sharing, supportive and assistant relationship. The two sides have maintained the close and timely collaboration to well control the pandemic situation in the border area, contributing to maintaining political security, ensuring social order and safety, creating favorable conditions for socio-economic development, and ensuring national defense and security on the borders. Cooperation on education and human resource training continues to be the priority of the senior leaders of the two provinces, affirming that it is one of the effective cooperation fields. Since 2002, Thua Thien Hue province has trained Vietnamese and supported university and college majors for 1.200 Laos students from Attapu, Champasak, Khammuon, Savannakhet, Sekong, and Vientiane provinces, in which there are over 150 students from Sekong. Over the past 2 years, the province has organized to receive over 500 Lao students, who returned to their hometown to avoid Covid pandemic, coming back to keep on their studies at educational institutes in the provincial area, at the same time implementing vaccination for Lao students. At the meeting, Sekong Governor Leklay Sivilay said that this was a meaningful visit on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic relation between Vietnam and Laos and the 45th year of the Vietnam Laos Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Sekong Governor Leklay Sivilay expressed his joy in the results achieved from the friendly relationship between the two localities, especially the love from Thua Thien Hue province to Sekong province. The Sekong Governor desired that in the coming time, Sekong province and Thua Thien Hue province will carry out many more significant activities, keeping on tightening the special unity between the two sides. Chairman of the Provincial Peoples Committee Nguyen Van Phuong highly appreciated the official friendly visit of the delegation from Sekong province. Chairman Nguyen Van Phuong emphasized that in the coming time, the two sides need to keep on enhancing the cooperation in politics, defense, border, border gates, economy, culture, education, and healthcare, etc., thereby, contributing to the consolidation and the development of the great and special friendly relation, as well as the comprehensive cooperation between the two nations Vietnam Laos in general, and between Thua Thien Hue Sekong in particular. On this occasion, Chairman Nguyen Van Phuong has cordially invited the Party Secretary, Governor and the leaders of Sekong province to attend the opening ceremony of Hue Festival 2022 which will take place on June 25, 2022. By N.Minh There was one seat deliberately left vacant for the sold-out screening of a new Australian documentary. Front row, right in the centre. And just before Jason van Genderens Everybodys Oma started at Sydney Film Festival on the weekend, a bunch of flowers was carefully placed there. Director Jason van Genderen with a scene from Everybodys Oma on screen. Credit:Kate Geraghty The missing audience member, who died in February but was ever-present at the screening, was Hendrika van Genderen, best known as Oma in videos that have been watched more than 100 million times around the world. The documentary grew out of the hugely popular videos that Omas son posted online as advancing Alzheimers and vascular dementia stole away his mothers cheerful optimism and warm smile. Australian and Chinese defence ministers meet face to face in Singapore Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss Boat issues Mayday call off Perth Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss The more than 75,000 Australians who voted via telephone because they were in isolation with COVID-19 were far more likely to back Labor candidates or Greens and independents than the broader electorate. An analysis of the COVID-19 phone voting results shows in all but eight lower house seats, Labor or the winning Green or independent candidate won a higher share of the two-candidate preferred vote. More than 75,000 people who were in COVID-19 isolation on election day were able to securely vote via phone. Credit:Australian Electoral Commission This trend was also seen in safe Coalition-held seats, with the exception of the Nationals-held seat of Mallee. There were 13 seats where the difference between the COVID-19 phone voting outcome and the overall outcome exceeded 10 percentage points. London: Russia is firing huge Cold War-era missiles designed to destroy aircraft carriers at Ukraines military in Donbas because it has run out of precision rockets, according to the UKs Ministry of Defence. The five-and-a-half-tonne missiles were designed to carry a nuclear warhead, so using them as conventional missiles is causing vast collateral damage. A resident walks into a crater caused by a missile strike in Druzhkivka, eastern Ukraine, last week. Credit:AP When employed in a ground attack role with a conventional warhead they are highly inaccurate and can therefore cause significant collateral damage and civilian casualties, the Ministry of Defence said. Since withdrawing from around Kyiv in March, the Russian army has concentrated its main efforts on capturing the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Severodonetsk is the largest city that it does not currently hold in Luhansk, which makes up half of Donbas, and is the focus of the fiercest fighting. The US House of Representatives approved on Wednesday a wide-ranging package of gun control legislation the so-called Protecting Our Kids Act. The bill bans the sale of magazines that hold more than 15 rounds of ammunition, prohibits the sale of semi-automatic rifles to people under the age of 21, and establishes stricter requirements regulating the storage of guns in homes. American guns on display at a gun-show in Las Vegas. Many American guns turn up in Mexico. Credit:AP The 223-to-204 vote came hours after parents and children affected by mass shootings across the country delivered heartbreaking testimony urging Congress to act on gun violence. Miah Cerrillo, an 11-year-old survivor of the elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, conveyed her harrowing experience in a pre-recorded video. She survived the massacre by covering herself in a friends blood and playing dead until she was able to reach her teachers phone and call the police. I dont want it to happen again, she said. The measures, however, are unlikely to pass the Senate amid widespread Republican opposition to stricter gun control. A political and legal system that is unwilling to protect and care for its citizens children included is broken, probably beyond repair. Teenagers made up a disproportionately large share of the transgender population, the study found. While younger teenagers were just 7.6 per cent of the total US population, they accounted for roughly 18 per cent of transgender people. Likewise, 18- to 24-year-olds made up 11 per cent of the total population but 24 per cent of the transgender population. Older adults had a disproportionately small share: Although 62 per cent of the total population, only 47 per cent of transgender people were 25 to 64. And while 20 per cent of Americans are older than 65, that age group makes up only 10 per cent of the total number of transgender people nationwide. The Williams Institute used data from two national sources: the CDCs Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, administered to adults across the country, and its Youth Risk Behaviour Survey, given in high schools. The surveys, which were either conducted over the phone or in person, collect data on demographics as well as a variety of medical and behavioral information, such as smoking habits, HIV status, nutrition and exercise. Starting in 2017, the high school survey included an optional question asking if the student was transgender. From 2017 to 2020, 15 states included this question in their high school surveys, while 41 states included the question for adults at least once in that time period. The Williams Institute used this data, along with statistical modelling of demographic and geographic variables, to arrive at its estimates of the transgender population nationwide. Its important to know that trans people live everywhere in the United States, and trans people are a part of communities across the country, said Jody Herman, senior scholar of public policy at the Williams Institute and the lead author of the report. We use the best available data, but we need more and better data all the time. The US Census Bureau began asking questions about sexual orientation and gender identity only last year, part of a new data collection effort. And even national suicide statistics important in the study of this vulnerable population do not have information about sexuality or gender identity. There is no one who knows how many trans people or how many gay people or bisexual people died of suicide this past year, said Amit Paley, head of The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention group that recently released its own report based on social media polling, showing that young LGBTQ people had high rates of mental health issues and suicidal thoughts. That data does not exist because it is not collected by the government in death records, Paley said. Its something we are working to try to change. When their previous report was published in 2017, the Williams Institute researchers did not have actual survey data for younger teenagers, instead using statistical modelling to extrapolate based on adult data. At the time, they estimated 150,000 transgender teens in the country, or roughly 0.7% of teens. With the inclusion of the new high school survey data added in 2017, that estimate has now doubled to 300,000. Loading It is not clear whether that jump reflects inaccuracies in the previous estimate, a true increase in the number of transgender adolescents, or both. Thats the bewildering question of why this is all happening, Herman said. The racial makeup of transgender adults and transgender teens was roughly the same. About half of both groups were white, slightly less than the relative number of white people in the general population, and a disproportionately large number of each group identified as Latino. The data also show the distribution of trans people by state. New York has the largest estimated population of transgender teenagers, at 3 per cent, whereas Wyoming has the lowest, at 0.6 per cent. Transgender adults showed a narrower range, with 0.9 of adults identifying as transgender in North Carolina and 0.2 per cent in Missouri. Experts who work with transgender teenagers agreed that certain social factors would unquestionably play a role in their identities, just as they did decades ago when gay and lesbian people were coming out in large numbers for the first time. It signifies a new confidence among a new generation to be authentic in their gender identity, said Phillip Hammack, a professor of psychology and director of the Sexual and Gender Diversity Lab at the University of California, Santa Cruz. I think we did see something very similar we just maybe didnt have the exact numbers to back it up as we saw more visibility around labelling oneself as gay, lesbian, bisexual back in the nineties. Recent Gallup polling data also analysed by the Williams Institute shows that young adults also make up a disproportionately large part of the total LGBTQ population in the United States, which similarly varies state to state. Social media has been a significant catalyst for teenagers questioning their gender identities today. I think a big part of it is definitely the internet, said Indigo Giles, a 20-year-old college student in Austin who has protested against the state of Texas abuse investigations of parents of transgender children. Giles said they realised they were nonbinary after finding a community of like-minded people on Tumblr. People who have maybe been having these feelings for a long time but havent had the words to put to them finally can see, in such a readily accessible way, others that feel the same, they said. And conversely, it may be much more difficult for older people to explore their gender identities later in life. Hammack described a person he interviewed who talked about how difficult it was to come out as nonbinary in their 50s because we look around, and everybodys so young. And others who identified as masculine or butch lesbians, he said, have told him, If I was that young, maybe I would have gone down that path, but it wasnt available. Goepferd, of Childrens Hospital Minnesota, pointed to another possible reason for the smaller proportion of older transgender people: Because of lower access to health care, along with high rates of violence and suicide, transgender people are more likely to die at younger ages. PHILIPSBURG:--- The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) hosted a visit by World Bank Representatives (WB) on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, during which they visited the plot of land that would house the future MHF building in St. Johns Estate, followed by a meeting on June 8, 2022, along with the MHF Board and The National Recovery Program Bureau (NRPB) to discuss and agree on subsequent matters pertaining the realization of this project. Further deliberations with WB were conducted at MHF that afternoon with MHF Financial & Operational Director, Mr. Sandro Garcia and MHF department coordinators to review the necessary processes and staff involvement for said project. The meetings with WB representatives Ana Mercado, Alyssa Khan, Johanne Angers, Carolyn Shelton, and Marcelo Bortman, were extremely fruitful and drew positive consensus. The WB representatives expressed great zeal in extending assistance, intelligence, and support in realizing the objectives of MHF through the approved funding. The representatives also maximized their visit by engaging in discussions with MHF stakeholders including Government and other relevant parties. The project was made possible through MHFs application for a grant through the WB to improve its quality of mental health services, which was approved. The grant is intended for the construction of a new building in St. Johns Estate, where MHF recently purchased land. The project would facilitate a needed expansion for the short and long-term stay facility, Crisis Intervention, and Day treatment programs. Part of the approved funding will also be allocated to staff development through training and educational opportunities to upgrade the professional expertise of personnel and the foundations quality of service. St. Peters:--- A group of concerned residents in the St. Peters community met on Thursday evening June 9th, with residents of the community, to discuss establishing a Community Council. The district has been missing out on aid in times of disaster due to a lack of proper representation. A recognized Community Council could assist residents of St. Peters in times of disaster with support from NGOs, the Government, and other funding agencies. The concerned St. Peters group includes Ashma Berkel, Eva Williams, Clifton Wilson, Aramis Halley, Jr., Beatrice George, and Reginald Richardson The group was supported by Ms. Chantale Groeneveldt & Mr. Riegnald Arrindell of the Community Development Department (Ministry VSA). According to Mr. R. Richardson, the first tasks of the Community Council would be to primarily focus on seniors and youth, prepare for the Hurricane Season, and designate deputies within zones for easier access when needs emerge. Once the Council has been established and formally introduced, a registration drive would be in place to assess the needs of the St. Peters district. Ms. C. Groeneveldt thanked community residents for coming out and showing interest to form such a Council that can formally support aid to the community. Establishing a CERT Team as first responders within the community is also a top priority of the Council with hopes of possibly merging with the current St. Peters Emergency Group. Although the role of a Community Council is volunteer-based, it is imperative to get key people involved especially in terms of identifying vulnerability, exposure, and risks for Disaster Risk Reduction prior to the actual disaster as outlined by Ms. E. Williams. The group urges residents of St. Peters to register if they would like to be part of the board, or be a community volunteer at the moment the board has a capacity of max 7 members. One must be a resident of St. Peters and over 18 years old. Registration can be done at http://bit.ly/spboardmembers Severe weather struck Gage County Saturday afternoon, leaving significant damage behind. The National Weather Service urged residents in Gage County and elsewhere in Southeast Nebraska to take cover shortly after 5 p.m. as threats of a tornado, hail and heavy rain entered the area late Saturday afternoon. At 5:25 p.m., law enforcement confirmed a tornado was located near Wymore 12 miles southeast of Beatrice moving southeast at 20 mph. The weather service issued a tornado warning for northwestern Gage County, including Beatrice, and parts of Lancaster, Saline and Jefferson counties. A separate tornado warning in Gage County included Wymore, Blue Springs and Barneston, the weather service said on Twitter. Softball-sized hail caused widespread damage through Beatrice, damaging vehicles, breaking windshields and causing extensive damage to a number of homes. The storm moved quickly, causing those in attendance at the Big Blue Water Park in Beatrice to seek shelter inside the building and many cars traveling along Highway 77 throughout Beatrice to pull off the road and seek shelter from the hail. Storm damage left parts of Wymore, Beatrice, Diller and other communities without electricity for varying amounts of time. Around 7:30 p.m. power was restored to most of Beatrice. By 9 p.m. Norris Public Power had restored service to Diller. A transmission line feeding substations in Southern Gage County was damaged but expected to be operational around the same time, thereby restoring power to parts of southern Gage County. Residents in Wymore, where the storm damage was extensive, were expected to wait longer for electricity. Around 9 p.m. the City of Wymore Facebook page posted that "due to extensive damage and downed lines, we are having to call out of town storm crews to help get us back up and running." The post said power outages were expected to last until Sunday or possibly longer as crews worked on restoring power lines and cleaning storm debris. The weather service also warned of severe thunderstorms in the Omaha metro area, north of Omaha in Washington County and west of the city near Gretna. A funnel cloud was reported 3 miles southwest of Papillion at 6 p.m. and winds gusted up to 61 mph. A tornado watch remains in effect for Southeast Nebraska, until 10 p.m. Saturday, the Lancaster County Emergency Management Agency said. "Any storms that develop will likely turn severe very quickly," the agency said on Twitter. "Make sure you have a plan in place when severe weather strikes." Love 2 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 1 STAMFORD A planned new K-8 school in the under-served south Stamford area could be housed in two separate buildings about a mile from each other, officials said. The tentative plan is to use the current KT Murphy Elementary School site for a new building that could either serve students in grade K-4 or 5-8. Another building, the former Rogers Magnet Elementary School at 83 Lockwood Ave., would house whichever of those cohorts doesnt go to the Murphy site. Superintendent Tamu Lucero spoke about the plan at a meeting of the citys Long Term Facilities Committee last week. She said the students who would attend the proposed split K-8 would come from the current Murphy and Toquam Magnet Elementary School attendance zones. However, because Toquam is a magnet that takes students from outside of its attendance zone, a decision would have to be made on whether or not to continue the magnet program or turn the south Stamford sites into neighborhood schools. A school building master plan presented in February called for building or expanding four schools, including a potential new K-8 school in south Stamford. As part of the plan, four schools would shutter: Cloonan and Dolan middle schools, Toquam and Murphy. Initially, city and school officials had studied Cove Island Park as the potential home for a south Stamford school, but that plan was quickly abandoned after swift opposition from local residents and the Audubon Society, all of which sought to maintain the park. Cummings Park and Czescik Park were also eliminated as possibilities. We were unsuccessful with finding a location for (a full K-8 facility) in the South End, said Lucero during the meeting. The Lockwood facility was not considered at first because school administrators said they had hoped to convert that space into a pre-school facility to house about 675 students, a project that would cost roughly $51.7 million. They submitted that proposal to the state and were told the state would reimburse 20 percent of the cost. But officials withdrew the project once it became clear that federal dollars would not be available to help fund it, said Lauren Meyer, spokesperson for the office of Mayor Caroline Simmons. Currently, the 100,000-square-foot building at 83 Lockwood Ave. houses the Childrens Learning Centers of Fairfield County pre-school program and the nonprofit Domus Kids, which runs a number of programs inside the structure. The desire to bring a neighborhood school to south Stamford is nothing new. In many of the citys poorest neighborhoods, students are mostly bused to other schools in the district. Lucero said representatives from architecture and design firm SLAM Collaborative are conducting tests on both the Lockwood and Murphy campuses to determine whether or not the city will be able to build a K-4 on one campus and a 5-8 on the other. She said the change in grade at the Murphy site in particular was viewed as a plus by the contractor, as it would allow them to fit more into the potential new building. We think we are going to be in a good place, Lucero said. If approved, the city would be eligible for a reimbursement rate of 60 percent for the two projects. Previously, Stamford received a 20 percent refund for school construction projects, but that was changed through special legislation on the state level. Lucero said the city could receive an 80 percent refund from the state if the district decided to make the new south side educational facilities inter-district magnet schools. That means 25 percent of the classroom seats would have to go to students outside of Stamford. But at the June 8 meeting, she said staying a fully Stamford school would make more sense. It really doesnt make any financial sense to give up 25 percent of our seats, she said. If officials agree to split a new K-8 between the Murphy and Lockwood sites, grant applications for each would needed to be submitted to the state by June 2023. ignacio.laguarda@stamfordadvocate.com PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) J. Joseph Joe Grandmaison, a larger-than-life Democratic operative who ran numerous campaigns and served as an appointee under three presidents, has died. He was 79. Grandmaison died from the effects of Parkinsons disease Saturday at Wentworth Senior Living, his brother said. With the passing of Joe Grandmaison, New Hampshire has lost a political legend," said U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. Grandmaison led a number of campaigns and was an informal adviser on others. He was credited with counseling Democrat Bill Clinton to declare victory early in the evening in the New Hampshire primary. Clinton declared himself the comeback kid by taking second place, and went on to the first of two terms in the White House. He grew up on working class neighborhood known as Crown Hill in Nashua, which shaped him. He never stopped believing that not everybody in life gets dealt a fair hand, and that government needs to be there in order to deal with the adversity or unfairness that most people experience at some time, said his brother, Phil Grandmaison. That's why he was a Democrat. Grandmaison got his political start working on the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern in 1972, then managed Michael Dukakis successful campaign for Massachusetts governor two years later. That was just the start of many campaigns with his fingerprints on them. Phil Grandmaison described his brother as a political fighter who made fast friends, even across party lines. He was easy to meet. You were apt to know him for a lifetime, once you got to know each other. But in politics, he was a rough competitor, he said. Later, Grandmaison served as President Jimmy Carters co-chair of the New England Regional Commission and Clintons director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. He twice served on the board of the Export-Import Bank under Republican President George W. Bush Joe was one of a kind, said George Bruno, who preceded Grandmaison as state party chair. He was as comfortable campaigning the streets of Nashua or Berlin as he was with the president in the White House. STAMFORD State money will boost a Stamford conservation group over the finish line in its pursuit to create a 245-acre nature preserve within city limits. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has awarded a $2.25 million grant to the Stamford Land Conservation Trust, according to an announcement from Gov. Ned Lamont. The money will help the trust purchase 64 acres of land the group has spent more than a year negotiating for with the current property owner. "We're in very good shape here now," SLCT Vice President Harry Day said. "We have an overrun, to some extent, that will allow us to really, really take care of this property in a very special way." The land trust has received government support for the project before. The city in 2021 awarded $1 million to the SCLT to help purchase the multi-million dollar property, which was once part of New York investment banker-turned-philanthropist Frank Altschul's country estate. Though trustees were initially selling the land for about $4 million, Day told the Planning Board in August 2021, his organization is under contract to buy the two parcels for $1 million less than what it would cost to buy ... on the open market. The pending acquisition abuts two other preserved areas owned by the property, including the 164-acre Helen Altschul preserve, named after the late investor's wife. In its entirety, the Stamford Land Conservation Trust owns 450 acres throughout the city. The trust initially hoped that DEEP would subsidize between $300,000 and $500,000 of the sale's ultimate cost, Day told The Stamford Advocate in 2021. Now, the department will be the majority contributor. Day said the organization raised substantial money from private contributors during the initial push to purchase the land. Because the state pledged such a significant stake, that money can go toward maintaining the preserve moving forward, he said. Creating a parking lot for visitors is one potential priority. Currently, people interested in exploring must park at the nearby Newman Mills Park lot. A new gate could also be in the Altschul preserve's future since an aging stone wall and entryway shroud the property. veronica.delvalle@hearstmediact.com Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Hazleton, PA (18201) Today A few showers this evening then thundershowers developing overnight. Low 61F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight A few showers this evening then thundershowers developing overnight. Low 61F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Our chief concern must remain the reception of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and their work in our lives,Vicar Bishop Timotei Prahoveanul of the Bucharest Archbishopric told the churchgoers attending the Pentecost church service at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest. "Our chief concern must remain, beloved believers, receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit and their work in our lives. And the gifts of the Holy Spirit are known. The Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Galatians tells us about them, concluding that against them, against goodness, love, longsuffering, kindness and chastity, there is no law. No one can accuse someone of too much love, no one can be accused of longsuffering, of doing good, because these are virtues that do good to others, and never, under any circumstances, hurt them in any way," said Timotei. The bishop pointed out that the "path of repentance" to which the Holy Apostle Peter urged the crowds in Jerusalem at the Descent of the Holy Spirit must be "followed for life" by each one of us. "We must all follow him wholeheartedly in our own way, for repentance is, in fact, a return to God. Those who turn to God, those who draw near to Him, receive these silent gifts. When you see, beloved believers, in your family, among your colleagues and friends, all kinds of professional, moral, heartfelt gifts, know that these are gifts of the Holy Spirit. When you always encounter a hostile attitude against the Church, against God, against your neighbour, all these are the works of the one who seeks to divide, of the Devil." Timotei urged the attendees to the pursuit of the good, Agerpres.ro informs. "Therefore we are exhorted not to put out the spirit, but to follow the good things, and to be the sons of the light. And if we ever thirst for these words of our Saviour, let us come to Him, for He will give us the living water, of which He also spoke in Jerusalem on a feast, but also at the well of Jacob, telling that open-hearted woman that if she knew who He was, she would ask Him and He would give her water that if she drank she would never go thirsty again. That water is getting close to God and the knowledge of the words of Scripture. Those getting close to Him will drink and will always receive the great gift of the Saviour's teaching, they will feel an unspeakable joy, a joy that is not of this world." Orthodox and Greek Catholic believers celebrated on Sunday the Descent of the Holy Spirit - Pentecost. The feast is called Pentecost because it is celebrated fifty days after the Lord's Resurrection. According to tradition, in Jerusalem, on the fiftieth day of the Lord's Resurrection, the Holy Spirit came into the world and descended upon the holy apostles, founding the Church of Christ. The coming to earth of the third person of the Most Holy Trinity was made known by Saviour Jesus Christ Himself on the evening of the Last Supper: " Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. " (John 16: 7) Concerning the power of the Holy Spirit, St. John Chrysostom says, "As the earthly fire transforms the soft clay into a vessel, the water and the fire of the Holy Spirit, when theyembrace a benevolent soul, they make it stronger than iron, though it was softer than clay before, so that sin can no longer harm the now hardened soul." The dogma of the Trinity of Godhead is fundamental and has implications for the entire Christian teaching, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, which was given to the primary apostolic community, endowed the Church with everything necessary for the Christian body: preaching the holy sacraments, the charisms, diakonia. Historical existence and any sacramental action depend on the founding of the Church by the invocation of the Holy Spirit. After receiving the Holy Spirit, the holy apostles, drawing lots, went to all parts of the Earth to proclaim the gospel of salvation and faith in Jesus Christ, starting in Jerusalem. Through the holy apostles, the Holy Spirit has been transmitted into the world to all who believe in Christ through the holy sacraments that are performed in the church by priests and bishops. A Romanian Air Force C-27 J Spartan aircraft is carrying out a humanitarian transport mission today, picking up and transporting Ukrainian patients who will be treated in hospitals in Copenhagen, Denmark. According to a statement from the Defence Ministry (MApN), the mission is carried out on the route Otopeni - Rzeszow-Jasionka (Poland) - Copenhagen (Denmark) - Otopeni. Three Ukrainian patients, aged 18, 49 and 50, will be picked up from Rzeszow-Jasionka International Airport and transported to Copenhagen for treatment in Denmark, Agerpres.ro informs. The medical team that monitors the patients during the flight consists of specialists from the Bucharest Emergency Clinical Hospital and the 90th Air Transport Base. The aircraft took off from the 90th Air Transport Base at around 09:00hrs, EEST. The request for air transport was made by the Emergency Management Department (DSU) at the request of Ukraine under the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, through the Early Warning and Response System (EWRS) platform - a mechanism created by the European Commission to facilitate the transfer of patients from Ukraine to EU member countries. As many as 389 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Romania, up 48 from the previous day, with over 5,900 RT-PCR and rapid antigenic tests performed, the Health Ministry informed on Sunday. Of the new cases, 22 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 - 60, and in the county of Prahova - 12. As of Sunday, 2,912,705 cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus were confirmed in Romania. - Hospitalisations - As many as 457 people with COVID-19, up 31 from the previous reporting, including 44 children, are hospitalised in Romania at specialist care facilities, Agerpres.ro informs. Out of the total number of hospitalised patients, 48 patients, down three, are in intensive care. Of the 48 patients admitted to ICU, 44 are unvaccinated against COVID-19. - Deaths - According to the ministry, one Romanian, a woman, infected with SARS-CoV-2 is reported dead in the last 24 hours. The death was in the age group over 80 years. The patient had comorbidities and was unvaccinated. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 65,714 people diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 infection have died in Romania. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) A large fire burning in the tundra of southwest Alaska continued to move toward an Alaska Native village on Saturday, but fire managers said its pace had slowed. The East Fork fire, which was started by lightning May 31, remained about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the Yupik village of St. Marys, a statement from the Alaska Wildland Fire Information said. The fire was listed at 169 square miles (438 square kilometers) in size, more than double the last estimate. The increase was attributed to better mapping. Tundra is a treeless area covered with low-lying plants, and the fire was being fed by extremely dry grass and brush filled with alders and willow. There were 180 personnel working the fire, with more crews expected to arrive Monday. There are no mandatory evacuation orders, but about 700 residents of St. Marys and the nearby community of Pitkas Point were told to prepare in case they needed to leave. There have been voluntary evacuations by residents, as well as others living in the nearby communities of Mountain Village and Pilot Station. Early Saturday morning, firefighters completed a defensive burnout on the west side of the East Fork of the Andreafsky River to protect equipment and structures near a fish weir a fence placed in flowing water to direct the movement of fish. The weirs have traditionally been used to catch fish but also can be used for management and research of a fish stock, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Games website. St. Marys, a subsistence community, sits on the bank of the river. Firefighters were also working to protect structures on the east side of the weir, as well as fortifying a fire line a half mile (800 meters) outside St. Marys. Aircraft have also been dropping retardant along that line. Boats have been used to shuttle firefighters to protect structures upriver of St. Marys. Crews also have also been working to protect Alaska Native properties. Hot, dry conditions were expected to continue Sunday, but a low pressure system moving in from the west could bring favorable conditions and a chance of showers by Monday. It could also bring a wind switch that would help push the fire away from the villages, officials said in the statement. St. Marys and Pitkas Point, which is situated to the south at the confluence of the Andreafsky and Yukon rivers, are located about 450 miles (724 kilometers) west of Anchorage. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Most seniors count on Social Security benefits in retirement to help them cover their costs, but knowing how much you'll get isn't always easy. There are several factors that affect this, including your age when you claim, your birth year, and your income throughout your career. And if you live in one of the 12 states listed below, you also have to worry about Social Security benefit taxes taking a chunk of your checks. Sometimes, it's possible to avoid these, but not always. Here's what you need to know to hold onto as much of your Social Security checks as possible. These 12 states tax Social Security benefits The following 12 states tax some of their seniors' Social Security benefits: Colorado Connecticut Kansas Minnesota Missouri Montana Nebraska New Mexico Rhode Island Utah Vermont West Virginia But living in one of these states isn't a guarantee that you'll owe anything. Each state has its own rules that dictate who pays Social Security benefit taxes. Usually, your annual benefit amount or adjusted gross income (AGI) has to exceed a certain threshold. For example, in Kansas, if your AGI is less than $75,000, your Social Security benefits are automatically exempt from taxation. Review the laws for your state so you understand whether you're in danger of owing these taxes. You should also double-check this as you approach retirement. Some states may change or eliminate their Social Security benefit tax in the future. The federal government taxes Social Security benefits, too Even if you don't live in one of the 12 states above, you could still owe federal Social Security benefit taxes. It all depends on your provisional income. This is your AGI plus any nontaxable interest and half your annual Social Security benefit. The following table shows how much of your benefit the federal government can tax based on your provisional income and tax filing status: Percentage of Social Security Benefits Subject to Federal Taxes Provisional Income for Single Filers Provisional Income for Married Couples Filing Jointly 0% Less than $25,000 Less than $32,000 Up to 50% $25,000 to $34,000 $32,000 to $44,000 Up to 85% More than $34,000 More than $44,000 It's possible these thresholds could change over time, so double-check this every few years and before you sign up for benefits so you understand what you might owe. How to avoid Social Security benefit taxes Avoiding Social Security benefit taxes isn't always possible, but some pull it off with careful planning. One of the best things you can do to avoid these taxes is stash money in a Roth IRA. Unlike most retirement accounts, Roth IRAs require you to pay taxes on your contributions in the year you make them. But in exchange, you get tax-free withdrawals later on. This means you can take out as much as you want each year and the federal government won't count it when calculating your provisional income. If you have access to a Roth 401(k) through your job, you can use this as well. The government taxes these funds the same way as Roth IRA funds, and you can roll your Roth 401(k) over into a Roth IRA if you leave the job. Those who have a lot of savings in traditional IRAs or 401(k)s might also consider a Roth IRA conversion. This is where you change tax-deferred savings to Roth savings by paying taxes on the amount you're converting that year. But you have to be careful about doing this. It will raise your taxable income for the year. If you convert too much at once, it could bump you up a tax bracket, forcing you to pay a larger percentage of your savings to the government. You can avoid this by doing several smaller Roth IRA conversions in successive years. Another thing you can try to reduce your likelihood of owing Social Security benefit taxes is limit your spending in retirement. Doing this could help you cut the amount you withdraw from traditional retirement accounts, thereby reducing your AGI. But you probably shouldn't rely upon this strategy alone, as you can't always control how much you spend. Unexpected costs may force you to withdraw more than you'd like to. That's why having some Roth savings on hand is a better approach if you're trying to reduce your tax liability. It's best to start thinking about all of this now, even if you're not claiming Social Security yet. Knowing how much you could owe will help you avoid surprises at tax time. But be prepared to adapt if your retirement plans or the rules surrounding Social Security benefit taxation change over time. The $18,984 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $18,984 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) Police in Sri Lanka used tear gas and a water cannons Saturday to disperse demonstrators trying to approach the president's office to demand he resign over the country's ongoing economic crisis. The demonstrators were rallying to mark the 50th day of protests in which they have camped outside President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office. Police broke up the rally and briefly detained three people before releasing them. Sri Lanka is nearly bankrupt, having defaulted on its foreign loans, and is battling acute shortages of essential goods like cooking gas, fuel and medicines. People have been forced to wait for hours in long lines to try to buy goods and many still go empty handed. The country's foreign currency reserves have also dwindled to only enough to purchase two weeks of needed imports. Authorities announced last month that they are suspending repayment of nearly $7 billion foreign debt to be repaid this year. Sri Lanka has to pay up $25 billion through 2026. Total foreign debt of the Indian Ocean island nation is $51 billion. The protesters say the primary responsibility for the economic crisis rests with Rajapaksa and his family, who they accuse of corruption and mismanagement. Violence erupted countrywide on May 9, when Rajapaksa supporters attacked peaceful protesters. Nine people including a governing party lawmaker were killed and homes of sitting ministers were burnt down. It nearly dismantled the Rajapaksa dynasty after the president's brother, then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned amid the violence. Three of president's siblings and a nephew had already resigned from their Cabinet posts. New Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that he will have a economic reform plan ready within two weeks to seek approval from the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. ST. LOUIS In January 2020, Alderman John Collins-Muhammad met with a local businessman who wanted a property tax break for a gas station he planned to build off an Interstate 70 ramp in north St. Louis. The alderman told the businessman where to submit his application at the St. Louis Development Corp., the citys economic development arm. Even more crucial, Collins-Muhammad offered to provide an aldermanic letter of support for the tax abatement, required by SLDC. What I owe you for this? the businessman was recorded asking Collins-Muhammad about his letter and support during a meeting later that month. Twenty-five, the aldermen replied, returning later that afternoon to collect $2,500 in cash. The transaction was one of many bribes that a federal indictment unsealed June 2 accuses three members of the Board of Aldermen of taking from the businessman, referred to in the indictment only as John Doe. Collins-Muhammad, who represented the 21st Ward, resigned from the board on May 12, apologizing for mistakes hed made; Alderman Jeffrey Boyd, 22nd Ward, and Aldermanic President Lewis Reed quit after the indictments became public. The charges outlined in the 66-page indictment have shaken the citys political order, forcing out two of the boards longest-serving members. But theyve also shined a light on a practice often referred to as aldermanic courtesy and the direct involvement of city alderman in many of the bureaucratic functions of city government. Federal prosecutors zeroed in on lucrative tax abatements and the sale of property owned by the Land Reutilization Authority, the citys land bank. But aldermanic influence can also affect which streets get repaired, where speed bumps are installed and whether the planning department even takes up a rezoning request. And less than two weeks ago, the city launched a $37 million grant program for north St. Louis businesses and nonprofits using federal COVID-19 relief money. Many of the eligible areas are on commercial corridors in the wards Boyd and Collins-Muhammad used to represent. And required for grant applicants under a provision pushed by Reed: support from the wards aldermen, via letter on the Aldermans letterhead. We know that aldermanic courtesy is something thats been at the board for a long time, Mayor Tishaura O. Jones said when asked Wednesday why she thought the problem ran deeper than just the aldermen indicted this month. Now, there are new calls to reexamine aldermanic involvement in city functions. For far too long, the political culture of city politics has concentrated power in the hands of the members of the Board of Aldermen from approving the sale of city-owned LRA properties, controlling capital improvements through the disbursement of ward funding and issuing tax abatements all the way down to putting in stop signs and speed humps, Alderman Cara Spencer, 20th Ward, wrote in a Monday letter calling for Reeds resignation. These aldermanic courtesies must end. In an interview, Spencer said city functions need to be professionalized in a way that doesnt involve elected politicians. The idea that we just kind of look the other way when aldermen want to shepherd these things through, Spencer said, its ripe for corruption. Outside of the norm Requests for tax abatements or other incentives arent unique to St. Louis. Locales throughout the country use them to encourage development by offsetting a portion of the tax increases new construction brings. But the involvement of aldermen so early in the process via support letters is a quirk of St. Louis, a tradition developed over decades that has dispersed power to 28 aldermen who have immense and often unseen influence over the functions of city government in their ward. Though the Board of Aldermen must ultimately pass legislation authorizing incentives, the support of the alderman where a project is located is required even before the professional staff at SLDC will process the incentive application and make a recommendation. Sometimes, SLDC staff would be reviewing an application and then have it shut down after aldermen intervened and withheld their support, said Jonathan Ferry, a former SLDC employee who analyzed incentive requests until his departure last year. I wouldnt say its the norm, but its not uncommon, Ferry said. There were projects where personal differences were the reason they didnt get done. Because tradition generally requires the bill sponsor to be from the ward where the project is located, a support letter to SLDC served as evidence a bill would be introduced, said Linda Martinez, who served as deputy mayor for development under former Mayor Lyda Krewson. The aldermen absolutely need to be involved in evaluating proposed projects in order to represent the interests of their constituents, Martinez said. But when should that occur and what analysis and input would assist the aldermen and the public to make their decisions? Should that be handled at a board of aldermen public hearing rather than a go/no-go letter? Ferry said SLDC could look at other ways to introduce incentive legislation. Perhaps SLDC could submit its recommendations for introduction by members of the boards Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee, which would both put the matters in the hands of aldermen more familiar with development and remove the stealthy veto power aldermen ultimately wield over projects in their ward. Who knows how many applications never even make it to SLDC staff because of an applicants prior conversation with an alderman, Ferry said. Its worth taking a step back and asking, is that even required at all? Ferry said of aldermanic support letters. Obviously someone still has to introduce a board bill, but are there other ways to do it? A 2016 report on the citys use of incentives noted that St. Louiss significant reliance on Alderman involvement in the process is outside of the norm. In many similar cities, tax abatement criteria for eligible projects are specifically defined, and City Council involvement is limited to end review and approval of projects, the report commissioned by SLDC said. Both Collins-Muhammad and Boyd were closely involved with SLDCs review of tax abatements the businessman was seeking for properties he owned in north St. Louis. The indictment details numerous communications Collins-Muhammad and Boyd had with an SLDC incentives project manager, identified in the indictment only as Z.W. Zach Wilson, who handles tax abatement requests for SLDC, referred questions to SLDCs public relations firm. Working to move the abatement through SLDC for the proposed gas station, Collins-Muhammad in December sent Wilson an email: Lets do what we need to do to get this done. Reed offered to call Wilson directly. Boyd actually filled out the tax abatement application before giving it to the businessman to send in to Wilson. The indictment also details Boyds involvement in arranging a sale of LRA property for the businessman. The businessman at first offered $9,000 with Boyds support letter, but LRA staff countered with $33,500 in October 2020. Boyd told the businessman to counter with $16,000. After one November 2020 conversation with former LRA Director Laura Costello, identified in the indictment only as L.C., Boyd says shes gonna try to make the $16,000 work. The next month, he is recorded telling the businessman that he spoke with LRA officials and convinced them that, um, I need them to support what you put down. Costello, who had led LRA since 2006, was fired in April. She declined to comment. LRA property sales are supposed to be negotiated by its staff and approved by a three-member board. But in reality, aldermen are often involved in the process behind the scenes. Spencer said she was shocked to be asked whether she supported particular LRA property sales in her southside ward after she was elected in 2015. Half of the LRA properties in her ward have been sold since she took office, in part, she believes, because she removed herself from the process. Do I get involved on what the price is? Absolutely not, thats not appropriate, Spencer said. Everybody in my view has a blanket support from me. Last week, SLDC announced they were suspending LRA sales from July through October, which Jones said Wednesday was part of its efforts to assess and standardize its practices and processes. The pause, though, had been in the works for months. Mark Stroker, director of real estate development at Rise Community Development, said SLDC staff told him back in the winter that it was planning to pause sales. Regardless, a clearer process could prevent future abuses, said Alderman Annie Rice, 8th Ward. No one has ever been able to give me a straight answer on, this is how the process works, or what is the aldermanic involvement supposed to be, Rice said. Its much more difficult to corrupt a process that is thorough and public than it is something ambiguous. Room for improvement There have been efforts in recent years to begin standardizing SLDCs processes. Ferry helped develop an incentive evaluation scorecard when he was there, and the agency developed a map defining how much abatement rehabbers could expect on projects based on the neighborhoods health. That helped reduce some of the influence aldermen had, but applications for incentives still came in from aldermen sometimes, Ferry said. Using a public, online application portal to accept tax abatement requests could promote public engagement, he said. And even though aldermen might still refuse to introduce legislation, at least the public would know who applied. Theres definitely still room for improvement in the system, especially in the area of just transparency and making sure that projects come in through one set channel or one set pipeline, instead of them coming in a myriad of different ways, Ferry said. But Joe Roddy, who was the longest-tenured aldermen before opting not to run for reelection last year and often dealt with development and incentives in his Central West End ward, said aldermanic involvement can engage neighborhood leaders early in the process and try and build consensus. He admits he sometimes blocked incentive requests from developers he clashed with, and he predicted other aldermen would be hesitant to give up that influence. I dont know how youre going to turn that off, Roddy said. Are neighborhoods really gonna be happy with a situation where bureaucrats from SLDC or aldermen from other parts of town are going to decide what projects are appropriate for them? I think theres going to be a lot of pushback for that. Tina Pihl, a progressive who succeeded Roddy as the 17th Ward representative, has also used aldermanic courtesy to secure developer contributions to one of her pet causes, affordable housing. Even a developer not seeking incentives still needed her support before it applied to the citys planning department for a rezoning. It agreed to contribute $250,000 to affordable housing at her request. Id say its a good thing when we make the right decisions, Pihl said, when asked about the use of aldermanic privilege to negotiate of a $1.8 million contribution from the developer of City Foundry in exchange for her introduction of incentives legislation. Asked whether those kinds of deals should be left to professional planning and economic development staff, Pihl said she had unique experience because of her degree in in urban studies and planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Im an alderperson, and I am professional staff, Pihl said. Ive got 20 years of experience in this. Sarah Coffin, an associate professor of urban planning and development at St. Louis University, said such contributions might produce a public good, but theyre still reliant on the whims of aldermen rather than a comprehensive city plan. Thats the problem, its a one-off negotiation, Coffin said. Theres no standardization. Rice this month introduced legislation to form a city charter commission, and Spencer has said she will hold hearings on the bill. Rice, who said she planned the move even before the indictments, acknowledged that aldermanic courtesy is more of a tradition, not something enshrined in law. But shes certain the discussion on the charter will be influenced by the indictments, and she said there should continue to be a role for aldermen in many local measures. We are close to our constituents, we are close to our neighborhoods, Rice said. There can be beneficial ways pressure can be put on people, but yes it can also be an opportunity for corruption if its done wrong. The charter commission would be an opportunity to take a comprehensive approach to reform of the citys archaic governance structure, Spencer said. This could change the trajectory of our community if we seize this moment appropriately, Spencer said. But she also said SLDC could make some immediate administrative changes to limit aldermanic involvement. For months now, SLDC has been working on a plan to standardize how it evaluates incentive requests, something the mayor noted Wednesday. Neal Richardson, SLDC director, referred questions to his agencys newly-hired PR firm, Kansas City-based Candid Marketing. Sara Freetly with Candid did not respond to specific questions about whether SLDC would continue to require aldermanic support letters. In a statement, she said that since Richardson took over operational reform has been a priority. SLDC has hired consultants to review its incentive process, she noted, and would share information as key milestones are met. The public and media can stay informed of our progress, Freetly wrote, by following our board meetings. Originally posted at 10 a.m. Sunday, June 12. Shake off your afternoon slump with the oft-shared and offbeat news of the day, hand-brewed by our online news editors. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. NYPD exodus: Police on pace to quit, retire in record numbers https://nypost.com/2022/06/11/nypd-cops-on-pace-to-quit-retire-in-record-numbers/ By Dean Balsamini June 11, 2022 1:21pm More than 1,500 NYPD officers have either resigned or retired so far this year on pace to be the biggest exodus of officers since the statistics have been available, The Post has learned. Some 524 cops have resigned and 1,072 have retired as of May 31, NYPD pension stats obtained by The Post show. The 1,596 total is a 38% spike from the same period in 2021, when 1,159 cops called it a career, and a staggering 46% climb from 2020, when 1,092 left the force by the same date. Anti-cop hostility, bail reform, and rising crime have fed into frustration among the NYPD rank and file, according to one NYPD officer who recently fled for greener pastures at a Long Island police department after 6 1/2 years with the New Yorks Finest. Anti-cop hostility rising crime has stoked frustration among the NYPD. J.C.Rice The city is out of control especially since bail reform, according to the former Queens cop, who asked to be identified only as Joe. The mantra now is get out while you still can. Joes patrol gig got worse and worse over time, he said. The last few years so many people had been leaving and manpower was so low that youd go to work and youd answer 25 to 30 jobs a day and youre burnt out by the end of the day, he said, adding, there was no time for law enforcement because it would be radio run, radio run, radio run all day long. Even when he made an arrest, they were back in the precinct picking up their property the same day. The current roster of 34,687 officers is a drop from 2019, when there were 36,900 officers on the force. STEFAN JEREMIAH Residents would ask, Why does this keep happening? and I would have to explain to them, This guy is going to be locked up tonight, but tomorrow night hes going to come down your block again, hes going to be on the same corner, youre going to see him in the same stores [committing crimes]. I wish there was more we could do. But we cant,' Joe said. The stunning pension stats are at odds with the NYPDs own figures, which show 1,091 cops set to leave as of May 31, with 494 resigning and 594 retiring. Overall, the current roster of 34,687 is a significant drop from 2019, when there were 36,900 officers on the force. President of the Patrolmans Benevolent Association Pat Lynch warned that the staffing crisis could impact public safety. STEFAN JEREMIAH Officers typically work 20 years or more to collect their full pension, which can equate to 50% of their final average salary. The data obtained by The Post shows those who are running their time, or using accrued days off before they exit. Those cops are still counted in the NYPDs own stats as being on the force. Last year the number of cops who quit before becoming eligible for their full pension was the highest in two decades. This year we are on pace for the highest ever recorded, the source said. Joe who will ultimately get only a prorated fraction of his pension knows of at least four other NYPD pals who left the city for Long Island police departments. Cops who made the move before me said, Its a decision you have to make. You cant turn this job down. The quality of life is better, they treat you more like a human being than a number,' Joe said, adding the advice was also to take other [civil service] tests, explore all options, look out of state, Florida, Texas, Arizona.My friends were all going to the Port Authority, Nassau, Suffolk, MTA [police departments]. Joe said he checks in everyday with his friends back at his former Queens precinct, and morale has plummeted further. When I ask, How are things? the response is Horrible. Worse than when you left and its only been six months,' he said. The mass departures will have repercussions, law enforcers said. The NYPD is sliding deeper into a staffing crisis that will ultimately hurt public safety, Police Benevolent Association Patrolman Union President Patrick Lynch said. Low pay, inferior benefits and constant abuse from the City Council and other anti-cop demagogues has pushed attrition to record highs, Lynch added, noting the Department is struggling to fill Academy classes. We need more cops working more hours to turn the tide of violence, but there is only so much overtime they can squeeze out of the cops who remain, he said. The NYPD was hoping to hire 1,009 new cops for the class that was sworn in in December. In the end, the upcoming graduating NYPD class totals a mere 675, police sources said. The current police officer exam, whose registration began June 8, is free. It will take 20 years to fix this mess, said Joseph Giacalone, a John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor and a former NYPD sergeant. The city is bleeding blue and only the cop haters will be celebrating Theres no way to stop it. Activists, abolitionists, and their pandering politicians have done so much damage to the profession, that it will take a generation to fix, if at all. COEUR DALENE, IDAHO A Florissant man charged in March for defacing a Washington University mural was arrested Saturday in Idaho with 30 members of a group that allegedly planned to cause a riot at a pride event in Coeur DAlene. Mitchell Frederick Wagner, 24, is charged with criminal conspiracy and was arrested just before 2 p.m. Saturday, according to records from the Kootenai County Sheriffs office. Wagner lives in the first block of Canisius Lane in Florissant. Another local resident, Garret Joseph Garland, 23, was also arrested with the group, according to sheriffs records. He faces the same charge. Garland lives in the 200 block of North Main Street in Freeburg. Coeur dAlene police Chief Lee White said 31 members of the group Patriot Front which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a white nationalist organization appeared to have come to riot downtown, the Spokane Spokesman-Review reported. White told the Spokesman-Review that police were tipped off by a resident who saw a group of people enter a U-Haul truck in a hotel parking lot wearing masks and holding shields like a little army. Police pulled over the truck and arrested the group, seizing riot gear and a smoke grenade. Kootenai County records show Wagner and Garland face misdemeanor criminal conspiracy charges along with 29 other people. White told the Spokesman-Review the Patriot Front members could face more charges after prosecutors review the evidence. By Sunday afternoon, all 31 people, including Wagner and Garland, had bonded out of the Kootenai County jail, according to a spokesman for the sheriffs office. He did not know when their next court appearances would be and directed questions to the Coeur dAlene Police Department. St. Louis County prosecutors charged Wagner in March with felony first-degree property damage stemming from a Dec. 18 incident when Wagner and three other people defaced a mural depicting famous Black Americans on Washington Universitys campus. The vandals stamped Patriot Front logos on the mural. The attorney representing Wagner in the St. Louis County case didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Family members for the two men also could not be reached. The SLPC describes Patriot Front an image obsessed white nationalist group that focuses on theatrical rhetoric and activism that can be easily distributed as propaganda for its chapters across the country. It was formed in the aftermath of the deadly 2017 Unite the Right riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, when it broke off from neo-Nazi group Vanguard America. The people arrested in Idaho Saturday were wearing Patriot Fronts signature khaki pants, blue shirts and masks. Texas resident Thomas Rousseau, Patriot Fronts 23-year-old leader, was also among those arrested Saturday. Shake off your afternoon slump with the oft-shared and offbeat news of the day, hand-brewed by our online news editors. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. ST. LOUIS The St. Louis region is bracing for some scorching weather this week as the heat index is expected to continue to reach dangerous highs. The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory from 11 a.m. Monday through 8 p.m. Wednesday. Forecasters expect the heat index to reach upwards of 109 degrees. There also is a chance for thunderstorms across parts of the region on Wednesday and Thursday, the National Weather Service said. Sundays heat index reached 106 in St. Louis. People are urged to drink plenty of water, stay in an air-conditioned room and check up on relatives and neighbors. Those who go outside are advised to avoid strenuous activity during the hottest part of the day and wear lightweight and loose-fitting clothing. Never leave children or pets in cars, forecasters warned. Forecasters also are urging people to watch for signs of heat exhaustion dizziness, weakness, heavy sweating and thirst which can lead to heat stroke. Sip water and move to a cooler area if a person is exhibiting those symptoms. If someone becomes unconscious or confused, call 911. Heat stroke can be deadly or lead to disability, the National Weather Service said. St. Louis and St. Louis County officials said they would be ramping up efforts to help residents stay cool this week. St. Louis City Emergency Management Agency said those needing a reprieve from the heat can head to a public building, such as a library or community center during business hours. St. Louis County is offering assistance to those having difficulty paying utility bills. Residents can call 1-855-582-3973. Designated cooling sites could open if the National Weather Service issues an excessive heat advisory or warning. For a full list, click here. Residents should call to confirm if a site is open before heading there. Nonprofit organization Cool Down St. Louis is offering free air conditioners and utility assistance to those in need, especially for older folks, those with disabilities and those with young children. The nonprofit also recently expanded to cover natural gas bills as well. Their phone number is (314) 241-7668 Founder Gentry Trotter said the group has received more than 500 applications over the past week and that Cool Down St. Louis expects that number to triple over the coming weeks. Overall, we are simply just trying to save lives, Trotter said. The Humane Society of Missouri is warning pet owners to watch out for hot asphalt and concrete. If you cant keep your hand on the pavement for 10 seconds, its too hot for a dogs paws, the organization said on social media. Reporter Taylor Tiamoyo Harris contributed to this report. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin leads in early results from Saturday's special primary for the state's only U.S. House seat, as voters whittled down the list of 48 candidates running for the position that was held for 49 years by the late U.S. Rep. Don Young. The early results showed Palin, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, with 29.8% of the votes counted so far; Republican Nick Begich had 19.3%; independent Al Gross had 12.5%; Democrat Mary Peltola with 7.5%; and Republican Tara Sweeney had 5.3%. A candidate whose name is Santa Claus, a self-described independent, progressive, democratic socialist, had 4.5%. The initial results released by the state Division of Elections included 108,729 votes. It was not immediately clear how many ballots were outstanding. The division reported late Saturday that it had received about 139,000 ballots so far. Ballots had to be postmarked by Saturday. The Associated Press has not called any winners in the special primary. The top four vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to an August special election in which ranked choice voting will be used. The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of Youngs term, which ends in January. Young died in March at age 88. This election was unlike any the state has seen, crammed with candidates and conducted primarily by mail. This was the first election, too, under a system approved by voters in 2020 that ends party primaries and uses ranked choice voting in general elections. Saturday marked the first ballot count; state elections officials plan additional counts on Wednesday and Friday, and a final count on June 21. They have targeted June 25 to certify the race. Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, released a statement expressing gratitude to all of my wonderful supporters who voted to make Alaska great again! Earlier Saturday, the Alaska Supreme Court reversed and vacated a lower court order that had barred state election officials from certifying the results of the special primary until visually impaired voters were given a full and fair opportunity to participate. Attorneys for the state had interpreted Friday's order from Superior Court Judge Una Gandbhir as preventing elections officials from concluding voting as scheduled on Saturday. They asked the supreme court to reverse the order. The ruling came in a case filed days earlier by Robert Corbisier, executive director of the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights. Corbisier sued state elections officials on behalf of a person identified as B.L., a registered voter in Anchorage with a visual impairment. The sheer number of candidates left some voters overwhelmed, and many of the candidates themselves faced challenges in setting up a campaign on the fly and trying to leave an impression on voters in a short period of time. The candidate filing deadline was April 1. Relatively few candidates were running for the seat before Young's death. Begich was among the early entrants; he launched his campaign last fall and worked to win support among conservatives. The businessman, who hails from a family of prominent Democrats, was endorsed by the Alaska Republican party. Peltola, a former state lawmaker from Bethel who has been involved in fisheries issues, said earlier this week that she entered the race with low name recognition but believes she's changed that and has momentum behind her candidacy. Palin's run marks her first bid for elected office since resigning as governor partway through her term in 2009. She was endorsed in this campaign by some national political figures, including Trump, who participated in a telerally for her and said Palin would "fight harder than anybody I can think of, particularly on energy issues. Palin sought to assure voters that she is serious about her bid and committed to Alaska. During the campaign, opponents poked at that. Gross, an orthopedic surgeon who made an unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate in 2020, said Palin quit on Alaska. Begich and Sweeney made points of saying they are not quitters. Gross, in an email to supporters during the campaign, said Palin and Begich are candidates who will be hard to beat but said he is ready and able to take on this fight. Sweeney was assistant secretary of Indian Affairs in the U.S. Interior Department under Trump and was endorsed by a group that represents leaders of the states influential Alaska Native regional corporations. She said she understands the pressure cooker environment of Washington, D.C. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Senate negotiators announce a deal on guns, breaking logjam WASHINGTON (AP) Senate bargainers have announced the framework of a bipartisan response to last months mass shootings. It's a noteworthy but limited breakthrough offering modest gun curbs and stepped-up efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, Biden embraced the deal, and enactment would signal a significant turnabout after years of stalemate in Congress. Twenty senators, including 10 Republicans, are calling for passage. That's potentially crucial because at least 10 GOP votes will be needed in the Senate. In Jan. 6 cases, 1 judge stands out as the toughest punisher As the number of people sentenced for crimes in the U.S. Capitol insurrection nears 200, an Associated Press analysis of sentencing data shows that some judges are divided over how to punish the rioters, particularly for the low-level misdemeanors arising from the attack. U.S. District Tanya Chutkan, a former assistant public defender, has consistently taken the hardest line of any judge serving on Washington's federal trial court. Overall, the 20 judges who've sentenced riot defendants have given lighter sentences than prosecutors were seeking in nearly three-fourths of the cases. The judges have exceeded prosecutors recommendation for about only 10% of the defendants, according to APs analysis. Pulitzer and now top Tony, 'A Strange Loop' makes history NEW YORK (AP) A Strange Loop, an irreverent, sexually frank work about Blackness and queerness took home the best new musical crown at the Tony Awards on Sunday, as voters celebrated Broadways most racially diverse season by choosing an envelope-pushing Black voice. Michael R. Jacksons 2020 Pulitzer Prize drama winner is a theater meta-journey and also won for best book. Many of the nights Tonys were spread over several productions. A Strange Loop beat MJ, a bio musical of the King of Pops biggest hits for the top prize, although that Jackson musical nabbed four Tony Awards Jan. 6 panelists: Enough evidence uncovered to indict Trump WASHINGTON (AP) Members of the House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot say theyve uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against former President Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump has denied all wrongdoing. The committee says Trumps 2020 campaign manager, Bill Stepien, is among the witnesses scheduled to testify at a hearing Monday. The focus will be on Trumps effort to spread his lies about a stolen election. US: Pfizer COVID-19 shot appears effective for kids under 5 WASHINGTON (AP) A review by federal health officials says that Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine appears safe and effective for children under 5, the only group not currently eligible for vaccination. The review from the Food and Drug Administration is a key step toward an expected decision to begin vaccinating babies, toddlers and preschoolers as soon as June 21. Parents have been waiting months to protect Americas youngest children, who number roughly 18 million. On Wednesday the FDA will ask an outside panel of experts to vote on whether to recommend the shots. Brazil police: Items owned by missing men found in Amazon ATALAIA DO NORTE, Brazil (AP) Brazilian police say search teams have found a backpack, laptop and other personal items that belonged to Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and freelance British journalist Dom Phillips, who went missing in a remote area of Brazils Amazon a week ago. The Federal Police announced Sunday night that they had identified the belongings of both missing men, such as Pereiras health card and clothes. A firefighter says Phillips backpack was tied to a tree that was half-submerged. Pereira and Phillips were last seen near the entrance of the Indigenous territory, which borders Peru and Colombia. That area has seen violent conflicts between fishermen, poachers and government agents. Brookings president resigns amid FBI foreign lobbying probe The president of the Brookings Institution has resigned amid a federal investigation into whether he illegally lobbied on behalf of the wealthy Persian Gulf nation of Qatar. Retired Gen. John Allen said in a letter to the think tank Sunday that he was leaving with a heavy heart but did not offer any direct explanation. A retired four-star Marine general who led U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Allens announcement came less than a week after The Associated Press was first to report on new court filings that showed the FBI had seized Allens electronic data as part of the probe. Patriot Front leader among those arrested near Idaho Pride After the arrest of more than two dozen members of a white supremacist group near a northern Idaho pride event, including one identified as its founder, LGBTQ advocates said Sunday that polarization and a fraught political climate have put their community increasingly at risk. Police say the 31 Patriot Front members were arrested with riot gear came after a tipster reported seeing people loading up into a U-Haul at a hotel parking lot in Coeur dAlene, Idaho. Among those arrested was Thomas Rousseau of Grapevine, Texas, who has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as the 23-year-old who founded the group. Moscow-backed officials try to solidify rule in Ukraine KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Kremlin-installed officials in occupied southern Ukraine celebrated Russia Day on Sunday and began issuing Russian passports to those in one city who requested them, as Moscow seeks to solidify its rule over captured parts of the country. Russia Day is the holiday that marks Russias emergence as a sovereign state after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ukrainian media reported that few, if any, local residents attended the Russia Day festivities in the two cities. French projections: Macron's centrists will keep a majority PARIS (AP) French President Emmanuel Macrons centrist alliance is expected to keep its parliamentary majority after the first round of voting Sunday, but will likely have far fewer seats than five years ago. According to projections based on partial results, Macrons party and its allies got about 25-26% of the vote Sunday on the national level. They were neck-and-neck with a new leftist coalition. Yet Macrons candidates are projected to win in a greater number of districts than their leftist rivals. More than 6,000 candidates were running for 577 seats in Frances National Assembly in the first round of the election. For races that did not have a decisive winner on Sunday, up to four candidates will compete in a second round of voting on June 19. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. CHICAGO Just days before he is set to lead a Jan. 6 House committee hearing, Illinois Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Sunday it was obvious Donald Trump knew he lost the 2020 election and if the former president believes the election was stolen he is not mentally capable to return to the White House. Kinzinger, one of only two Republicans on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, also warned that if Trump were elected president again, he would install government leaders who value loyalty to him over their oath to the country. Speaking on CBS Face the Nation, Kinzinger of Channahon said he will be leading the panels Wednesday hearing, which will be focused on Justice Department activities leading up to, and including, the insurrection and will also include members of Congress who sought pardons from Trump. Trump continues to insist without evidence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and, in a fundraising email to supporters on Sunday, again labeled the committee hearings another partisan witch hunt. Kinzinger said the rejection of election fraud claims by Trumps own attorney general, William Barr, along with the evidence of failed challenges to state election results, debunk Trumps continued baseless allegations that helost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden. If you truly believe the election was stolen then, if the president truly believed that, for instance, hes not mentally capable to be president. I think he didnt believe it. I think the people around him didnt believe it. This was all about keeping power against the will of the American people, said Kinzinger, a frequent Trump critic who is not seeking reelection. The president absolutely tried to overthrow the will of the people and he tried to do it initially through misinformation, for the Department of Justice, theyre pressuring the vice president, and then, on Jan. 6, Kinzinger said. And he was told repeatedly by people that he trusted, that he respected folks around him, that the election wasnt stolen, that there is no corroborating proof of any kind of a stealing or any kind of a corruption that would change the outcome. And so I think its pretty obvious he knew but he didnt want to lose. Kinzinger said Trumps efforts to try to reverse the election outcome by first pressuring the Department of Justice, then Vice President Mike Pence and ultimately Congress through a public attack should be a warning if the former president decides to run again in 2024. I think if Donald Trump gets elected again, there is no doubt in my mind, zero doubt, that he will, instead of screening candidates like he probably did when he got elected in 2016 for qualifications, hes going to screen people based on their loyalty to him, Kinzinger said. Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. I think its important for us as a country to recognize that the importance that the oath to the United States plays, he said. If we have people in power whether its in politics or law enforcement or the military we have any people that are unwilling to put their oath above any loyalty to a person, no law matters. Kinzinger also said Trumps assertion he reached out to the National Guard to help quell the insurrection was false. I think its very obvious the president didnt do anything but gleefully watch television while this was going down. He can say anything he wants. The real leader, the only person in charge that made those calls was Mike Pence. Well prove that, Kinzinger said. During the committees opening public hearing on Thursday, the other Republican on the panel, Wyoming congresswoman and committee vice chair Liz Cheney, said Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Scott Perry was one of several Republicans who sought a pardon from Trump in the days after Jan. 6. Perry is one of the leading figures in the effort to throw out Pennsylvanias votes in the 2020 presidential election. Why would you ask for a pardon? Lets just say in general, if somebody asked for a pardon, it would be because they have real concern that maybe theyve done something illegal, Kinzinger said. Perry has denied he sought a pardon and called the accusation an absolute shameless and soulless lie. Kinzinger did not directly address Perrys comments but said of the panel, Were not going to make accusations or say things without proof or evidence backing it. 2022 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Political theater seldom produces anything useful in politics, but the jarring House testimony on recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, followed by its consideration of a sweeping, doomed gun-safety measure, may be the exception. The measure which would raise the legal age to purchase most semi-automatic rifles to 21, ban high-capacity ammunition magazines and make other commonsense reforms passed the House over almost complete Republican opposition, and is dead on arrival in a closely split Senate. Still, the sight of these GOP lawmakers sitting through heartbreaking testimony from mass-shooting survivors and families of the dead, and then obediently reverting to their same old line-toeing for the gun lobby, aptly dramatized just how entrenched the party is in its irrational refusal to act on guns. The only remedy is available in this years midterm elections. The testimony brought home the reality of mass shootings that are too often sanitized and faceless in news coverage. There was 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grader at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, describing in a pre-recorded video how she survived the mass shooting that killed 19 of her classmates and two teachers last month by smearing the blood of a dead friend all over herself and playing dead. There was Kimberly Rubio, tearfully describing her last conversation with her 10-year-old daughter, Lexi, in which she promised her ice cream after school. There was Dr. Roy Guerrero, a pediatrician who treated the victims and told of childrens small bodies pulverized by the bullets. Its astonishing but sadly unsurprising that most House Republicans could sit through that testimony and then offer up the same, tired old intransigence about reform. The National Rifle Association has them on strings with political cash and more to the point the threat of mobilizing gun-rights extremists against them in GOP primaries if they display even a glimmer of sanity on guns. So they bleat about the Second Amendment as if it precludes any and all gun laws (it doesnt), while ignoring the obvious: America has both the most guns and the most gun deaths of any advanced country in the world, by leagues. Why? Perhaps because in those peer countries, teenagers cant just stroll into a shop and legally buy weapons of war as the 18-year-old shooters in both Uvalde and Buffalo did and load up with scores of rounds and carry them publicly to their target destination. Its insanity. Continuing bipartisan talks in the Senate could spawn a far weaker reform measure with a chance of passing. That remains worth pursuing, because something is better than nothing. But in rejecting stronger measures that would clearly save lives, most House Republicans are now officially on record as prioritizing teenage lunatics rights to obtain guns over childrens rights to live. Voters should remember that this fall. I am a Vietnam-era veteran, having spent three years on active duty in the Army. Though I served in Germany and not Vietnam, everyone who enters the Army receives the same eight weeks of basic training. During a significant portion of basic, we spent countless hours at the rifle ranges learning how to properly use our weapon, an M-16. We fired at targets at a variety of distances. Every target we fired at was in the shape of the upper half of a human torso. In other words, we were learning how to kill another human being with that weapon. Thats what an M-16s only purpose is: to kill another human being. And while serving in Germany, we were required to requalify with our M-16 every year. In my assignment in Germany, we did not have our weapons with us continuously. When not spending time at the rifle ranges or learning how to disassemble, clean and reassemble our weapon, they were secured in the armory along with all ammunition. The AR-15 is essentially a modified version of an M-16. However, like an M-16 it is an assault rifle. There is no justifiable reason for a civilian to own an AR-15. They are an assault rifle, which means they are designed to kill humans. I believe anyone who has served in the military would agree with me. There is no reason for a civilian to own an AR-15. Michael Heyer Ellisville, Mo. Regarding Renegade Priest Returning to Poland (June 4): I have been a parishioner of this local Polish Catholic Church for 42 years. During the interview with Rev. Marek Bozek, he claimed he was proud to report that St. Stanislaus has settled into sustainable, diverse and inclusive congregations of about 250 members. Was this statement really the truth? St. Stanislaus Kostka Polish Catholic Church was built by and for the Polish people with total ownership of the church and property turned over to the corporation in 1891. The church community at St. Stanislaus Kostka is very divided and disappointed in the way the church is being manipulated. In 2005 the Board of Directors hired Bozek to serve as our parish priest. We welcomed him enthusiastically. Many believed he was the answer to our prayers. However, enthusiasm waned when Bozek made changes to our church doctrines. Many hundreds of parishioners left seeking another church, due to his personal interpretation of the Polish Catholic Churchs principles. The Polish and Polish American members of this church are not losing power. Polish and Polish American members are a committed community that will fight for their church. It is very sad that for over 130 years Polish Mass that was celebrated in a Polish church was canceled this month. The parishioners no longer have a place to worship, practicing their beliefs. Wit Jamry University City A farmer and a teacher, a hooker and a preacher Ridin' on a midnight bus bound for Mexico One's headed for vacation, one for higher education And two of them were searchin' for lost souls That driver never ever saw the stop sign And eighteen wheelers can't stop on a dime There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway Why there's not four of them, Heaven only knows I guess it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you It's what you leave behind you when you go That farmer left a harvest, a home and eighty acres The faith and love for growin' things in his young son's heart And that teacher left her wisdom in the minds of lots of children Did her best to give 'em all a better start And that preacher whispered, "Can't you see the Promised Land?" As he laid his blood-stained bible in that hooker's hand There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway Why there's not four of them, Heaven only knows I guess it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you It's what you leave behind you when you go That's the story that our preacher told last Sunday As he held that blood-stained bible up For all of us to see He said "Bless the farmer, and the teacher, and the preacher Who gave this Bible to my mama Who read it to me" There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway Why there's not four of them, now I guess we know It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you It's what you leave behind you when you go Green Science Alliance has developed nature biomass derived UV curable hard coat material. KAWANISHI CITY, Japan, May 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Environmental problems caused by population explosion such as global warming, natural resource depletion, water shortage and plastic pollution are getting severe in the world. One of the reasons for global warming is said to be carbon dioxide (CO2). Compared to petroleum derived chemical products, nature biomass derived chemical products can be considered as carbon neutral because plant absorbs CO2 during their growth and total CO2 emission will be 0 after they degrade after usage. Therefore, developing biomass derived chemical products is one method to reduce CO2 consumption in order to suppress global warming. The vision of Green Science Alliance is to offer actual cutting edge technology for sustainable, carbon neutral society. More precisely, those technologies are next generation rechargeable battery, fuel cell, CO2 photo conversion to chemical energy (the process called artificial photosynthesis). Some of Green Science Alliance technologies are registered by the United Nation Organization (UNIDO's platform "STePP", WIPO GREEN) and they were also selected as a startup company supported by incubation programme of UNOPS GIC Japan in 2020. Green Science Alliance is also trying to replace all the petrochemical derived chemical products with natural biomass derived one. Those are 100 % natural biomass biodegradable plastic, biomass resin, biomass coating, biomass color ink etc. This time, they developed biomass derived UV curable hard coat material. Namely, part of raw material comes from plants such as corns, soy beans etc. UV curable hard coat materials are coating material which can be solidified by irradiating UV light and they have been applied to the surface of liquid crystal related devices, optical films, various type of displays, smartphone, personal computer, automotive parts etc. They are environmentally friendly products because they do not have liquid evaporation problem after they are coated, compared to water, organic solvent based coating material. In addition, they can reduce the solvent consumption because all of component can be solidified under UV light irradiation without any waste solvent. So far, UV curable hard coat materials are made of petroleum in general. This time, they developed the one with 25 35 % of biomass content. Green Science Alliance will keep challenging to create UV curable hard coat materials with higher biomass content. They are also planning to create biomass derived UV curable adhesive, color ink etc. in the near future. Green Science Alliance will expand their biomass UV curable coating material business to Japan and the world market. Contact:Ryohei Mori+81727598501 [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/green-science-alliance-developed-plant-nature-biomass-derived-uv-ultraviolet-light-curable-hard-coat-material-301555863.html SOURCE Green Science Alliance Co., Ltd. (Tribune News Service) A major Air Force command is looking for a few good ideas. Air Force Materiel Command, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, is opening the doors to its Spark Tank competition for the third year, inviting airmen and Space Force guardians uniformed and civilian to submit ideas on how the force can operate better and more efficiently. Last years winner was Master Sgt. Justin Bauer, of the 355th Fighter Wing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, who suggested a new approach to repairing the wheels of C-130 cargo planes. Ideas must be submitted via the Department of Defense GAIN app, and they should have the potential to make big impacts on Air Force missions in six months to two years. Three-minute explanatory videos, cleared by local Air Force public affairs offices, should accompany the submissions. Five finalists will get a chance to explain their vision before a panel of six senior leaders, including three- and four-star Air Force generals, this fall. David Tyler, chief of the Continuous Process Improvement & Innovation Cell at AFMC, said the contest wants not just engineering ideas. Were looking for any Airmen out there, Tyler said. Any civilian out there. A lot of ideas have been presented over the last couple of years on a wide range of things. Beth Weiser, a program consultant for AFMC, said previous entries have benefitted the medical community, with one idea resulting in a tactical anesthesia work station, which is getting attention from the 711th Human Performance Wing at Wright-Patterson. Other ideas have produced liquid plate coolers for Airmen deployed to desert environments and new software on legacy aircraft. Theres no limit really to what were looking at, Weiser said. Theres no standard per se to what were looking for with Spark Tank ideas. They can be personnel, human resources. It can come from the medical community. AFMC is just thankful that were creating that voice for airmen to speak up, to show them that their ideas matter to our command, she said. In two years, the campaign has seen almost 200 submissions, Tyler said. More will be welcome. Weiser wondered aloud what might result if closer to a third of the active-duty force participated. Were trying to change the culture, Weiser said. Were trying to be more radical in how we think. Submit proposals in the first 30 days, by July 1, and participants will get help from a mentor who can refine an idea further, Weiser said. She urged participants to try to summarize a problem properly, with data to support a proposed solution. Without the story, we cant solve the problem and get them off the ground, she said. For questions, contact the AFMC Commanders Accelerated Initiatives team at afmc.cdx.workflow@us.af.mil . (c)2022 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) Visit at www.daytondailynews.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Taipei International Airport, Taiwan, June 20, 1960: President Dwight D. Eisenhower waves farewell at Taipei International Airport after a two-day visit to Taiwan, during which he met with Taiwanese president Chiang Kai-shek. The two presidents and their wives worshipped together Sunday, June 19, 1960, in a small private chapel on Chiangs estate, after which they held a brief business meeting before President Eisenhower left for Okinawa and Korea. Chiang and Eisenhower also met for two hours the day before. Eisenhower was the first president to publicly declare that the U.S. would defend the Republic of China (Taiwan) against aggression from mainland China. The Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States of America and Taiwan was signed on December 2, 1954, with both sides pledging to aid each other in the case of a military attack. A month later, in January 1955, the U.S. House and Senate passed the Formosa Resolution, granting Eisenhower the authority to use military force to defend Taiwan as he deems necessary. As of April 2020, Eisenhower is still the only sitting president to have visited Taiwan. CAIRO Libyan officials returned to the Egyptian capital Sunday for a third round of talks on constitutional amendments for elections. The North African nation once again finds itself at a political impasse with two rival administrations claiming legitimacy. The talks in Cairo come on the heels of clashes between rival militias that caused residents of the Libyan capital of Tripoli to panic and revived nightmares of previous bouts of fighting in the chaos-stricken nation. Lawmakers from Libya's east-based parliament and the High Council of State, an advisory body from western Libya, began the U.N.-brokered negotiations amid concerted international pressure on the two chambers to put their disputes aside and agree on the election's legal basis. The U.N. special adviser on Libya, Stephanie Williams, said talks in a Cairo hotel will continue till June 19 with the aim of establishing a constitutional framework "required to take the country to national elections as soon as possible." "After eleven long years of division, dysfunction, conflict, chaos and polarization, the Libyan people are exhausted," she told attendees at the opening session. "You have a real opportunity, indeed a solemn responsibility, to give them hope, to provide a pathway towards elections within a firm constitutional framework." In the previous two rounds of talks, the parties came to an initial consensus on 137 articles of the constitutional draft, including on rights and freedoms. They would continue discussing a handful of disputed articles on legislative and judicial authority, Williams said. The dispute over the constitutional framework of the election was among major challenges that caused planned national elections to fail in December. The failure to hold the vote was a major blow to international efforts to end decade of chaos in Libya. It has opened a new chapter in its long-running political impasse, with rival governments now claiming power after tentative steps toward unity in the past year. On Friday, clashes broke out in Tripoli between rival militias, spurring residents to take shelter and women and children to flee a busy park as artillery shells flew across the night sky. It was not clear what caused the clashes. Authorities in Tripoli said an investigation was opened. Williams, the U.N. adviser, condemned the fighting, saying in a Twitter post, "Enough is enough!" She called for those responsible to be held accountable. The U.S. ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, threatened to sanction those responsible for the fighting, saying they "will pay a price with the Libyan people and the international community." The violence was the latest bout of infighting in recent weeks between rogue militias, especially in the western region, which is ruled by an array of militias loosely allied with the Tripoli-based government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. East and south Libya are controlled by forces of military commander Khalifa Hifter, who is allied with a rival government led by parliament-appointed Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha. The oil-rich country has been wrecked by conflict since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. The country has for years been split between rival administrations in the east and west, each supported by different militias and foreign governments. SEOUL, South Korea North Korea test-fired suspected artillery pieces into the sea on Sunday, South Korea's military said, days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for greater defense capability to cope with outside threats. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that it detected several flight trajectories believed to be North Korean artillery on Sunday morning. It said South Korea maintains a firm military readiness in close coordination with the United States amid boosted surveillance on North Korea. During a national security council meeting convened to discuss the suspected launches, South Korean officials expressed concern that North Korea is upgrading weapons systems that pose a direct threat to South Korea and reaffirmed they would sternly deal with such North Korean efforts, according to South Korea's presidential office. The North's artillery tests draw less outside attention than its missile launches. But its forward-deployed long-range artillery guns are a serious security threat to South Korea's populous metropolitan region, which is only 25-30 miles from the border with North Korea. The suspected artillery launches were the latest in a spate of weapons tests by North Korea this year in what foreign experts call an attempt to pressure its rivals Washington and Seoul to relax international sanctions against Pyongyang and make other concessions. South Korean and U.S. officials recently said North Korea had almost completed preparations for its first nuclear test in about five years. In March, North Korea test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland U.S. in breach of a 2018 moratorium on big missile tests. In a speech at a ruling party meeting last week, Kim underscored the need to strengthen his country's military capability, saying the current security environment is "very serious." Kim's speech carried by state media didn't mention the United States or South Korea. But he still set forth "militant tasks" to be pursued by his armed forces and scientists, a suggestion that he would press ahead with his high-profile arms buildup plans. A possible new nuclear test by North Korea would be the seventh of its kind. Some experts say North Korea will likely use the test to build warheads to be mounted on tactical nuclear weapons aimed at hitting targets in South Korea. As fighting continues in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, causing heavy casualties and leaving Ukrainian forces with dwindling ammunition, a senior U.S. defense official said Russia is likely to seize control of the entire region within a few weeks. The cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, in Luhansk, are increasingly under duress and could fall to Russia within a week, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Ukrainian officials said Russia is bombarding a chemical plant sheltering hundreds of soldiers and civilians in Severodonetsk, a strategic city that is mostly under Russian control after weeks of intense battles. Russia will throw all their reserves in order to capture the city within a day or two to take control of the Lysychansk-Bakhmut highway, a vital supply route, predicted Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday that the alliance remains hopeful about progress on the membership applications of Finland and Sweden, despite opposition from Turkey. Chinas defense minister appeared to play down his countrys support of Moscow and said it has not supplied weapons to Russia for its war on Ukraine. Local authorities in western Ukraine said 22 people were injured in a missile strike Saturday evening near Chortkiv. Russia claimed it targeted a warehouse containing missiles. A month after McDonalds announced it was selling its restaurants in Russia, 15 branches reopened in Moscow under new ownership and with a new name: Tasty, and Thats It. The bodies of dozens of fighters who died defending the Azovstal complex in Mariupol against a months-long Russian onslaught have yet to be recovered, said Maksym Zhorin, a former commander of the Azov Regiment that formed the backbone of the defense there. He said Sunday that nearly 220 bodies are now in Kyiv, but almost as many more bodies need to be returned. The bodies already recovered came from two exchanges with Russian forces one of 160 war dead on each side, and the second of almost 60 bodies, Zhorin said. Talks are underway for further exchanges, he added, vowing: We must bring absolutely all the bodies home, and we will work on this. About a third of the bodies recovered so far were those of Azov Regiment fighters, according to Zhorin. The other fatalities were from other groups that defended the city, such as the infantry, police and border guard, he said. These estimates are based on their uniforms, the commander said, adding that it would take longer to identify the bodies individually. Now the very difficult work, the very difficult process, of identifying the bodies is beginning, he said. The thing is that most of these bodies are in a very awful state, and it is impossible to recognize them visually, for example. The Azov Regiment, controversial for its far-right links, was one of the key units that defended the Azovstal steel works for nearly three months against Russian attacks before surrendering in May. The fate of more than 2,500 fighters from the plant, taken prisoner by the Russians, remains unclear. Russians at home and abroad celebrated Russia Day on Sunday under the cloud of Western recriminations over the invasion of Ukraine. On June 12, 1990, Russian lawmakers officially declared the sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, later renamed the Russian Federation. According to the Russian Embassy in Britain, Russia Day is considered to be a holiday of liberty and civic peace. Monday will be a public holiday across Russia. June 12, 1990, marked an important step in fulfilling the aspirations of the people of Russia for freedom, democracy, and the breaking down of barriers that separate them from the rest of the world, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday in a statement. On this Russia Day, we recognize the desires of the people of Russia who still seek as they did in June 1990 freedom and dignity, often at great personal risk, he added. Also marking the day were protests held inside and outside Russia. Protesters laid a mourning wreath in front of the Russian Embassy in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and hung a banner on its gate that read, The last day of Russia, Ukrainian state-owned broadcaster Ukrinform reported Sunday. According to a photograph published by Reuters, antiwar artists in Moscow placed a flag outside the headquarters of the Russian armed forces General Staff. This is not our day, a slogan on the flag said. A flag that proclaimed, This is not our day, was placed by Russian artists in protest of the war in Ukraine outside the headquarters of the Russian armed forces General Staff on Sunday. The mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, said earlier this month on Twitter that he had refused a request from the Russian Embassy to fly the Russian flag at Ottawa City Hall for Russia Day. Watson added that the Ukrainian flag, which has been flying atop Ottawa City Hall since late February, when Russian forces invaded Ukraine, will stay up until they leave. Russian forces have transported 15,000 tons of sunflower seeds and 10,000 tons of grain from the Luhansk region, according to the Department of Agroindustrial Development there. Farmers in the region are effectively being paid only 30% of the value of the grain in ruble payments, the department said. Russian forces transported grain from Starobilsk, 30 miles east of Severodonetsk, to Russia on Friday, geolocation analysis of footage carried by Russias Tass news agency shows. And Russian TV outlets have reported the transport of the Ukrainian cherry harvest from Melitopol to Russian-occupied Crimea, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. Ukrainian officials say Russia has been systemically stealing grain and other agricultural products in areas it controls. Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi described the Russian actions as outright robbery. Moscow continues to seek reinforcements for its war effort in Ukraine, the British Defense Ministry said Sunday. According to the ministrys daily intelligence update, Russia is likely preparing to send third battalions which are normally not deployed and often are not fully staffed from some brigades to bolster its forces fighting in Ukraine. Russia would probably have to rely on recruits or reservists to staff the units, the Defense Ministry said. The plan to deploy more combat units to Ukraine is intended to offset Russias heavy losses, but it could ultimately reduce the ability of brigades to regenerate combat power after operations, the update said. Last month, President Vladimir Putin signed a law scrapping age limits for recruits seeking to join Russias armed forces, allowing Russians over 40 and foreigners over 30 to enlist for the first time. According to British government estimates, Moscow has lost around 15,000 troops since its invasion began on Feb. 24 around the same number of deaths suffered by the Soviet army during its decade-long war in Afghanistan. Russia has extended its planning for the war in Ukraine for another four months, until the end of October, according to a Kyiv intelligence chief. According to our estimates, Russia still has the potential to wage a long-term war against Ukraine, Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate, told Radio Libertys Current Time TV channel. Skibitsky said Russia can maintain its current level of fighting for at least another year without needing to manufacture more weapons. The situation is very difficult because the Russians have a significant superiority in the weapons available to them, he added. Russia has 40 more battalion tactical groups (BTGs) in reserve in additional to the 103 BTGs already deployed to Ukraine, according to Skibitskys assessment. The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War says this is highly unlikely to mean that Russian forces retain 40 full-strength and effective BTGs in Russia, but rather smaller ad hoc groups of personnel gathered from other units. The main goals of this so-called special military operation have not yet been achieved, Skibitsky said, using Russias official term for its invasion of Ukraine. So Putin will continue the war against our country. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed full support Sunday for Putin, as he congratulated Russia on the occasion of its national day. North Korea was one of five authoritarian nations that voted against a U.N. resolution to condemn Russia last month. In an apparent reference to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said: The Russian people achieved great successes in accomplishing the just cause of defending the dignity and security of their country, while braving all sorts of challenges and hardships. The Korean people extend full support and encouragement to them, it said. In his message to Putin, Kim said relations between the two countries would get closer in the journey for defending the international justice and ensuring global security. The Washington Posts Annabelle Timsit and Min Joo Kim contributed to this report. LONDON Opponents of the British government's plan to deport migrants to Rwanda are preparing for an appeals court hearing Monday amid the political backlash following reports that Prince Charles had privately described the policy as "appalling." A coalition of groups including immigration rights advocates and public employee unions will ask the Court of Appeal in London to reverse a lower court ruling allowing the first deportation flight to go ahead as scheduled on Tuesday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government in April announced plans to send some undocumented migrants to Rwanda, where their claims for asylum in the east African nation would be processed. If successful, those migrants would stay in Rwanda. Britain paid Rwanda 120 million pounds ($158 million) upfront and will make additional payments based on the number of people deported. The program is aimed at discouraging migrants from risking their lives by crossing the English Channel in small boats after a surge in such journeys over the past two years. But human rights groups say the policy is illegal, inhumane and will only magnify the risks for migrants. The debate filled Britain's news media over the weekend after the Times of London reported that an unidentified person had heard Prince Charles express opposition to the policy "several times" in private conversations. "He said he thinks the government's whole approach is appalling," the newspaper quoted the source as saying. Charles' office, Clarence House, refused to comment on "anonymous private conversations," but stressed that the prince remains "politically neutral." Charles' comments are problematic because he is the heir to the throne and the British monarch is supposed to remain above the political fray. The reported conversations raise concerns about whether Charles can be a neutral monarch after a lifetime of speaking out on issues ranging from ocean plastic to architectural preservation. Charles, 73, has taken on an increasingly central role in recent months as health problems have limited the activities of Queen Elizabeth II, his 96-year-old mother. The comments set off a firestorm in British newspapers, with the Daily Express warning the Prince of Wales: "Stay out of politics Charles!" The Mail on Sunday said: "We will not back down on Rwanda, Charles.'' Johnson's government shows no signs of changing course. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, who represented the government on Britain's Sunday morning TV programs, offered a robust defense of the plan, saying the British government wants to upend the business model of people smugglers. "The reality is this is a policy that is going to deliver to ensure that modern slavery and these people smugglers know that their criminal methods will be broken down,'' he told Sky News. More than 28,500 people entered Britain on small boats last year, up from 1,843 in 2019, according to government statistics. The risk of such crossings was made clear on Nov. 24, when 27 people died after their inflatable boat sank in the waters between Britain and France. The Home Office, the agency that oversees border enforcement, launched its own defense of the policy on Sunday, posting comments from a Rwandan government spokesperson on social media. "It's about protecting and ensuring the wellbeing and development of both migrants and Rwandans in Rwanda," the Rwandan spokesperson, Yolande Makolo, said. A High Court judge in London on Friday rejected a request from opponents of the plan to block Britain's Rwanda asylum flights until the court had reached a decision on whether the program is illegal. The decision allows the flights to begin even as the broader legal challenge moves forward. That ruling has been appealed to the Court of Appeal, which will hear the petition on Monday. Government lawyer Mathew Gullick said Friday that 37 people were originally scheduled to be aboard Tuesday's flight, but six had their deportation orders canceled. The government still intends to operate the flight, he said. The government has not provided details of those selected for deportation, but refugee groups say they include people fleeing Syria and Afghanistan. Rwanda is already home to tens of thousands of refugees. Competition for land and resources contributed to ethnic and political tensions that culminated in Rwanda's 1994 genocide, in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and the moderate Hutu who tried to protect them were killed. President Paul Kagame's government has achieved significant economic progress since the genocide, but critics say it has come at the cost of strong political repression. The United Nations' refugee agency has opposed Britain's plans, saying it's an effort to export the country's legal obligations to provide asylum to those seeking a safe haven. "People fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy," said Gillian Triggs, UNHCR's assistant high commissioner for protection. "They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing." KOLONSCHYNA, Ukraine As Russian tanks and trucks rumbled close to their village, a Ukrainian teenager and his father stealthily launched their small drone into the air. Working as a team, they took bird's-eye photos of the armored column moving toward Kyiv and pinpointed its coordinates, swiftly messaging the precious information to the Ukrainian military. Within minutes, artillery batteries rained shells down on the invading forces, with deadly effect. Andriy Pokrasa, 15, and his dad, Stanislav, are being hailed in Ukraine for their volunteer aerial reconnaissance work in the early days of the invasion, when Russian troops barreling in from the north made an ultimately failed attempt to take the capital and bring the country to its knees. For a full week after the Feb. 24 invasion, the pair made repeated sorties with their drone risking capture or worse had Russian troops been aware of their snooping. "These were some of the scariest moments of my life," Andriy recounted as he demonstrated his piloting skills for an Associated Press team of journalists. "We provided the photos and the location to the armed forces," he said. "They narrowed down the coordinates more accurately and transmitted them by walkie-talkie, so as to adjust the artillery." His father was happy to leave the piloting to the boy. "I can operate the drone, but my son does it much better. We immediately decided he would do it," Stanislav Pokrasa, 41, said. They aren't sure how many Russian targets were destroyed using information they provided. But they saw the devastation wrought on the Russian convoy when they later flew the drone back over the charred hulks of trucks and tanks near a town west of Kyiv and off a strategically important highway that leads to the capital. "There were more than 20 Russian military vehicles destroyed, among them fuel trucks and tanks," the father said. As Russian and Ukrainian forces battled furiously for control of Kyiv's outskirts, Ukrainian soldiers finally urged the Pokrasa family to leave their village, which Russian troops subsequently occupied. With all adult men up to age 60 under government orders to stay in the country, the elder Pokrasa couldn't join his wife and son when they fled to neighboring Poland. They came back a few weeks ago, when Andriy had finished his school year. "I was happy that we destroyed someone," he said. "I was happy that I contributed, that I was able to do something. Not just sitting and waiting." AP journalist John Leicester contributed to this report from Kyiv, Ukraine. KYIV, Ukraine Kremlin-installed officials in occupied southern Ukraine celebrated Russia Day on Sunday and began issuing Russian passports to residents in one city who requested them, as Moscow sought to solidify its rule over captured parts of the country. At one of the central squares in the city of Kherson, Russian bands played a concert to celebrate Russia Day, the holiday that marks Russia's emergence as a sovereign state after the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti. In the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region, Moscow-installed officials raised a Russian flag in Melitopol's city center. Ukrainian media reported that few, if any, local residents attended the Russia Day festivities in the two cities. Russia Day was also celebrated in other occupied parts of Ukraine, including the ravaged southern port of Mariupol, where a new city sign painted in the colors of the Russian flag was unveiled on the outskirts and Russian flags were flown on a highway leading into the city. Also, the Russia-aligned administration in Melitopol started handing out Russian passports to those who applied for Russian citizenship. RIA Novosti posted video of a Moscow-backed official congratulating new Russian citizens and telling them: "Russia will not go anywhere. We are here for good." President Vladimir Putin earlier this year issued a decree fast-tracking Russian citizenship for residents of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. In captured cities in the south and east, Moscow has also introduced the ruble as official currency, aired Russian news broadcasts and taken steps to introduce a Russian school curriculum. The Kremlin's administrators in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions have voiced plans to incorporate the areas into Russia, despite protests and signs of an insurgency among local residents. Russian-installed officials Sunday in Melitopol reported an explosion in a garbage bin near the city's police headquarters and said two residents were injured. Another blast was reported at an electrical substation in the city of Berdyansk, which is also under Russian control. The Kremlin-backed administration pronounced it a terrorist attack, and officials said electricity was shut down in parts of the city. On the battlefield, Russia said it is used missiles to destroy a large depot in western Ukraine that contained anti-tank and air-defense weapons supplied to Kyiv by the U.S. and European countries. It said the attack took place near the city of Chortkiv in the Ternopil region. Ternopil Gov. Volodymyr Trush said four Russian missiles damaged a military installation and four residential buildings in Chortkiv. More than 20 people were wounded, including a 12-year-old girl, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. "This strike had no tactical or strategic sense, just like the absolute majority of other Russian strikes. It is terror, just terror," he said in a video address. In light of the strike, Zelenskyy made another plea for modern missile defense systems from the U.S. and other Western countries, saying, "These are lives that could have been saved, tragedies that could have been prevented if Ukraine had been listened to." Also, heavy fighting continued for control of Sievierodonetsk, an eastern city in Luhansk province with a prewar population of 100,000 that has emerged as central to Russia's campaign to capture the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland. Russian forces shelled a Sievierodonetsk chemical plant where up to 500 civilians, 40 of them children, were holed up, Luhansk Gov. Serhii Haidai said. An official with the pro-Moscow, self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, Rodion Miroshnik, said 300 to 400 Ukrainian troops also remained inside the plant. He said that efforts were underway to evacuate the civilians. Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Luhansk People's Republic, said the Ukrainians making their stand in Sievierodonetsk should save themselves the trouble. "If I were them, I would already make a decision" to surrender, he said. "We will achieve our goal in any case." ORLANDO, Fla. (Tribune News Service) Starting this hurricane season scientists will be able to look at storms in a way theyve never been able to before. On Sunday, NASA in a partnership with Astra Space launched the first two of a six-part constellation of weather satellites to observe hurricanes in real time. Astras Rocket 3.3 lifted off at 1:43 p.m. near the end of a two-hour launch window from Space Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The bread-loaf sized cubesats, each weighing 10 pounds, are part of the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity Constellation, otherwise known as the TROPICS mission, which was designed to give meteorologists a better understanding of hurricane structure and the rapid intensification process, said TROPICS principle investigator William Blackwell. What makes hurricanes so difficult to observe is that theyre changing so rapidly, on time scales of minutes, Blackwell said. Rapid intensification has these fundamental properties of temperature, moisture and precipitation that are changing rapidly. Theres a lot of variability in space, too. You need high elevation to capture the high resolution and spiral structure from space. TROPICS is designed to make capturing those fundamental properties easier by resolving both the challenges of time and space that come with observing a system, with each cubesat being placed in low-Earth orbit about 340,000 miles above the Earth. What TROPICS accomplishes in time that other weather satellites dont is the quick rate of time the cubesats will be able to capture hurricane information. When a storm takes shape, a TROPICS cubesat will pass overhead capturing data measurements of moisture, temperature, structure and intensity, then relay that information down to Earth. An hour later, another cubesat will swing by and observe more data, giving scientists a better understanding of how hurricanes change hour by hour. Were missing all the dynamic activities of the storm, Blackwell said. Were hoping these (satellites) will make more rapid observations yielding better forecasts. Earlier this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with NASA, launched GOES-T short for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite allowing scientists to monitor and predict environmental conditions like hurricanes, thunderstorms, floods, dense fog and fire. However, GOES-T, which will be renamed GOES-18, makes measurements in visible and infrared light that can be blocked off by cloud tops. TROPICS would be taking measurements on a microwave wavelength, which would allow scientists to see whats happing through the cloud ceiling in the storm environment, Blackwell said. The TROPICS mission is spearhead by the Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Lincoln Laboratory. Blackwell, who just celebrated his 20th year anniversary in the lab, oversees the TROPICS budget, which has a cap of $30.2 million and includes the creation of the cubesats as well as their operation. The Lincoln Lab enjoyed success in the TROPICS mission last year when its test satellite, Pathfinder, launched and captured images and measurements of Hurricane Ida the costliest hurricane of the 2021 season. Blackwell is hoping the new cubesats will begin relaying information to hurricane specialists with the NOAA, and other parties, later this year. After Sundays Astra Space launch deploys the first two cubesats, TROPICS will have a 120-day window to place the other four cubesats in different orbits. Two more launches are planned this year to deploy the remaining satellites. TROPICS has been in development for the last five years and is part of a massive collaboration with the NOAA, the University of Wisconsin, MIT, Vanderbilt, NASA and the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory as well as some commercial entities. Its exciting to see it all come together, getting the constellation online with high resolution rates of data available later for this hurricane season, Blackwell said. Staff Writer Richard Tribou contributed to this report. 2022 Orlando Sentinel. Visit orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Not far from a Pride event in Cour d'Alene, Idaho, Police stopped and surrounded a Uhaul loaded up with 31 folks with masks, shields, and who "looked like a little army." Police have confirmed that these folks did not come "to engage in peaceful events" and have taken them to county jail. KREM: Police spotted the U-haul about 10 minutes later and stopped it on Northwest Boulevard near the skate park and Paul Bunyan, not far from the area where a Coeur d'Alene Pride event was taking place. Police had stepped up their presence in the area during the event. Police and deputies surrounded the truck and when they opened it up they found dozens of men in the back, all wearing the same clothes, including khakis, with navy blue shirts, beige hats, and a white cloth covering their faces. Based on evidence collected at the scene and documents police found in the U-haul, Chief White said that they believe the group was planning to riot in several areas of downtown Coeur d'Alene, not just the park. "It appears they did not come here to engage in peaceful events," Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told our partner the Coeur d'Alene Press. Chief White said all 31 people were arrested on charges of conspiracy to riot. Those arrested came from at least 11 states, including Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia, and Arkansas. WATERTOWN, N.Y. (Tribune News Service) A Boy Scout was recorded with a rifle threatening a middle school while at an event at Fort Drum on Saturday, police said. The group was at Fort Drum for a Scouts BSA Mountain Challenge Event, meant to expose non-military children to the local military groups, according to a news release by the Watertown Police Department. The boy made a threat to Case Middle School in Watertown, police said. The video was posted on social media and people started reporting it to the police, police said. The people involved with the social media post have been identified and are being interviewed, police said. Extra security measures will be implemented out of caution, police said. The FBI, state police, and Jefferson County Sheriffs Office are assisting with the investigation, police said. Police ask anyone with information to call 315-782-2233. 2022 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit syracuse.com . An Ohio couple climbed through a broken window of the U.S. Capitol and livestreamed a video of themselves inside. A Texas mortgage broker posed for a selfie in front of rioters breaching the building. An Indiana hair salon owner celebrated on Facebook a day after she joined the pro-Donald Trump mob. Federal prosecutors did not seek prison time for any of them after they pleaded guilty to petty offenses for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021. The judge had other ideas. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan put them all behind bars, describing it as the appropriate punishment for their participation in the riot that halted the certification of President Joe Biden's victory, sent lawmakers running for their lives and left dozens of police officers beaten and bloodied. As the number of people sentenced for crimes in the insurrection nears 200, an Associated Press analysis of sentencing data shows that some judges are divided over how to punish the rioters, particularly for the low-level misdemeanors arising from the attack. "We're asking judges to do what they think is right, and they don't agree on what's right," said Greg Hunter, a lawyer defending several Jan. 6 defendants. A House committee that held it first public hearing on Thursday cast a wide net in its investigation of the insurrection, examining how President Trump and his allies tried to undermine the election results. So far, the Justice Department's criminal investigation has focused primarily on the hundreds of Trump supporters who broke through police barricades, shattered windows, attacked officers and stormed into the Capitol. Chutkan, a former assistant public defender who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, has consistently taken the hardest line against Jan. 6 defendants of any judge serving on Washington's federal trial court, which is handling the more than 800 cases brought so far in the largest prosecution in Justice Department history. Chutkan has handed out tougher sentences than the department was seeking in seven cases, matched its requests in four others and sent all 11 riot defendants who have come before her behind bars. In the four cases in which prosecutors did not seek jail time, Chutkan gave terms ranging from 14 days to 45 days. Overall, the 20 judges who have sentenced riot defendants have given lighter sentences than prosecutors were seeking in nearly three-fourths of the cases. The judges have exceeded prosecutors' recommendation for about only 10% of the defendants, according to AP's analysis. Most judges appointed by presidents of both political parties have gone easier on defendants than prosecutors wanted in most or all of their cases so far. While some judges have sentenced few Jan. 6 defendants, no other judge besides Chutkan has exceeded prosecutors' recommended punishment in most of the cases assigned to them. "Depending on the judge you get, the same facts could get you anything from probation to months in jail," said Hunter, the defense lawyer. "When you can literally look at who the judge is, who has been assigned to a case, and know that every defendant is going to get more time or less time because of the judge they drew that doesn't promote respect for the law," he added. In one case, two friends from Indiana, Dona Sue Bissey and Anna Morgan-Lloyd, both pleaded guilty to the same misdemeanor offense for engaging in essentially the same conduct inside the Capitol. Prosecutors did not seek jail time for either, noting their lack of a criminal record. Chutkan sentenced Bissey to 14 days in jail. A different judge sentenced Bissey's friend to probation. While Judge Royce Lamberth did not send Morgan-Lloyd to jail, he has also been among the toughest judges on defendants. In one case, Lamberth, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan, gave a Pennsylvania man two months behind bars for a misdemeanor when prosecutors were seeking only two weeks. More than 300 people have pleaded guilty in connection with the insurrection to crimes ranging from misdemeanors to felony seditious conspiracy. Five others have been convicted at trial. A judge decided two other cases without a jury, acquitting one defendant and partially acquitting the other. The Jan. 6 cases pose a unique challenge for judges in that even though the riot was unlike anything the country has seen before, hundreds of people were charged only with misdemeanors such as illegal entry that typically do not land first-time offenders behind bars. Some judges have criticized prosecutors for what they see as disparities in prosecutors' charging decisions across the cases and their recommendations for punishment. Chief Judge Beryl Howell, an Obama nominee, has sharply questioned whether prosecutors are letting some rioters off too easy with misdemeanor plea deals even as they describe the insurrection as an attack on democracy. To be sure, every case and defendant is different. Also, judges must weigh a slew of factors, including the seriousness of the crime, the person's criminal history, whether the defendant admitted guilt and showed remorse and what sentences similarly situated defendants have received in order to avoid unwarranted disparities. In the case of a Maryland man who sprayed a fire extinguisher at officers defending the Capitol, prosecutors sought more than four years in prison. But Judge Randolph Moss sentenced Matthew Ryan Miller to less than three years, noting that the man was just 22 years old on Jan. 6, 2021, was intoxicated when he stormed the Capitol and has shown remorse. Before handing down the punishment, Moss said he believes judges have done a good job at ensuring the punishments are consistent while also weighing the individual factors of each case. "When one looks at these sentencing decisions that have been made by this court across many judges, it's remarkable how consistent sentencing has been," said Moss, an Obama nominee. "When I see differences, I'm able to go back through the record and look at it and understand the basis for those differences." In case after case, Chutkan has expressed her belief that prison can be a powerful deterrent against the threat of another insurrection. "Every day we're hearing about reports of anti-democratic factions of people plotting violence, the potential threat of violence, in 2024," she said before sentencing a Florida man who attacked police officers to more than five years behind bars the longest sentence so far in the attack. "It has to be made clear that trying to violently overthrow the government, trying to stop the peaceful transition of power and assaulting law enforcement officers in that effort is going to be met with absolutely certain punishment," she said. Of the more than 190 defendants sentenced so far, about 20 admitted to felony charges, including nine who assaulted police officers. The rest pleaded guilty to misdemeanors punishable by no more than one year imprisonment. Prosecutors recommended prison terms in more than 70% of the cases. Judges have agreed to prison in about 45% of them, with terms ranging from nine days to more than five years. In one case, prosecutors sought a month in prison for California bartender Kevin Cordon, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. Judge Trevor McFadden, who was nominated by Trump, said jail time was not appropriate given his lack of criminal record. "In my experience as a judge and former prosecutor, it's almost unheard of for someone who is essentially a first-time offender to get jail time for a nonviolent misdemeanor," McFadden said. "I think it's important that I'm consistent in sentencing, not only compared with other judges in Jan. 6 cases but also with an eye to how misdemeanors are handled more generally outside of this politically fraught event." McFadden has condemned the Jan. 6 riot as a "national embarrassment," while also suggesting that the Justice Department was being too hard on those who broke into the Capitol compared with the people arrested during racial injustice protests following George Floyd's 2020 murder. Without naming her colleague, Chutkan slammed McFadden's suggestion days later. "People gathered all over the country last year to protest the violent murder by the police of an unarmed man. Some of those protesters became violent," Chutkan said during an October hearing. "But to compare the actions of people protesting, mostly peacefully, for civil rights, to those of a violent mob seeking to overthrow the lawfully elected government is a false equivalency and ignores a very real danger that the Jan. 6 riot posed to the foundation of our democracy." Kunzelman reported from College Park, Md., and Richer from Boston. (Tribune News Service) Ukrainian surgeon Dr. Oleksandr Stanko calls it "the Minnesota miracle." On a Sunday evening in May, a large box of medical supplies packed by volunteers in a Minneapolis gym arrived at his hospital in Odesa, a medical facility that has been suddenly immersed in the horrors of war. Early the next morning, a 60-year-old Ukrainian soldier arrived at the hospital needing emergency surgery to prevent his left leg from being amputated. Searching the box of donated supplies, Stanko discovered the very surgical tool that he and his fellow doctors needed for a vascular bypass operation to save the man's leg. "It's unbelievable, really," said Stanko, who spoke last week by phone while working the overnight shift at the Odesa hospital. "This is how different people from different parts of the world can save lives and limbs and make victory in this war possible." The successful surgery is but one of dozens of recent cases in which Ukrainians on the front lines have benefited from a volunteer effort more than 5,000 miles away in Minnesota to provide them with humanitarian aid. Through an ever-widening network of personal contacts, Minnesotans are delivering a vast assortment of medical supplies and protective gear tourniquets, intravenous bags, body armor and even military ambulances to southern and eastern Ukraine, where Russian missile strikes have devastated civilian areas and inflicted mass casualties. Over 15 weeks of war, nearly $500,000 worth of supplies have been collected and sorted by volunteers in Minnesota, placed on passenger jets to Poland and transported to cities in Ukraine as far east as Kherson and Mykolaiv. Like the war itself, the scale of the humanitarian aid effort has surpassed the imagination of Minnesota's Ukrainian community. What began as a few people collecting tactical gear in their living rooms has morphed into a sophisticated operation with a small army of volunteers that includes dozens of local Ukrainians, Latvians, Belarussians and Russians. People who spend their days as doctors, nurses, graphic artists and small-business owners have become experts on battlefield medicine, types of body armor and international transport logistics. The aid has gone far beyond care packages. The group plans to fill a 40-foot shipping container with medical supplies and transport it from Minnesota to Lviv, a city in western Ukraine, by the end of June. A core group of the volunteers organized under the group Stand with Ukraine MN has been in regular contact with soldiers and medical personnel near the front lines. Some Ukrainians have sent text messages from battle zones expressing heartfelt gratitude for the supplies. In a recent text, a medic from the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine said tourniquets sent from Minnesota were used on three wounded soldiers during heavy fighting and likely saved their lives. In another message, a soldier said special headphones delivered by the group prevented him from experiencing permanent hearing loss from a battlefield explosion. "It's like an expanding spider web of people connected to do good," said Sasha Sakurets, a volunteer and nurse at M Health Fairview Masonic Children's Hospital. "The most rewarding part is knowing that these supplies are going directly to the people who need it most." The relief effort has evolved to meet the rapidly changing situation on the ground. Tactical medical gear such as high-quality tourniquets, sutures and hemostatic gauzes to stop catastrophic bleeding are in high demand because of Russia's relentless airstrikes. An investigative report issued by human rights experts in May concluded that Russia's indiscriminate bombardment of residential areas and deliberate attacks on humanitarian corridors, among other atrocities, establish a "genocidal pattern" and "intent to destroy" Ukrainians. As of Tuesday, the United Nations has confirmed 4,266 civilian deaths and 5,178 injuries in Ukraine since Russia's onslaught began on Feb. 24. Nearly 7 million Ukrainians have fled the country the largest exodus of refugees in Europe since World War II. Much of the donated equipment is packed into suitcases and duffel bags and brought on passenger flights to the Polish cities of Warsaw and Krakow. From there, volunteers rely on personal contacts to drive the supplies across the Ukraine border. One volunteer, Roman Kovbasnyk, recently completed a whirlwind trip to Europe in which he delivered 14 suitcases of tactical gear. Then he arranged to have a military-style ambulance, capable of driving off-road on rescue missions, sent from Germany to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. "The feeling we share is, this equipment has to be in Ukraine right now because every day that it sits here is a missed opportunity a day that it's not saving people," said Kovbasnyk, who runs a small trucking logistics business out of his home in Mankato. The effort to collect and distribute lifesaving equipment is also therapeutic. Many in Minnesota's tight-knit Ukrainian community said they have felt traumatized by the daily barrage of horrific images emerging from the war, including bodies strewn in streets, wounded pregnant women and children with amputated limbs. Distributing supplies, several volunteers said, has helped take their minds off the war and alleviate guilt that they are not doing enough to help their compatriots. "Sometimes it feels like I'm watching my own children being attacked, and I can't do anything to stop it," said Yosyf Sabir, a father of two and graphic artist who is an activist in the Twin Cities' Ukrainian community. "The only way to feel empowered to feel human is to step up and act." On a recent evening, the gym at the Ukrainian American Community Center in northeast Minneapolis was buzzing with activity. Four pallets of donated medical supplies had just arrived from a Twin Cities-area hospital. The volunteers, mostly women, were carefully arranging items on separate tables by medical categories such as "wound care" and "vascular access." The mood was buoyant, and there were occasional shouts of joy when volunteers discovered a surgical tool they knew was needed in Ukrainian hospitals. Notecards with inspirational messages "Glory to Ukraine!" and "Minnesota is with you!" were tucked inside each box and suitcase bound for Ukraine. Dr. Tanya Melnik, a leader of the volunteer effort, is an internal medicine doctor at the University of Minnesota who cares for women with complicated pregnancies. But lately, she has become a quick student of tactical medicine and wound care. "I have to investigate things like chest seals and tourniquets to make sure they actually will do the job," Melnik said. "You need to do the research, because it will save lives." On a rare quiet night in Odesa, Stanko took a break from caring for patients to reflect on the grinding war and its daily atrocities. He likened the missile strikes to focused tornadoes in which flying debris can kill or maim civilians more than 100 yards from the epicenter. Hospitals in larger cities such as Odesa are seeing a surge of patients in part because facilities in smaller cities have been badly shelled or destroyed. "It's absolute madness," Stanko said. "You can never be ready for such a thing as war, especially when it's your neighbor attacking you." -------- 2022 StarTribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. On Friday, America will mark the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in. The scandal that riveted the nation and forced the resignation of a president is taught in schools as a dark chapter in history. It is more than that, however. Its legacies have shaped the conduct of politics and public attitudes toward government ever since. Watergate, along with the Vietnam War, marked a dividing line between old and new, ushering in a changed landscape for politics and public life from a period in which Americans trusted their government to a period in which that trust was broken and never truly restored. Its a hugely important historic moment, said Julian Zelizer, a historian and professor at Princeton University. And we entered a new era when it was over. Though not a straight line by any means, the links between former president Richard Nixon and former president Donald Trump also are clearly identifiable, from their ruthlessness to the win-at-any-cost calculus of their politics. That their presidencies played out differently Nixon resigned amid impeachment proceedings; Trump served his entire term and may seek another despite twice being impeached but not convicted is testament to a more deeply polarized electorate, the erosion in the strength of democratic institutions and the transformation and radicalization of the Republican Party. The aftermath of the Watergate scandal opened up the operations of Congress but also contributed to making the legislative body less manageable. The scandal helped change the way reporters and government officials interacted with one another. A more adversarial relationship has existed ever since. The era spawned reforms that worked and some that did not, from campaign finance to intelligence. Politically, both major parties were affected. A seemingly broken Republican Party reconstituted itself with a more anti-government ideology. Democrats, led by the big class of 1974, slowly began a transformation away from the lunch-pail coalition of white working-class voters and toward a more diverse coalition that now includes highly educated coastal elites. Not everything that has happened since Watergate is directly attributable to the scandal itself. Some changes in society and politics were already beginning to be felt before burglars were arrested early on the morning of June 17, 1972, after breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate building. But subsequent investigations; the indictments and convictions of Nixon administration officials; the impeachment articles passed in the House Judiciary Committee; and Nixons resignation combined into an event that shattered the confidence and idealism of previous decades. Garrett M. Graff, author of the book Watergate: A New History, describes Watergate as a dividing line in history the event that moved Washington from a sleepy capital dominated by segregationists, veterans of World War I and print newspaper deadlines to a capital ruled by a new breed of politicians, a more adversarial media now in the digital age and a country deeply skeptical of government and politicians. The Vietnam War, the Pentagon Papers and Watergate ... fundamentally rewrote the relationship between the American people and their government, Graff said, and caused a collapse in the publics faith in those institutions that our nations leaders are still struggling with today. As William Galston of the Brookings Institution put it, We have been living for nearly half a century in the world that Watergate made. The shattering of trust in government The Pew Research Center has a graphic on its website that charts the decline of trust between citizens and government. It is a vivid illustration of the world that Watergate helped to make. The graphic begins in 1958, near the end of the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower, when 73% of Americans majorities of both Democrats and Republicans said they trusted the government to do what is right just about always or most of the time. In the fall of 1964, despite the assassination of President John Kennedy a year earlier, which some people see as the moment when the idealism of the period was broken, trust peaks at 77%. By 1968 and the end of the presidency of Lyndon Johnson, with Americans violently divided over Vietnam and shaken by the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the line on the chart heads downward but still with a majority expressing trust. From there, it begins to fall further. By late 1974, after Nixon left office, just 36% of Americans say they trust their government. The trust has never really rebounded to the pre-Watergate levels, said Joycelyn Kiley, Pews associate director of research. The decline in trust affected virtually every institution over time. One way of thinking about it is that Americans ceased to trust the men in suits whether those men in suits were lawyers, university professors, the press and especially, especially, the government, said Bruce Schulman, a professor of history at Boston University. Kiley said more than just the Watergate scandal has caused all this. But her point about the lack of a rebound was underscored by Pews latest measurement, released last week, which found that today, just 20% of Americans say they trust their government to do the right thing all or most of the time. At the same time, Americans see a continued role for government and say that government is not doing enough for several groups of people. One irony of the decline at the time of Watergate is that democracy had worked, from the actions of government institutions to the publics response. Its really important to understand that the process that took down Nixon was driven by an extraordinary level of civic engagement, said Rick Perlstein, a historian who has written multiple volumes about the history of the 1960s and 1970s. The response was not this kind of nihilistic response we would see now. But while the institutions worked, the revelations about the vastness of the Watergate conspiracy painted an ugly portrait of the use and abuse of power during Nixons presidency. The courts, the Senate, the Congress, the House Judiciary Committee, the press. Everything worked the way its supposed to. But people ended up with a very bad taste in their mouth, said Jim Blanchard, who was elected to the House in 1974 as a Democrat from Michigan and later served as governor. Coupled with the governmental lying about Vietnam, exposed most vividly with the publication of the Pentagon Papers first by the New York Times and later by The Washington Post, government was under attack from the left and the right, though for different reasons. Its amazing how fast we shifted from the post-World War II trust mode, which lasted for about 20 years, into the post-Vietnam, post-Watergate mistrust mode, Galston said. Once we lost that trust, we never regained it. The Watergate babies come to Washington Three months after Nixon resigned and two months after he was pardoned by President Gerald Ford, the 1974 midterm elections dealt a seemingly devastating blow to the Republican Party. The election produced a huge new class of lawmakers, more than 90 in all, including 76 Democrats in the House who became known as the Watergate babies. These Democrats were diverse in their ideologies some moderates and conservatives but many liberals. They shared a passion for reform. The collective sense was that it was time to change the seniority system, said Tom Downey, who was elected to the House as a Democrat from New York at age 25. We wanted this to be a more accountable institution. Leon Panetta, who had come to Capitol Hill in 1966 as a staffer and was elected as a Democrat to the House in 1976 representing California, said, You really had a sense that you had been empowered by the American people to straighten out Washington and to implement reforms and to really do things different in a way that would hopefully restore trust. There were so many new members that the old guys couldnt come and encircle them and try to convince them that they should be quiet for the first 10 years and stay out the way, said former congresswoman Pat Schroeder, a Democrat from Colorado who was elected in 1972. The new class helped oust three powerful committee chairmen, something unheard of at the time. Other reforms redistributed power in the House. We had opportunities that no new members had historically to speak, to negotiate, to assert our power, said Phil Sharp, elected to the House as a Democrat from Indiana in 1974. He added, It really meant we had more influence in the subcommittee, we had more influence on the House floor, we had more influence in the conference committees. The result was a more open and transparent House but also a more cumbersome legislative body. Today, every member of Congress is an independent actor with access to the media and many to big money and, if motivated to do so, the ability to frustrate leadership. That is an offshoot of what started in the 1970s. I believe that over time, it reduced the ability to get to a decision, which I would argue is one of the compelling issues in government today, Sharp said. Ultimately, democracy must prove not that its open, it has to prove that ... it can actually make a decision on something of significance. For a legislator and particularly for a leader, your goal is to pass legislation, said John A. Lawrence, author of the book, The Class of 74: Congress After Watergate and the Roots of Partisanship and a former chief of staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. And it becomes harder when you honor transparency over effectiveness. Then-House Speaker Thomas Tip ONeill Jr., D-Mass., among others, had worried about too much openness, especially the decision that would allow C-SPAN to begin to televise House floor proceedings in 1979. They understood that the more public the system was, the less power the old order would have, said former speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. Elected in 1978, Gingrich said he found the institution astonishingly open to newcomers on a mission, like himself. He used the levers available in a more open institution from television in the House to new ethics rules to chart a rise to power that in 1994 would drive Democrats from control in the House for the first time in 40 years. The explosion of reform The post-Watergate years of the 1970s saw a flurry of new laws designed to address issues raised by the scandal. In 1974, Congress amended campaign finance laws after revelations about the abuses of money by Nixons reelection committee thousands of dollars stuffed in safes and used for hush money, and illegal contributions solicited from major corporations. The new law put caps on how much people could contribute to candidates and how much federal candidates could spend, created partial public financing through matching funds in presidential campaigns and established the Federal Election Commission. Over time, the reforms were weakened both by Supreme Court rulings and by workarounds campaign lawyers devised. A major change came in 2010, when the high court gave corporations and other outside groups the authority to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence campaigns. The Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision resulted in a proliferation of so-called super PACs and independent committees and the use of dark money (funds in which donors are not disclosed), leading advocates to say that a decades-long effort to reform campaign finance had failed. Watergate set off fresh discussion about the balance of power between Congress and the executive branch amid concerns about an imperial presidency. This led to new laws designed to whittle away at the powers of the president. In 1974, Congress approved the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, which established a new process for federal budgeting by lawmakers, created the Congressional Budget Office and sought to limit the power of the president to override decisions made by lawmakers on how to spend the governments money. The 1973 War Powers Resolution, a response to Vietnam, was designed to prevent future presidents from engaging in military conflicts without having consulted Congress in advance. But these, too, have proved ineffective. Presidents have routinely ignored these requirements, and a compliant Congress has offered minimal resistance. Too often, Congress was willing to basically allow presidents to do what they have to do in order to deal with the challenges that are out there, Panetta said. The 1978 Ethics in Government Act set new financial disclosure requirements for public officials and put restrictions on lobbying by former officials. The acts Title VI created the system for the appointment of special prosecutors by the attorney general to investigate allegations against executive branch officials. More broadly, the combination of the ethics legislation, calls for more rigorous congressional oversight and the work of independent counsels has carried forward to the present day. Watergate had inaugurated an era of politics by other means, where political opponents attempted, instead of defeating one anothers arguments, or winning elections, to oust each other from office by way of ethics investigations, historian Jill Lepore wrote in These Truths. Between 1970 and 1994, according to Lepore, federal indictments of public officials went from virtually zero to more than thirteen hundred. The effect of all this also eroded the publics faith in the institutions to which those politicians belonged. Of all the efforts to clean up after Vietnam and Watergate, reforms of U.S. intelligence agencies have been generally the most successful and long-lasting. The reforms grew in part out of hearings by a select Senate committee headed by then-Sen. Frank Church, D-Idaho, which investigated questionable and illegal covert actions aimed at foreign leaders and U.S. citizens by the CIA, the FBI and the National Security Agency. Then-Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., was a member of the committee and remembers vividly the day when CIA Director William Colby came to testify and delivered to the committee what were known as the family jewels, a compendium of egregious actions by the agency, including attempts to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Out of the committees findings, Congress established congressional oversight committees with prescribed rules for consultation for any covert activities and requirements for presidents to sign official findings to authorize covert activities. We saved the CIA, Hart recalled. If nothing had been done to rehabilitate the agency, it would have very seriously undercut their credibility. John McLaughlin, a former CIA deputy director and for a brief time acting director, was a recruit in training during this period in the 1970s and described these changes as appropriately intrusive. Im a big supporter of oversight, he said, because without it, you cannot count on the trust of the American people for an institution that has great power and is asked to do difficult things by the president. Even at that, it doesnt assure that trust or that confidence, but its the closest thing we have. Kathryn Olmsted, a professor of history at the University of California at Davis and author of the 1996 book Challenging the Secret Government: The Post-Watergate Investigations of the CIA and FBI, said that the reforms fell short of what Senator Church wanted. Church thought exposing all these abuses would restore Americans faith in government, she added. Instead, the committees revelations gave rise to more anti-government conspiracy theories. The impact on the political parties Watergate left the Republican Party decimated, or so it seemed. The conventional wisdom was, oh, the Republicans are done for a generation, said Beverly Gage, a professor of history at Yale University. Thats not what happened. But it is more true if you said its the Nixon wing of the Republican Party [that is dead]. Watergate was much more devastating to that part of the Republican Party. A Republican Party personified by politicians like Ford, Nelson Rockefeller and George Romney was taken over by a new, Southern and Sun Belt-based conservative movement that viewed government with considerably more hostility. In 1964, this brand of conservatism, led by Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona, went down in defeat to Johnson. By 1980, with the election of Ronald Reagan, the era of New Deal liberalism had been blunted by a conservatism that would hold sway in the party and the country for decades. Schulman, who wrote The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society and Politics, said that, while it is an oversimplification to say that Reagans election was a response to Watergate, the reaction to the scandal nonetheless provided fertile ground for the conservative, anti-government ideology Reagan championed. You have to remember that for most of the post-World War II period, liberalism, for better and worse, had really been the reigning public philosophy in the United States, Schulman said. One of the ways that Watergate is very important is in the transformation of the Republican Party into a conservative party. ... And after 1980, it was, by all effects, really a conservative party. Zelizer noted, When Reagan in 1980 is lashing out against government, I just think theres more support at some level for the kind of arguments hes making, because people have a Richard M. Nixon, even though he is a Republican, they have a Richard M. Nixon in their mind. Reagan was one of Nixons staunchest defenders. He described the hearings before the Senate Watergate committee chaired by Sen. Sam Ervin, D-N.C., in the summer of 1973 as a lynching and praised the president so consistently that, according to Perlstein, the columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak reported that some Reagan advisers worried that his support for Nixon had the potential to hurt him politically. They say [in the column] the people who want to make Ronald Reagan president are terrified that he wont let go of his support for Richard M. Nixon and this is going to destroy his career, Perlstein said. And of course, the irony is, and this is kind of my argument, that it didnt destroy his career. It was the foundation for his political rise. Meanwhile, the Democrats were to undergo their own transformation, thanks in part to the infusion of new members of Congress beginning with the 1974 election. They tended to be more educated, more professional than previous tranches of Democrats, less connected to the working class, more interested in issues that werent within the four corners of meat and potatoes, Galston said. As Perlstein said, Its not the beer-and-a-shot, lunch-pail Democratic Party anymore. No one more typified the new breed than Hart, who was elected to the Senate after managing George McGoverns 1972 president campaign that ended in a landslide loss to Nixon. I was so angry at Watergate and the fact that it had not had the impact on the 72 campaign that it should have had and eventually did have, Hart said in explaining why he ran in 1974. Hart helped lead the party in new directions, and his eventual challenge to and near-victory over former vice president Walter Mondale in the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination contest pitted the old Democratic Party, tied to powerful labor unions, against a newer Democratic Party more oriented to rising forces of technology and to issues such as the environment and globalization. The debate over what kind of party the Democrats should be, which was aired out that year, continues to echo today, as the Democrats wrestle with the demands of a more vigorous liberal wing and the desire to win back some of the White working-class voters who defected to the Republicans starting in the Reagan years. The adversarial press Watergate didnt just change politics; it also changed journalism. Watergate made journalism glamorous. Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein became celebrities. Investigative journalism expanded into all corners of the news media. In the same way that the public was losing trust in institutions, journalists were losing trust in government officials. After the lies about progress in Vietnam and the lies from the Nixon White House, reporters brought a more skeptical eye to the statements of government officials. Gone were the cozy days when a reporter could play poker in the Oval Office with a president or when the private lives of politicians were considered off limits to reporting (as reporters did in turning a blind eye to John Kennedys philandering) unless it affected public responsibilities. A lot of journalism prior to that time was very deferential to political leaders, Lawrence said. You didnt say certain things, and that wasnt so good either. But I think a lot of younger people learned that the way you get ahead, just like members [of Congress] learned through oversight, that the way you get your name in the papers is by making a splash and by making accusations of wrongdoing or corruption. That culture ... became very, very powerful. Critics of the press believe that this has helped to color and coarsen political discourse ever since, that the DNA of journalism became strictly adversarial and that, despite the societal value of accountability reporting, it has had deleterious side effects on politics and governance. Everyone wanted to kind of have a pelt on the wall, Perlstein said. Every reporter wanted their own kind of scandal. And one of the consequences was a tendency to elevate peccadilloes to the status of scandals. The counter to this is that, by holding government officials accountable, vigorous and intrusive journalism leads to more effective and responsive government. Without the probing eye of journalists, corruption and malfeasance would be even greater than it otherwise would be. The decline of local newspapers, caused by the technological disruptions of the past few decades, has provided real-time examples of the absence of accountability journalism in cities and state capitals. Leonard Downie Jr., who edited many of the Watergate stories at The Post in the 1970s and later succeeded Ben Bradlee as executive editor, acknowledged that as investigative reporting spread throughout the industry, some corners were cut by some investigative reporters. Not everybody could bring down a president, he said. Not everybody could get somebody to resign or go to prison. That, he said, does not outweigh the fact that investigative journalism is now one of the most important roles of the American news media. Holding power all forms of power accountable to American citizens is a good thing. And I just dont worry about this adversarial aspect. I think thats fine. I do not see a downside. The rise of polarization Scholars and politicians debate when the extreme partisanship and polarization that defines todays political climate really took root. Though there was partisanship around the Watergate investigation, in the end, the conclusions were bipartisan, with a handful of Republicans joining Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee to vote for articles of impeachment and Republican elders going to the White House in the final days to tell Nixon it was time to go. The 1976 presidential race between Ford and Jimmy Carter featured two relatively moderate politicians. In Congress, with the parties far less homogenized than today, Democrats and Republicans did work together on issues. By todays standards, it was a far more genteel era. Many analysts point to the Republican victories in 1994 and the elevation of Gingrich to the speakership as the moment when the current era of polarization and partisanship took hold. Others say the partisanship was building during the 1980s, with Gingrich and GOP backbenchers using different tactics to attack the entrenched Democrats, even as Reagan and ONeill enjoyed a cordial relationship despite their ideological differences. Lawrence, the historian of the class of 1974, believes the reforms those freshman members of Congress helped to force through the legislative branch were responsible. Some of these reforms actually facilitated a rise in partisanship, he said, because they enabled people who otherwise might have been blocked from playing a more political or more public role in the more traditional management of the House they gave them platforms to do so. Nixon also shares in the blame. Though on domestic issues he was, by todays standards, relatively liberal, his campaign style in 1968 and 1972 was divisive and polarizing, using race, law and order, and cultural wedge issues to create cleavages in the electorate. Gingrich believes the polarization was building even before Watergate and points to Reagan as evidence, describing Reagan, for all his geniality, as a polarizing politician. Speaking of Reagans emergence as a national figure in the 1960s, he said, You had a polarization that was beginning to grow, and Reagan understood and knew how to deal with it pleasantly. But he was clearly a polarizer. Gage noted that even before Watergate, there were many people who were arguing that the country would be better off with more tightly organized political parties that would provide clearer ideological choices for the voters. Thats where weve ended up half a century after Watergate, she said. And its turning out to be a real problem. The road from Watergate to Donald Trump Those who have studied Watergate see a line that travels from that scandal to the Trump presidency. Part of this is because of the similarities between Nixon and Trump the self-pitying nature of their personalities, the venality exhibited during their presidencies, the demonization of their opponents. Nixon sought to undermine the Constitution to assure that he would win the 1972 election and then covered it up, for which he paid the price of forced resignation. Trump sought to undermine the Constitution to overturn an election he had lost in 2020. He didnt cover up his efforts, though exactly what was going on still hasnt been told in full. Instead, he attempted to build his case on a foundation of lies. But the parallels are limited in part because the two presidents governed in two different eras. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., was a law student and legislative staffer to a Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee during Watergate. Today she is a member of the Jan. 6 House panel that is investigating not just the attack on the Capitol but the broader effort to subvert the 2020 vote. We are in a political environment that is more sharply partisan than was the case during the Watergate era, she said. And youve also got people who lie with impunity and feel that theres no downside to it. I mean, when Nixon was caught in lies, he resigned. There was a moment early in the work of the Ervin committee, cited in Graffs history of the scandal, when White House lawyers were warning that any officials called to testify would decline to answer the panels questions. The response from one committee attorney was to say that anyone who did that in a public forum would be ruined. Trumps White House routinely refused to cooperate with congressional investigations and did so without being held to account and with the support of Republican lawmakers. Graff highlighted the consequences of the differences between the Watergate period and today. You see, over the course of the two years that Watergate takes to play out, the delicate ballet and dance of how our system of checks and balances works, he said. Watergate requires every institution in Washington to play a specific role and to do it successfully. In the Trump years, that system of checks and balances broke down. The media played their role, Graff said. The Justice Department, you know, arguably played their role. The FBI arguably played their role. But then when it came to Capitol Hill, the House and the Senate fell short. Looking back at Watergate, the members of Congress in the House and the Senate on the Republican side acted first as members of the coequal legislative branch. ... What we saw in the Trump years was the opposite, which is Republicans on the Hill acted first as Republicans and second as members of Congress. Trumps presidency can be seen as the culmination of what began with Watergate. Today is a time of heightened distrust in government, weakened institutions, a more polarized electorate, greater partisanship, a fractured and more politicized media, and a Republican Party with a stronger anti-government ideology and more ruthless in its approach. Trump seized on all of this, and more, to become president, to exercise his powers in office and to try to stay in office after he had lost to Joe Biden. I think its pretty clear that he exposed as president some of the real weaknesses and dysfunction of all these institutions, Zelizer said, from Congress to the media to other elements of administrative and executive power. And I think its true that theyre just not working as well right now as they had when this whole story started. As demolition preparation work begins on the long-empty supermarket building in Kopeopeo, Kainga Ora has announced that plans for the site have changed drastically. In 2020, Tauranga-based development company Quintex Properties had plans drawn up and resource consent given for 42 three-bedroom residential units to be built on the 0.6 hectare site on the corner of King and Stewart streets. The site was then owned by Alan Unsworth and the apartments were marketed as 42 on King, however, Quintex Properties pulled out of the project last year due to rising building costs making it unviable. Unsworth sold the site to New Zealand housing agency, Kainga Ora in November last year. At the time, the agencys Bay of Plenty regional director Darren Toy said Kainga Ora would review the existing plans for the site to assess other potential options. He told the Beacon in a written statement this week that it's considering a complex with up to 60 apartments and commercial spaces. Were exploring a mix of around 50 to 60 apartments and houses, with the potential for offices or commercial space on the ground floor of the proposed apartment building, says Toy. Once we have initial design plans, we will share these in the coming months with neighbours and the wider community for feedback, ahead of lodging resource consent with Whakatane District Council. Meanwhile, contractors from Central Demolition are on site at the old supermarket building carrying out preparation work before demolition can begin. A blessing of the site by Ngati Awa was held earlier this week, ahead of fencing installation around the building. The preparation work is expected to take around four months. As an accredited asbestos removal company Central Demolition will also be removing low-risk asbestos, which is usual for buildings of this age. Subject to consents, we expect work to start on site early next year, and are working to completion in 2025, says Toy. He says the agency also had plans to redevelop three other sites it owned in Whakatane to provide 10 new warm, dry homes and are currently seeking feedback from the communities on these. Two new houses, one with four bedrooms and one five bedrooms are planned for 21 Tuhoe Avenue. Three new houses, two with two bedrooms and one with four bedrooms are planned for 142-144 King Street and the existing duplex on the site are being relocated to the rear of the section. Five new houses, three with one or two bedrooms and two with four bedrooms are being planned at 37-39 Domain Road. -Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air. I woke up in the middle of the night as someone was pulling my blankets off me. A strange man was in my bedroom, standing over my bed. I screamed with the loudest noise Ive ever made. I was petrified. Tauranga resident Jem Nikora is still shaken as she recounts her horrific experience of a home invasion, when a man entered her Brookfield home when she and her two young children, aged 11, and 4 were asleep. When I screamed, he crouched by my bed as though he was trying to hide, then ran out of the bedroom slamming the door behind him. I got up and ran after him, but he ran out of the back door, the same way he had come in. I called 111 and police arrived with dogs, but they didnt catch him. A man in a balaclava was spotted on CCTV in the same street but he hasnt been caught. Its terrifying to think he is still around and could do it again to someone else. Nikora is one of several Bay of Plenty residents who have been victims in a spate of home invasion burglaries plaguing the city. She is speaking out following a neighbourhood meeting about the crisis which was organised by worried residents and attended by hundreds of people at the weekend. Many people shared stories at the Bethlehem neighbourhood meeting about home invasions. Photo: Supplied. Nikora is sharing her story so that others are aware of the potential danger. I never imagined anything like this could happen as I thought my neighbourhood was very safe. I just want to let people know to be aware, as I dont want it to happen to them. It affected my mental health really badly I couldnt sleep for ages and became obsessive about checking doors and locks. My kids were too scared to sleep at home for days afterwards. Nikora has installed security lights and cameras and has a new rescue dog to protect the family. The best thing I did was to reach out to other neighbours as their support really helped me plus knowing each other makes us all safer. Locals are concerned at increasing reports of home invasions in Tauranga. Photo: SunLive. Another woman who attended the meeting, an 83-year-old woman who lives in the Avenues, told Stuff how a burglar had also entered her bedroom in the middle of the night while she was asleep, and stole her handbags, wallet and her mobile phone which was in her bedside table. To get the phone he must have been inches from my head on the pillow. I didnt wake up. I wear a hearing aid in the day but not when Im asleep. The thief started using her card, spending $800 before the womans bank became suspicious due to the time and blocked it. It was a paywave card, so they went to all different places and managed to get $800, but thankfully the bank are giving this back to me. The woman did not discover the theft until the morning when she was going out to the library and noticed her handbags and phone missing, as well as some of her drawers left open. It was cold in the house and when I opened the laundry door I saw they had got in through the garage. They had even been rummaging around in my car, probably looking for the start key, when it was in one of those handbags they had taken. Not very smart. The woman, who did not want to give her name because she still felt unsafe, joined other concerned neighbours at the meeting. Bethlehem resident Erika Harvey organised the residents meeting following an outbreak of home invasions in the area where she lived, where thieves had entered houses in the night, one even raiding the kitchen pantry and fridge even the chocolate biscuits. Harvey said it became obvious at the meeting that it was happening more than people realised. Local residents Erika Harvey and Lisa Zawitkoski at the neighbourhood meeting about home invasions. Photo: Supplied. Harvey herself had been a victim of an invasion when a man entered her house when she was in a towel, about to have a shower, and pretended he was a maintenance man who was going to fix the shower. Harveys friend Lisa Zawitkoski said she woke up one morning to find her car doors open, and another neighbour had had her purse stolen the same night. Another Bethlehem resident, Candice, was up in the middle of the night watching Stranger Things on Netflix when she noticed a torchlight, and realised someone was walking around her house. She woke up her husband who chased the invader, but he escaped. The meeting was attended by Western Bay MP Todd Muller, national candidate for Tauranga, Sam Uffindell, as well as representatives from Tauranga Community patrol, Neighbour Watch, and Western Bay council. Uffindell said he was deeply concerned about the rise in home invasions and said that he had met people who had been victims who were very worried about the situation. Im deeply concerned by what I heard and how worried local residents are. People Ive spoken to say they dont think our police have the right backing to do the job they need to do and criminals feel like they can get away with anything. Uffindell says that if elected, one of his key priorities is to ensure police have the resources needed to crack down on crime in the city. National Party candidate in the upcoming Tauranga by-election, Sam Uffindell, says residents are concerned about an increase in crime in the city. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford/SunLive. A representative from Tauranga Community Patrol says the house burglaries are not just isolated to Bethlehem but were a fact of life at present. Occurrences are happening at any time of the day, and often while people are at home, Some encounter the intruder and some do not realise they have been victims until they discover something missing or things out of place. He warns people that thieves are bold and often have a story which can sound convincing to explain their presence. Please folks keep doors locked, garage doors down, keys out of your cars and locked, even while in your driveway, and you are tucked away inside. He urges people to get to know neighbours, keep a contact list of immediate neighbours, and share information if you see or hear anything out of the norm. A police spokesperson says people need to be alert, but not alarmed, and any suspicious behaviour should be reported to police. Every incident that is reported contributes to a much bigger picture for police. It gives an idea of patterns of offending that are emerging in the community and helps police hold offenders to account by finding linkages across different, but potentially related, incidents. Annemarie Quill/Stuff Current Print Subscribers will be prompted to either login to their current site user account or to create a new one. A confirmation email will be sent when a new user account is created, which must be confirmed within three days in order to provide uninterrupted online access through your Print Subscription. Once the email address is confirmed please provide your Account Number to activate your Print Subscription Service. I never imagined when watching the first episode of Key&Peele that America's next great horror director was sitting under my nose. During the first season of Jordan Peele's sketch show, I was a weekly viewer and thought the scope of his brilliance pertained solely to comedy. After the final curtain closed on the series, I figured that a movie career wasn't too far off, but I slotted Peele strickly as a performer, not an auteur. And then I saw Get Out. Peele's creative sensibilities have always touched on race, but since becoming a film director, he's provided a new wrinkle on an old conversation. Get Out didn't just feel like a Black story; it felt like my story. Now, was that because I brought a white girl as a date to see the flick? That's a possibility, but I think the film resonated with me because of Peele's ability to highlight the nuance of race in America. Clearly, the cogs in his mind never stop turning. In the video linked above, you can get a glimpse of the creativity housed in Peele's mind thanks to a behind-the-scenes look at his new movie Nope. Thanks to social media, one can make a fortune through shameless publicity stunts and infamy. In any other era, Danielle" Bhad Bhabie" Bregoli couldn't have built a multi-million dollar empire by threatening to beat her mother on live television. Novelty fame/infamy isn't as fleeting as it used to be. Prior to the internet, becoming famous overnight was already a rarity, but sustaining the bump in relevance was even harder. Rober Opel, the infamous streaker from the 1974 Oscars, is a perfect example of how the fame wick used to burn out almost as quickly as it was lit. While introducing Elizabeth Taylor at the 1974 Oscars, David Niven was interrupted by a shaggy-haired man, Robert Opel, who bolted across the stage in his birthday suit. Considering how dry the Oscars usually are, the incident was the night's highlight and formerly served as one of the most unpredictable moments in the award show's illustrious history. After the exposure, Opel tripped into a lucrative bit of infamy. Becoming a streaker for hire, Opel crashed Hollywood events and performed some stand-up comedy. Eventually, his "star" crashed back to earth. Opel, a bisexual man, owned an art gallery in San Fransisco that catered to a homosexual clientele. During what should've been a routine evening at his store, Opel was shot dead by two thieves after a botched robbery. Although Opel kept performing after his Oscars infamy including presidential run in 1976to the world at large, he vanished from the limelight until the news of his death. However, assigning Opel such a reductive label as "Oscar streaker" would be a disservice to his memory. Opel was a writer and vocal supporter of gay rights. Fey-Wey studios also played an essential role in LGBTQIA+ history, as it was San Fransisco's first gay art gallery. Since Opel's death, people have reevaluated his legacy beyond the streaking incident. In recent years, Opel's Fey-Wey studios even saw a resurrection thanks to fans of his work. The Taos News delivered to your Taos County address every week for a full year! We offer our lowest mail rates to zip codes in the county. Click Here to See if you Qualify. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime. Why it matters: Earlier this week, researchers from Blackberry and Intezer released information on a hard-to-detect Linux malware targeting Latin American financial institutions. Known as Symbiote, the threat provides unauthorized users with the ability to harvest credentials or assume remote access to the target machine. Once infected, all malware is hidden and rendered undetectable. Intezer's Joakim Kennedy and the Blackberry Research and Intelligence Team discovered that the threat presents as a shared object library (SO) rather than a typical executable file that users must run to infect a host. Once infected, the SO is loaded into currently running processes on the target machine. The infected computers provide threat actors with the ability to harvest credentials, leverage remote access capabilities, and execute commands with otherwise unauthorized elevated privileges. The malware is loaded before any other shared objects via the LD_PRELOAD directive, allowing it to avoid detection. Being loaded first also allows the malware to leverage other loaded library files. In addition to the actions described above, Symbiote can hide the infected machine's network activity by creating specific temp files, hijacking infected packet filtering bytecode, or filtering UDP traffic using specific package capture functions. The Blackberry and Intezer blogs provide in-depth explanations of each method if you're into the technical details. The team first detected the threat in Latin American-based financial institutions in 2021. Since then, the team has determined that the malware shares no code with any other known malware, classifying it as a completely new malware threat to Linux operating systems. While the new threat is designed to be hard to find, admins can use network telemetry to detect anomalous DNS requests. Security analysts and system administrators can also use statically linked antivirus (AV) and endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools to ensure userland level rootkits do not infect target machines. The European Space Agency announced that its Gaia mission would reveal new data on Monday, June 13. The upcoming data release will contain information about two billion of the brightest objects in space and galaxies outside the Milky Way. Where to Watch Gaia Mission's Livestream According to Space.com, the European Space Agency will hold a media briefing on June 13 at 4:00 A.M Eastern Standard Time, and it will be broadcast on ESA Web TV. The release will supercharge the mapping of the Milky Way galaxy, allowing astronomers to see the most distinguished and finest details of the farthest fringes of the universe. Launched in 2013, the European Space Agency developed the Gaia mission to help them create the most accurate 3D map of the galaxy. Since then, Gaia has had several releases, leading to leaps in the understanding of the Milky Way. Also Read: ESA Marks First Aniversary Of Gaia Satellite Survey Mission Because of this mission, astronomers learned about the exact positions of thousands of stars, their exact distances from Earth, and the total speed at which they travel. The upcoming release is Gaia's third data dump, the other two being in 2016 and 2018, respectively. According to Universe Today, the new data will include information that has not been released before, such as the ages, chemical compositions, and masses of stars. Aside from that, Gaia also studied the Andromeda Galaxy, the largest galactic neighbor of the Milky Way. It also conducted a sky survey of the bright objects at the center of some galaxies. Looking for the Milky Way's Spiral Structure Although the Gaia mission has mapped around two billion stars, that is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, according to the European Space Agency, it is only 1% of the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. One of the things that astronomers want to learn more about is the Milky Way's spiral structure. The astronomers agree that it has four spiral arms, but they wish to study the points of contention around those arms. Astronomers still debate about the size and prominence of each arm, as well as their position in the Milky Way's disk. The upcoming data release may help reveal the spiral structure. Other Milky Way Questions That Gaia's Data May Answer Aside from the spiral structure of the Milky Way, the Gaia is set to study where the stars come from. Using astrophysical parameters derived from the light spectra of the stars, the chemical composition, age, mass, temperature and brightness of each start will be revealed. Gaia is also expected to use radio astronomy as an observation technique to answer the question about the distribution of dark matter in the galaxy. Also, using galactic archaeology, astronomers can use Gaia's measurements to help them reconstruct the trajectories of millions of stars, and they can learn about events that happened billions of years ago. These events involve cataclysmic collisions with other galaxies, the effects of which can be observed in the galaxy to this day. One example is the collision of Gaia Enceladus, which happened 11 billion years ago. Related Article: ESA's Gaia Spacecraft Accidentally Discovers 3 Asteroids While Gazing At Stars This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Sophie Webster 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Whenever I watch documentaries, there's one thought that I can't shake: "how are these people filming this?" Moving toward the action is a required impulse for documentarians. No matter how horrifically violent or emotionally scarring the event they're capturing is, documentary teams constantly aim to capture moments in progress. I don't know about you, but I find that level of detachment slightly unnerving. However, without that impulse existing inside documentarians and photographers, the world would be deprived of tremendous resources and images. With the advent of smartphone cameras, it seems like the impulse to record horrific events has grown substantially. One needs to look no further than the George Floyd video. On the one hand, I'm grateful that someone recorded the video as it helped bring Derek Chauvin to justice, but I'm a little disturbed by the existing video in the first place. Darnella Frazier, the girl who filmed Floyd's death, spoke about the trauma recording the video induced on her, but ultimately, she said she was "proud of herself" for filming the incident. What kind of strength does that take to power through the very human urge to help or flee, choosing instead to immortalize a moment that will assuredly traumatize you? Here's my colorization of a similar scene. This is Thich Quang uc, a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963. pic.twitter.com/Ep0EUmmEUM Marina Amaral (@marinamaral2) January 16, 2018 The picture of Thich Quang uc is another example of a photographer following the impulse to capture a scarring event. Fifty-nine years ago, Thich Quang uc, a Buddhist monk, immolated himself to protest the Buddhist crisis in Vietnam. The image of flames swallowing Thich Quang uc became one of the most iconic pictures of the 20th century and one that always hurts my soul. Similar to Darnella Fraizer, Malcolm Browne won a Pulitzer prize for the image. Still, I have to wonder, how much trauma, if any at all, does an award of that caliber remove from your heart? To be clear, I'm not calling either Fraizer or Browne inhuman for documenting either event; I'm only saying that I don't think I would be able to. And how differently would history look if everyone behind the camera was like me? Christine Riordan said Sheriffs Office personnel said her son collapsed while in the jail, went into cardiac arrest and was revived, but his heart stopped again at the hospital. However, Riordan said she found bruises on her sons throat, arms and legs and a cut eyelid on a swollen right eye. The Group of Nine demands security guarantees from NATO to avoid a repeat of the Ukraine scenario Like many other educators, Kelli Joseph thought the worst was over. Yet, the superintendent in rural St. Helena Parish is once again starting a new school year with cases of the deadly coronavirus on the rise. Its unnervingly familiar. Actually, its worse. It feels like deja vu on steroids, Joseph said. The latest numbers suggest she has good reasons for concern. Since the viruss fourth wave through Louisiana began in early July, cases have skyrocketed across all age groups. That includes school-age children, a group that suffered little early in the pandemic. During the first week of August, there were 5,320 cases among 5- to 17-year-olds. Thats almost double Louisianas previous peak in early January and seven times as many as a year ago when the 2020-21 school year began. Driven by the much more infectious delta variant, the virus has recently taken brutal advantage of the relatively low vaccination rates among the states 4.7 million residents, quickly overwhelming its health care system. Those rates are even lower among eligible children. Just 30% of the states 330,000-plus 12- to 17-year-olds are at least partially inoculated. The national average is around 43%. In six states, more than 60% of that age range have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Only five states have rates lower than Louisiana. And then theres the 800,000 children in the state younger than 12 who are ineligible for vaccination. They arent expected to be eligible until later this year or perhaps early next year. Vaccinations, though, have been picking up as the virus has reasserted itself, including among 12- to 17-year-olds. This is especially true in Acadiana, the Houma-Thibodaux area and on the north shore. Seven parishes have increased their vaccinations rates by more than 20 percentage points during July and early August. Ascension and East Baton Rouge parishes have increased by 19 percentage points each. Even so, Orleans Parish is the only parish where more than half of 12- to 17-year-olds are at least partially vaccinated, and even there, only 35% have received both shots. Unlike adult vaccinations, the pace of vaccinations among children has been hampered by the need for parental consent. Thats tough in a state where many parents are hostile to COVID-19 vaccinations, especially when it comes to children. Even parents open to the idea have been hesitant due to potential health risks as well as the still-common perception that the virus spares children. Persuading families that children should get vaccinated has been a tough sell even in parishes like West Feliciana. The parish is second only to Orleans in its vaccination rates for adults but lags slightly behind the state when it comes to vaccinating 12- to 17-year-olds. Betsy Levasseur and her husband, Christophe, had been putting off getting vaccinated, both for themselves and for their three daughters. We were hesitant about the vaccine across the board. My husband had (COVID-19), and then I had it, Levasseur said. We delayed being vaccinated just to let some of the dust settle. As the fourth wave poured through Louisiana, sending younger and younger folks to the hospital, Levasseur had second thoughts. You just see the age of people being put on ventilators, she said. Its not what we saw at the beginning of the pandemic. After talking with her father, a doctor himself, and their family physician, the couple recently took the plunge both for themselves and their two older daughters, ages 12 and 14 their youngest just turned 11 and is not yet eligible. On Wednesday, the couple got their second shot at West Feliciana Parish Hospital. On Friday, their two older daughters got their final shots at school via an arrangement with the hospital. Vaccine news in your inbox Once a week we'll update you on the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Hollis Milton, superintendent of schools in the parish, had worked with the hospital this past spring to vaccinate some 80% of the districts employees, so it was natural to work together again. Our hospital reached out to see if we would be able to do it, Milton said. We like the idea because the hospital has vetted all the paperwork to be signed by the parent and so that streamlines everything for our school nurses. Some schools are going further. In St. Helena Parish, theres a clinic at every school where employees and students, provided they have parental consent, can get vaccinations and routine COVID-19 testing through an arrangement with Southeast Community Health System. Joseph said the fast spread of the delta variant has forced her staff to up their game. Now its not just about keeping in place the things we did last year but to put extra things in place to keep kids safe, she said. Yet, it only goes so far. The school system can only do so much, Joseph said. Thats a big fear for me. As a parent of a school-age child, Im just as concerned as any other parent would be. While schools across the state were able to reopen over the past two weeks without apparent incident, there were exceptions. A Catholic high school in Donaldsonville shifted to virtual-only for 10 days after 15 students tested positive. And a couple of charter schools in Baton Rouge decided to delay the start of school, in one case because of a faculty member who tested positive. Virtual instruction has been dialed down substantially this year compared with last year in favor of in-person instruction, though it still exists and is in demand. For instance, East Baton Rouge Parish school officials recently expanded access to their lone virtual option, EBR Virtual Academy, and had enrolled 723 students at the end of last week quadruple its enrollment two weeks earlier. Its unclear how many coronavirus cases the schools are contending with. State-level public recording of cases in K-12 schools has yet to restart and many school districts release little to no additional information. One exception is New Orleans public schools. That charter-only school district has recorded a total of 120 cases at 88 campuses, forcing 638 people to quarantine. Warren Easton High has had the most cases, 21, while Booker T. Washington High has had just eight cases but the most quarantines, with 174. Meanwhile, a new federally funded, state-run COVID-19 testing in schools program has grown from five to 12 parish or city school districts, as well as a smattering of newly adopting charter and private schools, including the Diocese of Baton Rouge. The late start of the testing program led one school, Louisiana Key Academy in Baton Rouge, to delay its start date for the new school year by 10 days to this Monday. The K-8 charter school, which focuses on children with dyslexia, was one of the only schools last year to routinely test staff and students for coronavirus via an arrangement with Pennington Biomedical Research Center. The school started with twice-a-week testing before downscaling to testing once at the start of every week. It became like carpool, just a thing you do on Monday morning, Principal Heather Bourgeois said. She said it was effective in getting an early read on the spread of the virus and limit who would have to quarantine. Besides safety, the goal was to allow for the greatest possible in-person instruction, which Bourgeois said is even more important when it comes to children with dyslexia. For a dyslexic kid to have to go home for five days here, five days there, its very disruptive, Bourgeois said. This year, the school planned to shift to the state testing program, but its not set to start until the week of Aug. 23 at earliest. As cases of the virus proliferated, Bourgeois and the schools board decided to not take any chances. So they put off the start of school until they could purchase additional testing to cover the days until the state program would kick in. We are going to go ahead and pay for the first round of testing, because we know how important it is, she said. Louisiana Key Academy is also heavily promoting vaccinations. Its held two vaccine clinics already and is planning a third. Its also holding its own vaccine lottery, which is open not only to the 112 older students eligible to get vaccinated but also to their family members and the family members of younger students if they can show all the eligible members of their household are already vaccinated. Were encouraging households, or even that really good friend you hang out with a lot, to come out and get vaccinated, Bourgeois said. Ronald Greene smiles in an undated photo provided by his family. Text messages obtained by The Associated Press show Louisiana's governor was informed within hours of the deadly 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene that troopers engaged in a violent, lengthy struggle that ended with the Black motorists death. (Courtesy of the Greene family via AP) Rupert Murdochs News Corporation and digital wagering pioneer Matthew Tripp approached bookmaker PointsBet with a $220 million-plus offer for its Australian division, but were rebuffed by the companys board. Wagering industry sources, who spoke anonymously because talks were confidential, said the PointsBets board, which is led by former UBS banker Brett Paton, turned down a non-binding indicative offer from the News Corp Australia-led consortium almost two weeks ago. The offer, believed to be worth between $220 million to $300 million, was not put to shareholders. PointsBet group chief executive Sam Swanell has bet aggressively on US expansion. Credit: Chris Hopkins Murdoch and his son Lachlan control a multi-billion dollar global media empire that includes the Fox News Channel in the United States, a string of global and local newspapers including The Australian, and the Foxtel pay TV business in Australia. They have spearheaded a push into wagering globally, as the family looks to offset the decline in revenues of its legacy media business. News Corp Australia, which has a small wagering presence through ownership of racing sites Punters.com.au and Racenet, formalised a partnership with Tripp earlier this year. Tripp previously grew Sportsbet into the countrys second-largest bookmaker and established BetEasy in 2014 before selling it to Canadian gambling giant The Stars Group. The News Corp consortium also includes Las Vegas-based online gambling investment fund Tekkorp. Border security officials failed to thoroughly search the mobile phone of one of Australias most notorious paedophiles at Melbourne Airport in 2015 despite being warned the 64-year-old was a suspected child sex offender travelling overseas with a minor. The victim, Tiffany Skeggs, has now told The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes that at the time, both her phone and that of offender James Griffin contained extremely exploitative and pornographic material of myself [aged 15] for certain. Tiffany Skeggs was abused between the ages of 11 and 19. Credit:Ross Swanborough Griffin was a pediatric nurse who was employed at several Tasmanian government institutions who may have abused or groomed up to 30 children. Tasmanian police have already faced searing public scrutiny for their failures to act on multiple tip-offs over many years about Griffin. He killed himself before any of his victims could see him face justice. After the failed search in 2015 the pair, who were returning from Turkey, went back to Tasmania. Skeggs was 17 at the time of the trip, and her abuse at Griffins hands did not stop until she was 19. Until now the details of his interaction with the Australian Border Force have remained clouded by agency secrecy. Carol Raye was already a major film star in Britain when she emigrated to Australia, via Kenya, with her husband in 1964. But it was her creation of The Mavis Bramston Show, in which she was the lead actor, that made her a household name to Australian audiences. Now aged 99, Raye has been recognised in the Queens Birthday Honours with an AM, for significant service to the performing arts as an actor and producer. Actress Carol Raye pictured in 1965. Credit:Sun Features One of the first female television executives in the country, Raye went on to work on Channel Tens popular Number 96, playing Baroness Amanda Ashton von Pappenburg, before producing the series. The network had given a brief to producers: Coronation Street, but a little racier, and Raye emerged as one of the stars of a show that won multiple Logie awards. There were questions asked in parliament, Raye reflected in a 1980 interview with Michael Parkinson. We werent out to shock, but we were rather irreverent. We hoped, I think, through humour, to make people think. For some reason the then shadow minister thought it was worthy of comment, saying it showed how far we had come since the White Australia policy. That would be the set of policies aimed at preventing non-European migrants coming to Australia, policies that were dismantled over many years, largely under the Menzies and Holt governments in the 1950s and 60s. Loading Still its good to know it lingers in the memory of at least one member of the new ALP government. While ethnicity might not matter as it once did in peoples daily lives, thats not true when it comes to politics. At the last federal election, the Liberal Party saw big swings against it in seats with large Chinese communities such as Chisholm, Reid and parts of Menzies. Being ethnically Chinese wasnt enough to save Gladys Liu. The tough-on-China rhetoric, rightly or wrongly, was received as being tough on Chinese. But while some Chinese voters headed towards the ALP, the evidence suggests that with other ethnic communities the traffic was all headed away from Labor. All across Melbourne at booths in areas with large ethnic communities there were swings against Labor, especially in the south-east but also the outer north and west. Premier Daniel Andrews and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Melbourne during the federal election campaign. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen What might this mean at Novembers state election? Well, in the premiers seat of Mulgrave, there were drops in Labors primary vote in nearly every booth. Big ones. With swings against the ALP of over 20 per cent in four booths, when comparing the results of the May federal election and the 2018 state election. At Noble Park North, which has large numbers of Indian, Sri Lankan, Vietnamese, Greek and Chinese voters, Labors vote fell by 25.8 per cent 22.3 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis. Loading At the Lyndale booth, an area with large numbers of Indians, Sri Lankans and Afghans, Labors two-party-preferred vote dropped 14 per cent. The story was the same at booths in the state seat of Narre Warren North, currently held by Luke Donnellan, whose ministerial career ended last year after he admitted breaking ALP rules. Belinda Wilson, his replacement as Labor candidate, should be worried. Swings against Labor at the federal election were as high as 30 per cent in its primary vote and 16 per cent two-party-preferred in the seats booths in Endeavour Hills where large numbers of Indian, Sri Lankan, Afghan and Chinese voters live. Is there any reason to believe the collapse in Labors vote last month in booths where large ethnic populations reside will be repeated in November? If anything it will be worse. While ethnic kids of my generation may have endured the shame of taking a smelly lunch to school, this younger generation felt the sting of a premier who locked down public housing towers without warning. Families, many from African communities, were confined to their flats with a heavy police presence to ensure they stayed there. As for lunch? They didnt get any. The meals that were dropped to their doorsteps in many cases ignored their religious and cultural requirements. These towers were in Green inner-city territory. But for many suburban voters from ethnic communities, needing papers to travel more than a few kilometres from home will have been a painful reminder of the types of governments they thought they had put behind them when they arrived in Australia. Even before COVID, plenty of ethnic voters had reason to resent this state government. Loading Unlike post-war migrants who settled first in Carlton and Richmond, increasingly they are establishing communities in the outer suburbs. Although they may have found the comfort of a strong ethnic community, they have also had to endure the lack of services and infrastructure, from public transport to hospitals, that are well-known in those areas. That neglect is unlikely to go unnoticed come November. Although this might be a problem for Labor, its far from clear the Liberal Party will be the beneficiary. For although the ALP vote collapsed in outer suburban strongholds, there wasnt a corresponding growth in the Liberal vote. Instead voters in those booths drifted off to right-wing minor parties and their preferences in some cases drifted back to Labor. Moscow: McDonalds restaurants have flung open their doors in Moscow once again under new Russian ownership and a new name: Vkusno & tochka, which translates as Tasty and thats it. The new dawn for Russias fast-food scene will initially see 15 matter-of-factly rebranded restaurants open in and around the capital after the US burger giant turned its back on the country over what Russia calls a special military operation in Ukraine. People line up to visit the newly opened fast food restaurant in a former McDonalds outlet in Moscow. Credit:AP The reopening of the outlets, three decades after McDonalds first opened in Moscow in a symbolic thaw between East and West, could provide a test of how successfully Russias economy can become more self-sufficient and withstand Western sanctions. Oleg Paroev, chief executive of Vkusno & tochka, said the company was planning to reopen 200 restaurants in Russia by the end of June and all 850 by the end of the summer. An Amber Alert for a missing Lockport baby was canceled Saturday afternoon, about two hours after it was issued, after a family member brought her to police in Buffalo, Buffalo Police said. Police were still searching for her father, who is accused of taking her unlawfully, the Niagara County Sheriff's Office said. The father was not the person who brought the baby to the Buffalo Police, police said. An Amber Alert was sent out to residents' cellphones shortly after noon Saturday about the abduction. "The child was taken under circumstances that lead police to believe that they are in imminent danger of serious physical harm and/or death," the alert said. "Anyone with any information on this abduction is asked to call the (866) NYS-AMBER or dial 911 to provide information on a report or sighting." The father's name is Anthones Mullen. He is 37 and is 5-foot-5 inches tall and weighs about 165 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes. The baby girl's name is Royalty M. Mullen. She has brown hair and blue eyes and was wearing a light blue onesie with the words "Spark and Shine" written on the front when she was last seen. She was taken from Sweetwood Drive in the Town of Lockport, according to the Niagara County Sheriff's Office. 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. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Rep. Mo Brooks (R) celebrates with his family after entering a runoff election against candidate Katie Britt in Huntsville, Alabama on May 24, 2022 (Jackson Elliott/The Epoch Times) Alabama US Senate Race Tense as Brooks Loses 2nd Key Endorsement Even after missing another important endorsement, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) has a chance in the race for Alabamas Senate Republican primary against Katie Britt. In the months before the Alabama primary, Brooks, Britt, and Mike Durant were in a three-way race to be the Republican candidate for the states open U.S. Senate seat. Although Britt has consistently led, Durant and Brooks had fairly strong support. Then, Brooks encountered a punishing blow to his campaign when former President Donald Trump withdrew his endorsement. Trump said Brooks triggered the withdrawal with a speech in which he asked voters to focus on the next election instead of continuing to debate about the 2020 election. Mo Brooks of Alabama made a horrible mistake recently when he went woke and stated, referring to the 2020 Presidential Election Scam, Put that behind you, put that behind you, despite the fact that the election was rife with fraud and irregularities, Trump said at the time. In the aftermath of the withdrawal of Trumps endorsement, Brookss poll numbers suffered. But the longtime congressman was able to recover, eventually passing Durant and entering a run-off with Britt. But Brooks suffered another blow after Durant, who had signaled he would back Brooks, opted to endorse neither candidate. Polls now suggest that Britt has the upper hand. Although she didnt reach the 50 percent of the vote required to avoid a run-off, she did get 45 percent to Brookss 29 percent. Britts performance so far is all the more impressive because this campaign is her first. So far, she has raised $7.4 million, according to Federal Election Commission figures. Britt has also received significant support from political action committees (PAC) affiliated with Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnel (R-Ky.). Groups from outside Alabama have spent nearly $20 million to campaign for Britt. Alabama Republican Senate candidate and honorary starter Katie Britt is introduced on stage during pre-race ceremonies prior to the NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama on Oct. 3, 2021. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images) Brooks has raised $3.1 million so far. On the night of the primary election, one of Brookss first actions on receiving the results was to praise Durant, criticize Britt for running attack ads, and talk with Durant on the phone. That night, it seemed like Brooks had a good chance of getting an endorsement from Durant. Durant told local television that he would absolutely support Brooks against Britt. But Durant has now announced that he wont endorse either of the two candidates. He said Brooks has been in the public office for 40 years and that Britt was both unethical and really not qualified. Thats what people have to decide. Unfortunately, its not a great option, Durant told the Associated Press. Once again, Brooks lost what seemed like a guaranteed endorsement. After this setback, Brooks has asked Trump for his endorsement again. Even after losing Trumps endorsement, Brooks continued to use campaign slogans such as Make America Great Again. A poll commissioned by a pro-Britt group shows Britt leading 54.6 percent to Brooks 36.4 percent, with 9 percent undecided. An Erie County judge will decide in about a month whether to grant a hearing to a man seeking to vacate his conviction 24 years ago of killing a Buffalo police officer. A tactic by one of his defense lawyers helped lead to Jonathan Parker's first-degree murder conviction in the 1997 slaying of Officer Charles E. "Skip" McDougald, according to his current attorneys. At trial, the then-defense lawyer told jurors during closing arguments that Parker "panicked" and shot at officers an assertion made without consulting Parker, his current attorneys say. Also, two witnesses at Parker's trial who implicated him in the shooting say they lied on the stand after being told to do so by police. Parker's new attorneys say he was robbed of his right to a fair trial, a position they believe is buoyed by a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision about a defendant's right to choose his own defense. Parker is now serving a life sentence without parole for the crime, which also wounded another officer. Throughout his trial, Parker maintained his innocence, and his trial attorneys never talked to him about plans to admit any guilt, said Robert M. Goldstein, one of Parker's current attorneys. "We can establish our client never conceded to have his guilt given to the jury," Goldstein said in court last week. Both then and now, James P. Harrington, who served as one of Parker's trial attorneys, said the defense's ultimate goal was prevent Parker from getting the death penalty, which was permitted in New York State at the time. The admission was an effort to gain credibility with the jury, Harrington said in 1998 after the penalty phase of Parker's trial, as well as in legal papers filed last year with Parker's appeal for a hearing. "To have credibility with the jury ... we had to admit some things," Harrington told a reporter after the jury decided against assessing the death penalty, according to Buffalo News coverage of the proceedings. Last week, the Erie County District Attorney's Office argued before Erie County Judge James Bargnesi that the U.S. Supreme Court decision from 2018 shouldn't be retroactively applied. Prosecutors also questioned the reliability of witnesses who recanted more than 20 years after testifying. At about 12:50 a.m. April 9, 1997, McDougald, 36, was shot in the chest on Northampton Street near East Parade Avenue. He was pronounced dead about 20 minutes later at Erie County Medical Center, having been driven there in his own patrol vehicle by other officers. Michael N. Martinez, McDougald's partner, was shot in the ankle. The emergency room doctor testified at Parker's trial that a bullet "shredded" McDougald's heart. Parker, who was 19 at the time, turned himself in two days after the shooting. McDougald and Martinez stopped Parker while investigating a reported theft of a van, a report that turned out to be false, jurors were told. McDougald wasn't wearing a protective vest at the time. A strap on his vest had broken and he was waiting to be fitted for a new one, the jury learned at the trial. One of the witnesses, Aaron Yarborough, recanted his testimony. Yarborough's testimony in 1998 included that he saw Parker near Northampton and East Parade and that he saw him shoot McDougald, according to court papers filed by Parker's attorneys. According to a News article from Sept. 17, 1998, Yarborough testified he did not witness the shooting, but saw Parker run past him with a gun seconds after the shooting. In a sworn affidavit submitted to the court, Yarborough said a police detective told him after the shooting that if he did not say what the investigator told him to say, "that he would take me out in the corn fields and kill me." Steven Metcalf, another of Parker's current defense attorneys, said the team is still trying to obtain court records relating to a past federal case against that detective. The lawyer alleged in court papers that the detective "has been convicted of doing something similar in a different case." Assistant District Attorney Paul J. Williams III, chief of the District Attorney's Appeals Bureau, citing The News' past coverage in court, said what the detective pleaded guilty to was "nothing remotely similar to what is being alleged here." The former Buffalo narcotics detective pleaded guilty in October 2005 to illegally accessing information from a Buffalo police computer, according to News archives. A News story from 2006 reported that he pleaded guilty "in connection with a charge of using a telephone to further drug trafficking activities." The other recanting witness is Aaron Lott, who said he gave false testimony in exchange for a lighter sentence in a federal drug case. In his affidavit, Lott said a Buffalo police officer, whose name he didn't recall, promised he would do less time if he lied on the stand. Prosecutors pointed out that a third witness testified she saw Parker fire the fatal shot and she has not formally recanted. Martinez, the officer wounded in the shooting, testified he was 70% sure Parker was the person who shot him. After about six hours of deliberations, a jury found Parker guilty of first-degree murder, as well as attempted murder, aggravated assault of a police officer and two weapons charges. On Oct. 24, 1998, the jury spared Parker's life, deciding instead on a sentence of life without parole in state prison. Jurors took about 18 hours to reach that conclusion. Six years later, a court decision struck down the state's death penalty. Parker, now 44, is serving his sentence at Great Meadow Correctional Facility, about 17 miles northeast of Glens Falls, according to Department of Corrections and Community Supervision records. In addition to the issues about admitting guilt and recanting witnesses, Parker's lawyers also argue Parker should be allowed a hearing about vacating his conviction because they say he is innocent. Last week, Bargnesi told attorneys in the case he expects to make a ruling in roughly 30 days. Reach Aaron at abesecker[at]buffnews.com or 716-849-4602. 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. Classical mythology in 19th-century French academic art Ancient Greek and Roman mythologies have influenced artists around the world for centuries, and one of the most inspired manifestations is found in 19th-century France. The art world in France during this century was incredibly diverse, with a number of techniques and subjects finding expression. Among the most enduring styles is academic art. This style was produced within European academies of art; in France, this academy is the famous Academie des Beaux-Arts. These academies boast a storied history in Europe. Cosimo I deMedicifamed patron of the Italian Renaissanceestablished the first academy in Florence in 1563. From the time of the first academys inception, mythological subject matter was of central importance, and the Academie des Beaux-Arts oversaw the creation of innumerable classical masterpieces. Academic art sought to reconcile theoretical branches that artists debated for centuries. The debate centered around whether line and form or color was the most important aspect of a composition. Within European academies, a superlative synthesis emerged. Ancient Greek and Roman myths provided artists with the timeless subject matter required to perfect this style. Mythological themes were a source of both artistic and intellectual developments, as allegories and ideals were of especial importance in academic circles. The Abduction of Psyche The Rapture of Psyche, 1895, by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Oil on canvas; 82 1/4 inches by 47 inches. Private Collection. (Courtesy of Art Renewal Center) William-Adolphe Bouguereaus artworks exemplify the academic mastery of integrating perfect line and color to bring allegorical concepts to life. In recent decades, Bouguereau has rightfully become synonymous with French academicism. His 1895 painting The Abduction of Psyche revitalizes an ancient story for contemporary audiences. Better translated as The Rapture of Psyche, the tale comes from the second-century book Metamorphoses by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis. The story is about Psyche and Cupid and the prevailing power of true love. Psyche, born a mortal and a princess, was so beautiful that men stopped worshipping at the Temple of Venus. The jealous goddess commanded that her son, Cupid, pierce Psyches heart with an arrow to make her fall in love with a vile, repulsive man. Instead, Cupid shot himself and fell in love with her. After a series of supernatural obstacles, Zeus transformed Psyche into a goddess and she and Cupid were finally united. Bouguereaus painting captures the moment that Cupid carries his bride away to the heavens; Cupid basks with pride, and Psyche glows with joy and relief. Bouguereaus composition is an elegant example of the 19th-century academic stylea style that transcends time and place. The lines and forms are imbued with a dynamism that visually lift the figures toward the heavens, and the vibrant purple cloak connects the lovers. The subtlety of clouds and a landscape in the background support the central plot. Notably, this is not a beautiful painting devoid of deeper meaning. Bouguereau meditated on the endurance of true love, immortality, and the connection between Love and the Soul. (Cupid symbolizes love, and psyche means soul in Greek.) The artist reminds his viewers that when love is pure, it will triumph over any obstacle. Bacchante Bacchante, 1894, by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Oil on canvas; 35 inches by 60 inches. Private Collection. (Public Domain) Bouguereau reinterpreted another mythic figure in his 1894 painting Bacchante. In Greek mythology, the bacchante, also called maenads, were the female followers of the god Dionysus (Bacchus in the Roman tradition). Dionysus is the god of wine, festivities, and theater. Bouguereaus Bacchante appropriately holds a wine vessel and cup, and her leafed crown is reminiscent of grapevines. Traditionally, the maenads were depicted as frenzied revelers, overcome with euphoria, ecstasy, and excess. Bouguereau, however, dignified his serene figure, and she became an erudite symbol of the more decorous pleasures in life. Undoubtedly, this rendering would appeal to his viewersthe Parisian Salon-goers. Calliope Teaching Orpheus Calliope Teaching Orpheus, 1865, by Auguste Alexandre Hirsch. Oil on canvas; 39.3 inches by 40.9 inches. Museum of Art and Archeology of Perigord, in Perigueux, France. (Public Domain) Auguste Alexandre Hirsch similarly utilized Greek myths as a way to celebrate the simple and stately joys in life. His most famous painting, the 1865 masterpiece Calliope Teaching Orpheus, is a celebration of music and the everlasting power of the arts. The painting portrays Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, teaching her son Orpheus how to play the lyre; the lyre is the shared symbol of this mother-son duo. Orpheus was regarded as the greatest poet and musician of ancient Greece. His unparalleled singing could tame animals and bring trees and rocks to life. Hirsch hinted at Orpheuss talent as a small pheasant watches on in the corner of the composition. Besides the subject matter, Hirsch also relied on his academic training for the way he portrayed his figures. Calliope and Orpheus are naturalistic, idealized figures with skin that almost glows in its sheen and perfection. The matching red cloaks underscore their familial bond. While the pair are engrossed in their activity, the movement does not overwhelm the contemplative painting. French academic artists often drew inspiration from the contemporaneous Romantic stylea style characterized by energy and dynamism. The academics, however, were often more staid in their depiction of activity. Springtime Springtime, 1873, by Pierre-Auguste Cot. Oil on canvas; 84 inches by 50 inches. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Public Domain) This balance between motion and tranquility is also exhibited in Pierre-Auguste Cots 1873 painting, Springtime. A student of both Bouguereau and Alexandre Cabanel, Cots most notable artwork is an allegorical reflection of youth, first love, and new beginnings. Two young sweethearts share a loving embrace on a swing. They are enveloped in a lush and blooming environment, symbolizing the promises of springs arrival and the freshness of new love. The two figures wear classical-style garments, which lends an eternal quality to the scene. This agelessness was an important tenet of academic art, as artists believed that the most important concepts and values were universal and should transcend time and place. While other movements have occasionally overshadowed the accomplishments of French academic art in the 19th century, new generations of viewers and museum-goers have now begun to appreciate the significanceand beautyof this style. French academic artists were masters of their discipline, finding innovative ways to synthesize form and color. Their representation of antique mythology was both fresh and classic. As aficionados continue to explore 19th-century French art, the academic movement remains an essential style for viewing. Dr. Kara Blakley is an independent art historian. She received her Ph.D. in Art History and Theory from the University of Melbourne (Australia) and previously studied and taught in China and Germany. Assistant Defence Minister Andrew Hastie addresses media as Defence Minister Peter Dutton looks on in front of the Subiaco War Memorial in Perth, Australia on April 19, 2021. (AAP Image/Richard Wainwright) Australias Defence Minister Denies Coalition Compensation Allegation Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles has rejected the suggestions that the coalition was anywhere near agreeing to a compensation package with France after Australia abandoned its submarine contract last year. On Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Australia will pay French company Naval Group about $830 million to settle the scrapped $90 billion defence contract. Instead, Australia is now pursuing a nuclear-powered submarine agreement with the US and UK under the AUKUS partnership, which had caused a diplomatic stoush and saw France recall ambassadors from Canberra and Washington. New opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie has questioned the size of the compensation being paid to France, saying the outgoing Morrison government had been aiming for a significantly lower figure. There were private conversations with Defence, but this is a settlement which Mr Albanese has come to, Hastie said. And he needs to explain to the Australian taxpayers how $830 million is a fair and equitable agreement. Thats just not true, Mr Marles, who is also deputy prime minister, told Sky News Sunday Agenda program. What we are seeing from the coalition weeks into their time in opposition is that they are just making stuff up now. Speaking from Singapore where he is attending the Shangri-La Dialogue a gathering of global defence ministers he said the arrangement with France is a good deal, presenting less money than Australia was facing just a few weeks ago. He believes Australias relationship with France can now move forward. The speed with which we have moved to settle this matter, put a line underneath it, and to move forward was very much welcomed by the French minister (for defence Sebastien Lecornu), Mr Marles said after meeting with Mr Lecornu in Singapore. France and Australia have so much in common, he added, noting Frances presence in the Pacific region. If no action is taken, the cost of the National Disability Insurance Scheme will grow to $8.8 billion passed budget expectations. (Steve Buissinne/Pixabay) Australian Government Vows to Stamp Out $1.5 Billion in Disability Scheme Rip-Offs Australian government minister Bill Shorten has vowed to put an end to the fraud that is hurting the federal governments National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which results more than $1.5 billion (US$1.06 billion) in loss a year. The announcement comes after a report by The Herald Sun on Sunday revealed that criminal syndicates are targeting NDIS, obtaining Australians personal information to produce false invoices, inflated bills, and ghost payments. The Australian Crime and Intelligence Commission has said that as much as 5 percent of the $29 billion (US$20.54 billion) scheme has been lost to fraud. Speaking to the ABCs Insiders program on Sunday, Shorten said that these are the same people in organised crime who were taking money out of the family day care scheme. There is very few things more despicable in life than crooks taking money which is due to go to disabled people, he said. I absolutely want to see all options on the table to make sure we protect taxpayer money, Shorten added, describing the NDIS as the only lifeboat in the ocean for Australians who live with disability. The NDIS, which was introduced in 2013 by then-Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard, now covers the support services for 580,000 Australians and is predicted by the National Disability Insurance Agency to look after 860,000 people by 2030. Initially, the program cost $22 billion annually, but is now projected to cost $59 billion by 2029-30. Shorten, who is the new minister for NDIS, told The Australian that he wants to restrain the spiralling cost trajectory of the NDIS, but also hopes that more Australians will be covered by the scheme. But Terry Barnes, a former senior adviser to the two federal health ministers under coalition Prime Minister John Howard, warned that its impossible for the federal government to give all wishes when it comes to any healthcare funding. Its always, We can spend a billion here, a billion there, or We can do this, we can do that, he told The Epoch Times on April 22. It does not really look at the totality of our health care. We do not take a holistic look at it. Barnes said part of the problem is that the voting public has become accustomed to seeing healthcare in terms of quantity, not quality, and that political parties were reluctant to engage in tough debates on the issue. To have a discussion about that implies blame and responsibility, and nobody really wants to go down that path, he said. Despite NDIS now costing taxpayers more than Medicare, Prime Minister Scott Morrison maintained during the Peoples Forum debate on April 20 that NDIS was worth investing in. Because every single person who has a disability is different you need to tailor the programs to each and every single individual, the former prime minister said. But the center-right Coalition government did introduce reforms to streamline NDIS in its efforts to make it more financially sustainable. The program, while assisting disabled individuals, was being criticised for design flaws that exacerbated its cost, including uncapped funding grants, a widening list of disabilities including mental health issues, and a vast scope of services including access to sex worker services for disabled individuals. Shorten is now accusing the previous government of creating a maze of red tape and waste and an administrative nightmare in its streamlining efforts. But they left the welcome mat at the back door, and I dont think there has been enough to detect and apprehend to stop fraud both in a systems sense and chasing down individual crooks and syndicates. Daniel Y. Teng contributed to this report. Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Richard Marles speaks at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore on June 11, 2022. (ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images) Australias New Government to Be Respectful to Beijing: Defence Minister The new Australian centre-left Labor government will soften its language with Chinas ruling communist party (CCP) to adopt a respectful tone, says new defence minister Richard Marlesimplying a lack of respect from the former centre-right government, which was unabashed to call out the CCPs bullying of Australia. Speaking in Singapore at the Shangri-La Dialogue defence summit on Saturday, Marles laid out his partys vision to build stronger economic ties with China and suggested that Chinas neighbours should not become overly concerned about the regimes large-scale military build-ups. Australia values a productive relationship with China. China is not going anywhere. And we all need to live together and, hopefully, prosper together, he said, claiming that Chinas economic success is connected to that of our region. Australias deputy leader further noted that while the Labor government wont shy away from defending Australias national interest, it will be respectful, including with countries where we have complex relationships. This includes China, he said, noting that there will be a change in Australias tone under new Labor Prime Minsiter Anthony Albanese. Australias approach will be anchored in a resolve to safeguard our national interests, and our support for regional security and stability based on rules. We will be steady and consistent, looking for avenues of cooperation where they exist, while recognising Chinas growing power and the manner in which that is reshaping our region. The comments come nearly two months after Marles was criticised for failing to disclose his pro-China speech given at the Chinese embassy in Canberra, as well as a parliamentary trip to Beijing in 2019 that costs taxpayers $6,191. The opposition leader and former defence minister Peter Dutton condemned the incident at the time, saying it shows the culture within the Labor Party and its leaders naivety and lack of preparedness to keep our country safe. Theyre backing China over the United States and that is a shocking mistake, Dutton said in April. Marles, however, blamed an administrative error for the incident while Labor again denied that the party has a China problem. Marless push for economic engagement with China comes amid high tensions in the South China Sea created by the CCPs aggressive demands and threats, as well as inside China itself, as the Chinese people struggle under the ongoing Shanghai lockdowns, which some China experts said have harmed Chinas economy and challenged the CCPs legitimacy. The move has also been seen as the Labor governments latest effort to resuscitate the Beijing-Canberra relationship, which turned increasingly hostile after Beijing launched a trade war against Australia for backing calls for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19. Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, however, in 2021 described the CCPs trade war as a failure and stressed that Australia under his leadership would stand firm on its values. The former prime minister noted that given increasing tensions, it is important to differentiate between the Chinese regime and the Chinese people. The Communist Party in China is very ready to say any criticism of the regime, or its policies, is anti-Chinese, right? We must not fall into that, Turnbull said. Chinese people are part of our family, our Australian family. They are also part of Kevins and my family. Last week, the Defence department revealed a dangerous incident that took place in May, which saw a Chinese warplane attacking an Australian maritime surveillance aircraft over the international waters of the South China Sea. Given the Chinese regimes increasing muscle flexing in the Indo-Pacific, Marles described Chinas military build-ups as the largest and most ambitious we have seen by any country since the end of the Second World War. The CCPs militarisation of the South China Sea was intended to deny the legitimacy of international territories, the defence minister noted on Saturday. But he argued, It is critical that Chinas neighbours do not see this build-up as a risk for them because insecurity is what drives an arms race. So reassuring statecraft is essential, he suggested. The more complex the times, the more important there is dialogue and proper diplomacy. When it comes to the security and stability of our own region, there will be continuity in Australian defensive policy, Marles said, pointing to the continuation of the Australia-U.S. alliance, commitment to AUKUS, AI, undersea warfare capabilities, push to military quantum technology, and hypersonic munitions. During the summit, Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe, who was also in attendance and shook hands with Marles, blamed all tensions in the China-U.S. relationship on the United States, and said that Washington needed to take the initiative to improve bilateral ties, which lie at a critical juncture. He then warned that Beijing would fight to the end if Washington continues treating China as an adversary or an enemy. We request the U.S. side to stop smearing and containing China. Stop interfering in Chinas internal affairs. The bilateral relationship cannot improve unless the U.S. side can do that, Wei said. The United States has been jostling with Beijing for influence as nations around the world decide whether they want to support a future led by the socialist CCPs global plans or continue working for progress in the free and open international order led by the United States, that requires transparency and trust. Witch flounder, a flatfish that relies on camouflage to hide itself in Hudson Canyon off the coast of New York and New Jersey. (NOAA/BOEM/USGS) Biden Admin Announces Plan to Conserve Largest Underwater Canyon Along US Atlantic Coast The Biden administration has announced plans to designate Hudson Canyonthe deepest U.S. submarine canyon in the Atlantic Ocean, located off the coast of New York and New Jerseyas a national marine sanctuary. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, said its plans to designate the site as a sanctuary would provide special federal protection to help conserve the areas rich marine wildlife and habitats, promote sustainable economic activities, and create new opportunities for scientific research, ocean education, and recreation. Hudson Canyon, which is located about 100 miles off the East Coast, is up to 2.5 miles deep and 7.5 miles wide, and runs 350 miles through the edge of the continental shelf. The region provides habitat for a range of protected and sensitive species, including sperm whales, sea turtles and deep-sea corals, the NOAA said in a statement. According to the White House, the canyon boasts deep-sea, cold-water coral communities, and contains various shipwrecks, including freighters and United States military radar platforms, dating back to the mid-19th Century. The potential sanctuary designation stems from a nomination submitted by the Wildlife Conservation Society in November 2016, which said the area provides a wide range of benefits to residents of New York and New Jersey, such as clean air, fresh water, recreation, and food. The NOAA is seeking public comments on the matters related to Hudson Canyons future management, including the potential sanctuary boundaries and information on the indigenous and tribal heritage of the area. Public commentary can be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal, www.regulations.gov, until Aug. 8. The docket number is NOAA-NOS-2022-0053. The NOAA said it will also host public meetings where members of the public can share oral comments. The marine sanctuary designation for Hudson Canyon is part of a series of steps the Biden administration is taking in efforts to conserve the ocean and address U.N.-led modeling that predicts catastrophic climate change, coming after President Joe Biden proclaimed June to be National Ocean Month in recognition of World Ocean Day on June 8. Part of the Biden administrations climate change actions have been the authorization of offshore wind farms in the seas surrounding Hudson Canyon, which environmental groups have raised critical concerns over (pdf) because of their overlapping with critical habitat for the North Atlantic right whaleone of the planets most endangered species. The Biden administration is set to announce the rapid deployment and construction of offshore wind farms later in June, the White House indicated. A North Atlantic right whale feeds on the surface of Cape Cod Bay off the coast of Plymouth, Mass., on March 28, 2018. (Michael Dwyer/AP Photo) The Walney Extension offshore wind farm, operated by Orsted, off the coast of Blackpool, England, on Sept. 5, 2018. (Phil Noble/File Photo/Reuters) Phasing Out Single-Use Plastics in Public Lands Another initiative includes phasing out the sale of single-use plastic products in public lands, which includes 423 national parks. Specifically, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland issued Secretarys Order 3407 (pdf) which includes schedules and targets to make annual progress toward reducing the procurement, sale, and distribution of single-use plastic products from current levels with a goal of phasing out single-use plastic products by 2032. The order is part of the implementation of Bidens Executive Order 14057, which requires federal agencies to reduce waste and support markets for recycled products. The order also directs the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to identify better alternatives to single-use plastic products, such as compostable or biodegradable materials, to reduce plastic waste in the ocean. According to the DOI, at least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year. Marine species ingest or are entangled by plastic debris, which causes severe injuries and death, and plastic pollution threatens food safety and quality, human health, coastal tourism, and contributes to climate change, the department said in a statement. First Ocean Climate Action Plan Among multiple other initiatives the Biden administration is taking to conserve the ocean are efforts to create Americas first-ever Ocean Climate Action Plan and to center environmental justice in ocean science and technology activities and investments, the White House announced. The White House said the administration will develop and implement a first-ever, whole-of-government Ocean Climate Action Plan, which it says will guide significant ocean-based climate mitigation and adaptation actions, including green shipping, ocean-based renewable energy, blue carbon, and other ocean-related solutions. The Ocean Policy Committee, first established by executive order in 2018 under the Trump administration and codified into law by the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, will work with the White House Climate Policy Office on the plan. The same committee will also develop a National Sustainable Ocean Plan, which the White House says will help guide sustainable economic development of U.S. ocean and coastal waters. Melanie Sun contributed to this report. President Joe Biden speaks after meeting virtually with baby formula manufacturers at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on June 1, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) Biden Urges Congress to Pass Gun Bill Backed by 10 Republicans President Joe Biden said he would sign a framework bill on gun control and urged Congress to pass the measure on Sunday. The measure, which is backed by 10 Republicans in the Senate, would eliminate the straw purchasing of firearms, fund mental health resources for families and children, enhance protections of domestic violence victims, and increase funding for school safety, and initiatives around mental health. Notably, the framework bill includes a so-called red flag provision, and it allows for resources to states and tribes to create and administer laws that help ensure deadly weapons are kept out of the hands of individuals whom a court has determined to be a significant danger to themselves or others, according to a news release on Sunday. I want to thank Senator Chris Murphy and the members of his bipartisan groupespecially Senators [John] Cornyn, [Kyrsten] Sinema, and [Thom] Tillisfor their tireless work to produce this proposal, Biden said in a statement after Sundays announcement. Biden, however, said the bill does not do everything that I think is needed on gun control, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades. In recent days, Biden publicly said he would back bills that ban magazines that carry 10 rounds or morewhich are very common and are owned by millions of Americansand so-called assault weapons, a term that some Republicans have said is not clearly defined and is intentionally vague. Some Democrats have called for bans on all semi-automatic rifles, which theyve termed assault weapons and not just guns like the AR-15. A well-cited study (pdf) released by the Justice Department discovered that assault weapons were rarely used in gun crimes, but it concluded that the 1994 ban on them may have had a larger impact if it remained in place after 2004. The flurry of legislative action comes after several high-profile mass shootings in New York and Buffalo. A large number of Republicans have criticized some of the GOP senators for negotiating with Democrats on a gun control bill and said they are capitulating to a pressure campaign that is being waged following those shootings. A federal red-flag law would create millions of second-class citizens, wrote Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Twitter. It wont stop mass shooters but will deprive millions of Americans of due process and their Second Amendment rights. Last week, Sen. Murphy (Conn.) suggested that Biden stay out of the senators negotiation efforts. Were not going to put a piece of legislation on the table that will ban assault weapons or pass comprehensive background checks, Murphy told CNN last month. Right now, people in this country want us to make progress, they just dont want the status quo to continue for another 30 years, he said, without elaborating. Sens. Lindsey Graham, (S.C.), Mitt Romney (Utah), John Cornyn (Texas), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) Bill Cassidy (La.), Susan Collins (Maine), Rob Portman (Ohio), and Pat Toomey (Pa.) were among the Republicans to back the bill. Several Democrats also backed the measure, including Murphy as well as Sens. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Corey Booker (N.J.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Chris Coons (Del.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.). Sen. Angus King (I-Mich.) also signaled his support for the framework. Rod Colwell, CEO of Controlled Thermal Resources (R), and Tracy Sizemore, the company's Global Director of Battery Materials, walk along geothermal mud pots near the shore of the Salton Sea, where the company is mining for lithium, in Niland, Calif., on July 15, 2021. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo) Challenging Beijings Dominance in Rare Earths Requires Industries to Avoid Sourcing From China: Analysts China is at the very top of global supply chains essential to the mining, refining, packaging, shipment, and sale of rare earth metals used for semiconductors, electric vehicles, and other growing industries. The only way to prevent Beijings total consolidation of this dominance is for consumer industries to change their trading relationships and instead source from the United States, Australia, and other democratic nations, even if they must sometimes pay more, panelists said at a hearing hosted by the U.SChina Economic and Security Review Commission on June 9. The hearing, titled U.S.China Competition in Global Supply Chains, featured extensive testimony on how Chinas control of global markets is likely to grow as demand continues to rise for semiconductors, computers, fiber optics, electric cars, medical and pharmaceutical devices, and numerous other products. Chinas dominance already extends far, the panelists stated. Today, China holds the commanding position in the global rare earth supply chains, from mining to processing to end uses, said Kristin Vekasi, a professor of political science at the University of Maine. China currently controls 50 percent to 60 percent of global rare earth mining, 80 percent to 90 percent of the market in the intermediate processing stage where the elements are separated and refined into metals and alloys, and at least 60 percent to 70 percent in downstream manufacturing for products like permanent magnets. She stated that since current trends are highly favorable to Chinas continued control, its unlikely that the regime in Beijing will cede ground to geopolitical rivals anytime soon. Its estimated that in coming decades, demand for rare earths will increase by an order of four to eight at least, especially for rare earths that are used in permanent magnets like neodymium. Increases in demand are largely due to green technologies such as electric motors and wind turbines, Vekasi said. She singled out the health, defense, and consumer electronics sectors as prime consumers of the rare earth metals whose mining and refining China has come to dominate. Growing Concern Supply-chain resiliency is a top of mind issue for the U.S. government, according to Deborah Rosenblum, a nuclear expert and assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy. She said that efforts are underway at many levels of government to understand, and alleviate, the United States myriad supply-chain vulnerabilities. She described the current situation as, in large part, a function of the prevailing economic tendencies in the West over the past 70-odd years. Since the end of World War II, the dominant economic theory has been trade liberalization, [leading to] to rise of Japan in the 1970s and 1980s as well as the opening of China in 1979, Rosenblum said. As part of these trends, suppliers have sought ways to lower costs, and manufacturers have chased the more efficient allocation of capital to drive down labor costs, she said. The overall result is the complex global supply chains. The growth of Chinas manufacturing prowess is not by accident, she said. The strategy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is particularly evident in the defense sector, in which the Chinese military and the firms that contract with it have vigorously made use of their dominance in global supply chains. Manufacturing in China accounts for about 25 percent of the worlds total manufacturing output, Rosenblum noted. Abetting Chinas technological edge is the flouting of intellectual property laws and the theft or co-opting of an estimated $500 billion worth of intellectual property every year by Chinese firms, Rosenblum added. One area of the technological race in which China surges far ahead of the United Statesmaking use of its dominance of rare earths metalsis in military technology, and the related field of patents. In 2019, the United States produced only 369 military patents, while China registered 544, Rosenblum pointed out. China also demonstrates particular patent leadership in areas related to emissions, she said. Hence, its no surprise that firms pioneering increasingly more sophisticated military devices and equipment are likely to be based in China. China has now positioned itself to hold seven of the worlds 15 leading defense firms, Rosenblum said. This scenario is hard to imagine without the markets for extraction and processing of rare earth metals being so heavily skewed in Beijings favor. Rosenblum says its no coincidence that 18 of 37 defense-related minerals are concentrated in China, with 14 others heavily concentrated in countries closely integrated with Chinas supply chains through entrenched political and economic relationships, such as Russia, Brazil, and other nations participating in Beijings Belt and Raod Initiativea trillion-dollar infrastructure investment program designed to broaden the Chinese regimes political and economic influence. Meanwhile, only five of the defense-related minerals are found largely in the United States, Canada, and Australia, she noted. Chinas ability to offer low prices for goods is a challenge for manufacturers, particularly those in the industrial base, she said. Adjusting the Focus of Industries Changing the dynamic and protecting the security of democratic powers will require an effort on the part of those companies that are the end marketers of products made using rare earth metals, says Jan-Peter Kleinhans, director of technology and geopolitics at Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, a public policy think tank in Berlin. Kleinhans sees a role for government, particularly when it comes to promoting a better understanding of how things work. We need to invest in the governments capabilities to understand, assess, and identify choke points in global supply chains, to ensure that, 10 to 15 years down the road, U.S. companies still have a competitive edge when it comes to designing chips, he said. Having acknowledged this, Kleinhans blamed the lopsided supply structure that benefits Beijing largely on poor purchasing decisions. He argued that any strategy for moving value chains and reshoring manufacturing in a manner that lessens Chinas dominance and fosters more independence and competitiveness for the United States and its allies must include what he called the end consumer industries. The corporations that make up these sectors must be willing to source products from supply chains outside Chinas orbit, even if doing so doesnt serve their immediate economic interest, he said. The automotive industry, the smartphone industries, the end consumer industries have to be willing to pay more, to procure chips from allied nations, and my impression is that theres currently very little discussion about that, he said. Rosenblum made a case for more aggressive use of the Defense Production Act, which she called an invaluable tool in the development of alternative sources of rare earth metals. The law authorizes the U.S. president to ask businesses to give priority to contracts deemed instrumental for national defense. The Department of Defense must also encourage private industry to exercise greater diligence around the subcontractors it uses and avoid any nexus of Chinese involvement; such an effort is already underway in the armed forces, Rosenblum said. We are doing this with the services. We are working with them to determine where the subcontractors are. Greece: Cocaine Found in Banana Shipment, 4 Britons Arrested THESSALONIKI, GreeceAuthorities in Greece say four British nationals have been arrested on drug smuggling charges after nearly 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of cocaine was found stashed in a shipment of bananas from South America. The suspects were arrested at a rental home near the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, and were identified only as residents of London and Liverpool, men aged 38, 45, 48, and 52, police in the city said Friday, giving no further details. A fifth British man, believed to be outside the country, was also wanted for questioning, police said. The arrests followed an international law enforcement operation that also involved Italian customs authorities and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Greek officials said, adding that the seized drugs had been bound for other European countries and Australia. Tricia Barker was depressed. She was 21 years old, in college studying English, unsure what career would follow, and generally feeling that life was hopeless and painful. She tried to take her own life by washing a handful of pills down with alcohol. She woke up 36 hours later still in her own room. She didnt tell anyone she had attempted suicide, but decided to move forward with her life. As a symbol of getting her life back on track, she started training for a 10 km race. On the way to the race, she had a terrible car accident. After her suicide attempt, Barker trained to run a 10 km race as a way to recover from deep depression. After weeks of training, she was on her way to run the race when she had a head-on collision. Her back was broken in several places, she couldnt feel her legs, and she had internal injuries. Without health insurance, it took nearly 20 hours to find a surgeon who would operate on her. She spent those 20 hours lying in the hospital without painkillers or any relief. Finally on the operating table, Barker was anesthetized. (Illustration Panumas Yanuthai/Shutterstock) In an instant, her spirit left her body. The anesthesiologist put the mask over me and then I was out of my body, she said, snapping her fingers to show how quickly it happened. At the time, I was agnostic and so I was so shocked the spirit goes on. I wanted to pop back in my body, wake up, and tell all my friends, Hey, we do go on! she recounted in a video she made, sharing her experience. She saw her own body on the table, with her back opened up and blood everywhere. Two angels came to her and calmed her. She saw them send light through the surgeons and into her body. At that moment, she knew the surgeons would be able to remove the debris from her back and she would walk again. But thats when she saw the monitor flatline. While her body lay there dead, she visited her loved ones and saw events that were later verified to have really happened. Distressed at seeing her body there dead, unsure how the doctors could revive her, she didnt want to view the scene any longer. With that thought, she was instantly in the hallway. (Illustration Syda Productions/Shutterstock) This is where something happened that has made her case of great interest to near-death experience (NDE) researchers. She saw her stepfather, a health nut who would never touch sweets, getting a candy bar from a vending machine in the hallway of the hospital and eating it. This was later verified to have really happened. Such an event is called a veridical perception. Veridical perceptions are observations a person remembers from an out-of-body experience that can be independently verified. These are things that they could not have known through ordinary means. Some scientists, like neurologist Kevin Nelson at the University of Kentucky, try to explain NDEs as processes in the brain similar to those that occur when a person dreams or suddenly loses oxygen. Scientists have tried to explain NDEs as processes in the brain, but Dr. Jan Holden says none of those explanations can account for the phenomenon. Yet Dr. Jan Holden, a professor at the University of North Texas and a long-time NDE researcher, has identified about 100 cases of veridical perception. She has determined through her examination of hundreds of NDE cases that this common phenomenon cannot be explained through the kind of ordinary processes proposed by Nelson. Any material explanation thats been attempted doesnt account for some of the things that happen in NDEs, Holden said in a recorded lecture she gave to present her book, The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences. None of those models can explain how Tricia knew that her stepfather was vending a candy bar while she was unconscious and flatlined in the surgical room. Barkers is one of the many NDE cases Holden has investigated. One in five people who have a brush with death have an out-of-body experience. Holden has found that about one out of every five people who have a brush with death have a similarly profound out-of-body experience. Many people dont discuss them openly, for fear of ridicule. Some NDEers have even been put in psychiatric care because of talking about their experiences. But Holden has found that the mental health of NDEers reflects that of the population at large. These people are as sane and rational as anyone else. The impacts of these experiences are vastly positive. About 90 percent of people who have an NDE find it a pleasant experience, and many of them come back happier and with a strong sense of purpose. I had never felt any love like that a moms love, romantic love, nothing could compare. Barkers experience didnt end with the candy bar. She heard the silent prayers of her mother, her aunt, and others. When she heard the sorrow in her familys prayers, she almost wanted to go back. But a light beckoned. The light was so incredible, I had never felt any love like that a moms love, romantic love, nothing could compare, she recalled. She found herself in a field more real and beautiful than anything on Earth. Her grandfather, who had already died, was there with her. Then she saw hundreds of lights, and she knew that each represented a future student of hers. She knew she should be a teacher; that would be her career path. Not only would she teach English, but she would teach others about what she had experienced in death. She felt what it was like to be on the receiving end of her actions, what impact she had on others. The past as well as the future flashed before her. It wasnt necessarily the major events or relationships in her life that were emphasized, but rather her interactions with people who had played small roles. There were people she didnt connect with because she thought they were different from her, but she saw that they had prayed for her and worried about her when she was depressed. She was able to feel and see how her actions toward others impacted them. Holden said this is a common experience during NDEs. It often makes NDEers more committed to considering others in their actions, because they know that at the end of their lives they will have to experience again all of the feelings they cause in others. She felt that the angels and God did not judge her negatively for the things she had done. Although Barker felt remorse for some of her actions, she felt that the angels and God did not judge her negatively for the things she had done. They felt sad for some of the choices she made, but they didnt judge her in a bad way. They just wanted what was best for her. She saw that when she attempted suicide she had multiple paths around her she could have taken instead. She could have reached out to people around her. (The Epoch Times) She saw that the main choice she should have made was to be good to herself, to treasure herself, and treat herself with compassion. When you believe you are worthy of your own love, you start creating a life around you that is so much better, she said. Though it was hard for her to see her mistakes in life, the overall experience was immensely joyful. She didnt want to return to her body, but was told by God that she had to come back. She would help others understand that there is an afterlife and would help people let go of their fear. Her body felt like a costume, as she realized it was just something her eternal soul would wear for a relatively short time on Earth. When she slipped back into her body, she felt so limited after her transcendent experience. Her body felt like a costume, and at first, she spoke of herself in the third person, like Tricia Barker was just a limited incarnation of her eternal being. Barker recovered from her back injuries, as she had seen she would during her out-of-body experience. Just one year later, she ran the 10 km race. Not only did it symbolize her recovery after attempted suicide, but also her vitality after a near-death experience that changed her profoundly. 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 Arizona state Sen. Sonny Borrelli, a Republican, holds up a sample of the current ballot at a hearing of the Arizona Committee on Government in Phoenix on Jan. 24, 2022. Borrelli is the lead sponsor of legislation to establish currency-grade ballot security measures. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) EXCLUSIVE: Arizona Election Worker Details Voter Fraud Investigation The worker says the ongoing investigation is targeting US nonprofits she believes are political advocacy groups In an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times, the recorder at the Yuma County, Arizona, Sheriffs Office offered more insight into the risks of fraudulent registration forms leading up to the 2022 primary election and the efforts she and her team were working on to improve the process. Our primary is Aug. 2. We have received registration forms that are fraudulently completed, Yuma County Recorder Robyn Stallworth Pouquette, who provides oversight into the countys voter registration and early voting, told The Epoch Times on June 7. Its been a prevalent problem in Yuma County, and its very unfortunate. Pouquettes allegations come in addition to other witness reports and allegations of voting fraud that are the subject of 16 open investigations at the sheriffs office. The observed pattern of fraudulent voter registration forms, according to a May 11 statement made by the sheriffs office, includes alleged impersonation fraud, false registrations, duplicate voting, and fraudulent use of absentee ballots. While Pouquette couldnt provide any names because the investigation is ongoing, she confirmed to The Epoch Times that many of the anomalous cases pertain to nonprofits operating on a national scale, which she believes to be political advocacy groups. We are extremely encouraged that the Yuma County Sheriffs Office and Recorders Office are now working together to investigate individuals involved in the subversion of elections, Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of election integrity group True The Vote, told The Epoch Times in a May statement. Weve spent concentrated time in Yuma County and have provided significant information to both state and federal authorities. What has been happening in Yuma County is happening across the country. The targeting of vulnerable communities and voter abuse must be stopped. Pouquette said of what shes witnessed: It is very difficult to identify who is submitting these fraudulent forms. But I am aware of activities of third-party groups, and I shared that information with the sheriffs office. Unusual Signs Pouquette said that while third-party organizations that solicit voter registrations serve an important role in assisting voters, theyre also a point of vulnerability in the election process if the ballots they help voters submit are fraudulentbecause of intentional or unintentional misrepresentation of a voters wishes. I believe its a vulnerability of the system, in the sense that fraudulent voter registrations can disrupt the legitimate active registration of an eligible voter, she said. It is a very disruptive process for the office when we should be focusing on audits and making sure that were auditing our records prior to the distribution of ballots. I am very passionate about it because there is no regulation that precludes voter registration activities [by] third-party groups. I feel that voter registration solicitors should be held accountable to a higher standard. After these third-party organizations drop the voter registration forms theyve collected at the recorders office, Pouquette and her team run them through a statewide database to cross-check the identifying information on each form to the voter. However, Pouquette said shes noticed unusual signs with some of the forms shes received. I could immediately see that there were individual names in those forms that were people that I knew were already registered. But they were utilizing real peoples names with fake addresses and fake dates of birth, she said. One of them was our pediatrician. One of them was a local attorney who I had been an acquaintance of and had passed away for some time. One was a minor that I believe was around the age of 14. So it just became very clear that there was a problem. And then were getting five, six registration forms for the same person. As you can imagine, thats where we feel that theres an intentional effort to disrupt the system and identify vulnerabilities. Pouquette said theyve noticed more than 100 such anomalies in the registration process leading up to the 2022 primaries and have sent letters to each of the addresses indicated on the registration forms as required by law. I simply find it unfortunate that it is a requirement, because we know that were sending them to people that we have a strong belief to be nonexistent, she said. We should be working on credible, real registrations that we have in our county, as opposed to spending any time or resourceswhich is actually significant time and resourceson this type of activity. New Law Proposed Pouquette noted that after she noticed a pattern of fraudulent registration in 2016, she and her team began to work with the Arizona legislature to develop new laws to define parameters for regulation of voter registration solicitation. However, she said the efforts have been largely unsuccessful. She and her team, through the Flinn-Brown Fellowship, put together provisions that Arizona Senate Republicans included in legislation introduced in February 2022, SB 1629, which would hold third-party registration solicitors accountable. [The legislation] required that third-party registration solicitors turn in the forms within five days so that theres a time frame on accountability and any fraudulent form be subjected to a class-6 felony, Pouquette said. And as you can imagine, it was very controversial. The measure would also require anyone collecting more than 25 voter registration forms to identify themselves with the Arizona Secretary of States Office so the recorders office would have the ability to contact them for any issues with the forms they turned in. The legislation failed its third reading in March and is set to be reconsidered for another reading in the Senate. We dont want to diminish the work that third-party groups do to solicit voter registration. I believe that thats important and we should have groups that are able to do that. I just simply feel that we should place accountability measures that professionalize the process to provide that trust to the community. I simply felt that it was a step in the right direction for accountability, Pouquette said of the legislation. And I do believe that, again, the work thats put into make every single effort to not allow these [fraudulent] registrations to turn into ballotsis complicated and time-consuming, very, very straining on resources. And these are the staff and election officials that should diligently be working on administering a secure election and not dealing with criminal activity like that. A Few Bad Actors Pouquette hoped to clarify that not all third-party groups that register voters are disruptive to the election process. So even a few bad actors, as you can imagine, contribute such a negative light on the process overall, which affects my office and the public trust in the electoral process the other third-party groups that are making significant efforts to engage with voters and assist in the democratic process, she said. I always tell people they should be very proud to vote in Arizona, regardless of the negativity swirling around elections, because we work really hard. So I invite people in to see the process here from the ground floor to really understand what we do to verify and over verify and verify third time and audit. Those are just regular practices happening on a daily basis during the cycle here. I just really feel that that gets overlookedyou know how bold election officials are, how brave they are, and doing this kind of work every single day, despite the critical response. In a statement published June 13, Yuma County announced that Pouquette would be resigning from her role as an elected County Recorder, effective July 18, and pursuing a new opportunity within the Yuma County organization. Pouquette was first elected as County Recorder in 2008 and since that time has made remarkable advancements to voter registration and election administration in Yuma County, including integrating the two offices under her leadership in 2018. She has been a tireless advocate for Yuma County voters, election security and integrity, and process improvements, the statement says. This article was updated to include a Yuma County statement of June 13 announcing Pouquettes resignation. The allegations contained in the lawsuits are horrifying. A girl as young as 4 or 5 assaulted and raped by a foster parent even after the girl's mother noticed and reported that her child was covered in bruises. A boy age 11, allowed to leave the Erie County Youth Detention Center with a volunteer mentor who took the boy to his house and repeatedly sexually assaulted him. A girl, age 9 or 10, violated and raped for several years by her foster father until the foster mother discovered the girl's menstrual period had begun and asked that the child be removed from their home. A total of 42 lawsuits have been filed against Erie County government under the Child Victims Act, which in 2019 opened up the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases, according to information provided by the County Attorney's Office. The look-back window for filing allegations closed in August. . The human toll of these cases on abuse survivors is incalculable. But the public settlement costs could reach well into the millions of dollars. Erie County, which is self-insured, has been wading through the cases. Of the six in-house lawyers who handle county litigation, four are working on Child Victim's Act cases, said Jeremy Toth, first assistant county attorney overseeing the cases. The county has also hired an "insurance archaeology" firm, Arcina Risk Group, to hunt for old file boxes and determine if the county had prior insurance coverage or third-party agency contracts that would limit liability exposure on cases that go back decades. Mark Hatley, the firm's senior insurance archeologist working with Erie County, said that since starting work in March, the company has determined Erie County has been self insured since roughly 1980. It did have outside insurance prior to then. The problem is finding out what insurance the county had and when, he said. Uncovering that information means long shifts in the county storage graveyard, looking at documents stored on both paper and on microfilm, as well as digging through old legacy record-keeping systems that varied from department to department. In some cases, boxes of records were misplaced or destroyed. But that still leaves tens of thousands of stored records boxes to wade through, he said. The current task, as he described it: "How do you get 45,000 boxes to about 200?" His company has found, though, that about half of the county's Child Victims Act cases may be covered by some type of outside insurance. He estimated that within another month, his firm should be able to identify an insurance provider for about 80% of the cases that had outside insurance coverage prior to the county becoming self-insured. The cases naming Erie County government as a defendant are a fraction of all cases filed in Erie County. As previously reported, nearly 11,000 Child Victims Act lawsuits were filed in New York State over two years 10 times the number of cases filed in other states that opened similar windows suspending the statute of limitations in cases of sexual abuse of children. State courts in Western New York accounted for 1,474 of the filings, including 1,219 in Erie County third most in the state. Manhattan, which is New York County, had the most lawsuits with 2,606, followed by Brooklyn, or Kings County, with 1,620. Comparatively, the number of lawsuits naming Erie County government as a defendant is small. But the potential legal cost to the county is still a big X-factor. The majority of county cases 63% involve foster family sexual abuse allegations. Another quarter involve other abuse by staff of county-affiliated agencies, such as organizations that provide residential treatment, care and education for county youth. Finally, a handful of cases involve allegations against a church, a day school or specific Erie County employees. Among other findings, based on a Buffalo News analysis: Many cases are more than 30 years old. Although some cases date back to the 1960s, 23 cases more than half involve cases where abuse began in the 1970s or 1980s. A majority of cases involve pre-adolescent children. In more than half of the cases, plaintiffs stated that their sexual abuse began at age 10 or younger. In five of the cases, the abuse is alleged to have occurred at age 5 or younger. A majority of cases involve girls and 28% involved boys. Lawyers representing Child Victims Act plaintiffs argue that at the time these alleged incidents of sexual abuse occurred, the county's foster care system was broken and that officials were aware of the systemic failings that allowed children to fall victim to predators. "These end up being very dark cases," said Scott Duquin, a local lawyer with the national Herman Law firm, which specializes in sexual abuse cases. "Theres seemingly some structural deficiencies with how Erie County handles foster care." Despite repeated requests, Erie County administrators with the Department of Social Services were unable to provide The Buffalo News with information regarding the frequency of civil suits alleging child sexual abuse in more recent years, or information about how the county has changed its procedures or complaint investigations to prevent future abuse incidents from occurring. Spokesman Peter Anderson said the county is in the process of gathering that information. None of the county's Child Victims Act cases have been resolved and most are still in the early discovery phases, Toth said. They join many other county civil suits that were delayed in being moved through the courts because of the Covid-19 related court shutdowns. This year's county budget line for settlements and legal judgments against the county is $5 million, but the county is rolling over another $2.7 million in unspent legal funds from last year to boost that account line, said Deputy Budget Director Benjamin Swanekamp. To save money, the county is defending all cases in-house until the administration has a better sense of which cases the county will need to actively defend and which ones are another agency's responsibility, Toth said. While the courts are trying to process cases swiftly, he said, "I think some of them, certainly, will be lingering for years." The Buffalo News: Good Morning, Buffalo The smart way to start your day. We sift through all the news to give you a concise, informative look at the top headlines and must-read stories every weekday. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Expat Hong Kong Chef Opens Restaurant in the UK, Encourages Hongkongers to Be Positive While the economic outlook in Hong Kong is not too bright right now, loads of job opportunities with good work-life balance can be found in Britain, according to a chef who moved there from Hong Kong. Habibie Wong has opened a restaurant Pan.dora Meal Box which has started to make its name in Manchester. To his delight, Britons love all styles of fried-rice: Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Koreanall are very popular. Westerners actually take a fancy to Asian cuisine, just like Hongkongers favour Japanese foodit is a way to experience Asian food culture, he said. Habibie and his wife emigrated to the UK in July 2021. (Courtesy of Habibie Wong) Habibie, over 50 years old, was a home cuisine caterer for four years before his migration to the United Kingdom. After arriving in Britain he first worked for a Hamburger house. He said that, Its not always possible for a Hong Kong immigrant to find his old trade here. He continued, It is easier to get a job in the warehousing industry: picking and filling orders from stock, stock sorting, packing and warehouse keepingthere are lots of vacancies to be filled as many East Europeans left their jobs after Brexit. Also in great demand are truck drivers. Once you get a truck drivers licence you are going to be pressed about the volume rather than the lack of job opportunities. Habibie Wong enjoyed his old trade in Manchester. (Courtesy of Habibie Wong) However, in the UK there are no worries about the work volume, he explained: Unlike Hong Kong employers, British bosses dont encourage their staff to work overtime. Under the law of Statutory Employment Rights, employees work hours should not exceed 48 hours per week. Employers who coerce staff to work overtime are against the law. Because of this rule, when working for a restaurant, Habibie found himself having to stop half way through preparing food. He put the half-prepared food into the fridge to carry on next day. An employer in Britain always makes sure his staff leave work on time, as he is usually found guilty when staff sue him for exploitation. Hong Kongs overtime culture does not have a market in Britain and that would take a lot of pressure off Hong Kong immigrants. They can now enjoy more time for themselves or with their families after work, he observed. Habibie Wong has settled down in the UK for one year. His restaurant Pan.dora meal box is on its right track. (Courtesy of Habibie Wong) By contrast, theres a suffocating pressure permeating Hong Kong nowadays. The employed are worried of being fired. Employers worry about losing money. Parents fret for their kids education. Habibie feels that he made the right choice to live in Britain, as it is a much more relaxing life in every way. From his point of view, the two major obstacles to new Hong Kong immigrants are the change of language and job hunting. Some feel restricted by their limited English in communication. Others hope to find their old trade in a new environment and would rather wait when none is available, which in the end can drain their savings. Habibie Wong worked for a burger shop before opening his own restaurant. (Courtesy of Habibie Wong) This obstacle can be dismantled, Habibie said. So long as the newcomers can humble themselves to look at jobs not in their comfort zone. It is not too hard to find a job and make a living in Britain. Likewise, so long as one does not shy away from opening up honestly to make friends with people around, it is not so tough to live in Britain, he explained. Based on his personal experience, Habibie encouraged his friends back in Hong Kong not to dwell too much on what emigration would bring, Roads are opened up by ourselves and there will be solutions after you come. A lot of Hong Kong people are already here. You will not be lonely if you open up for new friends. He was in the home cuisine catering business for just four years before his move to Britain but he was deeply in love with the industry. He made a lot of friends in a chat group that preaches good food. The family-like warmth in Britain, made him determined to stay in the catering business. Habibie Wongs old private kitchen in Hong Kong. (Courtesy of Habibie Wong) Habibie Wong found people in the UK like all styles of fried rice. (Courtesy of Habibie Wong) Now he has opened Pandora with two other partners and he has taken up the chief chef role. The restaurants opening drew in a lot of Hong Kong immigrants with signature Hong Kong flavours, like satay beef, deep fried chicken drumstick, Japanese instant noodle special, stir-fried rice noodle with beef, and so on. This is a place of your own, you can do whatever you want and change the menu offering new dishes anytime. You cant get this joy working for a boss. The satisfaction obtained drove me to open my own restaurant here he said. Habibie Wong encourages Hongkongers in the UK to take a step forward, and to be positive.(Courtesy of Habibie Wong) Habibie encouraged other Hongkongers in the UK and those who plan to emigrate to the UK, I want to say, there will always be a way out in the UK, dont worry, as long as you are willing to take the first step! A man assaults a woman at a restaurant in the northeastern city of Tangshan, China, on June 10, 2022, in this screen grab taken from surveillance footage obtained by Reuters. (Reuters) Footage of Women Being Brutally Attacked Sparks Outrage in China Surveillance footage of men assaulting women at a restaurant in Chinas northeastern city of Tangshan has unleashed a flood of outrage on Chinese social media. Footage from a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan in northern Hebei province, time stamped 2:40 a.m. Friday, showed one of the men approaching a table where a party of four women were seated and placing his hand on a womans back. She rebuffed him several times before he flew into a rage and slapped her, prompting her to fight back. A brawl ensued, with a group of men entering the restaurant and brutally attacking the woman and her dining partners, including shoving them to the ground, kicking them, and even throwing a chair at them. Footage taken from outside the restaurant also showed the attackers dragging the woman who had rebuffed the mans advances out of the establishment and beating her viciously while most passersby and patrons looked on. 5 men in Tangshan (), Hebei province, brutally assaulted a woman in a restaurant after she turned down unwanted attention from one of them. The woman suffered serious injuries, and the attack has sparked furious demands to address misogyny in China. video part #1 1/n pic.twitter.com/5ssWohzWEt Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) June 11, 2022 Photographs of her lying on a stretcher, with a swollen and bloodied face, as well as footage of the attack, went viral online. All nine suspects were arrested Saturday, according to a statement by authorities issued on microblogging platform Weibo. Two women had sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were receiving treatment in a hospital. Their condition was reported to be stable. Two others were slightly injured. The footage of what happened both inside and outside the restaurant was just under five minutes. The Weibo user who was among the first to post the videos said in a post that it was heartbreaking to watch. Does that mean that dining out is so unsafe now, do we have to bring men with us everywhere we go? the post read. (These men) are no different from thugs. A group of men assault a woman outside a restaurant in the northeastern city of Tangshan, China, on June 10, 2022, in this screen grab taken from surveillance footage obtained by Reuters. (Reuters/Screenshot via The Epoch Times) When reached, the user declined to reveal the source of the videos, stating that it was inconvenient to do so. By Sunday, the video of footage filmed inside the restaurant had garnered over 68 million views, while the footage showing the graphic assault outside the restaurant had been taken down. Social media users have condemned the attack and criticized Tangshan police for being slow in arresting the suspects. Im a woman, and I have a daughter, said one Weibo user with the handle BaobaomaoDaren. I wonderas Im creating value for society and spreading positive energy, will this society protect me and my child? Earlier this year, a viral video of a woman being chained to a wall in a hut drew public backlash after authorities initially denied that she was a victim of human trafficking. She was later found to have been sold as a bride. Reuters contributed to this report. Ukrainian soldiers patrol next to a destroyed Russian tank in the village of Lukianivka near Kyiv, on March 30, 2022. (Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images) Former British Soldier Killed Fighting Russian Troops in Ukraine A former British soldier has been shot and killed in Ukraine, his family said. Jordan Gatley was named in a social media tribute post by his father, who described him as a hero who will forever be in our hearts. Dean Gatley said his son had left the British Army in March to continue his career as a soldier in other areas. He went to Ukraine to help after careful consideration, his father added, saying that on Friday the family received the devastating news of his death. Mr. Gatley said his son had been been shot and killed in the city of Severodonetsk, in eastern Ukraine. In the Facebook post, he said: After careful consideration, he went to the Ukraine to help. We have had several messages from his team out there telling us of his wealth of knowledge, his skills as a soldier and his love of his job. His team say they all loved him, as did we, and he made a massive difference to many peoples lives, not only soldiering, but also by training the Ukrainian forces. Jordan and his team were so proud of the work they were doing and he often told me that the missions they were going on were dangerous, but necessary. He loved his job and we are so proud of him. He truly was a hero and will forever be in our hearts. A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: We are supporting the family of a British man who has died in Ukraine. In April, tributes were paid to Scott Sibley, a British military veteran reportedly killed in Ukraine while fighting against Russian forces. At that time the Foreign Office confirmed a British national had died in Ukraine. By Aine Fox Federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Carolyn Bennett speaks during a news conference after British Columbia was granted an exemption to decriminalize possession of some illegal drugs for personal use, in Vancouver on May 31, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck) Gerry Bowler: What the Addictions Minister Gets Wrong About Harm Reduction Commentary Carolyn Bennett, federal minister of mental health and addictions, recently announced a change to Canadas policies on illegal drug use. As of Jan. 1, 2023, a three-year experimental period will be inaugurated in British Columbia whereby small quantities of substances such as heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and MDMA (ecstasy) will be allowed for personal use. Under this new plan, those found with these drugs will not be arrested, charged, or have their drugs seized. Instead, a helpful police officer or social worker will offer them information on available health and social services. This move came as a surprise to some with knowledge of a similar decriminalization undertaken in Oregon. In that state, possession of such drugs is penalized only by a maximum US$100 fine, which can be waived if the person calls a counselling hotline for a health assessment. Of the 2,000 tickets issued by police, only 19 ended with someone requesting help with addiction. Half those given citations never even showed up in court. Most importantly, deaths from drug overdoses have increased as have opioid overdoses treated by emergency rooms. Carolyn Bennett cannot have been unaware of these uncomfortable statistics, but she says, We are doing this to save lives, but also to give people using drugs their dignity and choices. I suppose I care as much as the next citizen about addicts dignity, but I wonder how the minister can ignore those victims of personal choice not mentioned in her harm reduction policy. I refer to the river of blood on which cocaine, meth, and heroin float on their way to Canadian drug users. Before the next Ontario lawyer bends to snort a line, or the next Nova Scotian trucker pops a pill, or the next B.C. junkie searches for a vein, they should spare a thought for the atrocities that have made it possible for them to exercise their choice in recreation. Maybe they, and Ms. Bennett, should think about those buses hijacked in San Fernando, Mexico, in 2011. The passengers were kidnapped. The women were raped and then killed. The male victims were forced to fight to the death with other hostages, who were given knives, hammers, machetes, and clubs. The survivors were recruited as hitmen for the Los Zetas drug cartel. Authorities eventually recovered 193 bodies. In Durango and Tamaulipas, 450 bodies were uncovered; five headless bodies in Acapulco; a mass grave containing 250 skulls in Veracruz; 52 burnt to death in Monterrey; nine bodies hanging from a bridge in Nuevo Laredo. Reporters murdered. Politicians killed. Prosecutors and judges assassinated. Over a quarter of a million Mexicans dead at the hands of narco-cartels since 2006 so that North American drug consumers can enjoy their momentary rush. Drug money has fuelled vicious revolutionary movements such as FARC in Colombia, Perus Shining Path, and ISIS in the Middle East. Death squads linked to drug gangs assassinated the president of Haiti and gunned down a Paraguayan prosecutor on his honeymoon. Violence for control of the trade in cocaine, methamphetamines, and fentanyl destabilizes democracies in the Western Hemisphere. In North America, drug gangs wage war on each other and on innocent bystanders. Whole communities fall plague to opioid addiction and tens of thousands die from drug overdoses annually. Urban streets and alleys from Edmonton to Miami are the homes of shambling zombies with empty eyes and shopping carts full of rags. Despite a string of arrests of drug lordsEl Chapo in Mexico, El Huevo in San Diego, El Pitt in Colombia, and Torontos own Tse Chi Lopthe trade and the violence continues unabated. It continues because there is a market in Canada and the United States for their products, a market that consists of our fellow citizens who, Im sure, wouldnt throw a grenade into a childs birthday party but who dont much care that their drug use pays for people who do. There are many good reasons for making some choices illegal. These drugs dont make you smarter, or kinder. They dont make you treat your neighbour any better or help you to contribute to the community; rather, they suck billions out of the economy, ravage brains, destroy bodies, and ruin families. Instead of making it easier for people to buy illicit substances while preserving their dignity, why not choke off the demand for such drugs? Direct enforcement toward detecting common consumption. Fashionable Ontario matrons, Saskatchewan teachers, and Alberta oil rig workers might think twice about the harm they are doing themselves and the planet if they thought there was a chance they might be featured doing the perp walk on the evening news. Let the government make it as hard to buy ecstasy or fentanyl as it is to buy a handgun, or as shameful as smoking in a restaurant, or using the wrong pronoun. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Flowers, toys, and other objects to remember the victims of the deadliest U.S. school mass shooting resulting in the death of 19 children and two teachers, at a memorial at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 30, 2022. (Veronica G. Cardenas/Reuters) GOP Lawmakers Say Faith, Family, and Moral Values Are Answers to Gun Violence Republican lawmakers say social issues that drive individuals to commit mass shootings can be addressed by restoring traditional faith, family, and moral values. For some Republicans, the effort to restore these values should start at school. Our children are suffering, and we face a mental health crisis in our country because the radical left has spent decades removing God from our school and our society, Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) said during a Second Amendment Caucus June 8 press conference. For decades, weve been teaching our children that they came from nowhere, and they are here for no purpose. Young men need fathers at home, and so do our daughters. Our country must be guided by our Judeo-Christian faith. The Second Amendment Caucus will continue to fight to defend our Second Amendment rights. And we will continue to speak out about what really ails our country. We need to go back to God, people. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who co-chairs the Second Amendment Caucus, took to Twitter to say Millers statement on what children were being taught was so true. We need to get God back in our schools! Boebert wrote. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference in the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 27, 2021. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), in a June 8 press conference, pointed out how schools in the United States have changed compared to the past, when mass school shootings werent a problem. We had AR-15s in the 1960s. We didnt have those mass school shootings, Scalise said. Now, I know its something that some people dont want to talk about, we actually had prayer in school during those days. We had other things going on in our society where we took a different approach to our young kids. And lets look at that. These are tough conversations we should be having that were not having about why were seeing more young kids go astray. On June 9, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) took to Twitter to point out the importance of prayer. Before prayers were eliminated in schools, we didnt have these kinds of mass shootings, Gohmert wrote. Gun debate in the United States has been reignited following the Uvalde tragedy, when a shooter killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. On June 9, the House passed a red-flag gun control measure by a 224202 largely party-line vote. The legislation is now headed to the Senate, where it has little chance of passing. Some experts have said that gun control wont end mass shootings in the United States. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) joins a Republican congressional delegation at the southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas, on April 25, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) shared their views last month. America is failing our youngest generations from decades of rejecting good moral values and teachings, Greene wrote on Twitter. We dont need more gun control. We need to return to God. Cruz, in a speech at the National Rife Association three days after the Uvalde shooting, said it was important to look at some social phenomena and how they may contribute to gun violence. Tragedies like the events of this week are a mirror forcing us to ask hard questions, demanding that we see where our culture is failing, he said. Broken families, declining church attendance, social media bullying, desensitizing the act of murder in video games, and opioid abuse were among several issues that required more attention, according to Cruz. John Calvin Thomas, a syndicated columnist, author, and radio commentator, wrote that teaching ancient values will help to end gun violence, as opposed to banning certain guns, according to his recent op-ed published by The Epoch Times. Teaching moral absolutes and faith produced one kind of person. Failure to teach these values, in fact their opposite, has predictably created a different type of human in modern times, the type who shoots up schools and kills children, he wrote. Restoring those time-tested values is more likely to produce the different reaction we claim to want, but are unable to get by passing more laws. A California-legal AR-15 style rifle is displayed for sale at the Crossroads of the West Gun Show at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, Calif., on June 5, 2021. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images) Gun Rights Groups Respond to Senators Bipartisan Gun Control Framework The National Rifle Association (NRA) and Gun Owners of America (GOA) both issued statements Sunday after a bipartisan group of senators announced theyd reached an agreement on a gun control and safety package. Here we go again, Republican legislators compromising your rights and getting nothing in return, GOA wrote in a Twitter post, referring to proposals in the framework deal. Federal dollars to bribe your state legislators into enacting unconstitutional red flag laws, which could allow a court to seize your weapons, without any due process, simply based on anonymous tips. It added that the bill would entail wait periods and extensive review for those under 21 seeking to exercise their Second Amendment rights we will not allow the government to make those who can vote and fight our wars second class citizens. The proposal, which has the backing of 10 Republicans in the Senate, includes initiatives to support state crisis intervention orders, an enhanced review process for gun buyers under the age of 21, expansions on various mental health programs, a ban on straw purchases, and other measures. Notably, the framework bill includes a red flag provision giving resources to states and tribes to create and administer laws that help ensure deadly weapons are kept out of the hands of individuals whom a court has determined to be a significant danger to themselves or others, according to a news release from the senators on Sunday. The NRA, meanwhile, said that it is committed to real solutions to help stop violence in our communities. We encourage our elected officials to provide more resources to secure our schools, fix to our severely broken mental health system and support law enforcement, according to a statement released to Fox News. As is our policy, the NRA does not take positions on frameworks. We will make our position known when the full text of the bill is available for review, the NRA added. But overall, the group will continue to oppose any effort to insert gun control policies, initiatives that override constitutional due process protections and efforts to deprive law-abiding citizens of their fundamental right to protect themselves and their loved ones into this or any other legislation, the statement continued. President Joe Biden, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and various gun control activists lauded lawmakers for the bipartisan agreement. Biden and Democrats signaled that while they support the bill, they want even more gun-control policies enacted. Today, we are announcing a commonsense, bipartisan proposal to protect Americas children, keep our schools safe, and reduce the threat of violence across our country, 20 senators said in a news release on Sunday. Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities. The measure does not include more controversial gun control measures pushed by Democrats such as bans on semiautomatic rifles or magazines that hold 10 rounds or more, or raising the age to purchase certain firearms like AR-15-style rifles from 18 to 21. Todays announcement of a bipartisan gun-safety framework is a good first step to ending the persistent inaction to the gun violence epidemic that has plagued our country and terrorized our children for far too long, Schumer said in a statement. Once the text of this agreement is finalized, I will put this bill on the floor as soon as possible so that the Senate can act quickly to advance gun-safety legislation. Hongkongers in UK Discuss Yellow Economy and Revitalization of Hong Kong Civil Society Overseas Established in May, The Overseas Hong Kong Media Professionals Association (AOHKMP), held a two-day seminar on June 11 and June 12 in London, England on Rebuilding Hong Kong Civil Society Overseas. Shi Shan, an Epoch Times, Hong Kong political commentator, arrived in London early. Shi was invited by Jospeh Lian Yizheng, the former editor-in-chief of Hong Kong Economics Journal, to undertake an exclusive interview/discussion to give Hongkongers a sneak preview of the event. Lian explained the purpose and significance of the event, while discussing the inheritance and development of Hong Kong culture overseas. He particularly focused on the importance of revitalizing the Yellow Economics Circle. Yellow Economic Circle means businesses that were supporters of the democratic movement during the protests in 2019. Many people participated in the event. Lots of relocated Hong Kong media professionals and commentators were there, including former Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) English host Steve Vines; ex television screenwriter, commentator, Stephen Shiu Yeuk-yuen; scholar Simon Shen Xu-hui, and former RTHK radio host Tsang Chi-ho. They all gathered in the UK for the Rebuilding Hong Kong Civil Society Overseas conference. Fighting for Democracy While Establishing a Self-Sufficient Economic System Lian Yizheng said during the interview, that from the number of people who signed up online, the 2-day seminar was very well received. Everyday the foot traffic is between 1000 and 1500 attendees. Although we have no idea if any agents sent by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are taking up seats, the event lasts over six hours each day. This event was not a simple symposium. It was mentioned in the preview that there would be commercial activities. Lian Yizheng explained that the concept of the service arose due to the venue being far away form commercial centers. For the convenience of the participants, the organizer would offer two days worth of food supplies and snacks. Additionally, for the ease of taking care of the children who came along on the trip, the organizer would also buy small items to keep them entertained so they wouldnt be too bored. Such commercial activities had led to questions of whether the association had organized a carnival. To this, Lian said straightforwardly, There is a deeper purpose of these activities. The concept is to encourage merchants to support the Yellow Economics Circle, during the anniversary of June 12. Lian hoped, while fighting for democracy, they could also develop a self-sufficient economic system. Lian Yizheng mentioned specifically that, during the Hongkongers anti-extradition movement in 2019, yellow shop merchants (pro movement) protected protesters during the worst and most violent time; they constantly provided food and drinks. After the movement was over, these yellow merchants were suppressed and harassed by police and gangsters. Thats why a lot of the yellow shops were closed or even moved away from Hong Kong. Lian was very grateful to the yellow shops supporting protesters. The mission of the Overseas Hong Kong Media Professionals Association also considered exiled Hongkongers, and whether they could be like the Jewish people. Jews inherit, and maintain their own cultural and national bloodlines. He also shared his hopes of Hongkongers owning the resilience of the Jewish culture and its economic strength. Jews had left their home for 2000 years. After 80 generations of inheritance, they could still preserve their own culture and recognition; at last, they could use the opportunity to fulfill their dream and return to rebuild their own country. Most importantly, they kept their strength and culture, Said Lian. Lian admitted that other than the interference of CCP, there was also some of his own negligence which led up to the misunderstanding about the event. Lian recalled the initial promotion was less than perfect, which caused the misunderstanding of him organizing a carnival. Lian said that it was a wake up call, reminding everyone, that they should not, in anyway, treat or promote the event on June 11 and 12 as a carnival. Stepping on the Cultural Inheritance to Avoid Losing a Generation Shi Shan personally experienced anguish. During the 1989 Democracy Movement, a group of mainland Chinese students (youngsters) arrived overseas. After 30 or so years, only a few groups had weathered the storm. How can Hongkongers learn from their lessons? Lian Yizheng openly admitted, there was a pioneer who studied overseas and published a book in the 1970s. The book talked about this issue. Almost all of the exiled movements or overseas movements had disappeared in one generation. This is terrifying. He could put forward plenty of historical evidence. He therefore called on Hong Kong exiles to seriously pondered on the strength of inheritance. How powerful will the strength be if all exiled communities pull together? It will for certain not disappear after a generation. Every minute counts. CCPs Divisive Tactics Caused Distrust Among Overseas Groups Form the perspectives of cultural research, She Shan explored why Chinese students who went overseas due to 8964 Tiananmen movement, even established groups such as the Civil Human Rights Front, The Democratic Alliance, couldnt remain after 30 years. He thought one of the reasons was because of CCPs infiltration, which led to increasing distrust between people. Lian mentioned that Falun Gong is also one of the groups that has been persecuted by the CCP for 23 years. He discovered that the most significant difference between democratic movement organizations and Falun Gong, was that Falun Gong is a cultivation practice, which has spiritual core values and strength. Hence, their ability to distinguish between lies and facts and avoid being divided. She Shan reminded Hongkongers, Those tactics of infiltration by the CCP are effective. Whether you are local or overseas Hongkongers, you must remain sharp-minded so that you wont fall into their circle. Yellow Economic Circle is also a place where CCP will hit hard, it will definitely happen. Lian agreed that he hoped friends from the movement would understand the mission of his event, and development of the Yellow Economic Circle. He explained, when someone questions if 6.12 is a serious event, and if it should have a commercial element, let me say, we are not merely using the event to make profits. On the contrary, we want to develop an economic foundation in the movement, in order to support the development of the movement. As for it being accused of being supported by foreign powers, accepting U.S. dollars and British pounds, Lian said,This is not so, if we took money, the direction and basis of the movement would be easily influenced and limited by the interests other countries. We want to be economically independent. Hong Kongese Is Culturally Diverse and Different From Cantonese In the interview, She Shan and Lian Yizheng discussed the characteristics of the Hong Kong culture. Lian thought that Hong Kong culture is diverse. It contains the deeply rooted Chinese culture, as well as over a hundred years of western traditions; and dont forget the American influence following the UKs departure in 1997. With the intent of television in the 1960s and 1970s, Japanese culture had also influenced Hong Kong through TV drama series. The cultural origins and composition of Hong Kong were diversified, not singularly composed. Lian mentioned how Hong Kong had also inherited the culture of southern China. The cultural factors of ancient Chinese, Cantonese itself retained a lot of elements from the ancient scholars. Once Cantonese arrived Hong Kong, new elements and cultural connotations were added, particularly the witty vocabulary of young people in use today. She Shen deeply understood, that Hongkongers language had become a culture of its own. Hong Kongese is different from Cantonese. Its becoming more difficult for local and overseas Hongkongers to communicate After the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law, more Hongkongers emigrated overseas. Can overseas Hongkongers still remain in contact with local Hongkongers? She Shan is worried that the recent talk of the suspension of Telegram by the Hong Kong government might just be the first step. Later, they could ban Whatsapp or other communication software programs. Users could get arrested. Will the communication be increasingly difficult between local and overseas Hongkongers? Lian shared: before the reform and opening up in the 1960s and 1970s, it was impossible to circulate information between China and overseas. They had to use all kinds of channels to communicate. People overseas would listen to the central radio news, then peel off the layers in order to grasp the true situation in China. He also worried, if the CCP becomes more left wing, it would become more challenging for information circulation. Overseas Hongkongers might then need to rely on gossip from those coming from Hong Kong in order to learn the truth. Nina Wong contributed to this article. Hope for Civil Public Discourse Restored in San Diego County After Commissions Failed Attempt to Remove Pastor Commentary For months, Ive watched closely as the San Diego County Human Relations Commission (HRC) has struggled to manage conflict between its members regarding differing religious beliefs. Watching these events unfold has been dishearteningespecially since the sole purpose of the HRC is to promote positive human relations, respect, and the integrity of every individual, regardless of any protected class they may fall under, including religion. However, where theres conflict, theres opportunity to grow. Its time to reflect on what weve learned from the HRCs conflict and focus on what we can do moving forward to ensure people of all backgrounds and beliefs can thrive in our society. Before we begin, let me briefly update you on the HRCs actions. Two months ago, I was saddened to see some members of the HRC condemn the verses of the Bible as hate speech when spoken by my appointee, Pastor Dennis Hodges, at a commission meeting and, further, vote to amend their bylaws to allow for the removal of any commissioner for making comments that his or her colleagues deem objectionable. In my previous op-ed on March 30, I discussed how the HRCs inability to tolerate differing beliefs among themselves wasnt only antithetical to our countrys values of freedom of speech and religion, but it was also in direct opposition to the commissions purpose. At the board of supervisors meeting on April 5, 2021, the board, the HRC, and the public shared a fruitful conversation on how to best move forward and voted to approve the bylaws under one important condition: The bylaws wouldnt be retroactively applied to past grievances, in the spirit of helping the commission move past this conflict. Despite our agreement, several HRC commissioners chose to not move forward with a clean slate and a spirit of collaboration. Upon those commissioners request, the HRC called a special meeting on June 9 to vote on the removal of Hodges from the commission. The motion to remove Hodges failed, and hell maintain his seat on the HRC. Im hopeful after the June 9 vote because it proves theres still room for civility, respect, and tolerance in San Diego Countys public discourse. Heres how we can best move forward and ensure another situation like this doesnt occur again. First, we must learn how to not only tolerate, but respect those who disagree with us. There will always be people who we disagree with and may even dislike. What defines us is how we handle this conflict. Purging and isolating people with differing beliefs when their message doesnt fit our desired narrative isnt how we advance as a society. A competition of ideas produces the best results for society. San Diego County is home to a beautifully diverse population, with a wide variety of cultures, races, religions, and ways of thinking. County employees, including county supervisors such as myself, dont get to pick and choose who they serve. Appointed commissions, such as the HRC, must keep in mind that respecting differing viewpoints isnt just a choice: Its their obligation as a public entity. Next, the board of supervisors must remember its responsibility to mitigate financial risk to taxpayer dollars when appointed commissions provoke potential legal action. If the HRC had voted to remove Hodges, a discrimination lawsuit might have been filed against the County of San Diego. And who pays for the Countys exorbitant litigation costs and settlements? All of us. Is it fair that taxpayers would be bearing the burden for actions taken by unelected commissioners who couldnt be held accountable by the public? These are funds that we should be spending to fix our roads, build libraries, expand internet access, and improve our communitiesnot to tear each other down. Thankfully, the county dodged such a lawsuit this past week. But moving forward, its crucial that the board of supervisors maintain closer oversight over citizen commissionsand take action if the threat of a lawsuit arises. When considering the HRCs mission of promoting positive human relations, respect, and integrity in our communities, this commission has great potential to do good in our communities. I hope that, with these past few months behind them, the HRC can become a leading example in our county of how people overcome their differences to focus on what unites us, rather than divides us. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Can Hong Kong ever mourn June 4 again? Ng Man Yuen cannot answer this question. This will be decided by the government. If it says okay, it is okay. If it says no, then no. (Song Beelong / The Epoch Times) How Can the June 4 Memorial Candlelight Be Kept Alive? Under suppression, there was no candlelight in this past June 4, what is next? This year marks the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre on June 4, 1989. In the past, on June 4 every year, tens of thousands, at times, hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong people would come to the Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, to participate in the candlelight vigil hosted by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (referred to as the Alliance hereafter). However, Hong Kong has changed and there was no candlelight in the Victoria Park this past June 4. In fact, since 2020, the HK government had rejected applications for Victoria Park June 4 vigils three years in a row, citing restrictions due to the pandemic. In the past year, people still dressed up in black, turned on cell phones lights and walked silently around the outside of the Victoria Park, despite police force nearby. This year, the situation has further deteriorated Under pressure from the newly imposed Hong Kong National Security Law, The Alliance, traditional host of the Victoria Park June 4 annual vigil, had disbanded. Most of its core members are now behind bars. No one from the traditional pro-democracy camp applied for any activity for the day. Even the annual Memorial Mass hosted by the Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese discontinued, for fear of violating the national security law. Hong Kong could hardly breath in such suffocating atmosphere, how to carryon and preserve the little candlelight? Is It Possible to Pay Tribute on June 4 in Public in the Future? On June 4, 2020, many people still turned up to pay their respects. The police arrested dozens of pro-democracy activists and charged them with participating in an unauthorized assembly or inciting others to knowingly participate in an unauthorized assembly. On June 4, 2021, Chow Hang-tung, the former vice chairman of the Alliance was arrested and sentenced to jail for inciting others to knowingly participate in an unauthorized assembly, though many people still managed to walk around the Victoria Park with cell phone lights on that night. Such scene could no longer be seen this year. Citizens showing up in Causeway Bay or near the park were stopped and body-searched by the police, if anyone dressed or looked suspicious to their eyes. Is it possible to hold vigils on June 4 in Hong Kong in the future? Ng Man-yuen, former chairman of the League of Social Democrats (LSD), said it is difficult to know what is illegal in Hong Kong now, as the authorities like to keep people guessing. They wont tell you clearly, you wont have a definite answer. Even if you call the police or the national security department, they wont answer you. In his opinion, based on what is happening now, the answer is probably no. Lam Siu-pan, formerly an active member of the Alliance, agreed. Light a candle in public? Under the suppression few people would have the gut to do it. The current political atmosphere, as a result of the security law, makes it very difficult for people to step out to mark the occasion publicly. What Is Behind the Extinguished Candlelight? In fact, in recent years, not only candlelight vigils of June 4 have disappeared, rallies and parades in general have all disappeared from Hong Kong. Lam Siu-pan believes this had symbolized that Hong Kong is no longer the free city it used to be. Even in mainland China, he said, there could still be demonstrations sometimes, whereas in Hong Kong, even street stalls disappeared. (Hong Kong) is no different from any other city in the mainland; it actually seems worse off, he added. Lam said, for this regime, if people dont see it, it didnt happen. Without the candlelights, there was no June 4 Tiananmen Massacre 1989. Ng Man-yuen said that the loss of freedom in Hong Kong did not begin with banning the June 4 vigils. In the past few years, there has been no room for any voice to challenge, or even question, the authorities. Is It a Crime to Mourn June 4? Under the national security law, Hong Kong can no longer tolerate the commemoration of Tiananmen June 4. Chief Executive Carrie Lam was asked earlier during press conference whether it was illegal to mourn (the victims of Tiananmen) in Victoria Park on June 4. She did not respond directly, saying that no matter what the purpose was, any public activity in Hong Kong must abide by the law, including compliance with national security laws and social distance measures. Lam said that the Tiananmen Massacre is one of the indelible crimes of the CCP and a stain on its history. He noted that even Tong Ka-wah, senior counsel and politician in Hong Kong, said that it was not a crime to hold memorial activities for June 4. Yet Simply lighting a candle can get you into trouble now. You can be accused of incitement. People can be charged with such crimes as trivial as violating the pandemic restrictions or as serious as incitement if they are seen holding memorial activities in public. Ng also said that with the current suppressions, thinking (about June 4) is already a crime and so is writing, not to say holding a memorial activity. He lamented that just telling the truth may be a crime in the future in Hong Kong. What Is the Significance of Remembering June 4? There has been different opinions regarding the annual June 4 commemoration. Some thought that the slogan building a democratic China has nothing to do with Hong Kong. For Ng Man-yuen, however, the annual event is not only a memorial, but also a big slap in the face of the CCP. Further, he believes that the annual memorial is a great inspiration to human rights activists who were struggling in China. More importantly, the event unite people and remind us not to forget. For Lam Siu-pan, June 4 memorial marked his political enlightenment; he first attended the event in 2009, and later became a volunteer for the Alliance. With the Alliance disbanded and no more candlelight vigil in Victoria Park, he had some feelings to share. Without the 1989 pro-democracy movement, many Hongkonger would become the so-called Hong Kong pigs (politically apathetic). The students in Beijing at that time had touched the hearts of many Hongkongers, who awakened politically and came to understand how terrible the CCP dictatorship can be. He noted that in the past 30 years, Hong Kong people are the most concerned about the June 4 massacre, From a macro perspective, Hong Kong people have a historical or moral responsibility to continue to care about June 4. Although the massacre took place in Beijing, Lam Siu-pan believes the incident has prompted Hong Kong peoples democratic thinking, political awakening, even social development, and the subsequent Umbrella and Anti-extradition Movements. The seed of democracy from Beijing has been kept alive in Hong Kong all the way. Social movements in Hong Kong are somehow related to the June 4 incident in 1989. Had it not been for the June 4 incident, the social activities and the development of political parties would all have been different. Internationally, it also had a ripple effect. Although June 4 did not change Beijing, it did awaken people of (Soviet) European countries. And as the West learnt what happened on that day, it did also influenced their diplomacy with China. So How Do We Keep the Candlelight Alive? June 4 candlelight vigil, which has never been seen in China, may not continue in Hong Kong in the future. However, Ng Man-yuen said, there will always be June 4 (in the calendar), and the fact will always exist. He believes it is very difficult to erase the incident from history. Lam Siu-pan said what the CCP wants now is to stop people talking about the June 4 incident, so the world will forget about it. In the long run, future generations in Hong Kong would not be much different from youth in the mainland. The CCP wants to achieve this. To preserve the tradition of the June 4 candlelights, it may be necessary to go underground. It may only be possible to bring the truth to the future generations in the privacy of their own homes. When Chow Hang-tung, former vice chairman of the Alliance walked into the prisoners box in court on May 31, she raised her hands and shouted, Dont forget June 4, persevere to the end. Ng Man-yuen shared this on social media with hashtag price to pay for telling the truth. Ng believes Hong Kong people will not forget, they will have their own ways to remember. And everything is in their hearts. Candlelight vigil is only a ritual. More importantly, we need to hold on to the candlelight in our hearts, he said. Illegal Aliens Set to Get Drivers Licenses in Massachusetts Illegal alien residents of Massachusetts have won their long-waged bid for drivers licenses from the Bay State. On June 9, the Senate followed a vote by the House two days earlier to override Gov. Charlie Bakers recent veto of a bill to issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens. The Massachusetts law, entitled the Work and Family Mobility Act, will go into effect on July 1, 2023. Under it, illegal aliens living in Massachusetts will still have to pass both a written and road test before obtaining a license. Baker, a Republican, said in a statement that he opposed the measure out of concern that it could potentially lead to noncitizens registering to vote. In a statement explaining his veto, Baker also said he was concerned with tasking the states registry of motor vehicle workers with the job of deciphering foreign documents and their authenticity. The RMV does not have the expertise or ability to verify the validity of many types of documents from other countries, Baker said. Five Senate Democrats joined the three Senate Republicans who voted against the override. State Sen. Bruce Tarr, one of the Republicans to vote against it, said he sees giving illegal residents drivers licenses as a message that not only is it okay to come to America and break the law, but that anyone who does so will be rewarded for doing so. But the concerns werent enough to thwart the Democratic-nominated state Legislature. The House voted 11936 and the Senate 328 to override Baker. The measure garnered the backing of the Massachusetts Major City Chiefs of Police and a majority of the states sheriffs and district attorneys. They and the bills supporters hail the move to give illegal citizens drivers licenses a move towards making roadways safer throughout America. Massachusetts state Sen. John Keenan, a Democrat, said hes hoping that as more states grant drivers licenses to their undocumented residents, it will lead to a nationwide movement. There are already 16 states that issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. The passage of the bill is historic even for a liberal state such as Massachusetts. For 15 years, immigration advocates unsuccessfully pushed Massachusetts to issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens. In the course of the last year, the residents themselves have held large, bold protests demanding drivers licenses, many holding signs outside of the statehouse bearing messages written in a foreign language. Last year, at a protest outside of the state capital in Boston, Yamila Ruiz, a native and legal resident of Argentina, spoke about the trauma she experienced when she was 12 of watching her father being arrested for driving without a valid U.S. license. We had to live through the agonizing fear he was going to be deported and that we would never see him again, she said. There are an estimated 200,000 illegal immigrants currently living in Massachusetts. In February, 19 mayors from around the state, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, signed a letter endorsing licenses for what the letter referred to as undocumented workers. All Boston and Massachusetts adults deserve access to drivers licenses regardless of immigration status, the mayors said in a joint statement. I support the Family Mobility Act because it will make all of us safer. At age 68, he has spent nearly six decades trying to forget what happened to him in the classroom of his fifth-grade teacher, Arthur F. Werner, in the Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda Union Free School District. It happened to me at least a dozen times that year, recalled the man, one of 35 former Werner students who filed Child Victims Act lawsuits accusing Werner of molesting them in the school. Ken-Ton taxpayers, not accused abuser, on hook for $17.5 million settlement Arthur F. Werner is the retired teacher accused of molesting 35 boys, but it is Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District taxpayers who will pay the price for his alleged crimes. We had this weird rule in the school that you couldnt put your hands in your pockets. Every time Werner saw me reach toward one of my pockets, hed call me up to the front of the room, in front of the whole class. He would literally sew my pants pockets shut, the man told The Buffalo News in an interview. While he did that, he would put his hand inside my pants, under the guise of protecting me from the sewing needle. He would touch me, molest me as I stood there in front of the whole class. Most kids would look down at their desks. A few would watch. Those incidents were humiliating and scary, the man said. Every bit as painful were the vicious beatings he said he got on a regular basis from school and neighborhood bullies who had either seen or heard about the encounters in Werners classroom. There was a group of them who beat on me every chance they got, the man recalled, his voice breaking into sobs. They made my life a pure hell. What Werner did to me destroyed my life. I still have flashbacks and nightmares about it. Ive hated myself. Ive thought of myself as worthless. Ive had trouble with drugs, drinking and two heart attacks. I relate all those things to what happened to me back then. Ken-Ton to pay $17.5 million to settle sexual abuse claims against retired teacher The Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District has agreed to pay $17.5 million to settle 35 Child Victims Act lawsuits filed by former students of a retired elementary school teacher. The lawsuits accused Arthur F. Werner, a longtime social studies teacher, of groping and molesting fifth-grade boys at Herbert Hoover Elementary School sometimes in full view of other students. The man acknowledges that his description of Werners actions in the classroom is hard to believe, but he told the story to attorneys in a pretrial deposition last year. And his attorney, Chris OBrien, said the man is just one of dozens of Werner accusers who would have told similar stories as witnesses had the Werner CVA cases gone to trial. We also had witnesses, who were not victims, who were prepared to testify about the horrible things they saw, OBrien said. None of that will happen, because the Ken-Ton district decided last week to settle all 35 of the Werner CVA cases, rather than oppose them at trial. The district will pay $17.5 million to the Werner accusers and their attorneys. The 68-year-old man who spoke to The News said he had mixed emotions when he learned that his case had been settled. The settlement was a bittersweet moment for me, he said. I knew that getting up on the stand and telling my story to a room full of strangers would be terrible. But there also is a big part of me that wants this whole story to come out. I was fully prepared to testify. Court rules accused Ken-Ton teacher's testimony can be evidence in Child Victims Act cases Arthur Werner, 88, has been accused in Child Victims Act lawsuits against the district of molesting 39 boys, more children than any other person in the Buffalo region. Quite a few of my clients had mixed feelings about the settlement because they wanted to testify and have their stories told, OBrien said. In a statement released about the Werner settlements, Ken-Ton district officials called Werners actions reprehensible, but the district maintains that school officials were never aware of any allegations that Werner molested students until decades after he retired. The Werner accuser who spoke to The News said he finds that impossible to believe. Students all over the school knew about this. He was doing this in front of his whole class, the man said. On several occasions, while he was being fondled by Werner, other teachers walked into the room and then walked out, the man said. 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. He said he never reported anything to school officials or his parents. He said he was afraid his father would be angry at him for making such an accusation against a teacher. When something like that happened to you as a kid back then, it basically put you on an isolated island, where nobody ever wants to come anywhere near you, he said. Thats how I felt. OBrien and attorney Steve Boyd, who also represented a Werner accuser, said they were prepared to present evidence that the school district had to know that Werner was molesting students. The school district protected a predator, Boyd said. Werner, now 89 and ailing, retired in 1993. He was never charged criminally and was never named as a defendant in any of the lawsuits. Werner and his family have never responded to efforts by The News through phone messages, emails, letters and visits to the Werner home to obtain their side of the story. A family attorney, Patrick Mackey, declined to comment on Thursday and said the Werner family does not wish to discuss the lawsuits. Rather than suing Werner, attorneys for the accusers said they decided to aim their lawsuits at school officials who hired and supervised Werner. The accuser who spoke to The News is one of many people who have spent decades trying to deal with painful emotions resulting from the reported molestations, OBrien said. These people have suffered, OBrien said. One of the television reporters asked me how the plaintiffs feel about the big financial windfall theyre getting. This is not a windfall. Every one of these people would much prefer that this never happened. The accuser who spoke to The News said he still struggles with his past, but he also has many good things happen in his life. He said he lives outside New York State and has served as a priest in the Episcopalian church since 1990. I met a wonderful woman who basically saved my life, he said. Weve been married since 1976. We have three kids and seven grandchildren In my work, I sometimes counsel kids who have been victims of sexual assault. The News asked if it bothers him that Werner never arrested and never named as a defendant in any lawsuit has not been punished in the courts for his actions. Part of me says, 'Yes, he absolutely should be punished,' the man said. No matter what judgment he receives here on earth, the real judgment is what he will face later. That is between him and God." The Buffalo News: Good Morning, Buffalo The smart way to start your day. We sift through all the news to give you a concise, informative look at the top headlines and must-read stories every weekday. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.In its mission to revive Chinas true authentic culture from the pre-communist era, Shen Yun Performing Arts, the worlds leading classical Chinese dance and music company, is receiving applause from around the world for its beauty, artistry, and profound messaging. At a performance at the Butler Art Center in Clowes Memorial Hall, Adrian Obando, the owner of property management company Sanctuary Builders, and his wife Ashley Obando related to the universal stories of beauty and courage presented in the performance. Mrs. Obando, a service request manager for Ashville Healthcare, was amazed by the movements of Shen Yuns dancers and noted how impressed she had been by the dance called Plum Blossoms in Spring, which in Chinese culture symbolises courage and resilience as the flowers bloom in the depths of winter. Very, very beautiful and all the dancers are talented, but then also all the acrobatics they put into it, she said in awe. She also enjoyed learning about Chinese history and culture. Shen Yuns dances are also a storytelling adventure, with ancient legends and moral tales that portray Chinas spiritual foundations to stories from modern China. Mrs. Obando enjoyed the piece, Insanity During the End of Days, which depicts todays persecution of the spiritual practice, Falun Gong, whose followers uphold the values of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. Mrs. Obando said that Americans enjoy [religious] freedom, so it is shocking to learn how people with spiritual beliefs are being persecuted in China. It hit me hard too because I didnt realise [it was happening]. As a parent, you want to protect your kids, but also pass your culture on to them. Insanity During the End of Days relates the horror of a father who unknowingly participates in the murder of his daughter, a Falun Gong practitioner, who falls victim to the Chinese Communist Partys forced organ transplant industry that targets religious believers for monetary gain. She was astounded to learn that Shen Yun had been banned from performing in China. [Then] how are we teaching and raising children in China to learn about the culture, how is it being passed on? Just through folklore? she wondered. At the same time, Mrs. Obando felt that the United States and other countries are going in a similar direction, losing the culture imbued in traditional music, art, and dance. But I didnt realise that the persecution was an aspect [of that] and that really hit me as a parent, emotionally, she said. Mr. Obando echoed his wifes sentiments and was deeply touched by the dance. That performance to me was very interesting because it incorporated every emotion that [Falun Gong] have gone through and you followed it step by step, he said. We come from a socialist country, Mr. Obando said of Nicaragua. So my family still has to deal with persecution, or actually, not even having the freedom to think outside of their own scale, he said. It is a shame that the Chinese people cannot watch Shen Yun and lose an opportunity to see the richness of their own culture, he added. Chinese history needs to be celebrated through the arts and dance that everyone can enjoy, Mrs. Obando said. The Same is Happening in America Mr. Hartman, who was also attending the matinee performance with his wife, Michelle, remarked that Shen Yun was very vibrant and bright. The dancing is really incredible, he said. Mr. and Mrs. Hartman at Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Clowes Memorial Hall, Butler Arts Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, on June 11, 2022 (Charlie Lu/The Epoch Times) Learning about Chinese culture was an educational experience for the Hartmans. Mr. Hartman commented that the loss of freedom of belief as portrayed in Shen Yun appeared to reflect the state of society in the United States. He was pleased that Shen Yun was depicting the true character of communism in China. And I think [this message should be spread] so some people have an understanding of what communism is and you hear it from the perspective of people who have endured it, he said. Shen Yun also presents vocalists who share songs with a spiritual message. The lyrics, translated into English, are projected onto the stage backdrop. Mr. Hartman, a Christian, said that the messages of goodness and compassion resonated with him. Its the same premise in my mind, of were all human, weve all got values, were all important. Its the same concept of respect [for] each other, he said. Reporting by Charlie Lu 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. Protesters gather to prevent Home Office officers from taking away a man who had been arrested for immigration offences, in Peckham, southeast London, on June 11, 2022. (Handout photo issued by Eleanor Janega /PA Media) Man Arrested for Immigration Offences in London Released as Protesters Block Van A man arrested for immigration offences in London was released after protesters gathered for hours to block a van he was in from leaving. Footage from the scene showed a crowd of people sitting on the ground in front of the vehicle in Peckham, southeast London. Metropolitan Police officers were called to Evan Cook Close shortly after 1:30 p.m. on Saturday to a report of protesters obstructing immigration officers and said officers remained at the scene until shortly before 5 p.m. A police spokesman said: Officers attended and found a van was being prevented from leaving the location. One man has been arrested by immigration enforcement officers for immigration offences. Met Police confirmed the man has since been released on bail. Eleanor Janega, one of the protesters, told the PA news agency that they had been alerted that there was an immigration raid in process and had come down to block it. An activist with a group called Stand Up To Racism, who gave her name only as Nicola, said police tried to arrest a number of activists at the front but gave up as they were held onto by others. Nicola told PA, After a lot of protest, the police announced that they were going to release him [the arrested man] and it took, I dont know, about half an hour for them to actually open the doors so we all stayed and called for this to happen quickly. The Home Office said that preventing immigration enforcement teams from doing their job is unacceptable. Blocking or obstructing them will not deter them from undertaking the duties that the public rightly expect them to carry out, said a spokeswoman. This is not the first time pro-immigration activists in the UK have succeeded in forcing the authorities to release people arrested on suspected immigration offences. On May 13, 2021, Scottish police released two Indian men from an immigration enforcement van in Glasgow, after around 200 protesters blocked the van for eight hours. Police Scotland later confirmed they had arrested and charged a 23-year-old woman and two men, aged 31 and 32, for public order offences. The three were told earlier this year that they would go on trial in early August. On May 5 this year, more than 100 protesters gathered in the Scottish capital Edinburgh to block what they said was an immigration raid, after it was reported that two immigration vans had arrived at Nicolson Square. The Home Office said two people were found to be in breach of immigration laws and were placed on immigration bail, adding that the protesters had no impact on the outcome of the operation. PA Media contributed to this report. Michael Taube: How the Controversial Emergencies Act Has Led to Even More Political Controversy Commentary Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals controversially invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 during the Freedom Convoy protest. Although it was revoked nine days later, it continues to generate political controversy in the nations capital. The Emergencies Act gave law enforcement the authority to control large gatherings and enter cars and trucks and make arrests. Canadas financial intelligence services could also monitor funds raised for the Freedom Convoy through GoFundMe and cryptocurrency, and freeze bank accounts of suspected contributors. End result? Our liberties and freedoms were briefly trampled on, and the state of our democracy was more tenuous than ever before. While Canada is a resilient country and has soldiered on, a little piece of what makes us Canadian disappeared for good. Many people have wondered about the sequence of events that led up to the Emergencies Act. The Liberals pulled the lever, but what caused the lever to be pulled in the first place? On April 26, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino was asked about this by a special joint parliamentary committee studying the emergency declaration. He said the government had remained engaged with law enforcement throughout to ensure that they had the support and resources they needed. However, when efforts using existing authorities proved ineffective, the advice we received was to invoke the Emergencies Act. Two days later in the House of Commons, the minister reconfirmed that it was on the advice of law enforcement that we invoked the Emergencies Act. Which law enforcement officials gave this advice? According to CBC senior writer Aaron Wherry, Mendicino provided additional details in a CBC News interview in late May. I think its important that were really clear about how we took the decision and we took the decision by assessing very carefully the state of emergency that existed last winter, the minister reportedly said. And that assessment was informed by the conversations that we were having with law enforcement, including the Ottawa Police Service and the RCMP and other officials who, in their words, described these events as an unprecedented act of civil disobedience in the words of the Canadian Association of the Chiefs of Police. Alas, theres one small problem: Neither the Ottawa Police Service nor the RCMP agree with Mendicinos version of events. Both organizations acknowledge they spoke about this topic with various partners and federal ministers. RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, however, told the committee on May 10 there was never a question of requesting the Emergencies Act. Interim Ottawa police chief Steve Bell confirmed on May 17 that we didnt make a direct request for the Emergencies Act. Former Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly, who served in this role during the protest, said on June 2: I did not make that request, Im not aware of anybody else in the Ottawa Police Service who did. Things got worse when Mendicinos deputy minister, Rob Stewart, met with the committee on June 7. Stewart actually claimed his boss had been misunderstood. I believe that the intention that he was trying to express was that law enforcement asked for the tools that were contained in the Emergencies Act, he said. Theres something very wrong with the picture thats being painted, and the primary artist is Mendicino. The minister and his staffers had every right to ask about the Emergencies Act in the lead-up to its use. There are jurisdictional boundaries, and its always good to have clarity. That being said, it seems unlikely his intentions could have been misunderstood when he said he acted on the advice of law enforcement to invoke it. When you bring up something as controversial as the Emergencies Actor its predecessor, the War Measures Act, which was invoked during the 1970 October Crisistheres a clear intent and consideration at play. Mendicino also could have backed out at any time, in spite of what advice he did or didnt receive from law enforcement. What about the Ottawa police and the RCMP? They likely took meticulous notes during discussions with federal ministers, including Mendicino, due to the nature of the Emergencies Act and what it could potentially entail. Thats typical protocol for law enforcement, and you should always have your bases covered as a rule of thumb. Mendicino obviously didnt make the decision to invoke the Emergencies Act arbitrarily. Like most federal ministers, he doesnt have this power or authority. Rather, it was on behalf of senior Liberal cabinet ministers and advisersand, one assumes, with the PMs full knowledge and approval. Nevertheless, Mendicinos explanation is troubling. Its not an issue of semantics or some simple misunderstanding, but rather that his explanation has a distinct air of duplicitousness. If he cant properly explain what happened, and why the Ottawa Police Service and the RCMP have provided a different version of events, his ministerial role could be in serious jeopardy. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Australia Most Populous State Commits to $1 Billion Fast-Rail Plan The New South Wales government in Australia has backed a $1 billion (US$708 million) rail upgrade between Sydney and the Central Coast that could pave the way for faster train services. The state will work with the federal government on the upgrade, with $500 million (US$354 million) to be set aside in June 21s state budget, Premier Dominic Perrottet says. In the run-up to Mays federal election, Labor pledged $500 million of Commonwealth funds to a scheme to link Sydney and Newcastle with fast rail services. The NSW government announcement on Saturday, focused initially on the Sydney-Central Coast link, will improve the Tuggerah-Wyong connection and include new electrified tracks, rail bridges over the Wyong River and station upgrades. The pledge is subject to agreement with the federal government. Perrottet said planning for the project would start later this year and it represented preliminary work that would allow faster rail to operate on the lines with further major investment. You cant build great cities without building significant transport infrastructure and we think that this billion dollars from the state and federal government will lay that foundation and set up further investments as we move forward, he said. Four potential routes had been identified for a future NSW fast rail network, include a northern corridor stretching from Sydney to Gosford, Newcastle, and Port Macquarie. High-speed trains capable of travelling faster than 250km/h could slash travel times between Sydney and Newcastle to one hour and between Sydney and Gosford to 25 minutes, the government says. Line upgrades would make it possible for express passenger services to overtake freight services and all-stop passenger trains, speeding up travel times. Perrottet said the travel times were the future vision, but he did not put a timeline on the introduction of fast-rail services on the route. Were doing the work today, and half a billion dollars shows that commitment, he said. Committee for Sydney chief executive Gabriel Metcalf welcomed the move towards upgrading the link, saying a commitment from NSW meant state and federal governments were now working together to deliver on fast rail. Getting on a trip from Gosford to the city in 25 minutes and Newcastle under an hour will be a game-changer for commuters, students, and many others, Metcalf said in a statement. As we emerge from two-and-a-half years of disruption and lockdown, this is a project that will get people inspired about Sydneys future and kickstart our economic recovery. But the NSW Labor opposition said the announcement came too late, following 12 years of inaction and broken promises on faster, and high-speed rail. Labor said the government had failed to act on the issue four years after commissioning an independent report to investigate options on high-speed rail. Dominic Perrottet is the third Liberal premier in 12 years to call for faster or high-speed rail before an election, NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns said in a statement. The people of NSW will take a look at this and say to Premier Perrottet youve had 12 years, this is too little, too late. Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast Adam Crouch welcomed the action, which builds on a federal government infrastructure commitment in the region. This investment will help improve the capacity and reliability of the intercity network, and will make journeys to and from our region faster and easier for Central Coast commuters, Crouch said. This is in addition to the $300 million investment in the state-of-the-art rail maintenance yard in Kangy Angy, which has helped create over 90 full time jobs for Central Coast locals. NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana speaks to the media as he arrives for a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Berlin on May 15, 2022. (Michele Tantussi/Reuters) No Signs of Russian Threat to Sweden, Finland: NATO Deputy Chief COPENHAGEN, DenmarkNATOs deputy chief sees no immediate military threat to Sweden and Finland from Russia and is confident that the aspiring NATO members will join the alliance despite Turkeys objections, he told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Friday. Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO last month in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine but face opposition from Turkey, which accuses them of supporting and harboring Kurdish fighters and other groups it deems terrorists. We are confident that Sweden and Finland will join our ranks, Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana said. Allies have concerns. And Turkey has some concerns that are legitimate when it comes to terrorists, he added. Sweden and Finland have said they condemn terrorism and are open to dialogue. Asked about security guarantees provided to Sweden and Finland in the period up until they become full-fledged members of NATO, Geoana said he did not see any real risk to the countries from Russia. We dont see signs from Russia of having the capabilities or intention at this point to be aggressive in military terms against these two aspirant countries, he said. We can treat this period with caution in a proactive way, but we dont see real risks from a traditional military standpoint for Finland and Sweden. Finland said on Thursday it plans to amend border legislation to allow the building of barriers on its eastern frontier with Russia in a move to strengthen preparedness against hybrid threats. Oregonians Say Education on Wrong Track, Overwhelmingly Support School Choice, Poll Finds A new poll suggests that Oregon voters are extremely dissatisfied with the states K-12 education system and would overwhelmingly support school choice. Of 727 registered voters polled on June 1, just 25 percent of Democrats, 9.7 percent of Republicans, and 14.1 percent of independents believe that Oregons public K-12 education system is on the right track. The poll, commissioned by the advocacy group Oregon Moms Union and conducted by Nelson Research, also suggests broad support for school choice across party lines, including 59.7 percent of Democrats, 84.5 percent of Republicans, and 77.4 percent of Independents. School choice gives parents the right to use the tax dollars designated for their childs education to send their child to the public or private school of their choice. Only 24.3 percent of those surveyed oppose letting parents have the right to use their tax dollars the way that best serves their childs needs. Only 3 percent had no opinion. The results in Oregon mirror a national poll conducted by RealClear Opinion Research in February. That survey of more than 2,000 registered voters found the concept of school choice enjoys overwhelming support, with 72 percent in favor of the concept and 18 percent opposed. The same holds true across party lines, with 68 percent of Democrats, 82 percent of Republicans, and 67 percent of Independents saying they support such a policy. Thats up nearly 9 percent since the pandemic began. In light of the failures of the public education system navigating COVID, the recent trend of parents pulling kids out of public schools, and continued poor performance indicators, we wanted to know what the publics appetite is for real education alternatives for parents, said MacKensey Pulliam, President and Co-Founder of Oregon Moms Union. Many parents are already pulling their kids out of the public school system in Oregon so that they no longer have to co-parent with the government and can have choice in their childs education, Pulliam told The Epoch Times. Oregons largest district, the Portland Public Schools is feeling the pressure. PPS projects that next years enrollment will be down 14 percent from pre-pandemic levels. Other districts around the state are experiencing a similar trend. Christine Drazan, a Republican candidate for Governor and former Oregon House Minority Leader, weighed in on the problems plaguing Oregons K-12 education system. Despite record funding levels, our graduation rates and student achievement remain stubbornly low, she told The Epoch Times. At the same time, whats best for our kids too often takes a backseat to political agendas and the voices of parents are overridden by bureaucrats with too much power and misguided priorities. We need to get back to basics in our schools and focus on ensuring that our students know how to read, write, and do math, she added. If public schools cant get that done, she supports school choice. Access to a classroom environment that best fits the needs of a student is essential to their ability to succeed, Drazan continued. For many students, the traditional classroom is just fine. For others, a charter school or other format might be more ideal. During the past two years, increasing numbers of parents have already voted with their feet for school choice, wrote Kathryn Hickock, executive vice president at the Portland-based Cascade Policy Institute. Since the COVID pandemic began, 8.7 million children switched from public to private schools nationwide, she wrote on the advocacy groups website. In Oregon, charter school enrollment increased 20.8 percent between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. Today, nearly 36,000 of the states 560,000 students attend 131 charter schools. The number of Oregon homeschooled students increased 73 percent between the last two school years, according to Hickock. Nationwide, 11.1 percent of American households with school-aged children report they are now homeschooling. Thats double the percentage compared to before the pandemic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This still image obtained from a social media video shows a man affiliated with the Patriot Front group being detained by a police officer in riot gear on June 11, 2022. (North Country Off Grid/Youtube/via Reuters) 31 Patriot Front Members Arrested Near Idaho Pride Event Authorities arrested 31 members of the alleged ethnonationalist group Patriot Front in Idaho near a pride event on June 11 based on suspicion that the group aimed to carry out riots. The all-male group, wearing matching gear, was standing inside a truck when the Coeur dAlene police stopped the vehicle and arrested them. In a video circulating on the internet, police can be seen lifting up the roller door of a U-Haul truck, revealing the men with their hands already raised in surrender. The individuals came to riot downtown, Coeur dAlene Police Chief Lee White said during a news conference, according to The Associated Press. Of the 31, only one was from Idaho. The rest came from Arkansas, Washington, South Dakota, Illinois, Virginia, Oregon, Wyoming, Texas, Utah, Alabama, Iowa, Colorado, and Missouri. Thomas Rousseau, the leader of the group, was among the arrested. The U-Haul truck was positioned close to the LGBTQ Pride in the Park event that was being held by the North Idaho Pride Alliance at the Coeur dAlene City Park. Inside the truck, police found shields, shin guards, a smoke grenade, and riot gear. The men were all wearing khaki pants with logos on their hats and arm patches identifying them as members of the group. When asked by reporters at the scene how they knew to inspect the U-haul truck, White told them, We have informants. White told AP that police came to know about the U-Haul truck after a tipster told them that it looked like a little army was loading up into the vehicle in the parking lot of a hotel. Authorities also discovered paperwork among the group similar to military or police operations plans. Based on collected evidence and documents, authorities determined that the group planned to riot at the park and in multiple downtown areas. All 31 members were charged with misdemeanor and conspiracy to riot. They underwent the booking process on Saturday and are scheduled to be arraigned on Monday. According to White, the members could face more charges once prosecutors review the evidence. In my opinion, I would gladly arrest 31 individuals who are coming to riot in our city for a misdemeanor rather than have them participate in some sort of seriously disruptive event, which is exactly what they were planning in the downtown area, White said, according to The Spokesman-Review. Authorities said they were aware of online threats leading up to the event during the weekend. As a result, the police department had stepped up its presence in the region. Local motorcycle club Panhandle Patriots had also planned on holding protests at the event, with a video claiming that they intend to go head to head with these people. However, President Michael Birdsong insisted that the statement in the video was taken out of context, according to KHQ. We have zero problems against anybody who is gay, or whatever they choose to call themselves, whatever gender, Birdsong said. I mean, its not our lifestyle, but we are not people to judge. He emphasized that the protests were targeted against grooming books he said are geared toward pedophilia, likely referencing recent news of teachers across the country pushing books promoting transgenderism and related content to children in schools. Pennsylvania Supreme Court Denies GOP Request to Throw Out Ruling Requiring Questionable Ballots to Be Accepted The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has quietly dismissed Republicans application to overturn a lower state courts order requiring that absentee and mail-in-ballots that lack a date handwritten by the voter be counted. Pennsylvania was a hotbed of election-related litigation during the 2020 presidential election. Although former President Donald Trump won the state in 2016, President Joe Biden won it in 2020, according to official results. Barring any unforeseen future developments, the ruling means that even though Pennsylvania law requires that ballots that arrive without a signed, dated declaration from the voter are to be discarded, such ballots will be counted in upcoming elections. The ruling came on June 10 as the court accepted former hedge fund CEO David McCormicks request to discontinue litigation still pending before the court after he narrowly lost a Republican primary contest for a Pennsylvania seat in the U.S. Senate seat against celebrity heart surgeon Mehmet Oz. McCormick conceded the race to Oz on June 3, and after a recount, state election officials declared Oz the winner by 951 votes on June 8. In granting McCormicks application to withdraw, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania made the following order: In addition, upon consideration of the Application to Vacate Memorandum Opinion and Order of June 2, 2022, (Application to Vacate) filed by Oz [and his campaign], in which [Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania] join, and the answer filed by the [Acting] Secretary [of the Commonwealth, Leigh Chapman], the Application to Vacate is DENIED. The June 2 order was by President Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer, a Republican who sits on a lower court, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court. In a 40-page memorandum opinion (pdf), Jubelirer laid out the legal issue. She wrote: Sections 1306(a) and 1306-D(a) of the Pennsylvania Election Code provide, respectively, that, after an elector marks their ballot and secures it in the secrecy envelope, the elector is to place that envelope into a second envelope (outer or exterior envelope) on which, among other things, is printed a declaration of the elector which [t]he elector shall then fill out, date and sign Whether ballots can be counted that do not contain a handwritten date on the outer envelope as described in these sections is the issue. Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick speaks to supporters at the Indigo Hotel during a primary election night event in Pittsburgh, on May 17, 2022. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images) Republicans have a history of insisting that state election laws be enforced strictly. The Republican Party of Pennsylvania wrote on Twitter on May 23 that the state party would support whoever wins the Senate primary, but we absolutely object to the counting of undated mail-in ballots. Pennsylvania law and our courts have been very clear that undated ballots are not to be counted. We have worked hard towards restoring confidence in our elections, and we call upon everyone to respect, uphold and follow the clear law on this issue. But McCormick went in the opposite direction, asking the Commonwealth Court to declare that absentee and mail-in ballots received on time but lacking the required dated declaration from the voter be counted. McCormick argued that Pennsylvanias dating provisions were unenforceable under both state and federal law. The Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania argued in the case that the dating provisions serve a necessary purpose. Including a date on the exterior envelope provides proof of both when the voter cast his or her ballot and whether the voter completed the ballot within the proper timeframe. Including a date also prevents fraudulent backdating, Jubelirer wrote, explaining the Republican argument. Jubelirer concluded that McCormick and his campaign established that they are likely to succeed on the merits, and this conclusion weighs heavily in favor of their request for an injunction requiring election officials not to discard ballots lacking the required date. The states Election Code should be liberally construed so as not to deprive electors of their right to elect the candidate of their choice. The power to throw out a ballot for minor irregularities should be used very sparingly, and voters should not be disenfranchised except for compelling reasons, Jubelirer wrote. Jubelirer ordered election officials to segregate the ballots that lack a dated exterior envelope from those with a properly completed dated declaration and report two vote tallies to Chapman, who as chief election officer would presumably make a decision later about which ballots to include in the official count. An empty street is seen outside the Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., on Jan. 17, 2021. (Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images) It was unclear at press time if the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania provided reasons for its June 10 decision. On June 11, Democratic Party lawyer Marc Elias, who fights election integrity laws claiming they unfairly disenfranchise voters, posted a court docket entry and celebrated the ruling on Twitter. Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismisses GOP appeal in undated ballot case. Importantly, the court DENIES Republican motion to vacate the lower court decision, Elias wrote, referring to Jubelirers June 2 order. The post came after the U.S. Supreme Court on June 9 allowed officials in Pennsylvania to resume counting disputed undated mail-in ballots in a state-level judicial election that took place last year in Lehigh County, as The Epoch Times reported. On May 31, Justice Samuel Alito temporarily stayed a May 27 ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit that had allowed election officials to count undated mail-in ballots in the race, but on June 9, the full Supreme Court vacated the stay, allowing the count to resume. Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch joined a dissenting opinion written by Alito. The 3rd Circuit decision is very likely wrong, Alito wrote. If left undisturbed, it could well affect the outcome of the fall elections, and it would be far better for us to address that interpretation before, rather than after, it has that effect. When a mail-in ballot is not counted because it was not filled out correctly, the voter is not denied the right to vote. Rather, that individuals vote is not counted because he or she did not follow the rules for casting a ballot. It follows, Alito added, that a states refusal to count the votes of these voters does not constitute a denial of the right to vote. Police remove police tape after responding to an incident on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 11, 2022. (The Canadian Press/ Patrick Doyle) Police Identify Persons of Interest but No Threat as Parliament Hill Probe Continues Ottawa Police said they identified two persons of interest but no public safety concerns as they continued to investigate an incident that briefly led to the evacuation of Parliament Hill. Police said in a news release that they received information Saturday about a potential threat near the parliamentary precinct, prompting them to close some surrounding streets to vehicle and pedestrian traffic. They have not disclosed the nature of the threat. The Parliamentary Protective Service also ordered an evacuation of Parliament Hill, issuing an alert to all Parliamentarians and staff and noting all buildings in the precinct were to be under shelterinplace orders until further notice. Later in the afternoon, police tweeted the area was open again to the public. The force said in the release it had not identified a public safety threat stemming from the incident, but said it identified two people and two vehicles of interest, and that they were still investigating. Activists display their plan to blockade the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, at an online meeting on June 10, 2022. (Jackson Elliott/The Epoch Times) Protesters Attempt to Finalize Supreme Court Shutdown Scheme in Chaotic Meeting If blockading vehicle entrances to the U.S. Supreme Court wont stop justices, protesters led by the organizing group Shut Down D.C. plan to block the courts pedestrian entrances. On June 10, about 34 activists attended a Zoom meeting meant to finalize plans. An earlier activist planning meeting had more than 60 people present. The protest was a response to a leaked draft opinion that suggested the high courts six conservative justices planned to overturn Roe v. Wade. In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that abortion was a constitutional right and that legislators could only regulate it to a limited extent. But the Supreme Courts leaked Dobbs v. Jackson draft decision would put decisions on abortion into the hands of state and national legislators. Some of the activists had the belief that the court itself was illegitimate. Were here because the Supreme Court, it is painfully clear, can no longer be allowed to make decisions for the majority of Americans, said Hope Neyer. We think the Supreme Court is an illegitimate, undemocratic institution, said Nadine, one of the groups leading activists. To prevent the court from making decisions, activists announced they will prevent justices from entering the building with a blockade of the vehicle entrances. If the justices attempt to pass through the courts security fence on foot, they said squads of activists will move to block the doors in the fence as well. These actions could leave justices on foot in the street as verdicts go public on June 13. Last week, a man who said he wanted to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was arrested near his home. He had an unloaded pistol locked in a case and a knife in his possession. The man called police for psychiatric help. Weve also known for a lot of time that the court cannot represent us, because it does so many things that are harmful to our movements, said Neyer. Currently, the protest group plans to gather with a permit in a nearby square at 7 a.m., then march to the courts vehicle entrances. The protest was divided between activists who said they were willing to be arrested for forming a blockade and other activists who planned to support the ones who risked arrest. Im very mellow, I just go to places and get arrested, said activist Wendy Brandes. A slide displaying Shut Down D.C.s preferred decision-making process. Screenshot from a meeting planning the blockade of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on June 10, 2022. (Jackson Elliott/The Epoch Times) Some activists expressed concern that police could stop a single column of marching protesters and questioned whether it would be better to fan out to reach their targets. Some people do have an issue with the single march plan, being that if police stopped the single march, all of the action groups would be in one place, said Sadie, an activist with SCOTUS6. But the protests leadership failed to resolve questions on how the blockades would work, how many people would be in each blockade, and other strategic considerations. The meeting failed to discuss any of these topics. Instead, the group spent nearly two hours simply agreeing on where and when to meet up before marching to the court. At one point, someone bombed the call by streaming a pornographic video. At another point, Sadie warned protesters to avoid a fellow protester who was dangerous because he planned to shut down highways to block the delivery of food, as well as some things worse that we dont want to affiliate with. Sadie said she rejected the radicals plans because they came too early. We cant afford it in this stage of the fight, she said. The entire time, Sadie was at a street protest while participating in the Zoom call. The shouting from people in the background disrupted the meeting. Activist Liz Butler leads an online protest meeting. In the background Sadie (second up from left) takes part in a loud protest that at one point disrupted the meeting. The activists plan to blockade the US Supreme Court in Washington on June 13, 2022. (Jackson Elliott/The Epoch Times) But meeting members praised Sadie anyway and asked her to keep participating. We appreciate Sadie, said activist Liz Butler. Sadie, do you want to restate it? It was a little bit difficult to hear, she continued, as the noise of shouting protesters drowned out Sadies comments to the group. For about 30 minutes, six activist group leaders in a spokes council attempted to plan the protest while the other 28 people in the call did nothing. But the planners never discussed specifics of how the group would blockade the court, divide to cover all three vehicle entrances, or respond if police stopped them. Instead, they repeated things that had been said already and made confusing statements. At the end of this attempted discussion, Butler asked if the group had any remaining disagreements. Leaders quickly agreed. No, one answered. I have no opinion, another replied. We have consensus, folks, Butler said. But it wasnt clear what the group had come to a consensus on. Accused Capitol rioter Thomas Sibick can stop to get gas or pick up items at a drug store on his way to or from work. But he won't be dining out or going for a jog in the neighborhood. Accused Capitol rioter seeks loosened restrictions so he can eat out, shop and go for a jog Last month, the judge loosened his restrictions, allowing him to leave his parents' residence between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays for job interviews or to go to a job at times and locations approved by the Probation Office in advance. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson has denied Sibick's request that she loosen more of the home-confinement restrictions put in place when she released Sibick from a Washington, D.C., jail last October. His restrictions are "not unduly restrictive," the judge said in a June 3 ruling. Stephen F. Brennwald, his defense lawyer, sought an 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. curfew, seven days a week, for Sibick. In a court filing, Brennwald said, "Now that spring is here, and everyone is outside exercising and Mr. Sibick is no longer getting exercise by shoveling snow he is not allowed to go for a jog, or for a walk in the neighborhood with his parents." Grocery shopping, buying coffee at a coffee shop, having dinner with his parents and friends, or going for a walk or a jog in his neighborhood would not create an unreasonable risk of danger to the community, Brennwald said. Sibick, 36, one of seven Western New Yorkers who have been prosecuted for their actions at the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, is charged with intentionally assaulting and robbing then-D.C. Police Officer Michael Fanone. Rioters dragged Fanone down Capitol steps into a mob, shocked him with a stun gun, beat him with flagpoles and stripped his gear, according to prosecutors. Fanone suffered a heart attack, a concussion and a traumatic brain injury, and he went on to suffer from post-traumatic stress injury. Sibick has admitted to taking Fanone's badge and radio, burying the badge in his backyard and then lying about it, according to earlier court filings. The judge noted Sibick faces "extremely serious charges" and that he repeatedly lied to law enforcement officers prior to his indictment. Jackson released Sibick from pretrial detention in a Washington, D.C., jail over the governments objection and imposed conditions, including confinement to his parents' Williamsville residence, to ensure his reappearance and to protect the community. Since his release, Sibick "has repeatedly chafed at those conditions, filing a succession of motions requesting the opportunity to get outdoor exercise, to shovel snow, to pursue a social life, to perform unremunerated work, etc., and the court has re-evaluated the conditions on an ongoing basis to ensure that they were consistent with maintaining defendants mental and physical health and most importantly, with facilitating his efforts to obtain and maintain employment," the judge said in her recent ruling. "The fact that the current conditions do not offer the defendant ... the opportunity to go for a jog in his neighborhood, to sit outside at a restaurant with his parents or friends or to leave his home for any unspecified location he chooses during a 12-hour period each Saturday and Sunday is not unduly restrictive under all of the circumstances." The judge, however, said it would not be a violation for him get gas on the way to or from work, and she expects pretrial services to grant routine requests to shop for groceries or pick up necessities at a drug store on the way to or from work, just as, it appears, it approved his request to shop for clothing for work. Earlier this year, the judge loosened his restrictions, allowing him to leave his parents' residence between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays for job interviews or to go to a job at times and locations approved by the Probation Office in advance. She also authorized the Probation Office to approve any employment for him without seeking the court's permission each time. Since that ruling, Sibick found a job with work hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. He has been allowed to leave his parents' Williamsville home at 9 a.m. and return home by 6:30 p.m. Court documents did not reveal where he's working or what kind of job he found. The Buffalo News: Good Morning, Buffalo The smart way to start your day. We sift through all the news to give you a concise, informative look at the top headlines and must-read stories every weekday. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. AUSTIN, Texas - APRIL 28: A bilingual sign stands outside a polling center at public library ahead of local elections on April 28, 2013 in Austin, Texas. Early voting was due to begin Monday ahead of May 11 statewide county elections. The Democratic and Republican parties are vying for the Latino vote nationwide following President Obama's landslide victory among Hispanic voters in the 2012 election. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) Republicans Look to Break Blue Barrier in South Texas Latino voters may switch sides to give Mayra Flores a win Republican Mayra Flores remains on the offensive in Texass traditionally blue 34th Congressional District, making last-minute campaign stops in hopes of overwhelming her main Democratic rival in a special election on June 14. Republicans on the national level have been pouring their funds and efforts into the race because they believe South Texas Latinos share the same concerns as conservatives about border safety and the economy. The possibility of making inroads into a Democratic stronghold has emboldened Republicans, who aim to flip the district red and regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Democrats caused the price of everything to skyrocket and created a border crisis they cant fix, Torunn Sinclair, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told The Epoch Times via text message. Theyve completely abandoned South Texas. GOP supporters have made more than 106,000 phone calls, knocked on 34,000 doors, and sent out more than 100,000 texts and emails on Floress behalf, Macarena Martinez, Texass communications director for the Republican National Committee, told The Epoch Times. Republican Mayra Flores, a legal immigrant from Mexico, is focusing on twin issues of improving the economy and border security in hopes of flipping Texas Congressional District 34 red. Photo courtesy of Mayra Flores. Theres a big chance we can flip three congressional districts down there, Martinez said. We have high hopes we will. On the state level, Texass Republican governor, Gov. Greg Abbott, and state Republican Party Chair Matt Rinaldi endorsed Flores as the GOPs nominee for the full term in the 34th District race to be held this fall. Flores, the front-runner in early polling, is a legal immigrant from Mexico who is married to a Border Patrol agent. She plans to make a campaign stop in Harlingen on June 13 with fellow Republican candidate Cassy Garcia, who is trying to flip the 28th Congressional District to red. Dan Sanchez, the leading Democratic contender, is an attorney and former Cameron County commissioner from Harlingen. He, too, will be making a last-minute push with a rally in Kingsville the day before the June 14 election. His campaign got some late support with an endorsement from Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa on June 8, and a digital ad purchase from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last week. Two other candidates, Republican Juana Cantu-Cabrera of South Padre Island and Democrat Rene Coronado of Harlingen, are also running in the special election. With four candidates, the likelihood of a runoff in mid-August is high, given that one candidate must get more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid that scenario. Flores told The Epoch Times that last-minute efforts to support Sanchez with money and endorsements are too little, too late. We are working nonstop and taking nothing for granted here in the home stretch of this race, Flores said via text. Our conservative message is resonating strongly with South Texans, and we feel confident heading into Tuesday. The race seems to have captured the attention of South Texas voters. Cameron County election Commissioner Remi Garza told The Epoch Times that turnout is expected to be about 10,000 voters, which is reasonably good for a rare special election. Cameron County, which includes the cities of Brownsville and Harlingen, is about 90 percent Hispanic. More than 225,000 registered voters live in the county, which has a population of more than 422,000. President Donald Trump greets supporters at Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Texas, on Jan. 12, 2021. (Go Nakamura/Getty Images) In smaller Bee County, election administrator Laura Warnix told The Epoch Times that people are interested in the raceand showing up to vote. She said that local Republicans and Democrats have been taking the race seriously and doing their best to engage residents. According to the secretary of states office, the 11-county total for District 34 early voting was 16,065. The special election was triggered this spring when Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas) resigned to work for Akin Gump, a Washington-based law and lobbying firm. Abbott called for a special election to fill the vacancy. The winner will finish Velas term ending in January 2023. A general election for the newly redrawn congressional district, which is much more favorable for a Democratic win, will occur in November. If Flores wins the seat temporarily, she faces a tough race against Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas)the Democratic nominee for the full term in the 34th District. He opted not to run in the special election. (L-R) Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas), SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry at the groundbreaking ceremony for the SpaceX launch pad at Boca Chica Beach, Texas, on Sept. 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Valley Morning Star, David Pike) Gonzalez, a moderate Democrat, is switching districts because the Republican-dominated Texas Legislature redrew the South Texas voter map, moving his McAllen home into District 34 from District 15. An Orlando restaurant manager saved a child from an abusive stepdad by calling 911 during their stay at her establishment over a year ago. On June 6, the suspect, Timothy Lee Wilson II, 36, was charged with several counts of abuse and neglect. He is set to be sentenced this summer. It was New Years Day, 2021, when Flavaine Carvalho, who runs Mrs. Potato Restaurant on South Kirkman Road, served Wilson, his 11-year-old stepson, and his mom and noticed that, while the adults ordered for themselves, the boy was denied food. When Carvalho asked if there was a problem with the food, Wilson said the boy would eat dinner at home later that night. She noticed tell-tale signs of abuse and became concerned. I could see he had a big scratch between his eyebrows, Carvalho said at a recent news conference. Couple of minutes later, I saw a bruise on the side of his eye. So I felt there was something really wrong. She added, I could not see the boy going away without any help. The manager took the initiative and wrote a note saying Do you need help? OK and discreetly showed him, standing behind the parents so that they wouldnt see it. He declined initially, but when she showed him the note again, he nodded affirmatively. Carvalho called 911 and told the dispatcher: Im super concerned and I dont know what to do, can you give me some advice? What I can do? The boy is with bruises and hes not eating. The others are eating. Police arrived, and both Wilson and the childs mom, Kristen Swann, 31, were arrested. Last Monday, Wilson was found guilty of 2 counts of false imprisonment of a child under the age of 13, 3 counts of aggravated child abuse with a weapon, 4 counts of aggravated child abuse, and 1 count of child neglect, Orlando Police Department stated. Swann was charged with 2 counts of child neglect after she told police she knew about the abuse but didnt intervene. (Left) Timothy Lee Wilson; (Right) Kristen Swann. (Courtesy of Orlando Police Department) After being taken to the hospital, the boy was found to have bruising all around his face and arms and was 20 pounds underweight for his age. He had been subjected to other kinds of abuse, police said, including being tied up with ratchet straps around his ankles and neck, hung upside down from a door, and beaten with a wooden broom. He was also forced to hold the plank position for as long as 30 minutes, and was beaten if he failed. What this child had gone through, it was torture, police said. Seeing what that 11-year-old had to go through, it shocks your soul. The boys 4-year-old sister was also removed from the home. Both children now are in the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families, Fox News reported. Carvalho reportedly remains in contact with the boy. Meanwhile, police lauded her for her heroic intervention. If Ms. Carvalho would not have said something when she saw it, that little boy would probably not be with us, much longer, they stated. Wilson is set to be sentenced on August 19, 2022. 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 Piles of burnt sunflower seed meal at a destroyed area of the Nika-Tera grain terminal in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on June 12, 2022. (Edgar Su/Reuters) Russia Says It Destroyed Depot With Western Weapons in Ukraine Russian cruise missiles destroyed a large depot containing U.S. and European weapons in western Ukraines Ternopil region, Russias Interfax agency reported. Ternopils governor said rockets fired from the Black Sea at the city of Chortkiv had partly destroyed a military facility and injured 22 people. A local official said there were no weapons stored there. Reuters could not independently confirm the differing accounts. Moscow has repeatedly criticized the United States and other nations for supplying Ukraine with weapons. President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that Russia would strike new targets if the West supplied longer-range missiles to Ukraine for use in high-precision mobile rocket systems. Ukrainian leaders have renewed pleas to Western countries in recent days to speed up deliveries of heavy weapons as Russian artillery pounds the east of the country. Smoke rises after a military strike on a compound of Sievierodonetsks Azot Chemical Plant in the town of Lysychansk, Luhansk region, Ukraine, on June 10, 2022. (Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters) Sievierodonetsk has become the epicenter of the battle for control over the industrialized Donbas region in the east, made up of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Gaidai said on Sunday that Ukrainian and Russian forces were still fighting street by street in Sievierodonetsk. He said that while Russian forces have taken most of the city, Ukrainian troops remain in control of an industrial area and chemical plant where hundreds of civilians are sheltering. Oleksandr Stryuk, mayor of Sievierodonetsk, said a little more than a third of the city remained under the control of Ukrainian forces and about two-thirds were in Russian hands. Our (forces) are holding the defensive line strongly, Stryuk told national TV. After being forced to scale back its initial campaign goals following its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has turned its attention to expanding control in the Donbas, where pro-Russian separatists have held a swathe of territory since 2014. Sievierodonetsk is the last city in Luhansk province still held by Ukraine and its loss would be a significant strategic blow. Victory for the Russians would move them a big step closer to one of Putins stated goals in what he calls a special military operation. To the south and southwest of Sievierodonetsk, Russian forces were firing mortars and artillery around a number of settlements, according to Ukraines general staff. But it said Ukrainian forces had repulsed Russian attempts to advance toward some communities. Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports. Ukrainian forces have proven more resilient than expected, but the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said that as they use the last of their stocks of Soviet-era weapons and munitions, they will require consistent Western support. Putin says Russias actions aim to disarm and denazify Ukraine. Kyiv and its allies call it an unprovoked war of aggression to capture territory. A building destroyed by a military strike in the town of Lysychansk, Luhansk region, Ukraine, on June 10, 2022. (Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters) Russia Destroys Bridge, Cutting Escape Route: Ukrainian Official The Russians had destroyed a bridge over the Siverskyi Donets River linking Sievierodonetsk with its twin city of Lysychansk, Gaidai said. That leaves just one of three bridges still standing, and reduces the number of routes that could be used to evacuate civilians or for Ukrainian troops to withdraw to positions on the western side of the river. In Lysychansk itself, Russian shelling killed one woman and destroyed four houses and a shopping center, Gaidai said. No Pardon for Britons Sentenced to Death: Separatist Leader Also on Sunday, the leader of the Russian-backed separatist Donetsk region in Donbas said there was no reason to pardon two British nationals who were sentenced to death last week after being captured while fighting for Ukraine. A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic on Thursday found Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinnerand Moroccan Brahim Saadounguilty of mercenary activities seeking to overthrow the republic. Britons Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun captured by Russian forces during a military conflict in Ukraine, in a courtroom cage at a location given as Donetsk, Ukraine, on June 7, 2022, in a still from video. (Supreme Court of Donetsk Peoples Republic/Handout via Reuters) Britain says Aslin and Pinner were regular soldiers and should be exempt under the Geneva Conventions from prosecution for participation in hostilities. The separatists say they committed grave crimes and have a month to appeal. I dont see any grounds, prerequisites, for me to come out with such a decision on a pardon, Denis Pushilin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. Aslins family said he and Pinner are not, and never were, mercenaries. Former President Donald Trump, left, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin walk in New York City in a file photograph. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images) Sarah Palin, Nick Begich Advance in Alaska US House Special Primary Election ANCHORAGE, AlaskaUnofficial polling results in Alaskas June 11 special primary place former Gov. Sarah Palin and Nick Begich, both Republicans, among the top four vote-getters in Alaskas June 11 special primary. With roughly 72 percent of the votes counted, Palin has garnered almost 30 percent and Begich has 19 percent, according to Decision Desk HQ. With votes still being counted, Palin and Begich are projected to advance to the general election, while two more slots remain to be determined. State election officials said the 2022 special primary election was a first in many ways. It was the first election to use the new nonpartisan top four primary election system enacted in 2020. Under the new system, all 48 primary candidates appeared on the same page of the ballot, regardless of party affiliation, to ensure fairness and visibility. Voters were allowed to vote for only one candidate. The top four vote-getters will advance to the special general election, held on the same day as the states regular primary election, on Aug. 16. This is Alaskas first statewide by mail election. With 48 candidates, this election has more candidates than any other election to date, the division stated. The Special General election and the regular Primary Election will be administered in the traditional manner with polling places open on election day, early voting, absentee by-mail voting, and absentee in-person voting. Unlike the special primary election, voters must apply for an absentee ballot for the special general and regular primary elections. The special general election will utilize ranked-choice voting and will be the first election in Alaska to do so. The June 11 special primary is only the second special election to fill an office vacancy in the states history. The position expires in January 2023. The first special election was in 1973 to fill Alaskas sole U.S. House seat and was won by the late Rep. Don Young, who served 49 years until his death on March 18, which triggered the special election. Young, 88, was Alaskas longest-serving member of Congress. State election officials said all efforts were to ensure a fair and accurate election, given the primarys reliance on mail-in voting. However, state law doesnt prohibit collecting and returning absentee ballots, also known as ballot harvesting, said Tiffany Montemayor, the election divisions public relations manager. It is illegal to vote twice or on behalf of someone else, and the division refers all potentially fraudulent activity to law enforcement, Montemayor told The Epoch Times. The special primary also presented several challenges for election officials, including the candidates. Montemayor said the division had only days to set up the election using the mail-in system, given the time constraints. Candidates, regardless of party, had about two weeks to decide if they would run or not and file by the April 1 deadline. Each candidate had to establish a social media presence to bridge the vast distances separating Alaskas voter precincts. As the nations largest state, Alaska spans 665,400 square miles and has a total population of around 774,000. Then there was the more daunting challenge of soliciting campaign financing on short notice. It isnt difficult to get a campaign going. It is difficult, however, to raise money in such a huge field of candidates, nonpartisan candidate Jeff Lowenfels told The Epoch Times. Rockstar At the 2022 Fields of Fun celebration in Palmer, Alaska, on June 11, Leslie Wright had just finished watching the gala parade with a guest appearance by Palin, her choice to replace Young. Wearing a Sarah for Alaska hoodie, Wright said she voted for Palin, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, because she is the biggest dog in the fight. She was good as governor. Shes everything that America needs. Were in dire need right now. Hopefully, she can patch a sinking ship, Wright told The Epoch Times. Wright, a Republican, said she feels Palin also is the toughest candidate compared to her closest Republican rival, Nick Begich, who was recently endorsed by Alaskas Republican Party. I know that he voted for two Democrats in the past, and that just draws a red flag for me. As for Young, he was a rock star, Wright said. I think Sarah Palin is the only rock star who can fill his shoes. Sitting comfortably away from the bustling fairgrounds, Michael Post, an independent, voted early in person for Begich. I think he is the one that mostly meets my views on things. Sarah is a nice person. I have met her a few times, but I havent seen any evidence that shes all that serious about this [election], Post told The Epoch Times. When you see the advertisements, and Nick getting outhes put a lot more into it. Leslie Wright of Alaska said she voted for Sarah Palin for U.S. Congress in the June 11 special primary because shes the biggest dog in this fight. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) Post said Palins biggest fault in his mind was that she resigned as governor in 2009 while battling ethics investigations that she described as frivolous. Is she going to stay in there for us [if she wins Youngs congressional seat]? Post asked. This is a six-year term, so I think Nicks a bit younger and more enthusiastic. I think he will look out for Alaskas best interests without being overboard. I dont like to see pork come back to this state more than any other state. Most of us are of the same mind: wed like to see a government that works. Post said his hope is that if Begich wins the primary and the general election, hell work with Congress to bring this country back to a more conservative bent in fiscal responsibility. Daniel, a Republican, who asked that his last name not be used, also voted for Begich, and gave him credit for declaring himself a candidate in October 2021 prior to Youngs passing. I was disappointed nobody [else] got in the race before he died. I thought, Was that just an excuse for everybody to jump in? If youre bold enough to run for representative, get in there, Daniel told The Epoch Times. Michael Post of Palmer, Alaska, cast his vote for Republican Nick Begich in the special primary, saying Begich was the best candidate. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) One of the things that appealed to me about Begich is he was already in there. There are a lot of issuesmoral issues to resolve in Congress, Daniel said. Nancy Brunett, an independent, said she voted for Begich, sensing a potential runoff in the election. It was a little confusing, Brunett said of the new nonpartisan electoral system. I feel like its just a primary at this point. The actual race will start once the candidates are selected. The issues will pan out. Regarding Palin, Brunett was blunt. I would rather that she not be elected, she said. A woman working in downtown Anchorage said of all 48 candidates on the ballot only Santa Claus, a progressive socialist candidate from North Pole, Alaska, resonated with her. Actually, for the special election, I voted for Santa Claus because hes only going to be in office for two weeks, the woman told The Epoch Times while requesting anonymity. If it were the real office for two years, Id have more thoughts on it. At Judys Cafe, next door to Sarah Palins campaign headquarters in Anchorage, a man having breakfast told The Epoch Times he usually votes for whoever is best but leans Republicanbut in this election, he voted as an independent for Begich. I mean, yeah, I liked [Palin as governor]. She was going to change things. I liked that a little bit. Then she quit, and the other fiascoIm not in favor of her anymore. While he also likes Begich because hes a Republican, he isnt sure any serious issues are driving this race. It doesnt matter at this point. You need four people to advance to the general election, he said. The next one is probably going to get more heated up. Well be listening to that pretty soon. I think people are at the point where What does it matter? The sad part is our elections are so bad, Mickey Mouse could probably win the presidency. Its such a sham. South Korea and China's flags flutter next to Tiananmen Gate in Beijing on Dec. 15, 2017. (Jason Lee/Reuters) South Korean President Names New Ambassador to China, With Tough Stance on Beijing The South Korean presidential office on June 7 announced the appointment of Chung Jae-ho, a professor at Seoul National University, as the new ambassador to China. He is vocal about preserving South Koreas national identity and not caving under pressure from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Chung, 62, completed a masters degree in Chinese history from Brown University and a doctorate in political science from the University of Michigan, focusing on Chinas central-local relations, foreign policy, and U.S.China relations. Prior to teaching at Seoul National Universitys Department of Political Affairs and Diplomacy, Chung taught at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from 1993 to 1996. He also served as a member of the International Advisory Board at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Service Center for Chinese Studies until 2020. Since 2013, Chung has served as the director of the U.S.China Relations Program at Seoul National Universitys Asia Center. In April, he was dispatched by President Yoon Suk-yeol to visit the United States as a member of the South KoreaU.S. policy consultation delegation. In an interview with The JoongAng last year, Chung said the strategic ambiguity South Korea adopted against U.S.China competition has come to an end, adding that Seoul should not be afraid of unresolved foreign affairs, and should speak up in its national interests. He believes the South Korean governments fear of the CCP has become a serious problem over the past 10 years, resulting in strategic ambiguity when faced with major powers. Chung added that South Korea has long pursued short-term economic interests such as trade, investment, and tourism that easily convert into money but neglect the nations long-term image. Are [these short-term economic interests] worth promoting and sustainable for the long-term? Chung said. Dont you think the nations character, prestige, and reputation must [also] be protected at all costs? Are these not the core national interests? Chung pointed out that if South Koreans can reach a broad consensus on protecting the nations security and sovereignty, and not being at the mercy of powerful nations, it may be able to avoid a shameful THAAD-like situation. THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, is a U.S.-designed and manufactured anti-missile system installed in South Korea between 2016 and 2017 to defend against North Koreas missile build-up. However, Beijing has insisted that the deployment of THAAD affects Chinas security and has since adopted a series of countermeasures against South Korea. In 2017, to appease China, the former Moon Jae-in government outlined three principles for security known as the Three Nos: no additional deployment of THAAD; no participation in a U.S.-led regional missile defense system; and no morphing of a trilateral security alliance with the United States and Japan into a military alliance. On the other hand, President Yoon said that South Korea should never feel forced to choose between the United States and China. Instead, it must always maintain its principled position, accepting no compromise on its core security interests. He emphasized that deterrence against the North Korean threats is a matter of sovereignty and endorsed additional THAAD deployment in proportion to North Koreas growing missile threat. A worker walks across the upper deck of U.S. shipowner Royal Caribbean's new Oasis-class cruise ship, Symphony of the Seas, in the port of Saint-Nazaire, western France, on Feb. 13, 2018. (Fred Tanneau/AFP via Getty Images) SpaceX Works to Add High-Speed Internet to Royal Caribbean Cruise Ships SpaceX is working to connect the ships of Royal Caribbean Group, the worlds second-largest cruise line operator, to its satellite Internet network, a recent filing shows. Elon Musks space company requestedbut has not yet been approvedto operate its satellite broadband service Starlink on moving vehicles, including trucks, aircraft, and vessels. Started in 2015, the Starlink project is designed to deliver high-speed Internet to users anywhere on the planet and has launched thousands of satellites, known as a constellation in the space industry, since 2018. Its coverage could come to cruise ships soon. Royal Caribbean Group detailed the plan to adopt Starlink to its sea-going vessels in a June 10 filing with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), seeking legal permission. Sent by Vice President of Operational Excellence John Maya, the email asked the regulatory agency to expeditiously approve the aerospace giants new plan. We write today to respectfully request that you act expeditiously and look favorably upon the pending application filed by SpaceX Services, Inc. and referenced above, Maya wrote. He cited negative guest experiences, underscoring the need for better satellite Internet access on board its ships, given service suppliers have suffered from attrition, bankruptcies, and consolidation under COVID-19-related lockdowns. We believe our work with SpaceX, the first of its kind in the cruise industry will set the standard for other cruise operators and will mean a leap in terms of guest experience and business operations while at sea, the email reads. The Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Symphony of the Seas, is seen moored in the Port of Miami on Aug. 1, 2021. (Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images) Royal Caribbean Group owns three cruise linesRoyal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruisesand has been contracting Internet for its ships from other providers, including O3b MEO. While current Wi-Fi download speeds on ships range from only a few megabytes per second (Mbps), standard Starlink users can tap into download speeds of 50250 Mbps. SpaceX has so far launched 2,600 satellites into low earth orbit and is already providing Internet service to 32 countries, while the free Wi-Fi powered by its satellite broadband service is also set to arrive on airplanes such as those operated by Hawaiian Airlines. The company also sent Starlink devices to Ukraine to help its people to communicate with the outside during Russias invasion since late February. Sriracha chili sauce is produced at the Huy Fong Foods factory in Irwindale, Calif., on Oct. 29, 2013. (Nick Ut/AP Photo) Sriracha Hot Sauce Maker Warns of Shortage IRWINDALE, Calif.Bottles of the popular Sriracha hot sauce could be hard to find on store shelves this summer. Southern California-based Huy Fong Inc., told customers in an email earlier this year that it would suspend sales of its famous spicy sauce over the summer due to a shortage of chili peppers. The company said in its April 19 email that all orders submitted after that date would be fulfilled after Labor Day. Unfortunately, this is out of our control and without this essential ingredient we are unable to produce any of our products, the company said. The company sources its peppers from various farms in California, New Mexico and Mexico, and said that weather conditions are affecting the quality of the peppers and deepening the chili pepper shortage. It didnt immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday. Hot temperatures and a historic drought across the U.S. West have been taking a heavy toll on Californias agriculture. The U.S. Drought Monitor reported that the whole state was in severe drought as of last week, with the Central Valley facing extreme drought conditions. A Starbucks logo hangs in the window of one of the chain's coffee shops in the Loop in Chicago, on Jan. 04, 2022. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) Starbucks May End Open-to-All Bathroom Policy Due to Safety Concerns, CEO says Starbucks is reconsidering its open-to-all bathroom policy because worsening mental health problems among the public are posing a threat to employees and customers. Howard Schultz, the CEO of the coffee shop chain, indicated during a New York Times DealBook forum on Thursday that the company may once again reserve the bathrooms for paying customers. We serve 100 million people at Starbucks, Schultz said in a conversation about mental health, which he described as the No.1 issue his company is dealing with. There is an issue of just safety in our stores in terms of people coming in who use our stores as a public bathroom, and we have to provide a safe environment for our people and our customers. The mental health crisis in this country is severe, acute, and getting worse, he told the NY Times, adding that Starbucks is providing better training and hardening our stores in response to the mental health challenges. When asked exactly what hardening the stores means, Schultz replied that this could mean the end of free bathroom access for non-customers. I dont know if we can keep our bathrooms open, he said, before arguing that the government should address mental health instead of leaving the problem to individual businesses. Starbucks opened its bathrooms to the public in 2018 following an incident in which two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia store. The stores manager insisted that they make a purchase in order to use the bathroom, and eventually called the police on them for trespassing. Following a backlash, Starbucks settled with the men for an undisclosed amount of money. It also told all stores in the United States that any person who enters our spaces, including patios, cafes and restrooms, regardless of whether they make a purchase, is considered a customer. We dont want to become a public bathroom, but were going to make the right decision 100 percent of the time and give people the key, Schultz said at that time. Schultz agreed that undoing the 2018 decision would be a significant culture shift, as noted by The NY Times Andrew Ross Sorkin. According to a study (pdf) published in 2019 by the business schools at the University of Texas at Dallas and Boston College, visits to Starbucks dropped by 6.8 percent following the companys adoption of the open-to-all bathroom policy. The researchers collaborated with data company SafeGraph and examined cellphone location data from more than 10 million devices between January 2017 and October 2018, which covers a period before and after Starbucks bathroom policy shift. When measuring the data against cafe shops located near about 10,800 Starbucks stores across the United States, the researchers found that Starbucks suffered large and significant customer traffic decline compared with rivals. The traffic dip was 84 percent higher for Starbucks stores that were close to a homeless shelter, according to the study. In addition, the average income of Starbucks customers has dropped compared with that of visitors of other nearby coffee shops. This would be consistent with them being more sensitive to crowding and the new visitors brought in by the bathroom policy, the researchers wrote. Starbucks disagreed with those findings, saying at that time the alleged decline in traffic didnt actually translate to a loss of revenue. Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake speaks during a press briefing in Nashville, Tennessee on July 28, 2021. (Courtesy of Metropolitan Nashville Police Department) String of Human Trafficking and Prostitution Arrests by Undercover Police in Nashville A 2-day undercover joint operation by investigators from the Metro Nashville Police Department, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), and Homeland Security has led to the arrest of 12 men in Nashville, Tennessee, in relation to human trafficking. Ten men responded to an internet ad promoting juvenile females posted by undercover officers, and arrived at a Nashville hotel. They were subsequently arrested and charged with trafficking for a commercial sex act. The men have been identified and named: Jerson Calderon, 38, of Nashville; Ismir Mustafic, 19, of Bowling Green; Tyrice Jackson, 45, of Phenix, Alabama; Guman Rai, 32, of Nashville; Maynor Garcia, 41, of Nashville; Hastings Cargile, 44, of Nashville; Quadreon France, 27, of Murfreesboro; John C. Gooch Jr., 52, of Nashville; Douglas Yanes-Eli, 22, of Nashville; and Christopher Falcon, 30, of Nashville; according to FOX17 June 11 report. A second operation resulted in the arrest of 2 men who were charged with promoting prostitution. These include Keeden Montgomery, 25, of Memphis; and Jarvis Lamar Jones, 34, of Little Rock, Arkansas. Jones is also charged with drug possession and holding a handgun while being a felon. Police also recovered 14 OxyContin pills, 9 grams of marijuana, 95 ecstasy pills, 5.5 grams of cocaine, 4.4 grams of heroin, and a gun from Joness vehicle. Five women who responded to ads from undercover detectives have been offered services from End Slavery Tennessee and Thistle Farms personnel, following which, they were released. On June 9, 2 female suspects were taken into custody as part of another undercover human trafficking operation in Nashville. Ruby Stamper, 47, and Jessica Parton, 36, responded to an erotic ad posted by officers. Metro police recovered 5.5 grams of crack cocaine, 4.4 grams heroin, 14 OxyContin pills, and 95 ecstasy pills from the ladies vehicle. They are currently facing several felony drug charges. On June 8, two men were arrested during a human trafficking operation. Officers posted online ads, posing as minors, and Douglas Yanes-Eli, 22, and Jerson Calderon, 38, responded. Officers arrested the men after they arrived at a Davidson County hotel with cash payment for sexual services. Human trafficking is the second-highest rising crime in the state, according to a report by TBI, says Free for Life International, an NGO that assists people affected by human trafficking and exploitation. There were 165 human trafficking cases reported in Tennessee in 2020, and 419 contacts, related to the crime, based on data from the National Human Trafficking Hotline. The majority of victims are U.S. citizens, and most often the trafficker is a family member, friend, or individual a victim already knows. Most of the reports come from Davidson and Williamson Counties because of transportation facilities and a favorable location for traffickers. Nashville is one of only six American cities where three major interstates converge. Seventy-five percent of the country can be accessed within a 2-hour flight from the city and close proximity to Atlantaa large metropolitan area known for high amounts of human traffickingand large tourism and sporting industries make Nashville a hub for human traficking, according to the NGO report. Pro-abortion activists Patrick Young (left), LaDona, (front center), Nadine Bloch (frontmiddle), Sophia M (front right), and others pose for a picture at a protest meeting at Petworth United Methodist Church on June 12, 2022 (Jackson Elliott/The Epoch Times) Supreme Court Protest Organizers Wont Rule Out Violence WASHINGTONAs officials in Washington brace for possible violence following a Supreme Court decision about access to abortion, organizers of a group planning protests at the high court told followers not to oppose the use of violence. Leaders of the group Shut Down DC stated at an organizing meeting at Petworth United Methodist Church in Washington on June 12 that violence runs counterproductive to the groups strategy, but isnt necessarily bad. Shut Down DC plans to blockade the U.S. Supreme Court building on June 13 so that justices cannot enter. The activist group is protesting in response to a leaked high court draft opinion that suggests the court plans to overturn Roe v. Wade. The court said last week that its planning to issue decisions on June 13 and 15, without being more specific. Were not in the business of telling people what to do, longtime activist Nadine Bloch said. We are in the business of pointing out the structural violence of the system. If people dont like other peoples tactics, fix the system. Were not going to condemn those other tactics. The remark was made in the context of a training day, during which organizers explained to protesters what to do if people showed up and encouraged violence, among other scenarios. If you want to do property destruction, do it in secret. If youre doing it publicly, youre probably an infiltrator, Bloch said. Theres no condemnation of bringing the system down. Another activist, who identified herself as Sadie, said that protest action groups can split into red teams and green teams if violence starts. The red teams could start violence, while the green team could provide cover and be eyes and ears on the red team, she said. Shut Down DCs main organizer, Patrick Young, suggested that people go and start violence away from the main body of the group. Yall should go somewhere else and do that, he said. One of the activists, a man who called himself Rusty, said that he has stolen banners from politicians and that the group will repaint them to use in the protest. If anybody needs a banner, like a nice heavy-duty banner, Ive been stealing politicians banners from all over town, he said. Theyve got white backs, you can spray paint whatever you want on. Ive probably gotten, like, 10 of them. Rusty, an activist working with pro-abortion group Shut Down DC, admits to stealing a banner from a politician in an online message on Signal on June 12, 2022 (Jackson Elliott/The Epoch Times) None of the activists at the meeting called him out for acknowledging the thefts. Washington authorities have said that they are stepping up the citys police presence and are urging visitors not to bring guns. We are increasing our presence to have coverage in neighborhoods and our downtown areas, which includes the activation of civil disturbance unit platoons, Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said at a press conference. In addition, we are working closely with our law enforcement, government, and community partners to ensure that all of these events are peaceful and our neighborhoods are safe. The FBI has also said it will not tolerate violence, destruction, interference with government functions, or trespassing on government property. The activist group at the church included 17 activists; leaders said they expected hundreds of people to show up on June 13 to block the entrances to the U.S. Supreme Court building. Of the 17 activists, 15 were white, and 10 were women. Activist Hope Neyer told the group that the history of pro-abortion movements is too white and too woman-focused. She said pro-abortion groups now need to include women who claim to be men by dropping language about womens rights. The activists planned to meet at 7 a.m. at Stanton Park, then march down Maryland Avenue to the high courts building. Activists at the meeting also discussed how to draw media attention. If youre being dragged away, whos going to watch? one of the activists said. The press. The media. Everyone here needs to have a sound bite. You have a chance to talk to the nation seriously. The 17 protesters practiced marching in the park outside the church. Some pretended to be police and attempted to arrest marchers and prevent them from passing through the park. Others practiced marching around police lines, or sitting with linked arms to resist arrest, and responding to police attempts to carry them away by going limp. In every exercise, the mock-up police successfully prevented activists from nearing their destination. Bloch advised protesters to consider wearing adult diapers so they could relieve themselves without leaving the Supreme Court. Many of the protesters said they planned to stay until 5 .p.m. in hopes that more people would join the protest after work. The purpose of the March for Our Lives community advocacy for gun control legislation was shouted loud from the epicenter in Washington, D.C., and echoed through hundreds of other communities that held their own marches. In Buffalo, a few hundred people gathered Saturday morning on Jefferson Avenue, a couple of blocks from the Tops Markets store where a racist attack claimed the lives of 10 people and wounded three others exactly four weeks earlier. Buffalo's marchers met at the corner of Jefferson and Glenwood avenues before stepping off south, pausing briefly at the lawn memorial to the 10 victims outside Tops, and then gathering in a large circle in a vacant lot at the corner of Jefferson and Riley Street, just across from the closed supermarket. Local march organizers Ekaete Bailey and Cat Moores, as well as WNY Peace Center Executive Director Deidra EmEl and board co-chair Victoria Ross, called on elected officials to take specific measures to address gun safety: universal background checks necessary to purchase a gun; a ban on assault weapons extending beyond the increasing of the minimum age to purchase; and a repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act that gives legal protection to gun sellers. "This is what encourages hope right now," EmEl said of the crowd who brought signs and chanted for peace. "This is it." The march featured a significant number of white people visiting a part of Buffalo that, according to U.S. census data, is about 71% Black. The avowed white supremacist accused of the shooting at the Jefferson Avenue supermarket wrote in an online screed that he targeted the neighborhood because of its racial demographics. Rally organizers on Saturday asked members of the crowd to raise their hands if it was their first time in the Jefferson neighborhood, and the response showed significant participation from outside the immediate East Side communities, an encouraging point for EmEl. "It was brave because if they can do that, if they can break that barrier of coming out of their comfort zone," she said. "... That's why different communities are coming out to support the idea of gun legislation and not just to support the victims in our African American community, then we have a chance to talk and really start to build bridges." Poet laureate Jillian Hanesworth, who recited her piece "The Revolution Will Rhyme," shared a different perspective on the crowd. "Racism is white people's fight," she said. "That's their fight. I need to see them out here because they need to know, they need to see Tops, they need to see the memorial sites and our communities." Raquel Alston, a local pastor and lifelong East Side resident, attended the march and was concerned about the lack of Black participation. "This is great," she said of outsiders being there Saturday, "but this also breaks my heart that I don't see people of color." Hanesworth said she thought the march's location may have been too painful for many in the Black community to experience. "I think that Black people need grace and need time and everybody doesnt have it in them to be right here in front of Tops," she said. Saturday was the first time EmEl could bring herself to walk by the Tops Markets since the shooting. She said it was painful. "I'm so angry," EmEl said, speaking through tears. "We should be angry every day, angry every day that our children and our brothers are dying in the street. Because it's happening we just don't see it." EmEl commended groups she called "foot soldiers," or community members who day-by-day have helped barricade residents of the Jefferson neighborhood from the lingering pain close by. Stop the Violence Coalition, Most Valuable Parents and Pastor James Giles from Back to Basics Ministries were a few she referenced. Marches in Buffalo and D.C. will mark the deaths of 10 at Tops, Uvalde victims This year's "March for Our Lives" inspired by last month's deadly mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas follows a similar event of the same name four years ago, after a teenage shooter armed with an assault rifle killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Fla. The march didn't go completely as planned. Microphone problems plagued speakers, making it hard to hear beyond the immediate ring of marchers. And Mark Talley, son of massacre victim Geraldine Talley, was scheduled to speak in the program, but did not. Talley, who appeared to be the only family member of a victim at the event, told The Buffalo News he thought it was a mistake to hold the march at the shooting site only a month removed from the massacre. Fragrance Harris Stanfield, who was inside the Tops Markets at the time of the shooting, was the last to speak at the event. She thanked the people who attended for their willingness to take action. "This is not over," Stanfield said. "There is so much work to be done." When Stanfield finished, the crowd chanted: "You are not alone." News staff reporter Haajrah Gilani contributed to this article. Ben Tsujimoto can be reached at btsujimoto@buffnews.com, at (716) 849-6927 or on Twitter at @Tsuj10. The Buffalo News: Good Morning, Buffalo The smart way to start your day. We sift through all the news to give you a concise, informative look at the top headlines and must-read stories every weekday. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. 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 Investigative journalist and author Lee Smith has been watching and documenting the patterned assault on a large segment of Americans for their political views, going back to before the 2016 presidential election. On June 9, the first hearing by the Jan. 6 committee was televised live on prime time. Could this be the culmination of that ongoing assault, preceded by the TrumpRussia collusion hoax, the Mueller investigation, and the impeachments of the 45th President? What is the dark, underlying threat the Jan. 6 committee hearings could be signaling to all Americans? * Click the Save button below the video to access it later on My List. Follow EpochTV on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/EpochTVus Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/EpochTV Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@EpochTV Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/epochtv Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EpochTVus Gab: https://gab.com/EpochTV Telegram: https://t.me/EpochTV Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps arrives for the weekly Cabinet meeting at Downing Street in London on May 24, 2022. (Leon Neal/Getty Images) UK Mulls Allowing Agency Workers to Break Marxist Union Strikes The UK government is considering legal changes to allow agency workers to replace striking staff in a move to guard the public against disruption caused by unions led by Marxists, according to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. The move would reverse a legal restriction introduced under former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair that prevents employers from hiring agency workers to cover for striking staff and would apply to all sectors. This legal change was promised in former Prime Minister David Camerons Conservative Party manifesto in 2015, which stated that the government would repeal nonsensical restrictions banning employers from hiring agency staff to provide essential cover during strikes. The Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers union (RMT) has stated that it will shut down the countrys railway network on June 21, 23, and 25 in what union leaders say will amount to the biggest rail strike in modern history. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Shapps said: The country must not continue to be held to ransom. These strikes are incredibly premature, and we will use every possible lever to ensure that the public is protected in the future in particular. I cant over-stress our determination to get the right outcome for the travelling public in the end on this, even if the unions insist on putting the country through considerable pain in the meantime. Shapps said workers are being misled by union leaders, some of whom are very extreme Marxists, who are determined to turn this into some sort of fight, as they see it, with a Tory government. Ministers are looking at drawing up laws that would make industrial action illegal unless a certain number of staff are working, Shapps told The Sunday Telegraph in May. Writing in The Sun on June 12, Shapps said workers could also be banned from working overtime to make back pay lost during industrial action. He wrote, Rail managers and ministers are determined to ensure strikers cannot milk the system to maintain their income while inflicting misery on the public. Unions have reacted with anger to the governments plans. TUC Deputy General Secretary Paul Nowak said, Allowing agency staff to replace striking workers would undermine the right to strike and be extremely reckless. RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said, We already have the most restrictive anti-democratic trade union laws in western Europe, and if the government attempts to reduce our rights further, the RMT, along with the rest of the trade union movement, will mount the fiercest resistance possible. PA Media contributed to this report. An Indian Air Force Hercules military transport plane prepares to land at an airbase in Leh, the joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh bordering China, on September 8, 2020. (Mohd Arhaan Archer/AFP via Getty Images) US General Calls Chinese Infrastructure Build-Up Along India Border Alarming NEW DELHIU.S. Army Pacific Commanding General Charles Flynn has raised concerns about the build-up of Chinese defence infrastructure on the India-China border during a recent visit to India. I believe that the activity level is eye-opening and some of the infrastructure that is being created in the [Chinese Armys] western theatre command is alarming, Flynn told journalists in New Dehli after holding talks with Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande on June 8. One must ask why does Chinas military need such arsenal in all domains. India and China have been involved in multiple stand-offs for 18 months on the disputed border in the eastern Ladakh region after the bloody Galwan conflict of June 2020, which claimed the lives of 20 Indian soldiers. The Chinese regimes military, the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), is building its second bridge connecting the north and the south banks of the Pangong Tso lake, according to recent satellite images. Two-thirds of the lake is under Chinas control and the bridge is built on a territory controlled by China but also claimed by India. The PLA is also building a new jetty at a strategic location of the lake and further building roads connecting the lake to G219, a national highway that connects the western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. The first view of the Pangong Tso lake, the point from where the strategic lake starts in India and goes 134 kilometers, more than half of which is in China where it ends. The lake has been a site of heavy military built-up on both sides. This picture was taken on June 22, 2021, a few miles away from the first tourist camp point. (Venus Upadhayaya/Epoch Times) Abhishek Darbey, a fellow at the New Delhi-based Centre for China Analysis and Strategy told The Epoch Times that the PLA is also building air force infrastructure including multiple airbases, heliports. Chinas air force continues to be deployed at three air bases that face eastern Ladakh. From one of these bases, the straight line air distance to New Delhi is less than 249 miles, requiring just 15 minutes for a Chinese military plane to reach Indias capital. Experts said Flynns statement sends a strong message to China. These welcome remarks signal a policy by successive U.S. civilian and military officials to signal their continued support to India vis-a-vis Chinese aggression along the border, said Aparna Pande, research fellow and director of Washington-based Hudson Institutes Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia. Indian media reports that the Indian and the U.S. armies are scheduled to conduct an exercise called Yudh Adhyas at an altitude of 9000 to 10,000 feet in the Himalayas in October to further enhance military interoperability. #DefenceCooperation General Charles A. Flynn, Commanding General United States Army Pacific #USARPAC called on General Manoj Pande #COAS & discussed aspects of Bilateral Defence Cooperation.#IndianArmy#IndiaUSFriendship pic.twitter.com/QLD42WgPqJ ADG PI INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) June 7, 2022 Flynn called the U.S.-India ties as a counterweight to the corruptive behaviour of the Chinese and said that the activities of the Chinese Communist Party in the Indo-Pacific are destabilizing and corrosive. He added that Washington is also willing to provide India or co-develop cutting-edge military technologies with New Dehli. Darbey said that the PLA has focused on building military and air force infrastructure on the India-China disputed border in a way that makes it hard for the United States and satellites to detect. The PLA is much better equipped in terms of shelters, road connectivity and acclimatization compared to last year, he added. A row of army trucks on the high mountain roads of Ladakh enroute from Leh city to Pangong Tso lake on June 22, 2021. (Venus Upadhayaya/Epoch Times) Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian criticized Flynns statements on June 9, calling it an attempt to add fuel to fire between India and China. Pande said the Chinese regime has always interfered in other countrys disputes, such ass by issuing statements during India-Pakistan conflicts, but it doesnt like it when countries speak out about issues that concern China. China wants an India that is nonaligned rather than an India that is closely aligned with the U.S. If India has American and allied support it will be better able to stand up to Chinas demands and will pushback against Chinese aggression, said Pande. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, answers questions during a Senate committee hearing in Washington on Jan. 11, 2022. (Greg Nash/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) US Monkeypox Cases Double as Spread Continues via Close Contact: CDC U.S. monkeypox cases have more than doubled from a week ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as the head of the agency confirmed that the virus is not spreading via airborne transmission. There are now at least 45 confirmed cases in 15 states and the District of Columbia, the agencys director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said in a press conference on Friday. About 1,300 cases of the virus have been found around the world outside of some African countries, where it is endemic, she added. Most of the U.S. cases confirmed recent international travel or had close contact with a monkeypox-infected person, said CDC official Jennifer McQuiston. The cases have appeared across the country and there is no single metropolitan area that has seen a high degree of community transmission, she said. Also on Friday, Dawn OConnell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response for the Department of Health and Human Services, said that the United States ordered about 500,000 frozen, liquid doses of the Jynneos smallpox vaccine, which can be used for monkeypox. The federal government currently has about 72,000 Jynneos doses, and it will get 300,000 more doses from the manufacturer, Bavarian Nordic, over the next several weeks, OConnell said. The 500,000 doses will be delivered later this year, she said. We have the vaccines and treatments we need to respond regarding the rise in cases, said OConnell. In May, cases of the rare virus started appearing in mainly European countries, the United States, Canada, Australia, and several other developed nations. Monkeypox is generally only reported in Central and West Africa, officials said. Authorities with the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO) have signaled that homosexual males may be the primary transmitters of the virus. The WHO said last month that two rave-like parties in Spain and Belgium appear to have been early mass spreading events for monkeypox. As a result, the agencies and some organizations have issued specific, monkeypox-related warnings to homosexual males for the month of June. Signs and symptoms of monkeypox generally include fever, swollen glands, aches, and a rash that develops into lesions, known as pox. The virus can be sometimes fatal. But during the current outbreak, some patients have developed a localized rash often around the genital or anus before they experience any flu-like symptoms at all, and some have not even developed such flu-like symptoms, Walensky stated during the news conference, adding that the rash and lesions may look like chickenpox, or a sexually transmitted infection such as herpes, syphilis, or lymphogranuloma of an area. A.J. Hurley (rear left), Rev. Patrick Mahoney (rear left center), Pastor Mark Lee Dickson (rear right center), and Bryan Kemper(rear right), stand in front of the Supreme Court while surrounded by police and protestors on May 4, 2022. (Jackson Elliott/The Epoch Times) Washington Boosts Police Presence Ahead of Supreme Court Decisions Officials in Washington say they will increase their police presence and are urging visitors not to bring firearms into the city limits as the Supreme Court prepares to release several decisions on gun rights and abortion. Groups are planning to hold rallies and protests ahead of the Supreme Court rulings, which are likely to happen this month. A draft of a Supreme Court ruling that appeared to overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked to the media several weeks ago, drawing left-wing protests, threats, and even several arson attempts against several pregnancy centers across the United States. Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said on June 10 that a posture of preparedness is being implemented for upcoming events. We are increasing our presence to have coverage in neighborhoods and our downtown areas, which includes the activation of civil disturbance unit platoons, he said at a press conference, next to Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser. In addition, we are working closely with our law enforcement, government, and community partners to ensure that all of these events are peaceful and our neighborhoods are safe. Contee also warned people not to bring guns to upcoming events, following the arrest of an armed individual, 26-year-old Nicholas Roske, last week outside the Maryland home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Roske reportedly told investigators that he wanted to shoot Kavanaugh because he believed the justice would side with overturning Roe v. Wade and also would side with a ruling that would relax some gun-control measures in certain states. If youre coming to enjoy our beautiful city, individuals should not think to bring firearms into our beautiful city, Contee said. We need to help keep the peace in our city. Leave the law enforcement and the firearms, leave that to the Metropolitan Police Department. Thats our responsibility. Bowser said Washington residents cannot live in fear. Were also asking each other to look out for our neighbors, she said. Last week, the FBI said it wouldnt tolerate violence, destruction, interference with government functions, or trespassing on government property following Roskes arrest and upcoming protests in Washington. In a joint statement, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves and Assistant FBI Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office Steven DAntuono wrote that their agencies are committed to protecting the First Amendment rights of all Americans to express their views peacefully during demonstrations that take place on a regular basis in the nations capital, including at the Supreme Court. In the case of Roske, he told investigators that he found Kavanaughs address online, according to court papers filed in his case. At the same time, the leftist group Ruth Sent Us posted Kavanaughs address on its Twitter page, while suggesting that protesters target the children of Justice Amy Coney Barrett at their school. Historically, the Supreme Court releases the majority of its decisions by the end of June. Its not clear when the high court will render its final decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organizationwhich may overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that argued that women have the constitutional right to get an abortionor on the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, a case that, if struck down, would significantly expand the scope of protection afforded under the Second Amendment. The high court announced last week that June 13 and 15 would be opinion days, without being more specific. WHO: COVID-19 Origins Unclear But Lab Leak Theory Needs Further Study An expert panel convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) said the virus that causes COVID-19 is likely from animals, probably bats, but further data are needed to explain how the virus jumped to humans, including the possibility of a lab-leak incident. In its first report released on June 9, the WHOs scientific advisory group recommended further investigations to evaluate whether a laboratory incident is a pathway to humans and other possible scenarios, though it said there has not been any new data made available to assess the lab-leak theory. The stance marks a sharp reversal of the agencys initial report on the viruss origin in March 2021, which ruled that a lab origin was extremely unlikely. The new report also mentioned that lab accidents in the past had triggered some outbreaks, so the theory could not be discounted. All hypotheses must remain on the table until we have evidence that enables us to rule certain hypotheses in or out, WHOs director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a June 9 press conference. This make[s] it all the more urgent that this scientific work be kept separate from politics. But this may not be an easy job. The report stated in a footnote that three panel members from Russia, Brazil, and China objected to the recommendations, saying there is no scientific evidence to question the commissions previous conclusion from March 2021. The report was written by a team, named the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), which was tasked with advising the WHO on investigations into pathogens that might trigger the next pandemic, as well as studying the origins of the current pandemic. The 27-member group was established last autumn following criticism from a dozen countries that raised concerns about WTOs COVID-19 origins study, due to a lack of transparency and access to crucial data from China. Key Data Missing The 52-page preliminary report said key pieces of data are still missing to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic began. The group said current data suggested a zoonotic origin of the novel coronavirus. The closest genetically-related virus was beta coronaviruses identified in bats in China and Laos, it added. However, so far neither the virus progenitors nor the natural/intermediate hosts or spill-over event to humans have been identified, it stated. The scientific advisory group believes the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, where the first infections were recorded in China, played an important role early in the amplification of the pandemic. The team called for further studies into information such as environmental and animal samples taken from the market. Workers conduct searches on the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in the city of Wuhan, in the Hubei Province, on Jan. 11, 2020. (NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images) The latest report said Ghebreyesus sent two letters to senior Chinese officials in February requesting information, including details about the earliest human cases of COVID-19 in the city of Wuhan and further information on the lab-leak hypotheses. Its unclear whether the Chinese author responded. But previous requests from the U.N. health agency had been declined by the Chinese regime. We always supported and participated in science-based global virus tracing, but we firmly opposed any forms of political manipulation, Chinas foreign ministrys spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters at the press conference on June 10, repeating the regimes long-standing narrative rejecting further investigations into the viruss origins. Zhao, once again, denied the lab-leak hypothesis, while pushing an unfounded conspiracy theory that the outbreak originated in the United States, even though the virus first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2020. The Chinese Communist Party has ramped up its disinformation campaign surrounding the virus originss since early 2020 amid growing calls to probe how its cover-up of the initial outbreak endangered the world. Response Jamie Metzl, who sits on an unrelated WHO advisory group, has suggested that the Group of Seven industrialized nations set up their own COVID-19 origins probe, saying WHO lacks the political authority, expertise, and independence to conduct such a critical evaluation. Metzl welcomed WHOs call for a further investigation into the lab leak possibility but said it was insufficient. Tragically, the Chinese government is still refusing to share essential raw data and will not allow the necessary, full audit of the Wuhan labs, he told The Associated Press. Gaining access to this information is critical to both understanding how this pandemic began and preventing future pandemics. In Washington, a Republican-led subcommittee in the House of Representatives on the COVID-19 pandemic wrote in a tweet: Americans were smeared as conspiracy theorists for asking whether #COVID19 came from a lab leak. Now, the WHO is asking the same questions. WE NEED ANSWERS, added the committee, which is headed by Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana. Eva Fu and The Associated Press contributed to the report. Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media NORWALK A Manhattan-bound Metro-North train was delayed Sunday after train officials requested police assistance in South Norwalk, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The incident delayed the 7:39 p.m. train from New Haven bound for Grand Central Terminal by about 15 minutes, the authority wrote in a post on Twitter shortly before 9 p.m. SINGAPORE (AP) China's defense minister accused the United States on Sunday of trying to hijack the support of countries in the Asia-Pacific region to turn them against Beijing, saying Washington is seeking to advance its own interests under the guise of multilateralism. Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe lashed out at U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, rejecting his smearing accusation the day before at the Shangri-La Dialogue that China was causing instability with its claim to the self-governing island of Taiwan and its increased military activity in the area. Austin had stressed the need for multilateral partnerships with nations in the Indo-Pacific, which Wei suggested was an attempt to back China into a corner. No country should impose its will on others or bully others under the guise of multilateralism, he said. The strategy is an attempt to build an exclusive small group in the name of a free and open Indo-Pacific to hijack countries in our region and target one specific country it is a strategy to create conflict and confrontation to contain and encircle others. China has been rapidly modernizing its military and seeking to expand its influence and ambitions in the region, recently signing a security agreement with the Solomon Islands that many fear could lead to a Chinese naval base in the Pacific, and breaking ground this past week on a naval port expansion project in Cambodia that could give Beijing a foothold in the Gulf of Thailand. Last year U.S. officials accused China of testing a hypersonic missile, a weapon harder for missile defense systems to counter, but China insisted it had been a routine test of a spacecraft. Answering a question about the test on Sunday, Wei came the closest so far to acknowledging it was, indeed, a hypersonic missile, saying, As for hypersonic weapons, many countries are developing weapons and I think there's no surprise that China is doing so. China will develop its military, he added. I think it's natural. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month said China represented the most serious long-term challenge to the international order for the United States, with its claims to Taiwan and efforts to dominate the strategic South China Sea. The U.S. and its allies have responded with so-called freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, sometimes encountering a pushback from Chinas military. Wei accused the U.S. of meddling in the affairs of our region with the patrols, and flexing the muscles by sending warships and warplanes on a rampage in the South China Sea. China has squared off with the Philippines and Vietnam, among others, over maritime claims and Wei said it was up to the countries in the region to find their own solutions. China calls for turning the South China Sea into a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation, he said. This is the shared wish and responsibility of countries in the region. Taiwan and China split during a civil war in 1949, but China claims the island as its own territory, and has not ruled out the use of military force to take it, while maintaining it is a domestic political issue. Washington follows a one-China policy, which recognizes Beijing but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei. It provides arms to Taiwan and follows a strategic ambiguity approach about how far it would be willing to go to defend Taiwan in the face of a Chinese invasion. At the same time, it does not support Taiwanese independence. President Joe Biden raised eyebrows and China's pique last month saying that the U.S. would intervene militarily if Taiwan were attacked, though the White House later said the comments did not reflect a policy shift. Austin on Saturday accused China of threatening to change the status quo on Taiwan with a steady increase in provocative and destabilizing military activity near the island. Wei fired back Sunday that the U.S. was not adhering to its one-China policy, saying it keeps playing the Taiwan card against China." He said Chinas greatest wish was peaceful reunification with Taiwan, but also made clear Beijing was willing to do whatever it took to realize its goals. China will definitely realize its reunification, he said. China's reunification is a great cause of the Chinese nation, and it is a historical trend that no one and no force can stop. He added that China would resolutely crush any attempt to pursue Taiwan independence. We will not hesitate to fight, we will fight at all costs and we will fight to the very end, he said. This is the only choice for China. Wei and Austin met one-on-one on Saturday, and Taiwan featured prominently in their discussions, according to the U.S. On Sunday, Wei met with Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles, which the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported was the first high-level meeting between the two countries in more than two years. Marles said it had been three years since Chinese and Australian defense ministers had met, and called the meeting a critical first step." As Sec. Austin observed after his own meeting with Defense Minister Wei, it is really important in these times to have open lines of dialogue, he told reporters. Australia and China's relationship is complex and it's precisely because of this complexity that it is really important that we are engaging in dialogue right now. Rising reported from Bangkok. Zen Soo in Hong Kong and Caroline Chen in Beijing contributed to this report. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. The downward-facing dog may have yoga seniority, but climbing goats are all the rage. Its not really new, said Anna Henschen, owner of Alhambra-based Goat Yoga of Southern Illinois. Its just different, and its just absolutely incredible. Henschen, a Carrollton native, is fairly new to goat yoga herself after taking a single class in April 2021 in Missouri before deciding it was what she wanted to do with her life. I had no idea about goats, Henschen said. I hated yoga. But when I was there, I just let go. I just cuddled goats and it was therapy. I forgot about bills that were due, the pandemic, all the crap going on in the world. Her text message to her husband, Nick, telling him she wanted to start a goat yoga business beat her home. Nick Henschen readily admits he thought he wife might have lost her mind, but he quietly researched what was involved and surprised her a month later with a breakdown of the costs. I had been out of work for a year, Anna Henschen said. We were living paycheck to paycheck, everything was tight. He thought Id (let it drop). I said, Lets do it. By July, they had their first class. They travel around the region, holding classes in such places as Jerseyville, Loami and Grafton. As he sat Saturday in the shade of a tent at Tera Smiths home on Carrolltons outskirts, watching the couples two children as his wife oversaw the four-legged stars of a yoga class, Nick Henschen acknowledged hes since realized goat yoga is pretty neat. It's deeper than it sounds, Anna Henschen said. When you see nurses who have been stressed out for three years get in there and let go and are in tears (because the goats gave them that outlet), that makes it all worth it, Anna Henschen said, noting that theyve held classes specifically as therapy for military veterans. My husband was like, I get it; now I know why you want to do it. Its way more rewarding than a standard office job. The secret is found in a classs balance between exercise and having fun with the goats, Anna Henschen said, noting that different classes involve different levels of yoga, though all can accommodate just about any participants skill level. Its more of a goat-based class, she said. But you get a workout, too. Youre moving your body, but youre sidetracked, too, because of the goats. You almost dont realize whats going on and how much exercise youre actually getting. Five yoga instructors rotate through leading the classes and Anna Henschen keeps an eye on the 17 or so goats that participate in a given class the business has 27 using feed to encourage them to do what comes naturally climbing. While some yoga classes can be meditatively quiet, even intimidating in their seriousness, that was not the case Saturday, as class participants worked their way through various yoga poses while pausing to angle their phones to get a photo of a goat standing on their back or to pet a goat that stopped by their hip to nibble on the grass near their yoga mat or the mat itself. Bonnie Vahle of Jacksonville joined in the early portion of the class before spending the latter part of it standing under a shade tree. She took regular yoga classes when she was younger, before bad knees made it harder, she said. You do what you can do, she said easily as goats clustered around her. One goat took advantage of Vahles empty yoga mat to take a break, too. Vahles approach is not uncommon, Anna Henschen said, noting that theres no shame in skipping the yoga altogether in favor of spending the time petting a goat. A lot of people do that, she said. They might do zero yoga, just sit on the mat and pet the goats. June 06, 2022 marked the fifty years of bilateral ties between Cambodia and Bangladesh. Cambodia established friendly relations with Bangladesh on June 06, 1972. The bilateral relations were established in 1972 through the late King Sihanouk of Cambodia and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh. But full-fledged formal diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1993. Over the past three decades, relations between the two countries have deepened and both countries have been cooperating with each other in bilateral and multilateral arrangements. Bangladesh and Cambodia cooperate in various sectors. In 2014, the two countries signed an agreement to establish a joint commission to explore new areas of cooperation and strengthen the existing cooperation in various sectors. Bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Cambodia was only $5.57 million in 2016, of which Bangladeshs export was $5 million and import was $0.57 million. Cambodia's exports to Bangladesh have seen a steady increase in the past five years except 2016. Bangladesh and Cambodia cooperate in various fields. in 2010, the two countries agreed to set up a joint commission for bilateral cooperation between the foreign ministries. In 2013, they signed a visa waiver agreement for holders of diplomatic passports. Bangladesh has expressed interest in hiring Cambodian human resource development teachers. In 2014, a joint commission was set up to explore new areas of cooperation between the two countries. An agreement was signed to strengthen existing cooperation. In 2014, an agreement on cultural cooperation was signed between Bangladesh and Cambodia. The signed 10 deals in 2017 are expected to enhance bilateral ties and strengthen economic cooperation between the two developing countries. Bangladesh has proposed a long-term land cultivation agreement for farms in Cambodia by Bangladeshi nationals. Bangladesh is keen to sign a long-term rice import agreement with Cambodia. Bangladesh Cambodian students have been awarded scholarships by Bangladesh Agricultural University. The two countries jointly conduct agricultural research. In 2014, Bangladesh and Cambodia signed an agreement for scientific and technological cooperation in the agricultural sector. At the same time, Bangladesh-Cambodia has started work to expand bilateral trade, increase investment, and develop the apparel. agricultural and tourism industries. Cambodia and Bangladesh have committed to strengthening labour agreements between the two countries to manage the migration of workers, share labour recruitment information and combat labour exploitation. According to a Cambodian media reports, the commitment was made between labour minister Ith Samheng and Mohammed Abdul Hye, the Bangladeshi ambassador with residence in Thailand, on May 31. Samheng said Cambodia and Bangladesh have had a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which covers the labour and vocational training sector in place since 2017. A working group had worked closely in the spirit of the MoU until their progress was interrupted two years ago by the Covid-19 pandemic. The labour markets in the two countries are similar. Both countries produce and export garments, so both sides can share experiences and exchange information on the labour and vocational training sector, Samheng was quoted as saying. The minister told the ambassador that there are currently about 400 Bangladeshi nationals who hold work permits in Cambodia. They have a healthcare programme, as well as occupational risk coverage by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), just as Cambodian nationals do. He said that although working conditions in Cambodia are linked to its exports a correlation that could play into the hands of investors the Kingdoms rising wages, while a boon to the livelihoods of workers, present a conundrum for employers. Samheng praised Bangladesh for their technical training and their progress on agricultural techniques, another area in which he had requested Bangladeshi help. According to the ministry, the ambassador expressed his appreciation for Cambodias cooperation in the labour and training field, as the two nations renewed their MoU. He said that during his visit to Cambodia, he had met Bangladeshi nationals who worked in many different areas, including service, construction, hospitality and banking. They had all received strong support from the Cambodian government, which allowed them to open businesses. Cambodia signed the labour-related MoU with Bangladesh on December 4, 2017. The MoU is effective for five years. This time the government is working to get duty free market facility for the export of these products. Cambodia is becoming increasingly important in increasing regional trade. As a result of various official initiatives, Bangladesh's trade relations with that country will be further strengthened. The government is playing an important role in increasing trade and investment by maintaining friendly relations between Bangladesh and Cambodia. According to Commerce Ministry of Bangladesh, In the last fiscal year, Bangladesh exported goods worth $5.39 million to Cambodia and imported $0.4 million worth of goods. The government of Bangladesh is thinking of increasing it further. Apart from this, the government is also thinking of providing various facilities to bring investment to Cambodia. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen visited Bangladesh in 2014 and sent congratulatory messages to Bangladesh on March, 2021 to mark the birth centenary of Its Founder Father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Golden Jubilee of Bangladeshs Independence. He met with Premier Sheikh Hasina in 2017. Bangladesh Prime minister Sheikh Hasina visited Cambodia in 2017. This type of Visits accelerated the ties between the two countries. 10 MoUs were signed during her visit to Cambodia in 2014 to boost up economic, cultural ties. Bangladesh and Cambodia have signed 10 instruments, including nine memorandums of understanding (MoUs), to boost trade and investment between the two countries. The instruments were signed with the aim of enhancing cooperation in various fields like tourism, agriculture, civil aviation, ICT and technical education. Even, Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen praised the digital transformation of Bangladesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and emphasized on increasing trade and expanding the scope of business between the two countries. He lauded the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in tackling the Covid-19 epidemic. He expressed interest in increasing bilateral trade. The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina is very keen to strengthen ties with the South East Asian State. Bangladesh and Cambodia should take effective steps to strengthen bilateral relations to connect the South East Asia with South Asia. Both states should strengthen their business interest for serving the mutual benefit. Chicken cannot at this late date bemoan its lack of teeth, and when it sees the snuff seller, it enfolds its wings. (Everything at its proper time and when one sees potential danger approaching, one should take precautions). Emilokan, aka na me remain, aka na my turn, aka remaining me By the time I was writing this, Bola Ahmed Tinubu BAT had won the All Peoples Congress APC presidential primaries by over 60%, the analysts, the hallelujah boys, the noisemakers, were making their permutations, Atiku of the PDP is still doing the maths of a running matethe OBIdentones, members of the Peter Obi clan arealso at it. All these drama is at the expense of the real people, the real clan and tribe of EMILOKANS, a set of Nigerians that do not know that it is their turn, they are deceived by the oratory of Peter Obi and his sweet demeanour, debating the health of Tinubu and theft of Atiku, men who have seen a 100 and we are threatening them with 99. We are still far away from uhuru! So, let me tell us a tale, and we will take it from thereIt wasnt too long after creation that the animals got together to form a school. They wanted the best school possible one that offered their students a well-rounded curriculum of swimming, running, climbing, and flying. In order to graduate, all the animals had to take all the courses. The duck was excellent at swimming. In fact, he was better than his instructor. But he was only making passing grades at climbing and was getting a very poor grade in running. The duck was so slow in running that he had to stay after school every day to practice. Even with that, there was little improvement. His webbed feet got badly worn from running, and with such worn feet, he was then only able to get an average grade in swimming. Average was quite acceptable to everyone else, so no one worried much about it except the duck. The rabbit was at the top of her class in running. But after a while, she developed a twitch in her leg from all the time she spent in the water trying to improve her swimming. The squirrel was a peak performer in climbing but was constantly frustrated in flying class. His body became so bruised from all the hard landings that he did not do too well in climbing and ended up being pretty poor in running. The eagle was a continual problem student. She was severely disciplined for being a nonconformist. For example, in climbing class, she would always beat everyone else to the top of the tree but insisted on using her own way to get there. Each of the animals had a particular area of expertise. When they did what they were designed to do, they excelled. When they tried to operate outside their area of expertise, they were not nearly as effective. Can ducks run? Sure, they can. Is that what they do best? Definitely not. These men who feel it is their turn, do they know for a fact that South East Nigeria is underdeveloped and that what we celebrate in Ebonyi is comparative mediocrity. That Onitsha, Owerri and the likes of Aba remain largely commerce, hotels, slums and no development. That Lagos with all her comparative advantages is a BIG SLUM with flashes of what it could have been. Do I need to tell those that think it is their turn, that for 15 years and counting all that has progressed in the North is conflict, insecurity and everything wrong. Is it not the turn of the populace to change the narrative? 2023 is again another chance but sadly, the Nigerian state is not listening, at the crossroad we find ourselves, everyone is talking, and no one listening, some say it is Atiku, he is Muslin, another says, we are happy that another Muslim in Tinubu has emerged, others say that he is not muslim enough. Peter Obi is Ibo, he has no structure, a few of us are debating devolution, others say it is restructuring, others question what is restructuring, do we even have a structure or system to build upon, or rearrange. Others shout at youth, others say let us be patient. Once the premise is wrong, the conclusion will always be wrong. Everything about this coming election is almost all wrong, visibly wrong. It is their turn, whose turn was it when according to investigation the last two administration of GEJ, Buhari has spent N1.164 trillion on darkness, or put in another way Nigerian governments, between 1999 and 2010, reportedly spent over N4.7 trillion on power, but the country has remained in darkness Let me use the words of my friendGo and ask OBJ, he is dazed till tomorrow that $16 billions invested in light generation produced more darkness. Go and ask Jonathan, he is dazed that despite his good intention for Almajiri's education in the North, out of school children in the North remain the highest in the world per square kilometre! Go and ask Mr. Buhari, how his administration failed in many fronts, such that we were regaled with the option that it may not be a bad idea for another GEJ turn? Mr. Buhari had a 30 points agenda in 2015. But he inadvertently pushed Nigeria to become the world's poverty capital in 2019. Does anyone think Buhari himself is happy with his scorecard? I don't think so. The Nigeria elite is greedy. It is greed that is making them to purchase N100m form to run for presidency when they know deep within them that Nigeria is irredeemable as long as the existing superstructure is retained. Nigeria is not your Anambra that Peter Obi's 'Onitsha formula' can cure. Nigeria is not BAT's Lagos either. Atiku we know only too well! Our problem goes beyond just bad leadership, to bad citizenry, Nigeria has to be unbundled, recalibrated, restructured, this is a Nigeria of fishes swallowing one anotherand wanting every animal to be equal. Let me put it in this,not exactly politically correct manner, we have a fear of the unknown: Some think that the North thinks she will die without the South workforce, water and oil. The East out of greed wants to ride the HORSE- by all means when she has the capacity to build a bigger Horse- than the current Nigerian Horse. The "Nigerian Horse" is tired, weak and not configured to win any great trophy. The Horse that has been trophy-less in the past 60 years should be 'sold' and be replaced with 3 or 4 or 6 or 8 new horses with fresh legs, eyes, minds and brains. I do not subscribe to the killing Nigeria, IBB, OBJ, TY Danjuma, Buhari are all strong leaders in their rights and ways but they all failed fantastically! Nigeria needs beyond a strong leader, Nigeria needs to find out if it is her turn now. Nigerians are suffering because they dont know theres peoples power. If only all our young folks got off social media, or effectively used it for mobilization, stopped looking for jobs as PA to SA, and SA to SSA, and simply marched towards the Villa, or National Assembly or to their various governors, the story would have been better. The aspirants for 2023 dont understand the pain of a family whose substantially monthly income goes into purchasing cooking oil (kerosene) or gas for food they barely have. The student who has spent a sizable amount of his adult years graduating and looking for jobs, and systems disallowing him the ability to be an entrepreneur. The current Nigeria is a killjoy, it is nobodys turn, it is the peoples turn, but I doubt if they know, like the animals we are not yet ready to harness our abilities, will 2023 be pivotalOnly time will tell The General Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church and All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has revealed why he scored zero votes at the just concluded APC Special Convention. He said his intolerance for a certain kind of politics made him have zero votes at the party's presidential primary. The remark was contained in his post-primaries message themed A new Nigeria is still possible, delivered at the church auditorium in Oregun, Lagos. It would be recalled that Pastor Bakare had scored zero votes during APC primary. He, however, congratulated the winner of the primary, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over his emergence as the APC presidential candidate. His words: Since the conclusion of the APC Primaries in Abuja on the 7th and 8th of June, 2022, while I have received an almost endless stream of visitors and shared various impressions, I have not made any official public statements until today. As the main constituency and core group I am accountable to, I deem it appropriate to share a few thoughts with you first. In the course of my lifelong commitment to serving my nation, Nigeria, I have found these words telling. Yet, I remain convinced now more than ever that the quest to serve our beloved nation, Nigeria, has been a worthy adventure for a worthy cause. As a presidential aspirant in the Special Convention of the All Progressives Congress, APC, it has been a great honour to be the standard-bearer of the message of a New Nigeria; a Nigeria that works for every Nigerian. I congratulate the winner of the APC presidential primaries, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, for his victory. His emergence as the flagbearer and presidential candidate of the APC is a testament to his significant contributions to the cause of the South West as well as his labour towards the formation and establishment of the APC as I have said in times past. I, therefore, extend best wishes to him as he proceeds on the campaign trail towards the 2023 general elections. To my supporters across the nation and in the Diaspora, I thank you for your unalloyed support despite the challenges leading up to the primaries. Our heads remain unbowed because we did not compromise on the values that are integral to building a New Nigeria. For us, the means has always been as important as the end. This is why we confidently wear our zero votes as a badge of zero tolerance for a certain kind of politics. Our confidence is rooted in Daniel 4:17: It is to Almighty God I will ultimately give account, and it is in Him I will continually trust despite what may today appear to be a setback. There is still a cause and there is still a nation to transform. This is not the work of just one man or woman or just one party, but the calling upon every Nigerian worthy of the name. "This is the moment where those leaders must begin to revive the dreams of our founding patriots; the dreams of a Nigeria strong and united though tribes and tongues may differ, and the dreams of a Nigeria where no one is oppressed, no matter which part of the country they come from and live in, and no matter how they choose to worship God. The cleric added that he was confident of a new Nigeria, saying he remains committed towards the cause in the days ahead. He said: This is the moment where we begin to live up to the ideals etched in our founding creeds the ideals of a Nigeria where every Nigerian has a seat at the table of nationhood, and the ideals of a Nigeria where peace and justice reign. This is the moment where we begin to build a bridge between the dreams of our past, the realities of our present and the visions of our future towards a New Nigeria; a Nigeria where every man or woman, and every boy or girl, can live up to his or her full potential, and be all that they were created to be. I remain audaciously confident that a new Nigeria is possible and that, upon the foundational values of integrity and incorruptibility, Nigeria will, no doubt, become a cutting-edge nation; a nation that will, one day, be the peace, progress, and prosperity and possibilities capital of the world. I remain committed to working towards this cause in the days ahead in whatsoever capacity God and the good people of Nigeria so choose. Abbots answer temple embezzlement charges BANGKOK: Two senior monks in Lop Buri and Nonthaburi provinces have reported to police to answer charges in connection with a temple fund embezzlement scandal. By Bangkok Post Sunday 12 June 2022, 09:28AM Phra Thep Senabodi, the abbot of Wat Kawisararam in Lop Buri, reports to a police investigator at the Anti-Corruption Division on Saturday to acknowledge charges in connection with a temple fund embezzlement scandal. Photo: supplied, via Bangkok Post Phra Thep Senabodi, the abbot of Wat Kawisararam in Lop Buri, and Phra Udomsitthinayok, the abbot of Wat Bang Oychang in Bang Kruay district of Nonthaburi, met on Saturday (June 11) with Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat Pankaew, commander of the police Anti-Corruption Division (ACD) and police investigators, reports the Bangkok Post. They denied any involvement in embezzlement and money-laundering in the scandal involving former senior officials at the National Office of Buddhism (NOB) and monks. They were later released after hearing the charges. Phra Thep Senabodi, also the Lop Buri provincial monastic chief, was questioned about B30 million that the NOB had given the temple in 2014 to support the education of monks and novices. However, the police investigation found that the money had not been used for the stated objective. The abbot claimed the money had been used to finance the extension of Winitsuksa School under the temples care. But investigators said they found irregularities in the use of the temple fund. In the case of Phra Udomsitthinayok, also the deputy provincial monastic chief in Nonthaburi, investigators said there was graft in connection with use of a B13mn fund allocated by the NOB in 2013 to Wat Bang Oychang to support Phra Pariyadham School. The investigation found that the temple had never received a permit to set up the dhamma-teaching school. As well, the NOB had allocated budgets worth about B18.5mn to support other projects at the temple. But the temple had never carried out the projects as stated in the original funding proposal it made to the Office. The investigators found that Phra Udomsittinayok had withdrawn B23.5mn in total and returned the money to Boonlert Sopha, a former director of the Office, who was sentenced to jail in 2020 for his involvement as a kickback negotiator. MRTA asks for public feedback as Phuket light rail fares announced PHUKET: The Mass Rapid Transport Authority (MRTA) has begun gathering public opinion on two issues related to the Phuket light rail project. Respondents are asked to evaluate the proposed fare scheme, as well as provide feedback on the proposal to extend the line further to Tha Chatchai during Phase 1 to accommodate Specialized Expo visitors in 2028 . constructiontransporttourism By The Phuket News Sunday 12 June 2022, 02:00PM Phuket people are invited to share their opinion on the proposed fares and route extension online. Image: PR Phuket Opinions are collected online, people are asked to fill a form posted on the MRTA website: www.mrta.co.th/phuket-form/index.html. There are no restrictions on who can speak out, the only personal data required is an e-mail address. Before proceeding to the main questions, the respondents are asked to specify where they reside (in Phuket or outside) and tell how much time they usually spend traveling in Phuket. It is believed, the MRTA means some sort of regular commuting such as everyday trips from home to work and back The questionnaire then proceeds to the agree/disagree question about the proposed fares for the light rail project, scheduled to open in 2026. For the purposes of tariffing, MRTA proposes to divide the entire route into two parts - rural and urban. The suburban area will include all stations from Tha Chatchai or/including Phuket International Airport to Phuket Bus Terminal 2 in Rassada. The urban zone will include all stops from Phuket Bus Terminal 2 to Chalong Pier. The proposed pricing scheme is as follows: Rural zone - 50 baht. Urban zone - 15 baht for 1-8 station, 20 baht for 9-14 stations. Full route - 50 baht. Respondents are kindly asked to just answer if they agree with the proposed scheme or disagree The MRTA also asks the respondents to share their opinion on the idea of expanding the first phase of the project and extending the light rail route to the northernmost point of the island, adding the Phuket Gateway and Tha Chat Chai stations. The agency explains that Phuket is currently bidding to host the Specialized Expo in 2028 and if the island is granted the privilege to host the event, the light rail will be a comfortable means of transportation for the expo visitors. The question is as simple as agree or disagree. However, the survey form has a separate field for extra suggestions and opinions for respondents to provide deeper feedback. Phuket light rail Announced more than a decade ago, Phuket new mass transit project presupposes building a light rail route from Tha Nun in Phang Nga province Chalong Pier through Phuket Town with a separate branch line to the Phuket International Airport. Thus, the route should run from the northernmost point all the way down south to Chalong through the entire island and remove some of the traffic load from Thepkrasattri Rd, currently the main transport artery of Phuket. A lengthy stretch of the railway route should go literally on the middle lane of Thepkrasattri Rd., where palm trees and other trees are now planted. In its current iteration, the light railway project presupposes utilising low-floor trams 2.4-2.65 m wide and 30-40 m long. However, various options are being discussed such as trams with metal wheels vs rubber tires, autonomous buses etc. Officials freely refer to the proposed transport as a railway, a tram, or sometimes even a monorail. There should be 23 stops on the line if the branch starts from Tha Chatchai and 21 stops if the airport is the northernmost point. The list is as follows: 0a Tha Chatchai 0b Phuket Gateway 1 Phuket International Airport Airport interchange 2 Muang Mai 3 Muang Thalang School 4 Thalang 5 Heroines Monument 6 Koh Kaew 7 Phuket Bus Terminal 8 Phuket Rajabhat University 9 Tung Ka 10 Old Town 11 Clock Tower 12 Bang Neow 13 Phuket Public Library 14 Saphan Hin 15 Sakdidet 16 Dowroong 17 Wichit 18 Chao Fa East 19 Palai 20 Koktanod 21 Chalong Pier The Phuket Town part of the light rail project will require some of the citys streets to be made one-way. It will also be necessary to organize parkings near the stations, including a large parking lot for 200 cars and 500 motorcycles at Chalong Pier. In November 2021, it was announced at a public hearing that the construction of the light railway should begin in 2023 with operation expected to begin in 2026. So far, the budget of the first phase in its original form (from Phuket International Airport to Chalong) is estimated at B35 billion, the budget for the second phase (from Tha Nun to the airport, including Tha Chat Chai and Phuket Gateway) has not yet been announced. Phuket Opinion: Needing to see the difference PHUKET: Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Vorawut Silpa-archa this week held an event in Patong that was much more important than the run-of-the-mill public-relations grandstanding that usually amounts to nothing more than self-glorification. By The Phuket News Sunday 12 June 2022, 09:30AM A Patong Municipality worker stacks bags of trash and marine debris collected at Patong Beach earlier this month. Photo: Patong Municipality In marking World Oceans Day on Wednesday (June 8), Mr Vorawut drove home several key points about marine conservation that have not been heard as loud for quite some time especially about how important it is for Phuket. Further, Mr Vorawut was able to have the event broadcast to more than 30 countries worldwide so people could see what was happening in Patong. He understood that not only do you have to tell Thai people what needs to be done, theyve heard it all before, but if you want to convince foreigners that you are taking an issue seriously, you have to show foreigners that you are telling Thai people and show them the results. Protecting the environment has been bandied about by leading Thai figures for so long it has become nothing more than a fashion statement. Yet the results have been obvious. Trash is still left strewn in popular areas, left for someone else to clean up. Garbage and wastewater is still dumped into natural waterways. Not fouling the environment has yet to be understood as a personal responsibility. The answer to that is simple. Its no secret: very rarely do people suffer any consequences for their polluting behaviour. Mr Vorawut made it very clear how much preserving Phukets natural environment means; it means billions of baht in tourism income each year. This point he made in a town that depends on tourism, and where the local economy has been battered so badly battered by COVID some people still queue for food. This the world now already knows. As we keep repeating: if we want tourists to come back, we have to give them a reason and the natural beauty of the region has long been the top reason for coming to Phuket and the surrounding area. Major tourism destinations around the world have already successfully tackled this problem decades ago with a simple two-prong strategy: public garbage bins must be placed in popular areas and emptied regularly, even frequently if needed; and fines must be levied on people found littering. If officials are even slightly serious about keeping Phuket beautiful, this is all that is required at least for the trash problem. They might suddenly find they will not need to stage their Big Cleaning Days so often. The weekend of May 14 and 15, 2022, will likely forever be remembered for two horrific acts of racially motivated violence, targeting the Black community in Buffalo and a Taiwanese church meeting in Laguna Woods, Calif. Both cases clearly conform to any objective definition of (domestic) terrorism involving perpetrators targeting a perceived outgroup with political violence, and seeking to spread fear within that community. But despite the dizzying and heartbreaking casualty counts 10 deaths and three injuries in Buffalo, one death and five injuries in Laguna Woods both incidents could have been far worse, if not for the astonishingly courageous interventions of heroic members of the public, either by duty or not. In Buffalo, Aaron Salter Jr., a retired police officer working as a security guard in the targeted Tops Friendly Markets, engaged the gunman, but found his bullets stopped by the perpetrators body armor. Salter subsequently was killed. Were sure he saved lives, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said. Salter was posthumously awarded the police departments Medal of Honor. And in Laguna Woods, in a similarly selfless act, a local doctor charged at the gunman, succeeding in wrestling him to the ground and effectively ending the shooting. Dr. John Cheng, unfortunately, was shot multiple times during the fight, and died on scene. Without the actions of Dr. Cheng, it is no doubt that there would be numerous additional victims in this crime, Orange County Sheriff Donald Barnes told reporters. Terrorism by design is always defined by the actions and motivations of the perpetrator(s). But over recent years, more efforts have been made to recognize the heroes who step in, and put their lives on the line to protect others. Perhaps never was this more evident than after news broke of a stabbing rampage at Fishmongers Hall and on London Bridge in London, England, in November 2019. Social media alighted with videos and firsthand testimony of civilians fighting off an assailant armed with two knives, using whatever they could grab. A fire extinguisher. A five-foot narwhal tusk. Their bare hands. Bystander interventions not only have critical impacts in the moment the fight component of law enforcements run, hide, fight instruction is often overlooked, but is simply crucial in reducing the death toll in active shooter events but also can change the attacks impact in the long term. Firstly, telling the story of the intervention robs the perpetrator of the ability to control the narrative in the aftermath of the incident. Drowning out the horror and the hate with the tales of protection and love redefines the attack the story remembered is less about the violent actions of one individual, and more about bravery, resilience, and the human spirit. The location becomes synonymous with the heroes, not the killers. But even more important, the tales of bystander heroism are precisely the stories that will promote the unity, trust, and cohesion that terrorists seek to undermine. In emphasizing how strangers can look out for each other, in the worst moments of their lives, we can begin to build bridges between communities that might otherwise be divided. Stories of bystander heroism boost national and civic pride again, undermining the hatred that caused the event in the first place. The perpetrators name, story and motivation are important factors for practitioners and specialists to study and analyze, in order to better prevent the next incident. For the general public, its far more important to hear stories of heroism, protection and love. In the very darkest moments, we could do far worse than heeding the words of Pittsburghs beloved Mister Rogers who made the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, later targeted in an awful anti-Semitic attack in 2018, his home: Look for the helpers. For every one act of horror, there are 1,000 acts of love, and sometimes, those acts of love are sacrifices that directly save the lives of others. Harnessing the goodness, compassion and generosity of spirit that has consistently seen the United States through immense pain and suffering is one of the countrys greatest strengths against terrorism. It has never been more important than right now. Aaron Salter Jr. Dr. John Cheng. Remember the heroes. A northern Nevada industrial plant can begin turning tons of garbage into a synthetic oil that can be refined into fuel for airplanes, following a recent Environmental Protection Agency rule change. After five years, the EPA on June 3 finalized the rule sought by Fulcrum BioEnergys Sierra BioFuels Plant in Storey County. A company official told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the facility would permanently employ roughly 120 people. Once operating, it will process 175,000 tons of landfill garbage into 11 million gallons of synthetic fuel oil each year, company officials said. U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., who helped guide the company through the bureaucratic maze, said she hoped the plant would create more than a thousand indirect jobs throughout the state while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. She called the project an entirely new industry. After the project stalled at the EPA during the Trump and Biden administrations, Cortez Masto pushed for a regulatory rule change that will allow the synthetic fuel oils to be produced, marketed and sold. I wouldnt let unnecessary government bureaucracy stand in the way of this innovative new facility, Cortez Masto said in a statement detailing her involvement with the process since 2017. EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the agency actions and rules issued for the Renewable Fuel Standard program are steps to increase the availability of homegrown biofuels. Regan added that the intent of new rules on renewable fuel standards is to provide more options for consumers at the pump. In the case of the Sierra BioFuels Plant, the synthetic material may be used in aviation, said Eric Pryor, Fulcrums president and chief executive officer, in a statement announcing operations at the facility east of Reno. Fulcrum is launching an entirely new source of low-cost, domestically produced, net-zero carbon transportation fuel, which will contribute to the aviation industrys carbon reduction goals, U.S. energy security and address climate stability, Pryor said in a statement. In an interview with the Review-Journal, Benny Wong, Fulcrum BioEnergy managing director of fuels and regulatory affairs, said the northern Nevada site was chosen because of the regulatory climate in the state, the landfill and the proximity to markets. The EPAs rule change was one of the final hurdles to moving ahead with the project, he said. Our Sierra project would be the first municipal solid waste-to-fuel in the nation, Wong said. Such projects take several years to plan and build, Wong said. Fulcrum BioEnergy first received a $105 million loan guarantee in 2014 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to start research and planning on the project. Cortez Masto, who is also a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, helped the company secure that financial support from the department in 2017. Construction began in 2018 and finished in 2021. Still, EPA rule changes were needed. EPA continued to review the Renewable Fuel Standards program over two presidential administrations. Cortez Masto talked recently with Regan and pushed the EPA to provide the regulatory fix in new rules. Regan announced that change in a batch of new rules issued by the agency. Regan said the EPAs new rules would help to reduce our reliance on oil and put the (Renewable Fuel Standards) program back on track after years of challenges and mismanagement. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also announced this month that it would invest $700 million in biofuel producers who were economically hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The funds are part of the $2.2 trillion relief bill passed by Congress in 2020. CHAMPAIGN Foreign investment in U.S. farmland has tripled during the past 10 years, according to a non-profit investigative journalism group. Investigate Midwest, based in Champaign, cites U.S. Department of Agriculture data in its report stating that, as of 2019, more than 62% of all foreign-owned agricultural land in the United States was owned by five countries: Canada, 29%; the Netherlands, 14%; Italy, 7%; the United Kingdom, 6%; and Germany, 6%. In Illinois, foreign investors control 2.6% of agricultural land. The Illinois Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act requires a foreign person or corporation that buys agricultural land in Illinois to report the purchase to the Director of Agriculture within 90 days or pay a stiff fine. Missouri farmer Joe Maxwell, co-founder of Farm Action, said control of U.S. farmland by foreign investors is "a real crisis" for a number of reasons. The real question is, who do the people of the United States want to be their farmer?" he said. "Do they want Saudi Arabia, Canada, China, other countries to be their farmer? Do they want Bayer or Cargill or other large corporations to be their farmer? The Investigate Midwest report said the owners of 3.1 million acres of U.S. agricultural land were not identified in public records. Federal law requires foreign persons and entities to disclose foreign ownership to the USDA, but there are no limits on how much land foreign investors can buy. Maxwell said more information is needed on the extent of foreign ownership. The pandemic showed reliance on multinational corporations for agricultural inputs is a failed system, Maxwell said. He added that, for several years, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has been trying to pass the bipartisan Food Security is National Security Act in Congress. On his website, Grassley states deep-pocketed investors are making it hard for young farmers to buy the land they need to get established. Maxwell's group is lobbying Congress to get states to monitor foreign investment. Maxwell said investors are not buying farmland for the production value of the land. Instead, he said investors, corporations and hedge funds many foreign-owned often buy U.S. farmland as a monetary investment. Maxwell said U.S. farmland should be used to produce food for people who live here; investors are driving up farmland prices so the next generation of farmers cannot buy the land they need. The only way young farmers can get started is if the bank sees that they can make money off that land by producing food and feed, he said. (This June 12 story officially corrects Russian delegate's name in paragraph 4 after WTO mistake) By Philip Blenkinsop and Emma Farge GENEVA (Reuters) - World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala expressed cautious optimism on Sunday that more than 100 trade ministers meeting in Geneva would achieve one or two global deals this week, but warned the path there would be bumpy and rocky. The director-general from Nigeria said the world had changed since the WTO's last ministerial conference nearly five years ago. "I wish I could say for better. It has certainly become more complicated," she told a news conference before the June 12-15 meeting, listing the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and major food and energy crises as pieces of a "polycrisis". As a sign of divisions among the WTO's 164 members, some 30-40 nations walked out when Russia's Vice-Minister Vladimir Ilyichev took to the floor. Earlier, trade ministers from the European Union and 29 other WTO members met with Ukraine to express their solidarity and support and wish to alleviate food supply problems. Speaking to ministers at the opening, the WTO chief urged them to "show the world that the WTO can step up to the plate" and achieve agreements on subjects such as reducing fishing subsidies, boosting access to COVID-19 vaccines, addressing food security and setting a course for reform of the WTO itself. "What remains to be decided requires political will - and I know you have it - to get us over the finish line," she said. However, she warned that it would be challenging. "Let me be clear, even landing one or two will not be an easy road. The road will be bumpy and rocky. There may be a landmine along the way," Okonjo-Iweala said, adding she was "cautiously optimistic" that the meeting would conclude with one or two deals. She also cautioned ministers to recognise that compromises are never perfect. The WTO's 164 members take decisions by consensus, meaning a single member can block progress, and negotiations often last years. Story continues The 27-year-old WTO is itself in trouble. Former U.S. President Donald Trump crippled the WTO's Appellate Body that rules on disputes over two years ago, and WTO members have only ever agreed one global deal, the red-tape cutting Trade Facilitation Agreement, in 2013. In a sign of the global difficulties, Sunday's opening session meeting was dedicated to "challenges facing the multilateral trading system". Campaign groups gathered near the body's lakeside headquarters over the weekend, some denouncing capitalism and others calling for an end to "vaccine apartheid". They were all barred from entering the WTO headquarters on Sunday on security grounds, according to an email seen by Reuters. (Reporting by Emma Farge and Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Jan Harvey, Daniel Wallis and Tomasz Janowski) Ariana Cubillos/AP CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) The leader of the U.S.-backed opposition in Venezuela was physically attacked Saturday during a visit to a rural community, according to members of his parallel government, who accused a group of ruling party associates of carrying out the assault. A photo accompanying the opposition statement shows Juan Guaido being held back as people gather around him and someone rips his shirt off. The parallel government said the group, which was associated with the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, known as PSUV, hit and insulted Guaido, who is on a tour around the South American country seeking to unite and organize his party ahead of a planned primary election. Westerly, RI (02891) Today Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 74F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight A few clouds from time to time. Low 57F. Winds light and variable. While Westminster was convulsed by the confidence vote in the Prime Minister, a group of business leaders were served a plate of chicken masala 212 miles away at Keighley Asian Women and Children's Centre. The food was cooked by women hoping to set up a social enterprise delivering lunchtime curries to nearby firms. One told how Naz Kazmi, the centre's chief executive, had helped her regain self-confidence after an abusive marriage. Tough talk: Boris Johnson's Government has shown enthusiasm for reducing regional inequalities, seasoned with a dollop of self-interest in hanging on to Red Wall voters Rather than being grim, it was inspiring. Prince Charles's Business in the Community network, which organised the visit to Keighley and Bradford, is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and has been engaged in what is now called levelling up all that time. In Keighley, it is clear that the Government's flagship policy is sorely needed and how many people's lives could be transformed. Boris Johnson's Government has shown enthusiasm for reducing regional inequalities, seasoned with a dollop of self-interest in hanging on to Red Wall voters. It is an enormously difficult task. Governments as far back as Harold Wilson's have tried and failed. Perhaps the difference this time is that we are moving into a digital economy that can in theory thrive anywhere, so the environment might finally be more conducive. But the gap between London and elsewhere is in reality a gulf. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says Preston, the most productive city in the North West, lags behind London by 30 per cent. Sunderland, the top performer in the North East, trails by 20 per cent. Unlike previous downturns, employment is plentiful around the country but many of the jobs are low skilled and low paid. Data from the Office for National Statistics suggest the divide between London and the rest of the country is widening, with output in the capital growing by 1.2 per cent in the first quarter of this year, surpassing all the other regions. Existing disparities will be made worse by the cost-of-living crisis, which will hit poorer communities hardest. When the Government's levelling-up White Paper came out in February, the IFS warned its ambitions were unlikely to be achieved even with large resources and 'the best politics', neither of which are in evidence. Last week, the cross-party Commons public accounts committee found support from the Government's 4.8billion Levelling-Up Fund had been awarded 'on the basis of unrealistic claims' at the expense of more solid propositions. This is not acceptable. Far too much is at stake, and far too many people will be deprived of life chances they deserve. In Bradford and Keighley, as in other towns, there is no shortage of energy, ideas or enterprise. But there is frustration with needless obstacles and box-ticking. There is frustration, too, at the state of the nation's transport system. While the capital luxuriates in the new Elizabeth Line, Bradford has the worst rail connections of any major conurbation. The situation has not been helped by the major scaling back of Northern Powerhouse Rail or the dropping of the HS2 Leeds leg. In less well-off communities with poor public transport where a car is essential to get to work, 100 to fill a tank is ruinous. Levelling up is about better opportunities for coming generations. Young lives are transformed by good schools, which also benefit local employers looking for recruits. Firms should be encouraged to follow the example of JCB, which supports its own academy school in Staffordshire, and businessman Christopher Nieper, who has taken over a failing Derbyshire comprehensive. (Getty Images) Eddie Jones has called up veteran Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care to Englands squad for the first time since 2018 ahead of Sundays match against the Barbarians, putting him in line for selection on this summers tour of Australia. Care was originally expected to turn out of the Barbarians in the Twickenham, having been frozen out by Jones for four years since a fixture against Japan during which he was taken off at half-time. The 35-year-old has 84 England caps and has been the Premierships outstanding scrum-half this season, with his campaign ending on Saturday when Quins lost to Saracens in the play-offs. He is one of six Quins called into the squad, although Joe Marler is not one of them. His fellow prop Will Collier is recalled and hooker Jack Walker receives his first callup. Regulars Marcus Smith, Alex Dombrandt and Joe Marchant are included. Northampton Saints, the other losing semi-finalists, have five players called up: Lewis Ludlam, Courtney Lawes and Alex Mitchell, plus the uncapped Fraser Dingwall and Tommy freeman. As they compete in the final on Saturday, players from Saracens and Leicester are unavailable. England travel to Australia for a three-Test series promptly after the Barbarians game. This is a strong, diverse squad, said Jones. There are a lot of exciting, young players and some experienced players who have another opportunity to shine. Everyone will be given the chance to make their case for being part of the Australia tour squad while we prepare for the Barbarians. Kingsport, TN (37660) Today Intervals of clouds and sunshine. A stray afternoon thunderstorm is possible. High 97F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MONUMENT VALLEY, Utah (AP) Federal officials signed an agreement with leaders of the Navajo Nation on Friday that provides funding for clean drinking water infrastructure for reservation residents and resolves questions about longstanding Navajo claims to water rights in the drought-stricken U.S. West. The signing formalizes the Utah Navajo Water Rights Settlement, which became law in 2020 as part of President Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure bill. As part of the agreement, the federal government will pay the Navajo Nation $210 million for drinking water infrastructure in San Juan County the part of the 27,00-square-mile (71,000-square kilometer) reservation that lies in Utah. Many Navajo homes lack running water. Residents often fill containers at public taps or rely on water deliveries from volunteer organizations. As we seek to strengthen Indigenous communities and support tribal self-governance, todays action and all of these investments will help provide the Navajo Nation with autonomy and flexibility to design and build appropriate water projects that will address current and future water needs," U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said at a signing ceremony on the Navajo Nation. Utah, which was also party to the agreement, will pay the Navajo $8 million as part of the settlement. We had two real problems in our state. One was the Navajo Nation had claims to the Colorado (River) that would impair Utahs water rights, U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney told The Salt Lake Tribune. The other concern we had was about half the Navajo Nation residents (in Utah) didnt have running water." The settlement also quantifies the Navajo Nation's water rights, quelling Utah's anxieties about its long-standing claims to a share of water, including from the Colorado River. A 1908 court decision said tribes had rights to as much water as was needed to establish permanent homelands. Though they possess senior rights, the Navajo were left out when seven western states divided up shares as part of the Colorado River Compact a century ago. Best of the Capital Region 2022 Its the 25th anniversary of our Best of the Capital Region readers survey. Make sure your voice is heard by nominating your favorite people, places and businesses between Jan. 21 and Feb. 4. The subsequent uncertainty and potential legal battles have emerged as an urgent issue as the region reckons with a hotter, drier future with less Colorado River water to be shared. The settlement recognizes the Navajo's right to 81,500 acre-feet of Utah water and allows them to draw the water from aquifers, rivers or Lake Powell, if they choose. The agreement also allows the Navajo to lease unused water to entities off the reservation and guarantees they won't lose water rights not put to use. It's one of 16 tribal water rights settlements that the Biden administration is devoting $1.7 billion to fund from the recently enacted federal infrastructure bill. The hard work, however, must continue until all homes across the Navajo Nation have clean water running in faucets for all Navajo families," Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez told the newspaper. WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) Police in Delaware are searching for a man who was disguised as a security worker when he robbed an armored truck and assaulted two employees. The suspect was armed with a handgun and wearing a mask and a Garda uniform when he robbed one of the company's armored trucks near Wilmington on Friday morning, according to the Delaware State Police. Update: Boy killed by motorcycle remembered as 'a good friend to all' LAKE GEORGE State Police are investigating after they said a speeding motorcyclist careened off Route 9 and crashed into a group of pedestrians near Lake George Expedition Park, killing a 38-year-old and an 8-year-old. Police said a motorcycle driven by Anthony J. Futia, 33, of Albany, was traveling at a high rate of speed north on Route 9 at about 3:40 p.m. when the motorcycle went off the east shoulder and onto a paved bike path, striking a group of six pedestrians who were standing near the path's entrance. James A. Persons, 38, and Quinton Delgadillo, 8, both of Lake George, were killed in the crash. Another pedestrian, Jasmine Luellen, 30, of Lake George, was transported to Albany Medical Center Hospital and is in stable condition. Three other children with the group of pedestrians were not injured. Futia suffered life-threatening injuries and is in critical condition at Albany Med. Route 9 was closed for many hours Sunday. The investigation into the crash is ongoing. Lake George Expedition Park is the former Magic Forest amusement park on Route 9. No one answered the phone when the Times Union contacted the park late Sunday afternoon. The crash happened as Americade weekend was ending, a time when thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts arrive in Lake George. There were two other serious motorcycle crashes, one fatal, in the area over the weekend, although it is unclear if those victims were specifically in the area to attend Americade, which started Tuesday. Laura B. Covarrubias, 38, of Glenmont, was driving a 2021 Kawasaki motorcycle north on the Northway in Malta sometime before 8 a.m. Wednesday when she moved to the left lane and struck a BMW motorcycle driven by the person she was traveling with. She was pronounced dead at Saratoga Hospital. On Sunday night, Warren County Sheriff's deputies announced another motorcycle crash that happened on Saturday night on Route 9 in Lake George. Best of the Capital Region 2022 Its the 25th anniversary of our Best of the Capital Region readers survey. Make sure your voice is heard by nominating your favorite people, places and businesses between Jan. 21 and Feb. 4. Deputies said a 1998 Harley Davidson driven by a 65-year-old from New Lebanon was traveling south near the Mohican Motel when he veered into oncoming traffic to avoid striking a vehicle that had turned in front of him. The motorcyclist struck a vehicle and then hit a guardrail. He was flown to Albany Med; deputies did not provide his condition late Sunday night. Correction: This article has been updated. An earlier version of this article misidentified the 8-year-old boy killed in the crash. He is Quinton Delgadillo, according the Lake George Central School District. State Police later confirmed the name they shared Sunday was incorrect. Will Waldron/Times Union LAKE LUZERNE State Police are investigating the possible drowning of a Connecticut man in the Hudson River in Lake Luzerne on Saturday. Troopers responded to the area of Davern Road on Saturday around 4 p.m. for calls of a possible drowning in the Hudson, police said. A preliminary investigation determined that Wilfredo Arizmendi, 48, of Hartford, Conn., was boating with family when he entered the water to swim, police said. TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan does not want to close the door to China and is willing to engage in the spirit of goodwill, but on an equal basis and without political preconditions, Premier Su Tseng-chang said on Sunday. Relations between Taipei and Beijing, which claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory, are at their lowest in decades, with China increasing political and military pressure to get the island to accept its sovereignty. Earlier on Sunday at a security forum in Singapore, China's defence minister said the Chinese government sought "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan but reserved "other options". Speaking to reporters after China banned the import of grouper fish from Taiwan on safety grounds, a move Taipei called politically motivated, Su said Taiwan has always had goodwill towards China. "As long as there is equality, reciprocity and no political preconditions, we are willing to engage in goodwill with China," he said, reiterating a position President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly made in public. "As for China's harassment of Taiwan with military aircraft, warships, unreasonable suppression and political actions, the one being most unreasonable is China," he added. "Taiwan does not want to close the door to China. It is China that has used various means to oppress and treat Taiwan unreasonably." China has refused to speak to Tsai since she was first elected in 2016, viewing her as a separatist who has refused to accept that China and Taiwan are part of "one China". Tsai says only Taiwan's people can decide their future, and while they want peace with China will defend themselves if attacked. Taiwan's people, who live in one of Asia's most freewheeling and liberal democracies, have shown no interest in being ruled by autocratic China. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by William Mallard) ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) More than two months after being impacted by a huge wildfire, the Village of Ruidoso is looking to make a tourism comeback. The Albuquerque Journal reported Friday that Ruidoso and the state Tourism Department are jointly earmarking $150,000 to help lure visitors to the southern New Mexico community. The recall of a progressive district attorney in San Francisco has resurrected talk among Republicans leaders in New York of enacting a California-style recall law here, too. It's as bad an idea as ever. Sure, recall sounds like a populist and democratic mechanism. Don't like the job an elected official is doing? Just can't wait for the next election? Don't have grounds for impeachment? Recall the rascal! But New Yorkers already have ways to dump elected officials they don't like. They can vote them out of office when that next election comes around. They can build public pressure for them to resign. They can persuade their legislative representatives to impeach and remove them if offenses warrant. Adding recall to the list adds little value and much opportunity for mischief. In California, which added recall to its state constitution in 1911, San Francisco voters last week recalled District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was viewed by many as too lax on crime. The recall has been noticed nationwide at a time when gun violence and other crimes are high on the public's list of concerns. In New York, where Republicans have been railing for years about Democrats' criminal justice reforms, Senate and Assembly GOP leaders and other legislators promptly proposed a constitutional amendment to allow for the recall of district attorneys in this state, too. And state Republican Party Chairman Nick Langworthy talks more broadly of previous GOP efforts to allow recall of elected officials in general. We've certainly had our share of politicians we thought didn't belong in office. But it was long understood in New York and American politics that elections marked the end of the contest. We had winners and losers. The winners took office and got down to the serious work of governing. The losers accepted the outcome. Donald Trump, with his big lie that the 2020 election was stolen, upended that understanding, and our nation is even more divided as a result. And now his supporters in New York want to bring endless elections here. Elections seem nearly endless already. Politicians no sooner get elected than they start raising money for reelection, and their opponents start sharpening the knives. The grave step of impeachment is tossed about so casually by some remember threats to impeach Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden while they were still running for president that it's in danger of being reduced to an unserious trope. How much more unending and inescapable would our political turmoil be if New York had a law allowing sore losers to demand a do-over for every election? Sign up for the Observation Deck newsletter Read the latest Times Union opinion, perspective and letters to the editor on Mondays by signing up for our Observation Deck newsletter. If you think the general public would get tired of it, think again. Politics has, for many, become as entertaining and consuming as any sport. And there's a multi-million-dollar political industry that would no doubt be more than happy to keep people at each other's throats and keep donations rolling in. There's a term even some politicians use for election time: the silly season. Just imagine if it didn't have to come around only once every two or four years. Or better: Let's not. On June 22, I will be in attendance with family at the MVP Arena to proudly watch my son graduate with the Niskayuna class of 2022. I truly enjoy graduation speeches and rituals. Even if some of the speeches go on a bit too long and hit upon familiar points or veer into cliches, they will genuinely reflect the time and the place of the departure of our kids into a wider world. Undoubtedly, the speeches at my sons ceremony will include mention of the effects of COVID-19 on this particular class, with two years of disruptions in normal routines and school activities. This experience will certainly be a lasting memory, for better or worse, that will define this class, if not its forward arc. One topic Im fairly certain will not come up in graduation speeches, however, is the ongoing gun violence assaulting our nations children. Tragic events such as the Uvalde, Texas, massacre are rarely discussed at celebratory moments. Yet I do hope someone on the dais will consider it worth remarking upon. School shootings are one of the defining experiences of the class of 22, as much as the pandemic. And Niskayuna High School class of 22 students, like many of their peers across the country millions of them are collateral victims of the gun massacre epidemic. On Nov. 5, 2018, the high school was locked down for five-and-a-half hours following a threat of violence that was discovered on a single note left in a bathroom. The students were trapped in their classrooms, without water or access to the bathrooms. We parents have shared stories of special needs children not able to access their medication who went into crisis, diabetics with no insulin, students soiling themselves, makeshift latrines fouling the classrooms, and many panic-inducing farewell messages texted home by students. I cannot fault either the Niskayuna Central School District, or the law enforcement agencies responding to this threat. The Majorie Stoneman Douglas High School gun massacre in Parkland, Fla., had taken place just that February. The protocols in place appear to have been followed, and while I take exception to the effectiveness of the clear the school approach, at least our local personnel, unlike the ones at Uvalde, followed the letter of their training. Of course, Im grateful this turned out to be a hoax. The worst direct damage that day was done to the classrooms, full of vomit and waste and overturned furniture. (I again applaud the heroic custodians who had to clean up the mess overnight). Sign up for the Observation Deck newsletter Read the latest Times Union opinion, perspective and letters to the editor on Mondays by signing up for our Observation Deck newsletter. Some may remark how resilient our children are. True, but such bromides mask the real, continuing damage done by a generation of escalating gun violence. The COVID-19 pandemic has been blamed for the alarming increase in mental health crises among high school students, while little attention has been given to the accumulated trauma of lockdown drills and the sense that schools are no longer safe places. This class was in second grade when the first-graders of Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., were slaughtered with an assault rifle. The look of terror on our local school employees the next school day, when I walked our kids in the front door, will never leave me. Every parent or visitor has since become a potential suspect as much as they were once a friend and ally. No amount of hardening of schools can address this. Turning our schools into fortresses and our teachers into paramilitaries will do little except further turn the lives of our children into an existence of constant fear. I find it terribly disturbing that we had legions of parents showing up to school board meetings alleging, without evidence, that wearing cloth masks would cause children irreparable psychological harm, yet these same parents seem to be silent on the psychological harm from the omnipresent threat of weapons of war. So, to my son and his graduating class: I want you to celebrate the positive and move forward, yes. Youve done some amazing things under trying circumstances. Youve missed a lot and will have to play catch-up. But we are immensely proud of you. Yet I hope you are not silent about the victims of unfettered access to guns, either on graduation day, or thereafter. I do not have a solution to offer, but I do know that being silent is not the answer. Starting that process of speaking out, perhaps, might make this a truly meaningful graduation day. Matt Wall is the parent of two children in the Niskayuna Central School District. He is a writer and former software development executive. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ALBANY In early 2021, a lobbying group purchased more than $850,000 in television commercials that ran across New York, encouraging residents to contact their state senators and voice opposition to tax increases. Deep-pocketed lobbying groups typically must disclose donors providing more than $2,500 under a state law meant to reveal those who are seeking to influence government. Yet in a filing submitted last July, "Dont Bankrupt New York" disclosed little about its six-figure spending and indicated the group took in no contribution over $2,500. The person responsible for that paperwork was David Grandeau, the states pugnacious former top lobbying regulator. In private practice for the past 15 years, Grandeau works as a compliance lawyer for the type of deep-pocketed interest groups he once targeted. Far from operating in the shadows, Grandeau has openly touted his ability to obscure the sources behind clients lobbying spending, tweaking the state's lobbying regulators for allegedly failing to keep pace with him. "If someone hires me and doesn't want to disclose who's funding them," Grandeau said in 2014, "I've forgotten 10 different ways to do it that [the Joint Commission on Public Ethics] doesn't even know about." Such tactics have now put Grandeau in the crosshairs of embattled commission, a much-criticized ethics and lobbying enforcement body which faces extinction in a month. On March 29, JCOPE commissioners voted to begin a full-blown investigation into "Dont Bankrupt New York'' for allegedly submitting a series of false lobbying filings. They are threatening to fine Grandeau an unprecedented sum of more than $4.2 million. Grandeau contends it's JCOPE that's corrupt, arguing that the commission's actions are retribution for his decade of making inflammatory critiques of the body and its commissioners and staffers. "I criticize them because they're a bunch of corrupt, incompetent clowns," Grandeau said in an interview last week. Unable to resolve the dispute, Grandeau provided the Times Union with his correspondence with JCOPE about the inquiry, which had not previously been publicly disclosed. Grandeau said he was retained to work for "Dont Bankrupt New York" by Jamestown Associates, a national Republican firm based in Virginia that creates and places political television ads. Jamestowns CEO was the lead ad-maker for President Donald J. Trumps campaigns in 2016 and 2020. In New York, Jamestown worked for an election spending group in 2013 whose biggest donor was David Koch, the now-deceased conservative billionaire known for shadowy political expenditures. When Grandeau first spoke to Jamestown over the phone about performing lobbying compliance, the firm sought advice "regarding the different ways to register the lobbying group." One "avenue of disclosure" Grandeau said he had suggested was creating a "coalition" to disclose spending under a measure JCOPE implemented in 2019. JCOPEs sweeping lobbying regulations that year were meant to make state government more transparent. Yet Grandeau says the "coalition" aspect was written in a way enabling the type of disclosure filing tendered by "Dont Bankrupt New York." Coalitions were a "mythical name that they created in regulations one that serves to hide the identity of the members," Grandeau said. "By definition, thats what a coalition is." The commission's regulations defined a coalition as a group of "otherwise-unaffiliated" members pooling resources to engage in lobbying. The regulations said members of a "structured" coalition the type formed by Grandeau were not required to be listed. In the spring of 2021, Grandeau submitted a filing disclosing that Jamestown Associates was a party benefiting from his coalitions lobbying. Grandeau was registered as the groups "chief administrative officer," which according to Grandeau, makes him a second, disclosed member. Other members of "Dont Bankrupt New York" including whoever presumably paid Jamestown to produce the ads were not listed. In a March 8 letter outlining a potential case against Grandeau, JCOPE associate counsel Megan Mutolo wrote that because Grandeau was refusing to identify other members, "Dont Bankrupt New York" was not a coalition and that the structure was used "to prevent the required disclosure" of the true client that provided the $850,000. Her letter said Grandeau filed a false report stating the group received no donation over $2,500. Jamestown Associates was "improperly used as an intermediary in the contribution process," she wrote. An attorney who is representing Grandeau, Peter Moschetti, said that Grandeau followed the rules as written by the commission. Grandeau maintains that to his knowledge, Jamestown Associates paid for the ads it produced. He believes JCOPE has never contacted or subpoenaed Jamestown to find out more information; the firm did not respond to a request for comment. Grandeau is aware of the existence of other members of the coalition, but has refused to reveal their identities, arguing hes not required to do so. "If JCOPE wanted to know the members or group of entities that constituted a coalition, they would have required such information in the regulations and designated a lobby application that allowed for the listing of those groups or members," Moschetti wrote to the commission. "As there is no statute, rule or regulation that requires a coalition to list its members, a filing cannot be false when a coalition does not list its members." The maximum fine for a false filing is five times the amount improperly reported, which means Grandeau could be fined more than $4.2 million. Walter McClure, a spokesman for the commission, said he could not comment on the investigation. But McClure pointed generally to guidance issued by the commission a year ago which says a member of a structured coalition contributing more than $2,500 must be disclosed. Grandeau countered that the guidance is not a formal regulation, and that by the time it was issued, he'd already formally terminated "Don't Bankrupt New York" as a lobbying entity. McClure said the guidance was based on several regulations which were issued before the lobbying spending occurred. Grandeau argues that a "coalition" is by definition not an entity that holds an official legal status, like a corporation. "Dont Bankrupt New York" had no bank account, Grandeau said, and therefore did not have the capacity to take in any donation over $2,500. For a dozen years years, Grandeau aggressively pursued cases as the states top regulator, including secretive lobbying spending, while angering politicians of both parties. When he lost his job as executive director of the Temporary State Commission on Lobbying in 2007, one good-government group lamented the loss of the "real sheriff of Albany." Detractors cast him as an egocentric media-hound who conducted probes in the press. He became an inflammatory critic of his successors, which he viewed as overly influenced by the lawmakers they were supposed to regulate a criticism of JCOPE among many lawmakers and good government groups. After JCOPEs creation in 2011, Grandeau routinely wrote sarcastic, off-color blog posts on the website of his law firm, coining the term "J-JOKE" to describe the agency. He regularly attended monthly meetings in Albany, muttering critiques, all while battling the commission on behalf of well-heeled clients. In 2016, a situation with similarities to the current matter unfolded when JCOPE began investigating a Grandeau client called "Pledge 2 Protect." The nonprofit routed more than $1 million in lobbying spending through the escrow account of a boutique Manhattan law firm, obscuring the original source. In a settlement struck with the commission in 2017, the group acknowledged being funded by Glenwood Management, the real estate giant that was the states biggest political spender and at the center of two major Albany corruption trials. Pledge 2 Protect paid no fine as part of the settlement, but acknowledged that Glenwood Management had received advice from an attorney Grandeau concerning "how to comply with the Lobbying Act while maintaining the anonymity of certain donors." Grandeau stopped blogging in 2019, but remained antagonistic. In August, he filed a complaint accusing JCOPEs executive director, Sanford Berland, of submitting a late financial disclosure filing and McClure of covering it up. Two months later, Grandeau received a letter asking questions about the "Dont Bankrupt New York." Grandeau's attorney argues that 35 other lobbying coalitions have not revealed their members, yet only Grandeaus is apparently being targeted. "The allegations appear to be retaliatory," Moschetti wrote to the commission, "especially given Mr. Grandeaus past actions in filing ethics complaints against JCOPEs executive director and a former commissioner, along with his public criticisms." In a June letter, Moschetti demanded a hearing before the commission, as well as documents. He stated an intention to sue if the commission took punitive action, and to subpoena a number of commissioners and staffers for testimony, including Berland. Grandeau intends to invite the media to attend those sworn depositions. Yet its unlikely that JCOPE will ultimately decide the matter. On July 8, the commission will be replaced by a new body, the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying and Government, created in Aprils budget. Several current JCOPE commissioners are hoping to win places on the new 11-member panel, however, and current staff also could remain. The probe of Grandeau could survive the transition. Grandeau argues the new entity will again fail if the same people are involved. At the same time, JCOPE's leading critic may be a somewhat quieter presence in the future once this latest battle with regulators concludes. "It's never comfortable when a corrupt government is trying to take $4 million, but I have a lot of confidence in the judicial system," he said. Im 63 years old and this is my last fight. But I will show how corrupt they are." WFO LAS VEGAS Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, June 11, 2022 _____ EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 312 PM PDT Sat Jun 11 2022 ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM PDT/MST THIS EVENING... ...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM PDT/MST TO 8 PM PDT/MST SUNDAY... * WHAT...For the Excessive Heat Warning, dangerously hot conditions. For the Wind Advisory, southwest winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts 40 to 50 mph expected. * WHERE...Portions of northwest Arizona, southeast California and southern Nevada. * WHEN...For the Excessive Heat Warning, until 8 PM PDT/MST this evening. For the Wind Advisory, from 11 AM to 8 PM PDT/MST Sunday. * IMPACTS...Extreme heat will significantly increase the potential for heat-related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities and for those consuming alcohol and/or drugs. Tree limbs could be blown down from gusty winds and a few power outages may result. Reduced visibilities on area roadways possible due to blowing dust. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Use extra caution when driving, especially if operating a high- profile vehicle. Secure outdoor objects. Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible, reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening hours. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose-fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air-conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM PDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions. * WHERE...Southern San Bernardino County. Best of the Capital Region 2022 Its the 25th anniversary of our Best of the Capital Region readers survey. Make sure your voice is heard by nominating your favorite people, places and businesses between Jan. 21 and Feb. 4. * WHEN...Until 8 PM PDT/MST Saturday. working or participating in outdoor activities and those consuming alcohol and/or drugs. * WHERE...In Arizona, Lake Havasu, Fort Mohave and Lake Mead National Recreation Area. In California, San Bernardino County- Upper Colorado River Valley. In Nevada, Lake Mead National Recreation Area. * WHEN...Until 8 PM PDT/MST Sunday. * WHAT...West-southwest winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph expected. Above 7000 feet, up to 60 mph expected. * WHERE...In California, Eastern Sierra Slopes, Owens Valley. In Nevada, Esmeralda, central Nye, and Lincoln counties and the Spring Mountains including Red Rock Canyon. * WHEN...From 11 AM to 8 PM PDT/MST Sunday. * IMPACTS...Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result. Visibilities may be reduced on area roadways due to blowing dust. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Dangerous crosswinds expected along Highway 395 in Inyo County on Sunday. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather The remains of Europes largest ever land-based hunter which measured more than 10 metres long and lived 125 million years ago have been found on the Isle of Wight. Several prehistoric bones belonging to the two-legged, crocodile-faced spinosaurid dinosaur were discovered on the island off the south coast of England and have been analysed by scientists from the University of Southampton. The spinosurid would have lived at the beginning of a period of rising sea levels and would have stalked lagoonal waters and sandflats in search of food. PhD student Chris Barker said: This was a huge animal, exceeding 10m (32.8ft) in length and probably several tonnes in weight. Judging from some of the dimensions, it appears to represent one of the largest predatory dinosaur ever found in Europe maybe even the biggest yet known. Its a shame its only known from a small amount of material, but these are enough to show it was an immense creature. The discovered bones of the White Rock spinosaurid named as such because of the geological layer in which the remains were found include huge pelvic and tail vertebrae. They were found by dinosaur hunter Nick Chase, who has since died, near Compton Chine, on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight in the Vectis Formation geological structure and are now on display in the Dinosaur Isle Museum in Sandown. Dr Neil Gostling, corresponding author of the study published in the journal PeerJ, said: Unusually, this specimen eroded out of the Vectis Formation, which is notoriously poor in dinosaur fossils. Its likely to be the youngest spinosaur material yet known from the UK. Co-author Darren Naish said: This new animal bolsters our previous argument published last year that spinosaurid dinosaurs originated and diversified in western Europe before becoming more widespread. We hope that additional remains will turn up in time. Because its only known from fragments at the moment, we havent given it a formal scientific name, Mr Naish added. We hope that additional remains will turn up in time. The scientists suggest that marks on the bone including little tunnels bored into a lump of pelvis, show that the body of the giant dinosaur would have been picked over by scavengers and decomposers after it had died. Co-author Jeremy Lockwood, a PhD student at the University of Portsmouth and Natural History Museum, said: We think they were caused by bone eating larvae of a type of scavenging beetle. Its an interesting thought that this giant killer wound up becoming a meal for a host of insects. Fans of the Voodoo Music + Arts Experience will have to wait a bit longer before the festival returns to New Orleans Authorities arrested 31 members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front near an Idaho pride event Saturday after they were found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, The Virginian-Pilot. A woman accused of drenching a Las Vegas police detective in gasoline has been released on her own recognizance The Nova Scotia government says the median age of people who have died from COVID-19 in the province since Dec. 8, 2021, is 81. (Evan Mitsui/CBC - image credit) The Nova Scotia government says there have been 421 COVID-19 deaths in the province since the pandemic began, but an infectious disease researcher says that number is likely understated by at least 200. Tara Moriarty, an associate professor at the University of Toronto, called it "a conservative estimate" and cautioned the number will grow. "A lot of the deaths from Omicron are going to start coming in," she said. She said it's important to note that underreporting of COVID-19 deaths is "the norm" worldwide, even in high-income countries. Moriarty is part of a team at the COVID-19 Resources Canada project doing modelling to help members of the public better understand the COVID-19 situation. It receives funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada for its work. What is excess mortality? Moriarty said to get an accurate picture of how many COVID-19 deaths are going unreported, one has to look at excess mortality, which is when more deaths happen than are expected. Figures released Thursday by Statistics Canada estimate that from March 2020 to the middle of February 2022, there were an estimated 40,349 excess deaths in the country, or seven per cent more deaths than expected. Lisa Xing/CBC However, the situation got much worse beginning in January because of Omicron. "Canada experienced a new period of significant excess mortality starting in January 2022," said a Statistics Canada report. "From the start to the end of January, there were 4,085 excess deaths observed nationally, or 13.2 per cent more deaths than expected if there were no pandemic." Statistics Canada's data estimates that since the pandemic started, there have been 181 fewer deaths than expected in Nova Scotia. However, the data for Nova Scotia only goes up to Oct. 23, 2021, which is before the Omicron wave hit the province. Roughly three-quarters of the official COVID-19 deaths in Nova Scotia have happened since December. Story continues "There are many more deaths that are still going to come in from Nova Scotia because Nova Scotia just hasn't reported [that data]," said Moriarty. Of the 21 COVID-19 deaths announced by the province during their weekly update on Thursday, officials said 19 of the deaths happened between April 25 and May 30. How Nova Scotia classifies COVID-19 deaths In Nova Scotia, deaths attributed to COVID-19 capture both people who died from infection with the coronavirus or when COVID was believed to be a contributing factor. "When people have underlying conditions it becomes more complicated, but if COVID may have contributed to the death, we report it as a COVID-related death," Health and Wellness spokesperson Marla MacInnis said in a statement. "In situations that are more complex, such as a person who dies with multiple contributing factors, the cases are reviewed by clinicians and/or public health to determine whether COVID-19 may have contributed." In cases where the cause of death is unknown or a person is suspected to have had COVID-19, tests are carried out to find evidence of the disease. Moriarty said deaths can still be missed. "A lot of deaths in older people don't necessarily look like the way we typically think of COVID as a respiratory infection," she said. "A lot of older people, when they develop respiratory infections don't have obvious symptoms, until they can no longer breathe and they die." Older Nova Scotians face higher death rates Since Dec. 8, 2021, the median age of people who have died from COVID-19 in Nova Scotia is 81, according to the province. It said the risk of death from COVID-19 is 125 times higher for people 70 and older than it is for people under 50. While Omicron has been billed as a mild strain of COVID-19, Moriarty said the reality is far more complicated. "What I want people to understand is that if you're eligible for fourth doses, get them immediately," she said. "There's still a lot of Omicron out there. And every week that passes, the protection you have from vaccines, from your third dose, is falling and [you] indeed become more and more likely to be infected and potentially die if you're susceptible." MORE TOP STORIES A Chicago police officer who was shot during an attempted traffic stop last week has been released from the hospital Kansas City is soon give the right of way to anybody with a siren by way of an "emergency vehicle traffic signal preemption system" that will soon earn a study and then an automatic green light. In fairness . . . Most drivers want to get out of the way of first responders rushing to an emergency. That's a given. But, sadly, we're denizens of the real world and we know that this tech WILL DEFINIATELY might be manipulated so that the KCFD can sneak in front of fatties at the drive-thru . . . And THAT puts our entire democracy at risk. Don't worry . . . Locals won't have a say in this traffic crackdown . . . We're merely providing this info to keep our blog community updated in the ongoing war against local drivers. Check-it . . . Ordinance #220493 . . . "One of the features of this program is an emergency vehicle preemption system whereby onboard GPS equipment anticipates vehicle movement and precisely controls traffic lights to help first responders reach their destinations as quickly and safely as possible; and "The GPS equipment onboard fire trucks and ambulances communicates with traffic signals, and - based on route, time of day and other information - adjusts traffic signals to provide green lights for first responders and move the traffic in front of them through the signals; and "Emergency Vehicle Preemption is a critical component of smart city infrastructure and should be a focus for the City of Kansas Citys own smart infrastructure system throughout the City of Kansas City . . . "To Direct the City Manager to conduct a comprehensive study of the cost and timing for implementing an Emergency Vehicle Preemption system as part of the Citys infrastructure development efforts and report back to Council within 120 days." Developing . . . The latest local murder reminds us that this town is becoming more inhospitable and home to a growing rate of local killing. For clarification . . . The gunfire victim was a guest of the hotel, not a hotel employee. Here's the first report . . . Homicide 8500 E. 350 Hwy. This morning about 03:45 am officers were dispatched to the Crown Lodge at 8500 E. 350 Hwy on a shooting call. On arrival officers were directed to the victim, an adult male, in the hotel lobby/common area there. The victim had apparent gunshot wounds, and officers began rendering aid and summoned EMS. EMS responded and transported the victim to the hospital with life threatening injuries. Detectives and Crime Scene Investigators responded to the scene at that time and conducted investigation and processing. Preliminary investigation indicates that the victim and an unknown suspect had a confrontation that led to an altercation and eventually shots being fired and the victim was struck. The suspect reportedly left the area in an unknown direction. ############### Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . Hotel guest killed in early Sunday morning shooting at Crown Lodge in KCMO KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A man died from life-threatening injuries sustained in an early morning shooting Sunday in Kansas City, Missouri. KCMO police were dispatched around 3:45 a.m. to Crown Lodge at 8500 East 350 Highway on reports of a shooting. Shooting at KC hotel leaves one dead KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City police are investigating a deadly shooting that occurred inside a hotel early Sunday morning. Officers were dispatched to Crown Lodge at 8500 E. 350 Hwy in regards to a shooting call around 3:45 a.m. Upon arrival, they found one man in the hotel lobby with apparent gunshot wounds. Crown Lodge Motel lobby shooting leaves man dead in East Kansas City A man is dead after what Kansas City police are calling an altercation at a motel lobby in East Kansas City, Missouri.Around 3:45 a.m. Sunday, officers were sent to the Crown Lodge at 8500 E. 350 Highway for a reported shooting in the motel lobby. Developing . . . Today Midtown Kansas City was awash in progressive advocacy and it was hard to distinguish betwixt factions . . . Thankfully, the drag queens provided a welcomed and fabulous demarcation line. Of course, Mayor Q was leading the party but we noticed quite a few important people in the crowd. Check-it . . . Mayor Q empahaised "intersectionality" in his speech and tweet . . . "Kansas City is proud to join communities across our country today in coming together to say enough is enough and to demand sensible gun reform." The Mayor's statement was defiant . . . But here's the thing . . . Of course LGBT events outnumbered anti-gun marchers . . . From an outsider's perspective . . . It kinda seems like Democratic Party loyalists were "stealing the thunder" of LGBT party people . . . But as always, most communities in KC are welcoming . . . Our favorite shot from the Mayor's social media presence . . . Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . . Kansas City Pride Parade held on Saturday KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) --- The Kansas City Pride Parade was held Saturday. Members of the LGBTQ community and their allies marched from Westport to Theis Park in Kansas City. The parade is part of the 'Pride Fest' event, which got started on Friday and is happening all weekend. Kansas City celebrates LGBTQ community at PrideFest Parade KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City community is celebrating LGBTQ Pride Month at the KC PrideFest Parade Saturday at 11 a.m. during PrideFest Weekend. The event celebrates the LGBTQ community and recognizes the history of those who are a part of it here in Kansas City. 'Something needs to change': March for Our Lives rally in Kansas City calls for gun reform Eight-year-old Cecilia Cox gripped a cardboard sign that said in bold "Ban assault weapons, Ban high capacity magazines," as about 100 people gathered Saturday in Kansas City's Gillham Park. The protest was organized through the March for Our Lives campaign, which held rallies across the country in response to mass shootings that have killed dozens of people in recent weeks. 'Never again, again.' Kansas City rallies for gun safety laws in Missouri and Kansas Meredith Bills and her friend, Joni Hall, found it hard to believe that they had to use the same old signs again on Saturday to help a crowd call for gun safety laws in response to yet another wave of mass shootings. You decide . . . It was a big week for the human face. As the pandemic was allegedly fading for the summer, I saw so very many, not just at parties but at my first dental checkup in three years. - Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star Governments May Have Had Some Successes, but Seizing Bitcoin and Crypto Is Still Very Hard Source: iStock/aluxum "It is impossible to confiscate properly stored cryptocurrencies at scale." "The main attack vector would be seizing custodial bitcoin holdings." "What may happen is that governments start limiting self-custody." It may have strong competition, but one of the most disturbing things to happen to crypto in 2022 was the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issuing a Mareva injunction. Set against the backdrop of demonstrations and blockades that paralyzed Ottawa early this year, this injunction permitted the seizure of cryptoassets belonging to protestors, who had been receiving financial support in the form of bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptoassets. When combined with reports of the US Department of Justice seizing USD 3.6bn in BTC in February, for instance, the injunction seemed to fatally undermine the notion that cryptocurrency is immune from government control. Indeed, US government agencies have seized cryptocurrencies on numerous occasions in recent years, helping to create a suspicion that any sense of cryptocurrencys inviolability is mostly an illusion, and that a sufficiently determined government can seize bitcoin, ethereum (ETH), or anything else whenever it wants. However, figures working within the crypto industry affirm that successfully seizing cryptocurrency ultimately depends on seizing an address private key, something which should be more or less impossible, assuming that holders keep their funds in their own self-custodial wallets. That said, they also acknowledge that with the continued popularity of crypto exchanges and increasing anti-money laundering regulations, seizing funds held in custody by a third-party is becoming easier. Properly stored bitcoin and crypto Its worth pointing out that the aforementioned injunction wasnt entirely successful in actually seizing cryptoassets donated to protestors in Canada. Based on the latest published information (released by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police), Canadian enforcement agencies managed to freeze only 29% of the cryptoassets sent to demonstrators following the Mareva injunction of February. This highlights the difficulties in seizing genuinely decentralized cryptoassets. So long as holders are storing their funds themselves in a self-custody hardware wallet (and safely storing their private keys offline), there just isnt any way governmental agencies can seize crypto right now, according to commentators. It is impossible to confiscate properly stored cryptocurrencies at scale, said Boaz Sobrado, a data analyst. He highlights that the key phrase here is "properly stored," since plenty of crypto-based wealth is currently sat in the hands of exchanges and custodians, who are obliged to follow the laws of the countries they operate in. Coins are vulnerable to mass confiscation if you are not the one holding the keys, Sobrado told Cryptonews.com. If an individual does hold their own keys, the seizure is trickier, as holding your keys can be as simple as memorizing a 12 or 24-word seed phrase. Sobrado also notes that, in theory, its not impossible for governments to arrest individuals and require them to reveal their keys. That said, it requires more coercion and is difficult to do at scale. Most other industry players agree that seizing properly self-custodied cryptocurrencies is close to impossible. It would be very difficult for governments to seize bitcoin. The main attack vector would be seizing custodial bitcoin holdings, which is why its important to take your coins off exchange and learn how to self-custody, said Samson Mow, the CEO of Bitcoin technology company JAN3. Another believer that cryptocurrencies are safe so long as theyre stored properly is Ryan Shea, a crypto-economist at digital investment platform Trakx. However, he points out that there are at least a couple of routes by which a government may be more successful in taking control of funds, with the abovementioned seizure of USD 3.6bn in BTC being possibly the most notable example of one attack vector. What made it possible in this instance was the alleged perpetrators stored their private keys in a cloud account and law enforcement obtained a search warrant to access this account, he told Cryptonews.com. According to Shea, this was itself only possible because by following transactions on the blockchain which is publicly visible law enforcement were able to link the wallet addresses containing illegally obtained coins to personally identifiable information as some of the transactions were conducted via centralized exchanges obligated to conduct KYC (know your customer) checks. The other route, according to Shea, is to identify wallet owners and blacklist associated wallets, something which may be difficult at scale. Nonetheless, this makes it very hard to move funds onto a regulated exchange and cash out. The funds may not be retrievable but they become practically unusable as most exchanges will not knowingly process transactions from blacklisted wallets for fear of coming under greater government scrutiny, he added. Future moves Are governments going to take more legislative steps to make it easier for them to seize cryptoassets? The answer to this question varies from country to country, with opinion mixed on whether new laws are actually needed to make seizure more feasible. The question of whether governments will move in this direction or not ultimately depends on their needs. If their economic situation is dire and they need to prop up their fiat currency, it could be likely they move in this direction, said Samson Mow. For Ryan Shea, specific legislation for seizing cryptocurrency probably isnt necessary in most cases. Crypto regulation is already being introduced and enforced more rigorously to ensure that to the greatest extent possible this link is established. Seizing cryptocurrencies therefore simply requires governments to prove that the coins in question were obtained illegally, which probably comes under existing money laundering and terrorist financing laws, he said. Of course, the application of existing laws depends on funds going through regulated exchanges, which is not always possible. So for Boaz Sobrado, this means that governments may need new regulation to reach those who lean more towards self-custody. What may happen is that governments start limiting self-custody, which is likely to be a precursor to confiscation, he said. That said, its not clear how any government could police some kind of limitation or ban on self-custody, aside from maybe banning the sale of hardware wallets in their jurisdictions (which seems a distant possibility right now). Because the possibility of prohibiting self-custody is very remote at the moment, keeping funds in a hardware wallet remains the best method for anyone worried about what their government may do in the not-too-distant future. Beyond that, worried holders may also want to consider using decentralized exchanges and (most likely overseas) exchanges without KYC requirements. ____ Learn more: - How to Buy Bitcoin Without an ID in 2022 - Bitcoin & Crypto Wallet Hygiene 101 - How to Protect Your Absolute Crypto Lifeline - Seed Words - Here's What US Senators Put in New Crypto-Friendly Bill - With Crypto Regulation Imminent, How Should Industry Leaders Prepare? - The Crypto Cat Is Out of the Bag, but Can We Still See More China-Like Bans? - CBDCs Are Likely to Make You Less Anonymous - EU Decision-Makers Kick Off Negotiations On Controversial 'Unhosted Wallets' Regulation In southern Ukraine, Russian troops continue to conduct hostilities along the captured defense lines. Meanwhile, as a result of fire missions, the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed 13 Russian soldiers, a tank, five motor vehicles and three field ammunition depots. The relevant statement was made by the South Operational Command on Facebook, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. The situation within the area of hostilities is remaining tense. In order to hold back Ukrainian forces, the enemy opens fire at Ukrainian positions and attempts to conduct counterbattery activities. Russian invaders again shelled the outskirts of Mykolaiv with the Uragan multiple launch rocket systems to continue fire and psychological pressure on civilians. Over the past day, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched three air strikes on the enemys ammunition depots and groups of military equipment. Meanwhile, according to the South Operational Command, two large landing crafts joined Russias naval group in the Black Sea. The threat of 40 cruise missile strikes and landing operations is persisting. mk Belarusian forces are hardening positions within border checkpoints and deploying additional electronic reconnaissance systems within the areas bordering with Ukraine. The relevant statement was made by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. In the Siverskyi direction, the enemy continues to provide the enhanced protection of the Ukrainian-Russian border in Bryansk Region and Kursk Region. In Belgorod Region and Kursk Region, the increased terrorist threat level was extended. Russian troops continue to fire at Ukrainian defense forces with mortars within the border areas. The aggressor also fired at civil infrastructure near such settlements as Rozhkovychi, Hremiach, Luhivka and Popivka. In the Kharkiv direction, the situation has not changed significantly. In order to restrain Ukrainian defense forces, the enemy continues to fire at Ukrainian positions. In addition, Russian troops opened fire on civil infrastructure near such settlements as Virnopillia, Ukrainka, Petrivka, Chepil and Khrestyshche. The Russian military launched an air strike near Mospanove. In the Sloviansk direction, Russian troops systematically launched artillery strikes near such settlements as Petrivske, Nova Husarivka, Kurulka and Dolyna. The enemy is attempting to gain a foothold in Bohorodychne. Hostilities are underway. In the Lyman direction, Russian invaders did not take active actions. The enemy increased the intensity of artillery strikes, namely with multiple launch rocket systems, near such settlements as Shypylivka and Dronivka. Russian troops are regrouping. In the Sievierodonetsk direction, Russian troops are conducting assault operations in the city of Sievierodonetsk, having no success. Hostilities are underway near Toshkivka. In the Bakhmut direction, Russian troops fired at Ukrainian positions with mortars, cannon and rocket artillery near such settlements as Komyshuvakha, Hirske, Mykolaivka, Bilohorivka and Novoluhanske. The enemy combat aviation launched an air strike near Pokrovske. The Ukrainian military repulsed an enemy attack near Vrubivka. The enemy also attempted to launch an offensive in the direction of Mykolaivka but failed and retreated. Ukrainian defenders successfully repelled an enemy assault near Vasylivka. Russian occupiers suffered losses and retreated to the previously captured positions. In such directions as Avdiivka, Kurakhove, Novopavlivka and Zaporizhzhia, Russian troops did not conduct active hostilities. The enemy insidiously fired at civil infrastructure near such settlements as Zhelanne, Avdiivka, Karlivka, Vuhledar and Orikhiv. In certain areas, Russian troops are deploying additional units. In the Southern Bug direction, Russian invaders are keeping the defense. The enemy fired at Ukrainian positions with artillery, mortars and multiple launch rocket systems. The aggressor attempted to conduct counterbattery activities. Russian occupiers cynically opened fire on such settlements as Tverdomedovo, Bereznehuvate, Kobzartsi, Kvitneve and Luch. Over the past day, the Ukrainian military have destroyed 10 Russian tanks, 16 armored fighting vehicles, seven unmanned aerial vehicles, more than 10 motor vehicles and up to 150 troops. Photo: illustrative mk A Ukrainian strike hit a command post set up in the settlement of Rubizhne, Luhansk region, by Chechen fighters who are part of the Russian invasion army. Thats according to Serhiy Haidai, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, Ukrinform reports. "As for our special forces and gunners, we have three such examples of their coordinated work. They engaged a Wagner PMC base in Stakhaniv. Only one survivor there. A Chechen command post was destroyed in Rubizhne where the enemy death toll is yet to be clarified. Also, a group of Russian soldiers, holding a meeting at the House of Chemists, was eliminated," said the head of Luhansk region. Read also: Russian invaders destroyed 26 houses in Luhansk Region over past day Haidai also said the enemy artillery destroyed a second bridge across the Siversky Donets River, which used to connect Siverodonetsk with Lysychansk. The third remaining bridge is under heavy fire. Attempts by the invaders to take control of the Lysychansk-Bakhmut road of life continue, with no success so far. Russian armed aggression has been going on in Ukraine since February 24. Several Marder armored vehicles from the well-known German manufacturer Rheinmetall are ready for use and can be delivered to Ukraine immediately. Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall, told this to the Bild am Sonntag news outlet, Ukrinform reports. "We are repairing 100 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, and the first vehicles are ready," he said, adding that when and where these vehicles will be delivered to Ukraine depends on the federal government. The cost of upgraded IFVs ranges from EUR 850,000 to EUR 1 million. Kyiv has repeatedly called on Germany to supply Ukraine with battle tanks to be able to defend itself against Russian attacks. Military experts do not rule out that Germany is afraid of providing Ukraine with armored vehicles due to the alleged possibility of them being used inside Russia. Photo: Marcus Prell Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk has once again criticized the host country's government for hesitating to provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces, suffering heavy losses, with armored combat vehicles that have even been prepared for shipment by manufacturers. The diplomat expressed his misunderstanding on Twitter, Ukrinform reports. "Dear Government, why are you denying the Ukrainian army these Marder infantry fighting vehicles, which are already available at (Rheinmetall) concern, while Ukraine is bleeding in Donbas? 109 days of the Russian war of annihilation. WHY? the ambassador said. The post contains a link to a Bild article, which states that the German concern is ready to send to Ukraine the repaired and updated Marder infantry fighting vehicles, which the Bundeswehr no longer employs. It should be noted that this is not the first time that the Concern has come up with a proposal to the German government to transfer the equipment to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, for weeks, the authorities have been dragging with the approval, inventing other schemes. Melnyk is a vocal critic of the German government, which he criticizes for its unwillingness to provide Ukraine with heavy weapons or for slowing down the implementation of the already approved decisions. At the same time, earlier, the ambassador said that Berlin would ship to Ukraine a batch of howitzers even earlier than initially expected. Britains defense company QinetiQ will provide Ukraine with 10 TALON robots for demining. This was announced by First Deputy Head of Ukraines Patrol Police Oleksiy Biloshitsky, Ukrinform reports. "TALON will be deployed to demine Ukraine. This is a sapper robot that not only locates gifts but also neutralizes them. Before the war we had already had more than a dozen of them, now QinetiQ will deliver 10 more," Biloshitsky wrote. According to the official, the robot can carry a load of 45 kg and pull another 680 kg. In the basic version, its length is 86.4 cm, height 42.7 cm, and maximum weight from 52 kg to 71 kg. Read also: Ukraine responds to Russian assurances of not taking advantage of port demining to attack from sea With a max speed of 8.3 kmh, the robot is also able to operate without recharging from 2.8 to 4.5 hours, and in standby mode up to 7 days. As reported, an area of nearly 300,000 square kilometers has to be demined in Ukraine. Photo: Oleksiy Biloshitsky / FB Former British soldier Jordan Gatley was killed in action in Sievierodonetsk while fighting on the side of Ukraine. The soldier's father, Dean Gatley, broke the news on Facebook, Ukrinform reports. "Yesterday (10/06/22) we received the devastating news that our son, Jordan, has been shot and killed in the city of Sievierodonetsk, Ukraine," he wrote. The British television channel Sky News, citing the father of the deceased soldier, reported that Jordan left the British Army in March "to continue his career as a soldier in other areas" and flew to Ukraine soon after to help fend off Russian forces and train Ukrainian soldiers. Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian Presidents Office, tweeted that Ukraine will always remember his contribution to the protection of Ukraine and the free world. "It takes a lot of courage to leave home and go thousand miles to defend what you believe in. Just because the heart says so. Because you can't stand the evil. Jordan Gatley was a true hero," Podoliak wrote. Gatley is the second Briton to have been confirmed to have died in Russia's war against Ukraine. British soldier Scott Sibley was killed in Ukraine in April. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhny, in a phone call with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, informed him about the current situation at the front and the need for Ukraine to get more new artillery pieces as soon as possible. Zaluzhny said this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports. "I emphasized that the enemy concentrated its main efforts in the north of the Luhansk region. They use artillery en masse and, unfortunately, they have a tenfold fire advantage. Despite everything, we keep holding our positions. Every meter of Ukrainian land there is spilled by blood, not only by ours, but also by the occupier's one. The situation is complicated, in particular, in the city of Sievierodonetsk. Up to seven battalion tactical groups were deployed by the enemy there. Despite the heavy fire, we managed to stop the enemy," Zaluzhny wrote. He noted that Russia's invading forces, having failed to advance in the Luhansk direction, resumed the shelling of residential areas in Kharkiv, which requires the Ukrainian Armed Forces to take adequate action. Also, the Russian armed forces continue to fire artillery and mortars at Ukrainian defense forces in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are returning fire. In some areas, Ukrainian defenders have launched counter-offensives, Zaluzhny said. According to him, the front line currently stretches 2,450 kilometers, with active hostilities taking place along a 1,105-kilometer front line. "I reiterated my request to General Milley - to help us get more 155 mm caliber artillery systems in the shortest possible time. I also shared with my counterpart the strategic goals of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Understanding the strategy of our armed struggle and operations will help to ensure transparency of relations with partners, clear and understandable quantitative and time frames of the international technical assistance we are asking for," Zaluzhny added. According to him, he also discussed with Milley the transfer and use of weapons already provided by the U.S., drawing analogies with the WWII lend-lease system and discussing scenarios for further developments. Over 50 WTO Members agreed a statement at the World Trade Organization's 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in solidarity with Ukraine, promising support and assistance in agricultural exports and efforts to rebuild the country in a post-war period. We, the trade ministers/heads of delegation of the undersigned WTO Members, have met in Geneva today on the occasion of the 12th Ministerial Conference of the WTO, to reiterate our full support for, and solidarity with, the people of Ukraine. We express our deep sadness at the devastating human losses and profound suffering caused by the aggression against Ukraine. In so doing, we reiterate our support for the UN General Assembly Resolutions of 2 March 2022 (A/RES/ES-11/1) and 24 March 2022 (A/RES/ES-11/2), the joint statement reads. It is noted that the war is also having a devastating impact, including on Ukraines economy and ability to trade. The destruction of a significant part of Ukraines transportation infrastructure, including roads, bridges, ports and railroads, is substantially impeding Ukraines ability to produce, export, and import, WTO members acknowledge. We are gravely concerned about the consequences of this destruction for Ukraine and for global trade, in particular as regards the supply to international markets of a number of key commodities produced by Ukraine, including agricultural and food products, fertilisers, sunflower oil, and critical minerals. We are also deeply concerned by numerous reports of grain being plundered from Ukraine. These actions are at odds with the principles and values of the WTO, reads the statement. The WTO members also stressed the need to ensure that the trade routes, especially sea routes and ports, are not blocked by the threat of the use of force. The food security impacts are dramatic for those directly affected in Ukraine but are not just restricted to Ukraine and its citizens. Ukraine is one of the worlds top exporters of key agricultural products like wheat, maize, barley, and sunflower oil. It is a major supplier to the World Food Programme. The impact of the war, including of the blockage of Ukraines access to the Black Sea, is seriously jeopardizing food supply to some of the most vulnerable parts of the world, in developing countries. This risks pushing millions of people into food insecurity, adding to the already severe situation caused by COVID-19, the statement says. In this context, the signatories said they would seek to support Ukraine and to facilitate its exports. They encourage WTO Members to do likewise in a manner commensurate with their capacity, including by facilitating the use of infrastructure or facilitating and simplifying customs procedures. Within our capacity, the WTO members will look for ways to help Ukrainian farmers to continue planting and growing cereals and oilseeds, much needed for themselves and for the world. Within the capacity of each WTO Member, we will continue to provide humanitarian aid to alleviate the suffering of Ukrainian civilians, including to help secure their access to basic goods and services, including food. We will also look for ways to help Ukraine in its reconstruction as soon as circumstances permit, the joint statement reads. The statement was signed by Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, European Union, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Germany, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, The Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, United Kingdom, Ukraine, United States and Uruguay. The WTOs 12th ministerial conference kicked off its work in Geneva on Sunday, set to last through June 15. The organization consists of over 160 member states. Ukraine became a full-fledged member on May 16, 2008. Throughout the week, Russia, through a number of loyal Western experts, promoted the narrative that Ukraine should sit down at the negotiating table as this is allegedly the only option to end the war. Thats according to the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Ukrinform reports. "In an interview with Die Welt, U.S. military strategist Edward Luttwak suggested the idea of a referendum in Donetsk and Luhansk as the only way to end the war," the statement said. In addition, American economist Steve Hanke actively promoted the narrative that sanctions allegedly further strengthened Vladimir Putin and his allies position instead of undermining it. Read also: Russia spreading fake news claiming Ukraine selling weapons provided by western partners Danish scholar Jan Oberg gave dozens of interviews in which he negatively commented on Sweden and Finlands decisions of to join NATO, decrying this as yet another provocation addressed to Putin. The Center for Countering Disinformation noted that all these statements boil down to the fact that the world and Ukraine in particular should "offer Putin a small victory." The theses of Russian "power and the "invincibility of Russian army" are elements of a psy-op aimed at further promoting the idea of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine on Kremlins terms. The infant son of a famous bandmaster is among the Native American children whose remains may be disinterred this summer from the Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery. Paul Wheelock of the Oneida tribe was 10 months old when he died of a respiratory infection on May 14, 1900, according to records posted online by Dickinson College. He was the son of Dennison Wheelock, who was the leader of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School band that toured the U.S. around the turn-of-the-century. Work began Friday on a multiphase project to identify, disinter and transfer the remains of eight children associated with the school to descendants on tribal lands who are able to establish a close family link. This is the fifth disinterment project conducted on post by the Office of Army Cemeteries using archaeological and anthropological expertise from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Aside from Wheelock, those to be disinterred are: Wade Ayres of the Catawbe tribe Frank Green of the Oneida tribe Raleigh James of the Washoe tribe Ellen Macy of the Umqua tribe Lottie Soreech of the Ute tribe Annie Vereskin and Anatasia Achwack of the Alaskan (Aleut) tribe The Armys commitment remains steadfast to these families, said Karen Durham-Aguilera, executive director of the cemeteries office and Army National Military Cemeteries. The return of their children provides these families the opportunity to move forward with the closure and healing process. Open from 1879 to 1918, the school was designed as a social experiment to remove native boys and girls from tribal influences, assimilate them to white culture and teach them a trade. The school educated about 8,000 Native American children, with representation from about 50 tribes from across the nation. The disinterment and transfer of each set of remains will enable the families to return the children to cemeteries of their choice. The Army will reimburse the families for their travel to participate in a transfer ceremony. The government is also funding the cost for the transport and re-interment of the remains. The Post Cemetery is closed to visitors through July 10, when the completion of the disinterment project is tentatively scheduled to conclude. The cemetery area is enclosed with privacy fencing. Access to the cemetery will be restricted to Office of Army Cemeteries staff, tribal members and their families. The children The initial notice of intended disinterment was published in the Feb. 14 edition of the Federal Register. That notice listed six individuals. Since then, Wheelock and Soreech have been added to the list. Dickinson College has an ongoing project where Carlisle Indian School student records stored in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., are scanned into a searchable digital resource center at carlisleindian.dickinson.edu. Here are some details about the eight children, in alphabetical order: Antasia Achwack was 13 when she arrived in Carlisle from Alaska on July 11, 1901. She died on June 20, 1904. Wade Ayres was 13 when he arrived in Carlisle from South Carolina on Aug. 30, 1903. He died on Jan. 18, 1904. The Red Man and Helper, a student publication, reported that Ayres suffered complications after a vaccination. Frank Green was a 15-year-old runaway who was killed instantly when he fell off a train and onto the rails near Mexico, Juniata County, on June 25, 1898. Raleigh James was 18 when he arrived in Carlisle from Carson, Nevada, on Sept. 20, 1898. He stayed on as a student until his death on April 18, 1900. Ellen Macy was 14 when she arrived in Carlisle from Oregon on Oct. 3, 1903. She died of tuberculosis on April 3, 1905. Lottie Soreech was 12 when she arrived in Carlisle from Utah on Nov. 12, 1903. She was 16 when she died on Jan. 28, 1906. Annie Vereskin was 11 when she arrived in Carlisle from Alaska on July 26, 1901. She died on Sept. 30 after a short illness. In its May 18, 1900, edition, a student publication called the Indian Helper described the circumstances surrounding the death of Paul Wheelock and the subsequent funeral of the infant. He was a healthy and charming child, but a few weeks since took a severe cold which settled in his throat and lungs, from which he slowly pined away, the article reads. The lifeless form of the beautiful babe was laid in a little white casket and surrounded with a profusion of the most delicate flowers. Famous father Information on his father, Dennison Wheelock, can be found on the Dickinson College online archive and in past newspaper articles published by The Sentinel. Originally from the Green Bay area of Wisconsin, Dennison Wheelock was 14 when he entered the school as a student on Sept. 30, 1885. He graduated on July 29, 1890. Dennison developed such a talent for music that he was regarded as one of the best cornetists to play for the Indian School in its history. Later, Dennison Wheelock was appointed assistant clerk and bandmaster at the school, a position he held for about eight years. During that time, he organized the group into an ensemble that toured major U.S. cities. Under his direction, the ensemble played at the Worlds Fair in Chicago and during the inauguration ceremonies of Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Aside from being a bandmaster, Dennison Wheelock composed several musical selections including a three-part symphony titled Suite Aboriginal which premiered at Carnegie Hall in March 1900. His whole nature as an Indian must have entered into the composition, The Sentinel reported on Oct. 2, 1899. It was the story of an Indians life. It began with Sunrise on the Plains, and throughout the music told of stirring scenes on the field. The lovers song was a choice bit of sweet music and brought down the house. Dennison Wheelock eventually relinquished the leadership of the Indian band to his brother James Wheelock. The Wheelock Bandstand at Carlisle Barracks is named for the brothers and is the site of the annual Army War College graduation ceremony. Locally, Dennison Wheelock attended classes at both Dickinson College and the Dickinson School of Law. Later in life, he served as a disciplinarian at Flandreau Indian School and a band leader at Haskell Institute before settling in as a real estate agent and lawyer in West DePere, Wisconsin. Wheelock was also an early advocate for Indian rights as a member of the Society of American Indians that met with President Woodrow Wilson in 1915. Dennison Wheelock died of a heart attack on May 10, 1927. Joseph Cress is a reporter for The Sentinel covering education and history. You can reach him at jcress@cumberlink.com or by calling 717-218-0022. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has decided to visit Kyiv this month. Thats according to Tagesschau, Ukrinform reports. Sources in government circles claim Scholz plans to pay a visit before the G7 summit, which Germany will host late June. He also discussed the possibility of a joint visit with French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. It is claimed that the governments in Paris and Berlin have been negotiating a joint visit to Kyiv for some time already. To invite the head of the Italian government as a third party was supposedly Frances idea. "Scholz, Macron, and Draghi want to send a sign of European unity with their trip," the report reads. A spokesman for the German government declined to confirm the report. It should be noted that the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has been inviting Scholz for a visit almost since the beginning of the full-scale war, but the latter would repeatedly turn down the offer citing various reasons. It is also worth noting that Scholz and Macron are the ones who continue to keep in touch with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, while Italy has come up with a "peace plan" of its own. Many experts believe that these European nations seek to have the war end as soon as possible, including through concessions to the aggressor on the part of Ukraine. Western powers must demonstrate resilience in the situation around the Russian invasion of Ukraine and continue to support the embattled nation in its fight against Russian aggression. Thats according to Finlands President Sauli Niinisto, who spoke at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during the latters visit to Finland, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. More serious is warfare in European Ukraine. We discussed a lot about that. Unfortunately, none of us saw a clear ending at the moment for that war. And that is surely a common problem for all Europeans, largely it is also a global worry, the Finnish president said. He noted that one of the words that come to his mind in this situation is resilience. Resilience of Ukrainian people they have been tested utmostly here and there are a lot of victims and casualties. They are fighting bravely and it seems that they continue. We had been hoping that the resilience of Russia would somehow be weakening. Unfortunately, very much of that is not at the moment in sight. And then theres a question of our resilience. We want to help Ukrainians. And Id like us to remind that, yes, what we have started, we will also continue, the leader said. He also noted that the move for Finland to join NATO, which was made in the wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine, was an event and triumph of Finnish democracy as the entire nation supported the step, as well as all branches of power. The president noted that the country was surprised to hear Turkiyes position, adding that in foreign politics there are all grounds to perceive seriously what partners say, and that is what Finland intends to do. Read also: Finland will help restore Ukrainian cities Niinisto said his government is in contact with NATO and Ankara, noting that in the end, the parties would find a solution that would be approved by all. Pro-Russian politicians in Japan, who argue that NATO's approach to Russia's borders is to blame for the invasion of Ukraine, comprise only a microscopic part that no one listens to. This was emphasized by Ukraines Ambassador to Japan Serhiy Korsunsky, who spoke in an interview with Radio NV, Ukrinform reports. "In Japan, there are several former and sitting politicians who are openly pro-Russian and who arent hiding it. All of Japan is aware of their attitude. Not only are they on the fringe, they also comprise a microscopic part of Japanese politics," he said. Korsunsky noted that these politicians do not call on Ukraine to recognize the annexation of territories as "this would be beyond the Japanese perception of the world." At the same time, the diplomat adds, they say its NATO's approach to Russia's borders that is to blame for the ongoing war. Read also: Japan to increase aid to Ukraine by USD 500 million "Its allegedly Russia that was threatened and that it was all Americans who provoked everyone and so on, despite the fact that Japan's security is guaranteed by the U.S. But no one listens to them. These are well-known people who have clearly stated their position," Korsunsky said. "It's still a completely different situation than in Europe. The countries of the region are almost independent of Russia economically, except for China, India, and Vietnam. Here, China's position is more important and it is being watched," the ambassador explained. As Ukrinform reported, on May 23, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned Russia's aggression against Ukraine and expressed solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk has said he expects German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to fulfill his promises of providing weapons to Ukraine and giving Kyiv the prospect of EU membership as part of his upcoming visit to Kyiv. He told this to the German news outlet Spiegel, Ukrinform reports. "We hope that during his visit to Kyiv, the chancellor will finally keep German promises on arms supplies and Ukraine's accession to the EU," Melnyk said. According to the ambassador, Ukraine is still waiting for the supply of heavy weapons from Germany, including Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers and Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. Announcements and promises alone, he said, do not help Ukraine repel Russian attacks in this war. Melnyk said he hoped that the chancellor would say when the promised weapons arrive in Ukraine, because the promises were made several months ago. Melnyk also hopes for progress in the prospect of Ukraine's membership in the EU. "If the German Chancellor, along with the prime ministers from Paris and Rome, sends a signal that Ukraine can become a candidate country, it will be more than just a powerful symbol," Melnyk said, adding that it would boost Ukrainians' fighting spirit and clearly show Russia that the EU unanimously supports a free Ukraine. He also noted that Scholz always said that he wanted to visit Kyiv not just for a photo shoot, but for concrete results. The Lotto Max jackpot winner, Marcel Lussier, who picked up his $70 million cheque on Friday in Montreal, said he wants to spend part of his money to help rebuild Ukraine. That's according to CTV News, Ukrinform reports. The man is also willing to fund projects to help people with autism. "It was a normal day like the others, no stress," he said about the win. "I was calm, natural." He is now happy that he can take a cruise with his wife, which he had to cancel several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican immigration authorities disbanded a migrant caravan of at least 7,000 people, the government said Saturday, cutting short the group's journey, which coincided with the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. Mexico's National Institute for Migration (INM) said in a statement it dissolved the caravan by reaching an agreement with its organizers and redirecting people to its INM offices in the Chiapas state. The agency also assisted the migrants with obtaining a document to regularize their stay in the country. The caravan, which migration activists said could be one of the region's largest in recent years, departed from the southern border city Tapachula on Monday. It was made up of people from Central America, Venezuela, Haiti and other countries, according to the INM. The disbandment of the caravan comes on the heels of the U.S.-hosted Summit of the Americas, which was roiled by division after the exclusion of some leftist Latin American countries. U.S. President Joe Biden and fellow leaders from the Western Hemisphere used the meeting to announce a series of migrant programs supported by various countries across the hemisphere and Spain, pledging a more cooperative approach. Those measures include the United States and Canada committing to take more guest laborers, providing legal pathways for people to come work, and other countries agreeing to greater protections for migrants. But some analysts were skeptical that the pledges are meaningful enough to make a significant difference. Mexico also will accept more Central American workers, according to a White House statement. (Reporting by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Aurora Ellis) Mark Feldstein had just started Walker Junior High in 1968 when his father, a new math professor at UVa, came home one day from the barbershop. Mark looked at his father's hair and noticed something wasn't quite right. "My dad's hair looked weird. Half of it was cut, half of it wasn't, said Feldstein. He asked his father, Alan, what happened to his hair. Mark Feldstein remembers that his father told him that he had been sitting in a barber's chair getting a haircut. A barber complained to the barber cutting Alan Feldsteins hair that a Black man had come by earlier in the day asking for a haircut. Barbershops in the city were segregated at that time. My dad asked, So if a Black man wanted a haircut, you wouldn't cut his hair? The barber replied, No, I can't cut that kinky stuff, Mark Feldstein remembered his father recounting the conversation. And my dad stood up, took the apron he was wearing off, threw it down on the floor and stormed out. He wasn't going to be a part of that kind of treatment, Mark Feldstein said in a recent interview. The elder Feldstein's commitment to integration of the city's barbershops led to more than just the misshapen haircut, Feldstein and his family long believed. The professor's contract was not renewed in 1970. For years afterward, Feldstein referred to Charlottesville as "Bigotsville," his son said. The family sees the decision to not renew Feldstein's contract as retaliation for speaking out against racial discrimination. The pain lingered in Feldstein for years, until his death in January at age 88, his son said. Alan Feldstein died Jan. 29, 2022 from complications from Alzheimer's disease. And now that Feldstein's life is over, the family wants to make sure that his story is not lost to history. I mean, this was barely talked about at the time. There was no news article about how my dad was driven out of town. Today, if something like that happened, it would be illegal. You would sue, Mark Feldstein said in a recent interview. Mark Feldstein reached out to The Daily Progress after his fathers death to share the story of the role his father played -- and the price his family thinks he paid -- to help integrate Charlottesvilles barbershops in 1968. He also wants to make sure that the story doesnt die with his father. That story was laid bare in Daily Progress and Cavalier Daily archives, letters and Feldsteins personal notes, which were reviewed by Progress staff. Making statements Alan Feldstein was born in Pittsburgh in 1933. His family said he was an independent thinker with a love of scholarship, graduating from Arizona State University prior to serving in the Army for two years, including in Salzburg, Austria. "He was something of a character," Mark Feldstein said. When he saw an opportunity to take a stand, he grabbed it. That even included plans for his wedding. Feldstein married Felice Jacobs in 1955 in the German town of Berchtesgaden, at Eagles Nest, the name Allied Forces gave to Adolf Hitlers mountain retreat for visiting diplomats. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, which covered the wedding, it was the first Orthodox Jewish wedding known to be held there. It took place only a decade after the end of World War II. A traditional chuppah, a canopy used in Jewish weddings, was erected for the wedding in Nazi field marshal Hermann Gorings former hunting lodge. According to his family, Feldstein worked on classified projects at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico in the late 1950s. He later worked as a research consultant on classified projects for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Feldstein earned a doctorate in mathematics from UCLA in 1964. He taught there and at Brown University. In 1968, the University of Virginia came calling. A move with mixed feelings Felice had reservations. She said in a recent interview she was hesitant about the move because of segregation in the South. In Virginia, from 1926 to 1967 segregation of businesses and social events was codified in state law. It was a misdemeanor for a business to serve both Black and white people. When the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954 that struck down segregation in public schools, Virginia was one of the Southern states that defiantly fought the ruling, with its "Massive Resistance" efforts to keep Black school children of out white schools With the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, such discrimination was illegal. But change came slowly, with Southern states defying the federal law and finding ways to flout it. In 1968, Charlottesvilles public schools integrated. Triggered by student protests at the citys Lane High School, the city created a race relations committee in September 1968. Alan Feldstein thought the position of associate professor at the University of Virginia was appealing. To allay Felice's concerns about racism, he showed her a letter published in The Daily Progress that was signed by hundreds of local residents in support of racial integration and the Civil Rights movement. That appeased me. I was happy. There are always pockets of liberalism in places and especially in college towns, Felice Feldstein said in a recent interview. Feldstein took the job, and the family moved in the summer of 1968. Segregation up close Mark Feldstein remembers his father telling him that the barber cutting his hair that September day in 1968 told Feldstein that many members of UVas faculty, including Dean Lawrence R. Quarles, were customers of his. Alan Feldstein told Mark that he was so horrified that he approached Quarles, hoping for support in doing something about the discrimination against Black customers. But according to Feldsteins personal notes from the time, Quarles was apathetic about segregation. Feldstein wrote in notes that Quarles said: That's the trouble with you outsiders coming here and telling us what to do." A colleague at the time remembers friction between the two. Quarles was a man of the 1950s and was rooted in the beliefs of that time. He and Alan werent each others favorite people. Alan was a liberal, Jewish man, and that rubbed Quarles the wrong way. I have a vague recollection that he called Alan a troublemaker, Feldstein's former colleague Bob Stepleman told The Daily Progress in May. Stepleman was a mathematics professor at UVa at the same time as Feldstein. Feldstein persisted. He called around and found that there were no integrated barbershops or hair salons in Charlottesville. Feldstein contacted The Daily Progress and The Cavalier Daily, asking them to write about this. He also surveyed his classes and found the majority of his students believed the barbershops should be integrated. He submitted a letter to the editor of The Cavalier Daily presenting his findings. This triggered an onslaught of letters to the editor by UVa students and faculty and published in the Cavalier Daily and The Daily Progress. Students and faculty at UVa, including Feldstein, pressured the businesses to integrate. They also boycotted the barbershops. That October, UVa professor Frank M. Shepard recounted a similar experience to Feldsteins where he witnessed a barber at the UVa Corner refuse to cut the hair of a 10-year-old Black boy. Shephard wrote about this in a letter to the editor, which prompted the Cavalier Daily editorial board to encourage a boycott. ... what bitter irony it is that [this incident] occurred at the institution so cherished by the author [Thomas Jefferson] of those fundamental words ... and all men are created equal the editorial board wrote. UVa Student Council member Charles Murdock led an investigation into which local barbershops refused to serve Black patrons, according to an article published in the Oct. 16, 1968 edition of The Daily Progress. Following Murdocks findings, the UVa Student Council voted to endorse a boycott of all segregated barbershops in Charlottesville. If the council decisions are to be truly effective in breaking the structures of racism in this town, the student body has got to be willing actively to participate and activate its potential power, wrote UVa student Ralph Pitman Jr. Feldstein and several colleagues in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science wrote a letter to UVas president, Edgar Shannon, voicing support for the student boycott. The letter led Quarles and other university officials to reprimand Feldstein because he wrote the letter on official university department letterhead. His son said he believes the reprimand was about finding an infraction to hold against Feldstein. They weren't concerned about the racism. They were concerned about trying to find some minor infraction, Mark Feldstein said. While the Cavalier Daily reported resistance to the boycott from barbershops, the students persistence paid off. The boycott proved successful, and several Charlottesville barbershops integrated that fall. I was very proud of him, Felice Feldstein recalled. The worst cut of all Others did not share her feelings. Feldstein and Quarles were frequently at odds. When Quarles wanted to host a department dinner at his country club, Feldstein discovered that the club was segregated and that a Black professor in the department could not attend. The following year, Feldstein was informed his contract wasnt being renewed. "It was Robert H. Owens, the chair of UVa's math department, who informed my dad that he was out of a job. ' Not renewing the contract' was a euphemism: he was fired. No reason was given because it was perfectly obvious to everyone what happened: my dad was a 'troublemaker' in the eyes of Dean Quarles," Mark Feldstein said. Getting out of town Feldstein didn't have tenure, but his family said he didn't see a professional reason why his contract wasn't being renewed. He asked to remain a few months past the end of his contract because Felice was pregnant. His request was denied. Feldstein's youngest daughter Sarah was born at Martha Jefferson Hospital on June 8, 1970. "[My mother] and my dad had to start packing up and arranging movers while she was 9 months pregnant, and then they had to move that summer across the country with a newborn baby," Mark Feldstein said. At the time, Mark was 13, his sister Rachel was 11, and his sister Suzie was 3. He was a prolific scholar. It wasn't because of that, and everybody knew the reason why. It didn't even need to be stated, Mark Feldstein said. It was quite a hardship on the family, and all of us suffered because of the retaliation against my father. They should have been thanking him and rewarding him for his commitment to social justice and instead, they were driving him out of town. Alan Feldstein had talked to colleagues who heard Quarles say he would never promote Feldstein or renew his contract because of the boycott. He also kept notes of statements made to him by Quarles, including an instance where he had been called a troublemaker. Quarles stated opinion that Feldstein is a troublemaker, that is, Feldstein presents a dissenting opinion. I have been denied equal opportunity, Feldstein wrote. A spokesman for the University of Virginia cannot confirm the details. "Given the passage of time, we are unable to confirm the specific details of this individual case, With that being said, the University has devoted considerable resources and attention to understanding the role the institution played in our countrys history of racial segregation, as well as the many positive changes that have taken place here as time has passed, The University of Virginia strives to be a supportive community where all our students, faculty, staff, and alumni can thrive," Brian Coy wrote in a statement to The Daily Progress. Felice Feldstein said the family witnessed other instances of racism in Charlottesville that upset them, including conversations where neighbors voiced concern that Black families would move into the neighborhood. It became clear this was not the place for us, she said. The family left the Charlottesville area as soon as Sarah was born. Feldstein took a job at Arizona State University, where he stayed for the rest of his life. Dad harbored a kind of hatred for Charlottesville after that. He called it Bigotsville, Mark Feldstein said. Quarles died in 1987. UVa has a professorship in the schools chemical engineering department named in his honor. While the Feldstein family wasnt in Charlottesville for very long, what happened at UVa had a huge impact on Mark Feldstein, who was inspired by his father to get racist textbooks removed from Walker Junior High School, currently Walker Middle School, while he was attending there. The events led to his decision to become an investigative TV reporter for CNN, ABC News and various local television stations. He is now the Richard Eaton Chair of Broadcast Journalism at the University of Marylands Phillip Merrill College of Journalism. Felice Feldstein said she looks back at the familys stay in Charlottesville as a dark time. Yes, I would like an apology, but its a little late for that. Alan is gone. Hes the one who needed the apology, she said. Mark Feldstein said he doesnt want his fathers activism to be forgotten. There were real lives affected by this, lost to history, until now, he said. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Republican Rep. Bob Good says hes kept his promises to the people of Virginias Fifth Congressional District. In a new 32-page report Good explains that he has been crystal clear what my values are. What he has been in his first 17 months, he writes, is exactly what he told his constituents, including roughly 160,000 residents of Albemarle County and Charlottesville: A constitutional conservative who fights courageously and relentlessly for Judeo-Christian principles of out Founders. This is Goods explanation for his membership in the House Freedom Caucus with such notable whack jobs as Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Bobert of Colorado, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida and, for now, Madison Cawthon of North Carolina. Goods relentless pursuit of Judeo-Chritian principles includes introduction of the Silencers Helping Us Save Hearing Act. This disingenuously named bill would make it easier to buy silencers for guns by deregulating them at the federal level and preempt[ing] state law that regulates, taxes, or prohibits their possession. In his report, Good lists 318 bills and resolutions he has cosponsored. Four are bi-partisan. The rest are Republican bills, most of which have never been brought to the House floor for a vote. Good blames that on Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He will reveal his focus on strong and unequivocal stands if his party gains control of the House in November, but he doesnt complain because the Repulbican Speaker of the House doesnt take up bills offered exclusively by Democrats. Among the bills that Good cosponsored that were not brought to a vote was H.R. 2180. It would have required U.S. taxpayers to pay to remove all the fencing erected to protect the U.S. Capitol after the Jan. 6 attack and reinstall it along the southern U.S. border to block undocumented immigrants from entering the country. The bill also stated that the Department of Defense must reassign National Guard members who were deployed in response to the attacks to the National Capital Region on or after January 6, 2021, to the southern land border of the United States to assist U.S. Customs and Border patrol. Here are some more highlights. Good cosponsored a life at conception bill that would effectively end American womens reproductive rights. He cosponsored several bills to outlaw teaching about institutional racism in America in schools. This includes a bill that forbids teaching adults at U.S. service academies. Good does provide metrics of his offices efforts to help individuals resolve problems with federal agenices such as the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. His staff does so without regard to political affiliation as they should. So, good on Good. No so good on Good for cosponsoring a law to strip federal funds from any school that mandated students be vacinated against COVID-19. This and several other Good-backed anti-vax bills helped drive people away from vaccines that, according to new research, could have saved 318,000 Americans who lost their lives to COVID. Not so good on Good for trying to stop the country from addressing climate change. He cosponsored a bill to keep President Joe Biden from entering the Paris Agreement to reduce the greenhouse gases that threaten the planet. He backed withdrawal of the U.S. from the United Nations Convention on Climate Change. Not so good on Good for cosponsoring a law that forbade states from using automatic voter registration and placed numerous restrictions on the distribution and collection of absentee ballots. The bill bore the acronym BIDEN Act, a strong hint that Good believes the wholly disproven lie that Biden did not legitimately defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. As the House Committee investigating the storming of the Capitol explains the likely illegal behavior of Trump and his minions trying to overturn that election, Goods costitutents should remember that their representative voted against formation of that committee. If Good is reelected and Republicans gain control of the House they will likely vote to disband the Jan. 6 investigation and discredit its findings. This will prove one thing Bob Good is crystal clear about: Hell do whatever it takes to make sure his constituents never learn the truth about the most infamous attack on democracy in modern U.S. history. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Jun, 2022 ) :Acting High Commissioner of Malaysia to Pakistan, Deddy Faisal Ahmad Salleh on Sunday said that Malaysia has set a target of RM 56 Billion for export revenue in the halal food industry by 2025 to get benefit the global halal food market. Malaysia's current exports in the halal food industry are 35.8 billion RM, which is a huge growth potential according to the size of the global halal market, Malaysian envoy, Deddy Faisal Ahmad Salleh told APP here. The Malaysian envoy said that the current size of the global halal market in terms of revenue is $2 trillion was expected to increase to $3 trillion by the year 2027. He said that there were huge opportunities for cooperation in 'Halal Food Market' between Pakistan and Malaysia and this sector in Malaysia had an extensive network of value added industry and multinational companies that could help Pakistan to connect with the global supply chain. Deddy Faisal said that traditionally, halal food includes meat, poultry, seafood, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, grains,oil, fats, waxes and confectioneries but it could be sold at competitive price in the global market by bringing value added products. Replying to a question, he said the Malaysian halal standard is now being widely used by several renowned global multinational companies (MNCs) including Nestl and Unilever. Malaysia's halal portfolio has also expanded beyond food and beverage, venturing into various other sectors such as cosmetics, logistics, pharmaceutical and most recently, tourism, he said. He said that the country provided the world's first halal in-flight catering on board its national carrier, Malaysia Airlines. Replying to another question, he said that there was a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Pakistan and Malaysia, which had to bring the business communities of both the countries closer to make it more effective. He said that currently, Malaysia had seven bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with the following countries: Australia, Chile, India, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan and Turkey. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members have established the ASEAN Free Trade (FTA) area also. "I call upon the business community of Pakistan to be the partner and catalyst for reform, to drive sustainability and to contribute to our collective goal of shared prosperity," he said. He said that his country could play a major role in providing Islamabad with economic and trade opportunities in the Association of East Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc. Malaysia will provide wider opportunities for the Pakistani business community to connect with a big market like ASEAN countries, he said. The envoy said that Malaysia could prove to be a gateway in the ASEAN region for Pakistan, which would open up a market for Pakistan with a population of 681 million in the ASEAN region. He also said that Pakistan remains an important economic partner for Malaysia and this was demonstrated most prominently by our bilateral economic, trade and investment relations, which continue to grow from strength to strength despite the global challenges throughout the decades. He urged both Malaysian and Pakistani businesses, chambers and associations to have more frequent interactions, besides leveraging on each other's strength and capacity and work together to enrich the value of investments. Deddy Faisal said that Malaysia has always been an open trading nation and preferred investment destination and will continue to remain so driven by our Unique Value Proposition to investors. He said the trade, at its very foundations, is about people connecting across the world. The envoy said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is optimistic that Malaysia's economy will expand by 5.75 per cent this year, driven by pent-up domestic demand and continued strong external demand. This is in line with the government's growth projection of between 5.3 per cent and 6.3 per cent for 2022, he expressed. The High Commissioner said, "Our economy expanded by 3.1 per cent last year." Malaysia's financial sector remains resilient and that it was encouraged by its reforms that focused on inclusion, economic transformation, and a sustainable economy, he said. The Malaysian envoy said this was clearly reflective of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob's Keluarga Malaysia concept which focuses on inclusion, togetherness and gratitude aimed at bringing the people together in helping the country recover from the debilitating Covid-19. Replying to another question, he said that Malaysia's ongoing investment promotion efforts have successfully kept us on the map of investors. "We believe that it is crucial to keep our investment policies relevant, resilient and responsive to the evolving ecosystem", he said. Faisal said that Malaysia was currently undertaking concerted efforts to review our existing policies and restructure our investment strategy to ensure that implementation of high-impact projects could be expedited. "Our new investment strategies will provide the necessary impetus to pursue high-technology and sustainable investments as well as to intensify innovation, striking a balance between economic and environmental sustainability, while reducing dependency on foreign labour, in line with global benchmarks in environment, social and governance", he added. A Ukrainian flag held up by the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square (Vatican Media) Pope Francis cautions against getting accustomed to the war in Ukraine, and makes an appeal to "eliminate the scourge" of child labour, as the world marks the World Day Against Child Labour. By Deborah Castellano Lubov Pope Francis is warning people not to get accustomed to the war in Ukraine, and is calling for the faithful to keep those suffering "this tragic reality" in our hearts and prayers. "The thought of the people of Ukraine, afflicted by war," the Pope said, "remains vivid in my heart." The Pope cautioned against the passing of time allowing us to grow accustomed to it, without keeping alive our "concern for that suffering population." "Please, let us not grow accustomed to this tragic situation! Let us always keep it in our hearts," he insisted, adding, "Let us pray and strive for peace." Eliminate scourge - No child should be deprived rights The Holy Father also made an appeal condemning child labour, as the world marks the World Day Against Child Labour on Sunday. Recalling the Day, Pope Francis said: "Let us all work to eliminate this scourge, so that no child is deprived of his or her fundamental rights and forced or coerced to work." "The exploitation of children for work is a terrible situation that affects us all!" The 2022 theme of the World Day "Universal Social Protection to End Child Labour" calls for increased investment in social protection systems and ways to establish solid social protection floors and protect children from child labour. According to UN statistics, at the beginning of 2020, one in ten children aged five and over were involved in child labour worldwide, equating to an estimated 160 million children, or 63 million girls and 97 million boys. When Ahmad, his wife and three children traveled to Pakistan in November last year, they were hoping to stay there for a short period before migrating to the U.S. through the Special Immigration Visa (SIV) program for Afghans. The chaos that followed the Talibans return to power in Afghanistan in August made the familys trip to the neighboring country extremely expensive, including hefty fees and bribes to get visas and plane tickets to Islamabad. Six months later, the familys hopes were dashed when they were informed that their SIV application had been denied. Ahmad told VOA that a recommendation letter included in his application had failed authentication, causing the denial. From October to December 2021, more than 1,300 Afghan SIV applicants were denied, according to quarterly data from the U.S. State Department. In the preceding quarter, July to September, 1,462 Afghan principal SIV applicants were denied. Denials are issued for various reasons, such as lack of sufficient documentation, failure to prove valuable service to the U.S. government, and the presence of derogatory information associated with the principal applicant. Ive secured a very strong recommendation letter from our chief of mission, which I will submit in my appeal, said Ahmad, who did not want to use his full name because of security concerns. But Im losing hope because I see too many people are being rejected. Approvals make up less than 10% of SIV applications. From July through September last year, 1,292 principal SIV visas were issued. But only 117 principal applicants received visas in the last three months of the year. Travel for migration Since the closure of most embassies in Kabul last year, Afghan applicants must travel to a third country to pursue their immigration cases, whether theyre applying to the U.S., Canada, the European Union or Australia. Many Afghans have traveled to neighboring Pakistan to process their visa applications. And more than 14,000 Afghans have migrated to Germany via Pakistan over the past nine months, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said last week. Canada, which has pledged to admit 40,000 Afghans, has also used its High Commission in Islamabad to process Afghan immigration applications. The lack of a physical presence in Afghanistan has presented challenges in how we collect and verify the information of applicants still in the country. In some cases, this had led to completing elements of the screening process, such as collecting biographic information, while Afghans are transiting through third countries, a spokesperson for Canadas immigration agency told VOA. The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad is also a major hub for Afghans who seek to come to the U.S. as refugees, visitors or students. In addition to the SIV, considered a priority program, the U.S. government has offered a Priority-2 refugee admissions program for Afghans who were affiliated with U.S. projects in Afghanistan until August 2021. Once an individual with a complete referral arrives in a third country, they are eligible to begin processing their refugee case. We do not publicly disclose the number of refugee cases the United States is processing in specific third countries, a State Department spokesperson told VOA. With more than 2.6 million refugees, mostly in neighboring Iran and Pakistan, Afghans already make up the third-largest refugee group in the world, according to the United Nations. Rising unemployment and poverty, and the prospects of migration to the West, have significantly increased the number of Afghans who leave their country. Applicants vs. visas Since 2015, more than 17,800 Afghans have received SIV visas, excluding visas issued to the dependents of the principal applicants. Approximately 50,000 SIV applications are currently being evaluated. Out of the total 34,500 visas Congress has allocated for the Afghan SIV program, 16,515 principal visas remain available. This means nearly two-thirds of the applications in the pipeline will be unsuccessful, if not rejected, unless Congress approves additional visas for the program. Estimated processing time, even for the prioritized SIV applications, takes about two years. Priority-2, as the name suggests, is deemed less urgent and requires more wait time. From October 2021 to May 2022, 583 Afghan refugees were resettled in the U.S. Last month, a group of Afghans protested in Islamabad against denials of or uncertainty about their immigration applications. I worked as governance specialist for a U.S. project in Afghanistan and have two recommendation letters from my previous employer, but Ive got no response to my application for six months, said Ghulam Sakhi, a protester. U.S. officials say the National Visa Center has received hundreds of thousands of inquiries from potential SIV applicants since August. We are working diligently to process this enormous surge in applications, said the State Department spokesperson. Until their immigration applications are settled, the tens of thousands of Afghans who were once affiliated with or worked for the U.S. government either live in hiding from the Taliban in Afghanistan or as refugees in third countries. Nearly all applicants, 94%, have reported facing economic hardship because of unemployment, according to a survey by the Association of War Time Allies, a nongovernmental organization that advocates for individuals who support U.S. military engagement in their countries. The state of Tasmania has become the first jurisdiction in Australia to raise the minimum age of detention from 10 to 14. The move has been welcomed by Indigenous, legal, and human rights groups. The change has also re-ignited calls for all states and territories in Australia to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility. In Australia, its estimated that 600 children aged between 10 and 13 have been incarcerated in the past year. Two-thirds are Indigenous. Campaigners have argued that children of that age should be at home or at school and not in handcuffs or prison cells. The authorities in Tasmania agree. It will be Australias first state or territory to raise the minimum age of inmates in youth detention from 10 to 14. The changes are due to take place in 2024. Cheryl Axelby is the co-chair of Change the Record, a First Nations organization that lobbies for reform in the criminal justice system. She said young people shouldnt be locked up. Children are actually harmed throughout their lifetime once they have actually gone through the criminal justice system. Having intervention - prevention, which is something that we have really strongly advocated across the nation means that children get a therapeutic response. It means that they get the support and targeted responses. There is great support in our community that they would like to see more therapeutic responses than us criminalizing our children, said Axelby. There have been historical allegations of abuse within Tasmania's youth justice system. The state government says that detention can traumatize young people and does not support rehabilitation or reduce the likelihood of reoffending. Officials have said that incarceration would still be a last resort for a very small minority who commit the most serious offences. Campaign groups also want Australia to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 years to at least 14. Human rights group Amnesty International Australia commissioned research in 2021 that showed most Australians want to raise the age of criminal liability. In 2019, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended 14 years as the minimum age. Last year, several U.N. members called on Australia to act on the recommendations. Belgium's King Philippe ended his historic tour of the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday in the eastern city of Bukavu, as the Congolese army repulsed a rebel attack further north. The king visited Nobel laureate Denis Mukwege on the outskirts of the city, on the last leg of his six-day visit to the former Belgian colony. Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war -- which is rampant in eastern DRC. But the Belgian sovereign's visit came as rebels from the M23 group, some 300 kilometers further north, launched an assault on the strategic town of Bunagana. The militia was later pushed out of the town, according to military officials. M23 attacks have sent relations between the DRC and its neighboring central African state Rwanda into a nosedive. The DRC accuses Rwanda of backing the group -- an allegation Rwanda has repeatedly denied. However, on Sunday, Mukwege also accused Rwanda of being behind the M23 and called on Belgium to help the DRC make its case to the international community. "This royal visit is an exceptional act of courage," the Nobel laureate said. "Visiting us at this time, when Congo is the victim of yet another aggression, is a strong humanitarian act." Belgium is the former colonial power in both the DRC and Rwanda. Mukwege also criticized what he termed the "double standard" applied to the DRC. "When Russia attacked Ukraine, all nations asked for this aggression to stop," he said. King Philippe did not address the public in Bukavu. However, Belgian Cooperation Minister Meryame Kitir, who was travelling with the monarch, said that the DRC had the right "to defend its population against armed groups and any external interference. "Both the DRC and its neighbors must make internal efforts to improve the security situation," she added. Relations between the DRC and Rwanda have been strained since the mass arrival in eastern DRC of Rwandan Hutus accused of slaughtering Tutsis during the 1994 Rwanda genocide. The M23, a primarily Congolese Tutsi militia, is one of more than 120 armed groups active in eastern DRC. Philippe is due to return to Belgium on Monday after his first visit to the DRC since ascending the throne in 2013. His father, King Albert II, visited the country in 2010. In a speech on Wednesday, the king expressed regret for the "paternalism, discrimination and racism" of colonial-era Congo. "It led to abuse and humiliation," Philippe said. He fell short of offering a full apology, however. King Leopold II, the brother of Philippe's great great grandfather, oversaw the conquest of what is now the DRC, governing the territory as his personal property between 1885 and 1908 before it became a Belgian colony. Millions of people perished under a system of forced rubber collection under his rule, historians estimate. Dressed in his uniform as a general of the People's Liberation Army, Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on Sunday warned the U.S. against trying to corner China and interfere in its internal affairs. These moves are damaging the U.S.-China relations, he said. We request the U.S. side to stop smearing and containing China. Stop interfering in Chinas internal affairs. The bilateral relationship cannot improve unless the U.S. side can do that," Wei said on the last day of the 3-day Shangri-La Dialogue, Asias premier security meet, in Singapore. The Chinese minister was responding to remarks by the U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who said on Saturday that the U.S. will stand by its friends as they uphold their rights. "Thats especially important as the PRC adopts a more coercive and aggressive approach to its territorial claims," Austin said, adding, "Now, as a part of our one-China policy, we will continue to fulfill our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act. That includes assisting Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability." China views assurances to stand by Taiwan and other countries in the region as "interference" by a non-Asian power. Whatever efforts the U.S. makes, it will not deter China from its determination to oppose the independence of Taiwan, Wei said. We will fight at all cost, and we will fight to the very end. This is the only choice for China. Those who pursue Taiwanese independence in an attempt to split China will definitely come to no good end, he added. China regards Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification by force if necessary. Taiwan is a self-ruled territory with its own flag, currency and military. China had earlier managed a leading role in the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) by turning it into an ASEAN+1 dialogue with China. It has considerable influence as the biggest trade partner for most of the regions countries and the leading military power. But Chinese leaders now find that the countrys influence in the region is shifting due to the active role of the U.S. Some delegates attending the Shangri-La Dialogue said the shift toward siding with the U.S. included countries such as Singapore and Indonesia, which are dependent on Chinas trade. In fact, General Wei made no bones about the fact that he was worried about the initial success of the newly crafted Indo-Pacific strategy and the American promise of extending technological assistance to the region. To us, the [U.S.] strategy is an attempt to build an exclusive small group in the name of a free and open Indo-Pacific, to hijack countries in our region and target one specific country, Wei said adding, It is a strategy to create conflict and confrontation to contain and encircle others. China has sent navy ships to patrol the South China Sea connected to several countries in the region, a move seen as a sign of aggression. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently accused China of harassing Canadian military jets in the skies above Asia. Australias department of defense said last month that a Chinese fighter jet recently intercepted one of its surveillance aircrafts in the area of the South China Sea. However, a Chinese military official denied accusations of an aircraft maneuver of Chinas military over Taiwan, at a press briefing Saturday. The air space where this event happened were near Chinas Xisha and Nansha Islands, not the air space of American allies, Lieutenant General Zhang Zhenzhong, the senior Chinese military officer said. China has to take necessary countermeasures to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests. The countermeasures we have taken are conducted in a professional and safe way. It is a natural right of a sovereign country to protect its territory. The Shangri-La Dialogue, which took place after a gap of two years, attracted defense ministers and officials from 42 countries. The event saw 30 different speakers including U.S. Defense Secretary Austin, Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Wei, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, Singapores Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. France's ruling centrists and a new far-left alliance are neck-and-neck in the first round of legislative elections Sunday, with the far-right third in the lineup. Initial projections put the Ensemble or "Together" party of French President Emmanuel Macron and the left-wing NUPES coalition with just over a quarter of all votes apiece, amid record abstentions. Its hard to find a supporter of centrist President Emmanuel Macron and his party in a working-class neighborhood in northeastern Paris. Martine Barratte, leaving a polling station with her husband and eight-year-old daughter, has just cast her ballot for a left-wing coalition and its leading force, Jean-Luc Melenchon. Ive got big hopesI wish a better world for my daughter. Social issues and ecology are linked together. I think Melenchon is the one because hes got loads of teams around him. Men and women who think, who are looking forward to changing things, because we need to change, she said. Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, is not on the ballot. But he has managed to forge an unlikely alliance among normally squabbling leftist parties. If they win the majority of National Assembly or lower house seats, Melenchon hopes to force President Emmanuel Macron to choose him as prime minister. Vianney Mosser voted for the leftist alliance, known as the New Ecological and Social Popular Union, or NUPES. Mosser says he doesnt agree with everything on their platform. But he doesnt want Macron to have an absolute majority. Ahead of this first round, polls showed the NUPES and Macrons centrist Ensemble or Together coalition neck-and-neck. The far right, which only has a few lower house seats, also stands to gain. Analyst Lisa Thomas-Darbois, of the Paris-based Montaigne Institute research group, says both the far-right and the far-left want to be a real counter force to proposed and controversial reforms by Macron, who was reelected in April for a second five-year term. Still a number of voters are underwhelmed with Macron. They backed him only to block his far-right presidential rival. Retiree Ally Shetty is also voting for the leftist alliance. Shetty says she thinks theyd do a better job fighting unemployment. Her daughter, who has a master's degree, cant find work. Macron and his party warn a far-left win could undermine key reforms and reduce Frances competitiveness. A recent poll shows that while most French want a political counter force to the presidents centrists in parliament, most do not want far-left leader Melenchon as prime minister. Politics, sanctions, protests. The list of issues that Hong Kongs journalists now think twice about covering is growing. In the two years since Hong Kong enacted its national security law, authorities have detained over 180 people including journalists, activists and lawmakers, data from news and analysis site China File shows. And at least five news outlets have been shuttered. Some like Apple Daily and Stand News closed after authorities arrested staff or executives under national security or sedition laws. Others like the investigative outlet FactWire, which announced its closure Friday, cited only a great change in the reporting environment. In the past year, Hong Kong dropped from 80 to 148 on the press freedom index, where No.1 is considered the most free. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, which curates the list, says the security law triggered an unprecedented setback. As one journalist working for a European outlet told VOA, For the media, its simply not the city that it once was. In a further indication of the repressive environment, that journalist and another who spoke with VOA agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted under the law. The second journalist, who has worked for international media in Hong Kong for several years, told VOA she feels more pressure today than ever before. The working environment in Hong Kong is getting more stressful because of the red lines and the external pressure put on journalists, who often become targets of propaganda, she told VOA. The journalist said that pressure comes from Chinese media and officials. Hong Kongs Security Bureau told VOA that claims of a decline in press freedom could not be further from the truth. The statement, attributed to a representative, said freedom of speech and of the press are protected under law, but [they] are not absolute and can be restricted for reasons, including protection of national security. The representative said any legal action is based on evidence and has nothing to do with [a persons] political stance, background or occupation. Online harassment Aside from concerns of legal action, reporters who cover politically sensitive news sometimes find themselves targeted by pro-Beijing media or online. In these cases, the female journalist said, a reporters work can be misrepresented, or they are subjected to personal attacks online. Pro-Beijing media examine the pieces and speeches of 'problematic' journalists, the female journalist said, adding that often they distort the meaning of the original article. Sometimes those reports published by mouthpieces were picked up by pro-Beijing opinion leaders, lawmakers or even officials, warning of consequences. This kind of orchestrated intimidation also affects our way of reporting. I think the psychological burden is also one of the factors forcing journalists to speak less critically and vocally, she added. The male journalist, who covers politics for an online European outlet, said he has considered leaving because of threats online, criticism from pro-Beijing media, and abuse on social media. It seems that this is a well-orchestrated pro-government attack against Western media. And even though its not official, for me on the ground it feels the message is quite clear, he said. Certain reporting is no longer welcome in Hong Kong. It is a stark change from when that journalist first moved to Hong Kong. There were almost no restrictions at all, so there was nothing to worry about, he said. Thats no longer the case. Now I think I am operating almost in the same way as foreign journalists operating in the mainland (China). Its not that issues are legally sensitive, but they are politically sensitive, and you have to consider the political environment when reporting, he told VOA. I think there is definitely a culture of fear in the city, psychologically and sometimes editorially that affects us as journalists. Uncertain future While popular pro-democracy outlets like Apple Daily and Stand News closed, others are trying to fill the gap. The solo media operation reNews Hong Kong, run by Lam Yin-pong, started up in April as part of efforts to report on political issues via social media. But the founder admits he too could be targeted for reporting on sensitive topics. Other media publications such as Flow Hong Kong and Commons HK opened operations outside of the city in an attempt to shield reporters from possible legal action. But journalists arent the only ones to relocate. Lokman Tsui, a former media professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, moved to the Netherlands after losing his tenure in 2020. He told VOA recently that this was one of several reasons he left, and in an interview at the time, Tsui said he was unsure if the decision on tenure was politically motivated. "Many of my students and journalist friends have been forced to look for different jobs or even change profession altogether or move abroad, he said. It also doesnt mean there [are] no journalists left in Hong Kong, its just that the critical, independent ones are being pressured, he told VOA. Tsui listed some subjects that cannot safely be reported: Not the political stuff, not the sanctions, what happened in 2019, what happened in Yuen Long and July 21, he said, referring to an attack on unarmed pro-democracy protesters. Hong Kong police came in for heavy criticism for their response to the incident in July 2019. But, the academic said, That doesnt mean there is nothing to report on. The Mandarin-language newspaper Ming Pao in Hong Kong challenged the government over a rising number of COVID-19 cases earlier this year. They found a good story critical of the government and caused a public discussion on whats going on and the government had to come out and clarify the numbers. That was a good piece of journalism, he said. But overall, Tsui is pessimistic about the future of press freedom, with the citys new Chief Executive John Lee proposing a false news law. A few years ago, it was perfectly fine to be a journalist in Hong Kong, Tsui said. But today, journalists are like the animals you have to protect when they are going to go extinct. They are [the] endangered species in Hong Kong. In the outdoor gym on Venice Beach, the name given to an inviting stretch of sand on the majestic Dnieper River that courses through the capital of Ukraine, Serhiy Chornyi is working on his summer body, up-down-up-downing a chunky hunk of iron. The aim of his sweat and toil isn't to impress the girls in their bright summer bikinis. Working out is part of his contribution to Ukraine's all-hands-on-deck war effort: The National Guardsman expects to be sent eastward to the battlefields soon and doesn't want to take his paunch with him for the fight against Russia's invasion force. "I'm here to get in shape. To be able to help my friends with whom I'll be," the 32-year-old said. "I feel that my place is there now. ... There is only one thing left: to defend. There is no other option, only one road." So goes Kyiv's bitter summer of 2022, where the sun shines but sadness and grim determination reign, where canoodling couples cannot be sure that their kisses won't be their last as more soldiers head to the fronts; where flitting swallows are nesting as people made homeless weep in blown-apart ruins, and where the peace is deceptive, because it's shorn of peace of mind. After Russia's initial assault on Kyiv was repelled in the invasion's opening month, leaving death and destruction, the capital found itself in the somewhat uncomfortable position of becoming largely a bystander in the war that continues to rage in the east and south, where Russian President Vladimir Putin has redirected his forces and military resources. The burned-out hulks of Russian tanks are being hauled away from the capital's outskirts, even as Western-supplied weapons turn more Russian armor into smoking junk on battlefronts. Cafes and restaurants are open again, the chatter and the chink of glasses from their outdoor tables providing a semblance of normalcy until everyone scoots home for the 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, less constraining than it used to be when Kyiv had seemed at risk of falling. Sitting on a lawn, savoring wine with friends one evening this week, Andrii Bashtovyi remarked that it "looks like there's no war but people are talking about their friends who are injured or who are mobilized." He recently passed his military medical check, meaning he could soon be thrown into combat, too. "If they call me, I need to go to the recruiting center. I'll have 12 hours," said the chief editor of The Village online magazine, which covers life, news and events in Kyiv and other unoccupied cities. Air raid alarms still sound regularly, screeching shrilly on downloadable phone apps, but they're so rarely followed by blasts unlike in pounded front-line towns and cities that few pay them much mind. Cruise missile strikes that wrecked a warehouse and a train repair workshop on June 5 were Kyiv's first in five weeks. Dog walkers and parents pushing strollers ambled unperturbed nearby even before the flames had been extinguished. Many, but by no means all, of the 2 million inhabitants who Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said had fled when Russian forces tried to encircle the city in March are now returning. But with soldiers falling by the hundreds to the east and south, the surreal calm of Kyiv is laced with nagging guilt. "People are feeling grateful but asking themselves, 'Am I doing enough?'" said Snezhana Vialko, as she and boyfriend Denys Koreiba bought plump strawberries from one of the summer-fruit vendors who have deployed across the city, in neighborhoods where just weeks ago jumpy troops manned checkpoints of sandbags and tank traps. Now greatly reduced in numbers and vigilance, they generally wave through the restored buzz of car traffic, barely glancing up from pass-the-time scrolling on phones. With the peace still so fragile and more treasured than ever, many are plowing their energy, time, money and muscle into supporting the soldiers fighting what has become a grinding war of attrition for control of destroyed villages, towns and cities. Trained as a chef and now working as a journalist, Volodymyr Denysenko brewed up 100 bottles of spicy sauce, using his home-grown hot peppers to enliven the troops' rations. He dropped them off with volunteers who drive in convoys from Kyiv to the fronts, laden with crowdfunded gun sights, night-vision goggles, drones, medical kits and other badly needed gear. "All Ukrainian people must help the army, the soldiers," he said. "It's our country, our freedom." Hundreds of people and several lawmakers protested Saturday in southern Lebanon against Israel moving a gas production vessel into an offshore field partly claimed by Beirut. The demonstration comes just days before the U.S. envoy mediating maritime border talks between the two neighbors is expected in Lebanon, and after the ship operated by London-listed Energean arrived in the Karish gas field last week. Several hundred people waved Lebanese and Palestinian flags at Lebanon's border town of Naqoura to protest Israel's claim on the area where the Karish field is located, an AFP correspondent said. "We absolutely refuse to neglect Lebanon's maritime resources, which belong to all Lebanese," said lawmaker Firas Hamdan, reading a joint statement from 13 independent parliamentarians, most of whom were newly elected last month. Lebanon and Israel have no diplomatic relations and are separated by a U.N.-patrolled border. Lebanon's president and prime minister have condemned Israel for moving the vessel into the Karish field and have invited U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein to Beirut for mediation. Hochstein is scheduled to arrive in Lebanon on Monday for a two-day visit, according to the U.S. State Department. Lebanon's powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah group this week warned Energean against proceeding with its activities. Lebanon and Israel resumed negotiations over their maritime frontier in 2020, but the process was stalled by Beirut's claim that the map used by the United Nations in the talks needed modifying. Lebanon initially demanded 860 square kilometers of territory in the disputed maritime area but then asked for an additional 1,430 square kilometers, including part of Karish. The independent lawmakers said in Saturday's statement that they supported Lebanon's claim to part of Karish. Air raid sirens wailed and one of the brides wore camouflage trousers as the Ukrainian army took a break from frontline fighting in the east to hold a double wedding Sunday. Two young couples who met just months earlier while serving in the army tied the knot together Sunday in the small city of Druzhkivka, 40 kilometers (25 miles) from frontline zones where Ukrainian forces are battling Russian invaders. The sun shone and soldiers carried bouquets in a brief interlude from heavy fighting as Russians intensify efforts to push out Kyiv's forces in the east. One of the brides, Khrystyna Lyuta, a 23-year-old contract soldier with the rank of private first class, wore camouflage trousers and army boots with a traditional red Ukrainian blouse embroidered with flowers. "I've got used to this uniform," she explained of her choice of outfit. She met her husband Volodymyr Mykhalchuk, 28, just two months ago, when he was mobilized. They live around five kilometers from each other in the same southwestern Vinnytsia region but might never have met if it had not been for the war. "War is war, but life goes on," Lyuta explained their decision to marry. "This was not a hasty decision," said Volodymyr. "The main thing is that we love each other and we want to be together." The other bride, Kristina (no last name given), 23, who works in the signal corps, opted for a traditional long white dress with red folk embroidery to marry Vitaliy Orlich, also 23, a sniper. "I believe that this is about creating a new family -- it doesn't matter where it happens or how," she said. The grooms both wore soldiers' uniforms. The couples were set to return to serve in the war zone on the same day. "I can't give them free days as such. The only thing is that they won't be on the frontline, they will stay in the rear," the brigade's commander Oleksandr Okhrimenko told AFP. Neither couple had family present but they said relatives had been understanding. Kristina said that her husband had spoken to her mother online and "she already calls him a son". The soldiers were from the 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade, which has been fighting Russian-backed forces in Donbas since May. The young couples married in front of a registry office, which had closed due to the war. The quiet street had few cars and occasional trams. Sandbags were piled up in front of cafe and shop windows. 'There's no time' The couples went through traditional rituals such as stepping together onto an embroidered towel, symbolizing togetherness. The brigade's chaplain gave them an Orthodox Christian blessing, flicking holy water and placing crowns on their heads, on the day of a major Church holiday, the Festival of the Holy Trinity. The Priest in a khaki cassock, Yuriy Zdebskiy, told AFP that "it's the first marriage in the brigade in wartime", since Russia launched its invasion on February 24. "Now it's wartime and there's no time for big celebrations," he said. The infantry brigade's commander, Okhrimenko, has the right to certify marriages under martial law. He said the location for the weddings "was chosen primarily for security reasons". Druzhkivka is about 40 kilometers as the crow flies from three fronts, as Russian troop threaten the towns of Slovyansk to the northeast, Bakhmut to the east and Horlivka to the southeast. Hours later, AFP reporters heard shelling and saw smoke rising as the two sides exchanged fire close to Bakhmut. Even in relatively untouched Druzhkivka, shelling earlier this month tore apart private houses and crashed through the roof of a Baptist church in one street. During the wedding, air raid sirens went off three times, an AFP reporter heard. None of those attending reacted. Many war-hardened locals now ignore warnings to go to shelters unless there is an obvious threat. Lawmakers on the panel investigating the January 6 riot at the U.S Capitol last year said Sunday much more evidence will emerge in upcoming hearings that former President Donald Trump knew he had lost his bid for reelection and yet fomented the mayhem by telling supporters he had been cheated out of another four-year term. Trump absolutely knew he had lost, Congressman Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, told CNNs State of the Union show. Any reasonable person had to know he was spreading a big lie by claiming, as he does to this day, that he won the November 2020 election over Democrat Joe Biden, who assumed the presidency two weeks after the attack on the Capitol. Raskin described Trumps actions as encouraging a massive attack on our democracy, while California Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, in a separate interview on ABCs This Week show, said, While this attack was going on, he did nothing to stop it until hours after it started. Schiff contended that Trump engaged in a dereliction of duty (by his) inactions that day in not trying to call off the riot for more than two hours as his supporters rampaged through the Capitol, ransacking congressional offices and forcing lawmakers to flee the Senate and House of Representatives chambers for their own safety. Raskin and Schiff said the committees chairman, Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson, and the panels vice-chairman, Republican Liz Cheney, only spelled out the broad outlines of the House investigative committees findings at last weeks opening hearing televised during prime-time evening hours. Watch related video by Arash Arabasadi: At least six more public hearings are planned over the next two weeks, starting Monday morning. Theres no question the president formed the mob, the president incited the mob, the president addressed the mob. He lit the flame, Cheney said in her opening statement last Thursday accusing Trump of illegally trying to upend the election result to stay in power and urging supporters to block lawmakers from certifying Bidens victory. Trump, posting on his own TRUTH Social platform, called the committee hearing Thursday night a "one sided, totally partisan, POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!" He dismissed a brief videotape of his elder daughter Ivanka testifying that she agreed with former Attorney General William Barr that there was no broad evidence of political fraud in the election and that Biden had won fairly. Trump said his daughter, a White House adviser to him, had "checked out" by the time vote recounts were being conducted. Cheney outlined the case against Trump much like a prosecutor might do in an opening statement at a criminal trial although the House committee can only spell out the case to the public, not bring charges against anyone. The panel could, if it chooses to do so, refer its findings and transcripts of the thousand or so witnesses it has interviewed to the Justice Department for its consideration on whether to charge anyone, including Trump, for planning and carrying out the riot. The rule of law needs to apply equally to everyone, Schiff said of Trump. They need to be investigated if there is credible evidence and I believe there is. The presidents big lie (that he won the election) was in fact a big lie. More than 800 supporters of Trump have already been charged in the mayhem inside the Capitol and more than 300 have pleaded guilty or been convicted, with the remaining cases still unresolved. Judges have sentenced some of the rioters facing such minor charges as trespassing to a few weeks in prison, but those who attacked police to barge into the Capitol have been imprisoned for four years or more. Raskin and Schiff said multiple Republican members of Congress sought pardons from Trump before he left office January 20, 2021, because they had supported his efforts to stay in office. Cheney said Congressman Scott Perry of Pennsylvania was one of them, but he denied it after she mentioned his name in her Thursday night statement. Raskin said the fact the lawmakers sought a Trump pardon, which he did not grant, showed evidence of guilt or a fear they were culpable. The details will surface. Everything is based on facts, Raskin said of the information that has yet to be made public by the investigative committee. Armed men in Nigeria have freed 11 out of more than 60 passengers of an Abuja- Kaduna train who were abducted in late March, bringing the number of released passengers to 14. Kaduna-based newspaper publisher and member of the negotiation team, Tukur Mamu, made the announcement in the publication, Desert Herald, on Saturday. He said released victims include six females and five male passengers and that they were set free in the Kidandan forest where they were picked up. Mamu said the armed men had initially agreed to free all the female passengers who were kidnapped. He also said the move was facilitated by Muslim cleric Ahmad Gumi and that they're negotiating the release of the remaining hostages. On March 28, gunmen bombed the tracks of the moving train in Kaduna and opened fire on passengers scrambling to safety. Nine people were killed and dozens went missing. VOA had reported Kaduna resident Gideon Gambo's two brothers were among the missing passengers. Gambo says he received news from the negotiators that both of them are among those who were recently freed. "Two of my brothers and the other lady that works with them were among the ones that were released," he said. "They're in Abuja; we don't know where exactly so I'm planning to come to Abuja tomorrow by God's grace. The guy that actually did all the negotiations called me on Monday to ask me to identify my brothers on the picture which I did, so it's true that they have been released." Nigerian authorities and police have yet to comment on the incident. Last month, security experts warned that the negotiations for the release of the remaining hostages could be deadlocked after the kidnappers demanded authorities free their men who had been captured. Nigeria is seeing a wave of violence across many regions roughly one year ahead of the country's next elections. Last Sunday, armed gangs invaded a church, detonated explosives and shot at worshippers, killing at least 40 people. On Thursday authorities in Kaduna said gunmen killed 32 people in an attack and burned many houses. Meteorologists predict the La Nina weather phenomenon is likely to persist into next year, prolonging devastating drought conditions in the Horn of Africa. The World Meteorological Organization says La Nina, which started in 2020, will continue until at least August and might persist into 2023. La Nina refers to the large-scale cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis said La Nina affects temperature and rainfall patterns in different parts of the world and exacerbates drought and flooding. "So, the ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa and southern South America bear all the hallmarks of La Nina, as does the above average rainfall in South-East Asia and Australasia, as well as the predictions for an above average hurricane season in the Atlantic," she said. The WMO said all naturally occurring climate events, such as La Nina, now take place in the context of human-induced climate change. Though La Nina has a cooling influence, temperatures are continuing to rise due to global warming. That could spell bad news for the Horn of Africa, where millions of people are suffering from acute hunger due to four consecutive years of failed rains. Nullis noted the hoped-for rains once again have failed to come during the March to May rainy season in Somalia, parts of Kenya, and Ethiopia. "And now there is a real risk that the October to December rainy season could fail," she said. "So, should these forecasts materialize, then obviously the humanitarian situation will become even more acute." Last month, 14 meteorological and humanitarian agencies issued a joint alert. They warned that the extreme, widespread drought affecting Somalia, and parts of Kenya and Ethiopia could lead to mass starvation. The first of dozens of restaurants taken over after the iconic fast-food chain McDonald's pulled out of Russia has reopened in Moscow, under new ownership and a new name: Tasty and That's It. Owners of the new chain, whose name in Russian is Vkusno and Tochka, say initially 15 rebranded restaurants will reopen across Russia, with more to come in coming months. Dozens of Russians lined up on Sunday at the famous Moscow location where McDonald's first opened its doors 30 years ago to try out the new burgers and fries. Oleg Paroyev, chief executive of the company taking over the McDonalds facilities, said they planned to reopen 200 restaurants in Russia by the end of June and all 850 locations nationwide by the end of the summer. "Our goal is that our guests do not notice a difference either in quality or ambience," Paroyev was quoted as telling a news conference. Paroyev said the new chain will keep its old McDonald's interior but will remove any references to its old name. The reopening of the fast-food outlets is seen as one test of whether and how Russia's economy can withstand Western sanctions imposed after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. At the time of its withdrawal from Russia, McDonald's said it employed 62,000 workers across the country. Information from AFP was used in this report. SUNDAY Willamette Valley Symphony concert, 4 p.m., Ashbrook Independent School, 4045 SW Research Way, Corvallis. The symphony will perform Brahms' Symphony No. 2, along with the high-spirited Litaliana in Algeri Overture by Rossini and Polovstian Dances by Borodin. A pre-concert talk describing the program is set for 3:30. Tickets are $20/adults; $18/seniors; free for youth under age 18; an adult who brings a youth under 18 gets in free as well. Tickets are available at https://go.evvnt.com/1180334-0. The symphony asks that audience members be vaccinated and wear a mask. Information: lefton4@comcast.net or 541-754-9429. The Eugene Gay Men's Chorus presents "Renewal," 4:30 p.m., First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Ave., Corvallis. This is a concert about renewing our spirits and reclaiming our voices with music designed to touch the heart. The chorus will share songs that reflect our collective journeys through depression and grief, toward healing, community, hope and love. Tickets: $10 and $15 at https://tickets.chorusconnection.com/egmc/events/457. MONDAY Tap Talks presentation, 5 p.m., Common Fields, 545 SW Third St., Corvallis. At 5 p.m.: Participate in a writing session hosted by Penny Rosenberg, editor of the Corvallis Gazette-Times, Albany Democrat-Herald and Lebanon Express, with information sheets and other resources for writing powerful letters. At 6 p.m.: Tap Talks presentation, "Intersectional Environmentalism: The Key to Fighting Racism and Climate Change." Using her work with the Washington State Environmental Justice Task Force and as executive director of 500 Women Scientists, Emily Pinckney will discuss how to collaborate with members of underserved communities in the creation of equitable agency practices, legislation and lived experiences. The presentation will be live-streamed on Instagram at 500womenscientists_corvallis. With each purchase of food and drink from Common Fields, Kalamata Bistro and Black Forest Kitchen, 10% of the day's sales will be donated to 500 Women Scientists Ukraine and Poland as part of an all-day dine-out fundraiser. TUESDAY Flag Day flag rally, 1 to 2 p.m., by the National Guard Armory, 1100 NW Kings Blvd., Corvallis. Sponsored by the Benton County Republican Women. Information: carolynleewebb76@gmail.com. WEDNESDAY "The Mindset of Greek Orthodox Christianity," 7 p.m., Zoom. The Very Rev. Stephen Soot, priest of St. Anne Orthodox Church in Corvallis, will compare and contrast Orthodox Christianity with its Western cousins. Sponsored by the Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan, Corvallis. The Zoom link is https://bit.ly/3mwek3T, meeting ID 864 6905 0085, passcode 683756. Information: gailwellscommunications@comcast.net. SATURDAY Lebanon Area Habitat for Humanity home goods one-day pop-up store, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Lebanon First United Methodist Church, 1890 S. Second St. Truckloads of store donations for sale. Benefits the affiliates upcoming home build, ongoing Home Repair and Preservation Program, and ReStore capital campaign. 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. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sri Lanka may be compelled to buy more oil from Russia as the island nation hunts desperately for fuel amid an unprecedented economic crisis, the newly appointed prime minister said. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would first look to other sources, but would be open to buying more crude from Moscow. Western nations largely have cut off energy imports from Russia in line with sanctions over its war on Ukraine. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Wickremesinghe also indicated he would be willing to accept more financial help from China, despite his country's mounting debt. And while he acknowledged that Sri Lanka's current predicament is of "its own making," he said the war in Ukraine is making it even worse and that dire food shortages could continue until 2024. He said Russia had also offered wheat to Sri Lanka. Wickremesinghe, who is also Sri Lanka's finance minister, spoke to the AP in his office in the capital, Colombo, one day shy of a month after he took over for a sixth time as prime minister. Appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resolve an economic crisis that has nearly emptied the country's foreign exchange reserves, Wickremesinghe was sworn in after days of violent protests last month forced his predecessor, Rajapaksa's brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, to step down and seek safety from angry crowds at a naval base. Sri Lanka has amassed $51 billion in foreign debt, but has suspended repayment of nearly $7 billion due this year. The crushing debt has left the country with no money for basic imports, which means citizens are struggling to access basic necessities such as food, fuel, medicine even toilet paper and matches. The shortages have spawned rolling power outages, and people have been forced to wait days for cooking gas and gasoline in lines that stretch for kilometers (miles). Two weeks ago, the country bought a 90,000-metric-ton (99,000-ton) shipment of Russian crude to restart its only refinery, the energy minister told reporters. Wickremesinghe did not comment directly on those reports, and said he did not know whether more orders were in the pipeline. But he said Sri Lanka desperately needs fuel, and is currently trying to get oil and coal from the country's traditional suppliers in the Middle East. "If we can get from any other sources, we will get from there. Otherwise (we) may have to go to Russia again," he said. Officials are negotiating with private suppliers, but Wickremesinghe said one issue they face is that "there is a lot of oil going around which can be sourced back informally to Iran or to Russia." "Sometimes we may not know what oil we are buying," he said. "Certainly, we are looking at the Gulf as our main supply." Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February, global oil prices have skyrocketed. While Washington and its allies are trying to cut financial flows supporting Moscow's war effort, Russia is offering its crude at a steep discount, making it extremely enticing to a number of countries. Like some other South Asian nations, Sri Lanka has remained neutral on the war in Europe. Sri Lanka has received and continues to reach out to numerous countries for help including the most controversial, China, currently the country's third-largest creditor. Opposition figures have accused the president and the former prime minister of taking on a slew of Chinese loans for splashy infrastructure projects that have since failed to generate profit, instead adding to the country's debt. Critics have also pointed to a beleaguered port in the hometown of then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Hambantota, built along with a nearby airport as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative projects, saying they cost too much and do too little for the economy. "We need to identify what are the projects that we need for economic recovery and take loans for those projects, whether it be from China or from others," Wickremesinghe said. "It's a question of where do we deploy the resources?" The prime minister said his government has been talking with China about restructuring its debts. Beijing had earlier offered to lend the country more money but balked at cutting the debt, possibly out of concern that other borrowers would demand the same relief. "China has agreed to come in with the other countries to give relief to Sri Lanka, which is a first step," Wickremesinghe said. "This means they all have to agree (on) how the cuts are to take place and in what manner they should take place." Sri Lanka is also seeking financial assistance from the World Food Programme, which may send a team to the country soon, and Wickremesinghe is banking on a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund. But even if approved, he doesn't expect to see money from the package until October onwards. Wickremesinghe acknowledged that the crisis in Sri Lanka has been of its "own making." Many have blamed government mismanagement, deep tax cuts in 2019, policy blunders that devastated crops and a sharp plunge in tourism due to the coronavirus pandemic. But he also stressed that the war in Ukraine, which has thrown global supply chains into a tailspin and pushed fuel and food prices to unaffordable levels, has made things much worse. "The Ukraine crisis has impacted our ... economic contraction," he said, adding that he thinks the economy will shrink even further before the country can begin to recoup and rebuild next year. "I think by the end of the year, you could see the impact in other countries" as well, he said. "There is a global shortage of food. Countries are not exporting food." In Sri Lanka, the price of vegetables has jumped threefold while the country's rice cultivation is down by about a third, the prime minister said. The shortages have affected both the poor and the middle classes, triggering months of protests. Mothers are struggling to get milk to feed their babies, as fears of a looming hunger crisis grow. Wickremesinghe said he felt terrible watching his nation suffer, "both as a citizen and a prime minister." He said he hasn't ever seen anything like this in Sri Lanka and didn't think he ever would. "I have generally been in governments where I ensured people had three meals and their income increased," he said. "We've had difficult times. ... But not like this. I have not seen ... people without fuel, without food." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said no one knows how long the war in his country will last but that Ukrainian forces are defying expectations by preventing Russian troops from overrunning eastern Ukraine, where the fighting has been fiercest for weeks. In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said he was proud of the Ukrainian defenders managing to hold back the Russian advance in the Donbas region, which borders Russia and where Moscow-backed separatists have controlled much of the territory for eight years. Remember how in Russia, in the beginning of May, they hoped to seize all of the Donbas? the president said late Saturday. Its already the 108th day of the war, already June. Donbas is holding on. After failing to capture Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, early in the war, Moscow focused on seizing the parts of the largely Russian-speaking Donbas still in Ukrainian hands, as well as the country's southern coast. But instead of securing a swift, decisive takeover, Russian forces were drawn into a long, laborious battle, thanks in part to the Ukrainian military's use of Western-supplied weapons. Both Ukrainian and Russian authorities said Sievierodonetsk, an eastern city with a prewar population of 100,000, remained contested. The city and neighboring Lysychansk are the last major areas of the Donbas' Luhansk province not under the control of the pro-Russia rebels. Leonid Pasechnik, the head of the separatist-declared Luhansk Peoples Republic, said Ukrainian fighters remained in an industrial area of the city, including a chemical plant where civilians had taken shelter from days of Russian shelling. Sievierodonetsk is not completely 100% liberated," Pasechnik said Saturday, alleging that the Ukrainians were shelling the city from the Azot plant. So its impossible to call the situation calm in Sievierodonetsk, that it is completely ours. Luhansk Gov. Serhii Haidai reported Saturday that a big fire broke out at the plant during hours of Russian shelling. Elsewhere in Ukraine, a counteroffensive pushed Russians out of parts of the southern Kherson region they took early in the war, according to Zelenskyy. Moscow has installed local authorities in Kherson and other occupied coastal areas, offering residents Russian passports, airing Russian news broadcasts and taking steps to introduce a Russian school curriculum. Zelenskyy said that while an end to the war was not in sight, Ukraine should do everything it can so the Russians regret everything that they have done and that they answer for every killing and every strike on our beautiful state. The Ukrainian leader asserted that Russia has suffered about three times as many military casualties as the number estimated for the Ukrainian side, adding: "For what? What did it get you, Russia? There are no reliable independent estimates of the wars death toll so far. Speaking at a defense conference in Singapore on Sunday, Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe said Beijing continues to support peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and hopes the U.S. and its NATO allies have discussions with Russia "to create the conditions for an early ceasefire. China will continue to play a constructive role and contribute our share to easing tensions and realizing a political resolution of the crisis, Wei said. He suggested that nations supplying weapons to Ukraine were hindering peace by adding fuel to the fire and stressed that China had not provided any material support to Russia during the war. The growth of China-Russia relations is a partnership, not an alliance, Wei said. The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, said in its latest assessment that Ukrainian intelligence suggested the Russian military was planning to fight a longer war. The institute cited the deputy head of Ukraine's national security agency as saying that Moscow had extended its war timeline until October, with adjustments to be made depending on any successes in the Donbas. The intelligence likely indicates the Kremlin has, at a minimum, acknowledged it cannot achieve its objectives in Ukraine quickly and is further adjusting its military objectives in an attempt to correct the initial deficiencies in the invasion of Ukraine, the think tank said. The Luhansk Peoples Republic's ambassador to Russia, Rodion Miroshnik, said Saturday that 300 to 400 Ukrainian troops remained blockaded inside the Sievierodonetsk chemical plant along with several hundred civilians. The Russians established contact with the Ukrainian troops to arrange the evacuation of the civilians, but the the troops will be allowed to leave only if they lay down their arms and surrender, Miroshnik said. Similar conditions existed for weeks at a steel mill in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol before a civilian evacuation was arranged and the defending troops were ordered by Ukrainian military commanders to stand down. The fighters who came out of the Mariupol plant were taken prisoner by the Russians. Pasechnik, the separatist leader of the unrecognized Luhansk republic, said the Ukrainians making a stand in Sievierodonetsk should save themselves the trouble. If if I were them, I would already make a decision (to surrender), he said. We will achieve our goal in any case. We will liberate the industrial area in any case. We will liberate Sievierodonetsk in any case. Lysychansk will be ours in any case. U.N. Human Rights Chief, Michelle Bachelet is under fire over her recent trip to China, with critics accusing her of missing an opportunity to condemn Beijings forced incarceration of nearly two million Uyghurs in internment camps in the countrys Xinjiang province. Ahead of the U.N. Human Rights Councils 50th session, more than 230 rights groups have issued a joint statement calling for High Commissioner Bachelet to resign. They accuse her of whitewashing Beijings repression against Uyghurs, Tibetans, and other ethnic minorities. They say Bachelet allowed her visit to be turned into a propaganda win for Beijing. They say she squandered a rare opportunity to hold the government accountable for its human rights atrocities. Bachelet has not responded to the recent criticism of the visit. However, at the end of her visit to China last month she said her trip was intended as an opportunity to discuss human rights with senior officials and pave the way for continued talks. She also defended herself from criticism that she was too soft on China by saying she had spoken frankly to Chinese leaders about the crackdown in Xinjiang on the pretext of fighting terrorism. The controversy swirling around the High Commissioner has deflected attention from other serious issues to be considered during the Councils four-week session. Council President, Federico Villegas, says Bachelets recent visit to China has nothing to do with the work of the Council. That visit was not mandated by the Council, and it is her prerogative to speak about it Of course, the human rights situation in China has been raised by different formats through joint statements and NGOs It is possible that during her oral outlook, she mentions and shares details of her visit, he said. Activists are demanding Bachelet release her long-awaited report on Chinas human rights abuses. However, Villegas notes this is an independent report, and it is up to the High Commissioners Office, not the Council, to issue it. The action-packed agenda before the Council includes 90 reports on human rights situations around the world, the findings of several Commissions of Inquiry including Ethiopia, Syria and the first inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Villegas says there will be a special focus on the war in Ukraine. "We will address Ukraine several times from different perspectives, including reports of the High Commissioner on Mariupol Also, on fifth of July, the Council will receive the secretary-generals periodic report on Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, he said. Human rights activists are calling on the Council to appoint a special rapporteur to investigate human rights violations within Russia. They say exposing the abuses committed by the Russian government against its own people is the best way to curtail atrocities in Ukraine. Food insecurity is rising globally because of the war in Ukraine, according to experts, with Africa expected to be hit the hardest. The worlds superpowers, China and the U.S., say they are trying to mitigate the fallout but at the same time are accusing each other of exacerbating the crisis. A state newspaper, The China Daily, placed blame for the situation partially on Washington, saying: Food prices have reached an all-time high, as Russian and Ukrainian grain exports are hindered by port disruptions and Western sanctions. The U.S., for its part, has accused China of hoarding, after President Xi Jinping said earlier this year that food security in China was a primary concern and urged farmers to scale up production to ensure the worlds most populous country was self-sufficient. Asked by VOA if the Asian giant couldnt help combat food insecurity caused by the Ukraine conflict, U.S. Ambassador Jim OBrien, head of the Office of Sanctions Coordination, replied, We would love to see China act like the large power it is in helping to address the problem in the global food market. We are concerned that China is building up its domestic stocks and continuing to purchase grain on the global market at a time when we would love to see it be able to help those who are in need, he added. China has hit back at the accusations of hoarding. Currently China supplies over 95 percent of its own needs for grain. It is unnecessary for the country to hoard grains in the international market, an article in the state-affiliated Global Times said. In contrast to Chinas contributions to global food security, the U.S. is the major instigator behind the current global food crisis. US rebuts sanctions narrative The worry about global food insecurity began soon after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Russia and Ukraine are the worlds largest and fifth-largest wheat exporters respectively. Since the war broke out, exports of the grain, as well as maize and sunflower oil, have been severely disrupted. Many African countries depend heavily on Ukrainian and Russian imports for their food supply, and some say U.S. sanctions on Moscow are to blame for their woes. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said in May, The war in Ukraine and Western sanctions on Russia have also caused shortages of wheat. Likewise, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said, "Even those countries that are either bystanders or not part of the conflict are also going to suffer from the sanctions that have been imposed against Russia." Current African Union Chair Macky Sall, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, tweeted that the Russian leader was ready and willing to facilitate the export of Ukrainian cereals and suggested the West was hampering him. I call on all partners to lift sanctions on wheat and fertilizer, Sall said. But at a virtual press briefing organized by the U.S. Embassy in Johannesburg on Thursday, OBrien said the narrative that sanctions were hurting food exports was misleading. The U.S. does not sanction Russian food and fertilizer, he said. Russia has disrupted one of the most productive ways that countries received grain. Ukraine used to export 6 million or so tons of grain a month, mostly to the global South. And now that has had to stop; in March and April, it was very small. OBrien said the U.S. and European Union are trying to facilitate exports from Ukraine but that at best it will probably be about half what it was before, and thats because Russia has occupied or destroyed 30-odd percent of Ukraines grain-producing capability. It is attacking grain storage and processing facilities. Cary Fowler, the U.S. special envoy for global food security, said at the same press event, The situation in the Ukraine has, by all estimates, pushed is pushing about 40 million additional people into the ranks of the food-insecure. Ukraine produces enough food to feed about 400 million people, Fowler said, and thats sitting in silos right now in Ukraine, unable to get out because Russia is blockading the ports. Resultant food-price spikes are going to have an impact on Africa first and foremost, he added. The World Bank said this week that as of June 1, maize and wheat prices were 42% and 60% higher, respectively, compared with January of last year. More from U.S. Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged more money to combat food insecurity globally, noting 32 of the 39 countries at greatest risk from this acute food crisis are in Africa. Just since February, the United States has pledged more than $2.3 billion of food assistance. And pending final approval from our Congress, we'll provide more than $5 billion in additional aid, including more than $760 million specifically for global food security. As well as the billions in funds, the U.S. is also boosting its domestic fertilizer production, Blinken added. Russia is the worlds largest fertilizer exporter. Chinese officials have also been speaking about the global food crisis, with some state media, much like the Africa Unions Sall, blaming Western sanctions. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said last month that China already feeds one-fifth of the global population, the Global Times reported. The report also said China had donated $130 million to the U.N.s Food and Agriculture Organization in recent years. This week, Chinas state news agency Xinhua reported that African nations can leverage existing collaboration with China to transform their agricultural systems [and] tackle hunger, attributing it to Quoqi Wu, a senior official at the U.N.s International Fund for Agriculture Development. Wu said that, among developing nations, China is the biggest donor to the IFAD and had helped finance numerous projects to boost agricultural best practices on the continent. A politically bipartisan group of 20 U.S. senators said Sunday they have reached agreement on tightening gun control laws in the United States, bolstering school security and funding more mental health care in the immediate aftermath of three mass shooting attacks that horrified many Americans. We have a deal that will save lives, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said of the pact reached by 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans. If approved by Congress, it would be the first legislative agreement in 30 years to try to curb rampant gun violence in the U.S. I think youll be surprised at the scope of our framework, Murphy said, although the deal does not include, as called for by President Joe Biden, a ban on the sale of rapid-fire assault weapons that have often been the weapon of choice deployed by mass shooters in the U.S. Murphy worked with Democratic Senator Krysten Sinema of Arizona as well as Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina as lead negotiators in crafting the legislation. Biden said in a statement that the framework "does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades." Given the bipartisan support, "there are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House," he said. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York called the accord a good first step to ending the persistent inaction to the gun violence epidemic. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has supported the talks, released a statement Sunday, saying he is hoping for a deal that makes significant headway on key issues like mental health and school safety, respects the Second Amendment, earns broad support in the Senate, and makes a difference for our country. Schumer said he would bring the measure to a vote as soon as possible. The lawmakers negotiated the details over the past three weeks in the aftermath of three shocking mass killings that drew widespread attention among many other less publicized assaults that occur weekly in the U.S., violence that is not commonplace elsewhere throughout the world. In one instance, 10 Black people were gunned down in a racist-inspired attack at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store, while 19 schoolchildren and their two teachers were killed inside an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and four people were shot to death at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, medical facility. Lawmakers in the U.S. have for years been stalemated on new gun sale restrictions, with Democrats almost uniformly calling for tighter curbs and Republicans opposing them, saying any new laws would impinge on Americans right to own guns as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Sundays pact is notable in that 10 Republicans agreed to it. In the past, 41 or more Republicans have opposed gun control legislation, leaving the 50-member Democratic caucus short of the 60-vote supermajority they have needed in the 100-member Senate to overcome a Republican filibuster against new gun restrictions. Drafting this law and passing it through both chambers will not be easy, Murphy said. We have a long way before this gets to the presidents desk for Bidens signature. But he added, We can get this done. This time, failure cannot be an option. He said the agreement would provide unspecified major funding to help states pass and implement crisis intervention orders (red-flag laws) that will allow law enforcement to temporarily take dangerous weapons away from people who pose a danger to others or themselves. Murphy said there would be billions in new funding for mental health and school safety, including money for the national build-out of community mental health clinics. He said the legislation would close the boyfriend loophole, so that no domestic abuser a spouse or a serious dating partner can buy a gun if they are convicted of abuse against their partner. He said the legislation would include a prohibition against people buying guns for others and enhance background checks for gun buyers under 21. Both the Buffalo and Uvalde mass shootings were carried out by 18-year-olds. In addition, Murphy said the law, if approved by Congress, would clarify who needs to register as a licensed gun dealer, to make sure all truly commercial sellers are doing background checks. Murphy, who often has lost efforts in years past to stiffen gun control laws after earlier mass shootings, gave his own assessment of the changes he hopes will be enacted. Will this bill do everything we need to end our nations gun violence epidemic? No, he said. But its real, meaningful progress. And it breaks a 30-year logjam, demonstrating that Democrats and Republicans can work together in a way that truly saves lives. Some information in this article came from Reuters and The Associated Press. After the arrest of more than two dozen members of a white supremacist group near a northern Idaho pride event, including one identified as its founder, LGBTQ advocates said Sunday that polarization and a fraught political climate are putting their community increasingly at risk. The arrest of 31 Patriot Front members with riot gear came after a tipster reported seeing people loading up into a U-Haul like "a little army" at a hotel parking lot in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, police said. Among those booked into jail on misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to riot was Thomas Ryan Rousseau of Grapevine, Texas, who has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as the 23-year-old who founded the group after the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. No attorney was immediately listed for him and phone numbers associated with him went unanswered Sunday. Also among the arrestees was Mitchell F. Wagner, 24, of Florissant, Missouri, who was previously charged with defacing a mural of famous Black Americans on a college campus in St. Louis last year. Michael Kielty, Wagner's attorney, said Sunday that he had not been provided information about the charges. He said Patriot Front did not have a reputation for violence and that the case could be a First Amendment issue. "Even if you don't like the speech, they have the right to make it," he said. Patriot Front is a white supremacist neo-Nazi group whose members perceive Black Americans, Jews and LGBTQ people as enemies, said Jon Lewis, a George Washington University researcher who specializes in homegrown violent extremism. Their playbook, Lewis said, involves identifying local grievances to exploit, organizing on platforms like the messaging app Telegram and ultimately showing up to events marching in neat columns, in blue- or white-collared-shirt uniforms, in a display of strength. Though Pride celebrations have long been picketed by counterprotesters citing religious objections, they haven't historically been a major focus for armed extremist groups. Still, it isn't surprising, given how anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has increasingly become a potent rallying cry in the far-right online ecosystem, Lewis said. "That set of grievances fits into their broader narratives and shows their ability to mobilize the same folks against the enemy over and over and over again," he said. The arrests come amid a surge of charged rhetoric around LGBTQ issues and a wave of state legislation aimed at transgender youth, said John McCrostie, the first openly gay man elected to the Idaho Legislature. In Boise this week, dozens of Pride flags were stolen from city streets. "Whenever we are confronted with attacks of hate, we must respond with the message from the community that we embrace all people with all of our differences," McCrostie said in a text message. Sunday also marked six years since the mass shooting that killed 49 people at the Orlando LGBTQ club Pulse, said Troy Williams with Equality Utah in Salt Lake City. "Our nation is growing increasingly polarized, and the result has been tragic and deadly," he said. In Coeur d'Alene on Saturday, police found riot gear, one smoke grenade, shin guards and shields inside the van after pulling it over near a park where the North Idaho Pride Alliance was holding a Pride in the Park event, Coeur d'Alene Police Chief Lee White said. The group came to riot around the small northern Idaho city wearing Patriot Front patches and logos on their hats and some T-shirts reading "Reclaim America" according to police and videos of the arrests posted on social media. Those arrested came from at least 11 states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia, and Arkansas. Though there is a history of far-right extremism dating back decades in northern Idaho, White said only one of those arrested Saturday was from the state. The six-hour Pride event generally went on as scheduled, including booths, food, live music, a drag show and a march of more than 50 people, the Idaho Statesman reported. The group is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday. The World Trade Organization chief voiced cautious optimism Sunday as global trade ministers gather to tackle food security threatened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, overfishing and equitable access to COVID vaccines. Speaking just hours before the opening of the WTO's first ministerial meeting in nearly five years, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala acknowledged that "the road will be bumpy and rocky, there may be a few landmines on the way." But she told journalists she was "cautiously optimistic that we'll get one or two deliverables," adding she would consider that "a success." With its first ministerial meeting in years, the WTO faces pressure to finally eke out long-sought trade deals and show unity amid the still raging pandemic and an impending global hunger crisis. Top of the agenda as the four-day meeting kicks off is the toll Russia's war in Ukraine, traditionally a breadbasket that feeds hundreds of millions of people, is having on food security. EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said the bloc had been "working hard with all the members to prepare a multilateral food security package," and slammed Russia for "using food and grain as a weapon of war." The WTO is hoping to keep criticism of Russia's war in Ukraine to the first day of talks, when many of the more than 100 ministers due to attend are expected to issue blistering statements. But with many flatly refusing to negotiate directly with Moscow, there are fears this could bleed into the following days, when the WTO wants to focus on nailing down elusive trade deals. "There is a real risk that things could go off the rails next week," a Geneva-based diplomatic source said. Fisheries deal in sight? The tensions have not curbed Okonjo-Iweala's zeal to press for agreements on a range of issues during the first ministerial gathering on her watch, especially as the global trade body strives to prove its worth after nearly a decade with no new large trade deals. There is cautious optimism that countries could finally agree on banning subsidies that contribute to illegal and unregulated fishing, after more than 20 years of negotiations. The WTO says talks have never been this close to the finish line, but diplomats remain cautious. The negotiations "have made progress recently, but these remain difficult subjects," a diplomatic source in Geneva told AFP. One of the main sticking points has been so-called special and differential treatment (SDT) for developing countries, like major fishing nation India, which can request exemptions. A draft text sent to the ministers for review proposes exemptions should not apply to member states accounting for an as yet undefined share of the global volume of fishing. The duration of exemptions also remains undefined. Environmental groups say anything beyond 10 years would be catastrophic. India has demanded a 25-year exemption. India 'creating problems' "Twenty-five years is an unreasonable length of time," Isabel Jarrett, head of the Pew Charitable Trusts' project to end harmful fisheries subsidies, told AFP, warning so much leeway would be "devastating for fish stocks." Colombian Ambassador Santiago Wills, who chairs the WTO fisheries subsidies negotiations, stressed the urgency of securing a deal. "The longer we wait, the more the fish lose. And the more the fish lose, the more we all lose," he said in a statement Saturday. India however appears to be stubbornly sticking to its demands on fisheries and in other areas, jeopardizing the chances of reaching deals since WTO agreements require full consensus backing. "There is not a single issue that India is not blocking," a Geneva-based ambassador said, singling out WTO reform and agriculture. A source with knowledge of the negotiations towards a text on food security also said "the Indians are still creating problems." Elvire Fabry, a senior research fellow at the Jacques Delors Institute, said India had appeared eager to "throw more weight around" in international organisations, warning New Delhi was capable of scuppering talks. Patent waiver? The ministers are also set to seek a joint WTO response to the pandemic, although significant obstacles remain. Back in October 2020, India and South Africa called for intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines and other pandemic responses to be suspended in a bid to ensure more equitable access in poorer nations. After multiple rounds of talks, the European Union, the United States, India and South Africa hammered out a compromise that has become the basis for a draft text sent to ministers. The text, which would allow most developing countries, although not China, to produce COVID vaccines without authorization from patent holders, is still facing opposition from both sides. Britain and Switzerland are reluctant to sign up, arguing along with the pharmaceutical industry that the waiver would undermine investment in innovation. Public interest groups meanwhile say the text falls far short of what is needed by covering only vaccines and not Covid treatments and diagnostics. "The negotiations are still aeons away from ensuring access to lifesaving COVID medical tools for everyone, everywhere," medical charity Doctors Without Borders warned. A Ukrainian official said their army is running out of ammunition in its battles with Russian forces. In the Mykolaiv region near the frontline in the south of the country, the regional governor called for urgent international military assistance. Russia's army is more powerful, they have a lot of artillery and ammo. For now, this is a war of artillery... and we are out of ammo, Vitaliy Kim said. The help of Europe and America is very, very important. Ukraine is in talks with other countries about providing more weapons. Ukraines foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said in a tweet Saturday he had spoken with his Polish counterpart, Zbigniew Rau, to discuss future deliveries of heavy weapons. Kuleba said the two also discussed placing another round of EU sanctions on Russia. On the battlefield, fierce fighting continued in the Donbas region as Ukraines military launched several counterattacks in the Russian-occupied Kherson region in the south. In the capital, Kyiv, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made a unannounced visit meeting with Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to discuss the countrys restoration, and efforts toward European Union membership. I will take stock of the joint work needed for reconstruction and of the progress made by Ukraine on its European path, she said in a Twitter post. The European Commission chief said her executive will soon finalize its opinion on whether Ukraine should be a candidate to join the EU. The discussions Saturday will enable us to finalize our assessment by the end of next week, she told President Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy said Saturday his country would definitely prevail in this war that Russia has started, speaking from an undisclosed location in Kyiv. n an address meant for delegates at the Shangri-La Dialogue Asia security summit being held in Singapore, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is struggling to continue supplying food due to the conflict and that some parts of the world are facing an acute and severe food crisis and famine because of the Russian blockade. At the conference, the U.S. defense secretary called Saturday for more international support for Ukraine, saying Russias aggression had wider implications for national sovereignty and the global order. Lloyd Austin expressed concern the world might begin to turn its attention away from Russias war on Ukraine. Its what happens when big powers decide that their imperial appetites matter more than the rights of their peaceful neighbors, Austin said. Its a preview of a possible world of chaos and turmoil that none of us would want to live in, Secretary Austin told the defense ministers at the Shangri-La Dialogue. Ukrainian officials are increasingly worried support from the West will trail off as its allies suffer war fatigue. They fear Russia could take advantage of that to pressure Ukraine into compromise, something Zelenskyy has resisted, saying Ukraine would pursue its own terms for peace. The fatigue is growing, people want some kind of outcome [that is beneficial] for themselves, and we want [another] outcome for ourselves, he said. It is obvious that Russia is determined to wear down the West and is now building its strategy on the assumption that Western countries will get tired and gradually begin to change their militant rhetoric to a more accommodating one, said Volodymyr Fesenko, political analyst with the Penta Center research group in an interview with The Associated Press. Meanwhile, authorities in the Moscow-occupied city of Kherson in southern Ukraine handed out Russian passports to local residents Saturday for the first time, Russia's TASS reported. The state-run news agency said 23 Kherson residents received a Russian passport at a ceremony through a "simplified procedure" facilitated by a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in May. "All our Kherson residents want to obtain a passport and [Russian] citizenship as soon as possible," the regional administration's pro-Moscow chief, Vladimir Saldo, was quoted as saying by TASS. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. Zimbabwe police say family members of slain Citizens Coalition for Change activist, Moreblessing Ali, have positively identified her remains, which were retrieved yesterday from a disused well in the countrys Nyatsime area, Beatrice. In a detailed memorandum to police general headquarters, police report that her mutilated remains that were placed in a white body bag and body box and conveyed to Chitungwiza General Hospital, were identified by Silence Ali, Solomon Ali and Yusof Andrea. Police said they are still looking for Pius Jamba, who allegedly abducted Moreblessing Ali on May 24 in Chitungwiza. In the report, police indicate that a team from ZRP Beatrice attended the scene after they were alerted by Laina Mukandi about a stench emanating from a well near the homestead. On arrival Laina Mukandi led the team of four police officers being led by A/I Jumbe to the disused well. The disused well is situated 40 meters due south of Laina Mukandis homestead. The well is an unprotected and not built. A strong stench was emanating from the well. The team saw a white 50kg sack which appeared loaded with something floating in the well. In the same well a female human body part with breasts was seen floating on the side of the 50kg sack. Police say forensic experts and other state security agents cordoned the area, took photographs of the deceased while they were being retrieved from the well. A white 50kg sack inscribed supper phosphate was first to be retrieved and it was opened. The sack contained complete whitish female left and right legs with a pair of black socks but without shoes. CID Studios took photographs of the legs. The whitish torso of a female person putting on a long sleeved white t shirt. The torso was from the waist to the dreaded head and was retrieved. CID Studios took photographs. There was a black cloth tied tightly around the neck. Police also indicate that the body had bruises on right cheek and forehead and the left armpit was chopped but left hanging to the torso. The intestines were intact but exposed from underneath the stomach. In a statement yesterday, police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed that they retrieved a mutilated body at plot number 321 Denota Farm, Beatrice, in a well on 11th June, 2022. The body was observed by Linnah Mukandi (57), who is the mother to the suspect Pius Jamba. The police has been in contact with Moreblessing Alis family and has stepped up the identification process through forensic science analysts. The results will be made public as soon as they are out. Nyathi said police are disturbed by politicians, including lawyers, who are issuing threats to government officials and the police in connection with this sad case. Some are openly inciting violence. The public is urged to be patient and allow the current criminal investigations to proceed smoothly. The police reiterates that this is a callous and heinous crime of which all efforts will be made to ensure that suspects are brought to book without fail. However, any form of intimidation or threats under the guise of politics or social media antics are being monitored by the police. Nyathi further said politicians should not interfere with criminal investigations and allow the due processes of the law to be followed. The police will leave no stone unturned in order to locate the suspect, Pius Jamba and any other suspects linked to this case. Ali disappeared on May 24 amid allegations that she was abducted by suspected Zanu PF activists. A senior CCC member, Job Sikhala, claimed that 46-year-old Moreblessing Alis body, which was recovered from a well in Beatrice on Saturday following her abduction by suspected Zanu PF activists, was cut into two and her bowels stuffed in a plastic bag. In a tweet, Sikhala said, We are now leaving Chitungwiza Central Hospital mortuary where Moreblessing Alis tattered body has been left by the police The body is into two parts. The bottom from the waist on its own and the top the same. Intestines packed in a plastic. Reacting to Nyathis remarks, CCC deputy spokesperson, Felix Magalela Mafa, said his statement was out of bounds. The ZRP chief spokespersons comments earlier on and today's threats and intimidation to the bereaved family, families, children, colleagues and the CCC movement is in humane, anti-African, outrageous, ridiculous and uncalled for in this modern and civilised universe. As a national party, the CCC are demanding Paul Nyathi to retract his inhumane statements and apologize to the bereaved family and nation at large. Nyathi was unavailable for comment as he was not responding to calls on his mobile phone. The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) led by Nelson Chamisa claims that there is chaos and pandemonium at slain party member Moreblessing Alis homestead in Nyatsime, Beatrice, where Zanu PF activists are demanding that she should be laid to rest in Chitungwiza. In a tweet, CCC said, A gang of Zanu PF thugs led by Councillor for Seke Rural, Mr Maoeresa, has descended on the funeral of Moreblessing Ali. They are chasing mourners away from the funeral & beating those whove gathered up. Our security team & local leaders are on site to protect mourners. Party spokesperson, Fadzayi Mahere, attacked ruling party activists for terrorizing CCC members at Alis funeral wake where party activists have been told to remove their yellow t-shirts. In a tweet, Mahere said, ZANU PF has no right to dictate what anybody wears at a funeral nor do they have the right to unleash violence on grieving loved ones. Nyatsime belongs to all citizens. It is not Zanu PF territory. We demand justice. At the very least, please arrest the perpetrators of violence at Moreblessing Alis funeral. The family & community have been traumatized enough already. S219 of the Constitution mandates you to serve & protect all citizens. We demand justice. In another tweet, CCC member Job Sikhala said he has received messages from Nyatsime that Zanu PF activists are terrorizing CCC supporters attending Alis funeral wake. There's commotion at the Mobby's funeral vanhu veZanu vauya varikuita noise isingaiti vauya naMaoresa anova MP weSeke rural naCllr wavo anonzi masimbi varikuti nhamo ngaiende kuSt'marys ibve kuNyatsime. A video of a local councilor urging CCC supporters to stop attending the funeral wake and go to St. Marys, the home of Sikhala, has gone viral on social media. Sikhala said, This is the ZANU PF thug masquerading as the authority of the area banning people from mourning Moreblessing Ali at her residence. He has come in a company of drunken thugs and attacked mourners at the funeral. I challenge ZRPZimbabwe to explain the meaning of this!!! The councilor was not responding to calls on his mobile phone. Zanu PF communications director, Tafadzwa Mugwadi, said CCC was making false claims while turning the death of Ali into a political campaign. This is a disgrace, said Mugwadi, adding that CCC should respect Alis death. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said no one knows how long the war in his country will last but that Ukrainian forces are defying expectations by preventing Russian troops from overrunning eastern Ukraine, where the fighting has been fiercest for weeks. In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said he was proud of the Ukrainian defenders managing to hold back the Russian advance in the Donbas region, which borders Russia and where Moscow-backed separatists have controlled much of the territory for eight years. Luhansk Gov. Serhii Haidai reported Saturday that a big fire broke out at the plant during hours of Russian shelling. Elsewhere in Ukraine, a counteroffensive pushed Russians out of parts of the southern Kherson region they took early in the war, according to Zelenskyy. Moscow has installed local authorities in Kherson and other occupied coastal areas, offering residents Russian passports, airing Russian news broadcasts and taking steps to introduce a Russian school curriculum. Zelenskyy said that while an end to the war was not in sight, Ukraine should do everything it can so the Russians regret everything that they have done and that they answer for every killing and every strike on our beautiful state. The Ukrainian leader asserted that Russia has suffered about three times as many military casualties as the number estimated for the Ukrainian side, adding: "For what? What did it get you, Russia? There are no reliable independent estimates of the wars death toll so far. Speaking at a defense conference in Singapore on Sunday, Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe said Beijing continues to support peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and hopes the U.S. and its NATO allies have discussions with Russia "to create the conditions for an early ceasefire. China will continue to play a constructive role and contribute our share to easing tensions and realizing a political resolution of the crisis, Wei said. He suggested that nations supplying weapons to Ukraine were hindering peace by adding fuel to the fire and stressed that China had not provided any material support to Russia during the war. The growth of China-Russia relations is a partnership, not an alliance, Wei said. The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, said in its latest assessment that Ukrainian intelligence suggested the Russian military was planning to fight a longer war. The institute cited the deputy head of Ukraine's national security agency as saying that Moscow had extended its war timeline until October, with adjustments to be made depending on any successes in the Donbas. The intelligence likely indicates the Kremlin has, at a minimum, acknowledged it cannot achieve its objectives in Ukraine quickly and is further adjusting its military objectives in an attempt to correct the initial deficiencies in the invasion of Ukraine, the think tank said. The Luhansk Peoples Republic's ambassador to Funeral Announcements A daily list of current funeral annoucements as heard on KXRA 1490 AM/100.3 FM News Updates The daily news, sports, and events delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Sports Update This current sports headlines delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Upcoming Events This email is the events of the area delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Breaking News The big news. Sent only as it happens. Starting July 1, Iowa cities can take bar owners to court to pull their liquor licenses for public safety concerns rather than relying on state regulators. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, signed into law a Davenport-backed bill to allow it on Thursday at the Davenport Police Department. The signing was not on her public schedule. The bill, HF 2340, backed by the city of Davenport, would allow city and county attorneys to sue alcohol establishments for creating a serious threat to public safety and to seek a temporary injunction before trial, rather than relying on the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division to revoke a license. A serious threat to public safety, according to the bill, would exist if an owner, employee, or patron in or near an alcohol establishment would fire a gun, assault someone, or is part of a "riot." Davenport tried to deny a liquor license to the now-closed Shenanigans Irish Pub at 303 W. 3rd St. because of its public-safety history. The city was overruled by the Alcoholic Beverages Division, which is responsible for regulating and investigating complaints about alcohol establishments. Going through local courts, which typically handle nuisance complaints in all other capacities, will bring parity to the process and, hopefully, quicker resolution, Davenport city officials supported the bill. Upon filing a lawsuit, the court can order the bar to limit its hours of alcohol sales to 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Should a district court determine a threat to public safety exists, the court could temporarily close the business, revoke its alcohol license or require a change in business practice or operations. It could also require the owner post bond to keep the property open pending final resolution of the lawsuit. The Iowa Restaurant Association, which opposed the bill, argued the measure could discourage alcohol establishments from calling 911 for fear they'd be flagged as part of the problem. Its not breaking news to developers, builders or anyone trying to improve their Denver home: The amount of time its taking the City of Denver to approve building permits has grown exponentially in recent months. You used to be able to say six months from the time you submit before, but now thats taking over a year for that process, said Chris Lonigro, president of Generation Constructors, which is currently underway with the 41-unit Arbory City Park West Condos project at Park and 16th avenues. The hard part is weve looked at the market, and any time you have the element of holding a property up it costs more money thats passed on to the consumer. City officials have thrown attempted fixes at the situation, including opening the overtime wallet for plan reviewers and putting out a call for planning consulting firms to do contract work for the city, said Laura Aldrete, director of Denver Community Planning and Development (CPD). Theyve also created a Review Times Dashboard website so customers could better track their applications. Nothing is going to be a silver bullet fix to any of these complex challenges we have, said Aldrete. We dont limit the volume of projects coming in thats up to the market. And Denvers market has been red hot in recent years. Its just a volume game and the volume is through the roof for the City of Denver, said Andrew Fairbairn, owner of Service First Permits of Denver. His consulting company works with architectural firms, general contractors and commercial property developers to submit building permit applications. In 2017, developers and homeowners filed 5,031 applications for new projects. That number ballooned to 7,494 in 2021. In the first five months of 2022, plans for 3,243 have been filed, according to CPD statistics. If that pace continues, 2022 will be another record-setting year for Denver with 7,783 applications. The problem becomes exacerbated by Denvers hot-but-cooling housing market. The metro Denver area is in the throes of a housing market where single-family home prices have risen 15-20% in the last year-and-a-half and inventory of available homes has been at historic lows in that same time period. Long permitting cycles slow our collective ability to start and deliver homes which reverberates through the local economy and is felt by constituents increasing home prices and pricing more aspiring homeowners out of the market, said Morgan Cullen, director of Government Affairs for the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver, in an email statement. Many factors contributed to the situation in which Denver finds itself. One of the biggest is the COVID-19 pandemic which caused shut-downs of entire industries like travel, tourism and restaurants and sent shockwaves through the economy. Without all the sales tax collection from those industries in 2020 and 2021, Denvers general fund dropped markedly. The budgets of city agencies were cut by 4% in 2021. CPD started staff reductions and the hiring freeze in April of 2020. It had been staffed as high as 263 full-time employees in 2018, but that fell to a low point of 240 in April 2021. Those positions started to get restored by July of 2021 when the City of Denver distributed the $308 million it received in COVID-19 recovery funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. But by then, the permits just kept flowing in both from new development projects and from people stuck at home who decided to start home improvement projects. Think about what we were doing during the pandemic, Aldrete said. A lot of us were looking at that bathroom, or kitchen or basement that hadnt been remodeled in forever. We literally saw a significant increase in those numbers of residential permits. Service Firsts Fairbairn said the problem could have been much worse had not the city implemented an electronic document filing system around 2018. So as building departments in other cities shut down completely for months and no in-person document delivery was possible, Denver kept processing them. They maintained capacity for processing of large, ground-up projects during COVID-19 at a heightened level in comparison to other jurisdictions that we work with, Fairbairn said. In business for 13 years, Service First works in cities and counties along Colorados Front Range, and in northern California as well. The State of California had shut down construction sites and jurisdictions there just shut down for three months, said Fairbairn. Those fell so far behind in terms of permitting projects. Denver City Council members have been getting an earful from frustrated constituents with held-up projects. One came from Peter Rueth of Denver, who has been trying to remodel his daughters house on Franklin street. Our contractor started the permit process on January 25th, Rueth wrote in an email to CPD and City Councilman Paul Kashmann. Twenty-three weeks (23) have passed since the initial application submission was made. Since purchasing the home seven months ago, our daughter has been unable to occupy the home and had to find a place to rent. That rental is no longer available on June 27th; so she will be homeless if the remodel work is not complete by then. Kashmann, representing District 6, empathized, but said much is out of the citys control and put most of the blame on under-staffing issues. Weve got folks working their tails off in our permitting department, working overtime to try and get stuff done, Kashmann said in an interview with the Denver Gazette. We know its important. I think that whats happening with permitting is just part of the landscape were in right now where everyone is fighting for staffing. I think it would be a great time for people to just take a deep breath. Its costing people and I get that its always frustrating. But theyre in a long line right now. The HBA said patience is hard to come by these days. It is critically important for builders to set appropriate start time expectations for their customers and trade partners, said Cullen. Aldrete said more resources are on the way. Starting this summer, CPD will create a team of dedicated permit reviewers to work only on affordable housing projects. That should clear up work for reviewers on other projects, she said. Earlier this month, the Denver City Council approved Expanding Housing Affordability Guidelines laws. Builders were aware of the new guidelines as far back as October, and many rushed to get development plans filed before the new law goes into effect. The new guidelines means a certain amount of affordable units must be developed alongside market-rate condos and apartments for projects of 10-or-more units, with zoning and financial incentives included as well. Builders can either build more affordably priced units as part of any construction or pay a fee to offset construction of affordable units elsewhere. Policies such as these are known as inclusionary housing policies. The guidelines require that 8% of a projects units be priced to serve those who fall into the 60% of area median income for apartments and 80% of AMI for ownership units. Builders can price units closer to market price in exchange for building 12% of their units as affordable. Well pull out all the affordable housing and give it to this dedicated staff, Aldrete said. I dont think its responsible to just say more staff always. We also have to ask ourselves How can we do our jobs more efficiently? What kind of innovation can we bring in? Placeholder while article actions load After a two-year hiatus, the flu is back. An early uptick in cases in Australia has public health authorities there alarmed and should prompt the US to put the familiar virus back on the publics radar. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Theres absolutely no doubt were in for a big season, says Ian Barr, deputy director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza. Even if testing in Australia has increased, thereby identifying more people with the flu, case numbers are following a path similar to the one seen in the 2019 flu season, a record year for flu in Australia. Argentina and South Africa also are showing modest early signs of a tougher flu season. Activity in the Southern Hemisphere is not always a good predictor of what will happen in the Northern Hemisphere, but signs that flu is making a comeback should at least be a warning to the US, where last year enthusiasm for the flu vaccine was low. As with Covid vaccines, flu shots might not prevent people from catching the virus, but they can prevent the worst consequences of infection. Advertisement Vaccine complacency could be dangerous in the first fall and winter without Covid rules. Public health authorities need to ensure that access to shots is as easy as possible. The last two years have been weird for influenza. During the first flu season of the pandemic, cases in the US were virtually nonexistent. Even in the second, activity didnt follow the typical pattern. The biggest (still small) peak came in April the first time it was ever so late, says Lynette Brammer, who leads the Centers for Disease Controls Domestic Influenza Surveillance team. In some parts of the country, last winters flu continues to circulate. It is just wild that we sit here on June 2nd and still have substantial flu activity, Scott Hensley, a University of Pennsylvania professor who studies influenza, told me. Advertisement The most obvious explanation for these quiet and odd flu seasons is that limited international travel, social distancing, mask mandates and other Covid mitigations gave the flu virus little opportunity to spread. The late bump in cases this spring came when mask mandates and other Covid rules were lifted. A second theory, yet to be proven, is that infection with one virus blocks a second virus from taking hold. The feared twindemic of flu and Covid at once has not yet materialized. But without evidence that viral interference is real, the possibility remains that next winter could bring waves of both viruses. At this point, a flu comeback could create more havoc than usual. After two seasons of low activity, more people lack immunity. Children, typically exposed to flu by the time theyre 3 years old, are especially naive to the virus. Advertisement Its concerning that flu vaccination rates have dropped, including among the most vulnerable groups. In the past two years, the share of kids who got their flu shots fell to 55% from 62%. In pregnant women, the vaccination rate dropped to 52% from more than 65%. Of course, during the pandemic many people saw their health-care providers less, and no doubt many are also feeling some vaccine fatigue. People still working from home have missed flu-shot campaigns at the office. But public health authorities need to push vaccination rates back up. Several states and territories in Australia have taken the unprecedented step of offering free shots. Research shows that people are more apt to take shots if they are recommended by their physician and if theyre offered to them. Companies should get back to providing vaccines at work, pediatricians offices should consider how to ensure parents can get vaccinated along with their children, and school districts should work to increase rates of routine flu jabs in kids. Advertisement At the same time, its looking as if another round of Covid boosters will be needed in the fall. People need to know that its perfectly fine to get Covid and flu shots at the same time. And coordination is needed to ensure that places offering one have ample supplies of the other. More from Bloomberg Opinion: Like Flu Shots, Covid Boosters Need Yearly Schedule: Lisa Jarvis Whats Worse Than a Pandemic? A Twindemic: Theresa Raphael You Do Realize Covid-19 Might Come Back in the Fall?: Justin Fox This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Lisa Jarvis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering biotech, health care and the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, she was executive editor of Chemical & Engineering News. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load Suppose Roe v. Wade is overturned. A recent fanfare of concern worries that a state would then be able to punish its citizens for traveling to other states to seek medical assistance in ending their pregnancies. Missouri is considering a statute that would do exactly that, and Texas activists are pushing a similar proposal. Other states may follow. Would such a law be constitutional? Its hard to be sure. The doctrine is a confusing mishmash, and the Supreme Court has declined to offer definitive guidance. Although legal scholars have been arguing since the 1990s in favor of a right to travel to seek an abortion, the last time the justices directly addressed the issue of a states power to punish crimes beyond its borders was ... um ... 1941. In short, we cant predict how a court would treat an effort by one state to bar its citizens from obtaining abortion in another. But one need not be pro-choice to see the strength of the argument against such a law. Advertisement Lets start with a basic question: Can a state punish its citizens for breaking the states laws while beyond its boundaries? It would seem that the answer is yes. In 1941, the Supreme Court held that Florida could punish its residents for breaking Florida law while on the high seas. Over the ensuing decades, other states have successfully prosecuted crimes committed at sea. It would also seem that the answer is no. During the era of human enslavement, the general rule was that one state could not enforce its own laws on the matter outside its borders. In Lemmon v. The People (1860), for example, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that the legal status of slaves brought to New York would be determined only by New York law; thus they were set free. The process also worked the other way around. I recently came across an 1831 decision holding that Indianas ban on slavery could not prevent Indiana residents from owning slaves held in other states. Advertisement Heres a way to harmonize the cases. In the Florida case (as in the many others involving conduct on the high seas), the crime is committed outside the jurisdiction of any state. There isnt a countervailing interest. The 1831 case, however, arose where the laws of two separate states were in conflict. Kentucky allowed slavery; Indiana didnt; the court held that an act legal in Kentucky couldnt be prevented because the person who did it couldnt have done it at home. Im not saying that the pro-choice side should rely on cases handed down in the era when human beings were property. But its worth noting that the antebellum cases arose because different states had different laws on the subject. Thus theres good reason to heed the advice of my Yale colleague Lea Brilmayer, who has argued that one states right to punish its citizens for doing what its own law prohibits should yield to another states right to take a strong policy position in favor of it. The policy point matters. As Brilmayer notes, theres no conflict if the first state wished to prohibit certain types of conduct, while the second was simply indifferent. The issue arises only when two states are actively working to promote different answers to the question. If this argument is correct and I believe it is then in a nation where Roe v. Wade is no longer constitutional law, pro-choice states would do well to adopt statutes explicitly recognizing the right to an abortion. By writing their preferences into policy, they would create sufficient conflict to prevent the pro-life state from enforcing its law beyond its territory. Advertisement Even if all of this is unpersuasive, there remain prudential reasons that states considering sharp restrictions on abortion shouldnt try to punish their residents for obtaining abortions in the state next door. The most obvious reason is reciprocity. Consider two adjoining states, like Missouri and Illinois. Missouri is likely to bar all or most abortions. Illinois not only allows abortion but in 2019 enacted a law saying that women have a fundamental right to access abortion and that a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights. If abortion law crosses the border, why couldnt the Illinois law apply in Missouri if an Illinoisan travels there? (An analogous caution might apply were a state to bar employers from paying expenses for employees who travel to seek an abortion, although the legal issues are somewhat different.) Theres another prudential concern, one that has nothing to do with abortion. In March, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to a California law restricting the sale of pork products unless the farms meet certain standards, even though nearly all the farms in question are outside the state. The challenge builds on previous decisions, such as the 1996 case where a majority of the justices warned that a State may not impose economic sanctions on violators of its laws with the intent of changing the tortfeasors lawful conduct in other States. Advertisement No, the issue isnt remotely the same. But this line of cases is a reminder that we live at a time when states are trying all sorts of devices to regulate conduct beyond their borders, even when the conduct is legal elsewhere. We should take the time to ponder whether thats the direction in which we want to move. More from Bloomberg Opinion: The Supreme Court Has a Nasty Surprise in Store for Business: Noah Feldman Jan 6. Panel Made the Case Against Trump: Jonathan Bernstein Democrats Need the Stacey Abrams Playbook for the Roe Fight: Julianna Goldman This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Yale University, he is author, most recently, of Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down Americas Most Powerful Mobster. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load A short video taken this spring on a barrier island in North Carolina followed a narrative arc made familiar by nature programs. First, an oceanfront house buckled on its spindly pilings, like an antelope folding in the jaws of a lion. Then the dismembering began. The sea thrashed the structure with the mindless intensity of an apex predator tearing into the haunches of a helpless prey. It splintered the second-floor deck. It lunged at the first floor and tore away a meaty chunk, leaving the room upstairs suspended above the void. Then the sea ripped the house entirely from the sand, launching it sloshing into the surf. When the feast was over, flotsam from the carcass drifted along a 14-mile stretch of Atlantic Coast. In an era of climate change and rapidly rising seas, a barrier island is akin to an exhausted, encircled antelope. Of course, houses along the shore have been vulnerable to a voracious sea since long before carbon began branding the wreckage. But the oceans volume, appetite and reach are growing. I traveled last month to Sanibel Island, on the Gulf Coast of Florida, to get a sense of how a barrier island in the hurricane zone confronts that peril. Florida is especially vulnerable to rising seas, overheated water and a super-charged tropical atmosphere. Miami gets attention because its a large and glamorous city in the eye of the storm. But other places are arguably more at risk. According to a study by First Street Foundation, Cape Coral, Florida, just north of Fort Myers and a few miles landward from Sanibel, is the city most vulnerable to flood in the entire U.S. The city is famous for its slapdash development, a midcentury frenzy of dredge-and-fill that annihilated marsh and mangroves on the way to creating 400 miles of man-made canals. Advertisement Sanibel is the regional counterpoint to that sunny paragon of reckless real estate a Florida Gallant to Cape Corals Goofus. Sanibel has a really different vibe from anywhere else in Southwest Florida, said James Douglass, a biologist and expert in sea grasses at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. While Cape Corals angular shoreline is hardened by concrete sea walls, Sanibel works to bolster a living shoreline bequeathed by nature. It wields a unique set of social and natural defenses to help it fend off relentless pressure from both real estate developers and a rising sea. Its unclear, however, how much conscientious environmental stewardship can do. It just might not be possible to ride out this soggy century on a barrier island in Florida. Sea level rise, combined with storm surges jacked up by warmer water, high tides and more powerful storms, may simply be more than any one spit of sand can withstand. Advertisement *** Sanibel, which bills itself a barrier island sanctuary, is methodically working to prolong its existence. Its a famously comfortable one. In 2010, the Wall Street Journal cited Sanibel as one of the best places to have a second home. We are really fortunate to have a citizenry that is, one, really well engaged, and, two, well educated, said Holly Milbrandt, the citys director of natural resources. You are constantly meeting CEOs. Indeed, Sanibel, which is overwhelmingly White and a magnet for retirees, is a nesting ground for wealth. With only about 7,000 year-round residents, and about 7,500 units of housing, the approximate market value of the islands real estate is $6.3 billion, according to city data. All that is threatened by the sea, which along this stretch of the Gulf Coast has been rising a little more than three millimeters per year. I mean, three millimeters per year. It doesnt sound like a lot, said James Evans, who was the citys director of natural resources before becoming the CEO of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. It will catch up with us. Advertisement The pace, of course, is picking up as the target date for reducing carbon in the atmosphere perpetually recedes. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the intermediate scenario for sea rise in nearby Fort Myers predicts an increase of 1.44 feet by 2060. That estimate does not factor in high-water incidents resulting from storms or unusually high tides. Sanibels neighborhood is already problematic. In 2018, when the Florida Panhandle was hit by Hurricane Michael, a Category 5, U.S. Geological Survey sensors in Mexico Beach registered water levels 15 to 19 feet above mean sea level. Waves hitting Mexico Beach from the Gulf rose even higher, smashing into second floors. More than three dozen died; much of the town was destroyed. Projecting a similar surge onto Sanibel, which is about 12 miles long and 3 miles wide, is a grim exercise. On an island that peaks at a little over four feet above sea level, even an additional foot of sea rise poses a menace. When a storm comes through, the king tides, the storm events, that adds tidal input on top of that foot, said James Evans. So I would even argue that at a foot of sea level rise, this island may be uninhabitable. Advertisement Yet the city is not investing in vast sea walls or calling upon the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to erect the kind of multi-billion-dollar barrier systems that the Corps has proposed along the Texas coast and the South Jersey shore. Instead, Sanibel is doing what it has long done, and what sets it apart from most of Floridas development-mad coast: It is trying to enlist nature in its defense. Sanibel has a comprehensive land-use plan that is based on natural systems, where it puts wildlife and wildlife habitat at the top of the hierarchy of values, said Evans. As a result, between the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge and the city of Sanibel, weve been able to preserve more than 70% of the entire land mass of Sanibel for conservation. With no homes or infrastructure in conservation areas, the stakes of a deluge are lower, and the management of the problem is easier. When you look at the threats of climate change and sea level rise on our community, Evans said, youve taken all of that area, 70% of the island, out of harms way. In effect, Sanibel is trusting that shrewd land-use decisions made in the 20th century will improve its prospects for survival in the 21st. Like most barrier islands, Sanibels greatest sea-rise threat comes from the bay side. Wave energy from the Gulf can and one day will produce catastrophic damage. When saltwater accompanying a hurricane swept over the island in 1926, it effectively ended agriculture on Sanibel. But its the slow, steady intrusion of water rising from the bay that threatens to engulf the island. Advertisement Much of Sanibels bay side consists of wetlands where development is prohibited. Thats where the 5,200-acre J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge is mostly located. A cartoonist and conservationist who served in Franklin Roosevelts administration, Darling later helped found the National Wildlife Federation. His former home, Fish House, on Captiva, Sanibels sister island to the north, is a local icon. Darlings conservation efforts were crucial to securing open land. His preservation campaign was aided significantly by inconvenience: Until the first causeway from the mainland was constructed in 1963, Sanibel was accessible only by ferry. Once a causeway was in place, however, developers moved to exploit some of Floridas most alluring beaches. Had their efforts not been impeded, Sanibel would no doubt present a typical Florida post card beachfront high-rises strung together by asphalt and shopping. Instead, the city successfully countered the invasion, incorporating in 1974 to chart its own fate. Old-school Republican leaders such as Porter Goss, the town mayor who went on to serve in Congress and led the Central Intelligence Agency under President George H.W. Bush, were anything but laissez-faire about local development. Marrying an ethic of conservation to the self-interest of Not In My Backyard, they thwarted big development, eschewed national chain stores and rebuffed decades of political pressure from the county and state. We have to remain vigilant because we are continuing to see development pressure come from Lee County, which is the county that we belong to here in Southwest Florida, Evans said. I mean, the development pressure is unrelenting. Advertisement A key to the islands ecological victory was the Sanibel Plan. Adopted in 1976, two years after Sanibel incorporated, the plan essentially blocked Lee County from controlling development on the island. County zoning and development standards wouldve allowed some 30,000 residential units, with scant regard for environmental consequences. The Sanibel plan sought to cap residential units at 7,800, though the ceiling was later lifted to 9,000, partly in response to lawsuits. The consequences are visible everywhere. Instead of strands of beachfront towers, two-story construction predominates, with most buildings enshrouded by lush vegetation at a respectful remove from the beach. While limiting development, the plan also sought to safeguard water quality, preserve sensitive environmental areas and limit roads and sprawl. Two decades later, after several revisions to the plan, the city recommitted itself to environmental preservation with a vision statement and an explicit hierarchy of values. It promised to sustain ecological balance and preserve and restore natural settings for residents, visitors and wildlife and called on the coordinated vigilance of residents, government and private enterprise to protect the islands natural beauty and ecology. Sanibel is and shall remain a barrier island sanctuary, one in which a diverse population lives in harmony with the Islands wildlife and natural habitats. The Sanibel community must be vigilant in the protection and enhancement of its sanctuary characteristics. The City of Sanibel will resist pressures to accommodate increased development and redevelopment that is inconsistent with the Sanibel Plan, including this Vision Statement. Advertisement Sanibels undeveloped, ecologically vibrant land may buy the island time. Expansive marshes attenuate wave energy, reducing erosion to the land. They can also expand through accretion if conditions are right, increasing the buffer zone. Fewer roads on the island lead to heavier traffic, but with more land unpaved, the island can better absorb excess rainfall or storm surge. And every beachfront tower that the town refused to permit is now a safety and environmental burden that Sanibel doesnt bear. *** On May 20, the City of Sanibel held its 2022 Hurricane Seminar at the Big Arts Center, the kind of commodious public gathering and performance space that only a very affluent small town could will into existence. The seminar, which was attended by about 100 residents and featured public officials from both city and county, was a good example of the murky political consensus that has emerged in Florida in response to climate change. Advertisement The first rule of that consensus is to avoid, whenever possible, the phrase climate change. In a pinch, you can tacitly acknowledge that climate change is having real-world effects, and that those effects require real-world responses. But you must not acknowledge that climate change has known causes, or suggest that those root causes should in any way be addressed. Dave Roberts, the citys weather consultant, spoke about intense storms. The reasons for such storms, he averred, were beyond his meteorological ken, and perhaps beyond human understanding. Lee County Public Safety-Emergency Management Director Sandra Tapfumaneyi shared a remarkable statistic: In the five years since 2017, she said, there have been more Category 4 and 5 hurricanes than there were in the previous 53 years. As to the cause of this robust new hurricane manufacture? Tapfumaneyi didnt venture a guess. In two hours of presentations on hurricanes, in a county where 300,000 people were evacuated in 2017 in advance of Hurricane Irma, not a single speaker joined the words climate and change together. Its not a coincidence. Under Floridas previous governor (and current U.S. senator) Rick Scott, the state governments refusal to acknowledge climate change was near total. Current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is a MAGA culture warrior who treats the causes of climate change as a mystery. But DeSantis doesnt ignore the effects; he has provided more funds for localities to deal with the consequences of That Which Must Not Be Named. A study released earlier this year by Freddie Mac found that Florida homes exposed to sea level rise were selling at a 2.8% discount compared to homes that are not exposed. Flood insurance rates are rising, as they are in other coastal areas, and one Florida insurance agent told CBS News that some lenders were considering curtailing the issue of 30-year mortgages in South Florida. Federal flood insurance is capped at $250,000, far below the value of a typical Sanibel home, which Zillow pegs at around $1.3 million. Sanibel insurance agent Chris Heidrick told me that a million dollars of flood insurance for a home on the Gulf generally costs around $5,000 to $7,000. Sea rise doesnt influence the price much, he says, in part because insurers look backward, not forward, for the data they use to set rates. In any case, Heidrick credits Floridas pervasive troubles with insurance fraud, more than climate threats, for driving some insurers to leave the state altogether. Like pretty much everyone else in government, Holly Milbrandt, Sanibels natural resources director, avoids talking about climate change directly. But her office, which employs five biologists including Milbrandt, focuses much of its energy on mitigating climate effects. Sanibel just finished applying for a new round of state funding. For the past two years, the governor has allotted significant dollars to resiliency planning, she said. Without a sizable reduction in global carbon emissions, however, theres a limit to what public works on Sanibel can achieve. If accelerated sea rise is inexorable, Sanibel will face problems that neither local government nor civic groups can resolve. You can go to the NOAA website and use all their great tools to see whats going to happen with one foot of sea level rise, two foot, and the answer is never good for a barrier island, Milbrandt said. Its a challenge. But I think we try to position ourselves just to say, theres a lot we can do. Were not just going to throw up our hands. *** Its hard to be a long-term optimist about the compounding threat that sea rise and storm surge pose to Sanibel and other barrier islands. But its nonetheless impressive to see the islands response. Much like the Sanibel Plan that safeguarded the island against overdevelopment, there is a game plan for defending it against the sea. I spent a few hours on a hot, sunny day in May touring the island with James Evans, who has been working on Sanibels coastal defenses for two decades. In some areas where we have high wave action and pressure on the bay side, were actually losing some mangroves, Evans said. Where mangroves are abundant and healthy, they approximate a lush coastal jungle. One of the most striking stretches of Sanibel is Bowmans Beach, a broad, white, generous, public beach facing the Gulf. To get to Bowmans you take a wooden bridge across Clam Bayou, which is shrouded by mangroves on all sides. While Evans and I walked across, a sizable snook leaped out of the water. The mangroves here, sheltered from the force of water and wind, are robust. Mangroves are not an aesthetic concern on Sanibel theyre an existential one. Mangroves, which include dozens of species of a coastal plant that never strays far from the equator, are a beautiful mess, a chaotic tangle of roots and leaves and branches that rise in odd formations and topple over one another on the shoreline. They also dissipate energy from the ebb and flow of tides and the pulse of waves. Mangrove forests attract fish and smaller organisms that enrich estuaries. Crucially for Sanibel, they also collect sediment around their roots, which helps shorelines hold their own against the sea. Sanibel is trying to fight erosion through accretion. Accretion can outpace sea level rise in healthy coastal habitats, James Douglass, the biologist at Florida Gulf Coast University, told me. These coastal habitats like oyster reefs and the mangroves, they pile up on top of each other year after year at least they do in a healthy environment. They can actually move the coastline outward as long as the sea level rise is not too fast. So theres sort of a horse race between the rate that sea level is rising, and the rate that these coastal habitats are able to build up the shoreline. Thats the logic behind living shoreline projects. Concrete sea walls and other hard barriers may hold back the sea for a time, but they dont absorb wave energy, which ricochets elsewhere, often resulting in a trade of erosion in one place for another. And eventually they crumble. Living shorelines try to beat the sea at its own game enlarging the shoreline just as the sea works to shrink it. A recent study by the Nature Conservancy and other researchers found that mangroves were a significant factor in protecting property during Hurricane Irma in 2017. According to the study, more than 626,000 people living behind mangrove forests in Florida experienced reduced flooding. Mangroves averted an estimated $1.5 billion in surge-related flood damage, representing savings of around 25% in counties protected by mangroves. The flood reduction benefits of mangroves are sizeable enough to inform habitat restoration priorities and nature-based risk reduction strategies, the researchers wrote. Evans showed me a mangrove restoration project along Woodring Road, on the north side of the island. Winter cold fronts from the Northeast batter this shore, which is opposite St. James City, another Florida city facing a rising risk of drowning. Before erosion, mangroves stretched 10 to 20 feet from the shore. Now, a few red mangroves were struggling for survival. Overwhelmed by the joint force of wind and water, they were almost capsized, roots exposed. A construction crew working on the restoration had closed the adjacent road, which has become increasingly subject to flooding as the mangroves retreat. Weve been able to do some significant mangrove restoration projects on the island where weve actually been able to reestablish the mangroves, Evans said. On one stretch of restored shoreline we visited, mangroves are expanding and sand is accumulating. Its not always easy. On another part of the island, Evans and I visited a stretch of wet sand with a few desolate, dying mangroves sticking out of buried planters. Had the project succeeded, the mangroves would have overgrown their planters and become entangled with their neighbors, growing a natural barrier to bolster the shore. But here, most of their kin had already perished, leaving behind empty planters still visible underwater. No one is giving up. Plans are already under way to place beach-ball sized spheres off the shore to blunt the force of waves and wake, then try once again to cultivate mangroves. Its a case of trial and error, against a ticking clock. Sanibel is enormously fortunate in many ways. It has a freshwater marsh in its center, adding to its biodiversity. It has healthy dunes on some beaches. It has a sewer system, reducing risks associated with storm damage. Unlike other islands stretching up Floridas Gulf Coast, Sanibel is mostly oriented east to west, instead of north to south, dramatically reducing erosion on the Gulf side while also showering its Gulf beaches with shells. The shells do more than attract tourists; pulverized by waves, they build up the beaches where they land. Meanwhile, Sanibels neighbor across a tiny bridge to the north, Captiva, does periodic beach replenishment to fight erosion on its Gulf beaches. Much of that sand washes down to Sanibel, padding its beaches for free. Sanibel has impressive resources, expertise and a fighting spirit. Whats unknown is how much time it has before the sea overtakes its defenses. I do have hope and confidence that we can put in place some measures that will extend that amount of time, Holly Milbrandt told me. But Sanibels local efforts are countered by a global phenomenon of rising temperatures and seas. You know, with no efforts at the local level, at the state level, at the national level, even globally, to really tackle the causes, I just I dont know how were going to not experience significant change, Milbrandt said. Sooner or later, she added, Its gonna look different. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Francis Wilkinson is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering U.S. politics and policy. Previously, he was an editor for the Week, a writer for Rolling Stone, a communications consultant and a political media strategist. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load Authorities arrested 31 members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front near an Idaho pride event Saturday after they were found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear. The men were standing inside the truck wearing khakis, navy blue shirts and beige hats with white balaclavas covering their faces when Coeur dAlene police stopped the U-Haul and began arresting them on the side of the road. They came to riot downtown, Coeur dAlene Police Chief Lee White said at a news conference. All 31 were charged with conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanor, White said. The men were going through the booking process Saturday afternoon and are scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, he said. Based on evidence collected and documents, authorities found that the group was planning to riot in several areas of downtown, not just the park, White said. Advertisement Police found riot gear, one smoke grenade, shin guards and shields inside the van, White said. They wore arm patches and logos on their hats that identified them as members of Patriot Front, he said. Police learned about the U-Haul from a tipster, who reported that it looked like a little army was loading up into the vehicle in the parking lot of a hotel, White said. Officials spotted the truck soon after and pulled it over, he said. Videos of the arrest posted on social media show the men kneeling on the grass with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. Reclaim America was written on the back of one shirt. Police led the men, one by one, to the front of patrol cars, took off their masks and then brought them to a police van. Those arrested came from at least 11 states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia, and Arkansas, White said. Advertisement Only one was from Idaho, he said. The truck was stopped near where the North Idaho Pride Alliance was holding the Coeur dAlene Pride in the Park event. Police had stepped up their presence in the area during the event. It appears these people did not come here to engage in peaceful events, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told a Coeur dAlene Press reporter. Patriot Front is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white nationalist hate group that formed after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. Patriot Front focuses on theatrical rhetoric and activism that can be easily distributed as propaganda for its chapters across the country, the Southern Poverty Law Center said of the group. The groups manifesto calls for the formation of a white ethnostate in the United States, the Southern Poverty Law Center said. ___ Bellisle reported from Seattle. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load CARACAS, Venezuela The leader of the U.S.-backed opposition in Venezuela was physically attacked Saturday during a visit to a rural community, according to members of his parallel government, who accused a group of ruling party associates of carrying out the assault. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine. ArrowRight A photo accompanying the opposition statement shows Juan Guaido being held back as people gather around him and someone rips his shirt off. The parallel government said the group, which was associated with the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, known as PSUV, hit and insulted Guaido, who is on a tour around the South American country seeking to unite and organize his party ahead of a planned primary election. In an Instagram video Saturday night, Guaido characterized the attack as an ambush at a plant nursery in San Carlos, a community about 168 miles (270 kilometers) southwest of Caracas, the capital. But he added that it wont deter him from continuing to be on the street. Advertisement Those who attacked today, these members or leaders of the regimes party, should accept responsibility for the incident, he said. PSUV leaders, who traditionally issue statements on social media or state television, did not immediately respond. Last week, Guaidos supporters were met by a barrage of flying plastic chairs and fisticuffs from allies of President Nicolas Maduro in the western city of Maracaibo. The U.S. and other nations recognize Guaido as Venezuelas interim president. They withdrew recognition of Maduro after accusing him of rigging his 2018 re-election as president. At the time, Guaido drew enormous crowds of backers into the streets, but much of the momentum has evaporated. His popularity has dropped from about 60% three years ago to under 15% in February. Brian Nichols, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, on Saturday condemned what he described as an unprovoked attack on Guaido. This egregious attack risked lives; those responsible for the assault should be brought to justice, he said. GiftOutline Gift Article A Perth university has blamed supply chain delays and high demand for cladding replacement works for a delay in remediating potentially risky cladding on nearly a dozen buildings on its campuses. An Edith Cowan University spokeswoman said the WA Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safetys state-wide audit of combustible cladding found 11 of its 66 buildings required action. ECU has 11 buildings that require remedial action across its campuses. Credit:Fairfax Supply chain delays caused by COVID-19 have had a significant impact on sourcing of materials, as has the level of demand as many landlords of public buildings in WA are also working to remediate, she said. ECU is working with the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety audit manager who supports ECUs work schedule. Your morning rundown of the latest news from overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. It was a high rise death trap and a building industry failure that cost 72 people their lives. On June 14, 2017 a fire started on the fourth floor of the Grenfell Tower in London where 300 residents lived. Within minutes, the fire had raced up the exterior of the building. Flammable cladding was blamed for the rapid spread of the fire up the 24-storey Grenfell Tower. Credit:AP In two hours the whole building was alight with the combustible cladding wrapped around its facade identified as a major contributor to the rapid spread of fire. Five years on from the tragedy, Building and Energys March quarterly status update for private buildings shows that cladding remedial works are yet to start at nine Perth buildings, including two deemed high risk. Four are in the City of Perth, two in the City of South Perth and one in Vincent. Old-fashioned dad Old Fashioned From The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook You cant go wrong with a classic old fashioned recipe, and the timeless drink doesnt have too many rules. Your dad can mix it just like Don Draper does with this recipe from The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook. Muddle together one sugar cube and two dashes of bitters. Mix with 1 to 2 ounces of a whiskey of your choosing. Serve over ice in a classic whiskey glass, garnished with a Draper-esque orange twist. Hip dad Aperol Spritz From Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails Your hip dad can make a trendy cocktail from Manhattan speakeasy Death & Co.s recipe book. It includes more than 500 recipes, including their take on an Aperol Spritz. Shake together ounce each of mezcal, yellow chartreuse, Aperol and lime juice. The fruity notes of Aperol with the herbal yellow chartreuse harmonize perfectly for a refreshing, citrusy drink. Classy dad Vesper martini From Shaken: Drinking with James Bond and Ian Fleming For a dad with class, shake up (not stir) a Vesper martini, James Bonds drink made famous in Casino Royale, from the Bond-themed Shaken cocktail book. Shake together 3 ounces of gin, 1 ounce of vodka and ounce of lillet. Garnish with a lemon twist for a potent mix that 007 would approve of. Foodie dad Sparkling punch From The Aviary Cocktail Book Your food-lover dad will appreciate the more than 400 pages of The Aviarys cocktail book that includes one-of-a-kind insights from the Chicago bar. One of their most popular cocktails is a sparkling punch with 1 ounces of orange syrup, 1 ounces of cognac and 4 ounces of champagne. Serve over ice topped with grated nutmeg. Bon vivant dad Hemingway daiquiri From A Drinkable Feast: A Cocktail Companion to 1920s Paris If your dad loves a historic drink with global flair, whip up a daiquiri a la Ernest Hemingway from A Drinkable Feast. This cocktail calls for ounce of maraschino liqueur (instead of traditional cane syrup, due to the writers disdain for sugary drinks), 2 ounces of light rum, ounce of fresh lime juice and ounce of grapefruit juice. Coffee-drinking dad Tennessee julep From The Art & Craft of Coffee Cocktails Keep your dad caffeinated with The Art & Craft of Coffee Cocktails, featuring ways to mix coffee and liquor. Their Tennessee julep is easy yet sophisticated. Mix together 2 ounces of coffee-infused whiskey (mix regular whiskey with coffee to achieve the same effect), a bar spoon of apricot liqueur, / ounce of light corn syrup and 12 chocolate mint leaves. Allentown, PA (18103) Today Mostly sunny and warm but still quite comfortable for mid-June. . Tonight Becoming mostly cloudy and more humid with a shower or thunderstorm possible late, especially from the Lehigh Valley points west. Animal lovers from across the city gathered at the Legislative Building Saturday afternoon to call on the Liberal government to halt the exportation and slaughter of horses. Animal lovers from across the city gathered at the Legislative Building Saturday afternoon to call on the Liberal government to halt the exportation and slaughter of horses. Supported by a rescue horse named Dayo, around 100 people gathered carrying signs with slogans including "Canada ships horses to their death" and "We are betraying Canadas gentle giants." The protest was the first of its kind, one the Winnipeg Humane Society had hoped they wouldnt have to organize after the federal Liberals and Agricultural and Agri-Foods Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau pledged to ban horse exportation late last year. "Purposefully breeding draft horses and shipping them overseas for slaughter is the ultimate betrayal after all they have done for us in the last few centuries," Humane Society CEO Jessica Miller said to the crowd. "We will not sit idly by and let this inhumane practice continue." Winnipegs Richardson International Airport is one of three Canadian airports that currently assists in exporting horses, and as many as 5,000 horses are shipped overseas for slaughter in Canada yearly. Horses are bred specifically for export and are typically used as meat, particularly in Japan, France and the U.S., where there is a high market demand for fresh horse meat. These horses are purposely fattened before being slaughtered. The process of transporting the horses is traumatic for them, Miller said, as they have to endure 30-plus hour travel time without food, water or rest. The U.S. banned horse slaughter in 2007, but around 13,000 horses are imported into Canada from the U.S. for slaughter annually. Roughly 25,000 horses are slaughtered in Canada every year. Winnipeg-based animal rights lawyer Kaitlyn Mitchell has filed more than one law enforcement complaint while witnessing horses be loaded on to flights, where she said they were jabbed with metal poles and put in cramped wooden crates. The Free Press | Newsletter Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "Ive been to the airport, Ive been there over and over again to watch these horses arrive in trucks and be unloaded, and for nothing, all to be shipped across the world in order to be slaughtered and eaten as a delicacy," she said. "Its heartbreaking." She said shes reached out to federal and provincial leaders on the issue with no response. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for a ban on live horse exports for slaughter, along with other requests, in a mandate to Bibeau in December. Change hasnt come quickly enough and horses continue to be exported, Mitchell said. "We are grateful that the federal government has committed to banning this practice, but the time to act is now," she said. "Not another horse should be subjected to this cruel treatment." malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca North Whiteshell cottagers, residents and visitors alike made a tentative return to the area Saturday after some flood closure and evacuation orders were lifted. North Whiteshell cottagers, residents and visitors alike made a tentative return to the area Saturday after some flood closure and evacuation orders were lifted. Opening his resorts doors was a comfort to Barrier Bay Resort owner D.J. Seales, after having to cancel multiple bookings since they were ordered to evacuate May 24. Several people booked cabins right after the announcement that theyd be able to return was made Thursday afternoon. "Its been nice, its been really good. A lot of our guests were wanting to come out and were sad that they couldnt," Seales told the Free Press Saturday. "Were happy that theyre able to come out to come to their vacation that they planned, and were not losing money from not being open." While day-users and campers are still barred from the area in the first phase of reopening, Provincial Road 307 has reopened to local traffic and business (including resort stays), and cottage and homeowners can return to Sylvia Lake, Eleanor Lake, Dorothy Lake, Nutimik Lake, Barrier Bay and Otter Falls as water levels in the Winnipeg River basin are slowly receding. Park closures remain in effect in the Betula Lake area. While the cabins at Barrier Bay Resort werent affected by flooding, one of the docks is completely destroyed and the waterfront is deeply eroded. Repairs cant be done right now, because the grass is so soft its impossible to get machinery on top of it without causing further damage. "For us, were almost fully booked all the way to September. Im optimistic that itll be OK," he said. "As long as the water doesnt go back, well be open for business." Whiteshell Cottagers Association president Ian Baragar called it an exciting day for those who had been forced to leave weeks ago. "Weve been putting pressure on the park (officials) and were very eager to try to get back in for a number of days now, waiting for this day," he told the Free Press before heading out to his own cottage in Florence Lake. "So I would say were jubilant to be able to get back into the north Whiteshell." His cottage has water damage to its dock and he said he was rushing down to begin repairs. While theres excitement amongst the Whiteshell community, theres many fearful and unsure of what theyll see when they return to their cottages and homes. "People are worried and anxious. When you arrive at your cottage and you see whats happened, its devastating for people and it takes a little time to get over that," he said. Despite seeing "levels of destruction weve just never seen before," Baragar said, owners facing expensive repairs are falling between the gaps of provincial support because cottage damages arent covered by flood insurance as theyre not principal residences, and arent eligible for disaster recovery funding. "That is something we in the Whiteshell are challenging," he said. "Were challenging for exceptions to be made, if possible, with the government or any types of assistance that comes in. It runs in the face of what insurance is all about and disaster assistance." When asked if the province had any plans to offer any sort of financial aid to lodges and outfitters, a spokesperson repeated that disaster financial assistance isnt available to cottagers. "The Manitoba government sympathizes with citizens whose cottage properties have been damaged due to flooding this year," the spokesperson said in an email. Some families are holding off returning regardless of the reopening. Brent Johnson and his family have owned a cottage in Otter Falls for over a decade, but after spending 11 days building a six-foot dike around their home a month earlier theyre hoping the cottage has withstood the worst of it. "Access is still very difficult because of the amount of water thats there," he said. "Weve just made the decision that theres no point in us going out." There are fellow cottagers with worse damage to their buildings who will be rushing to get out over the weekend, he said, adding that in his 12 years of staying at the cottage, there had never been anything close in scale to this flood. "Im crossing all my digits that the province will recognize the sheer scale, the massive scale of damage. Its going to take years to clean up and repair." The Free Press | Newsletter Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Another Otter Falls cottager, Tim Dumore, said the road he and his family uses to get to their cabin is still under water. While he imagines they could reach it by walking, his family has chosen to wait it out. "As soon as we can get up there, wed love to survey the situation, and then well see," he said. "Hopefully, its minimal." Hes hoping to get out within the next few weeks if the water recedes. "Its a first-world problem, but it kind of sucks," he said. "We were looking forward to spending time at the cottage as we do, and this year its been delayed again." malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca WASHINGTON (AP) Members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot said Sunday they have uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against former President Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., talks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022, following the first public hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) WASHINGTON (AP) Members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot said Sunday they have uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against former President Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The committee announced that Trump's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, is among the witnesses scheduled to testify at a hearing Monday that focuses on Trump's effort to spread his lies about a stolen election. Stepien was subpoenaed for his public testimony. As the hearings unfold, Rep. Adam Schiff said he would like the department to investigate any credible allegation of criminal activity on the part of Donald Trump. Schiff, D-Calif., who also leads the House Intelligence Committee, said that there are certain actions, parts of these different lines of effort to overturn the election that I dont The committee held its first public hearing last week, with members laying out their case against Trump to show how the defeated president relentlessly pushed his false claims of a rigged election despite multiple advisers telling him otherwise and how he intensified an extraordinary scheme to overturn Joe Bidens victory. Additional evidence is set to be released in hearings this week that will demonstrate how Trump and some of his advisers engaged in a massive effort to spread misinformation, pressured the Justice Department to embrace his false claims, and urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject state electors and block the vote certification on Jan. 6, 2021. Stepien, a longtime Trump adviser, has kept a relatively low profile compared with many others in the former president's orbit. He previously served as White House political director and also national field director for Trumps 2016 campaign. Before aligning himself with Trump, Stepien had worked in New Jersey for former Gov. Chris Christie, a longtime Trump friend turned critic. Monday's witness list includes BJay Pak, the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta who left his position on Jan 4, 2021, a day after an audio recording was made public in which Trump called him a never-Trumper," and Chris Stirewalt, the former political editor for Fox News. The committee has said most of those interviewed in the investigation are coming forward voluntarily, although some have wanted subpoenas to appear in public. Filmmaker Nick Quested, who provided documentary footage of the attack, said during last weeks hearing he received a subpoena to appear. Committee members said they would present clear evidence that multiple GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., had sought a pardon from Trump, which would protect him from prosecution. Perry on Friday denied he ever did so, calling the assertion an absolute, shameless, and soulless lie. Were not going to make accusations or say things without proof or evidence backing it, said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. Lawmakers indicated that perhaps their most important audience member over the course of the hearings may be Attorney General Merrick Garland, who must decide whether his department can and should prosecute Trump. They left no doubt as to their own view whether the evidence is sufficient to proceed. Once the evidence is accumulated by the Justice Department, it needs to make a decision about whether it can prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt the presidents guilt or anyone elses, Schiff said. But they need to be investigated if theres credible evidence, which I think there is. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said he doesnt intend to browbeat Garland but noted the committee has already laid out in legal pleadings criminal statutes they believe Trump violated. I think that he knows, his staff knows, the U.S. attorneys know, whats at stake here, Raskin said. They know the importance of it, but I think they are rightfully paying close attention to precedent in history as well, as the facts of this case. Garland has not specified how he might proceed, which would be unprecedented and may be complicated in a political election season in which Trump has openly flirted with the idea of running for president again. No president or ex-president has ever been indicted. Richard Nixon resigned from office in 1974 as he faced an impeachment and a likely grand jury indictment on charges of bribery, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. President Gerald Ford later pardoned his predecessor before any criminal charges related to Watergate could be filed. Legal experts have said a Justice Department prosecution of Trump over the riot could set an uneasy precedent in which an administration of one party could more routinely go after the former president of another. "We will follow the facts wherever they lead, Garland said in his speech at Harvard Universitys commencement ceremony last month. The Free Press | Newsletter Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. A federal judge in California said in a March ruling in a civil case that Trump more likely than not committed federal crimes in seeking to obstruct the congressional count of the Electoral College ballots on Jan. 6, 2021. The judge cited two statutes: obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Trump has denied all wrongdoing. Schiff appeared on ABCs This Week, Raskin spoke on CNNs State of the Union," and Kinzinger was on CBSs Face the Nation." ___ AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro and Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report. ___ For full coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege FILE - Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, listens to testimony during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 25, 2018. In the aftermath of the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, his home state, Cornyn and a bipartisan group of senators including Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., are holding private virtual meetings to try to strike a compromise over gun safety legislation. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) WASHINGTON (AP) Senate bargainers announced a bipartisan framework Sunday responding to last months mass shootings, a modest breakthrough offering measured gun curbs and bolstered efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, if the accord leads to the enactment of legislation, it would signal a turn from years of gun massacres that have yielded little but stalemate in Congress. Leaders hope to push any agreement into law quickly they hope this month before the political momentum fades that has been stirred by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. Laid out near the U.S. Capitol are 2,280 schoolbooks and broken pencils that represent the 2,280 children that have been killed by gun violence since the Senate has refused to bring a vote on background checks, during a rally in Washington, Friday, June 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) In a significant development, 20 senators, including 10 Republicans, released a statement calling for passage. That is potentially crucial because the biggest obstacle to enacting the measure is probably in the 50-50 Senate, where at least 10 GOP votes will be needed to attain the usual 60-vote threshold for approval. "Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities," the lawmakers said. The compromise would make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 available when they undergo background checks. The suspects who killed 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde were both 18, and many of the attackers who have committed mass shootings in recent years have been young. The agreement would offer money to states to implement "red flag" laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns from people considered potentially violent, and to bolster school safety and mental health programs. And it would take other steps, including requiring more people who sell guns obtain federal dealers' licenses, which means they would have to conduct background checks of purchasers. The Free Press | Newsletter Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Biden said in a statement that the framework "does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades." Given the bipartisan support, "there are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House," he said. The announcement underscored the election-year pressure both parties have felt since 10 Black people were killed at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teachers were killed at an elementary school in Uvalde. Those massacres prompted two weeks of closed door talks among groups of senators led by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz. The agreement represents a lowest common denominator compromise on gun violence, not a complete sea change in Congress. It comes with lawmakers determined to show they are responding to voters revulsion over Buffalo and Uvalde, but with Republicans still blocking more sweeping steps Democrats want. These include banning assault-style firearms such as the AR-15 style rifles used in Buffalo and Uvalde, or raising the legal age for buying them. AR-15s are popular and powerful semi-automatic weapons that can fire high-capacity magazines and have been used in many of the nations highest-profile slaughters in recent years. One of them, the killing of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, occurred six years ago Sunday. Democrats have also wanted to ban high capacity magazines and to expand required background checks to far more gun purchases. None of those proposals has a chance in Congress. LONDON (AP) Opponents of the British governments plan to deport migrants to Rwanda are preparing for an appeals court hearing Monday amid the political backlash following reports that Prince Charles had privately described the policy as appalling. FILE - People carry furniture into the newly refurbished Hallmark Residences, which is one of the locations expected to house some of the asylum-seekers due to be sent from Britain to Rwanda, in the capital Kigali, Rwanda on May 19, 2022. A group of asylum-seekers asked a U.K. court on Friday, June 10, 2022 to stop the British government sending them on a one-way flight to Rwanda. (AP Photo/File) LONDON (AP) Opponents of the British governments plan to deport migrants to Rwanda are preparing for an appeals court hearing Monday amid the political backlash following reports that Prince Charles had privately described the policy as "appalling." A coalition of groups including immigration rights advocates and public employee unions will ask the Court of Appeal in London to reverse a lower court ruling allowing the first deportation flight to go ahead as scheduled on Tuesday. Prime Minister Boris Johnsons Conservative government in April announced plans to send some undocumented migrants to Rwanda, where their claims for asylum in the east African nation would be processed. If successful, those migrants would stay in Rwanda. Britain paid Rwanda 120 million pounds ($158 million) upfront and will make additional payments based on the number of people deported. The program is aimed at discouraging migrants from risking their lives by crossing the English Channel in small boats after a surge in such journeys over the past two years. But human rights groups say the policy is illegal, inhumane and will only magnify the risks for migrants. The debate filled Britains news media over the weekend after the Times of London reported that an unidentified person had heard Prince Charles express opposition to the policy "several times" in private conversations. "He said he thinks the governments whole approach is appalling," the newspaper quoted the source as saying. FILE - Britain's Prince Charles arrives at a center for refugees fleeing the war in neighboring Ukraine, inside the Romexpo convention center, in Bucharest, Romania, May 25, 2022. Citing unnamed sources, The Times newspaper reported late Friday June 10, 2022 that Prince Charles has criticized the government's plan to start deporting some asylum-seekers to Rwanda, calling it appalling." (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File) Charles office, Clarence House, refused to comment on "anonymous private conversations," but stressed that the prince remains "politically neutral." Charless comments are problematic because he is the heir to the throne and the British monarch is supposed to remain above the political fray. The reported conversations raise concerns about whether Charles can be a neutral monarch after a lifetime of speaking out on issues ranging from ocean plastic to architectural preservation. Charles, 73, has taken on an increasingly central role in recent months as health problems have limited the activities of Queen Elizabeth II, his 96-year-old mother. The comments set off a firestorm in British newspapers, with the Daily Express warning the Prince of Wales: "Stay out of politics Charles!" The Mail on Sunday said: "We will not back down on Rwanda, Charles. Johnsons government shows no signs of changing course. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, who represented the government on Britains Sunday morning TV programs, offered a robust defense of the plan, saying the British government wants to upend the business model of people smugglers. "The reality is this is a policy that is going to deliver to ensure that modern slavery and these people smugglers know that their criminal methods will be broken down, he told Sky News. Protestors stand outside The Royal Court of Justice in London, Friday, June 10, 2022. The High Court will hear a legal challenge lodged by Care4Calais, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and Detention Action, opposing the Home Office's new asylum deal with Rwanda. The case alleges that Priti Patel's proposals are in contravention of international law and the UN refugee convention. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein) More than 28,500 people entered Britain on small boats last year, up from 1,843 in 2019, according to government statistics. The risk of such crossings was made clear on Nov. 24, when 27 people died after their inflatable boat sank in the waters between Britain and France. The Home Office, the agency that oversees border enforcement, launched its own defense of the policy on Sunday, posting comments from a Rwandan government spokesperson on social media. "Its about protecting and ensuring the wellbeing and development of both migrants and Rwandans in Rwanda," the Rwandan spokesperson, Yolande Makolo, said. A High Court judge in London on Friday rejected a request from opponents of the plan to block Britain's Rwanda asylum flights until the court had reached a decision on whether the program is illegal. The decision allows the flights to begin even as the broader legal challenge moves forward. That ruling has been appealed to the Court of Appeal, which will hear the petition on Monday. Government lawyer Mathew Gullick said Friday that 37 people were originally scheduled to be aboard Tuesdays flight, but six had their deportation orders canceled. The government still intends to operate the flight, he said. The government has not provided details of those selected for deportation, but refugee groups say they include people fleeing Syria and Afghanistan. Rwanda is already home to tens of thousands of refugees. Competition for land and resources contributed to ethnic and political tensions that culminated in Rwandas 1994 genocide, in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and the moderate Hutu who tried to protect them were killed. President Paul Kagames government has achieved significant economic progress since the genocide, but critics say it has come at the cost of strong political repression. The Free Press | Newsletter Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The United Nations refugee agency has opposed Britains plans, saying it's an effort to export the countrys legal obligations to provide asylum to those seeking a safe haven. "People fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy," said Gillian Triggs, UNHCRs assistant high commissioner for protection. "They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing." ___ Follow all AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration. ___ Follow all AP stories on Britain's royal family at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii. Columbus Area Historical Society 1972 School children at Dickason School have taken advantage of the weather, using their bicycles for coming and leaving school. No long lines of cars with parents picking up their children. The Common Council passed a resolution to establish the Gov. James T. Taylor Park Trust Fund for acquisition, development and maintenance of a proposed park on the site of the present Columbia County Teachers College. Gov. Lewis originally owned the property before giving it to the city, which in turn sold it to the county. 1982 The Gov. James Lewis-Frederick Stare house located on the corner of W. James and Charles Streets was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is a vernacular adaptation of Italianate architecture, and the stone barn at the rear of the property was once a wind-powered grist mill. It is historically significant for its association with two men. James T. Lewis built the home in 1854-56, while serving as Wisconsin Lt. Gov. and was the first and only attorney in Columbia County in 1845. Lewis was elected Wisconsin governor in 1854. Since 1917, the house was the home of Frederick Stare, who was active in the local canning industry, was vice-chairman national Industrial Advisory Committee during World War II, chairman of the board of the Farmers & Merchants Union Bank and authored a number of books and the Story of Columbus a weekly article that appeared in the Columbus Journal Republican for 15 years. 1992 The Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce and the 1992 Quincentennial Corporation thanked everyone who planted 67 new Red Bud Trees in the Columbus area. Karen Henn was appointed to a 2nd Aldermanic seat to replace Tom Christiansen who became mayor. 2002 Evelyn Dickman retired from Columbus High School after teaching English for 32 years. The Dickmans planned to move to Milwaukee. Nearly 140 seniors graduated from Columbus High School as members of the class of 2002. Follow us on Facebook at Columbus, WI Area Historical Society, or email museumcahs@gmail.com. June 12 A Walk Down Broadway, sponsored by the Republican Women of Coffee County, Roy Hoobler and the Masterworks Choir of Enterprise, will be June 12 from 24 p.m. at the Enterprise County Club. This musical event will feature selections from West Side Story, Into the Woods and other works. It is free and open to the public. Donations will collected for Caring for America, which which supports local outreach in our community. June 15 The Republican Women of Coffee County will meet June 15 at the Enterprise Country Club, 3000 Ozark Highway. Doors open at 10:30 a.m. The luncheon will start at 10:45. You can make reservations by contact Shannon Smith @ 334-494-2753or rwccreservations@gmail.com. She will need to know how many in your party and whether you will be eating. The run off candidates for Senate, Public Service Commission Place 1 & 2, and State Auditor have been invited to speak. June 18 Pastor Willie White, Jr. and members of Johns Chapel AME Church, 605 Geneva Highway in Enterprise, invite the public to join in as we host a Juneteenth Celebration Weekend on June 18 and 19 under the leadership of Nichole Nichols, Chairperson. The public is invited to join all events and services, including the historic 1st annual Juneteenth Parade in downtown Enterprise, starting at 12 p.m. There is no charge to enter. Absolutely free! An application to participate in the parade is provided at this link: https://www.facebook.com/2176600665919571/posts/3134599793452982/?sfnsn=mo Reverend Eddie Thomas, pastor of Mt Sinai Baptist Church in Newville, and Mary Magdalene Baptist Church in Abbeville will be the guest speaker at the service at Johns Chapel following the parade. Vendors, food trucks and bounce houses will be available. Sunday morning Juneteenth worship service will be held at 10:45 a.m. on June 19. For more information, please contact Nichole Nichole, chairperson at 334-375-5003 or Pastor White at 334-701-5853. For vendor information, please contact Nikki Mills at 334-389-6427. June 16 Coffee County Conservation District will hold their monthly board meeting on June 16, 2022 at the Coffee County Extension Office, 1055 E. McKinnon Street, New Brockton, AL 36351. The meeting will start at 10:00 a.m. We are limited to the number of people that we can have in the room so if you plan to attend, please call 334-894-5581X3. June 18 Military Appreciation Day, hosted by Main Street Enterprise, will be held in Downtown Enterprise on Saturday, June 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will begin with its newest addition: the Patriot Parade in which participants will decorate their bikes, strollers, wagons, scooters and trikes and proudly parade down College Street. The event will also have shopping specials, music, and activities for the whole family to enjoy. Various military and veterans service organizations will also be set up on College Street to share information about their organizations and provide activities and static displays. June 20 Pastor Willie White, Jr. and members of Johns Chapel invite the public to Vacation Bible School 5 -7:30 p.m., Monday-Friday, June 20-24. The theme is Sowing Seeds for Christ with Luke 8:11 as scripture reference. Classes will be available for toddlers through adults. Please register soon via QR code at the churchs website johnschapelamec.org or the Johns Chapel AME Church Facebook page; or by using this link: https://forms.gle/jojSaRJjaeLwbwP57 For more information, please contact LauReen McDaniel, VBS director, at 334-470-1816 or Pastor White at 334-701-5853. June 21 The Alabama Cooperative Extension System will be hosting a ServSafe training program on June 21-22 at the Coffee County Extension office in New Brockton. This is a required food safety course for food permit holders. It is a 2 day in-person course with a written exam. The cost of the course is $140 and you must register online. This course may be needed for restaurant managers and cafeteria managers and food vendors. It is a nationally accredited program through the Restaurant Association. For more information, contact Food Safety Regional Extension Agent Bridgette Brannon at 334-714-1248 June 30 The German Coffee Club will meet on June 30 at the Landing on Fort Rucker at 9:30 a.m. We are having schnitzel for lunch. Please make your reservations by Monday, the 27th. We would like to thank our hostesses: Karin Ramirez, Brigitte Harper, Marianne Owens, Gudrun Ambrose and Caroline Gebhardt. Congratulations to Anita Ferry for being our 4 time Bingo winner. For information, call Chris at 475-6388 or Marianne at 389-1607. Ongoing COVID-19 tests will be given at the Coffee County Health Department on Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. To schedule an appointment, call 334-347-9574. The DAV van service for local veterans will make runs to Montgomery and Tuskegee on Mondays and Fridays. The van will leave from the Hardees restaurant on Rucker Boulevard in Enterprise at 5 a.m. and from the Dothan Civic Center at 5:30 a.m. Due to COVID restrictions, there is only space for four riders each trip. Veterans who need rides to VA hospitals in Montgomery or Tuskegee can call 334-308-2480 to reserve a seat on the Enterprise van or 334-446-0866 for the Dothan van. The Enterprise YMCA will hold square dancing classes every Monday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the main building located on Highway 27 across from Hobby Lobby in Enterprise. Singles and couples are welcome, dancing experience not required! For more information, call 334-237-0466 or 334-347-4513. Enterprise Parks and Recreation is hosting senior aerobics at the Civic Center Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Make new friends, enjoy fun music and get moving! St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church will host a program for anyone interested in learning the teachings of the church Christ founded, the Catholic Church. The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is held each Wednesday at 123 Heath Street in Enterprise. For more information, call 334-347-6751 or 334-464-1930. To submit an announcement or event, email news@eprisenow.com To submit an announcement or event, email news@eprisenow.com Located in the "First State," Odessa is one of the oldest towns in the United States. The city was originally named Cantwell's Bridge in the 1800s, but the name changed to Odessa in the 19th century. The cobblestone streets and historic buildings of this town beautifully portray the rich history and culture of the state of Delaware. Geography Of Odessa Odessa is a small town located in the county of New Castle, Delaware. This small town which has an area of 0.51 square miles, is located in the northern part of the state at an elevation of 52 feet from sea level. It is 27 minutes away from the city of Dover, Delaware, and 28 minutes away from Wilmington, Delaware. US Route 13, the main route connecting the north to the south, passes through the town. State Route 299, which connects the east and west of the state, also passes through Odessa. One of the most prominent landforms in the town is the Appoquinimink River. This river flows west of Townsend, through Odessa, and into the northern end of Delaware Bay. It is 15.3 miles long and drains in a 47 square mile area on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The river is home to several types of fish like the Morene, Largemouth Bass, Common Carp, White Crappie, and Channel Catfish. Another prominent location in the town is the Odessa Memorial Park at 623 Main Street. The park has a playground, hiking trail, and large fields. The Old Academy Park is a quiet and relaxing location behind the Town Office. The parks and neighborhoods have incredible biodiversity with different types of trees at every corner, including oak-hickory, pine, red maple, loblolly pine, and oak-pine trees. Some of the native flowers in the area include the white yarrow, white baneberry, blue star, and Canadian columbine. The town is also home to many animal species, including whitetail deer, foxes, minks, otters, chipmunks, and others. Climate Of Odessa Odessa's location in the east of the United States has a semi-continental climate. This means that winters are moderate, and summers are sweltering. Temperatures reach their highest in July at around 87 and their lowest in January at around 25. May, June, and September are the most pleasant months, while January and February are the least pleasant due to the cold temperatures. Odessa gets an average of 45 inches of rain and 15 inches of snow yearly. With it being close to the ocean, the humidity levels in the town significantly increase in the summer but are low most of the year. The most humid months in the city are June, July, and August. Demographics Of Odessa According to a 2021 census, Odessa's total population was 394 individuals. 49.5% of the population is male, and 50.5% is female. The median resident age is 48.2 years which is greater than the state's median age, which is 41.4 years. Odessa is not very ethnically diverse, with 84% of its population being of the White race. In addition, 12.9% of the population is black, and only 1.9% is Hispanic. Regarding the marital status of Odessa's population, 13.1% have never been married, 59.5% are currently married, 20.3% are either divorced or separated, and 7.2% are widowed. Regarding the educational attainment of Odessa's citizens, 92.6% hold a high school diploma, 31.6% hold a bachelor's degree, and 13.6% have a graduate degree. History Of Odessa The view of the historic buildings on Main Street. Editorial credit: Khairil Azhar Junos / Shutterstock.com. Odessa is one of the nation's most historically preserved areas. This small town has a long history dating back to the 1660s. Dutch settlers took the Appoquinimink area and used its native name, "Apequinemy." This area was appealing because of the river and the sea access, making it a perfect location for trade with other colonies. By 1664, the town became an English colony. Early into the 18th century, industry and development started in the city with the founding of the toll bridge, Cantwell's Bridge. Many manufacturers began opening up in the area, and a railroad was built in 1855. The shipping business was booming at that time in the Appoquinimink River. From 1870 till 1917, steamboats transported many products, including agricultural and industrial products, from Odessa to other parts of the world. Transportation through the water quickly became a significant aspect of the town. Therefore, the name was changed to Odesa in honor of the Ukrainian port on the Black Sea. Many of the historic features and buildings are still present in the town and are open to tourists. Economy Of Odessa Historically, Odessa's economy was reliant on trade and manufacturing. Today, Odessa is similar to any small town in the United States. The town's major industries include protective services, management, farming, construction, administrative support, and law enforcement. The most common jobs include public administration, accounting for 22.4% of the job market. Following that is the educational services which employ 13.2% of the workforce. In addition, Administrative & support & waste management services employ around 10% of the workforce. Other jobs in the town include construction, finance, arts, and scientific and technical services. With that in mind, the unemployment rate is around 8% which is greater than the national average. The median household income in Odessa is $121,439, while the per capita income is $49,027. Culture And Tourism In Odessa The town of Odessa is one of the nation's oldest towns. Packed with history and culture at every corner, this town is a perfect tourist location for all history and architecture lovers. 18th and 19th-century architecture is perfectly preserved by the Historic Odessa Foundation, which takes care of five beautiful historic houses. Those houses, including the beautiful Corbitt-Sharp House and Wilson-Warner House, are mostly known for their fascinating and timeless architecture. Another show-stopping house is one of Delaware's oldest residences, the bright red Collins-Sharp house, which was built in the 1700s. Stopping by to look at the Appoquinimink Friends Meeting House is a must. Each house has a unique story, so touring and learning more about them is a must. Another great place to tour is the Corbit Calloway Memorial Library, Odessa's public library. One of the most prominent features of this town is Cantwell's Tavern, a restaurant located in the town's first hotel that dates back to the 1800s. The restaurant serves delicious New American cuisine. The restaurant is a tribute to the original hotel and tavern that served locals and travelers for many years. The town hosts multiple events each year, some of which include the Historic Odessa Brewfest and the "Christmas in Odessa" festival. The Historic Odessa Brewfest joins more than 60 local and national brewers, great live music, and fantastic food. Christmas joy is perfectly portrayed in the annual "Christmas in Odessa" festival, a walking tour of the town's Christmas-decorated historic houses and buildings. This small town in the heart of Delaware is one of the nation's most beautiful and culturally rich towns. It is one of the most underrated tourist locations with beautifully preserved buildings and historical sites. Walking through the city is like taking a stroll into the United State's history. Noted for its scenic beauty, the Yellowstone River flows a course of 692 miles through the US states of Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota. Although containing sections with an overall calm flow, the river can turn rough as dramatic crashing waterfalls also occur over its course. Despite persistent threats, the river continues to be the longest and only undammed river in the lower 48 states and upper Missouris principal tributary. Geography And Flow Of The Yellowstone River Beginning in Wyomings Absaroka Range on the slopes of Yount Peak, the Yellowstone River drains approximately 70,000 square miles of land before joining the Missouri River northeast of Sidney, Montana. As such, the 692-mile-long river flows through northwestern Wyoming, southeastern Montana, and northwestern North Dakota. After rising in Yount Peak, the river enters Yellowstone National Parks southeastern corner before flowing northward into Yellowstone Lake. As it leaves Yellowstone Lake, the river cascades into two waterfalls. The Upper Falls plunge at the height of 109 feet, whereas the Lower Falls plunge a total of 308 feet into Yellowstones Grand Canyon. As it leaves the Canyon, the river plunges into a third 132-foot waterfall named Tower Falls. Yellowstone River Near Livingston, Montana. The Yellowstone River then leaves the Yellowstone National Park at Gardiner, Montana. Upon reaching Miner, the river flows northeastward into Livingston. After flowing past Miles City and Glendive, the river crosses from Montana into North Dakota northeast of Sidney. The river concludes its course as it joins the Missouri River just southwest of Williston. Given the absence of any dams, the Yellowstone River is the last and longest free-flowing river in the lower 48 US states. In terms of its principal tributaries, all of them find their origins in the Bighorn Mountains and the Absaroka and Wind River ranges. These tributaries are the Tongue, Powder, and Bighorn rivers. Brief History Of The Yellowstone River Before people of European ancestry explored the area in 1806, the Yellowstone River was initially used by the Native Americans as a water source for irrigation and a mode of transport. In fact, the river was known by the completely different name of Elk River at the time. After the Lewis and Clark expedition made its way back from the Pacific Northwest, Lieutenant William Clark launched an effort to sail through and explore the river. The river was further explored using bull boats, hollowed-out logs, and pirogues by the likes of Jim Bridger, Jed Smith, and John Colter. In 1807, Colter, renowned as a trapper and as the first person of European descent to explore the Yellowstone region, formed a partnership with fur trader Manuel Lisa and established the rivers first trading post. During the 1860s and 1870s, the region surrounding the river experienced extensive periods of conflict between the US government and the Native Americans inhabiting the area. By the early 1880s, settlement in the area began to increase as a direct result of the Northern Pacific Railway, which subsequently led to the rivers extensive use for irrigation. Geysers along the Yellowstone River. Yet, perhaps the single event most notable when considering the Yellowstone Rivers current status is thwarting the massive dam proposal in the 1970s. This proposal, which aimed to flood Paradise Valley through a dam in Allenspur Canyon, was successfully thwarted after conservationists joined together and fought against its construction, which would have substantially modified the regions entire ecology, landscape, and economy. Nevertheless, the river continues to face notable threats in the form of unwise floodplain development and widespread channelization projects, which eliminate essential side-channel habitat and floodplain access. As such, the Yellowstone River has been repeatedly placed on Americas Most Endangered Rivers list in 1995, 1999, and 2006. In 2011, the US Army Corps of Engineers responded to these threats through the creation of a Special Area Management Plan aimed at limiting the development of future channelization projects. Ecological Diversity Of The Yellowstone River A bison walks near a fisherman in the Yellowstone River. Editorial credit: Cavan-Images / Shutterstock.com Today, the Yellowstone River continues to flow in its natural state after victoriously remaining undammed. As a result, the river maintains high ecological diversity and hosts a plethora of local species. Some species that frequently inhabit the Yellowstone River corridor are bald eagles, cougars, whitetail deer, pronghorn antelope, bison, black bears, and grizzly bears. Rare sightings of North American River Otters have also been reported within the river, as Yellowstones unique geography creates a suitable environment for the species. The rivers native fish species, including Arctic grayling, cutthroat trout, mountain whitefish, Utah chub, longnose dace, and mottled sculpin, underpin the regions natural food webs. However, several nonnative species introduced to the area have consistently posed threats to these endemic populations. As the Yellowstone National Parks waters were most fishless upon its establishment, they were restocked with both native and nonnative fish species. Among the rivers nonnative species are brown trout, brook trout, lake chub, lake trout, and rainbow trout. This, in turn, changed much of the rivers ecology, as such stocking enabled nonnative fish to outcompete and hybridize with endemic species. To recover from the poor native trout populations of the 1960s, regulations were placed in the 1980s to restrict fish harvest. Fishing regulations were further updated in 2001 to require the release of any native species that are caught from the river. Furthermore, a 2010 Native Fish Conservation Plan/Assessment was completed to reduce the native fish populations extinction risk and maintain the pivotal ecosystems that this river upholds. Weather Alert ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM CDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Heat index values 102 to 107 degrees Thursday afternoon. * WHERE...Portions of southwest Indiana, southeast Missouri, western Kentucky and southern Illinois. * WHEN...Until 8 PM CDT Thursday. * IMPACTS...Extreme heat and humidity will significantly increase the potential for heat related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Thursday will make 4 to 5 straight days of prolonged heat and humidity which can have cumulative effects to those susceptible to heat related illness. The heat looks like it will last through Friday most areas, so the Warning or an Advisory will likely be added in upcoming forecasts. Some relief is on the way for the weekend. However, next week the heat returns. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. && Weather Alert ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM CDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Heat index values of 100 to 106 degrees this afternoon and 102 to 107 degrees Thursday afternoon. * WHERE...Portions of southwest Indiana, southeast Missouri, western Kentucky and southern Illinois. * WHEN...Until 8 PM CDT Thursday. * IMPACTS...Extreme heat and humidity will significantly increase the potential for heat related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Overnight lows will only fall into the mid to upper 70s, providing little relief. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. && Clwyd South MS calls for further investigation and open-minded response to improve NHS in north Wales Clwyd Souths Member of the Senedd has set out the steps he believes the Welsh Government should take to improve health services in north Wales. Ken Skates MS called on Health Minister Eluned Morgan to commission independent assessments of the short-term impact and future benefits of splitting Betsi Cadwaladr, which is Wales largest health board. He also called for the creation of a Peoples Panel in the north to scrutinise and shape what the future of the NHS in the region and repeated his belief that the new Citizens Voice Body, which will represent the voices and opinions of the people of Wales on health and social care matters, should be based in the north. Mr Skates was speaking in a Senedd debate on Wednesday (June 8), in which the Conservatives called for BCUHB to be put back into special measures. During the debate opposition parties raised concerns about the current performance of the North Wales health board. There is no doubt that health provision is the single biggest issue of concern to people in north Wales right now, and by some distance, said Ken Skates. And, whilst the vast majority of people in the region would doubtlessly applaud the phenomenal and tireless efforts of the healthcare workforce, there is considerable concern over service provision and outcomes. The Conservative motion sees a different set of special measures as the answer to the health boards failings. The Plaid amendment offers reorganisation as the answer. Ive considered both really, really carefully, and I do feel that both are worthy of further investigation and also an open-minded response. But I can also appreciate the likely response to both, that now is not the right time to reorganise and that we have an established process for placing specific services and entire boards into special measures. Mr Skates continued: Id make the following suggestions. Firstly, conduct some form of a truth review to completely look at the special measures process as a means of delivering improvement. If special measures arrangements are found to be deficient in any way, then lets move to revise them. Secondly, conduct a truly independent assessment of the real and likely short-term impacts of reorganisation on service outcomes. Lets have our eyes opened to the likely short-term consequences before examining the long-term possible benefits of reorganisation. Deciding on whether to embark on such a journey should be informed by the long-term potential benefits, but also by the short-term impact on services and outcomes. Thirdly, Id recommend establishing, without delay, a Peoples Panel in the north to interrogate the challenges and all possible solutions. A Peoples Panel could offer, I think, an objective, informed, depoliticised and citizen-led view of what needs to change. And fourthly, lets improve communications and transparency, establish an easily accessible online data dashboard for the seven health board areas so that the public can see how their services compare to other parts of Wales in terms of outcomes. We cant be back in again in six or 12 months having the same debate. Id implore the Minister to consider all constructive suggestions, such as those that Ive offered, in order to restore public confidence in health services in north Wales. Welsh Government could implement same rule change proposed in England to increase smoking age The Welsh Government has said it would look to implement rules being proposed in England to increase the age at which people can buy tobacco and cigarettes. A new independent review into tobacco control led by Dr Javed Khan OBE was published on Thursday. The review recommends 15 interventions to give the UK Government the best chance of meeting its target for England to be smoke-free by 2030. Wales has the same ambition to be smoke-free by 2030 and launched a consultation in December last year on its draft tobacco control strategy. The Khan Review has recommended the age at which tobacco and cigarettes can be bought would rise from 18 by one year every year so the children of today will never be allowed to buy tobacco. Smokers in the most deprived areas of the country spend a higher proportion of their income on tobacco. The average smoker in the North East spends over 10% of their income on tobacco, compared to just over 6% in the South East. Dr Khan has also recommended: The Chamber of Commerce Association of Alabama (CCAA) announced recently that the Enterprise Chamber of Commerce, along with 2 other local chambers of commerce, have received the Alabama Accredited Chamber of Commerce distinction (AACC). The Enterprise Chamber of Commerce along with the Shoals Chamber of Commerce were honored as first-time recipients of the AACC at the recently held CCAA Executive Leadership Conference in Tuscaloosa, AL. North Baldwin Chamber of Commerce was also recognized for successfully renewing their accreditation as well. The Alabama Accredited Chamber program sets standards of excellence for chambers in the state of Alabama and is regarded as one of the most prestigious programs of the Chamber of Commerce Association of Alabama. This program recognizes chambers that have achieved those standards while offering guidelines to improve effectiveness. The Alabama Accredited Chamber of Commerce program is designed to promote public awareness of the intent of the chamber of commerce brand as a not-for-profit community development- based business membership organization by providing a peer review process of generally accepted chamber of commerce organizational benchmarks. Chambers applying for the designation are reviewed in six areas: organization, mission focus, professional administration, financial management, communications, and advocacy. As one of CCAAs most prestigious programs, the Alabama Accredited Chamber of Commerce program shows that each chamber receiving the distinction is committed to the highest standards of organization management. This distinction recognizes local chambers of commerce in Alabama that strengthen free enterprise by protecting their local business environment, said Crystal Brown, president & CEO, Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce and 2022 CCAA Chairwoman of the Board. They most certainly represent the highest standards in our profession. Paige G. Hutto, president and CEO of CCAA, added that the three local chambers of commerce receiving the designation work tirelessly for the betterment of their communities and our state. Accreditation is 100% voluntary and is a rigorous process, Hutto said. Through the application process these chambers are benchmarking themselves as the best of the best. Their investors and stakeholders know that they are investing in a top rate, professional organization. Our state is better for the work being done by these chambers and the other twenty accredited chambers. Since its beginning in 1937 as the Alabama Association of Commercial Organizations, what is now known as the Chamber of Commerce Association of Alabama, has remained dedicated to advancing the goal that chambers of commerce are the premier local business advocate in the State of Alabama. In conjunction with the Business Council of Alabama (BCA), a non-partisan organization, the two groups, through the BCA/CCAA Partnership represent the interests and concerns of over 1 million working Alabamians every day. Lisa Fenner, Compliance Officer/Marketing Director, Medical Center Enterprise, and 2022 Enterprise Chamber Chairman of the Board stated, I am incredibly proud of Erin Grantham and her team our staff and Board combined. The Chamber is committed to continuously improving to provide our members with value-added services, quality programs, and opportunities to grow the success of our business community. The Enterprise Chamber of Commerce was also awarded with the distinction of 4-Star Accreditation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in November 2021 placing them in the top 3% of chambers nationwide. Wrexham leisure centres urging parents to make sure their children know how to stay safe in the water this summer Freedom Leisure in Wrexham is urging parents and guardians to make sure their children know how to stay safe and enjoy the water this summer. With many us opting for staycations once again this year, the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK), fears that families will flock to beaches and inland water locations this summer, without considering the potential dangers, putting themselves and others at risk. Those of us who will be venturing abroad for their summer holiday, they may find themselves using non-lifeguarded pools and therefore be at risk if they do not have the necessary water safety skills. Figures indicate that around 25 per cent of primary pupils leave school unable to swim, and experts fear that as a result of the pandemic many young people lacking the ability to swim or self-rescue. Freedom Leisure in Wrexham who operate swimming pools at Chirk Leisure & Activity Centre, Waterworld and Gwyn Evans in partnership with Wrexham County Borough Council are supporting RLSS UKs national Drowning Prevention Week campaign, this year running from 18-25 June 2022. Drowning Prevention Week aims to equip everybody across the UK and Ireland with the skills and knowledge, to make the right decisions about water safety. Over 400 people accidentally drown in the UK and Ireland every year and many more suffer injury, sometimes life-changing, when they survive drowning. David Watkin, Centre Manager at Chirk Leisure & Activity Centre said: We are proud to play our part in ensuring our families have a safe summer. We recognise how vitally important it is for children to know how to stay safe near water, and urge our parents to access RLSS UKs free water safety resources on the Charitys website, which include fantastic theme week lesson plans to allow swim schools to incorporate the resources into our existing lessons. We want our pupils to enjoy all of the fun and benefits of being in and around water but be educated on how to do that safely. The Royal Life Saving Society UKs Charity Director Lee Heard, said: The UKs beautiful waterways should be places where everyone feels at ease, and can take pleasure from their surroundings, whatever their age, whatever their activity level. But were urging people to educate themselves and others on how to enjoy water safely, and prevent a fun day out ending in tragedy. The Drowning Prevention Week campaign is crucial this year. Throughout 2020 and 2021, young people have missed out on the vital opportunity to swim, leaving a dramatic gap in school swimming and water safety education. RLSS UK believes that through free, accessible education and training, everyone can enjoy water safely. We urge as many parents as possible to get involved with the campaign, use our free online resources, and give their children the skills to enjoy a lifetime of fun in the water. Visit www.rlss.org.uk to access the Charitys free water safety resources. Visit www.freedom-leisure.co.uk to enquire about swimming lessons at your local, community leisure centre. Finland and Swedens application for membership of the NATO military alliance was carried out in close collaboration with the major imperialist powers, who view the integration of the Scandinavian countries as crucial to the opening of a second front in their war to subjugate Russia. Contrary to the claim that Helsinki and Stockholm went from neutral to NATO overnight in response to Russias reactionary invasion of Ukraine, their membership in the Western military alliance, like the war itself, was prepared in a behind-the-scenes conspiracy over many years. Putins invasion of Ukraine served merely as a pretext to trigger plans for NATO expansion drafted long before February 24, 2022. US Marines work alongside members of the Swedish mechanized infantry during BALTOPS 22. The formalities surrounding Helsinki and Stockholms NATO membership remain to be finalized, with Turkey refusing to provide the unanimous consent required to start the membership procedure due to concerns over the two countries support for Kurdish nationalist groups. However, since Helsinki and Stockholm filed their formal applications in mid-May, US imperialism has moved to create facts on the ground to make the Scandinavian countries de facto alliance members. General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Stockholm this month with a US battleship to coincide with Swedens hosting of the BaltOps 22 military exercise, a NATO provocation against Russia in the Baltic Sea involving 45 maritime units, 75 aircraft, and 7,000 military personnel that began June 5 and runs to June 17. Last week, Finland announced the initiation of plans to construct barriers along its 1,300-kilometre border with Russia, citing the threat of hybrid warfare from Russia sending migrants into the country. The most significant political role in turning Finland and Sweden into frontline states in NATOs war with Russia has been played by the Social Democrats and pseudo-left parties, who owed much of their substantial support throughout the 20th century to their professed opposition to militarism and war. They have emerged as the leading warmongers and are playing a critical role in suppressing the significant popular scepticism that remains among the population to NATO. Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin talks at the Finnish Parliament in Helsinki, Finland, Monday, May 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner) [AP Photo] Both the Finnish and Swedish governments are currently led by Social Democratic parties. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson are the leaders of their countries Social Democrat parties. Marin heads a five-party coalition that includes the Green League and ex-Stalinist Left Alliance, while Andersson governs in a minority administration tolerated in parliament by Swedens Greens and ex-Stalinist Left Party. From opponents of militarism to NATO war hawks Swedens Social Democrats went further than other social democratic parties in Western Europe in granting concessions to the working class during the 1950s and 1960s. These gains, including relatively generous wage increases and extensive social services, were part of a policy supported by Swedens ruling elite that sought to regulate the class struggle through a system of national collective bargaining and union/corporate co-management. It was made possible by Swedens neutrality during World War II, which left much of its key industrial and manufacturing sectors intact while its European competitors lay in ruins. More fundamentally, Swedens economic development depended upon the temporary stabilisation of world capitalism in the post-war era made possible by the betrayal of the revolutionary working-class struggles that erupted after the war by the Stalinist bureaucracy and the ability of the United States, the preeminent imperialist power, to underwrite the revival of the capitalist system. The Social Democrats were associated in popular consciousness with free health care and education, generous social welfare support, and free childcare, which created a societythe Folkhemmet (Peoples Home)that stood in stark contrast to the grinding poverty experienced by masses of Swedish workers just two generations earlier at the beginning of the 20th century. The Social Democrats also owed their popularity to a strong stand, at least in public, against military violence and repression, whether employed by American imperialism or the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union. Minister Olof Palme (second from left) participates in the torchlight procession together with North Vietnam's Moscow Ambassador Nguyen Tho Chan (third left) [Photo by Scanpix / CC BY 4.0 In 1968, Education Minister Olof Palme, who would become Swedish Prime Minister one year later, joined a demonstration against the Vietnam war in Stockholm with North Vietnams ambassador to Moscow. In a famous speech, Palme declared, Democracy is an exacting system of government. It demands respect for others. One cannot foist a system of government upon a nation from the outside. The people must have the right to decide over their own destiny. It therefore presupposes the national right of self-determination. Democracy demands justice. One cannot win a people by filling the pockets of those who are already rich while the poor are driven into ever deeper distress. One cannot meet the demand for social justice by violence and military power. Washington responded by recalling its ambassador from Stockholm for consultations. Later in 1968, Palme condemned the deployment of Soviet troops to Czechoslovakia by the Stalinist bureaucracy to crush the Prague Spring. In another speech broadcast on national radio in December 1972, shortly after the Social Democrat government officially recognised North Vietnam, Palme compared the US bombing of Hanoi to the crimes of Hitlers Nazis. (T)he bombings are an atrocity, he declared. And of this we have many examples in modern history. They are generally connected with a single name: Guernica, Oradour, Babi Yar, Katyn, Lidice, Sharpeville, Treblinka Now another name is added to the row: Hanoi, Christmas 1972. Palme and the Social Democrats opposition to US imperialist aggression was not of a principled character. The Social Democrats pursued a policy of military non-alignment, which Swedish ruling circles broadly supported. Maintaining Stockholms distance from both Cold War blocs enabled Sweden to serve as a key conduit for intelligence gathering operations against the Soviet Union by the imperialist powers, with whom Sweden struck an intelligence sharing agreement as early as 1954. It enabled Swedish businesses and diplomats to establish contacts with developing countries and national liberation movements deemed a communist threat by US imperialism and its allies. Sweden thus assumed a disproportionate role on the global stage given the relatively small size of the country, which became known as a humanitarian superpower. The Social Democrats public criticisms of American imperialist violence secured them substantial popular support. Palme remained prime minister until 1976, concluding more than four decades of continuous Social Democrat rule. His assassination in murky circumstances in February 1986, by which time he had been prime minister again for over four years, expressed growing social and political tensions tearing Swedish society apart as the post-war era of capitalist stability gave way to mounting crises. Finnish Social Democracy and Stalinism in the post-war era Although the domination of social democracy in Finland was less pronounced, the Social Democrats were the largest party throughout most of the post-war era. They generally polled around 25 percent of the vote and played an important role in developing Helsinkis neutral foreign policy during the Cold War. Signing of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between the Soviet Union and Finland in Moscow on April 6, 1948. Signed by Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov (seated), followed by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (standing, behind Molotov). To the left of Stalin are the Prime Minister of Finland Mauno Pekkala, to the right of Stalin are Foreign Ministers Carl Enckell and Reinhold Svento, Minister of the Interior Yrjo Leino and MPs Urho Kekkonen, Onni Peltonen and J. O. Soderhjelm. [Photo by Unknown author / CC BY 4.0 The Stalinist Communist Party of Finland (SKP) also played a prominent role in official politics. One of the largest Stalinist parties west of the Iron Curtain, the SKP entered the government after the end of World War II to stabilise Finnish capitalism. It was intimately involved in the negotiations of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance with the Soviet Union in 1948 guaranteeing the continuation of a market economy in Finland and stipulated Helsinkis neutral status in world affairs. The treaty obligated Helsinki to pay reparations to the Soviet Union for its participation on the side of the Nazis in the war of extermination against the USSR and required Finland to resist any attack by Germany and its allies, a formulation widely interpreted to mean the Western powers, on the Soviet Union carried out via Finnish territory. SKP member Mauno Pekkala attended the treaty signing ceremony in Moscow in April 1948 as Finlands prime minister. The Finnish Peoples Democratic League (SKDL), an electoral alliance dominated by the Stalinists, remained outside the government from 1948 to 1966 polling around 20 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, it participated in several Social Democrat-led governments. In 1990, with Gorbachevs programme of capitalist restoration in the Soviet Union in full swing, the SKDL transformed itself into the Left Alliance, which now holds two ministerial posts in Marins pro-NATO government. The dissolution of the Soviet Union The Stalinist dissolution of the Soviet Union and restoration of capitalism in Russia and throughout Eastern Europe fundamentally changed the political and geostrategic framework on which Finnish and Swedish neutrality rested. Almost immediately after the end of the USSR, both Scandinavian countries took steps to subordinate their foreign policies more directly to American and European imperialism. Finland renegotiated its 1948 treaty with Russia in 1992 to allow it more freedom to participate in Western alliances. Three years later, Finland and Sweden joined the European Union. Social Democrats were prominent in deepening Sweden and Finlands relationships with the major imperialist powers, beginning with their joining of NATOs Partnership for Peace (PFP) in 1994. The PFP served as a mechanism to integrate 13 countries from the former Soviet sphere of influence into NATO and strengthen cooperation with Ukraine. US Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen (left), Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari (2nd from left), and Russian Minister of Defense Marshal Igor Sergeyev (2nd from right), are joined by an interpreter (right) as they meet for further talks at the Presidential Place in Helsinki, Finland, on June 17, 1999. The participants are discussing the details of Russia's participation in the peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo. [Photo by Helene C. Stikkel / CC BY 4.0 Maartti Ahtisaari, Finlands president from 1994 to 2000, emerged as one of the most outspoken Social Democrats in favour of NATO membership. Ahtisaari, the lead European Union negotiator seeking Serbias surrender in June 1999 during NATOs ongoing savage bombardment of Belgrade, commented in 2014, Finland should have been in all of those international organisations to which Western democracies belong long ago. That includes NATO. Swedish forces in Afghanistan [Photo by Brindefalk from Karlskrona, Sweden / CC BY 4.0 Under the Social Democrat-led government of Goran Persson, Sweden formally abandoned its foreign policy neutrality in early 2002. This coincided with the dispatch of Swedish troops to support NATO occupation forces in Kosovo and Afghanistan. Swedish warplanes would subsequently join NATOs savage bombardment of Libya, which claimed the lives of tens of thousands and plunged the country into a civil war that continues to this day. The Western-backed Maidan coup of 2014, spearheaded by fascist forces that led to the overthrow of pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev, was seized on in Scandinavia to legitimise a major military build-up. Citing Russias annexation of Crimea, a response to the establishment of a pro-Western regime in Kiev that persecuted Russian-speaking Ukrainians, Sweden initiated a massive increase in defence spending. Finland and Sweden both became enhanced opportunity partners through NATOs Partnership Interoperability Initiative, launched at the 2014 NATO summit in Wales allowing partners to join exercises and adopt NATO standards. Ukraine was another enhanced opportunity partner. UK Challenger 2 tank in action during Exercise Arrow, a Joint Expeditionary Force exercise held in Finland in May 2022 [Photo by Defence Equipment & Support] The Social Democrat-led government of Stefan Lofven, whose parliamentary majority depended on support from the Greens and Left Party, signed a Nordic defence agreement with Finland, and NATO members Denmark, Norway, and Iceland in 2015. In 2017, Helsinki and Stockholm joined the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a British-led alliance of Baltic and Nordic NATO members aimed explicitly at confronting Russia. The US-NATO war with Russia and the rush to join NATO This history makes clear the absurdity of media reports claiming that Finland and Sweden performed a U-turn in their foreign policy following Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine. Stockholm and Helsinkis plans to join NATO were long in the works and merely awaited a pretext to be implemented. Finland and Sweden were intimately involved in the series of NATO provocations that led up to Putins invasions. Their militaries participated in NATO-led exercises with Ukraine in the Black Sea and in the Baltic region. In December 2021, the same month that the Biden administration rejected Russias appeal for negotiations over security guarantees, Finland finalised a deal with Washington to purchase 64 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin. The deal, which equates to a country the size of Germany purchasing over 900 fighter jets, was the largest military purchase in Finnish history. Immediately following Russias invasion, Sweden and Finland rapidly swung into all-out war mode. The Social Democrats gained near unanimous support in the Swedish parliament on February 28 to send weaponry and military equipment to Ukraine, the first time Sweden had officially sent weapons to a country at war since the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union in 1939. A Finnish Maxim M-32 machine gun nest during the Winter War [Photo by unknown author / CC BY 4.0 The decision saw the ex-Stalinist Left Party fully embracing the war fever. At a meeting of the party leadership on February 27, the party initially took a decision to oppose supplying weapons to Ukraine. But after five deputies broke ranks in parliament the following day and backed the weapons transfer, a second leadership meeting on March 1 reversed the Left Partys position from two days earlier opposing the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar speaking in Parliament on July 7, 2021. [Photo by Frankie Fouganthin-Eget arbete / CC BY 4.0 Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar all but declared her support for NATO membership in a nationalist outburst later in March. My position is that we are more safe in Sweden if we are outside of any military alliance, she stated. But it is important that we have broad agreement. That we do this together as one people and one nation. I dont often agree with Carl Bildt [a former conservative prime minister and long-standing advocate of NATO membership], but on this question I do. Theres the left-wing and theres the right-wing, but the Swedish military is all Swedes together. The Finnish pseudo-left behaved in an equally venal manner. Having claimed in June 2019 during talks on joining the Social Democrat-led government that it would do so on condition that Finland would not join NATO during the governments term in office, the Left Alliance embraced Finlands NATO application. Notwithstanding the Left Alliances formal opposition to NATO, party leader Li Andersson declared in early May that if the government in which she occupies the position of education minister filed an application to join NATO, she would not see this as a reason to resign her post. The Left Alliance used to be quite unanimous on this issue, but there are now two distinct camps within the party and many are unsure of their position, Andersson declared following a meeting of the party leadership on May 7. Andersson received the backing of a joint meeting of the party council and parliamentary group, which voted by 52 votes to 10 to remain in the government if a NATO membership application was filed. The Left Alliances opposition to NATO was on paper only. Andersson made this explicit on May 12, declaring her support for a NATO application. Three days later, an overwhelming vote in favour of NATO membership took place at the Social Democrats national council, with 53 out of the 60 members present voting to join the alliance. Speaking to parliament May 17, Prime Minister Marin declared, Our security environment has fundamentally changed. The transformation of Finland and Sweden into frontline garrison states in the US-NATO war with Russia by the very political forces who claimed for decades that it was possible to remain outside of great power rivalries and reform capitalism into a more peaceful and fair society is a political lesson for working people internationally. The deepening crisis of world capitalism, expressed in the danger of world war, the growth of social inequality, and a deadly pandemic that has killed millions, leaves no part of the world untouched. Political fantasies based on national parochialism and piecemeal reforms, which progressives around the world justified with reference to the Swedish model, have been proven bankrupt. To oppose war and the mounting social crisis, workers in Sweden, Finland, and throughout Scandinavia cannot harken back to the days of Social Democratic neutrality in foreign policy and social compromise domestically. The temporary post-war restabilisation of capitalism and balance of forces between the major powers that made these policies possible have long since disappeared. What is required is the construction of a mass anti-war movement based on a new political orientation: the unification of the working class in Sweden and Finland with their class brothers and sisters throughout Europe and around the world on the basis of a socialist and internationalist programme. This struggle necessitates the establishment of sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International throughout the Scandinavian region. The Sydney Opera House, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Coeur dAlene Idaho, Vicksburg, Mississippi. Faraway, mysterious locales that have sent out the siren call to Norm Hisownself. Vicksburg? Yep, though not quite as exotic as the others, Vicksburg has been on our lets visit list for quite a while. Recently it dawned on Mable, my lovely bride, and Norm Hisownself that we had not been on a road trip in over 2 years. Both of us have a passing interest in Civil War history. We have been to a number of battlefields with the common denominator being neither of us can remember who won with the exception of Gettysburg. We had heard reports of General Grant and the siege of Vicksburg. Turns out Vicksburg was a far more important action than I knew. Located on a bend on the Mississippi River, whoever controlled Vicksburg controlled boat traffic on the river. If Grant could take it, the Confederacy would effectively be cut in half. Given its location, Vicksburg was not susceptible to a normal attack. It sits high atop bluffs, is surrounded by swamps and the Union troops were on the west bank, a mile away and frustrated by a fairly swift current. Grant began his siege in December of 1862 and it took until July for the rebels to starve into surrender, ironically, the same week as Gettysburg. Not the Confederacys best moment. We were satisfied with Vicksburg and noticed we were close to the Nachez Trace Parkway, another of the siren call attractions for me. I had heard of the Nachez Trace from my younger years. I knew it as a trading path for the three dominant Indian tribes of the Southeast, the Chickasaw, Natchez and Choctaws. Around the end of the 18th century it became a route for traders and river boat crews that sailed to New Orleans and then trekked back to Nashville. We entered the trace with wild excitement. What we found was a rather unusual National Park that was 440 miles long and 50 feet wide. For the entire length there are no services, no gas stations, no McDonalds and few restrooms. It is dotted with signs saying Historic Site. Finally, I was forced to stop and see just what historic event had happened there. Not much history found. If you like 440 miles of nothing but trees with a 50 mph speed limit, the Nachez Trace is for you. We decided we were glad we did itwouldnt do it again. Well, at least we had a road trip and visited another Civil War site, followed the footsteps of Davy Crockett, Andrew Jackson and others. Not a bad four days all things considered, and we did see some trees, 440 miles of them. Onward. https://constitutionalconduct.com 12 June 2022 We are a group of former civil servants of the All India and Central Services who have worked with the Central and State Governments in the course of our careers. Our group has no affiliation with any political party, and we, as its members, believe in impartiality, neutrality and commitment to the Constitution of India. On May 11, 2022, a chorus of appreciation greeted the Supreme Courts interim orders on a batch of cases which had challenged the constitutionality of the sedition provision contained in Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The Supreme Courts order was an interim one, viz. to keep in abeyance this section and all related pending trials, appeals and proceedings until further orders. While we would, like others, wish to applaud this decision of the Supreme Court, we feel that, at present, it deserves only a muted cheer. The Supreme Courts order, inasmuch as it results in immediate relief against arrest, investigation or under-trial detention under Section 124A, is certainly laudable (provided it does not adversely affect the persons already charged). Not so laudable is the impression it gives that the suspension is a response to the union governments statement that it is reviewing Section 124A and considering its revision and reform. Review and revision by the executive cannot be a substitute for judicial determination of the constitutional limits of the power of the executive to restrict freedom of speech and expression. It is important for the Supreme Court not to get sidetracked by the executive and instead to answer the fundamental issue raised by the petitioners, viz. is Section 124A of the IPC constitutionally valid? Section 124A of the IPC is certainly a strange provision to have in a democracy. It criminalizes the feelings of dislike, contempt and disaffection towards the government established by law in India, even where such feelings are not linked to any violent, illegal or criminal act. Disaffection and contempt for the government of the day are feelings through which democratic republics are born. Such feelings are considered criminal only in autocracies. Where the government of the day can be, and is, changed through the electoral process, it can surely not be a criminal offence for any citizen to merely harbour and express feelings of disaffection, etc. towards the government. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi: Affection cannot be manufactured or regulated by law. If one has no affection for a person or system, one should be free to give the fullest expression to his disaffection, so long as he does not contemplate, promote, or incite to violence. Yet this disaffection is what Section 124A treats as criminal. Sixty years ago, in Kedar Nath Singh vs. State of Bihar, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court upheld Section 124A IPC, but qualified their decision as follows: . . . we propose to limit [the] operation [of Section 124A] only to such activities . involving incitement to violence or intention or tendency to create public disorder or cause disturbance of public peace. This limiting of Section 124A to activities which involve incitement to violence or public disorder has, however, been by and large ignored in practice by the police and by the courts. As against the thousands of cases charged by the police under Section 124A and similar draconian provisions/laws, the low rate of conviction casts serious doubt about the genuineness of claims made during investigation and prosecution. It shows that the real purpose of such laws is to provide autocratic rulers a powerful weapon to suppress their rivals and control public opinion. However, whether or not Section 124A is finally deleted or altered, it will make little difference to the common citizen insofar as freedom of speech and expression as spelt out in Article 19(1) of the Constitution is concerned. This is because, apart from Section 124A of the IPC, there are several other provisions in the IPC and other Acts which shackle this fundamental right of citizens and leave them open to arbitrary arrest and prosecution by the government. The only way that the citizens right to freedom of speech and expression can be protected is if the Supreme Court examines Article 19 under the basic structure of the Constitution principle with reference to all existing laws and provisions that put curbs on this freedom. The armoury of arbitrary weapons used to suppress dissent and opposition and control the free formation of public opinion has expanded over the years to include a number of offences similar to those under Section 124A. Prominent amongst these offences are Section 153A of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, etc.), Section 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), Section 505 (statements conducive to public mischief) and Section 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes). These provisions are today widely and routinely misused by the police and their political masters with the same objective as in the case of Section 124A. Over the years, slowly and surreptitiously, the substance of the offence of sedition has been snuck into the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA), defined more elaborately, and with more draconian consequences, than in Section 124A. Significantly, no political party is blameless in this regard and governments of all political complexions have been trampling upon human rights and the freedom of expression Section 13(1) of the UAPA states that Whoever: (a) takes part in or commits, or (b) advocates, abets, advises or incites the commission of, any unlawful activity. shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years. Unlawful activity as defined under Section 2(1)(o)(iii) of the UAPA is very similar to the definition of sedition contained in Sec 124A IPC. If Section 124A of the IPC is held by the court to be unconstitutional, because speech and expression that merely create disaffection are protected (and not prohibited) under Article 19(1), Section 2(1)(o)(iii) of the UAPA will also need to be amended to delete elements imported from Section 124A, viz. the criminalization of speech and expression which is not an integral part of any violent, illegal, criminal act. Deletion of one, while retaining the other, would be irrational. Deleting Section 124A from the IPC, while retaining criminalization of unlawful activities under the UAPA, will give substantial political advantage to the union government and the party in power at the national level. Currently, state governments are free to prosecute persons for offences under the IPC, including for sedition under Section 124A. No permission of the union government is required. States ruled by political parties other than that at the national level sometimes use Section 124A to prosecute supporters of the national ruling party for sedition (as recently happened in Maharashtra). The ruling party at the union level is powerless to prevent such prosecution. The UAPA, on the other hand, vests no powers with the state governments. It provides that no court shall take cognizance of any offence of unlawful activity without the previous sanction of the Central Government. Deleting Section 124A of the IPC will mean that the power to prosecute those who promote unfavourable opinions against the government will rest solely with the union government. This provides a major incentive for the union government to delete Section 124A under the pretext of protecting human rights while in reality strengthening its ability to suppress liberty in an even more draconian manner. Given that no democracy can exist without freedom of speech and expression, including the right to promote opinions unfavourable to the government, the Supreme Court should use this opportunity to declare an overarching basic structure principle of the Constitution protecting freedom of speech and expression including the reasonable restrictions mentioned in Article 19(2), so that government interference with individual freedom of speech and expression can be prevented. In doing so, the Court should hew to the principle that any permissible restriction on speech and expression must be only against speech or expression that is likely to result in imminent violence or restricts the freedom of speech and expression of others. SATYAMEVA JAYATE Constitutional Conduct Group (108 signatories, as below) 1. Anita Agnihotri IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI 2. S.P. Ambrose IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping & Transport, GoI 3. Anand Arni RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI 4. J.L. Bajaj IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Administrative Reforms and Decentralisation Commission, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh 5. G. Balachandhran IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal 6. Vappala Balachandran IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI 7. Gopalan Balagopal IAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal 8. Chandrashekar Balakrishnan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Coal, GoI 9. Sushant Baliga Engineering Services (Retd.) Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI 10. Rana Banerji RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI 11. T.K. Banerji IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Union Public Service Commission 12. Sharad Behar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh 13. Aurobindo Behera IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha 14. Madhu Bhaduri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Portugal 15. Pradip Bhattacharya IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Development & Planning and Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of West Bengal 16. Meeran C Borwankar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI 17. Ravi Budhiraja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI 18. Sundar Burra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra 19. R. Chandramohan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi 20. K.M. Chandrasekhar IAS (Retd.) Former Cabinet Secretary, GoI 21. Rachel Chatterjee IAS (Retd.) Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh 22. Gurjit Singh Cheema IAS (Retd.) Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab 23. F.T.R. Colaso IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir 24. Anna Dani IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra 25. Surjit K. Das IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttarakhand 26. Vibha Puri Das IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI 27. P.R. Dasgupta IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI 28. Pradeep K. Deb IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI 29. Nitin Desai Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI 30. M.G. Devasahayam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana 31. A.S. Dulat IPS (Retd.) Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Ministers Office, GoI 32. K.P. Fabian IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Italy 33. Arif Ghauri IRS (Retd.) Former Governance Adviser, DFID, Govt. of the United Kingdom (on deputation) 34. Gourisankar Ghosh IAS (Retd.) Former Mission Director, National Drinking Water Mission, GoI 35. Suresh K. Goel IFS (Retd.) Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI 36. S.K. Guha IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoI 37. H.S. Gujral IFoS (Retd.) Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab 38. Meena Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI 39. Ravi Vira Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India 40. Wajahat Habibullah IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, GoI and former Chief Information Commissioner 41. Deepa Hari IRS (Resigned) 42. Sajjad Hassan IAS (Retd.) Former Commissioner (Planning), Govt. of Manipur 43. Siraj Hussain IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI 44. Kamal Jaswal IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI 45. Najeeb Jung IAS (Retd.) Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi 46. Vinod C. Khanna IFS (Retd.) Former Additional Secretary, MEA, GoI 47. Brijesh Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI 48. Ish Kumar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission 49. Sudhir Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal 50. Subodh Lal IPoS (Resigned) Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI 51. B.B. Mahajan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Deptt. of Food, GoI 52. P.M.S. Malik IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar & Special Secretary, MEA, GoI 53. Harsh Mander IAS (Retd.) Govt. of Madhya Pradesh 54. Amitabh Mathur IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI 55. Lalit Mathur IAS (Retd.) Former Director General, National Institute of Rural Development, GoI 56. Aditi Mehta IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan 57. Sonalini Mirchandani IFS (Resigned) GoI 58. Sunil Mitra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI 59. Noor Mohammad IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority, Govt. of India 60. Avinash Mohananey IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Sikkim 61. Satya Narayan Mohanty IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission 62. Deb Mukharji IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal 63. Shiv Shankar Mukherjee IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom 64. Gautam Mukhopadhaya IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar 65. Ramesh Narayanaswami IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi 66. Surendra Nath IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh 67. P.A. Nazareth IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Egypt and Mexico 68. P. Joy Oommen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh 69. Amitabha Pande IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI 70. Maxwell Pereira IPS (Retd.) Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi 71. G.K. Pillai IAS (Retd.) Former Home Secretary, GoI 72. Rajesh Prasad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to the Netherlands 73. R.M. Premkumar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra 74. Rajdeep Puri IRS (Resigned) Former Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI 75. T.R. Raghunandan IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI 76. N.K. Raghupathy IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI 77. V.P. Raja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission 78. C. Babu Rajeev IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, GoI 79. K. Sujatha Rao IAS (Retd.) Former Health Secretary, GoI 80. M.Y. Rao IAS (Retd.) 81. Satwant Reddy IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI 82. Vijaya Latha Reddy IFS (Retd.) Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI 83. Julio Ribeiro IPS (Retd.) Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & former Ambassador to Romania 84. Aruna Roy IAS (Resigned) 85. A.K. Samanta IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal 86. Deepak Sanan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh 87. G. Sankaran IC&CES (Retd.) Former President, Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal 88. N.C. Saxena IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI 89. A. Selvaraj IRS (Retd.) Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai, GoI 90. Ardhendu Sen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal 91. Abhijit Sengupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI 92. Aftab Seth IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Japan 93. Ashok Kumar Sharma IFoS (Retd.) Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat 94. Ashok Kumar Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia 95. Navrekha Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Indonesia 96. Raju Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh 97. Mukteshwar Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission 98. Sujatha Singh IFS (Retd.) Former Foreign Secretary, GoI 99. Tara Ajai Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka 100. Tirlochan Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI 101. Narendra Sisodia IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI 102. Parveen Talha IRS (Retd.) Former Member, Union Public Service Commission 103. Anup Thakur IAS (Retd.) Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission 104. P.S.S. Thomas IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission 105. Hindal Tyabji IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary rank, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir 106. Ashok Vajpeyi IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi 107. Ramani Venkatesan IAS (Retd.) Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra 108. Rudi Warjri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica The owner of e-wallet MoMo has purchased more than 4.4 million shares, or a 49 stake, in Hanoi-based CV Securities JSC (CVS). The deal was struck Thursday and Online Mobile Services JSC, or M Service, has received more than 4.4 shares from two shareholders of CVS its vice chairman Jiang Wen and general director Nguyen Kim Hau the securities firm said in a statement sent to the State Securities Commission of Vietnam (SCC). Established in 2009, CVS was first known as Hong Bang Securities JSC and renamed Hung Thinh Securities in 2015. The company also moved its headquarters from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. Its annual revenue was VND4.4 billion ($190,000) and VND4.8 billion in 2020 and 2021 respectively. As of the first quarter of 2022, CVS had recorded a cumulative loss of more than VND80 billion. The new deal makes M_Service the second fintech firm to invest in a securities company after Finhay, who bought shares in Vina Securities early this week. Both Momo and Finhay are invested in by Thien Viet Securities (TVS). As of March 31, TVS recorded the original cost of investment in M_Service at VND27.8 billion and nearly VND62.5 billion at Finhay. Momo had 31 million users and 140,000 payment acceptance points last year. The wallet is now a partner of more than 50 banks, and financial and insurance companies. The e-wallet has completed a $200-million Series E funding round funded by a consortium of investors led by Japans Mizuho Bank. Investment funds Ward Ferry, Goodwater Capital and Kora Management make up the rest of the consortium. A media representative said he could not announce a specific figure, but MoMos valuation exceeds $2 billion, making it a startup unicorn. On June 2, the French auction house Aguttes kicked off the 'Asian Painters, Major Works' art sale that included two sessions: Chinese Modern Art and Indochina In The 20th Century. Many paintings by famous Vietnamese artists from the Indochina School Of Fine Arts were featured during the event. Art researcher Ngo Kim Khoi stated that the works had a clear origin and history. Women, according to him, are an eternal source of inspiration for artists as well as a favorite subject for collectors. As a result, paintings of women frequently fetch high prices. The painting 'En Plein Air' (rough translation 'Outdoor') was sold for 794,720 euro (around $836,000), the highest bid of both sessions. Painter Mai Trung Thu (1906-1980) created this ink and color on silk work in the early 1940s. The work depicts two women wearing ao dai sitting on the grass with one looking up at the sky, the other attentively reading a book. The artist embellished some typical items of Vietnam, such as cushions and a wooden box for storing objects. The auction house wrote: "With their hair delicately pulled up in buns and their lips covered in red makeup, these two women are exquisitely elegant and refined." It also noted that during his training, Mai Trung Thu learnt a particular technique halfway between Asian tradition and European taste: painting on silk. "The alum allows the conservation of the painting and, moreover, makes the surface of the silk smooth, thus facilitating the work of the artist." Bobby and Amy McBride were selected as the 67th Krewe of Bowlegs First Mate and First Mistress. The traditional role of the First Mate and First Mistress is to serve the Captain and Krewe, and to lead the Honor Guard as the Krewe parades and travels throughout the year. The First Mate is the Captains right hand, and the couple will have many duties throughout the year. First Mate and First Mistress LXVII are Bobby and Amy McBride. Clues on Capt. Bowlegs: Who Is Captain Billy Bowlegs 67? Here are some clues. Earlier event: Billy Bowlegs 66 Invasion Bobby is currently serving as first vice president of the Krewe of Bowlegs. He is originally from Mobile, Alabama, but grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He met Amy at Eglin Air Force Base at the Eglin pool, where she was a lifeguard and he was active duty. He followed her to the University of South Alabama and later graduated from the University of West Florida. He is currently an Air Reserve Technician Avionics Supervisor with the 919th SOAMXS at Duke Field, serving as a civil servant and an Air Force Reservist. Amy McBride is a native of Fort Walton Beach and graduated from Choctawhatchee High School. She later received her bachelor of arts degree from the University of South Alabama, an M.B.A. from the University of West Florida, and a J.D. from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. She is an attorney and the director at the Office of Criminal Counsel and Civil Regional Counsel 1, First Judicial Circuit in Fort Walton Beach. In their spare time, they love to dance and spend time with family. They have two children, Katie McBride, who works for Tammy's Journeys as a travel agent, and Collier McBride, who attends Florida State University and is a Marching Chief. They joined the Krewe in 2010 under Captain Billy LV, Bruce Marshall, and served on the Honor Guard under Captain Billy LVII, Mark Siner. This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival: First Mate, First Mistress named Shippers are seen in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran Delivery workers earn the highest salaries among the five largest groups of workers as companies compete with each other amid a shortage of candidates, a study has found. They get an average post-social distancing salary of VND10.1 million ($435.82) a month, 11 percent more than the next group, factory workers (VND9.1 million), according to recruitment platform Viec Lam Tot. Their salary also increased the most in March -- 11.2 percent -- indicating high demand as delivery companies competed to hire drivers. Salesclerks had an average salary of VND8.1 million per month this year, followed by security guards (VND7.1 million) and hotel and restaurant staff (VND6.7 million). Viec Lam Tot said there is a shortage of delivery staff as e-commerce demand remains high. E-commerce had grown by over 20 percent last year, according to the Vietnam E-commerce Association. Nguyen Hoang Trung, CEO of delivery app Loship, said people have picked up the habit of ordering things online. An average delivery person could make VND400,000-600,000 a day if they work for eight hours, and some work for up to 18 hours, he added. The report also said the highest salary for drivers is paid in the southern province of Binh Duong at VND11.72 million, followed by Dong Nai Province (VND11.6 million) and HCMC (VND9.78 million). Factory workers, waiters and salesclerks in the two provinces also get higher salaries than their counterparts in HCMC. The exodus of over 500,000 workers from HCMC to their hometowns at the end of last year partly explain these figures, the report said, citing data from the General Statistics Office. When Washington County construction crews closed a section of Wildwood Road in Mahtomedi this spring, drivers immediately started looking for alternate routes. The officially designated detour sends drivers on Interstate 694, Minnesota Highway 36 and Hilton Trail, but a more direct route, drivers soon discovered, is Birchwood Road in Birchwood, with a population of 875, just south of White Bear Lake. Our little road instantly became the new highway, said Birchwood Mayor Mary Wingfield. The traffic was overwhelming, basically nonstop. We had people who were disobeying stop signs, passing on a double yellow line and going 50 in a 25 miles-per-hour zone. One bicyclist was clipped and thrown from his bike, and there were a couple of near-hits involving children, she said. It was just chaos. COUNCIL VOTED TO CLOSE ROAD The Birchwood City Council met May 10 and voted to close the road. Barricades and road closed signs went up later that week. It was going to be a long summer if we had a caravan of vehicles going through our town all day long, Wingfield said. It was simply a matter of safety trumps convenience nothing more than that. Its not a thoroughfare. Its a residential road. Were allowed to do this, and it was in our best interest to do so. A few days after closing the road, Birchwood officials called a special meeting and voted to allow the eastbound lane of the road to be open from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and the westbound lane from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. to accommodate school traffic during the school year. But that actually ended up being more problematic for us because people were getting mixed signals, Wingfield said. The accommodation for school traffic ended on Thursday, which was the last day of school for Mahtomedi Public Schools. Mahtomedi officials have criticized the Birchwood City Councils decision to close the road, saying it has created havoc and essentially locked out Mahtomedi residents. Story continues We are extremely disappointed by the lack of notice we received about Birchwoods decision, and your failure to engage or even discuss the proposed closure with Mahtomedi prior to the unexpected road closure, Mayor Jud Marshall wrote in a May 17 letter. Your action does a disservice to residents in both cities and creates significant hardship for Mahtomedi residents who live in the vicinity of the closure. The closure, he said during an interview on Friday, has harmed local businesses and restaurants and made it difficult for emergency responders to enter Birchwood and serve residents in both cities. HOTLY DEBATED ON SOCIAL MEDIA The road closure has been hotly debated on social media. Some of those upset with the decision have called Wingfield at home. Others have moved the barricades when driving in the area an action that Wingfield points out is illegal and could result in a $300 fine. One person threw a sandbag, used to hold down the sign, into a nearby tree, she said. On Thursday night, someone stole one of the barricades. The backlash has been incredible, Wingfield said. You would think we killed somebodys firstborn, and yet thats what we are trying to stave off. We dont want to see anyone get hurt. Why there is this huge hue and cry is beyond us. Is this the new reality where if something doesnt go your way, you just throw a hissy fit? On Tuesday morning, a young man climbed out of the front passenger seat of a silver SUV and moved the barricade so the SUV could get through. Several other cars heading in each direction soon followed suit. Its Whac-A-Mole, Wingfield said, referring to the arcade game. Someone will come out and put it back, and then theyll move it again. No wonder why folks get irritated when they think it is open, but its not. SPECIAL MEETING The Birchwood City Council is holding a special meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at Birchwood City Hall to review alternatives to the existing road closure, according to the agenda posted online. Some of the options now being considered: temporary speed bumps, making part of the roadway one way, lowering the speed limit to 20 mph and installing a weight limit for the roadway. What we have now is not workable for the summer, she said. This is just a temporary stopgap solution. The $5.9 million construction project on Wildwood Road, also known as Washington County Road 12, is expected to be complete in October. The project, which stretches from Century Avenue to Stillwater Boulevard, includes: pavement replacement, new signage and striping; improved pedestrian crossings; a traffic signal at Wedgewood Drive and a multi-purpose off-road trail on a portion of Wildwood Road. The project also will include the addition of dedicated left turn lanes at key intersections. Birchwood officials have asked for an increase in law enforcement both at the barricade and within the city to flood the zone and communicate to the public that compliance is mandatory, Wingfield said. We havent had that. As a result, there has been just higgledy-piggledy. There has been no uniform compliance, so there is basically lawlessness. The Washington County Sheriffs Office has received about 15 calls for service since May 13 related to concerns about the construction project; two citations have been written that directly relate to driving around closures/failing to obey signage. Sheriff Dan Starry said his office has partnered with the countys public-works department to increase patrol in the area. We understand the concerns of the residents, city leadership and adjoining neighborhoods related to the closure and increased traffic volume, Starry said. We will continue to increase patrol during the period of this construction project and urge all motorists to engage in safe driving practices and obey all posted speed limits. ITS BEEN FRUSTRATING Kellie Cardinal, who lives on Birchwood Road, said she hopes the council will revisit its decision to close the entire road. Cardinal is a general contractor who has an office at her house. She said the detour adds about 15 to 20 minutes to her trip home, which she sometimes makes three or four times a day. With the price of gas, its just super-expensive, said Cardinal, who drives a Dodge Ram 1500. Its been frustrating. Youll be told its open, and then you go there, and its not open. Birchwoods decision to unilaterally cut off public streets and access to local pharmacies and grocery stores is outrageous, said Mahtomedi resident Emmett Coleman. It makes the construction-related disruption dramatically harder on the entire community. But White Bear Township residents Lanny and Peggy Smaagard, who biked through the area on Tuesday, said they hope that the road remains closed to traffic. Its unfortunate, but it makes sense, Lanny said. If you open it up for cars, the trucks are going to come through, and no one wants that. Its such a narrow road. I can see why people are upset, but Birchwood has the right to do this. Related Articles Denys and Anastasiia Herasymova, and their Oberig wedding rings. Anastasiia Herasymova Oberig is a luxury jeweler based in Kyiv founded by Tetiana Kondratyuk. After Russia's invasion, the company began donating body armor as well as wedding rings to soldiers. One of the couples told Insider about the wedding rings they used to get married last month. The Kyiv-based jeweler Oberig is just one of the thousands of businesses whose operations have been completely upended by Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The war has created a humanitarian crisis with 4.7 million refugees, according to the UN, while businesses moved their operations to a wartime footing. Wedding rings and body armor Oberig, founded by Tetiana Kondtratyuk, has had to cope with its employees being split between joining Ukraine's armed forces, others fleeing the conflict and some continuing to work. The company's production facility in Kharkiv was forced to shut down amid heavy Russian shelling, while its head office in Kyiv moved to the west of Ukraine. Tetiana Kondratyuk, founder of Oberig. Tetiana Kondratyuk Kondtratyuk was forced to pare back Oberig's luxury operations and start building body armor with any profits from jewelry sales. She said Oberig had now sent 6,000 pieces of body armor to the front line. But Kondtratyuk also wanted to contribute her jewelry to the war effort in some way. As a result the company started producing silver wedding rings it could donate to couples fighting in the Ukraine armed forces. "From the very beginning of the war, I saw a lot of stories about soldiers who got married at the front," Kondratyuk told Insider. "I came up with the thought to provide them with Oberig rings and I suggested it to the team. The idea of helping the soldiers, who apparently don't have time and opportunity to buy wedding rings, inspired us, and we realized that we definitely have to implement it." Kondtratyuk said 148 wedding rings have been donated to soldiers so far. She gets requests from soldiers, their partners, and sometimes from platoon commanders keen to place an order for several people in their division. Story continues She said she also received several requests from soldiers who were surrounded in the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. 'I don't really believe in God, but I pray for his safety every night' On the morning of February 23, Anastasiia Herasymova and her husband Denys told Insider they felt some anxiety about the build-up of Russian troops, before their world was rocked by the invasion the next day. "We didn't want to eat and drink, we didn't want to do anything. We hardly slept. I was not going to leave Ukraine, and he immediately said that he would volunteer to defend the country," Anastasiia said. Denys, who has been working as a medic with the Ukrainian army since mid-May, used an Oberig wedding ring when he and Anastasia tied the knot on May 20. "I don't really believe in God, but I pray for his safety every night," Anastasiia said. "I direct all my thoughts to his defense. And the days are very typical, gray, as if all the bright colors have been taken away from my life." Other couples, Kondratyuk said, have married online with the rings, while others have reunited for a day to exchange vows. Kondratyuk said Oberig had recently returned to some work in their flagship Kyiv store, but she recognises the nature of her business has shifted for the foreseeable future. "We dream of returning to our work full-scale and developing business in a peaceful Ukraine. But in order to make this possible, it is extremely important to bring victory closer by any means," she said. Read the original article on Business Insider WESTLAND, Mich. In 1966, 15-year-old Renee Chelian lay down, blindfolded, in the back seat of a strangers car and rode to a Detroit warehouse packed with other patients for a pre-Roe, illegal abortion. Her parents arranged it on the phone, using code words because they shared the line with neighboring houses and feared prosecution. It cost $3,000 nearly $27,000 today and she had to return home to pass the pregnancy, painfully, over many hours, into the toilet. She was admonished by her parents never to speak of it and told no one would marry her if they knew. For two decades, she didnt say a word. Yet Chelian described her abortion as feeling like a second chance from God a rescue from having to drop out of school, marry her 16-year-old boyfriend and abandon her career dreams. Today, she runs Northland Family Planning Center a group of clinics in the Detroit and Ann Arbor suburbs with her two daughters, and, like hundreds of abortion providers across the country, is waiting to learn whether a Supreme Court decision, expected in the coming weeks, will force her to close her doors. The idea that were going back to where we were when I started my career makes me sick to my stomach, she told POLITICO in the conference room of one of her clinics. Chelian now is among the tens of thousands of providers, lawmakers and volunteers fighting to keep the state law that necessitated her covert abortion decades ago from once again taking effect should federal protections fall. The uncertainty over Michigans 1931 law, which has no exceptions for rape or incest, has providers like her preparing for two scenarios: a near-total ban that could make them close their practices, or, if one of their strategies to block the 90-year-old law succeeds, and abortion is protected, a surge of patients from Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and other nearby states that could overwhelm their resources. At the same time, conservative officials, candidates and advocates who are fighting to preserve the states abortion ban in court, in the capitol in Lansing, and on the campaign trail are grappling with a different set of questions: should they enforce the 1931 ban if the Supreme Court gives a green light or pass an updated and possibly more moderate version? And how harshly should the state punish violators? Story continues I dont know where we will land on that, said Rep. Pam Hornberger, the Republican speaker pro-tempore of the Michigan state legislature. None of us are thinking were going to let this 1931 law go back into effect and people are going to start getting arrested. Instead, we are fully prepared to have those difficult conversations with our colleagues. Republicans, many of whom are hesitant to discuss the potential ban, are also split over whether the state needs to boost health care or child care funding or make other preparations for either a ban or a surge in demand even as health care workers across the state warn that patients could be in serious risk in just a matter of weeks. Im worried were going to start seeing more patients from out of state, sicker patients, and patients who are further along in their pregnancies because theyve had to figure out how to afford the trip, Sarah Wallett, the chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of Michigan, told POLITICO. Im also afraid that if theres a surge, something will have to give. Will that be birth control? STD screenings? Sitting in the lobby of the groups Ann Arbor clinic in navy blue scrubs and a silver necklace reading 1973 the year Roe was decided Wallett explained that the clinic doubled its capacity at the end of last year. The group also has tried to recruit more doctors, nurses and medical assistants, but have struggled to do so as pandemic burnout plagues the health care workforce. But Wallett, who is also the lead plaintiff in Planned Parenthoods lawsuit against the states 1931 abortion ban, said despite a preliminary injunction the group recently won in that case, theyre also preparing for the ban taking effect. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it, but we have been developing a plan for if the Supreme Court decision comes down in the middle of the day when patients are here, and we have to look them in the eye and tell them: I have the ability to help you, but I wont because Id be committing a felony,' she said. In Michigan, providers could face up to 15 years in prison for violating the states ban if the Supreme Court allows it to be enforced. And as Texas which last September banned most abortions demonstrated, few, if any, providers are willing to violate the bans given the threat of prosecution and lengthy prison sentences. A decision overturning Roe v. Wade would almost immediately outlaw abortion in nearly half of states, leaving millions to choose among terminating their pregnancy with pills ordered online, carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term or employing the same underground and risky methods as Chelian turned to nearly 60 years ago. While my heart does break for what's going to happen everywhere else, I'm not letting myself go there right now, Chelian said. I'm putting every bit of energy I have into keeping Michigan a safe state not just for the people who are from Michigan but for those people who are going to have to travel from other states. Chelian is preparing for Michigans ban to potentially take effect by putting away funds so her clinics can keep paying rent and for around-the-clock security guards even if they have to temporarily shut down while waiting for either the lawsuits or ballot initiative to restore abortion rights. Shes also preparing for a potential patient surge, weighing the possibility of opening a new clinic that just provides abortion pills so that her existing clinics can handle more patients who need a surgical procedure. Shes also in touch with Ohio clinics that are less than an hour away, and may be forced to close if Roe falls, to discuss whether they can do an ultrasound and blood test on patients before sending them to Chelians clinic for the abortion itself. Everything is up in the air, she said. The scramble isnt only affecting abortion clinics. Lisa Harris, an OB-GYN and researcher at the University of Michigan, said hospitals like the one where she works are also forming contingency plans. Ban-wise, were trying to figure out which patients we can still care for, when a pregnancy is a threat to their life, and when well need to make a referral out of state or out of the country, she said, noting that for many Michigan patients, the nearest option may be in Canada. We also need to train people in how to care for people who are self-managing their abortions and prepare for a potential birth surge, and we only have so many operating rooms. Were already at or above capacity most of the time in terms of maternity care. Among the factors that could decide which way the state tips in a post-Roe world are two lawsuits filed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Planned Parenthood that ask the state supreme court to decide whether the Michigan constitution protects abortion. There is also a possibility that new district maps, drawn by an independent panel, help Democrats take control of the state legislature for the first time since the early 1980s and pass pro-abortion rights legislation. Meanwhile, volunteers are gathering signatures to put an abortion rights constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall, and Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel two Democrats who support abortion rights are up for reelection. Nessel is vowing not to bring charges against doctors or patients, while her GOP opponent has said he will enforce the states ban. It's prosecutorial discretion. I don't have to enforce those laws. There's all kinds of laws in the books. Adultery is still a crime here in Michigan, and you know, I haven't enforced that, Nessel told POLITICO. Nessel, though, cant stop the states 83 locally-elected county prosecutors from charging people who provide abortions, and she fears the threat of prosecution will cause doctors to turn patients away even in life-threatening situations that are supposed to be exempt from the ban. What type of doctor is going perform an abortion, even under emergency circumstances, if he or she thinks they are going to be criminally charged, and are going to have to defend themselves? Nessel said. I worry they're just going to let the person die on the table. You're looking at doctors losing their license, you're looking at insurance carriers dropping that physician. Nobody would risk that. Nessel has also refused to defend the states 1931 abortion ban in court, prompting the Republican majority in the state legislature to do so themselves earlier this week. I wish we werent in this position but we are we had to have a defendant, Hornberger said. But if Roe is overturned, we need to have civil conversations about what abortion looks like in the state of Michigan. It would be foolish of us, Republicans or Democrats, as polarizing as this is, to think we can just ignore that 1931 law. Other conservative officials, candidates and activists are divided on what the state needs to do, if anything, to prepare for the potential elimination of abortion rights. Asked whether Michigan should offer more resources to parents if the ban takes effect, Kristina Karamo, the Republican running for secretary of state, argued that wasnt the governments place. I think a lot of institutions within our community, like religious organizations, are great tools to help identify and alleviate those issues, she said. I think oftentimes when we look for government to fix stuff, we cause more harm than good. Some advocacy groups disagree. Students for Life of America, a national anti-abortion rights group with a Michigan chapter, is pushing lawmakers in Lansing to reintroduce legislation that would provide $16 million in funding for pregnancy resource centers often faith-based facilities that discourage people from having abortions and help arrange adoptions. Whitmer vetoed that funding last year. And Tudor Dixon, who is running in the GOP primary to challenge Whitmer this fall and who recently won the endorsement of Right to Life of Michigan, said more funding and law changes are needed, but declined to specify. This state is not providing what it needs to families to make sure young women and young families feel supported enough that they can afford to have a baby, she said. Harris at the University of Michigan and other health care providers in the state argue these discussions are inadequate and that the state is nowhere near ready to handle the ripple effects of its abortion ban taking effect. The people who want to ban abortion want to see more babies born. But I havent seen the same policymakers prepare for that, she said. Theyre not expanding prenatal care. Theyre not expanding maternity care. Theyre not expanding parental leave and other supports that are going to be much more needed in a post-Roe world. With the country poised to become divided into abortion deserts and abortion havens in the next few weeks, only a few states, including Michigan, could conceivably go either way. Rep. Donna Lasinski, the Democratic minority leader of the Michigan state house, told POLITICO that precarity has motivated voters in a way shes never seen evident in the outpouring of residents volunteering for the ballot initiative campaign, donating, and calling her and her colleagues offices to ask what they can do. I think we had gotten so used to, as a nation, the debate about Roe v. Wade, and saw it as just one long argument between a couple that's been married for 50 years and that was going to continue forever, she said. I think that veil has been drawn back. I think folks understand now that someone else isn't going to take care of this for them that they are going to have to stand up and take care of it themselves. May contained a whirlwind of crucial primaries that offered several tea leaves about the directions of the U.S.s two major parties and their chances in November. However, there are still scores of races left to go throughout the summer that will determine nominees in key contests. Here are seven important races that remain ahead of the general election. South Carolinas 1st Congressional District The GOP primary is South Carolinas 1st Congressional District Tuesday is pitting Rep. Nancy Mace against former state Rep. Katie Arrington and marks a test of former President Trumps sway and the value GOP voters place on unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud in 2020. Arrington first ran for Congress in 2018, unseating then-Rep. Mark Sanford in the GOP primary only to lose in the general election. Mace flipped the district back in 2020. Mace did not vote to impeach Trump, but she did blame the former president for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. She also did not object to certifying the results of the 2020 election and voted to refer a criminal contempt case against Trump ally Stephen Bannon to the Justice Department after he shirked a subpoena from the House committee investigating the insurrection. Those decisions infuriated Trump, who endorsed Arrington in February. However, Trump is not rallying in person with Arrington, who is expected to fall short in her challenge to Mace. A Mace win would compound other losses by Trump-backed challengers who focused intensely on 2020 and indicate that GOP primary voters are not willing to rebuke a conservative just over disagreements with Trump. Colorado GOP Senate primary Colorados GOP Senate primary on June 28 will be crucial to any chances Republicans have of unseating Sen. Michael Bennet (D). The two main candidates in the race are Joe ODea, a businessman, and state Rep. Ron Hanks. ODea is running on a more traditional GOP platform, while Hanks is running as a MAGA hardliner, arguing that Trump actually won in 2020 and that all abortions should be illegal. He was also seen near the Capitol the day of the riot there. Story continues Unseating Bennet is already a bit of a reach for the GOP given a blue hue in Colorado that has deepened in recent cycles. However, given the absolutely abysmal environment expected for Democrats this year, Bennet is not completely safe. In a sign that Democrats are growing worried, a left-wing super PAC called Democratic Colorado launched ads hyping up Hankss conservative bona fides, an apparent effort to give him a boost with GOP primary voters. Should Republicans make Colorado competitive, it could at worst force Democrats to spend money to protect what was once thought to be a safe seat and at best pad GOP efforts to win a majority. But if Hanks wins the nomination, Republicans would likely consider the Colorado Senate seat to be out of reach. Mississippis 3rd Congressional District runoff The GOP primary in Mississippis 3rd Congressional District is heading to a runoff after Rep. Michael Guest failed to get a majority of the vote in last Tuesdays primary. Political newcomer Michael Cassidy clinched about 48 percent of the vote in the primary, outrunning Guest by 0.5 percentage points. However, candidates in Missouri progress to a runoff if nobody gets over 50 percent of the vote. Guest is one of the 35 House Republicans who voted last year to create a bipartisan panel to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, and is so far one of the few who has faced electoral consequences over that decision. Guest later explained that he cast the vote because he wanted the panel to investigate whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) bore any responsibility for the security situation on the Capitol that day. Still, Cassidy hammered Guest as a card-carrying member of the Establishment over the vote. Arizona GOP Senate primary Republicans are bullish on their chances of unseating Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly (D), but they wont know who their candidate is until after Aug. 2. The two main candidates are Blake Masters, who worked for PayPal founder and GOP megadonor Peter Thiel and won Trumps endorsement earlier this month, and businessman Jim Lamon. The primary is becoming incredibly bitter, with Masters leaning into a hardline platform and Lamon blasting him as being owned by Big Tech over his ties to Thiel, who was also an early investor in Facebook. State Attorney General Mark Brnovich is also running and anticipated to take a chunk of the vote, but his footing has been weakened after he was savaged by Trump for supposedly not working hard enough to overturn the former presidents loss in Arizona in 2020. The lengthy and bloody primary will allow Kelly to stock up on campaign cash and avoid getting hit as Masters and Lamon slug it out. Its also unclear whether the two candidates hardline stances on issues like guns, the 2020 election and more will hold up in a purple state like Arizona. Missouri GOP Senate primary The Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Roy Blunt (R) should be a safe one for Republicans. But GOP operatives repeatedly lament that former Gov. Eric Greitens (R) is putting it at risk. Greitens has a stubborn polling lead in a primary field that also includes state Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Reps. Vicky Hartzler and Billy Long, with over a quarter of voters also saying in surveys they remain undecided. Any candidate besides Greitens would likely coast to victory given Missouris strong conservative bent. But Greitens carries unique baggage that could put a Senate seat in play for Democrats, even in Missouri. Greitens resigned in disgrace in 2018 over allegations he sexually assaulted his hairdresser, with whom he was having an extramarital affair. An inquiry led by Republicans in the state legislature found the accusations credible. His candidacy is giving Republicans in the state flashbacks to the 2012 Senate candidacy of former Rep. Todd Akin, who infamously said the body has a way of rejecting pregnancies that resulted from legitimate rape. He ended up getting drubbed in the Senate race that year by former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) by over 15 points. Its possible that even Greitens could win in a great Republican year like this, but should he become the nominee on Aug. 2, Republicans would have to make the difficult decision of spending money in the Show-Me State rather than other battlegrounds and of whether to endorse him and tie their brands to his toxic reputation. Wisconsin Democratic Senate primary The Wisconsin Senate seat held by Sen. Ron Johnson (R) is one of Democrats top targets, but the party is mired in a crowded primary that wont be concluded until Aug. 19. Among the top contenders are Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry and state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski. All three are staking out progressive policy stances, and the candidates have largely focused their fire on Johnson, including over past controversial comments on the coronavirus, last years insurrection, Black Lives Matter and more. Those comments, which included suggesting that mouthwash could prevent contraction of COVID-19, make Democrats optimistic that Johnson could be toppled despite the national political environment. However, Johnson has twice run against former Sen. Russ Feingold (D), a titan in Wisconsin politics, and was left for dead by Republicans both times only to win. Should the Democratic primary become bloody, it could help Johnson secure a third term. Wyoming At-Large GOP Congressional primary Wyomings Aug. 16 GOP primary for its sole House seat is already one of the ugliest in the nation and getting uglier. The race pits Rep. Liz Cheney, arguably the biggest intraparty critic of Trump, against attorney Harriet Hageman, who has Trumps backing. Cheney has lambasted Trump over his role in provoking the Jan. 6 riot and serves as the vice chair of the special House committee investigating the insurrection, appearing in prime time Thursday night for the panels first public hearing. Hageman, meanwhile, is tying herself closely to Trump and is leaning heavily on his endorsement, particularly given Cheneys conservative voting record. Trump is anticipated to be heavily involved in Wyomings race, already appearing for one rally with Hageman, and it wouldnt be surprising to see him make at least one more trip to the state before Aug. 16. Unseating Cheney would hand him one of the biggest heads for Trumps mantle. The three-term incumbent is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and her last name rings out in every corner of Wyoming. However, she appears to be on her back foot. An internal poll released by a pro-Hageman super PAC and conducted by pollster Tony Fabrizio, who also does work for Trump, shows Hageman leading Cheney in a primary by a 28-point margin, leading her 56-28. Thats a major jump from the 34-26 lead Hageman had in the same poll in December. Still, Cheney says she views the investigation into the riot as one beyond partisanship. We are absolutely in a moment where we have to make a decision about whether were going to put our love of this country above partisanship, Cheney told CBS News on Sunday. And to me, theres just no gray area in that question. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. More than 60 million in US experiencing temperatures over 100 degrees Tens of millions of residents in the Southwestern U.S. are experiencing dangerous heat, with triple-digit temperatures blanketing much of the region. The most brutal heat is concentrated over Texas, where recording-breaking temperatures are expected in Amarillo, Abilene and possibly Dallas, near 105 degrees. MORE: Scorching heat expected in Southwest: Texas, Oklahoma under advisories In California, Furnace Creek is expected to hit 118 degrees, while Phoenix is predicted to be 113 degrees, and Las Vegas 109 degrees. PHOTO: A man gets airborne on his way into the pool in Palm Springs, Calif., June 11, 2022. (Jay Calderon/the Desert Sun/Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun via USA Today Network) While the heat is expected to ease in the coming days across the Southwest, fire danger in the region will ramp up as strong, gusty winds replace the blistering temperatures. MORE: Megadrought out West expected to intensify, expand east: NOAA Red flag warnings will begin on Sunday from southern Nevada to northern New Mexico. Fire watches have also been issued for portions of Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. PHOTO: A cyclist rides through a park at sunset as temperatures in South Texas continue to top the 100 degree mark in San Antonio, Texas, June 8, 2022. (Eric Gay/AP) More than 85% of the West is experiencing drought conditions, making the fire danger even more of a threat. MORE: Dangerous heat wave in the West won't end any time soon: Latest forecast The scorching heat will then move east, with the brunt of it focused over the center of the country on Monday. Widespread hot air temperatures and humid conditions will produce triple-digit heat index values across much of the Plains and into the South Monday afternoon. It will be feeling like it's 105 to 110 degrees in some cities from Texas and into the Plains as far north as Nebraska and Southern states like Alabama and Tennessee during the peak heat on Monday. On Tuesday, widespread temperatures in the 90s in the Midwest and much of the Southeast. Daily record highs will likely be challenged from Michigan to North and South Carolina by midweek. ABC News' Daniel Amarante and Dan Peck contributed to this report. More than 60 million in US experiencing temperatures over 100 degrees originally appeared on abcnews.go.com A bipartisan group of senators on Sunday announced an agreement had been reached -- though in principle only -- on new legislation meant to address the country's ongoing gun violence, including the recent Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting. The deal, in the works for weeks, has the support of at least 10 Republicans in the Senate, which is the number needed to avoid a filibuster. If passed, the proposal would be the first major gun law to make it through Congress in years. Among other things, the agreement would provide funding for mental health (including behavioral health centers) and incentives for the creation of so-called "red flag" laws to remove firearms from people who are a danger to themselves or others; increase money for school safety; and strengthen the federal background check system as it relates to convicted domestic violence abusers or those with restraining orders. MORE: Lawmakers note 'profile' of mass shooters -- mostly young men -- as they weigh gun compromise Potential gun owners under 21 would also be subject to "an investigative period to review juvenile and mental health records, including checks with state databases and local law enforcement," the bipartisan group said Sunday. Twenty senators released a statement confirming the deal, saying in part: "Today, we are announcing a commonsense, bipartisan proposal to protect America's children, keep our schools safe, and reduce the threat of violence across our country. Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities." PHOTO: Sen. Chris Murphy hugs Erica Lafferty as Sen. Richard Blumenthal looks on during a rally to demand the Senate take action on gun safety in the wake of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Texas in Washington, May 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) The 20 lawmakers -- double the initial bipartisan group who restarted negotiations late last month -- are Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Chris Coons of Delaware, John Cornyn of Texas, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Angus King of Maine, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. Story continues The carefully calibrated changes in the deal -- mixing some modest gun restrictions with a focus on schools and social services -- reflect the evenly divided Senate, requiring any law to attract at least 10 Republican votes. Notably, the new proposal does not address major Democratic priorities such as blocking access to assault-style weapons for people under 21 -- a ban that President Joe Biden had backed in a recent primetime address to the nation but which was taken off the table among the Senate negotiators. This comes despite Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell privately expressing a willingness to support such a move, sources told ABC News. Conservatives have long resisted gun reform, arguing in part that the laws are ineffective and that they trespass the guarantees of the Second Amendment. MORE: Behind the scenes of Congress' gun talks: Fragile optimism for an incremental deal But the rising tide of gun violence -- like the mass shootings in Uvalde and in Buffalo, New York, before that and in Boulder, Colorado, before that; and many more -- had increased the urgency of some kind of proposal, lawmakers involved have said. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York, said Sunday he supported the new agreement, calling it "a good first step," and would be scheduling a vote on it as soon as the legislative text was complete. "We must move swiftly to advance this legislation because if a single life can be saved it is worth the effort," he said. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last week she would take up a Senate bill "if it's life-saving and can make a difference and they have bipartisan support for it, then we would welcome it even though it won't be everything that we want." In a statement Sunday, she said she supported the new deal but that "we are continuing to fight" for broader restrictions such as those on the age to purchase assault weapons. PHOTO: Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Chris Murphy, attend a rally outside the U.S. Capitol to demand the Senate take action on gun safety outside the Capitol in Washington, May 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) A more specific timeline remained unclear and previous such deals show it could be weeks before a draft law is ready, as was the case with the infrastructure package passed last year. A GOP aide involved in the negotiations stressed that the agreement was not on all of the details, which will be critical for Republicans, particularly the firearms-related provisions. One or more of these provisions could be dropped, the aide said. Sen. McConnell on Sunday signaled his tentative support for the talks as well. "The principles they announced today show the value of dialogue and cooperation," he said in a statement. "I continue to hope their discussions yield a bipartisan product that makes significant headway on key issues like mental health and school safety, respects the Second Amendment, earns broad support in the Senate, and makes a difference for our country." MORE: Where do gun reform talks stand in Congress after Biden's address? In a pair of statements, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged that the deal did not align with their own goals but that they believed it would still be a meaningful deterrent to future violence. "It does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction," Biden said, lauding the "tireless work" of the Senate group. "Each day that passes, more children are killed in this country: the sooner it comes to my desk, the sooner I can sign it, and the sooner we can use these measures to save lives," he said. Gun control advocates and anti-gun violence groups likewise backed the announced framework while arguing there was more still to do. "In a less broken society, we would be able to require background checks every single time someone wants to buy a gun, and we would ban assault rifles outright. But if even one life is saved or one attempted mass shooting is prevented because of these regulations, we believe that it is worth fighting for," March for Our Lives co-founder David Hogg, who was a student at the Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in 2018, said in a statement. PHOTO: David Hogg speaks during March for Our Lives in Washington, June 11, 2022. (Leigh Vogel/Getty Images) Former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt 11 years ago that killed six others, on Sunday wrote on social media that she believed the deal was necessary if incomplete. "If carefully drafted and passed into law, this framework would be a lifesaving step forward," she wrote. Pelosi echoed that last week, telling reporters that in her view "it's about guns. And it's about other things, too, but we cannot avoid the fact that it's about guns: their availability, at what age [people can possess them]." The Senate has repeatedly tried and failed to agree on major gun legislation, with talks periodically restarted in the wake of various shootings. The Democratic House separately took up its own gun control measures in the wake of the Uvalde killings, though the Senate has shown little interest in those proposals. With the shadow of polarization looming over the latest negotiations, Republican Sen. Cornyn and Democratic Sen. Murphy -- the latter perhaps the chamber's most outspoken supporter of gun control -- reconvened a group seeking some kind of deal. The lawmakers met remotely and in person, talking via phone and text, including during a brief recess. Biden, having taken a more direct role in previous negotiations important to his administration, this time said he would remain on the sidelines. "It's inconceivable to me that we have not passed significant federal legislation trying to address the tragedy of gun violence in this nation," Murphy told ABC "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl in late May. "The pace of everyday gun violence has dramatically escalated over the past two years." "My hope is that this time is different," Murphy said then. "I get it. Every single time, after one of these mass shootings, there's talks in Washington and they never succeed. But there are more Republicans interested in talking about finding a path forward this time than I have ever seen since Sandy Hook." PHOTO: Senator John Corny speaks to members of the media following the weekly Republican caucus luncheon at the US Capitol in Washington, June 7, 2022. (Bloomberg via Getty Images) Specifics still taking shape With those involved in the deal saying specifics are still being hashed out, some of the senators involved have previously addressed how they would like to see certain provisions implemented -- and they have been open about where disagreements remain, including with funding. Regarding the possible expanded use of juvenile records in background checks, Sen. Tillis said last week: "The biggest problem you have right now with people 18 -- really under 21 -- is you don't have a lot of information that goes back to their juvenile records. So, I think the talk is less about raising the age and more about making sure you have all the information you need to make a decision." Tillis was one of four in a core group of negotiators -- along with Cornyn, Murphy and Sinema -- aiming to strike the right balance on a new law. Negotiators have been assessing how to allow background check access to juvenile records that contain felony or other dangerous offenses. But this has proved one of the most difficult areas in the talks, according to two senators familiar with the matter. Tillis said last week the group was looking at different "engagement models" in states; some already upload juvenile records into a system that would be accessed by a background check. But Tillis said his group was "trying to inventory and figure out" which records to sweep into the federal system. "It's not like we're going to take a huge swath of all juvenile records," he said. "What we're trying to do - the only part of the juvenile record we're interested in are offenses that map to disqualifying convictions as an adult." PHOTO: Sen. Chris Murphy speaks with reporters about ongoing negotiations regarding gun violence legislation in the Senate Subway on Capitol Hill, June 8, 2022. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) Tillis said that in some instances, though, there might be "underlying circumstances, like two kids fighting at a football game" that would have to be separated out as not meriting a flag in a background check. Someone 18 to 21 who might want to purchase an assault rifle would have a the right to adjudicate any disagreement with any background check failure as anyone would in the current system, according to Tillis. Overall funding in the bill could also prove problematic, as members have appeared at odds over whether the billions required to implement the proposed policies would come from new federal funding or taken back from already-allocated funds, such as any leftover from the pandemic-era American Rescue Plan. Cassidy has said he would insist that any new funding be paid for with spending cuts. But Blumenthal, who has been leading negotiations on the program to incentivize states to develop "red flag" laws, previously said that "there is, in my view, very little justification for requiring an offset dollar for dollar. What we're dealing with here is a national crisis that has to be addressed right away with new money, not taking it away from other law enforcement." ABC News' Mariam Khan contributed to this report. Senate group agrees on broad outline of new gun law after Uvalde shooting originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders, and the panel's top Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on February 10, 2021 in Washington, DC. Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images) Sens. Bernie Sanders and Lindsey Graham will square off in an economic policy debate Monday. The debate at 12 p.m. will be streamed on Fox Nation, a subscription video-on-demand service. It is the first between senators in a series meant to "reintroduce the culture of seeking common ground." Sens. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, and Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, will square off on economic policy Monday in a live debate that's the first in a series between leading US senators. The debate will be an unusual duel between the most progressive member of the Senate and a staunch, Trump-supporting conservative from the south. The hour-long event, starting at 12 p.m. on Monday, June 13, will be moderated by FOX NEWS Channel's Bret Baier and will be streamed on Fox Nation, a subscription video-on-demand service. It will also air on Fox News on Saturday, June 18 at 7 p.m. "I think it will be fun," Graham told Roll Call, joking that he agreed to the debate because had "nothing else to do." Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, said he looks forward to "sharp discussion." The goal of the debate series, called "The Senate Project," is to "reintroduce the culture of seeking common ground and consensus that has been the essence of the Senate since it was conceived in 1789," according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, which is launching the series with the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. "We hope it will inspire policymakers to not only make the case for their points of view, but to then work towards the example set by Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator Orrin Hatch for bipartisan bridge-building," the Bipartisan Policy Center's announcement says. While the debate topic is the "state of the US economy," foreign policy and Ukraine will "most certainly" be a part of the conversation, Steve Scully, of the Bipartisan Policy Center, told Insider. Scully said the topic was made broad to give the senators latitude to move in a number of policy directions. Story continues Both senators are former presidential candidates who sit on the Senate Budget Committee, Sanders as chairman and Graham as the top Republican. "I hope it will be fun and hopefully informative," Graham told Roll Call. "I like Bernie, and we'll find out maybe there's some things that even the two of us agree upon." The debate will be held in the Kennedy Institute's full-size replica of the US Senate chamber. Other debates will be held in July at George Washington University and in the fall in Utah. Read the original article on Business Insider A rock in the front left wheel of Perseverance on Sol 343, image was acquired on Feb. 6, 2022 (Sol 343). NASA/JPL-Caltech The Mars Perseverance rover has adopted a pet rock or surprising hitchhiker and has been taking care of it for four months. The "unexpected traveling companion" first hopped a ride on the front left wheel of the rover in February, according to NASA, and has been riding around ever since. So far, it's been transported more than 5.3 miles as the rover transmits images of the Red Planet to Earth. "This rock isn't doing any damage to the wheel, but throughout its (no doubt bumpy!) journey, it has clung on and made periodic appearances in our left Hazcam images," NASA wrote in a statement, adding, "Perseverance's pet rock has seen a lot on its travels If this pet rock could talk, it might tell us about the changes it's noticed as we [traveled] back north through the Octavia E. Butler landing site, and then west, passing the spectacular remains of the former extent of the delta, 'Kodiak,' on our journey to the western Jezero delta." The pet rock, may fall off the wheel at some point and will likely land among rocks that are very different. "As one of our team members quipped this week, 'we might confuse a future Mars geologist who finds it out of place!'" NASA wrote. This isn't the first time a rover picked up a rocky traveling companion, the agency noted. About 18 years ago, the Spirit rover collected a "potato-sized" rock that lodged itself into the rear right wheel and had to be dislodged. And the Curiosity rover occasionally picked up rocks as well. But NASA noted the current Perseverance rock is "on its way to setting Mars hitch-hiking records!" The Perseverance rover landed on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, to "seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth." Since it arrived, it has been tweeting and sending images. Later this month, the Grand Canyon will host a star party that kicks off with a Mars Perseverance presentation on June 18 to learn about the rover from someone who helped build it. Alison Fox is a contributing writer for Travel + Leisure. When she's not in New York City, she likes to spend her time at the beach or exploring new destinations and hopes to visit every country in the world. Follow her adventures on Instagram. MILTON Milton Academy has chosen a 1988 alumna to be its next head of school. Alexandra "Alixe" Callen will join the school July 1, 2023. Her career in education has included work in public and independent schools. She is currently head of school at the St. George's School in Middletown, Rhode Island, a job she has held for the past five years. The school's board of trustees unanimously approved the appointment at the recommendation of a search committee. "Alixe is the right leader at the right time for Milton Academy, said Lisa Donohue, the president of the school's board of trustees. She has proven to be a decisive administrator who values collaboration and she places students at the center of all her work." Callen said she is "humbled and delighted" to be entrusted with the future of the school, which was founded in 1798. "Thirty-five years ago, the Milton faculty challenged me to become a critical thinker, eloquent communicator, and inclusive and thoughtful leader," Callen said in a statement. "The lessons they imparted continue to inspire me every day. To be chosen as the schools next leader is the highest professional honor I can imagine." Callen holds a bachelors degree in American civilization and a master's degree in teaching, both from Brown University; a masters degree in administration, planning and social policy from Harvard University; and a doctorate from Harvard. She was elected to the Harvard Educational Review. Before joining St. Georges, Callen was the upper school director at Lakeside School in Seattle, the principal of Acton-Boxboro Regional High School in Acton, and assistant principal of Needham High School. She has also held a variety of leadership, teaching and research positions. Todd Bland, the current head of school, announced in October he would step down at the end of the 2022-23 academic year. Bland, who is in his 13th year in the job, will remain at the school for the coming year to assist in the transition. Story continues He called Callen a "a tremendous friend and an extraordinary fellow educator." "I simply could not imagine a better next head of school for Milton Academy than Alixe," Bland said in a statement. "She combines the very best qualities of heart and mind, and I am so excited to support her leadership at our wonderful institution." This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: New Milton Academy head of school is a 1988 graduate Spring Creek Association Committee of Architecture will meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday, June 13, at the Fairway Community Center. The panel is scheduled to approve the first reading of rules and regulations for home occupations based on a May 27 draft. They will also consider a request for a home occupation permit for Water Canyon Pottery at 353 Spring Creek Place; a variance request for 428 Smokey Drive; a boundary line adjustment between 376 and 382 Country Club Parkway; and three requests for livestock permits. Elko City Council will meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, at Elko City Hall. The council will consider approving a map from Legion Construction and Development LLC for 19 townhomes to be built at the corner of Lamoille Highway and Colt drive. The council will also consider an agreement with Nevada Gold Mines LLC to install a mural on the Citys Ruby Vista water tank paying homage and respect to Native Americans; and awarding American Rescue Plan Act funding to: Holiday Motel, $15,000; Budget Motel, $25,000; Kyra Nielsen (cosmetologist), $5,000; Duncan LittleCreek Gallery, $10,000; Nevada Outdoor Schools, $20,000; and FISH, $35,000. Elko County School District Board of Trustees will meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, at 850 Elm St. The board will consider conducting a surplus sale; approving changes to fiscal management policy; and awarding academic credit for completion of Health Science CTE course. Elko County Board of Commissioners will meet in Elko and beyond Wednesday, June 15. The board will convene in Elko at 7 a.m., then recess and reconvene at 11 a.m. in Jackpot and 3 p.m. in Wells. Commissioners will consider providing one-time emergency funding to the China Spring Youth Camp for fiscal year 2023 in the amount of $33,068, along with other counties in Nevada. Elko County Planning Commission meets at 5:15 p.m. Thursday, June 16, in the Nannini Administration Building. The panel will conduct a public hearing on a request from Chris John and Melanie Mitchell to rezone a parcel in Ryndon for Agricultural-Residential use. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Glover Teixeira (left) defends the UFC light heavyweight title against Jiri Prochazka (Getty Images) The UFC returns to Singapore this evening for a stacked card that will be topped by two title fights after a rematch of one of the most scintillating clashes in the history of mixed martial arts. In the main event of UFC 275, Jiri Prochazka challenges Glover Teixeira for the light heavyweight title, which Teixeira (33-7) won late last year to become the second-oldest champion ever in the UFC. The Brazilian, 42, submitted Jan Blachowicz to claim the belt, which challenger Prochazka (28-3-1)will look to take from the jiu-jitsu specialist tonight in just the third fight of the Czechs UFC run. In the co-main event, Valentina Shevchenko (22-3) is out to continue her dominance atop the flyweight division as she defends her title against Taila Santos (19-1), who is a significant underdog here despite her strong record. That bout follows a rematch between former strawweight champions Joanna Jedrzejczyk (16-4) and Zhang Weili (21-3), who clashed in one of the greatest womens fights of all time in 2020. Zhang edged a split decision on that occasion to retain the belt which she has since lost but both fighters were seen as winners by fans after producing a contest that has gone down as one of the best the sport has ever seen. Follow UFC 275 live, below. UFC 275 LIVE Glover Teixeira (C) vs Jiri Prochazka (light heavyweight title) Valentina Shevchenko def. Taila Santos via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 49-46) Zhang Weili def. Joanna Jedrzejczyk via second-round KO (spinning back fist, 2:28) Jake Matthews def. Andre Fialho via second-round KO (2:24) Jack Della Maddalena def. Ramazan Emeev via first-round TKO (punches, 2:32) Plus updates and results from the UFC 275 prelims UFC 275 LIVE 05:33 , Alex Pattle The most popular narrative going into the main event is that of the griseled veteran taking on the young lion. While there is sense in that perspective, it is not entirely reflective of the reality here. Yes, Teixeira (33-7) has been around the block; he could probably drive the route with his eyes closed, unadvisable as that may be in both metaphorical and literal contexts. But to suggest that he is here simply to allow Prochazkas coronation would be unfair. The 42-year-old Brazilian has been the underdog in a number of bouts on the six-fight win streak that he will ride into Singapore, and he has defied the odds continually most recently by submitting Jan Blachowicz in the second round to win the title in October. Story continues That said, the salient narrative here also does a disservice to Prochazka (28-3). The Czech challenger does have youth on his side at 29, but he would be far from the youngest champion in UFC history if he were to win, and he garnered significant experience outside of MMAs flagship promotion before signing in 2020. In fact, Prochazka held world titles in other organisations including Rizin before joining the UFC. Of course claiming gold here, in just his third fight in the UFC, would represent a remarkably rapid rise up the rankings, but the Czech has honed his craft effectively over 10 years as a professional mixed martial artist. What he has shown with 25 knockouts from his 28 wins is that he has a devastating and versatile striking offence that will pose a significant threat to Teixeira. He has won his last 12 fights, securing victory with stoppages in his last 10. The champion, however, is capable of finishing any foe if he can implement his grappling game. The quickness with which he forced Blachowicz to tap out last year was all the evidence that anyone should need. In essence: A Prochazka win feels the likeliest outcome, but Teixeira has more than earnt the right to be taken seriously here. UFC 275 LIVE 05:31 , Alex Pattle Prochazka makes his way to the ring, full of energy. Now here comes Teixeira to the sound of Welcome To The Jungle by Guns N Roses. UFC 275 LIVE 05:21 , Alex Pattle One fight left: the main event. Glover Teixeira defends the UFC light heavyweight title against Jiri Prochazka. UFC 275 LIVE 05:17 , Alex Pattle Valentina Shevchenko def. Taila Santos via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 49-46). Some boos inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium. When the 49-46 scorecard was read out, it seemed like it would be Santos. UFC 275 LIVE 05:13 , Alex Pattle Shevchenko vs Santos Round 5 Final round. Santos again has the back of Shevchenko. The champion is able to slip free, and the flyweights stand. A big one-two from Shevchenko, who may well need a finish here to retain her title! Now Shevchenko secures a takedown. Shes on top of Santos, wearing down on the Brazilian. Shevchenko ends the round and fight on top. Lets see what the scorecards look like... UFC 275 LIVE 05:09 , Alex Pattle Shevchenko vs Santos Round 4 A clash of heads has led to some severe swelling around the right eye of Santos. Shevchenko comes forward with a blitzing series of punches, attempting to seize momentum here. UFC 275 LIVE 05:01 , Alex Pattle Shevchenkos corner: You have to take this over now. Do not go down. Santos corner: Shes dead. Shes gone. UFC 275 LIVE 05:00 , Alex Pattle Shevchenko vs Santos Round 3 Santos could be two rounds up here. She begins Round 3 without her mouthguard in, and has to be helped by the referee. Shevchenko soon secures a body-lock takedown, but Santos bounces right back up to her feet! Now Santos gets a takedown of her own, and once more the challenger takes the back! Shes going for a rear naked choke with a minute left in this round... but Sehevchenko is able to survive again! UFC 275 LIVE 04:54 , Alex Pattle Shevchenko vs Santos Round 2 Santos with a takedown against the fence! Shes in Shevchenkos full guard. Shevchenko is going for an omoplata, the crowd cheers in anticipation... but Santos escapes! Santos isnt able to do enough with her top position, and the referee stands up the fighters. Beautiful trip by Shevchenko, which leads to a scramble that ends with Santos in full guard again! UFC 275 LIVE 04:47 , Alex Pattle Shevchenko vs Santos Round 1 Santos comes forward with a flurry of punches but is caught in a body lock. Shevchenko slips while trying to take down Santos, and the Brazilian is able to take the back! She seeks a rear naked choke... Shevchenko defends well against the hold, but the champion is eating some clean punches here. Shevchenko throws some punches of her own before the buzzer! UFC 275 LIVE 04:43 , Alex Pattle Here we go! UFC 275 LIVE 04:37 , Alex Pattle Santos is out first. Now Shevchenko to a great reaction in Singapore. UFC 275 LIVE 04:32 , Alex Pattle Now its time for the first of tonights two title fights. Valentina Shevchenko (22-3) defends the womens flyweight belt against Taila Santos (19-1). Shevchenko is seeking a seventh straight successful title defence. UFC 275 LIVE 04:26 , Alex Pattle Joanna announces her retirement! The bell is still ringing in my head. It was a good one. Im retired guys, thank you. Dana [White, UFC president], so sorry I let you down, man. Guys, its been 20 years, Im turning 35 this year. Ive been training two decades. I appreciate you all, I love you guys. The Pole leaves her gloves in the ring. UFC 275 LIVE 04:23 , Alex Pattle A knockout of the year contender there. UFC 275 LIVE 04:20 , Alex Pattle Zhang Weili def. Joanna Jedrzejczyk via second-round knockout (spinning back fist, 2:28). UFC 275 LIVE 04:18 , Alex Pattle Zhang vs Jedrzejczyk Round 2 Zhang receives a body kick then lands a right hand and body kick combination of her own. And now Zhang knocks out Joanna cold with a spinning back fist!!! Wow!!! UFC 275 LIVE 04:14 , Alex Pattle Zhang vs Jedrzejczyk Round 1 Zhang is in mount this time and throws some slicing elbows! She already leads 47-1 in ground strikes, and her tally is rapidly rising with a minute to go in this opening round! Somehow Joanna again manages to create the space to stand... Zhang overcommits on a right hand and eats one from Joanna. Zhang catches a body kick and takes down Joanna right on the buzzer! UFC 275 LIVE 04:12 , Alex Pattle Zhang vs Jedrzejczyk Round 1 Joanna lands a leg kick, and Zhang comes over the top with an overhand right. This time Joanna tags the Chinawoman in a close-range exchange of punches. Now a heavy low kick sees Zhang momentarily drop to the mat. Shes quickly back up and takes down Joanna! Zhang starts pouring on hard punches. Joanna does well to create enough space to stand, before somewhat of a mutual takedown between the former champions! UFC 275 LIVE 04:08 , Alex Pattle Here we go! UFC 275 LIVE 04:05 , Alex Pattle Jedrzejczyk sustained a nasty head injury in her loss to Zhang (Getty) UFC 275 LIVE 04:00 , Alex Pattle Zhang won the first fight via split decision. Zhang Weili (right) and Joanna Jedrzejczyk trade shots in their first fight (Getty) UFC 275 LIVE 03:54 , Alex Pattle Were racing through this main card... or rather, the fighters are! Its already time for arguably the most-anticipated bout of the night: Zhang Weili vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk 2. The womens strawweight contest is a rematch of the pairs 2020 meeting, which is deemed by most to be one of the greatest MMA fights of all time. UFC 275 LIVE 03:50 , Alex Pattle Jake Matthews def. Andre Fialho via second-round knockout (2:24). UFC 275 LIVE 03:48 , Alex Pattle Fialho vs Matthews Round 2 More of the same from Round 1... Fialho applies pressure but is made to pay for it... Some wide hooks land for Matthews, and Fialhos legs buckle! Surely hell be going down soon... He does! Matthews picks his shots well and crumples Fialho against the fence! Its a right straight that does the job in the end! What a performance. UFC 275 LIVE 03:45 , Alex Pattle Fialho vs Matthews Round 1 Fialho comes forward in the early phases. Matthews with some leg kicks to try to keep his opponent at bay. Matthews lands a glancing right overhand while leaping forward, before going southpaw. Hes starting to tag Fialho with counter shots as the Portuguese backs him up... A couple of heavy blows get through... But Fialho fires back and drops Matthews! He ends the round on top of the Australian! UFC 275 LIVE 03:39 , Alex Pattle Next up are Andre Fialho and Jake Matthews in a welterweight match-up. UFC 275 LIVE 03:27 , Alex Pattle Jack Della Maddalena def. Ramazan Emeev via first-round TKO (punches, 2:32). UFC 275 LIVE 03:25 , Alex Pattle Della Maddalena vs Emeev Round 1 Lots of feints from both fighters early on. Emeev soon lands a takedown and quickly looks for a DArce choke... Della Maddalena escapes and the pair stand! Della Maddalena begins to land punches at will, and Emeev drops to his knees and shells up after a left hook to the liver... Della Maddalena with a few more punches, and the referee steps in! Its all over! UFC 275 LIVE 03:15 , Alex Pattle Jack Della Maddalena and Ramazan Emeev will get the main card started with a welterweight clash. UFC 275 LIVE 03:01 , Alex Pattle The main card is up next! UFC 275 LIVE 03:01 , Alex Pattle Josh Culibao def. SeungWoo Choi via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28). UFC 275 LIVE 02:58 , Alex Pattle Choi vs Culibao Round 3 The fighters embrace. Now back to it. They exchange hard body kicks and low kicks. More fireworks at punching range! Choi misses with a spinning back fist, then clinches Culibao against the cage wall. Culibao reverses the position at once, before the pair hit the mat. Choi is able to take the back with 90 seconds left on the clock... he goes for a rear naked choke! Culibao slips out of the hold twice, and the final buzzer sounds! What a contest. UFC 275 LIVE 02:53 , Alex Pattle Choi vs Culibao Round 2 Culibao switches stances back and forth. A right overhand busts open Chois bottom lip. Choi is sent down again! Its a heavy knockdown, but somehow he manages to gather his senses at once to continue... Choi is even throwing head kicks remarkable. He kicks low, too. UFC 275 LIVE 02:46 , Alex Pattle Choi vs Culibao Round 1 Culibao presses forward. He grazes Choi with a head kick, before the featerweights trade stern punches at the same time... Choi seemed to come off worse in that exchange... and hes on the wrong end of three brutal left hooks in a matter of moments! Down he goes... back up... down... back up... He somehow manages to survive, then nails Culibao with an elbow and flings a flurry of punches at the Australian while storming forward! What a round!!! UFC 275 LIVE 02:30 , Alex Pattle What a UFC debut for Maheshate! Next up: Featherweights SeungWoo Choi and Josh Culibao go head to head. UFC 275 LIVE 02:21 , Alex Pattle Maheshate def. Steve Garcia via first-round knockout (punch, 1:14). UFC 275 LIVE 02:19 , Alex Pattle Maheshate vs Garcia Round 1 The men soon start brawling, and Maheshate puts down Garcia with a counter left hand! Garcia reacts well, grabbing Maheshates legs and pushing the Chinaman back to the fence. Maheshate gets free... and faceplants Garcia with a perfectly-timed, short right straight!!! Its all over! Huge KO win for Maheshate! UFC 275 LIVE 02:15 , Alex Pattle Maheshate is the UFCs third-youngest fighter, at 22 years old. UFC 275 LIVE 02:04 , Alex Pattle Maheshate and Steve Garcia square off in a lightweight bout next! UFC 275 LIVE 02:03 , Alex Pattle Brendan Allen def. Jacob Malkoun via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28). A fortunate result for the American? Quite possibly. UFC 275 LIVE 02:00 , Alex Pattle Allen vs Malkoun Round 3 Allen secures a takedown at once and goes submission-hunting! Hes a bit overeager, though, and Malkoun slips free. The Australian drags Allen to the mat before long, then digs an elbow into the Americans head. Allen again scrambles and is able to get back to his feet! Its a messy situation, however, and hes half-sitting on Malkoun while landing elbows! UFC 275 LIVE 01:53 , Alex Pattle Allen vs Malkoun Round 2 The middleweights trade strikes on the feet for a while, before Malkoun shoots for a single-leg takedown. He succeeds with Allen against the cage wall. Allens cornermen shout advice to him, and he is again able to stand. Malkoun secures another takedown, though, and moves into half-guard at once. A scramble ends with Allen in side control, however, landing some slicing elbows to the head of Malkoun! UFC 275 LIVE 01:48 , Alex Pattle Allen vs Malkoun Round 1 Allen escapes the position and stands again. He then throws Malkoun beautifully and lands in mount immediately! Malkoun scrambles well and grabs a leg as he stands. Allen briefly looks for a guillotine choke and drags Malkoun down to the mat with him. Allen is able to escape, however. UFC 275 LIVE 01:47 , Alex Pattle Allen vs Malkoun Round 1 Hard outside leg kick by Allen, the taller fighter. He just misses with an overhand right and eats a left hook on the counter from Malkoun! Solid jab by Malkoun, too. A short left hook lands for Allen, who then gets overzealous and misses while lunging in. Malkoun times a single-leg takedown and gets Allen down against the fence. Some decent defence by Allen, before he hits the canvas. Allen is soon back to his feet but is then tripped! Malkoun takes the back. UFC 275 LIVE 01:33 , Alex Pattle The right result, as Indy Sport has it. Next up: Brendan Allen takes on Jacob Malkoun in a middleweight contest. UFC 275 LIVE 01:32 , Alex Pattle Kyung Ho Kang def. Batgerel Danaa via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28). UFC 275 LIVE 01:30 , Alex Pattle Kang vs Danaa Round 3 The bantamweights throw jabs at the same time; Kangs is quicker and more accurate. A fierce body kick from him, too. The South Korean lands a low kick then raises his guard to keep out Danaas punches. Again Kangs jab is sharper than the Mongolians. Kang has really come on as this fight has progressed. He lands a clubbing right hook to the head of a crouching Danaa, who is getting increasingly desperate. Danaa has sported swelling on the right side of his face since early in the fight, and hes now badly bruised on the other side, too. Danaa goes for a jumping knee well after the final buzzer! UFC 275 LIVE 01:24 , Alex Pattle Kang vs Danaa Round 2 Kang checks an inside leg kick. He lands an outside low kick of his own, then finds the target with a precise jab! That stuns Danaa briefly, but Kang misses with a follow-up flying knee. Danaa lands a front kick to the chest of Kang. Now he jabs to the body, before missing with a right hook as Kang rolls under the strike. Kang goes for a body lock, but Danaa is able to slip free and deny his opponent the takedown. Another laser jab connects for Kang, but Danaa fires back with a tidy combination of punches. Again Danaa fends off a body-lock takedown attempt, and he retaliates with a knee to Kang. Kang appeared to be grounded at the time of that knee... If he was, then that was an illegal strike by Danaa. But the referee dismisses Kangs appeal... UFC 275 LIVE 01:18 , Alex Pattle Kang vs Danaa Round 1 The bantamweights trade leg kicks. Lots of circling from Danaa as Kang fights on the front foot. Danaa starts to put together some punch combinations to push back his opponent. A heavy jab connects to the ribs connects for Danaa, who then catches Kangs attention upstairs with a right hand. Now another an overhand right! Danaa kicks low. He stays light on his feet, then snaps back Kangs head with a stiff jab! Danaa has Kang hurt late in this opening round, but Kang is able to make it to the buzzer despite eating a knee to the head while crouching against the fence! UFC 275 LIVE 01:10 , Alex Pattle Rogerio Bontorin and Manel Kapes flyweight bout, which was scheduled for the main card this evening, has been cancelled due to a kidney issue that has hospitalised Bontorin, per MMA Fighting. Andre Fialho vs Jake Matthews may replace that contest on the main card, having originally been scheduled as a prelim bout. Next up, in any case, is Kyung Ho Kang vs Batgerel Danaa at bantamweight. UFC 275 LIVE 01:01 , Alex Pattle Silvana Gomez Juarez def. Liang Na via first-round knockout (punches, 1:22). Joselyne Edwards def. Ramona Pascual via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28). UFC 275 LIVE Sunday 12 June 2022 00:59 , Alex Pattle The prelims are under way! Well have round-by-round updates from here on out! Firstly, though, a recap of the early prelim results... UFC 275 LIVE Saturday 11 June 2022 22:47 , Alex Pattle The UFC returns to Singapore this evening for a stacked card that will be topped by two title fights after a rematch of one of the most scintillating clashes in the history of mixed martial arts. In the main event of UFC 275, Jiri Prochazka challenges Glover Teixeira for the light heavyweight title, which Teixeira won late last year to become the second-oldest champion ever in the UFC. The Brazilian, 42, submitted Jan Blachowicz to claim the belt, which challenger Prochazka will look to take from the jiu-jitsu specialist tonight in just the third fight of the Czechs UFC run. In the co-main event, Valentina Shevchenko is out to continue her dominance atop the flyweight division as she defends her title against Taila Santos, who is a significant underdog here despite her strong record. That bout follows a rematch between former strawweight champions Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Zhang Weili, who clashed in one of the greatest womens fights of all time in 2020. Zhang edged a split decision on that occasion to retain the belt which she has since lost but both fighters were seen as winners by fans after producing a contest that has gone down as one of the best the sport has ever seen. Arrest warrants have been issued for 46 members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University of New Hampshire after an alleged hazing at an event in April. Few details were released, but the Durham Police Department said Friday that they had been alerted to an incident that occurred at the SAE chapter house on April 13 during an event for new members. A spokesperson for the University of New Hampshire told the Daily News Sunday that school officials had been made aware of the incident by the fraternitys national headquarters and immediately notified the Durham Police Department. We have cooperated with police throughout the investigation and the fraternity was interim suspended pending the outcome of the police investigation, the spokesperson said. We take any allegation of hazing very seriously, and now that the police investigation is complete, we will be initiating a formal conduct process. The national Sigma Alpha Epsilon organization also said that it launched its own investigation after hearing about the allegations, but has paused to allow police to do their work. We are fully cooperating with the local authorities investigation and have urged all of our members to do the same, the group said Saturday. Sigma Alpha Epsilon denounces all acts of hazing and misconduct that do not represent the fraternitys values defined by our creed, The True Gentleman. As of Friday, 10 members Seth Burdick, Benjamin Chase, Robert Doherty, Daniel Fachiol, Charles Farrah, Robert Hardy, Jr., Oliver Jacques, Gabriel Kwan, Mason Steele and Colby Travis have been arrested and released with summonses. They are due back in court on July 13. All were charged with hazing and face a fine of up to $1,200. A spokesperson for the Strafford County Attorneys Office did not return a request for updates from the Daily News Sunday. Walhalla High School senior Hayden Laye declaimed statistic after statistic underscoring the high level of gun violence in South Carolina and around the nation in an impassioned speech for more than a hundred Upstate residents who gathered in downtown Greenville Saturday afternoon to advocate for gun reform. The marchers were among hundreds that took to the streets across the nation Saturday calling on lawmakers to take action on gun reform. There have been 13 mass shootings in the state of South Carolina since the beginning of the year, the fifth most of any state in the entire union, Laye told the crowd, citing data from Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks mass shootings in the U.S. Gov. Henry McMaster and lawmakers in Columbia have blood on their hands. Dozens of parents, educators and students gathered at One City Plaza in downtown Greenville for the rally and marched down North Main Street to the Peace Center, many chanting gun safety now. Laye told The Greenville News he organized the rally after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas at Robb Elementary School last month that left 19 students and two teachers dead. He organized a Facebook group, South Carolina for Gun Reform, that now has 700 members for nonpartisan advocates calling for gun reform laws like universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons. Supporters for gun control marched in downtown Greenville on June 11, 2022. Hayden Laye was one of the event organizers for the march. We are calling for basic measures like universal background checks which are supported by almost 90% of Americans, Laye told the crowd. Yet 51 senators in the United States Senate are sitting on their butts doing nothing while children are dying. Roughly a dozen Upstate residents spoke during the demonstration, calling upon others to contact their local legislators and vote in the upcoming primary on June 14 for representatives who support gun safety measures. It wasn't just Uvalde, it was also Buffalo, said Miles Hampton, a 27-year-old Converse College graduate from Spartanburg. I saw 10 of my fellow African Americans being killed, simply just for shopping and for being Black. Story continues Miles Hampton of Spartanburg talks about gun control before the march. Hamptons mother, Cassie Moore, who also attended the rally, is an educator and librarian of Seneca and his father is an assistant principal. He told The Greenville News hes been blessed to not be impacted by gun violence thus far, but he doesnt want to see his family be killed. Supporters for gun control marched in downtown Greenville on June 11, 2022. Cassie Moore talks about her support for gun control. This whole cycle of gun violence has to end right here and right now, Hampton said during the rally. Even if these officials in South Carolina don't want to listen, we're going to still push to actually make a change, because I'm going to take my thoughts and prayers to the voting booth. Moore also spoke during the event, decrying the call to arm teachers in schools as a solution discussed by public officials. Just last week at an event at FR8yard in Spartanburg, Gov. McMaster called for putting law enforcement officers in every classroom. Later, McMaster spokesman Brian Symmes said McMaster meant to say an armed officer in every school as opposed to every classroom. Arm me with resources to teach my kids, Moore said to the crowd Saturday. Give me the resources so I can teach my kids about the value of human life, because every time these things happen and nothing gets done, all these kids know is that my life is not valuable, your life is not valuable, and we have to stop that kind of conversation. Moore said she didnt want a gun in her school. I didn't choose this career for that, she said. I want to arm my students with the knowledge. That's my weapon. During the event, the crowd often chanted vote them out in response to comments about state legislators and public officials' inactive measures on gun safety. Supporters for gun control marched in downtown Greenville on June 11, 2022. You have a chance to do that this week, Laye said in reference to the state and local primary election on June 14. You have great choices this year, go to SCVotes.gov and register, get 10 other people registered and get to the polls this week and go to the polls in November and vote them out. Gov. McMaster told reporters during a visit to North Charleston last week that he doesnt support President Joe Bidens proposed gun control measures for a ban on assault weapons and raising the age for people to purchase firearms, saying it could infringe on Second Amendment rights. However, the governor does support a proposal from state Sen. Dick Harpootlian to increase penalties for people who unlawfully possess guns. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joe Cunningham told the Spartanburg Herald-Journal last week after the event at FR8yard that Gov. McMasters previous promises to put resource officers in schools have failed. "I'm not interested in playing politics when it comes to protecting our kids," Cunningham said. "We know what we need to do to curb this senseless violence make it harder for people who want to cause harm to get access to guns by closing the Charleston loophole, expanding background checks and raising the age to purchase rifles." The loophole refers to a federal law that allows gun purchases to move forward by default after three business days even if a background check has not been completed. During Saturdays event, Rector Furman Buchanan of St. Peters Episcopal Church in Greenville spoke about holding legislative workshops for members of his parish and encouraging them to reach out to their elected officials. He said the workshops were born following a sermon about gun violence during Memorial Day weekend after the Uvalde shooting and 14 others around the country. Buchanan told the Greenville News it was the sermon he received the most positive feedback on in roughly 12 years of preaching. I believe this is a clear-cut moral issue and it calls for people of faith to speak out, he said. Prayers arent just thoughts in our minds, but the actions we take. Our people are upset and motivated. Kathryn Casteel is an investigative reporter with The Greenville News and can be reached at KCasteel@gannett.com or on Twitter @kathryncasteel. This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Gun control rally held in Greenville ahead of primary election An aerial view of Whitsun Reef, Spratly Islands, South China Sea imaged 24 March 2021. Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2021) China launched a crewless ship capable of carrying dozens of drones. The ship, named Zhu Hai Yun, uses an artificial intelligence system to navigate autonomously. Beijing has touted it as a maritime research tool, but experts suggest it has potential as a military vessel. China has launched the world's first crewless drone carrier that uses artificial intelligence to navigate autonomously in open water. Beijing has officially described it as a maritime research tool, but some experts have said the ship has the potential to be used as a military vessel. The autonomous ship, the Zhu Hai Yun (pictured here) is around 290 feet long, 45 feet wide, and 20 feet deep and can carry dozens of air, sea, and submersible drones equipped with different observation instruments, according to the shipbuilder, CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipping Co. It describes the vessel as "epoch making" and the "world's first intelligent unmanned system mother ship." "The most immediate benefit to China is likely data collection," Matthew Funaiole, senior fellow of China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Insider. "From a purely science standpoint, which is the angle China is promoting, we could see Chinese drones (both surface and subsurface, and launched from the Zhu Hai Yun) contributing to disaster mitigation, environmental monitoring, etc." However, the drone mothership could also be used by China's military to gather intelligence in the contested South China Sea, which several countries have made competing territorial claims over. In recent years, China has made increasingly assertive claims of sovereignty over the sea, and has been building up its military presence. "When dealing with China, we rarely have perfect insight into their intentions, but as we have seen with its activities in the South China Sea, scientific ventures can be a precursor or otherwise support military objectives," Funaiole said. Story continues "Technology, especially information collection systems, often have dual use applications. Data collected by China from autonomous systems could aid with surveillance, domain awareness, help PLA [People's Liberation Army] submarines navigate, enhance China's ASW [anti-submarine warfare] capabilities, etc." The ship was first unveiled in May, but is expected to be delivered by the end of 2022 after completing sea trials, according to the South China Morning Post. Unmanned platforms could be the "future of warfare" The vessel uses the world's first AI system called Intelligent Mobile Ocean Stereo Observing System, developed by the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, according to the South China Morning Post. The ship will be controlled remotely, and can travel at a maximum speed of 18 knots, or around 20 miles per hour, according to the shipbuilder. Chen Dake, the director of the laboratory, told the state-run Science and Technology Daily in 2021 that the ship is a new "marine species" that will revolutionize ocean observation. China is already the world's biggest shipbuilder, and has ambitions to become a "maritime great power". Although this vessel's capabilities and uses remain to be seen, militaries worldwide have increasingly been focusing on developing drones and unmanned vehicles. Funaiole noted that China has invested considerable resources into various unmanned platforms, such as drones and autonomous vehicles, to strengthen the position of its navy. "This will be part of the future of warfare," he said. Read the original article on Business Insider Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Former President Donald Trump has once again created tensions within Trumpworld over a recent campaign endorsement. This time, Trumps backing of Alabama Senate hopeful Katie Britt has enraged allies, following the ex-president pulling his endorsement from Britts GOP primary challenger Rep. Mo Brooks. Katie Britt, on the other hand, is a fearless America First Warrior, Trump wrote in a late Friday evening statement. Katie is an Incredible Fighter for the people of Alabama. Mo Brooks Barely Hangs On to Get to Runoff With Katie Britt in Alabama Senate Race Yet, that endorsement didnt leave all of Trumpworld willing to back Britt. This is a gut punch, Fox News host Mark Levin wrote on Trumps Truth Social platform. Very disappointing. Britt is a McConnell-supported RINO praised by the head of the Alabama Democrat Party. I hope Mo [Brooks] can pull it off. Lord knows we need his conservative voice and vote in the Senate. The Fox News host would later double down, calling Britt a disaster while citing an article from Breitbart that alleges the now Trump-backed candidate surrounds herself with never Trumpers. Similarly, former Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson shared that same article while blasting Trump, writing, This Katie Britt? Of course, he did. These Ultra-MAGA Candidates Found Out Loving Trump Isnt a Golden Ticket It didnt stop there. Pro-Trump writer Ryan Girdusky responded to the Trump endorsement, tweeting, Oh fuck off. Mo is the one. A Britt campaign spokesperson didnt return The Daily Beasts request for comment on Sunday afternoon. Within Trumps Friday night endorsement of Britt, the former president acknowledged the criticism of hardcore MAGA Republicans. The opposition says Katie is close to Mitch McConnell, but actually, she is notin fact, she believes that McConnell put Mike Durant in the race to stop her, which is very possibly true, Trump said of Durant, an Army veteran, who finished third in the initial primary race. Story continues The endorsement of Britt comes at a critical time for both campaigns. The primary runoff is in less than two weeks after neither candidate could secure 50 percent of the vote in the primary race. In April 2021, Trump endorsed Brooks, only to revoke the endorsement after Brooks urged Trump supporters to move on from claims that the 2020 election was stolen. In his Friday statement, Trump accused Brooks, whom Britt is billing as a Republican establishment candidate, of going woke at his rally in Cullman, Alabama. Instead of denouncing the Voter Fraud in the Election, Mo lectured the crowd of 63,000 people, saying, Put that behind you, put that behind you, meaning that, in effect, forget the Rigged Election and go on to the future, Trump fumed. His words caused me to withdraw my Endorsement, and Mo has been wanting it back ever sincebut I cannot give it to him! Since the Trump statement, Brooks has fired back, claiming that Trump was conned by establishment Republican types, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. This is weird: last time Donald Trump talked about Katie Britt, he said she was unqualified for the Senate, Brooks said. Donald Trump is the only man in American politics who could get conned by Mitch McConnell twice in an Alabama Senate race. This isnt the first time Trumpworld has pushed back hard on an endorsement from Mar-a-Lago. Trumpworld Goes Into Meltdown After Trump Endorses Dr. Oz After Trump backed Dr. Mehmet Oz, Trumpworld allies had a meltdown over the former president supporting the Turkish-American TV star. Wait, one pro-Trump pundit said. Is there anything conservative about Dr. Oz? Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. (Georgia Bureau of Investigations) Georgia officials have said a one-year-old baby has been shot to death, after authorities issued an amber alert warning the child was in extreme danger. Baby Jaquari has died. The Newton County Sheriffs Office is handling the investigation, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations said on Sunday morning. Fox 5 reported that Darian Javaris Bennett, the suspect accused of kidnapping Jaquari Bennett, fatally shot the child before turning the gun on himself. The local news outlet said Darian Bennett also killed the childs mother at her home and injured the babys grandmother. I don't mean to sound like a radical in our age of staunch political side-taking, but I think an assassination plot against a U.S. Supreme Court justice is a mighty horrific thing that should outrage everyone. It's the same way I think we should react universally to attack on the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob. Both are attacks on our democracy, and neither should be downplayed, glossed over or politicked away. Lets not mince words in describing the early Wednesday arrest of the man, identified in court records as Nicholas John Roske of California, near the Maryland home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The United States Attorney for the District of Maryland said Roske faces charges of attempted murder of a Supreme Court justice. This was an assassination plot, targeting a member of one of the three branches of our federal government, reportedly over the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned. It struck me as a significant and horrifying development in a country that continues to see examples of boiling-hot political rhetoric becoming acts, or potential acts, of political violence. But the reaction to the arrest outside Kavanaughs home felt muted, particularly among my fellow liberals. Bipartisan outrage at political violence If were outraged about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump and we should be apoplectically outraged, and paying close attention to the House select committee hearings that started Thursday night then the targeting of a Supreme Court justice should draw widespread shock as well. Law enforcement officers stand guard as protesters march past Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's home on June 8, 2022 in Chevy Chase, Maryland. An armed man was arrested near Kavanaugh's home on June 8. It should be the kind of thing where we all stand up and say: This is horrible. This should never happen. Not to anyone. Whether its a planned attack on the judiciary or a full-on domestic terrorist attack on the seat of our democracy, we have to have lines that, when crossed, generate a sense of unified disgust. Instead, it seems we just have lines we stand behind. Story continues Health insurer delayed her MRI. Meanwhile, the cancer that would kill her was growing. As U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell called for the House to pass a Senate-approved Supreme Court security bill, I saw people on social media express outrage that Republicans were pushing swift legislative action after the arrest of an armed man outside Kavanaughs home when they showed no such urgency following the horrific Uvalde elementary school shooting. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., says a nationwide abortion ban is possible. Some tried to downplay the arrest because the man the one carrying the gun and the zip ties and the knife, the one who traveled all the way from California called 911 and reported himself rather than acting on what he claimed was his plan. Anger can't lead us to excuse this Im angry, beyond measure, at the way Republicans fight even the slightest gun-control initiative. But that doesnt mean their desire to protect Supreme Court justices is wrong. We can be mad at one thing without equating it to something else. Too many guns = Too much gun violence. Why can't we draw a line between these two points? If your response to that is, Well, thats what Republicans always do, Im sorry, but that reasoning takes us nowhere. I dont want liberals to mirror bad behavior. I want them to aggressively highlight bad behavior so the public can see it, then I want them to rise above it and knock it down with facts and reason and compassion. In what universe is it right for any of us to downplay how terrifying it is that an armed man claiming he wanted to kill Kavanaugh got that close to the home of the justice and his family? Nothing happened, and thats very fortunate, but the absence of a violent act doesnt make the incident less serious. Nikki Tran of Washington, holds up a sign with pictures of Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, and Neil Gorsuch, as demonstrators protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court, Tuesday, May 3, 2022, in Washington. Protesters have been demonstrating on some justices' front lawns in recent days. Of course Republicans used news of the arrest to harangue Democrats and the media, saying a similar incident outside the home of one of the more liberal justices would have promoted ceaseless outrage from the left. But there was a similar incident, revealed last year, in which a federal judges son was killed by an assailant who had been planning to also go after Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Columnist Ingrid Jacques: Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos calls Trumps actions on Jan. 6 a line in the sand that led to resignation This begs the question: Why should we care which justice it is? The leak of Justice Samuel Alitos draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade has rightfully inflamed passions among those of us who support abortion rights. And many, myself included, don't think Kavanaugh, who is shown voting with Alito in the draft opinion on abortion, should ever have been confirmed in the first place. Nobody should be made to feel unsafe But none of that makes me think, even for a moment, that the arrest of Roske near the justices home is anything less than despicable. Again, based on the charges Roske is facing and the information police have provided, this was an assassination attempt on a U.S. Supreme Court justice. For the sake of our democracy, that had better feel like a big deal. We can't let ourselves get to the point where certain acts of political violence or intimidation are OK, as long as they arent happening to people on our side of the fence. Were seeing that happen right now as Republicans try to downplay the Jan. 6 committee hearings and Fox News declines to even broadcast them. Its dangerous. The truth might hurt. I guess that's why Fox News won't show the Jan. 6 hearing. Rioters shout at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. The Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol played out for the world to see. But the House committee investigating the attack believes a more chilling story has yet to be told. Politicians, jurists, abortion providers, activists, journalists, protesters, police nobody should be made to feel unsafe, and the very fact that some will get mad at me for suggesting such a thing proves we're in a dark space. I dont care if people on my side of the fence get angry about what Im writing here. Believe me, Im fiery mad about the same things theyre mad about, I understand the issues at stake and I care about them deeply. But wrong is wrong. Adjusting our morals to maintain some perceived advantage in a political divide blurs lines that should simply never be crossed. Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Twitter @RexHuppke and Facebook: facebook.com/RexIsAJerk You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Take Brett Kavanaugh assassination plot seriously To view this story in Spanish, click here. Kelley Fisher says she is ready to put herself between an active shooter and her Kindergarten students. "I cannot imagine what would happen if one of our active shooter drills were really an active shooter on our campus," said Fisher. "My teammates and I have talked about what we'd do and how we'd protect our students but the sad thing is, we do have to think about that and we shouldn't." Kelley was one of thousands of local demonstrators gathered at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix on Saturday evening to protest gun violence in the United States. Organizers estimated that participants for the event totaled between 3,000 and 5,000. Across the country, there were more than 400 March For Our Lives events that took place. The last March For Our Lives was held in 2018, following a mass shooting by a teenage gunman who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, 2018. Similarly, Saturday's march was organized in response to a mass shooting by a teenage gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24 that killed 19 students and two teachers. 'There has to be change' Students hold a banner calling for an end to gun violence as they lead hundreds of people in a march outside the Arizona Capitol on June 11, 2022, in Phoenix as part of a nationwide demonstration for stricter gun laws in response to recent mass shootings. "We just want to send a message to legislators and to Congress when they see these marches across the country, that we're going to continue to go out and do these marches and hold demonstrations until they take some sort of action," said Jacob Martinez, lead organizer at March For Our Lives in Phoenix. The rally began at 5:30 p.m. with a reading of the names of the 19 students and two teachers killed in Ulvade, Texas, accompanied by a moment of silence, with temperatures reaching 112 degrees. "There has to be a change," said Ray Shelley, a retired United States Marine. "I own guns and am a firm believer in the right to bear arms but we need background checks, people need to be 21 before they have them. There has to be some sort of training put in place." Guest speakers at the march included Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman, state Rep. Jennifer Longdon, activist Belen Sisa, Arizona Education Association Vice President Marisol Garcia and Jose Guzman with Padres y Parientes de Victimas de Crimen, whose son was killed due to gun violence. Story continues Guzman said that in addition to anti-gun activism, Padres y Parientes de Victimas de Crimen helps to provide therapy and support to Spanish-speaking family members of crime victims. Jose Guzman's son, Guillermo Guzman, and his friend named Rafael, were killed during a robbery on Nov. 5, 2005, while working at a Subway restaurant in the Maryvale area in Phoenix, AZ. The two young men were 15-years-old. The men who killed them were also 15-years-old and in possession of an AK-47, an assault rifle. "The two things we ask for is a background check of the gun buyer, and a mental health check," said Guzman, to The Arizona Republic. "There's a world of difference between a pistol to defend yourself as outlined in the second amendment, to an AK-47 or an AR-15." Every year, with the exception of the last two years because of the pandemic, the organization also leads a community march to repudiate gun violence. "Arizona is one of the easiest states to buy guns, and that needs to change," said Guzman. Various signs throughout the crowd said "no more silence, end gun violence," "my body is more regulated than guns," "protect kids, not guns," and "the scariest thing in school should be grades." Met with some opposition Hundreds of people gathered outside the Arizona Capitol on June 11, 2022, in Phoenix as part of a nationwide demonstration calling for stricter gun laws in response to recent mass shootings. Counter-protestors arrived at the march carrying assault rifles and blow horns. When asked about their presence at the march, many declined to comment. Organizers at the march told the audience to "not engage" with counter-protestors. "You don't need to bring an assault rifle and dress up like you're in the army and pretend you're intimidating everybody," said Shelley. "That's how you get killed." Fisher, a teacher and member of of Arizona Education Association said that she believes Congress should pass "common-sense gun laws." "We believe in keeping a safe environment in all of our classrooms and arming teachers and locking down schools is not the answer," said Fisher, who recalls being in her classroom when news broke of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012. She adds that the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, renewed concerns for teachers. "It makes me, not afraid for myself because I would put myself in front of anyone for my students but it makes me afraid for my students and it makes me concerned that they're afraid to come to school and no child should be afraid to come to school," said Fisher. At least a thousand people began marching at 6 p.m. from the Arizona Capitol building. Phoenix Police Department and officers with the Arizona Department of Public Safety were present to help guide the march around Capitol complexes. Evelynne Rodas Castillo, the east valley community organizer for LUCHA, says that she would like to see more gun safety regulations. "We're here to support our community and our fellow organizations who have the same mission as us, which is to protect our kids, protect our youth," said Castillo. "At the end of the day, we're going to be the ones in those positions of power. Reach breaking news reporter Haleigh Kochanski at hkochanski@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @HaleighKochans. Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Hundreds march at Arizona Capitol to protest gun violence HAGERSTOWN, Ind. A bull in the road caused a crash early Friday that injured a truck driver. Bobby Sanders, 53, of Middletown was flown by medical helicopter to Ascension St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, according to Sheriff Randy Retter. Sanders sustained multiple abrasions, a minor laceration and possible rib fractures. STAY INFORMED AND SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM: Subscribe today using the link at the top of this page. The crash occurred just before 2 a.m. Friday on Indiana 1 south of Jones Road, according to a release from Retter. Sanders was northbound driving a 2016 Freightliner cabover owned by PV Transport of Spiceland with a load of grain when he came upon a large, black, Angus bull in the roadway. The truck struck the bull, then left the east side of the roadway down a steep embankment, rolling onto its left side, according to the release. Hagerstown Fire Department extricated Sanders from the cab. The bull's owner has yet to be determined, the release said. Indiana 1 was closed during the crash investigation and cleanup and when Pardo's Towing & Recovery removed the truck. This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Driver injured when semi strikes bull on Ind. 1 Luis Fernando Ortiz-Rivera An escapee facing a murder charge in Florida walked into a Barstow gas station on Thursday and told a clerk that he wanted to turn himself into local law enforcement. Barstow Police on Friday identified 37-year-old Luis Fernando Ortiz-Rivera of Marianna, Florida as the man with an outstanding warrant for first-degree murder, escape and assault. At approximately 9:14 p.m. on Thursday, Officer Gemma Day was dispatched to a Valero Gas Station in the 1400 block of East Main Street regarding a man who said he was a murder suspect and wanted to turn himself in. The suspect, Ortiz-Rivera, identified himself to the store clerk before requesting police, Barstow Police said. Officer Day made contact with Ortiz-Rivera and confirmed through the Barstow Police Dispatch Center that he had an outstanding warrant for first-degree murder, escape and assault. Barstow Police confirmed that Ortiz-Rivera had escaped from the Sunland Center facility located in Broward County, Florida. Ortiz escaped from the Sunland Center mental health facility on Dec. 10, according to the MPD, who said at the time of his escape, he was in a court-ordered program. Ortiz was arrested by Barstow Police on the escape warrant and is currently awaiting extradition back to Jackson County, Florida, according to the Marianna Police Department. Police did not say why Ortiz-Rivera was in California. Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Escapee from Florida turns himself in to Barstow Police A northern Nevada industrial plant can begin turning tons of garbage into a synthetic oil that can be refined into fuel for airplanes, following a recent Environmental Protection Agency rule change. After five years, the EPA on June 3 finalized the rule sought by Fulcrum BioEnergys Sierra BioFuels Plant in Storey County. A company official told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the facility would permanently employ roughly 120 people. Once operating, it will process 175,000 tons of landfill garbage into 11 million gallons of synthetic fuel oil each year, company officials said. U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., who helped guide the company through the bureaucratic maze, said she hoped the plant would create more than a thousand indirect jobs throughout the state while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. She called the project an entirely new industry. After the project stalled at the EPA during the Trump and Biden administrations, Cortez Masto pushed for a regulatory rule change that will allow the synthetic fuel oils to be produced, marketed and sold. I wouldnt let unnecessary government bureaucracy stand in the way of this innovative new facility, Cortez Masto said in a statement detailing her involvement with the process since 2017. EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the agency actions and rules issued for the Renewable Fuel Standard program are steps to increase the availability of homegrown biofuels. Regan added that the intent of new rules on renewable fuel standards is to provide more options for consumers at the pump. In the case of the Sierra BioFuels Plant, the synthetic material may be used in aviation, said Eric Pryor, Fulcrums president and chief executive officer, in a statement announcing operations at the facility east of Reno. Fulcrum is launching an entirely new source of low-cost, domestically produced, net-zero carbon transportation fuel, which will contribute to the aviation industrys carbon reduction goals, U.S. energy security and address climate stability, Pryor said in a statement. In an interview with the Review-Journal, Benny Wong, Fulcrum BioEnergy managing director of fuels and regulatory affairs, said the northern Nevada site was chosen because of the regulatory climate in the state, the landfill and the proximity to markets. The EPAs rule change was one of the final hurdles to moving ahead with the project, he said. Our Sierra project would be the first municipal solid waste-to-fuel in the nation, Wong said. Such projects take several years to plan and build, Wong said. Fulcrum BioEnergy first received a $105 million loan guarantee in 2014 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to start research and planning on the project. Cortez Masto, who is also a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, helped the company secure that financial support from the department in 2017. Construction began in 2018 and finished in 2021. Still, EPA rule changes were needed. EPA continued to review the Renewable Fuel Standards program over two presidential administrations. Cortez Masto talked recently with Regan and pushed the EPA to provide the regulatory fix in new rules. Regan announced that change in a batch of new rules issued by the agency. Regan said the EPAs new rules would help to reduce our reliance on oil and put the (Renewable Fuel Standards) program back on track after years of challenges and mismanagement. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also announced this month that it would invest $700 million in biofuel producers who were economically hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The funds are part of the $2.2 trillion relief bill passed by Congress in 2020. For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, Las Vegas Review-Journal. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Dr. Benson Bonyo is bringing a bit of his Kenyan medical mission to Akron with an upcoming fundraiser at the Akron Zoo. Bonyo, who lives in Akron and runs a family medical practice on Vernon Odom Boulevard, also runs a nonprofit to provide medical access to impoverished people in Wanjaya Village of western Kenya, where he was born. Dr. Benson Bonyo The fundraiser, called "An Evening on Safari," will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, June 16, at the zoo, 505 Euclid Ave. All funds raised will go toward running the clinic in Kenya, which recently opened 24 hours a day. The event will feature dinner, drinks, games and a silent auction in the zoo's Pride of Africa section that houses the lions, gazelles and more. Kenge Kenge Orutu System, a traditional Luo heritage band from Kenya, and Kenyan dancers will perform. Tickets are $80 each or $150 for two and can be purchased at www.bonyoskenyamission.org or by mail at PO Box 13045, Fairlawn, OH 44334. This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Doctor to host fundraiser at Akron Zoo for his Kenyan nonprofit clinic North Carolina cant deny gender-affirming services to state employees who receive health insurance through the states health care plan, a federal judge ruled Friday in a major victory for transgender rights advocates. U.S. District Judge Loretta C. Biggs agreed with the plaintiffs who argued that the North Carolina State Health Plan for Teachers and State Employees discriminated against them for its categorical exclusion of gender-affirming treatments. The court found that the plans exclusion discriminates based on sex and transgender status in violation of the Equal Protection Clause and discriminates because of sex in violation of Title VII (of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. The lawsuit was filed in March 2019 by the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund and Lambda Lega on behalf of eight current and former state employees and their children after they were denied coverage under their plan for medically necessary health care because of their gender identity. Like all parents, all we wanted for our child was lifesaving, medically necessary healthcare, Michael D. Bunting Jr., employed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said in a statement shared with the Daily News. Bunting, whos the father of a 17-year-old transgender son, spoke about the difficulties the discriminatory policy brought to his family. Struggling to secure essential care for your child, while watching them be targeted for discrimination, is devastating, he said. We hope that no other parent has to struggle this way in the future. Tara Borelli, Lambda Legal senior counsel, applauded the judges ruling, calling it a significant step toward expanding access to nondiscriminatory healthcare for the transgender public servants in the state. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court denied North Carolinas petition seeking review of a lower-court ruling that the NCSHP wasnt entitled to sovereign immunity and it could be sued if its actions violated the Affordable Care Acts nondiscrimination provisions. Story continues We are pleased that the court has recognized this exclusion of medically necessary care to transgender state employees as unlawful discrimination, said Borelli. North Carolina was on the wrong side of history, and we hope it closes this unfortunate chapter. David Brown, TLDEFs legal director, also celebrated the ruling, noting that gender-affirming healthcare is essential healthcare. We are thrilled to know that moving forward our clients and other transgender North Carolina state employees and state employees with transgender dependents will finally have access to this lifesaving care, he added. Bristol Township police are investigating the fatal shooting of an American Bulldog in the Magnolia Hill section of Levittown on Friday morning. Police were called to Midwood Lane for a report that a neighbor shot and killed the dog after it escaped its yard and attacked the German Shepherd the man was walking. The unidentified man confirmed to police he fired one shot at the dog. Police did not release any information about any injuries to the German Shepherd. The man had a valid license to carry a firearm, police said. Police interviewed neighbors and collected evidence from the scene. The DAs Office was notified and will review all the evidence and reports before making a charging decision, police said. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact officer Jennifer Jacker at jjacker186@bristolpd.org. More:He had a hunch, but no evidence. 30 years later this old Bristol Township cop celebrates arrest in 1991 murder More:Ex-police informant charged in 1991 murder of Croydon mom found dead in arson fire at her home More:Vietnam vet had no family to claim him in death. These Montco employees fulfilled his final wishes This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Police investigating fatal dog shooting in Levittown Jun. 12Protesters in Portland joined others in hundreds of locations around the country Saturday in gathering to speak out against gun violence and call for stronger gun laws. "Enough is enough. We demand change," the group chanted during a march from Lincoln Park to the steps of City Hall. They wore blue, the color of the national March for Our Lives movement, and orange, the color of gun violence prevention, and held signs that read, "No more guns" and "Protect kids, not guns." "This is something that's so important and something that's not talked about enough," said Sydney Wolf, one of the organizers of March for Our Lives Portland, Maine. "No one deserves to be in fear of gun violence anywhere. That's really the motivator for us." The march, which Wolf estimated drew upwards of 1,000 people, was organized in conjunction with hundreds of others around the country through March for Our Lives, a youth-led movement that started after the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people and injured 17 others. Saturday's protests in more than 300 locations around the U.S. came after a gunman killed 10 people at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store and a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, last month claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. 'SICK AND TIRED' As protesters gathered on a sunny afternoon in the park in Portland, many said they were tired of the epidemic of mass shootings and called on Congress to do more to prevent such violence. "I'm really sick and tired of this happening year after year and month after month and Congress not taking any action," said Joe Anderson, a pediatrician at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. "It's disheartening and honestly, it's disgusting." Anderson, 38, said he thinks a federal "red flag" law is needed to allow law enforcement to confiscate guns from people who are deemed a threat to themselves or others and that military-style assault weapons should be banned. Story continues "We can't expect to put the responsibility of keeping our kids safe in the hands of our teachers," Anderson said. "That's not their job. Their job is to teach our children. My job as a pediatrician is to keep kids healthy. Congress' job is to keep all of us safe." John Carter, a fifth-grade teacher in the Falmouth school district, came to the march with his two children, Eve, a fifth-grader, and Knox, a seventh-grader. He carried a poster listing dozens of school shootings that have taken place over the last two decades. "We ran out of ink printing this school shooting list," the poster said. "As a teacher, having to practice lockdown drills and school shooting drills, this is not something we should be doing in school," said Carter, 52. "You can imagine what kind of anxiety that creates for students." EDUCATORS ON ALERT After marching from the park, down Pearl, Middle and Exchange streets, protesters crowded the steps of City Hall and were given chalk to draw stick figures representing victims of gun violence on the sidewalk. A series of speakers, many of them students and educators, spoke to the crowd about the impacts of gun violence and the need for action. Elizabeth Mitchell, an education major and rising junior at the University of New England, said that as a teacher in training she has thought extensively about how she would respond to a school shooting and it terrifies her. "At the rate the U.S. is moving, ... it is almost a certainty in my mind that this will happen to me by the end of my career," Mitchell said. "And the only thing that should be of concern to myself and my class is the learning and we should be able to do that learning in a safe place." Portland Public Schools Superintendent Xavier Botana called on Congress and state lawmakers to prioritize the safety of students and school systems by taking measures such as improving reporting on lost and stolen weapons and funding public health research on firearms-related issues. The superintendent also said elected officials need to support a ban on semi-automatic military-style weapons and uniform background checks. "Until we do that we will continue to gather here every few years to grieve another mass shooting with the knowledge that but for the grace of God, it could have been our kids that didn't get a chance to grow up," Botana said. Zanne Langlois, a teacher at Falmouth High School who also spoke to the crowd Saturday, said that while gun violence is impacting schools around the country, discussions around gun violence shouldn't just focus on schools. "People are dying in grocery stores and in churches, and until our leaders are willing to do something about guns, none of these things will change," Langlois said. "I'm so tired as a teacher of schools being scapegoats and being told we need to do more advisory programs or come up with a better door system. ... Why are we having kids practice being afraid because our leaders are too afraid to actually address the issue?" NEGOTIATIONS UNDERWAY Following the rally at City Hall, the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, March for Our Lives, Suit Up Maine and Moms Demand Action for Gun Safety Maine held a news conference outside U.S. Sen. Susan Collins' office calling for stricter federal gun laws. The senator is part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers working on drafting gun safety legislation in the wake of the back-to-back massacres in Buffalo and Uvalde. Geoff Bickford, executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, which works to educate the public on and raise awareness around gun safety issues, called on Collins to not "walk away" from negotiations until some agreement is reached. He said the package should include at a minimum universal background checks, a federal safe storage law to help keep guns out of the hands of children, and access in all states to red flag laws. "We cannot have another mass shooting, another slaughter of innocent, beautiful little children at their desks and not do something again," Bickford said. "So don't walk away from negotiations until we have an agreement on a package of gun safety legislation." Collins' office said in a statement Saturday that she met this past week with parents from Newtown, Connecticut, where 26 people were killed at an elementary school in 2012, and she has also been in touch with the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, which helped draft Maine's "yellow flag" law. The law allows law enforcement to temporarily take away a person's firearms if a medical professional agrees a person could potentially harm themselves or others. "To help prevent future horrific shootings, Senator Collins is one of 12 bipartisan senators led by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and John Cornyn, R-Texas who are drafting gun safety legislation that can become law," the statement from Collins' office said. "The group had another very good meeting this week and is continuing to make progress over the weekend. We hope to announce an agreement soon." Rodrick Wayne Moore Jr., better known by his stage name Roddy Ricch, was arrested Saturday before his scheduled Governors Ball performance for attempting to enter the festival with a loaded weapon. On his way into Citi Field, where the fest was being held, Moore Jr.s vehicle was stopped at a security checkpoint where law enforcement officials found a loaded firearm inside. More from Variety As of early Sunday morning, Moore Jr. was still in custody but a source close to the rapper has confirmed to Variety that he has now been released. The New York police department told Variety that they responded to a call at approximately 6:20 p.m. which led to the arrest of Moore Jr., along with two other people in his car. Police discovered a loaded firearm with nine rounds of ammunition, as well as a large-capacity magazine. All three individuals were brought back to the 110 Precinct police station in Queens, N.Y., for arrest processing. Moore Jr. was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, possession of a large capacity ammo feeding device and unlawful possession of the large capacity device. The festival had to break the news to the crowds of waiting fans with a sign that appeared 30 minutes before his set time, pointing festival-goers to see Denzel Curry or Joji who were scheduled to perform at the same time on separate stages. Emanuel Okusanya for Variety - Credit: Emanuel Okusanya for Variety Emanuel Okusanya for Variety This follows the slew of unfortunate cancellations of Governors Ball performances this weekend. After Migos pulled out earlier this week, Lil Wayne was tapped to fill their headlining spot but just hours before his Friday night set, he also canceled due to a flight disruption. A$AP Ferg was slotted in to take Waynes spot. Story continues Additional reporting by Emanuel Okusanya. Best of Variety Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Take a bow, Georgetown. The U.S. Census Bureau has named the city the fastest-growing in the country by percentage among those with populations of at least 50,000. Leander came in second on the same list. The top ratings for the two Williamson County cities are not surprising, officials there said. "Lots of people recognize that Georgetown is a wonderful place to live, and we welcome them," Mayor Josh Schroeder said at a news conference. "We welcome them. In fact, our new slogan is that they are more than welcome in Georgetown, Texas." Leander Mayor Christine Delisle said the jobs coming into Central Texas have made the city an inviting place to live. "We attract young families, for the most part," she said, "and they are coming to us with hopes of a better future." Georgetown grew 10.5% from July 2020 to July 2021, a rate that would double the population in less than seven years, according to a Census Bureau news release. Its population was estimated at 75,420 in 2021, the release said. Georgetown also was listed by the Census Bureau as the country's fastest-growing city from July 2014 to July 2015. Leander grew 10.1% from July 2020 to July 2021, the bureau said. Its population was estimated at 67,124 in 2021. The San Gabriel River, which winds its way through Georgetown, is one of the city's many attractions. The U.S. Census Bureau says Georgetown is the fastest-growing city in the country by percentage among those with populations of at least 50,000. Leander is second on the list. New Braunfels was fifth on the list with population growth of 8.3% from July 2020 to July 2021. The city's population in 2021 was estimated at 98,857. All three Central Texas cities also were on the bureau's list of the 15 largest population increases from July 2020 to July 2021 in the country. New Braunfels added 7,538 people to rank ninth, Georgetown added 7,193 to place 10th, and Leander was 12th after adding 6,159. A variety of housing options at various prices are "fueling the strong population and household growth in Georgetown and Leander and throughout Williamson County. said Bryan Glasshagel, the senior vice president for housing research firm Zonda. Story continues Given available land, the ability to get new home developments approved and underway, and infrastructure improvements like the 183 toll road, Williamson County continues to be a key new home development area in the Austin MSA, accounting for 45% of total new home starts," he said. Georgetown had 1,557 new home starts in 2020 and 1,803 in 2021, Glasshagel said. He said Leander had 1,016 new home starts in 2020 and 1,336 in 2021 Downtown Georgetown's courthouse square is an anchor for festivals and farmers markets. The city grew 10.5% from July 2020 to July 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Forty-nine percent of the new home starts in the first quarter of this year in Georgetown were priced between $350,000 and $500,000, he said. In Leander, 28% were priced between $400,000 and $500,000 during the first quarter. READ: Tech supplier CelLink plans $130 million Georgetown facility could hire 2,000 The city of Georgetown issued 2,520 permits for single-family homes and condominiums in fiscal year 2021, said Keith Hutchinson, a city spokesman. During the current fiscal year, the city has issued 1,945 permits for condos and single-family homes, he said. The city also gained 958 apartments in fiscal year 2020 and 402 in fiscal year 2021. Leander issued 2,426 single-family residential permits last year. As of June 1 this year, it had issued 929 single-family residential permits. As part of Georgetown's approach to handle growth, the city is building a new water treatment plant on the south side of Lake Georgetown. It will double the treatment capacity of the city's water utility, with construction expected to be complete in two phases from 2025 to 2026, according to a city website. In Leander, the city has taken a number of steps, including last year hiring an executive director of infrastructure, creating a master transportation plan and advancing projects such the Deep Water Intake project to pump greater amounts of water from Lake Travis, said Ty Meighan, a city spokesman. READ: Northline project in Leander to start construction on town homes, entertainment area in 2022 Russ Phillips, a team leader at Keller Williams Realty, walks through neighborhoods in Georgetown last week. Phillips said some of the historical houses that have been renovated are now million-dollar homes. Russ Phillips, a team leader at Keller Williams Realty, who has been selling real estate in Georgetown for more than 20 years, said the city has a sort of "small-town Americana" feel to it that's attractive to people. "It's a town with an identity," he said. "The courthouse square plays a major factor in that because it's kind of an anchor point for a lot of festivals and farmers markets." Georgetown was the first city in Texas to receive the Great American Main Street Award in 1997, the highest honor bestowed by the National Trust Main Street Center, according to a city website. The city has worked since 1982 to restore its downtown square, which features many buildings from the 1800s. The city's other attractions include good health care, an extensive park system with a hike-and-bike trail and low taxes, Phillips said. He said his real estate clients come from all over the United States. including California, the East Coast and other parts of Texas. The hottest property he sells, he said, is a 1-acre lot with a custom home and a pool. Newcomers to Georgetown echoed what Phillips said about the city. Barbara Hansen said she and her husband moved from Michigan to Georgetown in 2020. "Georgetown still has that great small-town feel," she said. "The downtown is adorable, but the city still has a lot of outdoor activities and a lake, and it's easy to get to Austin or up to Dallas or over to Houston. These are the things that drew me to Georgetown." Hansen is also the special events coordinator of the Georgetown Newcomers Club, which she said has more than 400 members. Linda and Mark Pinkston, with their dog, Luke, decided to move to Georgetown in 2020 to be closer to relatives. "Georgetown just seemed a lot more like Maryland," Linda said. Linda Pinkston, the former president of the club, said she and her husband moved to the city in 2020 from Maryland to be near relatives. She said she loves that Georgetown is small enough that it's only a five- to 10-minute drive to get to places she wants to go. "Georgetown just seemed a lot more like Maryland," she said. "We lived on an acre in Maryland, and we live on an acre here. We have privacy but neighbors next door, too." Don Hemingway, a real estate broker and owner of Crystal Falls Realty in Leander, said the availability of jobs in Central Texas is drawing people to the city. "Companies like Apple and Tesla and Amazon are not only bringing their business, but they've got people they do business with that are moving to the greater Austin area, too," Hemingway said. The two types of homebuyers in Leander are middle-income families and upper-income families, he said. "Leander used to be a bedroom community that had people commuting into Austin, and they were typically middle-income families, but now we also have $1.5 million homes," he said. "Leander now has a home for just about anybody." This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 'Small town' for how long? Georgetown leads nation in population growth People walk toward the entrance of an evacuation train in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, on Saturday. (Efrem Lukatsky / Associated Press) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that no one knows how long the war in his country will last but that Ukrainian forces are defying expectations by preventing Russian troops from overrunning eastern Ukraine, where the fighting has been fiercest for weeks. In his nightly video address, Zelensky said he was proud of the Ukrainian defenders managing to hold back the Russian advance in the Donbas region, which borders Russia and where Moscow-backed separatists have controlled much of the territory for eight years. Remember how in Russia, in the beginning of May, they hoped to seize all of the Donbas? the president said late Saturday. Its already the 108th day of the war, already June. Donbas is holding on. After failing to capture Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, early in the war, Moscow focused on seizing the parts of the largely Russian-speaking Donbas still in Ukrainian hands, as well as the country's southern coast. But instead of securing a swift, decisive takeover, Russian forces were drawn into a long, laborious battle, thanks in part to the Ukrainian military's use of Western-supplied weapons. Meanwhile, Kremlin-installed officials in occupied southern Ukraine celebrated Russia Day on Sunday and began issuing Russian passports to residents in one city who requested them, as Moscow sought to solidify its rule over captured parts of the country. At one of the central squares in the city of Kherson, Russian bands played a concert to celebrate Russia Day, the holiday that marks Russias emergence as a sovereign state after the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to Russias state news agency RIA Novosti. In the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region, Moscow-installed officials raised a Russian flag in Melitopols city center. Ukrainian media reported that few, if any, residents attended the Russia Day festivities in the two cities. Russia Day was also celebrated in other occupied parts of Ukraine, including the ravaged southern port of Mariupol, where a new city sign painted in the colors of the Russian flag was unveiled on the outskirts and Russian flags were flown on a highway leading into the city. Story continues Also, the Russia-aligned administration in Melitopol started handing out Russian passports to those who applied for Russian citizenship. RIA Novosti posted video of a Moscow-backed official congratulating new Russian citizens and telling them: Russia will not go anywhere. We are here for good. Both Ukrainian and Russian authorities said Severodonetsk, an eastern city with a prewar population of 100,000, remained contested. The city and neighboring Lysychansk are the last major areas of the Donbas' Luhansk province not under the control of the pro-Russia rebels. Leonid Pasechnik, the head of the separatist-declared Luhansk Peoples Republic, said Ukrainian fighters remained in an industrial area of the city, including a chemical plant where civilians had taken shelter from days of Russian shelling. Severodonetsk is not completely 100% liberated," Pasechnik said Saturday, alleging that the Ukrainians were shelling the city from the Azot chemical plant. So its impossible to call the situation calm in Severodonetsk, that it is completely ours. Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai reported Saturday that a big fire broke out at the plant during hours of Russian shelling. Zelensky said that while an end to the war was not in sight, Ukraine should do everything it can so the Russians regret everything that they have done and that they answer for every killing and every strike on our beautiful state. The Ukrainian leader asserted that Russia has suffered about three times as many military casualties as the number estimated for the Ukrainian side, adding: "For what? What did it get you, Russia? There are no reliable independent estimates of the wars death toll so far. Speaking at a defense conference in Singapore on Sunday, Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe said Beijing continues to support peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and hopes the U.S. and its NATO allies have discussions with Russia "to create the conditions for an early cease-fire. China will continue to play a constructive role and contribute our share to easing tensions and realizing a political resolution of the crisis, Wei said. He suggested that nations supplying weapons to Ukraine were hindering peace by adding fuel to the fire and stressed that China had not provided any material support to Russia during the war. The growth of China-Russia relations is a partnership, not an alliance, Wei said. The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, said in its latest assessment that Ukrainian intelligence suggested that the Russian military was planning to fight a longer war. The institute cited the deputy head of Ukraine's national security agency as saying that Moscow had extended its war timeline until October, with adjustments to be made depending on any successes in the Donbas. The intelligence likely indicates the Kremlin has, at a minimum, acknowledged it cannot achieve its objectives in Ukraine quickly and is further adjusting its military objectives in an attempt to correct the initial deficiencies in the invasion of Ukraine, the think tank said. The self-proclaimed Luhansk Peoples Republic's ambassador to Russia, Rodion Miroshnik, said Saturday that 300 to 400 Ukrainian troops remained blockaded inside the Severodonetsk chemical plant along with several hundred civilians. The Russians established contact with the Ukrainian troops to arrange the evacuation of the civilians, but the troops will be allowed to leave only if they lay down their arms and surrender, Miroshnik said. Similar conditions existed for weeks at a steel mill in Mariupol before a civilian evacuation was arranged and the defending troops were ordered by Ukrainian military commanders to stand down. The fighters who came out of the Mariupol plant were taken prisoner by the Russians. Pasechnik, the separatist leader of the unrecognized Luhansk republic, said the Ukrainians making a stand in Severodonetsk should save themselves the trouble. If I were them, I would already make a decision [to surrender], he said. We will achieve our goal in any case. We will liberate the industrial area in any case. We will liberate Severodonetsk in any case. Lysychansk will be ours in any case. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. When I was growing up, my father bought a series of nearly ruined sailboats. Wed fix them up, sail them for a season or two, then sell them to get a potentially better one. One boat even had ratlines that allowed us to swarm up the rigging like pirates. Navigating shallow waters was much improved with a view from above. These were traditional sailboats, comfortable, beamy, and sturdy with solid pine masts. No one ever accused us of being fast, though. So racing was never our thing. Voyaging was. Years later, I was talking to a woman whose husband was a sailor. Did she ever go out racing with him? Lawrence Brown Once, she said. Just once. Oh my God, it almost wrecked our marriage. He turned into a raving maniac! It was awful. My own boats and my means have been more modest. Ive never owned anything remotely fast. So Cape Cods biggest sailboat race the annual FIGAWI race has been something best experienced from shore. A little history. In 1866, nine clipper ships set sail from FooChow (Fuzhou) Harbor in China bound for London in what was called The Great Tea Race. After 97 days at sea and almost 17,000 sea miles traveled, the fastest clippers arrived in the English Channel within sight of each other. It was the ultimate sailboat race of all time. Sailboat race: 51st annual Figawi Race abbreviated but still going strong In 1972, three Cape Cod buddies decided to race to Nantucket and back. Soon, other sailors were joining from all over New England. Party here. Race to Nantucket on Saturday. Overnight and party there. Race home on Sunday. Party again. Take a year to recover. Repeat each year for 50 years. Cape Codders love a good party, but the races annual Charity Ball raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for local causes. The race is a boost to local businesses and gets a lot of sailors boats out in the harbor by Memorial Day when, inertia being what it is, sailors might have waited longer. And God knows, a race to Nantucket is a good way to wring the kinks out of a boat and crew after a long winter. Story continues Curious Cape Cod:Looking for a lush stroll? Enjoy a Mid-Cape hike to escape pine pollen God knows too, most racing sailboats are not organized as a democracy. Its worth remembering, races are for an afternoon; friends are for life. I wanted to get out on the water this time to film the start and write about the race for you. So I got myself a water resistant camera and booked passage on the powered catamaran Bay Spirit out of Hyannis Harbor. A genial young couple runs the vessel, chartering the boat for a crowd of photographers, many from the Cape Cod Art Center. Under difficult conditions, they gave us a good time. Race Day dawned raining. Slowly, rain gave way to a fog dense enough to wet everything exposed to it. You could see maybe 100 yards. One of the owners was frantically trying to dry off the benches with towels, but it was a losing battle. With their two hulls spaced wide apart, catamarans offer spacious decks and lounging space below. As we got out near the starting line, sailboats zoomed in and out of our field of vision. A higher calling: Three Cape Cod deacons answer calling to enter into the priesthood Post-COVID Nantucket wasnt ready for the fleet yet so there would be two races, Saturday and Sunday out into the ocean, around a buoy and back. We had a smaller fleet this year, some 60 boats. Starting a sailboat race is tricky for the organizers and the boats as well. Cross the starting line too soon and you have to loop around and try again. Be too far back and, in a close race, you might not make it up. So youve got boats zooming around behind the line, trying not to hit each other. Add dense fog to make the whole process more frightening and there you have it. Opinion/Brown: Years ago, at a Hyannis abortion clinic, looking for a sign The sight of a big sailboat heeled way over is sure exciting, but its hard on the boat and hard on the crew, most of whom serve as human ballast, perched up on the high rail. Anything below not well-secured goes crashing around and, with responsibilities topsides, theres nothing you can do about it. Need the bathroom? Going below is a funhouse experience, heeled rail down with water racing by the portholes and the whole business plunging up and down on the waves. Its an acquired taste. My old back cant tolerate too much of it anymore, but God I miss it, fog and all. Such boats as we could see bashed their ways out of sight, and we headed back to Hyannis, wet, exhausted and strangely happy. Lawrence Brown is a columnist for the Cape Cod Times. Email him at colunresponse@gmail.com. This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod: Figawi sailboat race spurs memories of boat racing history Peter Dallas Finch has served as a school administrator since 1993 and was recognized as the Washington State Administrator of the Year in 2014 by the Washington Music Educators Association. Fueled UTV employees, including sales specialist Alex Ochoa (center front, in shorts), stand by a vehicle parked in front of their new location at 2751 Goodman Road in Union Gap. Police say a female theft suspect and a security guard were wounded in a shooting in the parking lot of a landmark Las Vegas Strip souvenir shop, and the woman was arrested. Officer Larry Hadfield says both the woman and the guard were injured by gunfire, police are investigating how the shooting happened, and no other suspects are sought. The conditions of the two injured people were not immediately known. Hadfield says the woman is in police custody. Police reported the gunfire happened just before 6 p.m. near Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue. Hadfield says it was in the parking lot of Bonanza Gifts. You are the owner of this article. Were not colorblind: Two years after George Floyd, WA Supreme Court tries to chart a different path on race Submit An Obituary Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death. Go to form You may think youve seen every horror in Russias kit of war crimes against Ukraine (short of weapons of mass destruction). You havent. Moscow is blockading (or destroying) Ukraines port cities on the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea and preventing them from exporting grain. This has created a global food crisis. With a level of cynicism that makes Machiavelli look angelic, Vladimir Putin is trying to turn a made-in-Moscow food disaster into a weapon. He is blackmailing the West to drop sanctions or concede Russian domination over all Ukrainian ports, including Odesa in return for Russias ending its blockade. Neither NATO members, nor the United Nations, should permit Putin to profit from starving the worlds poor who depend on Ukrainian grain exports. The White House needs to focus on how to break Putins blockade now. At a U.N. Security Council meeting Monday, the European Councils president, Charles Michel, blamed Russia for using the blockade as a stealth missile against developing countries. This week, Russian missiles deliberately destroyed Ukraines second-biggest grain storage facility in Mykolaiv, while Russian bombs and mines prevent farmers from planting and harvesting. This is driving up food prices, pushing people into poverty, and destabilizing entire regions, Michel said. The fallout affects both Africa and the Middle East, which are heavily dependent on Ukrainian wheat. Efforts by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to mediate the crisis with Moscow have gone nowhere. It is not possible for Ukraine to export its grain by rail or road; trains and trucks can carry only a small percentage of what the bulk ships can transport. Russia is solely responsible for this looming food crisis, Michel said. When Moscows U.N. ambassador walked out of the Security Council meeting, Michel tweeted: Maybe its easier not to listen to the truth, dear Ambassador (Vasily) Nebenzia. So what is Putins game in trying to starve much of the world? For starters, Putin is trying to put the blame for the food crisis on Ukraine and on Western sanctions. Nonsense. If Russia hadnt launched its unprovoked attack on Ukraine and closed off Ukraines coast with its warships, Kyivs exports would be flowing. Moreover, Russias grain exports also critical to world supplies are not sanctioned, and can still exit from Russian ports on the Baltic Sea and on the Pacific. The Kremlin is also using the blockade to try to blackmail the West into accepting its control over Ukraines Black Sea coast. Russia has already captured two Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov Mariupol, which it razed to the ground, and Berdyansk. The Kremlins key strategic goal now so far unsuccessful is to seize Ukraines largest port, Odesa, on the Black Sea. Playing savior (from the crisis he created), Putin has proposed that Ukraine hand over its grain to the Russians, who will export it from occupied Mariupol. (Russian forces have already stolen 500,000 tons of Ukrainian wheat from territories they occupy and shipped it out of Russian-controlled Crimea.) Obviously, it is a nonstarter to reward the thief for marketing stolen goods. Putin has made an even more outrageous proposal. If Ukraine demines its coast removing a key defense of its shoreline the Russian naval forces will permit grain exports to leave Odesa. In other words, Putin says the world should recognize Russian control of the Black Sea, which grossly violates international law and threatens the economic survival of Ukraine. While Russian warships in the Black Sea are loaded with missiles, it is very dangerous to open Ukrainian waters for them, I was told by Ukraines U.N. ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya. If Ukrainian mines are disabled, he said, Russia could use this as an excuse even to land on Ukrainian shores. Kyslytsya said Ukraine would only demine its coast (after Russia removes its own mines) if Kyiv were given security guarantees from someone powerful that would escort incoming and outgoing merchant vessels to protect them from Russian attack. That powerful country would also need to guarantee that Russian warships would not make use of the demined channel to attack Odesa once commercial ships left. And this is very important the U.S. and European allies would have to deliver the anti-ship missiles that Odesa needs to hold off any Russian attack. What country is in position right now to provide such naval escorts? Turkey. A member of NATO, Turkey has reasonably good ties with both Russia and Ukraine. It also has a long Black Sea coast and international legal control over who can enter the Black Sea in wartime (via the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles straits). Will Turkey take on the huge role of shipping escort and security guarantor for Odesa, with or without other NATO members? Will Russia try to block, or misuse, Turkish intervention? Time is of the essence. July is a red line in the south of the Odesa region, I was told by phone by Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian parliament member from Odesa. The harvest starts in July, and by the end of the month, there will be a big problem for grain storage. The farmers have grain but they cant sell it. Left unstored, grain will rot. Putin must not be allowed to succeed in his latest war crime. The time to break the Russian blockade of grain shipments from Odesa is now. Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. New Delhi: Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent has bought stake worth USD 264 million (about Rs 2,060 crore) in Flipkart from its co-founder Binny Bansal through its European subsidiary, according to official documents. Singapore-headquartered e-commerce firm Flipkart has operations in India only. Bansal holds around 1.84 per cent stake in Flipkart after selling part of his stake to Tencent Cloud Europe BV. The transaction was completed on October 26, 2021 and was shared with the government authorities at the beginning of the current financial year. Post the transaction, Tencent arm holds 0.72 per stake in Flipkart which is valued at around USD 264 million, as per last valuation of USD 37.6 billion disclosed by the e-commerce firm in July 2021. (ALSO READ: Crypto investors in India accidentally got lucky, says Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath, here's why) The company's valuation surged to USD 37.6 billion after raising USD 3.6 billion (about Rs 26,805.6 crore) in funding round led by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, CPP Investments, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Walmart. (ALSO READ: WhatsApp Users Alert! You can soon add 512 members in a group) DisruptAD, Qatar Investment Authority, Khazanah Nasional Berhad as well as marquee investors Tencent, Willoughby Capital, Antara Capital, Franklin Templeton and Tiger Global also participated in the funding round. The transaction between Bansal and Tencent took place after the July funding round. Sources said the transaction took place in Singapore but Flipkart informed Indian authorities about it as a responsible entity and that the transaction does not fall under purview of 'Press Note 3' which calls for scrutiny of investment that any Indian company gets from countries sharing land border with India. While there are several companies operating in India in which Tencent has made investment, the government has banned some gaming apps including PUBG Mobile, PUBG Mobile Lite which were published by Tencent Group. E-mail query sent to Flipkart and Bansal did not elicit any reply. New Delhi: Shark Tank India judge and Emcure Pharmaceuticals' Executive Director Namita Thapar expressed her views on how employees are currently always working and spending no time with their loved ones. Taking it to the microblogging platform Twitter, Thapar urged people to stop wearing I work long hours, I travel a lot, I have no time for family as a badge of honour. She also urged fellow entrepreneurs to take steps to fix the work-life balance of employees at all the companies. Fixing the work-life balance will ensure that we have a mentally fit and more productive generation. "Stop wearing I work long hours, I travel a lot, I have no time for family as a badge of honour. Lets fix work life balance at all companies so we have a mentally fit and more productive generation next that get quality time and involvement from both parents," Thapar said in her Tweet. (Also READ: McDonald's new name, logo in Russia revealed! Will burgers get expensive? Check here) Stop wearing I work long hours, I travel a lot, I have no time for family as a badge of honour, lets fix work life balance at all companies so we have a mentally fit & more productive generation next that get quality time & involvement from both parents. Namita (@namitathapar) June 10, 2022 The tweet from one of the investors at Shark Tank India sparked an online debate, with the majority in favour of a healthy work-life balance for employees. A few users even showed their support for 4-day work weeks in India. (Also READ: Microsoft is retiring Internet Explorer after 27 years, heres why) #WorkLifeBalance is essential for both the genders of the society. But its unfortunate that one part of the society limits the responsibilities of a Family majorly on the weaker section of the #society https://t.co/Eg47XyXNBZ Asmita (@aShuz11) June 11, 2022 Her tweet is also doing rounds on Twitter. So far, it has received more than 940 retweets, 72 quote tweets, and over 7000 likes. New Delhi: Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata has been conferred honorary D.Litt. By Maharashtra's second state cluster university, HSNC University, as a mark of appreciation towards his unparalleled contribution for the society. The Governor of Maharashtra and the Chancellor of the university Bhagat Singh Koshyari awarded the degree to Tata at a special convocation ceremony of the university held on Saturday. The university believes that Ratan Tata reflects the philosophy of development, education and upliftment of all, which also resonates with the vision of HSNC University, Mumbai and as a mark of appreciation towards his unparalleled contribution for the society, the university conferred him with its first-ever honorary degree. "Ratan Tata is not just an industrialist or a corporate icon, he is a great human being who nurtures values of politeness, humanity and ethics. By accepting the honorary doctorate from HSNC University, Tata has honoured each one of us," Koshyari said in his convocation address. (ALSO READ: Aadhaar Card Update: UIDAI to soon let cardholders change phone number, other details from home) The Honorary doctorate was presented to Tata at the First Special Convocation of the HSNC University. pic.twitter.com/yMizlYGFOu Governor of Maharashtra (@maha_governor) June 11, 2022 In his acceptance speech, Ratan Tata said, "This university has been constituted with a view of creating young people with the capability to lead our country in the coming future, with honesty, purpose, and responsibility. I am grateful to receive the honorary degree from the university, it means so much to me" (ALSO READ: Facebook sextortion scam: Mumbai Man loses 12.24 lakh in romance fraud! Check 5 tips to stay safe) Defence Minister Gen. Phan Van Giang addresses a plenary session of the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 11 (Photo: VNA) While peace, cooperation and development have always been the common aspiration of mankind, strategic competition, conflicts of interests, and disputes over sovereignty and territory between countries would continue to occur, he said. Therefore, bolstering national defence capability to safeguard the nation is truly an indispensable and objective demand for each and every country, the minister continued. Vietnams national defence is the whole-people defence posture. It is peaceful and self-defence in its nature; proactive, resolute and persistent in preventing and repulsing the risks of war. Vietnams position is to strengthen its defence capability with its own internal forces, conditions and capabilities. Vietnam does not plan to join any military alliances, side with one country against another, or give any other countries permission to set up military bases or use its territory to carry out military activities against other countries. And Vietnam does not resort to the threat or use of force in international relations. From Vietnams perspective, strengthening defense capabilities is to enhance the collective strength of the entire military forces, the people and the political system. It also encompasses bolstering the overall might derived from politics, resolve, and economic, scientific and technological prospects, rather than relying solely on improving military strength, Giang continued. Vietnam advocates strengthening defence capabilities not merely through the purchase, production and modernisation of weapons and equipment, but also through various other aspects. These include bolstering military and defence strength through a synergistic strategy, taking into account the demands and missions entailed in national construction and protection, combat capabilities, and the capacity of the armed forces. Strengthening defence capacity, without transparency, can easily lead to suspicion and misunderstanding. Without just cause, it might also result in an arms race. Consequently, the strategic trust between countries declines, strategic competition increases, the risk of confrontation persists, traditional security becomes more complicated and the potential for war and conflict becomes unpredictable. On the other hand, an arms race will inevitably consume national resources, which should be better spent for fostering socio-economic development, tackling non-traditional security threats to bring about happiness and prosperity to the people, the minister noted. Vietnam is actively engaging in comprehensive and extensive international integration, and striving to reinforce strategic trust with other countries. It is our aspiration to expand defence cooperation, improve the capability to defend our nation, and jointly address common security challenges, on the basis of respect for each other's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and in line with the fundamental principles of international law, he said. Regarding the East Sea issue, Giang said, Vietnam resolutely and firmly adheres to the principle of settling disputes and disagreements by peaceful means, on the basis of respecting the independence, sovereignty and legitimate interests of countries. Vietnam also advocates complying with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), commits to strictly upholding the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and looks forward to building an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) with better legal clarity./. New Delhi: RBL Bank, a private sector lender, on Saturday (June 11), announced the appointment of R Subramaniakumar, a veteran banker, as its new managing director and chief executive officer (CEO). "We wish to inform you that the Reserve Bank of India vide its communication dated June 10, 2022, has approved the appointment of R Subramaniakumar as Managing Director & CEO of the Bank for a period of three years with effect from date of his taking charge," RBL Bank said in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges. A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank will be convened in due course upon the completion of requisite formalities to approve the appointment of R Subramaniakumar as an Additional Director and as the Managing Director & CEO of the Bank. (ALSO READ: Garena Free Fire redeem codes for today, June 12: Check steps to get free diamonds, vouchers) The approval of the shareholders shall be obtained thereafter as per the applicable provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and SEBI Listing Regulations, the bank said. R Subramaniakumar is a veteran banker with around 40 years of experience. He is also an Independent Director of the UC Pension Fund Limited. (ALSO READ: Petrol selling under Rs 100 after nearly 100 days, check petrol, diesel rates in your city) New Delhi: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday (June 11, 2022) distanced himself and his party from AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleels hang Nupur Sharma remark and said, Nupur Sharma must be arrested as per the law of our country. She should be punished as per the law of our country. This is the official stand of our party which differs from what Imtiaz Jaleel Sahab said. This is the official stand of our party and everyone (party workers) will have to agree with it. We demand the arrest of Nupur Sharma and her timely trial and conviction in accordance with the law of the country, the AIMIM tweeted from its official handle. Earlier, on Friday, while talking to the media, AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel had said, Nupur Sharma should be hanged. If she's allowed to let-go easily, then such things won't stop. Jalee also said that the law should be brought to take action on those who make such remarks. ALSO READ | Dutch legislator Geert Wilders gets death threats from Islamists for supporting Nupur Sharma Shiv Sena MP calls AIMIM MPs hang Nupur Sharma remark shameful Meanwhile, Senas Priyanka Chaturvedi slammed AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleels Nupur Sharma should be hanged remark on Saturday and termed it shameful and condemnable. Sena MP took it to Twitter and said, As a responsible representative, the least he can do is calm the situation rather than fan it further. An elected MP calling for hanging over controversial remarks is absolutely shameful and condemnable. As a responsible representative the least he can do is calm the situation rather than fan it further. https://t.co/WNjZj3xL13 Priyanka (@priyankac19) June 11, 2022 Womens group to hold rally in support of Nupur Sharma Women Pride Protection Committee is holding a rally in Ahmedabad today, in support of Nupur Sharma. According to the statement issued by the organisation, Nupur Sharmas statements on Prophet Muhammad has allegedly hurt religious sentiments of some and an FIR has also been made on her. She had no intention to hurt anyones feelings and now with the FIR the matter is sub judice. Hence, as a civil society, we must let the law take its course, the statement said. Following Nupur Sharma's remarks on the Prophet Muhammad on a TV deabte, protests have erupted in several states across the country. On June 5, the BJP high command suspended Nupur Sharma over her remarks and cases have been registered against Nupur Sharma for hurting religious sentiments in Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai. New Delhi: A massive fire broke out in Karol Bagh's Gaffar shoe market in Delhi on Sunday morning (June 12). Initially, 45 fire tenders had rushed to the site to douse the fire. Hours after the fire tenders reached the spot, fire was brought under control, however, internal fire is still ongoing, said Divisional fire officer, SK Dua as quoted by ANI. He also stated that 15-16 shops were affected and parts of buildings that were on fire are falling off. This made it more difficult to douse the fire. Around 200 firemen are currently working to douse the fire. A family of 5 was stuck but is now rescued and safe. Delhi | Fire has been controlled. Some internal fire continues, 15-16 shops affected. Parts of buildings on fire falling off, creating issue in dousing fire. 200 firemen continue to work. Family of 5 was stuck, now rescued, are safe: Divisional fire officer, SK Dua on Gaffar fire pic.twitter.com/fAd3bOqkdq ANI (@ANI) June 12, 2022 Delhi | Massive fire breaks out in the Gaffar market, Karol Bagh Total 39 fire tenders rushed to the site. Fire is under control. No one trapped or injured: Delhi Fire Service pic.twitter.com/7Jfg6JlLQs ANI (@ANI) June 12, 2022 President of Karol Bagh wholesale footwear association Dharampal Arora stated that information on the fire emerged at around 4:15 am and fire tenders came to the spot half an hour later. He informed the press that fire tenders have been requested to spray the fire with chemicals to extinguish it. "We got to know around 4.15 am that fire has set out. Fire tenders came half an hour later. Fire has flamed but attempts being made to douse it. We're requesting them to spray chemicals to extinguish it," Arora said as quoted by ANI. #UPDATE | We got to know around 4.15 am that fire has set out. Fire tenders came half an hour later. Fire has flamed but attempts being made to douse it. We're requesting them to spray chemicals to extinguish it: Dharampal Arora, President Karol Bagh wholesale footwear assoc pic.twitter.com/ubuoQYyYY0 June 12, 2022 Sunil Chaudhary, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, said that the fire tenders have been working since morning to douse the fire. As quoted by ANI, he further said, "Fire had spread in 3 lanes as paths are narrow here. We've 45 fire tenders at spot. We don't know of any casualties yet. Will first douse fire, cool it & then carry out a search operation." Live TV Kolkata: West Bengal reported 139 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, a jump of 30 per cent in new infections in the last 24 hours, as per Health Department data. The state had reported 107 cases on Friday. So far, the state has reported 20,20,173 cases. Around 75 per cent of the new cases were detected in Kolkata, officials said. Doctors blamed the lackadaisical attitude of the people about wearing masks as the reason behind the sudden spike. ALSO READ: Covid-19 fourth wave scare: India records 8,582 new infections, 4 deaths in last 24 hours The toll remained at 21,205 with no new deaths reported. The positivity rate also rose to 1.82 per cent. So far, 19,98,306 patients have recovered from the disease in the state, including 52 since Friday. There are 662 active cases in the state at present. Live TV New Delhi: India recorded 8,582 new Covid-19 cases, 4 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the total death toll to 5,24,761, according to the data released by the Ministry of Health on Sunday (June 12, 2022). The active cases stand at 44,513. An increase of 4,143 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The country also recorded 4,435 recoveries today, taking the total number of recoveries to 4,26,52,743. The active cases account for 0.10 per cent of the total caseload, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate stands at 98.68 per cent, the ministry said. India reports 8,582 fresh COVID19 cases today; Active cases rise to 44,513 pic.twitter.com/iwzoAyS784 ANI (@ANI) June 12, 2022 The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.71 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 2.02 per cent, according to the ministry. Additionally, the cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive have exceeded 195.07 crore. As many as 3,16,179 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours to detect the presence of the virus. Delhi Covid-19 update As many as 795 fresh Covid-19 infections were recorded in Delhi in the last 24 hours, as per the Delhi government health bulletin on Saturday. According to the health bulletin, there have been 556 recoveries and zero Covid-19 deaths in the national capital in the past 24 hours.As per the latest data, currently, 2,247 Covid-19 cases are still active in the city, with which its case fatality rate stood at 4.11 per cent. Mumbai Covid-19 updates Mumbai on Saturday reported 1,745 Covid-19 cases and one death, taking the tally here to 10,78,944 and the toll to 19,571, a civic official said. Of the new cases, only 99 required hospitalisation, of which 11 needed oxygen support, taking the overall number of such patients to 34, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation official said. The recovery count increased by 888 to touch 10,49,326. (With agency inputs) New Delhi: A 23-year-old woman, who has accused Rajasthan minister Mahesh Joshi's son Rohit Joshi of raping her, was allegedly attacked with blue ink near Kalindi Kunj Road in southeast Delhi, police said on Sunday. The attack took place on Saturday when the woman and her mother came to Delhi from Jaipur for some work, they said, adding that an FIR has been registered. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Esha Pandey said a PCR call was received after some miscreants threw a liquid on a woman and ran away. A preliminary enquiry revealed it was a blue liquid and looked like ink, the police said. The victim gave a statement, saying she was walking with her mother near Kalindi Kunj Road on Saturday when two people in an auto-rickshaw threw something at her and fled. The woman was thoroughly examined at the AIIMS Trauma Centre, Pandey said. "The blue liquid prima facie looks like ink. In the matter, a case under section 195 A (threatening any person to give false evidence), 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Shaheen Bagh police station and an investigation is underway," she added. The DCP said police were looking for CCTV footage from the area to identify the culprits and ascertain the sequence of events. Taking to Twitter on Sunday, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal accused Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of trying to shield his minister's son. "The woman who accused Rohit Joshi, son of Rajasthan minister Mahesh Joshi, of rape was attacked with some liquid by two unidentified people in Delhi.....@ashokgehlot51 sir, instead of shielding your minister's son, arrest him. I am issuing a notice to the Delhi Police for an FIR on this attack," she tweeted in Hindi. In a notice issued to the Delhi Police later, the DCW sought a copy of the FIR registered in the matter, details of the accused arrested, steps taken to ensure the safety and security of the victim, and an action-taken report. The Delhi Police on Friday questioned Rohit Joshi in connection with the rape case registered against him. This was a day after a Delhi court granted him anticipatory bail in the case. Following the woman's allegation that Rohit Joshi raped her on multiple occasions over a year, a case was registered against him under sections 376 (rape), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc., with intent to commit an offence), 312 (causing miscarriage), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc), 377 (unnatural offences) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. New Delhi: With the national capital facing water shortage, Delhi BJP leaders on Sunday (June 12, 2022) met Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here and urged him to supply water to the city from his state. State BJP president Adesh Gupta, who was part of the Delhi BJP delegation, said Khattar assured them of full cooperation in the issue. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also on Friday had urged Haryana to release water in the Yamuna River that had dried up. After the meeting with Khattar, the Delhi BJP president tweeted, "In a meeting with Haryana CM ML Khattar along with Delhi BJP, urged him for supply of water due to growing shortage in Delhi during intense heat. Haryana has been for years supplying water to Delhi and Haryana government has also assured full cooperation on our request." In a memorandum submitted to Khattar, the Delhi BJP expressed gratitude to the neighbouring state for supplying water to Bawana and Haiderpur water treatment plants during summer. Haryana supplied 84,000 MGD water in 2015, 88,000 MGD in 2016, 88,500 MGD in 2017, 88,000 in 2018, 89,500 MGD in 2019, 92,000 MGD in 2020, 92,500 MGD in 2021 and 85,500 MGD so far this year, said the memorandum. "I urge you in the behalf of Delhi people to provide some more water to Delhi so that they can go about their lives normally," said the memorandum signed by Gupta. The ruling AAP has been accusing the BJP-ruled Haryana of not releasing enough water to Delhi during the summer season. AAP MLA and Delhi Jal Board vice chairman Saurabh Bhardwaj on Friday demanded that Haryana release Delhi's share of water, claiming only six inches of water was left in the Yamuna. "Yamuna is almost dried up in Delhi because the Haryana government is refusing to release Delhi's share of water despite the sweltering heat," he had charged. The depth of water at the Wazirabad barrage has reduced from its normal eight feet average to this year's lowest level of 0.5 feet, he had said. "In Delhi, there is a severe water shortage. In this scorching heat, the Haryana government should provide water on humanitarian grounds to quench the thirst of Delhiites. The Haryana government is being asked to provide water to the citizens of Delhi, as they are entitled to it," Bhardwaj had said. Delhi receives most of its water supply from the rivers in neighbouring states. Uttar Pradesh supplies water from River Ganga and Haryana supplies water from the Yamuna. Some water is also supplied from the Bhakra Nangal of Punjab. Out of these, the maximum water supply comes from Haryana. New Delhi: Delhi Jal Board (DJB) Vice-Chairman Saurabh Bharadwaj has expressed deep concern over river Yamuna's dipping water levels and urged the Haryana government to release Delhi's share of water in the river to manage the water crisis in the national capital. He claimed that Haryana has stopped releasing water from the river Yamuna which has reduced the water supply in Delhi by nearly 100 million gallons per day (MGD). "The water level in the Wazirabad water treatment plant's pond has dropped to the bare minimum. This minimum level is determined by measuring it from sea level. As of today, the water level in the Wazirabad barrage has dropped from the normal 674.5 feet to the lowest level of the year at 667.70 feet," said Bhardwaj. He added that it indicates that the water level is nearly eight feet below the surface. How has Delhi water supply been affected? "If you look at the Yamuna, you`ll notice that the depth of the water is only about half a foot, ranging from six inches to half a foot," he said. The drinking water problem in Delhi has aggravated over the last two days, Bharadwaj added. According to the DJB, the water level in the Wazirabad pond has dipped to 667 feet as against the normal of 674.5 feet. "As a result, water production in Delhi has been reduced by about 100 MGD, which represents a significant portion of the city`s water supply," he said in a media briefing. DJB Vice-Chairman urges Haryana to release water to Delhi "In Delhi, there is a severe water shortage. In this scorching heat, the Haryana government should provide water on humanitarian grounds to quench the thirst of Delhiites. The Haryana government is being asked to provide water to the citizens of Delhi, as they are entitled to it," he added. "There`s a certain share of water Delhi is entitled to and they must ensure that people`s rights are not violated. If Haryana releases Yamuna`s water, Delhi will have sufficient water to use for sometime," Bhardwaj added. DRDO Recruitment 2022: The Defence Research and Development Organisation, Recruitment and Assessment Centre, (DRDO-RAC) has released the notification for the applications from candidates for recruitment of Scientist posts. Interested and eligible candidates can apply for the posts online through the official site of DRDO-RAC on rac.gov.in till June 28, 2022. The recruitment drive is being conducted to fill up 28 posts in the organisation. DRDO Recruitment 2022: Vacancy details Scientist F: 3 Posts Scientist E: 6 Posts Scientist D: 15 Posts Scientist C: 34 Posts DRDO Recruitment 2022: Eligibility Criteria Educational qualification: The educational qualification for various posts is different. Candidates applying for the posts can check the educational qualification through the Detailed Notification. Age Limit: upper age limit for various Scientist posts is as follows- Scientist F: 50 years. Scientist D/E: 45 years. Scientist C: 35 years. DRDO Recruitment 2022: Application Fees The application fee for General, OBC and EWS male candidates is Rs. 100/. There is no application fee for SC/ST/Divyang and Women candidates. (The application fee is non-refundable non-transferable) DRDO Recruitment 2022: Selection procedure Eligible candidates will be shortlisted for the further selection process by adopting any one or more of the following methods: a. On the basis of educational qualifications and /experience higher than the minimum prescribed in the advertisement duly supported by the documentary evidence. b. Relevance of experience as filled in application by candidates. c. On the basis of Desirable Qualification (DQ), if more than one DQ is prescribed, on any one or all of the DQs. d. By holding a Screening Committee Meeting consisting of Technical Experts from Industry and Academia. Candidates will initially be short-listed as per one or more of the above mentioned methods. In case, the no. of candidates shortlisted in accordance with any of above mentioned methods is large, then further shortlisting may be carried out by conducting a Preliminary Online Interview of a short duration (10-15minutes). Live TV Srinagar: Three local terrorists of the proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was killed during the encounter with security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Sunday (June 12, 2022). Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said, three terrorists killed in Pulwama encounter arms and ammunition recovered, one killed was involved in killing of policeman, operation has been concluded. "PulwamaEncounterUpdate: 02 more terrorists killed (Total 3). Identification and affiliation being ascertained. Incriminating materials including arms and ammunition recovered. Search going on," tweeted Jammu and Kashmir Police. "All three killed. Terrorists are locals, linked with terror outfit LeT. One of them has been identified as Junaid Sheergojri, involved in killing of our colleague Martyr Reyaz Ahmad on May 13 in Gadoora Pulwama. Other two killed terrorists have been identified as Fazil Nazir Bhat and Irfan Ah Malik of Pulwama district. Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including 02 AK 47 rifles and 01 pistol was recovered from encounter spot," said Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir. #PulwamaEncounterUpdate: Other two killed terrorists have been identified as Fazil Nazir Bhat & Irfan Ah Malik of Pulwama district. Incriminating materials, arms & ammunition including two AK 47 rifles and one pistol recovered: IGP Kashmir ANI (@ANI) June 12, 2022 The operation which started on Saturday evening at 6.55 pm and in Drabgam village of Pulwama district of South Kashmir and after 11 hours operation security forces managed to kill three terrorists, operation was carried by Jammu Kashmir police, Army's 44 RR, 12 Sector RR, and CRPF. A police officer said, A joint team of Police, Army and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation in main Chowk of Drabgam village after having the input about the presence of terrorists in the area. As the joint searching team of forces cordoned the suspected spot, the exchange of fire started triggering off an Encounter, the officer added. This was the second encounter in last 24 hours in south Kashmir. Earlier during night hours in an encounter in Kulgam one Terrorist of Hizb terror outfit was killed. Police officer said, Acting on specific information generated by Police regarding the presence of a terrorist in village Khandipora village of Kulgam, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, Army 9RR and CRPF 18Bn in the said village which turned into a Gunfight In the ensuing encounter, a categorized terrorist identified as Rasiq Ahmed Ganie resident of Shouch Kulgam of proscribed terror outfit HM was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of encounter, the officer added. As per police records, the killed terrorist was involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on Police/security forces and civilian atrocities. Incriminating materials, arms & ammunition including 303 Rifle along with 23 rounds, Pistol along with 31 rounds, 1 Hand grenade have been recovered from the site of encounter. Its pertained to mention that it was 60th Encounter of this year security forces have managed to kill 95 terrorists including 28 Pakistani in those operations. Police have also arrested 47 active terrorists and their 185 associates. However, 17 civilians and 16 security personals too have lost their lives in Kashmir this year terror incidents. Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations . (Photo: VNA) An agreement to this effect was inked on June 10 by Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations on behalf of the Government of Vietnam, and Ambassador Zephyrin Maniratanga, Permanent Representative of Burundi to the United Nations on behalf of the Government of Burundi. Under the agreement, Vietnamese citizens and Burundian citizens holding valid diplomatic or official passports are exempted from visas with a temporary stay of no more than 90 days from the date of entry. Citizens of the two countries who are members of diplomatic missions, consular offices or representative offices at international organisations located in the others territory, and members of their families holding diplomatic or official passports are exempt from visa during the working term. The signing of the agreement is expected to facilitate the exchange of delegations between the two countries, contributing to promoting bilateral relations between Vietnam and Burundi. Vietnam and Burundi established diplomatic relations on April 16, 1975./. Srinagar: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Adil Parray, who was involved in the recent killings of two police personnel, was killed in a "chance" encounter in Kreshwal, Palpora area of Srinagar on Sunday (June 12), the Jammu and Kashmir police said. Parray was killed in a brief encounter with a small team of Srinagar Police, they said, adding that the LeT terrorist was active since September 2021. Inspector General of Police Kashmir Vijay Kumar termed it a big success for the police as Parray, the most wanted terrorist in the targeted killings, was the main brain behind these killings. Kumar said, "He was involved in targeted killings including that of our martyrs Gh Hassan Dar in Sangam and Saifulla Qadri in Anchar Soura and injuring a 9-year-old girl in Srinagar district in May." He added, "LeT terrorist Adil Parray was killed in brief shootout in Kreesbal Palpora area of outskirts of Srinagar district on Sunday." Kumar said the slain terrorist was an important asset for LeT and his killing was a big setback for the terror outfit and major success for the security forces. This is the third encounter in Kashmir in the last 48 hours. Earlier in two encounters in Kulgam and Pulwama districts of south Kashmir, security forces killed 4 terrorists, one belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen and three LeT militants. It is pertaining to mention that this was the 61st encounter of this year in the union territory. The security forces have managed to kill 100 terrorists including 28 Pakistani in the operations and arrested 47 active terrorists and their 185 associates. Meanwhile, 17 civilians and 16 security personals too have lost their lives in Kashmir in terror incidents this year. New Delhi: Kerala reported another fatality due to scrub typhus on Sunday (June 12), a few days after it recorded the first death. A 38-year-old woman died at the government medical college hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, PTI reported. Subitha, who was suffering from the disease for the past 15 days, was admitted to the hospital on June 10 and passed away on Sunday morning, IANS reported. A senior hospital source informed PTI, "She was brought here on June 10, but died early this morning. As of now, we don't have any similar case. This comes after 15-year-old girl Ashwathy, a native of Cherunniyoor, died on June 9 due to scrub typhus, known as 'chellu pani' in the local tongue. Following her death, Kerala health minister Veena George had directed a special medical team to visit the place where Ashwathy was admitted. She had assured the state health department was monitoring the situation. What is scrub typhus? Scrub typhus is an infectious disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi, that is a mite-borne bacterium. Chigger mites, the larval stage of mites, carry the disease from animals like rats, squirrels, and rabbits to humans. Scrub typhus symptoms According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the scrub typhus-afflicted patients experience these symptoms: 1. Fever and body aches 2. Headache 3. Chills and muscle pain 4. A dark, scab-like region at the spot of chigger bite 5. Mental changes, from confusion to coma can be seen in patients. 6. Enlarged lymph nodes 7. Rashes Scrub typhus: Prevention So far, there is no vaccine to prevent scrub typhus. However, CDC suggests avoiding contact with infected chiggers to lessen the risk of getting the disease. While visiting places where scrub typhus is common, people should avoid areas with abundant vegetation and brush where chiggers are likely to exist, the CDC said. (With agency inputs) New Delhi: Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders, who extended his support to former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma amid the controversies over her comment on the Prophet Muhammad, is currently receiving death threats. Geert Wilders, who is known for repeatedly taking a tough stance against Islamic extremism in his country, extended his support to a former BJP leader after she purportedly made controversial comments about Prophet Muhammed during a TV debate. The Dutch politician took it to Twitter and shared multiple screenshots of threats. So this is what I get supporting the brave #NupurSharma. Hundreds of death threats. It makes me even more determined and proud of supporting her. For evil may never win. Never. #IsupportNupurSharma, he said in a tweet. So this is what I get supporting the brave #NupurSharma. Hundreds of death threats. It makes me even more determined and proud supporting her. For evil may never win. Never. #IsupportNupurSharma pic.twitter.com/gsl6tnJAoF Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) June 11, 2022 The screenshots Wilders posted on Twitter contained vulgar threat messages intended at the assassination of him. Earlier, on June 6, he claimed that Nupur Sharma gave the right information. India should stand in her support. Wilders in a tweet, that supported Nupur Sharmas controversial comments, has said, It is ridiculous that Arab and Islamic countries are angered by Indian politician Nupur Sharmas statement for speaking the truth about Prophet Muhammad who indeed married Aisha when she was six years old and consumed the marriage when she was nine. Why does India apologize? The Dutch politician and member of the Legislature of the Netherlands, Geert Wilders, posted a series of tweets in support of the statement. Appeasement never works. Itll only make things worse. So my dear friends from India, dont be intimidated by islamic countries. Stand up for freedom and be proud and steadfast in defending your politician #NupurSharma @NupurSharmaBJP who spoke the truth about Muhammad. June 6, 2022 Meanwhile, several parts of the country witnessed massive protests against the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad. Former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma has been in the eye of the storm ever since she purportedly made controversial comments during a TV debate. Two people were killed and many including security personnel were critically injured as violent protests rocked Ranchi. UP Police have arrested more than 130 people from six districts of the state after people pelted stones at police personnel in Prayagraj and Saharanpur and protests broke out after Friday prayers. Earlier on Friday, a huge crowd gathered at Howrah in West Bengal to protest. Earlier in the day, a massive crowd also gathered to protest at Park Circus in Kolkata adding to the resentment against the sacked leaders. New Delhi: The Mumbai police officials on Saturday (June 11, 2022) informed that the suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma has been summoned by Mumbai police to appear at Mumbai`s Pydhonie police station on June 25. Mumbai police`s summon was regarding the enquiry and recording of Sharma`s statement, the officials said. Police earlier filed a case against her on a complaint filed by Raza Academy. The development comes as the row over the comments on Prophet Muhammad by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma has blown up, leading to global outrage. A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Sharma at Pydhonie police station in the city earlier this week after her comments about the Prophet during a TV debate triggered a huge controversy. Earlier, Mumbai police had asked for a video of the debate from the concerned news channel. In the past several days, many countries such as Malaysia, Kuwait and Pakistan condemned the remarks made by a few BJP leaders. While Nupur Sharma made comments during a TV debate, another leader Naveen Jindal posted a controversial remark on Twitter. The BJP suspended spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled media in-charge, Naveen Jindal, over the remarks. The party issued a statement emphasising its intolerance for disrespect of any religious personality. (With agency inputs) New Delhi: After violent protests shook Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj, the main accused for inciting violence in the district Javed Ahmed's 'illegally constructed' house is being demolished. The demolition process began on Sunday (June 12) and as per visuals shared by news agency ANI, the demolition is currently underway. This occurred after Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) had earlier put a demolition notice at the residence. WATCH THE DEMOLITION VIDEO HERE: #WATCH | Demolition of the "illegally constructed" residence of Prayagraj violence accused Javed Ahmed underway, after the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) earlier put a demolition notice at the residence. pic.twitter.com/p1okHrFyz7 ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) June 12, 2022 Earlier, UP Chief Minister had issued a warning against the perpetrators of violence in the state. "Strictest action will be taken against the anti-social elements involved in the chaotic efforts to spoil the atmosphere in various cities in the past few days. There is no place for such anti-social people in a civilised society. No innocent should be harassed, but not a single guilty should be spared." Under Adityanath, the state administration has been cracking down on criminals and riot accused, seizing or razing their properties. His critics have often accused him of adopting strong-arm tactics. On Friday, people pelted stones at police personnel in Prayagraj and Saharanpur during their protests after Friday prayers in mosques against suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma's comments on Prophet Muhammad. At least four other cities witnessed similar scenes during the marches that were carried out to protest against the controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad. (With agency inputs) Live TV UP rioters beaten by police video: BJP MLA Shalabh Mani Tripathi is receiving backlash over a tweet where he termed the police action on rioters as a 'return gift' for their violent protests against Nupur Sharma's controversial comments on Prophet Mohammad. The BJP MLA from Deoria, who is former journalist and ex-media advisor to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, tweeted a video with a caption - "retun gift to rioters". In the 30-second video, two cops are seen thrashing a group of men with a lathi. A number of jounalists have condemned the Tripathi's act of terming police action as a 'retun gift'. However, some supported Tripathi, saying police action was much needed to stop the rioters. "UP police is treating jihadis on the streets. Shalabh Mani Tripathi is doing the treatment of Jihadis sitting in media," BJP leader Kapil Mishra tweeted in Shalabh Mani Tripathi's support. The Uttar Pradesh Police has so far arrested over 300 people from eight districts of the state in connection with Friday's violence during protests against the controversial remarks of suspended BJP functionary Nupur Sharma on Prophet Mohammad. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who has often spoken of how under his rule the state has been rid of frequent riots, issued a stern warning on Saturday. "Strictest action will be taken against the anti-social elements involved in the chaotic efforts to spoil the atmosphere in various cities in the past few days," he said while issuing directives to officials. "There is no place for such anti-social people in a civilised society. No innocent should be harassed, but not a single guilty should be spared," he said. In a tweet in Hindi, Mrityunjay Kumar, the media advisor to the chief minister, on Saturday had said, "Unruly elements remember, every Friday is followed by a Saturday" and posted a photo of a bulldozer demolishing a building. Haridwar: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Sunday expressed concern over the Kanpur violence last Friday and described it as a "well-planned conspiracy". VHP General Secretary Milind Parande after the conclusion of the organisation's two-day meeting here said the government, police and society are fully capable of responding to it. Seers at the meeting expressed resentment against the violence and called it a "well-planned conspiracy", Parande said. Violence had erupted on June 3 in Kanpur following Friday prayers over suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma's alleged derogatory remarks on Prophet Mohammed in a television show. Parande further said four resolutions were passed during the meeting, which included the demand that monasteries and temples in the country be freed from the government control. The body also demanded a stringent law to check conversions and the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code. The VHP leader said the participants at the meeting expressed concern over conversions, demanding a strict law to curb it. According to Parande, the issue of Varanasi's Gyanvapi mosque was also discussed. ALSO READ: 'UP CM seems to be presiding over kangaroo court where minorities: Mehbooba Mufti SLAMS Yogi Adityanath over bulldozer action New Delhi: Ghaziabad District Magistrate (DM) Rakesh Kumar Singh on Sunday (June 12) imposed Section 144 in the Uttar Pradesh district, ANI reported. As per the DMs order, no gatherings without permission will be allowed. Five or more people cannot gather in a public place together. Loudspeakers have been banned except at religious places. The DM has also issued directions for the usage of social media asking group admins to inform the administration about rumor-mongers. The order further said that to maintain the law and order situation ahead of the upcoming festivals and an examination, Section 144 CrPC has been imposed in Ghaziabad district till August 10. To maintain the law & order situation ahead of upcoming festivals and an examination, Section 144 CrPC has been imposed in Ghaziabad district till August 10. pic.twitter.com/rcDO2mGLcL ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) June 12, 2022 The development comes in the wake of the state witnessing multiple incidents of violence in the last two weeks over now-suspended BJP leaders' objectionable remarks against Prophet Mohammad. On June 3, protests against Nupur Sharma's comments on the Prophet in a TV debate took a violent turn, with incidents of stone-pelting and hurling of petrol bombs. This Friday, UP witnessed more violent protests including in Prayagraj and Saharanpur, wherein clashes between demonstrators and the police were reported. The UP police said on Sunday that 13 FIRs have been registered and 316 people have been arrested in connection with the violence so far. Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said in a statement that cases have been lodged in nine districts of the state. Yogi Adityanath government's bulldozer action The UP administration has started demolishing the properties of the violence accused, their relatives or associates. Amid denunciation from the Opposition and various civilians, the UP government has bulldozed properties in Saharanpur, Prayagraj, and Kanpur districts. On Sunday, the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) demolished the house of the alleged mastermind of the June 10 violence amid heavy police force. "Javed Ahmad's house -- JK Ashiyana -- is located in the Kareli area of Prayagraj. Police personnel and a JCB machine reached the Kareli police station around 10.30 am and the demolition commenced around 1 pm," a senior PDA official was quoted as saying by PTI. This came a day after the "illegal" properties of two persons accused of rioting were bulldozed in Saharanpur. (With agency inputs) ALSO READ: Prophet Mohammad remarks row: My family is in danger, says expelled Delhi BJP leader Naveen Kumar Jindal UP Board Result 2022: The Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shikha Parishad (UPMSP) is expected to declare the UP Board Class 10th and Class 12th Exam 2022 results soon. According to media reports, the Uttar Pradesh Board High School (10th) Examination Results and Intermediate (12th) Examination Results are expected to be declared by June 15. Officials, however, have not made any official announcement regarding UPMSP Class 10 and Class 12 result 2022. According to the Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Council (UPSEC), over 51 lakh students had registered for UP Board Class 10th and Class 12th Exams 2022. Once declared, the UP Board Result 2022 will be available on UPMSP's official websites -- upresults.nic.in and results.upmsp.edu.in. UP Board Result 2022: Here's how to check your scorecard Students can visit UPMSP's official result website - upresults.nic.in to check their scorecard, once the results are announced. Step 1: Visit the UPMSP's official result website - upresults.nic.in Step 2: On the homepage, click on the "U. P. Board Intermediate (Class XII) Examination - 2022 Results" link or link and "U. P. Board High School (Class X) Examination - 2022 Results" link. Step 3: Enter your "Roll Number" and your "School code" (as given in the Admit Card). You also need to enter the Captcha code shown on the website and submit Step 4: The UP Board Class 12 Exam 2022 or Class 10 Exam 2022 Results will appear on the screen. Step 5: Download and print out your scorecard for future references. It is pertinent to note that the Board had directed the chief head examiners and examiners to award equal marks to all the examinees for questions asked outside the curriculum in around a dozen subjects of Class 12 and seven core subjects of Class 10, this year. In the academic year 2020-2021, the final marks of the students of class 10th were based on the average of their class 9 and class 10 pre-board exam results. The average marks received by a student in classes 10th and 11th were used to calculate the marks for Class 12 and the Board did not provide a merit list since students would be promoted without board exams. Live TV New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the parts of northwest and central India reeled under heatwave conditions on Saturday (June 11, 2022) though the area of impact reduced slightly. The weather department also predicted that the heatwave conditions in isolated areas of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand will continue for up to two more days. Northwest and central India is reeling under a heatwave spell since June 2 due to an onslaught of hot and dry westerly winds. "The ongoing heatwave spell is less intense as compared to those recorded in April-end and May, but the area of impact is almost equal," senior IMD scientist R K Jenamani said. Earlier, On Saturday, a heatwave spell prevailed in parts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh. UPs Banda was the hottest place in the country at 46.2 degrees Celsius yesterday. According to data released by IMD, at least 22 towns and cities in these states reported maximum temperatures above 44 degrees Celsius. Slight relief from heatwave soon On the other hand, Senior IMD scientist R K Jenamani said maximum temperatures in Delhi-NCR and other parts of northwest India will come down by a few notches over the weekend but no major relief is likely till June 15. Pre-monsoon activity is predicted over east Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha from June 12, but north Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and north Madhya Pradesh will continue to see above-normal temperatures till June 15, the IMD official said. The IMD said moisture-laden easterly winds will provide significant relief from the searing heat from June 16 onwards. No significant change in maximum temperatures The weather office said no significant change in maximum temperatures is likely in northwest India during the next four days. Between June 16 and June 22, maximum temperatures are likely to remain "below-normal to near-normal", the IMD said in an extended range forecast. "No significant heatwave likely over any part of the country during the week (June 16-June 22)," it said. Southwest monsoon arrives in Maharashtra Meanwhile, the southwest monsoon arrived in Maharashtra on Saturday, two days later than its usual date of arrival, covering central parts of the state and the Konkan region, IMD informed. Monsoon normally arrives in Konkan by June 9. "The southwest monsoon has arrived in parts of Konkan and central Maharashtra. It will bring some showers in the state with downpour in some areas of Konkan. The regions where heavy showers are likely to be witnessed have been alerted as well," the official said. IMD also said that the conditions are favourable for the advancement of monsoon over Maharashtra for the next 48 hours. "If the conditions remain favourable, the monsoon system will progress further," the official said. Delhi weather update The maximum temperature in the national capital on Saturday settled at 43.8 degrees Celsius, four notches above normal, the Met Office said. The minimum temperature settled at 29.7 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal, it said. According to the IMD, partly cloudy skies with thunder, lightning and strong surface winds are expected in Delhi in the next few days but no major respite from the heat is likely till June 15. Odisha monsoon India Meteorological Departments (IMD) Regional Centre in Bhubaneswar on Saturday informed that monsoon is likely to hit Odisha during the next 4 to 5 days. The conditions are becoming favourable for the monsoon onset in Odisha in the next 4 to 5 days, said IMDs Regional Centre in a tweet. Rains likely in Bengaluru The meteorological centre in Bengaluru has predicted rains for the city for the next few days. With partly cloudy skies, the maximum temperature is likely to be 30 degree Celsius, while the minimum temperature is expected to be 21 degree Celsius. Heatwave, dust storm likely in parts of Rajasthan The meteorological department said that the hot weather conditions prevailed in Rajasthan on Saturday with Dholpur being recorded as the hottest place in the state at 46 degrees Celsius. The MeT has also predicted rainfall activity in some areas of Kota and Udaipur divisions from Saturday to Monday. The rainfall activity would bring down day temperatures by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius, the MeT said in its weather forecast. Heatwave conditions and dust storms are expected at some place in Hanumangarh and Ganganagar districts in northern Rajasthan during the next 24 hours, it said. (With agency inputs) Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN (Photo: VNA) Speaking at a meeting of the UN General Assembly over a draft resolution of the UN Security Council on tougher sanctions on the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) on June 8 and 10, Ambassador Giang said Vietnam always keeps a close watch on the situation on the Korean peninsula. Vietnam disapproves actions that would escalate tensions and negatively impact regional peace and security, he noted, calling on relevant sides to exercise self-restraint, promote dialogues, and uphold achievements made in negotiations and meetings over the past years to seek long-term, comprehensive solutions, for their legitimate rights and interests, as well as for peace, stability and development in the region. Vietnam stands ready to contribute to efforts to promote dialogues and negotiations in this regard, and calls on the international community to continue with humanitarian aid to the DPRK as the country is facing difficulties caused by natural disasters, diseases and other problems. Many participating countries expressed their concern over the DPRKs intercontinental ballistic missile tests, and called on the country not to repeat the acts. They expressed a hope that the sides will soon resume dialogues and negotiations to seek long-term peaceful solutions for the Korean peninsula. Russia and China that vetoed the resolution on May 26 explained their rejection at the meeting./. Tirumala: Newly married actor Nayanthara and her husband Vignesh Shivan got caught up in controversy during their visit to Tirupati temple in Tirupathi. The newlyweds were apparently delivered a legal notice for wearing shoes inside the temple premises and performing photoshoots. In the photos that have now gone viral on the internet, Nayanthara was seen walking in the premises of the shrine wearing her footwear. Shivan issued an apology letter to the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam board. He wrote, "Dear all, we have always wanted our marriage to happen in tirupati but due to logistical reasons that was not possible and we had to do our wedding in Chennai. To wholesomely complete our wedding, we made sure we headed to tirupati directly from our wedding venue (without going home) to watch the Sami Kalyanam and to receive the blessings of Lord Balaji who we have utmost devotion towards. We had a wonderful darshan and wanted to click a picture outside the temple to have this day in our memory and to feel like the wedding got completed here, as per our wish but due to the crowd and chaos we had to exit the premises and re-enter at a time when there was a lesser commotion. In the hurry for a quick picture we did not realize we had our footwear on when we got back later for the quick picture outside the temple. We are a couple who go to temples regularly and have immense faith in God. We have been to Thirumala almost 5 times in the past 30 days trying to do our wedding there!" He continued and said, "We sincerely apologize to those who we could have offended and we mean no disrespect to the lord who we love. We are grateful for the love and wishes we have received from everyone for our special day and we hope you continue to shower us with only the positivity we need from you." According to the Chief Vigilance Security Officer of Tirumala Tirupati Desvasthanam Board Narasimha Kishore, wearing sandals inside the temple`s premises is strictly prohibited.Informing that they will soon serve a legal notice to the actor, he added, "We are serving notices to Nayanatara. We have also spoken to her and she wanted to release a video to the press apologising to Lord Balaji, TTD, and pilgrims. However, we are going to serve notices to her." The 37-year-old actor tied the knot with Vignesh in an intimate ceremony at a private resort in Mahabalipuram. The ceremony was attended by close friends and family. Only a few celebrities were invited. Rajnikanth, Shah Rukh Khan, and Director Atlee were some of the few celebrities spotted at the wedding. Earlier, Vignesh Shivan, during a press conference to announce his wedding, had said that they had originally planned to get married at Tirupati but then had to drop the idea due to logistic issues. New Delhi: Garena Free Fire redeem codes for today, June 12, 2022, have been released. Players can get rewards such as free diamonds, vouchers, and other in-app rewards like skins for weapons and characters by redeeming the codes, which are released by the popular battle royale game's developer on a daily basis. Players must enter the 12-digit redeem code, which consists of alphabets and digits, on the official redemption portal to get free rewards in their game accounts. In order to receive free rewards in their gaming accounts, they must also login with their social profiles on the website. However, readers should be aware that the Indian authorities banned Garena Free Fire earlier this year. Players outside of India, on the other hand, can use the redeem codes to receive free gifts in their gaming accounts. (ALSO READ: iPhone 13 gets BIG price cut on Flipkart and Amazon: Details here) Garena Free Fire MAX, an improved version of Garena Free Fire, is available to players in India. The MAX version is currently only available on Google Play and is yet to arrive on Apple's App Store. (ALSO READ: Gold price today: Gold selling under Rs 50,000 in most cities! Check rate in your city) Garena Free Fire redeem codes for today, June 12: FMN4 NEF8 S7LF FMCJ 4FH1 4T75 FMF3 5RYK NI07 FMEP 87HU VVLB FMQ6 K30D L818 FMBZ A0XC M5O9 FMVA KN6T L0JB FMT4 9592 5THI FMGS 47YN TZH0 FME0 0A2Q P0V5 FM27 UP8C 1798 FMUA HZYZ 6G7W FM9J Q2FZ XRS5 FMH0 LYBQ KB31 FMP5 G2U7 89T9 How to Redeem Garena Free Fire codes for today, June 12, 2022: Step 1: Go to the official Garena Free Fire redemption website at https://reward.ff.garena.com/en. Step 2: Log in on the website with either your Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Google, VK, or Huawei ID. Step 3: Type a redeem code in the designated text box. Step 4: Select the Ok button to get free rewards in your game account. New Delhi: Microsoft has officially retired the venerable Internet Explorer. The web browser was first launched in 1995 as part of the Plus! add-on package for Windows 95. Later versions were available as free downloads or in-service packs, and were included in OEM service releases of Windows 95 and later versions of Windows. According to reports, the browser peaked in 2003 with a 95 percent usage share. However, as other competitors released new browsers, their user base declined in the years that followed. Read More: WhatsApp Users Alert! You can soon add 512 members in a group In 2016, fresh feature development for Internet Explorer was halted in favour of the new browser Microsoft Edge. This was the first time Microsoft planned to phase out Internet Explorer gradually. Read More: Garena Free Fire redeem codes for today, June 12: Check steps to get free diamonds, vouchers Microsoft 365 will no longer support Internet Explorer on August 17, 2021, and Microsoft Teams will no longer support IE on November 30, 2020. According to reports, Internet Explorer will be phased out on June 15, 2022. Microsoft Edge programme manager Sean Lyndersay stated that "the future of Internet Explorer on Windows 10 lies in Microsoft Edge." "Not only is Microsoft Edge a quicker, more secure, and more contemporary browsing experience than Internet Explorer," he said, "but it also addresses a crucial concern: compatibility for older, legacy websites and applications." "Internet Explorer mode ('IE mode') is incorporated into Microsoft Edge, allowing you to view older Internet Explorer-based websites and applications directly from Microsoft Edge. With Microsoft Edge capable of taking on this and other responsibilities, the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application will be discontinued and phased out of support for certain versions of Windows 10 on June 15, 2022 "he said. Internet Explorer will be remembered fondly by anyone who used computers at home, schools, and companies in the 1990s and early 2000s. The browser was the initial entryway to the world wide web for millions of people around the world. It was also the sole means to access the popular browsers that we are all accustomed to today. That is why netizens are feeling nostalgic right now. "A final tribute to Internet Explorer," one user said. It will cease support on June 15, this year. You have offered me many joyful memories as my first Internet connection. As a last hurrah, I'm going to try to download it on Windows 11. Goodbye! We might not see each other again." "I'm sorry that Microsoft is discontinuing Internet Explorer, but who uses it anyway? I believe it's the loss of memories caused by time that makes me feel this way "another user said. Kyiv: Ukraine remains in control of the Azot chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk where hundreds of civilians are sheltering amid bitter fighting, the region`s governor said on Saturday, after a Russia-backed separatist claimed 300 to 400 Ukrainian fighters were also trapped there. Earlier, the governor, Serhiy Gaidai, said Russian shelling of the plant in Luhansk province had ignited a big fire after a leak of tonnes of oil. In neighboring Donetsk province, Russian media reported that a huge cloud of smoke could be seen after an explosion in the city of Avdiivka, which houses another chemical plant. Weeks of fighting for Sievierodonetsk, a small city in Luhansk that has become the focus of Russia`s advance in eastern Ukraine, has pulverized sections of the town and has been some of the bloodiest since Moscow began its invasion on Feb. 24. "The information about the blockade of the Azot plant is a lie," Gaidai said on the Telegram messaging app. "Our forces are holding an industrial zone of Sievierodonetsk and are destroying the Russian army in the town." Ukraine has said some 800 people were hiding in several bomb shelters underneath the Azot plant, including about 200 employees and 600 residents of Sievierodonetsk. Rodion Miroshnik, a Russian-backed representative of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People`s Republic, said late on Saturday that some civilians had started to leave and that Ukrainian forces may be holding several hundred civilians "hostage". Earlier, he said 300 to 400 Ukrainian fighters were blockaded on the grounds of the plant along with civilians. Gaidai said earlier that Russian forces controlled most of the city, although Ukraine controlled the Azot plant. The Ukrainian armed forces` general staff said on Facebook that Ukrainian forces pushed back a Russian attack on three small towns to the northwest of Sloviansk in Donetsk province, while fighting was continuing in a fourth settlement in the area, as well as to the east of the city. Russian strikes knocked out power in Donetsk`s two largest Ukrainian-controlled cities on Saturday, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said. In a short video address late on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that while "fierce street fights continue in Sievierodonetsk," the Ukrainian military was gradually liberating territory further west in the Kherson region and had had some successes in Zaporizhzhia too. "We are definitely going to prevail in this war that Russia has started," he told a conference in Singapore via video link earlier in the day. "It is on the battlefields in Ukraine that the future rules of this world are being decided." Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports. Ukraine has appealed for swifter deliveries of heavy weapons from the West to turn the tide of the war, saying Russian forces have at least 10 times more artillery pieces. Ukrainian forces have proven more resilient than expected, but, in a report on Friday, the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said that as they use the last of their stocks of Soviet-era weapons and munitions, they will require consistent Western support to transition to new Western supplies and systems. The institute said effective artillery would "be increasingly decisive in the largely static fighting in eastern Ukraine." EUROPEAN TALKS On Saturday, Germany`s Bild am Sonntag newspaper, citing French and Ukrainian government sources, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will travel to Kyiv with French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi before the Group of Seven summit at the end of June. A German government spokesperson told Reuters they were not able to confirm the report and the Elysee Palace in Paris declined to confirm it. The Italian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. None of the three leaders has been to Kyiv since Russia`s invasion. Macron has sought to maintain a dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a stance some eastern European and Baltic countries see as undermining efforts to push him into negotiations. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Zelenskiy during a visit to Kyiv on Saturday that the EU executive`s opinion on Ukraine`s request to join the European Union would be ready by the end of next week. All 27 EU governments would have to agree to grant Ukraine candidate status, after which there would be extensive talks on reforms required before Kyiv could be considered for membership. Referring to those skeptical about Ukraine`s EU bid, Zelenskiy said keeping Ukraine outside of the bloc would work against Europe. He called his talks with von der Leyen "very fruitful" and added: "there will be many more important and, I hope, fruitful talks with European leaders next week." GRAIN SHORTAGES The conflict between Ukraine and Russia, two of the world`s biggest grain exporters, has reverberated well beyond Ukraine. The United Nations said on Friday up to 19 million more people in the world could face chronic hunger in the next year because of reduced wheat and other food exports. Ukraine`s deputy agriculture minister said on Saturday up to 300,000 tonnes of grain may have been stored in warehouses in the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv that Kyiv says were destroyed by Russian shelling last weekend. Turkey has sought a deal so Ukraine can resume shipments from its Black Sea ports, which accounted for 98% of its cereal and oilseed exports before the war. But Moscow says Kyiv must clear the ports of mines and Ukraine says it needs security guarantees so it is not left exposed. The battle for Sievierodonetsk recalls weeks of bombardment of the southern port city of Mariupol, which was reduced to ruins before Russian forces took control of it last month. Moscow turned to expanding control in the eastern Donbas region, where pro-Russian separatists had already held a swathe of territory since 2014, after being forced to scale back its initial more sweeping campaign goals. It calls its actions a "special military operation" to disarm and "denazify" Ukraine. Kyiv and its allies call it an unprovoked war of aggression to capture territory. Officials of the regional council of Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes receive Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang during his working trip to the region. (Photo: VNA) Welcoming the ambassador, Philippe Meunier, Vice President of the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, hailed the positive results of cooperation in urban planning, public lighting, health care, and education training between the French region and Vietnamese localities such as Dong Nai and Ho Chi Minh City. The Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region wishes to expand cooperation with Vietnamese localities in the fields of environmentally friendly green infrastructure, energy, medicine, as well as collaboration within the framework of the Francophonie, he said. The French official called on Vietnamese localities to join the International Association of Francophone Regions (AIRF) and to attend Pollutech 2023 Europes leading international exhibition on the environment. During a meeting at the Lyon Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI Lyon), Philippe Valentin, President of CCI Lyon, emphasized that many member businesses of CCI Lyon such as Thuasne and Boehringer Ingelheim are currently doing very successful business in Vietnam. He expressed his desire to increase cooperation in the areas of Lyon businesses strength and Vietnamese partners demand. Talking to Ambassador Dinh Toan Thang, Bruno Bernard, President of the Lyon Metropolis, discussed the possibility of cooperation with Vietnamese localities in urban planning to meet climate change challenges. He shared experience in post-pandemic tourism development associated with raising awareness and strengthening health safety measures to encourage tourists to extend their stay, limit travel transfer and reduce emissions. At these meetings, Ambassador Dinh Toan Thang affirmed that expanding cooperation between Vietnamese and French localities is to meet the needs of both sides for a win-win relationship. The Ambassador called on partners of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region to participate in the 12th Vietnam - France decentralised cooperation conference to be held in Hanoi in early December this year to deepen their mutually beneficial cooperation. During his stay, Ambassador Dinh Toan Thang visited a number of local businesses that have cooperation programs and projects with Vietnam such as Confluence Museum, BioMerieux, AirLiquide, Laboratoire Aguetta, and Sanofi./. Special Prayer Gathering at Supreme Court After Death Threats, Protests at Justices' Homes, Assassination Attempt and Threatened Blockade of the Court -- on Sunday, June 12, at 7:30 pm NEWS PROVIDED BY Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution June 12, 2022 WASHINGTON, June 12, 2022 /Standard Newswire/ -- Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution will have a candlelight prayer vigil asking for Gods protection over the Court and Justices and also for Roe v. Wade to be overturned. The prayer gathering will be on Sunday, June 12, at 7:30 pm at the Supreme Court. This prayer gathering comes after an assassination attempt of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and threatened blockade of the Supreme Court on Monday morning. Stanton Public Policy Center is a womens advocacy and educational group that works on issues of human rights and justice which empower and inspire women. It is affiliated with Stanton Healthcare which has life-affirming womens health clinics in America and internationally. Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Chief Strategy Officer for Stanton Public Policy Center, states, It is deeply troubling that death threats, assassination attempts and acts of violence are being made against Supreme Court Justices and the Court itself. Violence has no place in American life and must be unequivocally and universally condemned. We are gathering tonight to pray for Gods protection over the Supreme Court and all the Justices. We will also be praying for the overturning of Roe v. Wade and an end to abortion violence which has taken the lives of 64,000,000 innocent children. For more information or interviews contact Rev. Patrick Mahoney at: 540.538.4741 SOURCE Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution CONTACT: Rev. Patrick Mahoney, 540-538-4741 Vietnamese Ambassador to India Pham Sanh Chau (Photo: VNA) These were the opening events for a series of activities of the India ASEAN Friendship Year 2022 on the occasion the 30th founding anniversary of India ASEAN ties and the 10 years of strategic partnership between the two sides. In his opening speech at the events, Ambassador Pham Sanh Chau expressed his impression of development and change of Assam, affirming the important role of the state in the Act East policy that the Government of India has consistently and actively implemented in recent years. The Vietnamese diplomat proposed three solutions to further promote relations between India and ASEAN member countries, highlighting the importance of the air connection to strengthen connectivity between India and the group. He also pointed out opportunities for cooperation and development investment between India and Vietnam, expressing his hope that with the resumption of direct air routes between the two countries after the COVID-19 pandemic, the trade ties and people-to-people exchange between the two countries will become stronger, bringing benefits to both nations in particular, and India and ASEAN in general./. Pro-Ukrainian citizens thwarted the opening of a memorial plaque to the russians in the center of Jerusalem In Jerusalem, pro-Ukrainian citizens thwarted the opening of a commemorative plaque on the building of the Sergius Compound on Sunday. This is reported by residents of Jerusalem at Facebook. Today, in honor of a very strange holiday in Jerusalem, a commemorative plaque was to be opened at the Sergius Compound. They hung it with a white cloth, called paid bots, saw the whole galaxy of the Russian House in Tel Aviv there, everyone, everyone. The ambassador of the Nazis in Israel was also. But something went wrong, 5 people came with Ukrainian flags, then a few more. But even this amount was enough. The orcs locked themselves inside, called the police, then another, but could not remove the cloth. Glory to Ukraine, - the user said. Another resident of the city noted that the russian ambassador soon left the building without waiting for the sign to be opened. According to the schedule, the memorial plaque of the museum could not be opened. The ambassador of the russian federation left after the russian ship, - the publication says. A rebel group in eastern DR Congo that the government accuses of being supported by Rwanda has overrun a trading hub on the border with Uganda, local sources said on Monday. US President Joe Biden will make history next month with a direct flight between Israel and Saudi Arabia where he will meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Japan and Australia's defense ministers on Wednesday vowed to step up their ties to support democratic values in the Indo-Pacific region and agreed to work more closely with Southeast Asia and the Pacific island nations where China is seeking to expand its influence. The Federal Reserve announced the most aggressive interest rate increase in nearly 30 years, raising the benchmark borrowing rate by 0.75 percentage points on Wednesday as it battles against surging inflation. Dozens of rights groups called Wednesday for the resignation of UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, charging that she "whitewashed" Beijing's "atrocities" during her trip to China last month. More than 230 groups, advocating for the rights of Uyghurs, Tibetans, and South Mongolians, as well as Hong Kong, Chinese and international democracy advocates, signed a joint statement calling for "the immediate resignation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights". They also urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to refrain from proposing a second term when her mandate expires at the end of August. Bachelet has faced widespread criticism for not speaking out more forcefully against Chinese abuses during the long-planned trip, which took her to the far-western Xinjiang region, where China is alleged to have detained over a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, as well as carried out forced sterilisation of women and coerced labour. The United States has labelled China's actions in Xinjiang a "genocide" and "crimes against humanity", allegations vehemently denied by Beijing which says its security crackdown in the region was a necessary response to extremism. The signatories of Wednesday's statement, which included a number of national and local chapters of the same groups, decried that Bachelet had "squandered a rare opportunity to promote accountability by failing to address the litany of systematic human rights violations committed by the Chinese authorities". 'Whitewashed' Instead, they said, "She whitewashed the Chinese government's human rights atrocities," and "legitimised Beijing's attempt to cover up its crimes by using the Chinese government's false 'counter-terrorism' framing". They also decried that she had repeatedly referred to the detention camps in Xinjiang by the Chinese government's preferred term: "vocational education and training centres". And they criticised the UN rights chief for failing to speak out about the leaked Xinjiang police files, which the media revealed as her trip began, showing top leaders in Beijing including President Xi Jinping calling for a forceful crackdown. In particular, they lamented that she has so far failed to release a report on the rights situation in China, completed last year, despite mounting demands for it to be made public. "The repeated, open-ended, and unexplained delays call into serious question the credibility of her office to fulfil its mandate," the statement said. The signatories said Bachelet had been "entirely silent on the human rights crisis enveloping Tibet" during her four years in office, and had "grossly underplayed the crackdown" in Hong Kong. "The failed visit by the high commissioner has not only worsened the human rights crisis of those living under the Chinese government's rule, but also severely compromised the integrity of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in promoting and protecting human rights globally," the statement said. Bachelet is expected to face significant scrutiny from states over her China trip during the next week's session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Search Keywords: Short link: China and Russia took aim at the United States during a landmark UN General Assembly session on Wednesday, accusing Washington of stoking tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The session was held for Beijing and Moscow to explain their decisions last month to veto a US draft resolution in the Security Council that would have imposed new sanctions on North Korea. China's ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun, hit out at Washington's approach to Pyongyang, saying tension on the peninsula has "developed to what it is today, primarily due to the flip flop of US policies," before making a plea for easing sanctions against North Korea. Moscow's deputy ambassador to the UN, Anna Evstigneeva, also called for the sanctions to be lifted. North Korea needs more humanitarian aid and the West should stop blaming Pyongyang for tensions, she said. Speaking for the United States, deputy ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis dismissed the accusations, saying the current sanctions and proposals to add more are in direct response to North Korea's actions. "We seek a dialogue with Pyongyang without preconditions. We have passed this message on through private channels as well, including high level personal messages from senior US officials to senior DPRK officials," he said, using an acronym for North Korea. Washington believes North Korea, which has carried out a blitz of sanctions-busting weapons tests this year, is poised to test a new nuclear weapon. Pyongyang's ambassador, Kim Song, justified his country's military tests by stressing that articles of the UN Charter "clearly stipulate that every state has inherent rights of individual or collective self defense." The European Union, along with South Korea and Japan, see the tests as showing a flagrant disregard for UN resolutions and the international community. The sanctions are an "essential tool" for the Security Council during crises, argued the EU representative, Swedish ambassador Olof Skoog. The Wednesday session was the first at which permanent members of the Security Council had to explain their use of the veto, a step required under a resolution adopted by the 193-member General Assembly on April 26. Since the first veto ever used, by the Soviet Union in 1946, Russia has used it 144 times, far ahead of the United States at 86 times. The United Kingdom has used its veto 30 times, while China has done so 19 times and France 18. Search Keywords: Short link: Beijing will "not hesitate to start a war" if Taiwan declares independence, China's defence minister warned his US counterpart Friday in the pair's first face-to-face talks, officials said. "If anyone dares to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese army will definitely not hesitate to start a war no matter the cost," Wu Qian quoted defence minister Wei Fenghe as saying during a meeting with Lloyd Austin. The Chinese minister also vowed that Beijing would "smash to smithereens any 'Taiwan independence' plot and resolutely uphold the unification of the motherland", according to the Chinese defence ministry. He "stressed that Taiwan is China's Taiwan... Using Taiwan to contain China will never prevail", the ministry said. Austin told his Chinese counterpart during the talks in Singapore that Beijing must "refrain from further destabilising actions toward Taiwan", the US Department of Defense said. Taiwan, a self-ruled, democratic island, lives under the constant threat of invasion by China. Beijing views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary. Search Keywords: Short link: Speaker of Egypt's parliament the House of Representatives Hanafy El-Gebaly and Head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council Rashad Al-Alimi met on Saturday to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries. An official statement said the meeting came in the course of Al-Alimi's current visit to Cairo, which also included a meeting with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. "At the beginning of the meeting, El-Gebaly welcomed the naming of Al-Alimi as head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council and expressed Egypt's appreciation of this step which should help recover stability and security in Yemen," said the statement. El-Gebaly said Egypt fully supports Yemens right to a future marked by development, freedom, dignity and justice. "Egypt believes the security and stability in Yemen is highly important to the Egyptian and Arab national security," said El-Gebaly. El-Gebaly emphasised that Egypt will also give all support possible to alleviate the humanitarian crisis which hit Yemen five years ago. For his part, Al-Alimi expressed his deep thanks to Egypt's historical role in supporting Yemen on all fronts, adding "we also appreciate Egypt supporting and taking care of Yemeni citizens who live in Cairo." Search Keywords: Short link: By Trend China on Wednesday praised India for helping Sri Lanka amid the unprecedented economic crisis in the island nation that has led to a shortage of fuel and other essential items, Trend reports Business Standard. Speaking at a press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China 'commends' India for efforts to mitigate the crisis in Sri Lanka. "We have taken note that the Indian government has also done a lot in this regard. We commend those efforts. China is ready to work with India and the rest of the international community to help Sri Lanka and other developing countries experiencing difficulty to pull through the hardship as early as possible," Lijian said during a presser. "The Chinese government will do its utmost and make full use of the channels available to deliver help to the Sri Lankan society," he replied to a question over a remark made by Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. Notably, Rajapaksa said in an interview on June 6 that Sri Lanka couldn't tap a USD 1.5 billion credit line from China and has yet to hear back on the request to China for a USD 1 billion loan. He also said that China seems to have shifted its strategic focus to Southeast Asia and Africa, and has less interest in South Asia. In response to these remarks, the Chinese spokesperson said Beijing pays close attention to and feels for the difficulties and challenges facing Sri Lanka. "We have all along provided support to Sri Lanka's socioeconomic development as long as our ability permits. China has announced that it would provide emergency humanitarian assistance worth 500 million RMB for Sri Lanka," he added. Sri Lanka is witnessing an unprecedented economic crisis and political crisis. Large scale protests have been taking place for months, leading to the ouster of former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The island nation is also facing a severe foreign currency shortage which has created problems in importing essential items. Last week, India handed a total of 3.3 tons of essential medical supplies to Sri Lanka. These humanitarian supplies are in continuation of the Indian government's ongoing support to the people of the crisis-ridden island nation in forms such as financial assistance, forex support, material supply and many more. In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Neighbourhood First' policy, more than 25 tons of drugs and medical supplies which were donated by the Government and people of India during the last two months are valued at close to SLR 370 million. This is in addition to the economic assistance of around USD 3.5 billion and supply of other humanitarian supplies such as rice, milk powder, kerosene etc, according to Indian High Commission. The Cairo Opera House is holding an exhibition of paintings by Egyptian painter Mohamed Abdel-Galil till 18 June at the Salah Taher hall. The exhibition opens on Sunday and will continue for one week, showcasing 55 works by Abdel-Galil that celebrate the cultural richness of Egypt's Siwa Oasis. The paintings walk the viewer through the testimonies painted in oil that depict the picturesque nature of the Western Desert alongside its unique cultural gems. In his paintings, Abdel-Galil captures the local people and their customs, from men playing on the daf to women wearing traditional dresses. He also painted historical sites and the unique nature of the oasis. Born in 1973, Mohamed Abdel-Galil is a painter with dozens of solo exhibitions to his name. He is the owner of the Galileo Arts Centre located in Cairo, which provides space for exhibitions as well as workshops for young artists and children. According to Abdel-Galil, his interest in Siwa was inspired by the novel Sunset Oasis, which won the first Arabic Booker Prize. Written by one of the foremost Egyptian novelists Bahaa Taher, Sunset Oasis (2006) is set at the end of the 19th century during the British occupation of Egypt and takes place in the remote oasis of Siwa. The novel tells the story of an Egyptian officer and his Irish wife who settle in the oasis. It includes historical tales such as the shrouded in legend visit of Alexander the Great to the Oracle of Siwa. Siwa is located over 550 km from Cairo, near the northwestern boarder with Libya. The oasis, 80 kilometres in length and 20 kilometres wide, includes a 19-metre-deep depression known as the Qattara Depression. Home to an oracle of Ammon, the oasis is rich in ancient artefacts, most of which come from the 26th dynasty (circa 500 BC). Siwa has also been on pilgrims' and trading routes from the Maghreb to Cairo and Mecca. Siwa is prosperous in its own unique artistic products and customs of local Bedouins. It is a destination for visitors looking for unique traditional costumes, silver jewellery, and artisan products. A designated natural reserve, Siwa is home to palm trees, dates and olives, dozens of different types of birds, and the endangered slender-horned gazelle. Search Keywords: Short link: German composer, guitarist and oud player, known to Arab audiences for his close collaboration with Mohamed Mounir and numerous other Arab musicians, passed away Sunday at age 71 due to liver cancer. Related Mohamed Mounir to perform in Alexandria for first time in 12 years Bunka was born 2 December 1951 in Frankfurt, Germany, and throughout his career he had established himself as a pioneering experimental rock-jazz and world music performer in his home country. He began his journey in music performing with experimental bands such as progressive rock and jazz Embryo established in the late 1960s in Munich, and Missus Beastly founded in 1968 in Herford, Germany. Through their extensive travels in the 1970s and the 1980s, those two bands introduced Bunka to countries such as India, Afghanistan, Morocco, triggering his curiosity about the music of those regions. The guitarist became especially attracted by the oud and the music characterised by microtonal and modal components. Bunka began exploring the Arab music throughout the 1980s, when in Morocco he listened to the radio airing Arabic songs performed by Um Kalthoum and composed by Riad El Sunbati. It did not take him long to come to Egypt (1982) and start studying oud. This eventually led to his meeting with Mohamed Mounir, marking his first big collaboration with musicians from the Arab region. In one of the most recent interviews with Bunka published by the Psychedelic Mag, he recalled this experience saying: "Mohamed Mounir opened the door to my Egyptian experience, through the work with him I met so many musicians, classic, folk-musicians, street musicians and stars like Baligh Hamdy. But through my own research I met the cream of oud players and composers from the whole Arabic world, like Ziad Rahbani, Hamza el Din, Mohamed Zine el Abdine, Charbel Rouhane, Nasseer Shama, Sayed Chraibi, Fathy Salama, Abdo Daghir, Jill Jillala, Gnauwa Musicians etc." He has also composed music to the German film Das Holz (The Oud, 1990) directed by Fritz Baumann. The film won the Gold Hugo at the 1992 Chicago International Film Festival. Bunka's released his compositions through several albums marking his journey between Germany and the Arab world: Dein Kopf Ist Ein Schlafendes Auto (Your Head is Like a Sleeping Car, 1980), Color Me Cairo (1995), among numerous others as well as compilation albums. A number of Arab musicians expressed their sorrow about Bunka's passing on their social media. Egyptian composer Fathy Salama wrote: "Roman Bunka, guitarist and oud player passed away. My condolences. May he rest in a better place. Let us remember the good moments. Roman was a great musician and a friend." Search Keywords: Short link: Egypts agricultural exports reached 3.5 million tonnes from January till 11 June 2022, the Agriculture Minister El-Sayed El-Quseir announced on Sunday after receiving a report from the head of the Central Administration of Plant Quarantine. El-Quseir said that Egypt is exporting its surplus of agricultural products in return for foreign currency, adding that citrus, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, strawberries, sweet potatoes, beans, garlic, and watermelon topped the list of exported products. He said that the total agriculture exports reached nearly 1.5 million tonnes, in addition to nearly 747,000 tonnes of fresh potatoes to occupy second place in agricultural exports after citrus. Annual exports of Egyptian food increased by 19 percent in 2021, recording $4.1 billion, in comparison to $3.45 billion in 2020, Chairman of the Food Export Council Hany Barzy said in February. In August, the agriculture minister stated that Egypt exports 350 different agriculture products to more than 150 countries. El-Quseir emphasised that agriculture is responsible for the employment of 25 percent of the countrys labour force, adding that the agriculture sector's contribution increased to more than 15 percent of Egypt's GDP. Search Keywords: Short link: UNICEF Egypt announced on Sunday appointing world top ranking squash player Ali Farag and winner of the Olympic gold medal in karate Kumite Feryal Ashraf as ambassadors for the Egyptian version of the UN Global Generation Unlimited initiative Shabab Balad. The initiative aims to increase the skills of the 28 million young people in the country aged 10-24, and connect them to opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship, and positive social impacts by 2030. The initiative was launched during the World Youth Forum (WYF) held in Sharm El-Sheikh last January under the auspices of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. Shabab Balad is the first public-private-youth partnership (PPYP) of its type in the country. In April, UNICEF Egypt also announced its appointment of young actor Ahmed Dash as their international ambassador for the initiative. The UN representatives in Egypt, including UNICEF Representative Jeremy Hopkins, celebrated the appointment of the two new ambassadors today. In their new roles, Farag and Ashraf will support the initiative's work and promote educating, training, skilling and connecting them to the employment opportunities as well as instilling the concept of entrepreneurship among the youth. The global Generation Unlimited initiative targets all the young people in the world aged 10-24, numbering about 1.8 billion. In Egypt, the target group represents 27 percent of the population. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is coordinating the initiative, in which many United Nations organisations participate. Today, the UN Representatives in #Egypt celebrated the appointment of two new Ambassadors of the global United Nations Initiative in Egypt, @BaladShabab, "Ferial Ashraf", the Olympic Gold Medalist in Karate and @AliFarag, the Squash World Champion. Congratulations! pic.twitter.com/YpTB3L7dxn (@UNICEF_Egypt) June 12, 2022 "A key component of the Shabab Balad initiative is for young people to be front and centre in charting out a vision for young people that will complement Egypts Vision 2030 and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals," Hopkins said during the ceremony. Hopkins said that the Shabab Balad ambassadors will be in charge of bringing this conversation to young people in Egypt and to ensuring that young peoples voices are heard at the policy table, adding that he looks forward to cooperating with them within the framework of this important partnership. Farag and Ashraf have expressed happiness to be part of Shabab Balad, vowing to do their best to help make the youth of Egypt connected and involved with the promising initiative. "Egyptian athletes have proven their great potential in the Olympic games once they have the proper qualification and I believe Shabab Balad will help all Egyptian youth achieve their dreams, said Ashraf. Farag said he is happy to partake in raising awareness of young people in Egypt with the opportunities for secondary education and qualification for the labour market within the framework of the initiative "I strongly believe that empowering young people in Egypt is a pivotal step to enhance their participation at the national and global levels, he stated. Search Keywords: Short link: Cyprus will support Egypt in the ongoing negotiations with the European Union (EU) to renew the joint partnership document between both sides during the upcoming Egypt-EU Association Council's ministerial meeting set to be held in Luxemburg, Cypriot Foreign Affairs Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said. "Negotiations are underway, but we are close to signing [a deal] and we will support Egypt in the European Union as we always do," he said in an interview with Al-Ahram daily newspaper to be published on Monday. Kasoulides said trade exchange between Cyprus and Egypt has already increased in recent years and it is expected to further increase in the future, especially following the latest meeting of the Egyptian-Cypriot committee, in which the two parties discussed exchanging agricultural products. The Cypriot minister hinted that there are bumps in the way of achieving an agreement regarding fisheries between Egypt and his country due to what he called "obstacles" from the EU, nevertheless he stressed that Nicosia's looks forward to see Egypt engaged in cooperation agreements with all EU members, not only in the field of fisheries but in the field of the agricultural products as well. Concerning the Russia-Ukrain war, he expressed his appreciation to the initiative of the Arab League seeking to reach a diplomatic solution for the war, especially given its impacts on the whole world and Africa in terms of wheat supply. Responding to the likelihood of cooperation between the EU and the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF), he said the Cypriot president has expressed during the meetings of the European council the readiness of the EMGF to provide Europe with natural gas, however he noted that the forum can do so on the medium or long-run but Europe needs gas now. "Infrastructure [needed for transferring gas to Europe] might not be fully ready and we should leave such a step to be implemented on the medium-run," he added. However, the forum, Kasoulides assured, has to take a decision soon to export liquefied natural gas to Europe, adding "I am talking about the Aphrodite Gas Field in Cyprus, as well as the two liquefaction plants in Damietta and Idku in Egypt. Search Keywords: Short link: Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkevics has urged further support by the European Union (EU) to Egypt amid the various challenges facing the country, especially surrounding migration. Rinkevics made the remarks in a joint press conference on Sunday with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, during the former's official visit to Cairo. The Latvian FM also met today with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, during which they urged boosting cooperation in various fields and discussed regional and international challenges of mutual concern that face Africa and Europe, chief among which is irregular migration and terrorism. During the joint press, Rinkevics said he agreed with Shoukry on the need for the EU to find ways to provide further support to Egypt amid challenges. This includes also the challenges linked to energy, terrorism, security and migration, Rinkevics said. Egypt says it hosts around six million refugees from several countries, including Syria. Egypt has also been working to prevent irregular migration from its coasts toward Europe, affirming that no ship carrying irregular migrants has been allowed to leave Egyptian coasts since 2016. Bilateral cooperation, mutual understanding Shoukry and Rinkevics signed Sunday an agreement to promote cooperation in education and scientific research, was signed on the sidelines of talks held by the two top diplomats at the Egyptian ministry headquarters. Discussions between the two ministers have addressed cooperation in the political, economic and investment domains as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday. During the press conference with Rinkevics, Shoukry said Egypt is looking forward to enhancing cooperation with Latvia in the various fields and benefiting from Latvian experience in the education, technology and digitisation fields. The meeting also highlighted the importance of boosting trade volume between Egypt and Latvia, Shoukry noted. Rinkevics, for his part, hailed Egypt as an important partner to Latvia with regard to facing regional challenges, including security and migration. Regional issues, human rights The meeting discussed economic reforms in Egypt as well as regional developments in the Palestinian territories, Libya, and Ukraine, the top Egyptian diplomat said. The issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia was also tackled during the meeting, Shoukry said. Shoukry said he discussed the human rights file with Rinkevics, noting that their dialogue on this issue has been characterised by "much understanding on the ideal approach in addressing this issue to achieve the mutual goal of boosting human rights." This comes within the framework of the [Egyptian] National Strategy for Human Rights and Egypt's cooperation with the EU to build the Egyptian capacities in this regard, Shoukry added. Shoukry's remarks come while the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) said on Thursday that it will sign a cooperation programme with the EU and the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) on implementing the national human rights strategy. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt is pressing ahead with efforts to rehabilitate its shores and areas along bodies of water, including the highly fertile lands of the Nile Delta, as part of its strategy to preserve these swathes of lands from the ramifications of climate change. The country is currently carrying out a major rehabilitation drive along 50 kilometres of shores across the country, Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Abdel-Ati said on Sunday, adding that a series of replenishment works along 210 kilometres of the North Coast have already concluded. The projects aim to safeguard the citizens residing in these areas and protect existing investments at industrial, agricultural, and tourist zones, the minister pointed out. Such measures are essential, as according to experts, the rise in sea levels places the Nile Delta at risk of being lost to the sea or losing its fertility due to the interference of saline water, affecting the quality of groundwater and possibly leading to the displacement of millions of Egyptians residing in the north of the Delta. During Sundays meeting, Abdel-Ati reviewed the ongoing replenishment measures, including ceasing the recession of shorelines and restoring beaches lost due to that recession, protecting nearby agricultural areas, sparing some villages and low-lying areas from the risk of flooding, and developing fish resources in the northern lakes. Meanwhile, the irrigation ministry is also carrying out a project to enhance adaptation to the impacts of climate change on the North Coast and the Nile Delta to counter the rise in sea levels and severe weather conditions that affect low-lying coastal areas and the incursion of seawater. According to Abdel-Ati, the project which is set to be completed by 2023 is being implemented over an area of 69 kilometres in five coastal governorates, namely Port Said, Damietta, Daqahliya, Kafr El-Sheikh, and Beheira. The project also includes the establishment of Early Warning Centres for weather disasters on the Mediterranean. Additionally, the ministry seeks to implement an integrated management plan of the North Coast that aims to preserve investments and natural resources. Abdel-Ati added that this plan is due to be fully implemented by 2025. In related news, Egypt will be hosting the 27th UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) in the coastal city of Sharm El-Sheikh this November. Furthermore, the country launched its 2050 National Climate Change Strategy in May that aims to cut emissions in various sectors to maintain sustainable economic growth, promote the use of renewable energy sources, produce energy from waste, and utilise alternative energy like green hydrogen. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypts Safaga seaport announced on Sunday that it received a new shipment of 63,000 tonnes of wheat coming from France. According to the Port authority, Wadi El-Karnak ship arrived from France with a wheat shipment for the Ministry of Supply and Internal trades General Company for Silos and Storage. The authority inspected the shipment and took random samples to make sure it was free from pests and insects, in addition to ensuring that it abides by international standards. This is the latest shipment of wheat Egypt received so far. Egypt, the world biggest wheat importer, was greatly impacted in wheat supply when Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. Last year, Egypt received 80 percent of its wheat imports from Russia and Ukraine due to its high quality, competitive pricing, and geographical proximity. Egypt imports 12 to 13 million tonnes of wheat per year, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity in 2020 an online data visualisation platform that focuses on the geography and dynamics of economic activities across the globe. The government has announced diversification of import sources from different countries including India, which has exempted Egypt from its recent wheat export ban. During the first week of May, Egypt signed a deal agreeing to import 61,500 tonnes of Indian wheat. Egypt is expected to produce around 6 million tonnes of wheat during the local supply season, which is around 2.5 million more than in 2021. The country has requested in late May $500 million from the World Bank to buy wheat through the Emergency Food Security and Resilience Support Project, according to a document released by the World Bank. According to the Egyptian Cabinet, Egypt has a strategic wheat reserve for domestic consumption sufficient till the end of 2022. Search Keywords: Short link: Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the UN was concerned over the deteriorating security situation and the increase of attacks against civilians by the Cooperative for Development of the Congo (CODECO) and the M23 as well as the on-going presence of other foreign armed groups, including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), Red Tabara and the Forces Democratique pour la liberation de Rwanda (FDLR), which continue to pose a threat to regional stability. The violence must end, he said, urging armed militants to begin participating unconditionally in the Disarmament, Demobilization, Community Recovery and Stabilization Program (P-DDRCS), and called on foreign armed groups to immediately disarm and return to their countries of origin. We reaffirm our strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the DRC and strongly condemn the use of proxies, Dujarric added. The increase in attacks across the volatile region was the focus of a Security Council meeting at the end of last month. The brutal M23 rebel group which began as a renegade force of army mutineers in 2012 committing many atrocities and war crimes - have launched their biggest offensive against Government forces in a decade, according to news reports. Assistant Secretary-General for political affairs and peace operations, Martha Pobee, said it was imperative for the Council to throw its full weight behind efforts to defuse the uptick in violence, in particular by the M23 group, which as seen thousands displaced, many fleeing across the border to Uganda. Search Keywords: Short link: Pope Francis said Sunday he hoped to visit the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan as soon as possible, after cancelling an upcoming visit due to a knee problem. "Dear friends, with great regret, due to problems with my leg, I have had to postpone my visit to your countries," the 85-year-old said after delivering his weekly Angelus prayer in St Peter's Square. "I truly feel great sorrow for having had to postpone this trip, which means so much to me. I apologise for this. "Let us pray together that, with the help of God and medical attention, I will be able to be with you as soon as possible. Let us be hopeful!" The Vatican on Friday announced that the trip planned for July 2 to 7 would be rescheduled, although no new date was set. "At the request of his doctors, and in order not to jeopardise the results of the therapy that he is undergoing for his knee, the Holy Father has been forced to postpone," spokesman Matteo Bruni said. Francis has been suffering from pain in his right knee in recent weeks and last month relied on a wheelchair for the first time at a public event. He has cancelled numerous engagements -- a scheduled trip to Lebanon in June was postponed -- and has sometimes been seen struggling to walk. The Vatican has not said officially what the problem is, although sources have told AFP he has chronic arthritis. The pope himself has also spoken of an injured ligament in his knee. Also on Sunday, the pope urged the world not to forget about the war in Ukraine, triggered by Russia's invasion in late February. "The thought of the people of Ukraine, afflicted by war, remains vivid in my heart," he said. "Let the passage of time not temper our grief and concern for that suffering population. "Please, let us not grow accustomed to this tragic situation! Let us always keep it in our hearts. Let us pray and strive for peace." Search Keywords: Short link: RTHK: EU chief promises a signal on Ukraine bid next week The European Commission will provide a clear signal this week on Ukraine's EU candidate status bid, its chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday, as fighting raged in the east and south of the country. Making a surprise visit to Kyiv, von der Leyen said talks she held with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "will enable us to finalise our assessment by the end of next week" the first time the bloc has publicly given a sense of timing. Zelensky has been pressing for rapid admission into the European Union as a way of reducing Ukraine's geopolitical vulnerability, which was brutally exposed by Russia's February 24 incursion. But officials and leaders in the bloc caution that, even with candidacy status, actual EU membership could take years or even decades. Von der Leyen, appearing alongside Zelensky during her second visit to Kyiv since the war began, made no promises. Despite reservations among some member states, EU leaders are expected to approve Ukraine's candidate status at a summit on June 23-24, though with strict conditions attached. Also on Saturday, Luhansk regional governor Sergiy Gaidai cited reports of Russians loading trucks with Ukrainian wheat and taking it to Russian-controlled areas. Before the war, Russia and Ukraine together produced 30 percent of the global wheat supply, but grain is stuck in Ukraine's ports, while Western sanctions have disrupted exports from Russia. Speaking to delegates including Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and China's defence minister, Zelensky urged international pressure to end the blockade. Meanwhile, Russian forces continued to focus their firepower in areas around Kharkiv and in the Donbas regions of Luhansk and Donetsk overnight, Zelensky's office said, with the regional governor reporting two civilian deaths and 11 injuries Saturday in locations across Donetsk. Moscow has particularly focused on the key eastern industrial city of Severodonetsk, which Gaidai said on Saturday had been "ruined" by Russian forces. "This is their tactics people are not needed, the infrastructure is not needed, houses are not needed, everything should be simply ruined," he said in an interview posted on Telegram. (Reuters) This story has been published on: 2022-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. By Trend The handing over of the boats took place at a ceremony at Hong Ha Shipyard during the ongoing visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to the South East Asian nation, Trend reports citing The Hindu. India on June 9 formally handed over the 12 high-speed guard boats constructed under the government of Indias $100 million defence Line of Credit (LoC) to Vietnam at a ceremony at Hong Ha Shipyard during the ongoing visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to the South East Asian nation. It gives me great pleasure to join this historic ceremony marking the successful completion of the project to build 12 high-speed guard boats under the $100 million Defence LoC by the government of India. I am confident that this will be a precursor to many more cooperative defence projects between India and Vietnam, Mr. Singh said speaking at the ceremony. Stating that this project was an example of the Make in India-Make for the World mission, Mr. Singh added, We would be greatly pleased if close friends like Vietnam become part of our defence industries transformation through enhanced defence industry cooperation. The speed boats will be operated by the Vietnamese Border Guard Force. The deal was executed by Larsen & Tourbo and of the 12 boats, five were built in India while the remaining were built in Vietnam with assistance from L&T. Hanoi has procured the 12 high-speed patrol boats for the Vietnamese border guard force under the LoC extended in September 2014. In 2016, India has extended another $500 million defence LoC to Vietnam and discussions are under way to identify the equipment. During the bilateral talks, the two Defence Ministers had agreed for early finalisation of the second LoC. On Wednesday, India and Vietnam signed a mutual logistics support agreement while the two Defence Ministers signed the Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030, which the Defence Ministry said would significantly enhance the scope and scale of existing defence cooperation. Mr. Singh also called on Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. The visit also comes on the occasion of 50 years of establishment of India-Vietnam diplomatic relations. French voters are choosing lawmakers in a parliamentary election Sunday as President Emmanuel Macron seeks to secure his majority while under growing threat from a leftist coalition. More than 6,000 candidates, ranging in age from 18 to 92, are running for 577 seats in the National Assembly in the first round of the election. Those who receive the most votes will advance to the decisive second round on June 19. Following Macron's reelection in May, his centrist coalition is seeking an absolute majority that would enable it to implement his campaign promises, which include tax cuts and raising the retirement age from 62 to 65. But the latest opinion polls suggest Macron and his allies may have trouble winning over half of the parliamentary seats. A government with a large, but not absolute majority would still be able to rule, but only by bargaining with legislators. The main opposition force appears to be a newly-created coalition made up of leftists, greens and communists led by hard-left figure Jean-Luc Melenchon. Melenchon urged voters to give his coalition a majority and thereby force Macron to name him as prime minister, which would prompt a situation called ``cohabitation.`` The leftists' platform includes a significant minimum wage increase, lowering the retirement age to 60 and locking in energy prices. Though Melenchon's coalition could win more than 200 seats, current projections give the left little chance of winning a majority. Macron and his allies are expected to win between 260 and 320 seats, according to the latest polls. The two-round voting system is complex and not proportionate to the nationwide support for a party. Lawmakers are elected by district. The parliamentary election is traditionally a difficult race for the French far-right's candidates, as rivals tend to step aside in the second round to improve the chances of another contender. Led by Marine Le Pen, who lost to Macron in the presidential election, the National Rally hopes to do better than five years ago, when it won eight seats. With at least 15 seats, the far-right would be allowed to form a parliamentary group and gain greater powers at the assembly. Le Pen herself is candidate for reelection in her stronghold of Henin-Beaumont, in northern France. Results may also be impacted by an expected record-low voter turnout. Pollsters say less than half of France's 48.7 million electorate is expected to cast ballots. Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT; 2 a.m. EDT) and will close at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT; 12 p.m.) in most of France, except for some closing two hours later in big cities. The National Assembly has final say over the Senate when it comes to voting in laws. Search Keywords: Short link: Last week, Cairo witnessed the seventh edition of the Cairo International Biennale of the Arabic Calligraphy Art under the auspices of Minister of Culture Ines Abdel-Dayem at the premises of Cairo Opera House. Under the slogan Pioneers and Renovators in 100 years (1922/2022), the biennale included a three-day seminar that ran from 6 to 9 June at El-Hanager Cinema that highlighted the most prominent figures of Arabic Calligraphy in Egypt and the Arab world as well as an art exhibition showcasing artistic gems of this Art from 125 countries represented by 15 artists at the Art Palace in the Cairo Opera House Complex that is running from 7 to 20 June. This years biennale coincides with the announcement of Cairo as the Capital of Islamic Culture and only a few months after Arabic Calligraphy was added on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Furthermore, the event established a new tradition of honouring artists and researchers for their achievements, and a side competition was held in the name of renowned Egyptian calligrapher Khedr El-Portsaidy the founder of the Arabic Calligraphy Museum as well as the one who accredits and certifies Arabic calligraphers in Egypt. In the opening session, Mohamed El-Baghdady the general commissioner of the biennale noted that this year marks the centenary jubilee of the establishment of Egypts first calligraphy school during the reign of king Fouad in 1922. The session also included the presentation of a research paper written by Nahla Imam country representative of Egypt at the 2003 Convention of Safeguarding the Intangible Heritage of UNESCO who shared her experience in adding Arabic calligraphy knowledge, skills, and practice on UNESCOs representative list of intangible cultural heritage in December 2021. Mohamed Hassan Abu El-Khair the first to innovate the mashq The second day of sessions showcased the pioneers and renovators of such enchanting art. The first paper was presented by researcher and calligrapher Mohamed El-Shafaai on passing down the practice of such art in Egypt, taking the family of Mohamed and Abdel-Aziz Abu El-Khair as an example, as the two are renowned Egyptian calligraphers that this years round was dedicated to. He started off by revealing that the concept of passing down this form of art dates back to the pre-Islamic era, explaining that the initial idea behind Arabic calligraphy was transcription, and then the artistic element came later. During the pre-Islamic era, except for a small circle, very little knew how to write Arabic, and according to Abdalla Ibn Abbas, the first person to begin writing in Arabic in the tribe of Qureish was Harb Ibn Umaya one of the masters of the tribe and the father of Sufian Ibn Harb. The other key person in calligraphy art was El-Wazir Ibn Noqla, who was famous during the Abbasid Caliphate and inherited the art from his father El-Ali Ibn Hassan, explained El-Shafaai. Mohamed Hassan Abu El-Khair was born in Cairo in 1921, he studied in Al-Azhar and then joined The School of Improving Calligraphy when he was only 17, where he was the top of his class and was taught by calligraphy masters such as Sheikh Fakhr El-Din, Sheikh Ali Badawi, and Mohamed Hosni El-Baba the father of iconic Egyptian actress Soad Hosni to name but a few. He excelled in El-Sulus and Reqaa calligraphy and soon became a professor of the art of calligraphy at Oum El-Qoura University in Mecca for 20 years. He was the first to innovate in the mashq (an educational manual technique) of the solos of Arabic calligraphy that are taught to fourth graders, where he started teaching students to write whole sentences from the beginning instead of focusing on letters with no context, El-Shafaai added. Abdel-Qader Al-Shihabi the calligrapher of the Palestinian government The second paper focused on Abdel-Qader Al-Shihabi a Palestinian calligrapher that was written by Farag Hussieny. Al-Shihabi is a renowned Palestinian calligrapher whose fame reached its peak during the first half of the 20th century and was known as the calligrapher of the Palestinian government. Born and raised in Jerusalem, Abdel-Qader Al-Shihabi comes from a long line of calligraphers that started off this art between the 12th and 14th year of the Hijri calendar, however, Al-Shihabi learned calligraphy in Istanbul at the hand of Mohamed Ezzat, the biggest artist. He was known for his suluth calligraphy, which decorates the walls of Al-Aqsa Mosque to date. He also spent all his life teaching calligraphy in Jerusalem and encouraging young artists to follow his passion, explained Hussieny. Abdalla Al Zohdi: the calligrapher of Al-Haramein Al-Sharifine The third paper covered the calligrapher of Al-Haramein Al-Sharifine (The Two Holy Mosques) Abdalla Al-Zohdi and was written by Sami Saleh Abdel-Malak. Born in Nablus, Abdalla Al-Zohdi was born around 1251. His family moved to Istanbul, where he studied and excelled in calligraphy at a very early age. His artistic fame made him the official calligrapher of the Prophets Mosque in Medina, where his calligraphy adorns the walls and ceilings of the mosque till now, the paper explained, During the reign of khedive Ismail, he was commissioned to write the calligraphy of the Keswa of the Kaaba and Mahmal. His implacable calligraphy was quite visible and stood out in the design of the keswa from that day onwards. He was known by his highly complex and geometric Sulus calligraphy. Search Keywords: Short link: Launching a national dialogue in Egypt has been envisaged as a cornerstone towards generating broad public consent over the future of the country and the road to the new republic, which requires the creation of a cohesive and solid common ground to carry out the dialogue on. Commitment to the national interest has been identified as the only requirement for participating in the exceptional national dialogue initiative. Scholars have defined the concept of national dialogue as a nationally owned political process aiming to build consensus among a wide range of national stakeholders and representatives from all segments of society to address issues of national concern, create a more inclusive society and to sustain peace; especially in times of crisis or transition. The scope of desired outcomes could vary between dramatic broad-based changes, such as issuing a new social contract that determines the future trajectory of Egypt and addresses the aspirations of future generations following in the wake of the 25 January 2011 and 30 June 2013 Revolutions on one hand, and narrow-based changes, such as development policies of a specific sector or issue, on the other. Undoubtedly, this initiative is the product of a sincere political will that forms the backbone of the national dialogue. It offers a great opportunity for promoting an unprecedented participatory approach in policymaking in Egypt. However, if not efficiently managed, risks like the persistence of longstanding issues, polarisation and lack of public support could emerge. Hence, it is necessary to make such a highly inclusive model a success, especially since there has been public buy-in and great enthusiasm. The dialogue is now perceived as an inclusive and deliberative exercise toward reshaping democracy that is placing people at the center of the decision-making process, which has traditionally been captured by intellectual elite. The challenges to such an outcome are undoubtedly immense, not only in terms of the public issues stakeholders will bring to the table for negotiations, but also because the lack of a culture of dialogue could cause the initiative to stumble and fall. Although there is an agreed upon definition of the national dialogue concept, no one has ever succeeded in developing a blueprint or evidenced-based methodology for it that reflects best practices. Instead, we need to consider key success factors (KSF) based on lessons learned and past experiences both nationally and internationally, including the following five golden tips: Institutionalisation: Setting an organisational structure is a key determinant for ensuring both livelihood and utility of the process. Institutional set-up could encompass different types of committees, such as schematic committees, coordinating committees, and citizens consultation committees for co-producing policy recommendations. The dialogue institutionalisation process also requires identifying and assigning responsibilities to include design, set up, coordination, analysis, co-production of recommendations, follow-up and evaluation. Autonomy: National ownership, with respect to technical and financial support, ensures impartiality and credibility where both are considered pivotal criteria for strengthening and sustaining public support. Perpetuity: Stability and peace are interrelated with permanent participatory national dialogue and citizens inclusion in policymaking, hence ensuring national dialogue perpetuity is highly decisive for long-term impact and sustainability. Specificity: An overloaded agenda of many issues, especially those reflecting deep conflicts might drive the national dialogue to collapse. There is always an unsolved tension between two conflicting goals, degrees of inclusiveness and efficiency, putting those responsible for designing and setting up its structure, scope and priorities in a dilemma to determine the right balance. Reliability: Trust-building measures attenuate political tensions, especially among political parties or between government and opposition. It also influences both image and impact. Such measures could include setting objective selection criteria as well as calling for credible and broadly accepted public figures or/and officials, which further render the process higher level of credibility and seriousness. In addition, an effective neutral role of media is inevitable in communicating accurate information and promoting transparency. Drawing up a roadmap for the new republic based on principles of inclusion, tolerance, coexistence and respect for diversity, calls for joining all national forces on a common ground based on consensus. Such an inclusive model is a key driver for integrating all actors with their different ideologies, affiliations, background, expertise, beliefs, gender, age or religion to promote cohesion and homogeneity of the Egyptian society. No doubt, integration and cohesion create more resilient societies and sustain peace. The writer is professor of public administration at Future University in Egypt Search Keywords: Short link: Egyptian actor Sherif Mounir will be honoured during the 27th edition of the The International Festival of the Mediterranean Cinema of Tetouan being held 10-17 June in the northern Moroccan city. Mounir will be honoured for his life-long achievements in cinema. Born in 1959, Mounir is a graduate of the Higher Institute of Theatrical Arts. His career was launched in the early 1980s when he began taking roles in television series such as Rehla El Milion (Journey of a Million, 1984), Bakeeza We Zaghloul (Bakeeza and Zaghloul, 1987), Layali El-Helmeya (Nights of El-Helmeya, 1992), as well as films El-Tawfaan (The Flood, 1985), Abnaa Wa Kutala (Children and Murderers, 1987). His major breakthrough came with his role as Youssef in the film El-Kit Kat (1991) directed by Daoud Abdel Sayed and starring Mahmoud Abdelaziz and Amina Rezk. He then appeared in many other well-known films such as Diso Disco (1993), Romantica (1996), Hysteria (1998), Sahar Al-Laiali (Sleepless Nights, 2003), Welad El-Am (2009) and Al-Safa (The Smack, 2012), among many others. He also appeared in dozens of popular televisions series with one of the latest being Agaza Maftouha (Unpaid Leave, 2021). With a focus on Mediterranean countries, the festival hosts a large number of films from the European as well as Arab countries representing different cinema genres. Apart of film screenings, the festival includes a large number of seminars and discussions. The festival is also paying tribute this year to French-Belgian actress Deborah Francois, Spanish, German-born actor Alex Brendemuhl and Moroccan director Nour-Eddine Lakhmari. Search Keywords: Short link: Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine: Ministers at crucial WTO meet More than 100 ministers are meeting at the World Trade Organization in Geneva to tackle pressing issues including global food security threatened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Top of the agenda as the four-day meeting kicks off is the toll Russia's war in Ukraine -- traditionally a breadbasket that feeds hundreds of millions of people -- is having on food security. Russia renames McDonald's Former McDonald's restaurants in Russia have been renamed "Vkusno i tochka" ("Delicious. Full Stop"), the new owner says. Replete with a new logo to replace the Golden Arches, the restaurant on Moscow's Pushkin Square -- where the very first McDonald's opened its doors to long queues and great fanfare in January 1990 -- is due to open its doors again on Sunday. The US McDonald's fast-food giant announced on May 16 that it would exit Russia in the wake of Moscow's Ukraine offensive. Ukraine to get word on EU hopes Ukraine's bid to become a candidate to join the EU will get a clear signal next week, the bloc's chief Ursula von der Leyen announces in a surprise visit to Kyiv. Von der Leyen says talks she held with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "will enable us to finalise our assessment by the end of next week". It is the first time the EU has publicly given timing on when the commission will deliver its opinion. The bloc's 27 member countries need to decide whether to allow Ukraine to start accession negotiations. Zelensky warns of food crisis Volodymyr Zelensky has urged international pressure to end a Russian naval blockade of Black Sea ports that has choked off his country's grain exports, threatening a global food crisis. "The world will face an acute and severe food crisis and famine, in many countries of Asia and Africa," Zelensky says in a video addressed to the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore. Ukrainians get Russian passports Authorities in the Moscow-occupied city of Kherson in southern Ukraine have handed out Russian passports to local residents for the first time, news agencies reported. Russia's TASS agency says 23 Kherson residents received a Russian passport at a ceremony through a "simplified procedure" facilitated by a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in May. 'Very difficult battles' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his country's forces are involved in "very difficult battles", including in the eastern Donbas region where Russia has focused its firepower. "Ukrainian troops are doing everything to stop the offensive of the occupiers," Zelensky says. He adds in his address that Ukraine must "not allow the world to divert its attention away from what is happening on the battlefield". 'Out of ammo' In the Mykolaiv region near the frontline in the south, the regional governor calls for urgent international military assistance. "Russia's army is more powerful, they have a lot of artillery and ammo. For now, this is a war of artillery... and we are out of ammo," Vitaliy Kim says. "The help of Europe and America is very, very important." 'Imperial appetites' US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issues scathing criticism of Moscow and its goals in Ukraine. "Let's be clear: Russia's invasion of Ukraine is what happens when oppressors trample the rules that protect us all," he tells the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore. "It's what happens when big powers decide that their imperial appetites matter more than the rights of their peaceful neighbours." "And it's a preview of a possible world of chaos and turmoil that none of us would want to live in." Search Keywords: Short link: A British former soldier has been shot and killed in Ukraine, his family said Sunday, praising him as a "hero". Jordan Gatley is the second Briton reported to have died fighting alongside Ukrainian forces against Russian invaders. In a post on Facebook, his father Dean Gatley said his son had left the British Army in March and went to Ukraine "after careful consideration". Gatley said his son was killed in the city of Severodonetsk, in eastern Ukraine, which has been under heavy Russian attack. His Ukrainian comrades had praised "his wealth of knowledge, his skills as a soldier and his love of his job", the father said. "He truly was a hero and will forever be in our hearts." Asked about Gatley's death, a foreign ministry spokesperson said: "We are supporting the family of a British man who has died in Ukraine." After fierce criticism from the UK military, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was forced to backtrack after initially giving her blessing for Britons to go and fight in Ukraine. In April, the government said one UK citizen had been killed in Ukraine and another was missing, with both reportedly involved in fighting against Russian forces. The dead man was named by British media as military veteran Scott Sibley. Another two Britons are facing the death penalty after they were captured and convicted as mercenaries by a pro-Russian court in eastern Ukraine. Search Keywords: Short link: The UK's government Sunday came under pressure to win the release of a Moroccan man who has been sentenced to death alongside two Britons by a pro-Russian court in Ukraine. The court in Donetsk, one of two self-proclaimed statelets in eastern Ukraine, last week ordered the death penalty for the trio after they were captured by Russian troops. Brahim Saadoun along with UK nationals Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were said to have surrendered in April after fighting with Ukrainian forces in the besieged port city of Mariupol. British cabinet minister Brandon Lewis told Sky News the government was "fully engaged" with Ukrainian authorities in trying to help Aslin and Pinner after their "sham trial". The Britons were legal combatants serving with Ukraine's armed forces and fully entitled to protection for prisoners of war under the Geneva convention, Lewis said. The UK should also intervene on Saadoun's behalf, his friend Zina Kotenko told Sky from her new home in northern England, after fleeing Russia's invasion. Kotenko said she had first met the 21-year-old Saadoun in a Kyiv nightclub, described him as a "kind", "open-minded" and "cheerful" person. Kotenko said he had been accepted into the Ukrainian army after several attempts, being found previously by recruiters to be underweight. "Please care about people who care about democracy," she urged the UK government. "People are the voice, people are the face of the government, now the face of the government is sitting in prison... please save (Saadoun)." Morocco's government has not commented on the case. Saadoun's father has told local media that his son was a student in Ukraine before legitimately signing up to fight. Dmytro Khrabstov, 20, is another friend who met Saadoun on Kyiv's pre-war party scene and is campaigning for his release with the social media hashtag #SaveBrahim. The Moroccan joined the Ukrainian military last year, telling friends he wanted to "die as a hero", according to Khrabstov. He is a "bright and enthusiastic guy, dreaming about the technology of the future and how he could change things", the friend told Britain's PA news agency. Both the Britons have been living in Ukraine since 2018 and signed up to fight when Russia invaded, according to their families, denying that they were mercenaries as alleged by the court. Pinner, 48, is married to a Ukrainian woman, and Aslin, 28, is engaged to a local. Pinner's family on Saturday said they were "devastated" at the court's verdict, and that "our hearts go out to all the families involved in this awful situation". "We sincerely hope that all parties will cooperate urgently to ensure the safe release or exchange of Shaun," they said. Ukraine's ambassador in London, Vadym Prystaiko, said Friday that the British pair were likely to be traded for pro-Russian lawmakers held by Ukraine. "It will be a swap," he told the BBC. "The important question is what will be the price for this." Search Keywords: Short link: The UN's mission in Lebanon called Sunday for the country's military to guarantee the security of its peacekeepers, alleging personnel were "threatened" by armed men the day before. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has long been deployed in the country's south -- a stronghold of the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah -- to maintain a barrier with Israel, as the two countries technically remain at war. A routine UNIFIL patrol was confronted on Saturday by "a group of men in civilian clothes" near the Arab al-Louaize district in southern Lebanon, force spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said in a statement. The men "threatened the soldiers and tried to take their weapons", he said. "Attacks, threats and acts of intimidation against UNIFIL peacekeepers... are a matter of serious concern, and we call on the Lebanese armed forces to guarantee the safety, security and freedom of movement" of the UN force, he said in a statement. Lebanese authorities have not commented on Saturday's incident. UNIFIL was beefed up after a devastating month-long war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah was the only faction allowed to keep its arms after the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, and tensions between its supporters and UN peacekeepers are far from rare, although usually quickly contained. UNIFIL is largely made up of contingents from European countries and has around 10,000 peacekeepers in Lebanon. Search Keywords: Short link: Taiwan does not want to close the door to China and is willing to engage in the spirit of goodwill, but on an equal basis and without political preconditions, Premier Su Tseng-chang said on Sunday. Relations between Taipei and Beijing, which claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory, are at their lowest in decades, with China increasing political and military pressure to get the island to accept its sovereignty. Earlier on Sunday at a security forum in Singapore, China's defense minister said the Chinese government sought "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan but reserved "other options." Speaking to reporters after China banned the import of grouper fish from Taiwan on safety grounds, a move Taipei called politically motivated, Su said Taiwan has always had goodwill towards China. By Yuki Yamaguchi, KYODO NEWS - Jun 12, 2022 - 11:01 | All, Feature, Japan When a unit of the Ground Self-Defense Force was deployed to Japan's westernmost island of Yonaguni for the first time six years ago, it felt like a boon to the remote community, which had long been suffering from a falling population and a weak economy. The arrival of the troops, many together with their families, has invigorated the sleepy island in many ways: They brought more children to schools, while bars and restaurants boomed and local festivals leaped back to life with more participants. Nevertheless, according to some, that integration into local life has come at a cost. They say it has made it hard to voice concerns over the troops' presence -- concerns that have only grown since Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the fear that Moscow's actions could embolden China to press its own territorial claims more aggressively in nearby waters. Kyoko Yamaguchi, a 63-year-old resident, was opposed to the base coming to Yonaguni. But since beginning to work with the wives of SDF personnel at a community-run grocery store, she says she has become more reticent about expressing her views. "They are nice neighbors," Yamaguchi said. "That's why it's become harder to openly voice opposition to the SDF. In a small island like this, human relations always take precedence." Yonaguni, which is closer to Taiwan than Tokyo, is at the forefront of the SDF's recent strategic shift toward remote islands in the southwest in the face of China's growing military presence in regional waters. The island, which is part of Okinawa Prefecture, voted in favor of a proposal to host a base in a referendum in 2015. But the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia has prompted some of them to reconsider the risk of the island becoming a battlefield in the event that China takes aggressive action against Taiwan. "Compared with the rest of Japan, we have a greater risk of being attacked because of the base," Yamaguchi said. "But everybody is self-censoring. I want people to know that not all residents are in favor of the SDF." Once known as "an island only guarded by two pistols" -- those held by two policemen stationed there -- Yonaguni now hosts about 160 GSDF personnel in charge of monitoring waters and airspace near the island, which is only 110 kilometers away from Taiwan and 150 km from the Japan-controlled, China-claimed Senkaku Islands. On top of the existing GSDF unit, the Air Self-Defense Force has also sent personnel to bolster monitoring activities, while a new GSDF electric warfare unit is expected to be stationed at the base by March 2024. On the island, with about 1,700 local residents, SDF members and their families now account for about 15 percent of the population. The percentage is likely to increase further with the planned expansion at the outpost. "They are registered voters so they can influence local elections," said Chiyoki Tasato, a 64-year-old local assembly member who has consistently opposed the SDF presence on the island. "At this rate, people who are against the SDF won't be able to become a politician here." With the SDF and its supporters gaining increasing voting power, residents like Tasato fear that the island may grow to be home to more military facilities, increasing the likelihood that it becomes a target of attack. "I don't want the base to expand further so I'm trying to act as a brake," Tasato said. "But many people think, 'What's the point of opposing the SDF since the base is already here?'" In recent years, the SDF has ramped up the deployment of its units on remote islands in Okinawa prefecture. A missile unit was installed at a newly created base on Miyako Island in 2020, while another base is under construction on Ishigaki Island. "Okinawa's location is extremely important in terms of security," Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said at a press conference in May. "It is geographically irreplaceable for protecting the Nansei Islands," a chain that includes Okinawa and stretches southwest from Kyushu toward Taiwan. Tetsuhiro Kinjo, a 66-year-old resident of Ishigaki Island who runs a mango farm near the planned site of the new SDF base, said construction work has been proceeding despite repeated protests from residents. Aside from the noise and possible water contamination from the construction, Kinjo says he is also concerned that the rich natural environment on the island, which attracts tourists from all over the world, could be destroyed if the island is ever drawn into a military conflict. "I had high hopes when Okinawa returned to Japan from U.S. rule in 1972 because I thought the U.S. military would be gone," Kinjo said. "Fifty years have passed since then, but I think the military presence in Okinawa has been increasing" because of the SDF, he said. Residents' opinions about the SDF often vary by occupation. Some of the people who firmly pushed for the installation of the SDF were fishermen who feel threatened by Chinese vessels crossing into Japan's territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands. Shigenori Takenishi, the 60-year-old head of Yonaguni's fisheries cooperative, says fishing near the disputed islands, known as a good fishing ground, became difficult after a Chinese trawler collided with the Japanese coast guard's patrol boats in 2010, increasing tensions between the two countries. "If suspicious ships approach waters near Yonaguni, the SDF will know right away," Takenishi said. "It serves as a deterrence. I feel a sense of security." In an interview with Kyodo News, Yonaguni Mayor Kenichi Itokazu admitted that the islet could become a battlefield in the event of a contingency in Taiwan. "We need to show them we have a will to protect this island so they won't get any ideas," he said, referring to China. The current size of the SDF personnel stationed on the island is not enough in case of an emergency, and it should have more units, including the Maritime Self-Defense Force, if needed, he insists. "As the old saying goes, if you want peace, prepare for war." Related coverage: FOCUS: Once vilified, GSDF are now "indispensable deterrent" in Okinawa Japan, U.S. remote island defense drill revealed to press Japan's GSDF, U.S. Marines hold amphibious drill as China power grows By Trend India on Thursday reiterated that the controversial remarks concerning Prophet Mohammad do not reflect the views of the Government and added that action has been taken by concerned quarters against those who made the comments, Trend reports citing The Print. This comes after comments by a BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma on Prophet Mohammad prompted some Muslim countries to lodge their protest. Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, while addressing a media briefing on Thursday, said, We have made it pretty clear that the tweets and comments do not reflect views of the government. This has been conveyed to our interlocutors as also the fact that action has been taken by concerned quarters against those who made the comments and tweets. Meanwhile, the visiting Iranian Foreign Minister, said that Iran is satisfied with the efforts made by the Indian government in dealing with those responsible for comments on Prophet Muhammed. Abdollahian, who is on his first visit to India since he assumed office last year, raised the issue of the controversial remarks, made by two former BJP leaders, in his meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in the national capital on Wednesday. The Iranian Foreign Ministry in a statement said that Abdollahian had raised the issue with Doval, and was satisfied by the response he received. The NSA Ajit Doval, it said, reaffirmed the Indian government and officials respect for the Prophet Muhammad saying offenders will be dealt with by the government and related bodies in an exemplary manner. Ajit Doval reaffirmed the Indian government and officials respect for the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), saying offenders will be dealt with, at the government and related bodies levels, in such a way that others will learn a lesson, the Iranian foreign ministry statement read. Amirabdollahian said Muslims are satisfied with the stance of Indian officials in dealing with the culprits, the statement added. Amirabdollahian hailed the Indian people and government for their respect for the divine faiths, especially the Prophet Muhammad and also for the religious tolerance, historical coexistence and friendship among followers of various religions in the country. The Iranian foreign minister also called for serious attention to the sensitivities of Muslims regarding their religious sanctities. KYODO NEWS - Jun 12, 2022 - 21:31 | World, All The Philippines unveiled Sunday a tunnel drilling machine to start the underground construction of the country's first-ever subway being undertaken with Japanese financial support to ease road congestion in overcrowded Manila. President Rodrigo Duterte, who is stepping down June 30 after a single six-year term as president, led the event that coincided with the Philippines' 124th commemoration of declaring independence from Spain. The Philippines also came under Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945 during World War II. "Past is past. But until now, Japan has continued to help us to the extent that (we are) being treated as almost a part of Japan that should be developed in due time," Duterte said. He said the subway is a "gift from the Japanese people to the people of the Philippines." The 33-kilometer subway is meant to cut by half the one-hour travel time between Manila's major airport and the northern portion of the metropolis. It is funded by a 357.8 billion yen ($2.66 billion) loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency. The project has been contracted out to Japanese companies and the drilling machine was brought in from Japan. There were proposals for a subway as early as 1973, but it was only in 2017 that the project finally took shape. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, stalled the initial construction and has pushed back the start of the train operation to 2025. Also Sunday, Duterte led the commissioning of the second 97-meter patrol vessel the Philippines acquired through a Japanese yen-denominated loan. The ship, meant to beef up the Philippine Coast Guard's capability, is identical to an earlier patrol vessel modeled after the Japan Coast Guard's Kunigami-class vessels. Related coverage: FOCUS: Nuke talks revive hopes, fears in the Philippines Philippines starts using Subic Bay as naval base to counter China Marcos Jr. declares victory, vows to rev up Philippine economy By Takaki Tominaga, KYODO NEWS - Jun 12, 2022 - 09:35 | Feature, All, World, Japan The impact of climate change in Africa is drawing attention leading up to an international conference led by the Japanese government, as part of multiple crises the continent is facing along with the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Scientists have warned that Africa is likely to be hit the hardest by the catastrophic effects of climate change, such as droughts and floods, although the continent contributes less than 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations. Other crises Africa is facing include the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, notably soaring wheat and oil prices that have drastically impacted the supply of food and energy for the people and economies of Africa, according to the Japan International Cooperation Agency, a government-backed aid agency. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the U.N. body for assessing science related to climate change, pointed out in a report released in March that climate change is already ravaging the continent and millions have already been displaced due to extreme weather. The IPCC also projected about 250 million people may experience high water stress in Africa by 2030 with up to 700 million people displaced as a result. Although the issue is not new, a sense of crisis over the impact of climate change is growing, JICA officials said, prior to the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, known as TICAD8, which will be held in Tunisia on Aug. 27 and 28. TICAD is an international conference initiated by the Japanese government in 1993, which is co-hosted by the United Nations, U.N. Development Program, World Bank and African Union Commission. "TICAD8 will be a very important occasion to highlight the concept of human security as well as international solidarity toward the goal of world peace," said JICA Vice President Ryuichi Kato at a media roundtable in Tokyo in May. Earlier this year, the Foreign Ministry held a virtual TICAD ministerial meeting joined by delegates from African countries. On the issue of human security, the participants affirmed the importance of promoting efforts on environmental issues including climate change to ensure African development will be sustainable. In other words, the approach to promote climate action in African countries should contribute both to climate benefits and development benefits, the ministry indicated. People in the continent are facing the risk of income loss and food insecurity as many of the activities essential to African economies are weather-sensitive. These include things such as agriculture, herding and fishing, according to JICA. "Declines in agricultural productivity due to climate change are increasing malnutrition," said Kato. JICA's climate efforts in the continent include the development of geothermal energy in Kenya, a project designed to meet electricity demand through renewable energy sources. In addition to taking mitigation measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions, measures for adapting to climate change are also considered an important approach to reduce the current impact and prepare for potential risks, according to climate experts. The U.N. Environment Program estimates a potential market size of the climate adaptation business to reach up to 50 trillion yen ($387 billion) as of 2050, if the world succeeds in containing the increase in global average temperature at 2 C above pre-industrial levels. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has been soliciting the participation of the private sector in adaptation activities overseas including Africa. These include Panasonic Corp.'s solar lanterns project in Uganda and Sumitomo Chemical Co.'s mesh screen with insecticide agent to prevent the spread of malaria and other infectious disease associated with climate change in Tanzania, according to METI. A METI official said the government is eyeing shedding light on some good adaptation projects conducted in Africa by Japanese companies through seminars and other events in the run up to TICAD8 in the hope of heightening the business momentum in the region. With climate change seen as a major factor in threatening human security in Africa and world peace due to the increase in natural disasters and food insecurity, Kato said cross-sectional adaptation efforts are essential in numerous fields, including agriculture, infrastructure, water resources, eco-systems and disaster prevention. Although the share of greenhouse gas emissions is relatively small in African countries compared to other regions, emission reductions and other climate actions are required in Africa as well under the Paris climate agreement. It is crucial to deepen mutual understanding on what developed nations should do and what developing nations can do in terms of tackling climate change, Kato said. Related coverage: Africa tops 1 million coronavirus infections: WHO Japanese photographer brings "cinema stars" to Africa KYODO NEWS - Jun 12, 2022 - 19:18 | World, All, Japan Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi conveyed to his Chinese counterpart on Sunday concern over a recent joint flight by Chinese and Russian bombers near Japan as a "show of force" against his nation. Kishi told reporters after a meeting with Defense Minister Wei Fenghe in Singapore that he called for China's "self-restraint" in the East China and South China seas, airing strong concern over Beijing's ongoing "unilateral attempts to alter the status quo by force." Meanwhile, the two ministers agreed to promote interactions and dialogue between the defense authorities of Tokyo and Beijing, according to Kishi, who said, "Since Japan-China relations have matters of concern, we need to have candid communication." Kishi and Wei met on the sidelines of the three-day Asia Security Summit through Sunday, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue. The talks were the first in-person meeting between the defense chiefs of the two neighbors since December 2019. Late last month, six Chinese and Russian strategic bombers, including suspected ones, flew a long distance over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the Pacific, according to Japan's Defense Ministry, in apparent protest at a summit of Japan, the United States, Australia and India in Tokyo held on the same day. "A series of joint actions" by Beijing and Moscow, such as the joint flight, are still continuing, Kishi added, although he stopped short of elaborating. The roughly hourlong talks also came as Chinese vessels have repeatedly intruded into waters near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, a group of Tokyo-controlled, Beijing-claimed uninhabited islets that China calls Diaoyu. Japanese officials including Kishi have expressed concern over the Chinese military's recent activities near Japan. These include fighter jets taking off from and landing on the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning near the southern prefecture of Okinawa, which is close to Taiwan, for a total of 12 days last month. With China keeping military pressure on Taiwan, a self-ruled island viewed by it as part of its territory, Kishi also said he told Wei that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait are also important for the international community. Wei, in his remarks at the security summit Sunday, pledged that China "will definitely realize its reunification" with Taiwan and said that should the island seek independence, Beijing "will not hesitate to fight, we will fight at all costs, and we will fight to the very end." The defense minister also sent a warning to the United States not to meddle in the Taiwan issue, saying Taiwan is its internal affairs and that "foreign interference is doomed to failure." Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden stirred controversy by expressing his commitment to defending Taiwan if China tries to seize it by force. The remarks appeared to signal a break with Washington's policy of "strategic ambiguity" on whether it would defend Taiwan, but the White House denies any change to U.S. policy. On Saturday, the defense chiefs of Japan, the United States and South Korea highlighted "the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait" in a joint statement issued after their talks. It was the first reference to Taiwan in such a statement in defense ministerial talks among the three nations. Criticizing Russia for its aggression against Ukraine, Kishi also urged China to "play a responsible role" in the global community as one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Beijing abstained from voting for a U.S.-led draft Security Council resolution condemning the Russian invasion in late February. The resolution was vetoed by Moscow, another permanent member of the council, exposing dysfunction of the United Nations in managing international disputes. Earlier Sunday, Kishi also held separate meetings with his counterparts from Fiji, Australia and New Zealand. He confirmed with them that the nations would keep working together toward the realization of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, according to the Defense Ministry. A free and open Indo-Pacific is a vision vigorously promoted by Japan and the United States to counter China's growing military and economic clout in the region. Related coverage: Japan launches new strategy team for longer-term China diplomacy Japan urges China to play "responsible role" for peace China military body may be target of Japan counterstrike capability Photo taken on June 2, 2022 shows a rice paddy field at a demonstration farm operated by a Chinese firm in Abuja, Nigeria. (Xinhua/Guo Jun) by Olatunji Saliu and Guo Jun ABUJA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- On a farm in the northwest suburb of Abuja, Nigeria's capital, Wang Xuemin, sweating profusely under the hot sun in June, walked along a ridge between rice paddy fields where a big harvest is apparently expected. He stopped from time to time and raised the loudspeaker in his hand, speaking to the crowd following him about the rice varieties, estimated yields and planting techniques used on the paddy fields, and answering questions from the crowd. This is a field program on the promotion of Chinese rice planting and breeding techniques conducted by a Chinese company in Abuja recently, which attracted dozens of Nigerian agricultural officials, experts and farmers. Wang is the assistant general manager and rice expert of Green Agriculture West Africa Limited (GAWAL), a Chinese firm that currently operates at least four demonstration rice farms in Nigeria. He is full of confidence in the prospect of China-Nigerian agricultural cooperation, and believes that Chinese rice technology, especially hybrid rice, will greatly help African countries including Nigeria to increase food production and ensure food security. "This year, we introduced (Chinese) hybrid rice to be planted in four demonstration rice farms in Nigeria, and (the) harvest from two farms shows the yield of hybrid rice increases by 30 percent to 55 percent (compared with rice varieties mainly planted by local people)," said Wang. According to Wang, a conventional rice variety bred by the GAWAL using Chinese rice technology can increase production by about 25 percent compared with the local main varieties. It has been approved by the Nigerian government in 2017, and is now sold to farmers all over Nigeria. Speaking to Xinhua, Olusegun Ojo, director-general of the National Agricultural Seeds Council, said rice is one of the staple foods of Nigerians, and he was deeply impressed by China's rice planting and breeding techniques. Nigeria is seeking to increase food production, reduce imports and ensure food security, and there is great room for cooperation between Nigeria and China in the field of agriculture. "Seeing is believing. We have brought our people here to come and see what they are doing," Ojo said. "One farmer confirmed to us that the seeds that they are getting here are by far better than the ones they have been using before. He also mentioned that because of the added productivity that is seen here, they have been able to feed their families, they have been able to send their children to school, and so on," he added. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with a population of over 200 million, imports a large amount of food every year to meet its consumption needs. According to the data of Nigeria's central bank, Nigeria's food import expenditure in 2021 reached 2.71 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of nearly 45 percent compared with the previous year. Bello Zaki, a director at the Agriculture Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), said the result of the productivity of the hybrid rice variety introduced by GAWAL has been "very conspicuous." "By their own analysis, the R1 hybrid tends to be more promising in terms of yield and income rate. I am happy that the result is very conspicuous," Zaki said, explaining that the ARCN had been trying to enhance productivity so that poverty can be reduced to the barest minimum and to ensure that there is self-sufficiency in food production for the country. Testimonies abound on the success of the provision of rice seedlings by the GAWAL, and the potential to positively change the lives of local rice farmers. "It has transformed my life because I have gotten more information on farming in this place," Stephen Elisha, a local worker at the GAWAL demonstration farm in Abuja, told Xinhua, referring to the modern rice farming technique he has learned from the Chinese firm, among other experiences he has garnered from there over the past six years. "Now, I am not afraid to start up my own farm because they have trained me on how to produce rice and how to farm other crops," said the 33-year-old farmer. Photo taken on June 2, 2022 shows rice paddy fields at a demonstration farm operated by a Chinese firm in Abuja, Nigeria. (Xinhua/Guo Jun) Chinese agriculture expert Wang Xuemin shows matured rice ear at a demonstration farm operated by a Chinese firm in Abuja, Nigeria, June 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Guo Jun) Chinese agriculture expert Wang Xuemin (2nd L) hands over rice seeds to local people at a demonstration farm operated by a Chinese firm in Abuja, Nigeria, June 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Guo Jun) A woman carrying a child is seen at a camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, Jan. 13, 2022. (Photo by Hassan Bashi/Xinhua) The UN migration agency IOM appeals for 66 million U.S. dollars to reach more than 1.25 million Somalis with humanitarian aid by February 2023 as nearly half of Somalia's population faces historic levels of drought. MOGADISHU, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations migration agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Friday appealed for 66 million U.S. dollars to reach more than 1.25 million people in Somalia with humanitarian assistance by February 2023. The IOM said it needs immediate funding to continue essential life-saving programs and help communities adapt and withstand future shocks. "The response by IOM and its partners is preventing the worst outcomes, but the needs are rising fast as the drought situation worsens," the IOM said in a statement issued in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. According to the UN, more than 7.1 million people, nearly half of the total population, are facing historic levels of drought in Somalia. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirmed Friday it has received 260 million dollars for Somalia humanitarian relief responses in 2022, facilitating efforts to provide immediate and life-saving assistance to over 2.8 million people who have been affected by the ongoing devastating drought in the country. The IOM said it is scaling up its response and has assisted more than 350,000 people affected by the drought - the worst seen in decades following the fourth consecutive failed rainy season. "Nearly 800,000 people have been displaced due to drought since early 2021, at least half a million of them in the first four months of this year. Women and children make up 80 percent of the newly displaced population," it said. Extreme dry conditions are deepening Somalia's decades-long humanitarian crisis caused by conflict, instability, recurrent weather shocks, and disease outbreaks. The IOM said acute water shortages, the death of livestock - approximately 3 million - and rising food prices aggravate the needs of millions of people who urgently need support as the country faces a potential fifth failed rainy season later 2022 - a climatic event with potentially fatal consequences if urgent action is not taken. "Somalia is on the front line of climate change with weather patterns becoming more unpredictable each year. The climate crisis is outpacing some of the efforts being taken to save lives and livelihoods in the country," the IOM said. It said food, water, health care, and shelter remain the most immediate needs with 213,000 people experiencing extreme levels of hunger. People shop at Souk El Tayeb, the longest-running farmers' market in Mar Mikhael, a vibrant neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, on June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) by Dana Halawi BEIRUT, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of Lebanese smallholders and producers of homemade products gather every Saturday at Souk el Tayeb, the longest-running farmers' market in Mar Mikhael, a vibrant neighborhood in Beirut, hoping to clinch a fair deal despite the country's current crisis. Souk el Tayeb, which means a market for delicious food in English, was set up in 2004 to give small-scale farmers more than just a place to sell their products, said the founder Kamal Mouzawak. "It encouraged cultural exchange, serving as a platform for people and local communities to share food, traditions, and conversation," he told Xinhua. "During a time when people were just recovering from a 15-year civil war, this market held unique and special importance, as it brought fractured communities together, encouraging Lebanese to work side-by-side once again," he noted, referring to the country's post-civil war recovery since 1990. Yasmina Zahar from Deir Mkhalles, an alpine village an hour drive south of downtown Beirut, has been vending at Souk el Tayeb for most weekends. "I have been taking part in this project for around 5 years and I love it ... There is a social mix that you don't see in other places," Zahar told Xinhua. Despite a decline in sales after the crisis, Zahar favors the market for its values and principles which encourage purchasing locally grown foods to help preserve traditional farming and villages and revive agriculture as a whole at a difficult time. Many farmers take pride in the organic produce that they brought to sale at the Souk el Tayeb market. Mario Hakim, who owned farms in Nahr el Kalb, Rayfoun, Sannine and other areas in Lebanon, said he comes here every week to get in direct contact with customers who are interested in organic foods and willing to pay a good price for them. Arranging his freshly produced cherries, strawberries and a variety of vegetables, farmer Joseph Boustani told Xinhua that the market gives him a good return from renting a stall at a modest price. "We usually sell our products to restaurants, but the market here gives us exposure to different kinds of customers who have become accustomed to visiting this place every week to buy their needs," Boustani said. For his part, Hussein Kazoun, owner of Field to Fork, an organic farm distribution company, told Xinhua he was able to make good business on the farmers' market, but his sales have dropped recently in light of the local currency collapse and the drop in purchasing power of the Lebanese people. "We are still part of this project; we believe in its values and the great opportunity it gives to farmers," Kazoun said. Mouzawak told Xinhua that farmers rent a booth for a minimum fee of 10 U.S. dollars, the total proceeds of which, together with the incomes from operating themed activities, would help the farmer's market to pay its own rental fee. Many activities aim to improve consumer access to the products of local farmers, cooks, and food companies, according to Mouzawak. Farmers sell their products at Souk El Tayeb, the longest-running farmers' market in Mar Mikhael, a vibrant neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, on June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) Farmers sell food at Souk El Tayeb, the longest-running farmers' market in Mar Mikhael, a vibrant neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, on June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) People shop at Souk El Tayeb, the longest-running farmers' market in Mar Mikhael, a vibrant neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, on June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) People shop at Souk El Tayeb, the longest-running farmers' market in Mar Mikhael, a vibrant neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, on June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) People shop at Souk El Tayeb, the longest-running farmers' market in Mar Mikhael, a vibrant neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, on June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) A customer shops at Souk El Tayeb, the longest-running farmers' market in Mar Mikhael, a vibrant neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, on June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) SINGAPORE, June 11 (Xinhua) -- China strongly objected to remarks made by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Saturday at the ongoing 19th Shangri-La Dialogue regarding the South China Sea and Taiwan, calling them unfounded declarations and false accusations against China. Austin's accusation that China's "unprofessional and frequent interceptions" of other countries' airplanes in the air space of the South China Sea does not accord with the fact, said Lieutenant General Zhang Zhenzhong, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, at a press briefing. "We have to point out that the place or the air space where this event happened were in the air space near China's Xisha and Nansha Islands, not the air space of American allies. And China has to take necessary counter measures to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests. The counter measures we have taken are conducted in a professional and safe way," Zhang said. Zhang said that the title of militarization of the South China Sea is more suited for the United States as it frequently sends warships and planes to intrude into the adjacent waters and air space of China's islands and reefs in the South China Sea and frequently carries out closing reconnaissance and targeted military exercises in the area. "We have deployed necessary defense facilities in our own territory. It is a natural right of a sovereign country to do so. It is also a necessary response to the provocative actions of other parties. It is fair to say that the United States is the biggest force driving the militarization of the South China Sea," he said. Zhang stressed that there was never any trouble in the South China Sea until the United States created troubles. Calling Austin's remarks on Taiwan interference in China's internal affairs, Zhang urged Washington to stopping playing the "Taiwan card." By sending officials to visit Taiwan, claiming support for Taiwan's "self-defense" capacity, revising its so-called fact sheet of "U.S.-Taiwan" relations and arms sales, the United States has sent wrong signals to the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces and escalated tensions across the strait, Zhang said, noting that "This is extremely dangerous." "The Taiwan question is the one question that could most easily lead the China-U.S. relations into conflict. Mishandling of the Taiwan question will have a destructive impact on bilateral ties. The People's Liberation Army always stands ready to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity at any cost," he said. While commenting on the United States' so-called "Indo-Pacific strategy," Zhang said it is a strategy that causes division, instigates confrontation and undermines peace in the Asia-Pacific region. "The U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy is a strategy that goes against historical trends and prevailing will of regional countries. It only serves the U.S. own interests and therefore is doomed to failure," he said. Zhang said that the United States often talks about the rule-based international order, but it actually treats international rules and norms as a toy. Withdrawing from treaties, breaking away from agreements at its own will, waving the stick of unilateral sanctions against other countries, and interfering in other countries' internal affairs, the United States, in reality, tries to rule the world with its own domestic laws and gangster rules, said Zhang. "The United States is the biggest source of instability in international order, the backstage manipulator for global turmoil and a dangerous threat to regional peace and stability," Zhang added. SINGAPORE, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Japanese politicians' suggestions on reinforcing the country's military capabilities are very dangerous, He Lei, former deputy head of the Academy of Military Sciences, said Friday at a media briefing. The Chinese expert made the remark after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivered a keynote speech at the opening dinner of the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore. The military expert said some high-level politicians in Japan are proposing that Japan should review its three non-nuclear principles and calling for raising Japan's defense budget to two percent of its gross domestic product within five years. Kishida said in his speech that his government will set out a new National Security Strategy by the end of this year, and that he is determined to fundamentally reinforce Japan's defense capabilities within the next five years and secure a substantial increase of Japan's defense budget needed to effect it. "In doing so, we will not rule out any options, including so-called counterstrike capabilities," Kishida said. The Chinese expert said Kishida implicated that it is China who breaks the rules and is trying to use military force or use strength to change the status quo. However, it is not China that changes the status quo in the East China Sea, but Japan. Japan in 2012, despite China's strong opposition, illegally purchased the Diaoyu islands and attempted to "nationalize" the territory. This, first of all, was a change of the state quo, and also went against the tacit agreement between the two countries that the dispute concerning the Diaoyu islands should be shelved, He mentioned. "We do not accept that the characterization of China as changing the status quo with force or with strength," He said. China's development has been a contribution to the growth of the world's force for peace, He said, adding that the development of China's military strength means that the country is stronger in defending its national interests, which is also a good thing for world peace. China adheres to the path of peaceful development, and adopts an independent foreign policy of peace and a national defense policy that is defensive in nature, He said, adding that all these have been written into China's Constitution as well as the National Defense Law. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the country has never provoked any war with any other country, never invaded any other country, and never occupied even one inch of the territory of other countries. "We didn't do that, and we're not doing now, nor will do it in the future," He said. "We will never seek the hegemony." Large groups of Americans descended on Washington, D.C. and many other cities across the United States on Saturday to decry rising gun violence while urging politicians to take action. Tens of thousands, young and old, gathered under the Washington Monument at the National Mall in the afternoon, many with self-made banners that read "protect children not guns," "end gun violence," and "enough is enough," as they listened to speeches from shooting survivors and gun control activists. The rally came days after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a gun package that appeared unlikely to be approved by the evenly-divided Senate. Senators from both sides of the aisle have engaged in gun legislation talks for a consensus. It's unclear whether the negotiations will bear any fruit as gun violence continues to wreak havoc on American lives. Produced by Xinhua Global Service HONG KONG, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday sent a congratulatory letter to Ta Kung Pao, one of the oldest Chinese language newspapers based in Hong Kong, on the 120th anniversary of its founding. In the letter, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, urged the newspaper to carry forward its patriotic traditions, pursue innovative development and write even more splendid chapters of the steady and sustained implementation of "one country, two systems." For over a century, Ta Kung Pao has played an active role in the building of New China, the reform and opening-up and modernization, Xi said, adding that the newspaper has also played an active role in Hong Kong's return to the motherland as well as in maintaining Hong Kong's prosperity and stability. In the new era, Ta Kung Pao unequivocally sent out positive notes and helped forge social consensus, thus contributing to maintaining Hong Kong's stability, enhancing exchanges between Hong Kong and the mainland, and forming a closer emotional bond of Hong Kong residents with the motherland, he said. Xi called on the newspaper to continue to grow its influence, and contribute more to the realization of the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. The letter was read at a ceremony held in Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon to mark the newspaper's founding anniversary. The newspaper, founded on June 17, 1902, is the oldest Chinese-language newspaper still in circulation in the world. In 2016, it was merged into Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group and has since accelerated its integrated development to form an all-media network based in Hong Kong with an aim of serving Chinese readers across the globe. A ceremony marking the 120th anniversary of the founding of Ta Kung Pao, one of the oldest Chinese language newspapers based in Hong Kong, is held in Hong Kong, south China, June 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Gang) A ceremony marking the 120th anniversary of the founding of Ta Kung Pao, one of the oldest Chinese language newspapers based in Hong Kong, is held in Hong Kong, south China, June 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Gang) By Trend Leading NBFC IIFL Finance Limited on Thursday said that its wholly-owned subsidiary, IIFL Home Finance Limited, has entered into definitive agreements for raising Rs 2,200 crore for a 20% stake from a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). The deal completion is subject to regulatory approvals, Trend reports citing Business Standard. IIFL Home Finance is one of Indias largest affordable housing finance companies with assets under management of Rs 23,617 crore as of March 31, 2022. This would be one of the largest equity investments in the affordable housing finance segment in India by a financial investor. Avendus Capital advised IIFL Home Finance on this transaction. "Backed by a technology backbone enabling 100% digital onboarding for home loans, robust credit appraisal and collection systems, IIFL Home Finance Limited proposes to use the additional capital to continue its granular expansion strategy into new markets to address the significant and growing demand for housing loans," said IIFL Finance in a stock exchange filing. Speaking on the occasion, Nirmal Jain, Founder, IIFL Group said, The investment recognizes IIFL Home Finances position as one of Indias largest providers of affordable housing loans and how well it is placed to continue to target the large, resilient housing finance market. Established in 2006, IIFL Home Finance has an active customer base of 168,000 across 16 states and 2 union territories with over 200 branches backed by over 3,200 employees. The company offers small-ticket housing loans, loans against property and construction finance. IIFL Home Finance has already established itself as one of Indias leading technology-enabled mortgage lenders. This investment aims to support the company for its next phase of growth, as it meets the significant demand in Indias large, under-served and fast-growing affordable housing finance market," said Hamad Shahwan Aldhaheri, Executive Director of the Private Equities Department at ADIA. Speaking on the occasion, Monu Ratra, CEO, IIFL Home Finance said, IIFL Home Finance has built a strong foundation and is at an inflection point as it leverages new strategies such as co-lending, foraying into more granular products and expanding reach across Tier II and Tier III regions. We welcome our new partners and look forward to working with them in the next phase. China strongly objected to remarks made by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Saturday at the ongoing 19th Shangri-La Dialogue regarding the South China Sea and Taiwan, calling them unfounded declarations and false accusations against China. Austin's accusation that China's "unprofessional and frequent interceptions" of other countries' airplanes in the air space of the South China Sea does not accord with the fact, said Lieutenant General Zhang Zhenzhong, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, at a press briefing. "We have to point out that the place or the air space where this event happened were in the air space near China's Xisha and Nansha Islands, not the air space of American allies. And China has to take necessary counter measures to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests. The counter measures we have taken are conducted in a professional and safe way," Zhang said. Zhang said that the title of militarization of the South China Sea is more suited for the United States as it frequently sends warships and planes to intrude into the adjacent waters and air space of China's islands and reefs in the South China Sea and frequently carries out closing reconnaissance and targeted military exercises in the area. Zhang stressed that there was never any trouble in the South China Sea until the United States created troubles. Calling Austin's remarks on Taiwan interference in China's internal affairs, Zhang urged Washington to stopping playing the "Taiwan card." "The Taiwan question is the one question that could most easily lead the China-U.S. relations into conflict. Mishandling of the Taiwan question will have a destructive impact on bilateral ties. The People's Liberation Army always stands ready to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity at any cost," he said. Produced by Xinhua Global Service Damascene Roses are seen at the al-Marah town, north of Syria's capital Damascus, May 28, 2022. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua) by Hummam Sheikh Ali DAMASCUS, June 12 (Xinhua) -- At a mountainside in the Al-Marah town north of Syrian capital Damascus, bushes of the famous Damascene Rose sway with the wind, withstanding all weather conditions and actual battles, but are now threatened by U.S. sanctions. The al-Marah town is believed to be the original hometown of the world-famous Damascene Rose in the foothills of the Qalamoun mountains north of Damascus, whose history goes back to the time when the Romans were said to have brought the rose to England from this region. In the first two years of the Syrian crisis, the pink double flower, which was regarded as a national product of Syria, missed those who used to take care of it, as the fields of roses in al-Marah became a sort of military zones for the army to hunt down rebels in the nearby towns. After the liberation of Qalamoun, the farmers were once optimistic about salvaging the rose and carrying on their fathers' legacy. However, the U.S. sanctions have had a longer-lasting negative impact on the Damascene Rose, which is renowned for its special fragrance and heady-scented oil, as 1 gram of its oil was said to be sold in the U.S. for as high as 60 U.S. dollars. Muhammad Jamal Abbas, a 60-year-old rose farmer from Al-Marah, told Xinhua that the weather condition this year was bad with no considerable rainfall or snow in their town. Add to that, he continued, the U.S. sanctions have deprived the farmers of exporting the extracted oil, creams, and other products that derive from the rose. "The foreign merchants who used to buy our products have stopped purchasing them due to the sanctions. Now, we only rely on local markets to sell our products, but the demand is so little," he said. Furthermore, the U.S. sanctions also prevented the Syrian farmers from having new machines to help process the various products of the rose. Near his farm, Abbas has a big venue, where some makeshift machinery and old-styled devices are located to press the rose and extract the oil and water out of it. The venue looks like a time capsule, taking visitors back in history to see the original machinery and equipment. "I don't know where we are going. We are extremely affected by the U.S. sanctions, and the impact is not little," he stressed. Abbas further warned that the profession of making products out of the Damascene Rose could come to an end as nowadays farmers are working without any profit, only losses. Despite all the above difficulties, the man determines not to abandon his farm or roses, recalling that the rose has helped him raise a successful family, priding himself on educating all of his children from the revenues of the rose over the years. His daughter, who has recently graduated with a chemistry degree, has started helping her father to develop new products, such as new shampoo and facial creams from roses. Abbas hoped the Damascene Rose would regain its glamour and glory days, and the U.S. sanctions would be lifted soon so that he and other Syrian farmers could have access to foreign markets. "The Damascene Rose is a beautiful plant," he said. Farmers pick Damascene Roses at the al-Marah town, north of Syria's capital Damascus, May 28, 2022. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua) Farmers pick Damascene Roses at the al-Marah town, north of Syria's capital Damascus, May 28, 2022. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua) Muhammad Jamal Abbas, a Damascene Rose farmer, speaks during an interview with Xinhua at the al-Marah town, north of Syria's capital Damascus, May 28, 2022. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua) RIO DE JANEIRO, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Brazil on Saturday confirmed its second case of monkeypox, detected in a 29-year-old man who arrived this week from Spain. The man was put into isolation in the town of Vinhedo, as a laboratory in Spain informed him of his positive test result after he had landed in Brazil on Wednesday, according to Sao Paulo health authorities. The first case of monkeypox in Brazil was registered on Thursday, also in Sao Paulo, in a 41-year-old man who had traveled to Spain and Portugal. He is also in isolation. The Brazilian Ministry of Health is investigating at least eight possible cases of monkeypox in the country. More than 1,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox have been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from 29 countries, said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press briefing on Wednesday. Farmers are seen picking the famous Damascene Rose at the al-Marah town north of the capital Damascus on May 28, 2022. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua) by Hummam Sheikh Ali DAMASCUS, June 12 (Xinhua) -- At a mountainside in the Al-Marah town north of Syrian capital Damascus, bushes of the famous Damascene Rose sway with the wind, withstanding all weather conditions and actual battles, but are now threatened by U.S. sanctions. The al-Marah town is believed to be the original hometown of the world-famous Damascene Rose in the foothills of the Qalamoun mountains north of Damascus, whose history goes back to the time when the Romans were said to have brought the rose to England from this region. Farmers are seen picking the famous Damascene Rose at the al-Marah town north of the capital Damascus on May 28, 2022. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua) In the first two years of the Syrian crisis, the pink double flower, which was regarded as a national product of Syria, missed those who used to take care of it, as the fields of roses in al-Marah became a sort of military zones for the army to hunt down rebels in the nearby towns. After the liberation of Qalamoun, the farmers were once optimistic about salvaging the rose and carrying on their fathers' legacy. However, the U.S. sanctions have had a longer-lasting negative impact on the Damascene Rose, which is renowned for its special fragrance and heady-scented oil, as 1 gram of its oil was said to be sold in the U.S. for as high as 60 U.S. dollars. Muhammad Jamal Abbas, a 60-year-old Damascene Rose farmer, speaks during an interview with Xinhua at the al-Marah town north of the capital Damascus on May 28, 2022. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua) Muhammad Jamal Abbas, a 60-year-old rose farmer from Al-Marah, told Xinhua that the weather condition this year was bad with no considerable rainfall or snow in their town. Add to that, he continued, the U.S. sanctions have deprived the farmers of exporting the extracted oil, creams, and other products that derive from the rose. "The foreign merchants who used to buy our products have stopped purchasing them due to the sanctions. Now, we only rely on local markets to sell our products, but the demand is so little," he said. Muhammad Jamal Abbas, a Damascene Rose farmer, operates an old machine to extract rose oil at the al-Marah town north of the capital Damascus on May 28, 2022. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua) Furthermore, the U.S. sanctions also prevented the Syrian farmers from having new machines to help process the various products of the rose. Near his farm, Abbas has a big venue, where some makeshift machinery and old-styled devices are located to press the rose and extract the oil and water out of it. The venue looks like a time capsule, taking visitors back in history to see the original machinery and equipment. "I don't know where we are going. We are extremely affected by the U.S. sanctions, and the impact is not little," he stressed. A man arranges bottles of rose water during celebrations of the harvest of the famous Damascene rose in the town of al-Marah, north of Damascus, Syria, on June 20, 2019. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani) Abbas further warned that the profession of making products out of the Damascene Rose could come to an end as nowadays farmers are working without any profit, only losses. Despite all the above difficulties, the man determines not to abandon his farm or roses, recalling that the rose has helped him raise a successful family, priding himself on educating all of his children from the revenues of the rose over the years. His daughter, who has recently graduated with a chemistry degree, has started helping her father to develop new products, such as new shampoo and facial creams from roses. Syrian people take part in the picking process of the famous Damascene Rose in the town of al-Marah, north of the capital Damascus, Syria, on May 19, 2022. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua) Abbas hoped the Damascene Rose would regain its glamour and glory days, and the U.S. sanctions would be lifted soon so that he and other Syrian farmers could have access to foreign markets. "The Damascene Rose is a beautiful plant," he said. UNITED NATIONS, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Saturday voiced concern over the deteriorating security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), given the increase of attacks against civilians by rebels as well as the presence of foreign armed groups. "We call on all armed groups to immediately cease all forms of violence. We urge Congolese armed groups to participate unconditionally in the disarmament, demobilization, community recovery and stabilization program, and foreign armed groups to immediately disarm and return to their countries of origin," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a note to correspondents. "We reaffirm our strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the DRC and strongly condemn the use of proxies. We welcome and support ongoing national and regional political efforts to accompany the disarmament of armed groups, including by President Felix Tshisekedi of the DRC and President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya through the Nairobi process," said the spokesman. The UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC is also working to promote non-military measures for the disarmament of foreign armed groups, he said. The United Nations welcomes the nomination of Angolan President Joao Lourenco by the African Union as a mediator to defuse tensions between the DRC and Rwanda, and fully supports these political efforts, he said. "We are deeply concerned about reports of increased hate speech in the country against some particular communities, including in the context of the M23 (rebel group)'s resurgence. Hate speech must be confronted proactively," said the spokesman. A resident casts his ballot at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, France, June 12, 2022. The first round of the 2022 French legislative elections kicked off Sunday in Metropolitan France (the region of the country geographically in Europe) for voters to elect 577 members for the National Assembly. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua) PARIS, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The first round of the 2022 French legislative elections kicked off Sunday in Metropolitan France (the region of the country geographically in Europe) for voters to elect 577 members for the National Assembly. According to the Interior Ministry, about 6,300 candidates from 20 political parties will compete for seats in the National Assembly. The winning party needs 289 seats to obtain an absolute majority. If a candidate scores an absolute majority in the first round -- more than 50 percent of the vote and a turnout rate of no less than 25 percent -- he or she is elected without needing a second round. Those candidates who win the support of at least 12.5 percent of registered voters in the first round can advance to the second round on June 19. Polling booths will be open from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. on both election days. In major cities, such as Paris, Lyon or Marseille, they will close at 8 p.m. Each deputy is elected in a constituency, of which Metropolitan France has 539 and the overseas territories 27. A further 11 deputies will represent French nationals living abroad. The deputies are directly elected for a term of five years. The elections will be fought between President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance Ensemble, a recently formed left-wing alliance dubbed NUPES (la Nouvelle Union Populaire Ecologique et Sociale) and led by Jean-Luc Melenchon, who finished in third place in this April's presidential elections, and the right-wing party Les Republicains, as well as the far-right parties Rassemblement National and "Reconquete," led by former presidential candidates Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour, respectively. The preliminary election results are scheduled to be announced after 8 p.m. local time (1800 GMT). But due to the possible low turnout rate, few deputies are expected to be elected in the first round. A resident arrives to cast her ballot at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, France, June 12, 2022. The first round of the 2022 French legislative elections kicked off Sunday in Metropolitan France (the region of the country geographically in Europe) for voters to elect 577 members for the National Assembly. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua) A resident casts his ballot at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, France, June 12, 2022. The first round of the 2022 French legislative elections kicked off Sunday in Metropolitan France (the region of the country geographically in Europe) for voters to elect 577 members for the National Assembly. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua) A resident casts his ballot at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, France, June 12, 2022. The first round of the 2022 French legislative elections kicked off Sunday in Metropolitan France (the region of the country geographically in Europe) for voters to elect 577 members for the National Assembly. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua) Voters are seen outside a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, France, June 12, 2022. The first round of the 2022 French legislative elections kicked off Sunday in Metropolitan France (the region of the country geographically in Europe) for voters to elect 577 members for the National Assembly. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua) A resident casts his ballot at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, France, June 12, 2022. The first round of the 2022 French legislative elections kicked off Sunday in Metropolitan France (the region of the country geographically in Europe) for voters to elect 577 members for the National Assembly. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua) A resident casts her ballot at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, France, June 12, 2022. The first round of the 2022 French legislative elections kicked off Sunday in Metropolitan France (the region of the country geographically in Europe) for voters to elect 577 members for the National Assembly. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua) A resident casts the ballot at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, France, June 12, 2022. The first round of the 2022 French legislative elections kicked off Sunday in Metropolitan France (the region of the country geographically in Europe) for voters to elect 577 members for the National Assembly. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Gu Guoqiang shows a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, April 20, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Photo by Su Zhigang/Xinhua) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Photo shows a filigree mosaic artwork made by Gu Guoqiang in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Photo shows a filigree mosaic artwork made by Gu Guoqiang in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Photo shows filigree mosaic artworks made by Gu Guoqiang in southwest China's Chongqing, April 20, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Photo by Su Zhigang/Xinhua) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Gu Guoqiang shows filigree mosaic artworks in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, April 20, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Photo by Su Zhigang/Xinhua) Gu Guoqiang shows a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, April 20, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Photo by Su Zhigang/Xinhua) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, April 20, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Photo by Su Zhigang/Xinhua) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, April 20, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Photo by Su Zhigang/Xinhua) Gu Guoqiang sketches a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, April 20, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Photo by Su Zhigang/Xinhua) Gu Guoqiang shows a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, April 20, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Photo by Su Zhigang/Xinhua) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, June 9, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) Gu Guoqiang makes a filigree mosaic artwork in southwest China's Chongqing, April 20, 2022. Filigree Mosaic craft, a traditional Chinese aulic handicraft dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), uses metal such as gold and silver to fold artwork inlaid with gemstone or pearl. It is also called fine gold craft as it usually uses spun gold as thin as 0.16 millimeters to form various shapes, and was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages in 2008. Gu Guoqiang, born in 1994, fell in love with the craft seven years ago during his study in Beijing for restoration of cultural relics. Fascinated by a filigree mosaic work of his master, he returned to his hometown Chongqing and took provincial-level master of arts and crafts Li Changyi as his new master. In 2007, Gu Guoqiang set up his own studio, exploring a way to make filigree mosaic accessories fitting for modern people. He tries to absorb traditional Chinese culture concepts in his designs, and also takes into account modern taste and use habits. In order to promote the craft, he shares his works through various platforms and is now followed by 300,000 fans on the popular smartphone app Kuaishou. Some followers even come to Chongqing to learn this craft from him. Nowadays, Gu's studio sells about 300 filigree mosaic artworks per month, many of which are ordered by people overseas. "Most people try to catch other's eyes by intricate works, however some take craftsmanship as life art," said Gu Guoqiang. He makes his own way in inheriting the ancient art, which is common now in China as more youngsters who love traditional culture and arts are willing to pass down the intangible cultural heritages and create a new future for them. (Photo by Su Zhigang/Xinhua) MOSCOW, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill into law on non-compliance by Russia with the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the Kremlin said Saturday. In accordance with the law, Russia will not abide by the ECHR rulings adopted after March 15, when the country announced its exit from the Council of Europe. Besides, compensations assessed by the ECHR will be made only in rubles and transferred only to accounts in Russian banks. The bill was approved by the Federation Council, or the upper house of Russian parliament, on Wednesday. SEOUL, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) fired multiple projectiles, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Sunday. The projectiles were presumed to be fired from multiple rocket launchers. The South Korean military detected the multiple trajectories from 8:07 a.m. to 11:03 a.m. local time, the JCS said in a statement. It noted that the South Korean military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance while maintaining a full readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States. A week earlier, the DPRK fired eight short-range ballistic missiles eastward from four different areas. The DPRK has conducted projectile launches four times since the new government of South Korea was inaugurated on May 10. BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The letter sent by Xi Jinping to Ta Kung Pao shows his deep care for the newspaper and all members of its parent media group, his tremendous encouragement for all Hong Kong media that love the country and love Hong Kong, and his earnest expectations for Hong Kong to take on a new outlook and open a new chapter. A spokesperson for the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council made the remarks Sunday. Xi, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sent a congratulatory letter to Ta Kung Pao on the 120th anniversary of its founding on Sunday. In the letter, Xi expressed the hope that the newspaper will write even more splendid chapters of the steady and sustained implementation of "one country, two systems," and contribute more to realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, said the spokesperson. The letter is also a call on the whole Hong Kong society and all Hong Kong compatriots. It points to the direction for Hong Kong to better integrate itself into the country's development plans and to achieve long-term stability and prosperity, said the spokesperson. The newspaper, founded on June 17, 1902, is the oldest Chinese-language newspaper still in circulation in the world. In 2016, it was merged into Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group and has since accelerated its integrated development to form an all-media network based in Hong Kong with an aim of serving Chinese readers across the globe. Endtiem By Trend An Indian delegation to a UN conference on cybercrime in Vienna has proposed the use of measures that are almost identical to those in the controversial Section 66A of the Indian Information Technology Act, which was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2015, Trend reports citing The Print. The second session of the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee (AHC) has been convened to negotiate a proposed UN treaty on countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes. The Indian delegation comprising officials from the ministries of home, external affairs, and information technology had sent their proposal on 12 May and then presented it at the Vienna meeting Wednesday. However, some points in the proposal seem lifted word-for-word from Section 66A of the IT Act, which was struck down by the Supreme Court because it was violative of the right to freedom of speech guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution. Among the 13 sections of the Indian delegations Vienna proposal, subcategory 4(d) on offensive messages through communication service etc is an almost exact copy of Section 66A curbs. It recommends that a state should adopt legislative measures to criminalise information that is deemed to be grossly offensive or of a menacing character. The same goes for sending out information, known to be false, for the purposes of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will Finally, any electronic communication sent out for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages should be punishable by law, Indias contribution to the AHC session says. The proposal has riled digital activists. Terms like grossly offensive are vague and give the government power to interpret it arbitrarily and misuse it. The UPA government did it when it had 66A, digital activist and savetheinternet co-founder Nikhil Pahwa told ThePrint. ThePrint tried contacting all the ministries involved in the proposal via email and phone calls but did not receive a reply until the publication of this report. If a response is received, this report will be updated. Because of Section 66, several artists, journalists, and students had found themselves on the wrong side of the law due to their social media posts criticising various leaders. However, despite being struck down by the apex court, the law has not died a quick death. As reported last year, since being scrapped, it has been invoked not only within police stations, but also in cases before trial courts across India a fact described as shocking by the Supreme Court. The Union government subsequently issued an advisory to states and Union territories urging compliance with the 2015 order, also citing earlier missives issued in this regard. * Delegates and experts highly appraised China's policy of safeguarding multilateralism, regional peace and stability, and building a shared future for humanity introduced during the three-day summit. * The world is facing multiple crises rarely seen in history. The way forward is to uphold and practice multilateralism and build a community with a shared future for mankind, said Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe. * Many senior officials and analysts believe that the so-called Indo-Pacific strategy would stir up tensions instead and cause regional conflicts, all in an effort to contain China's development. by Xinhua writers Li Xiaoyu, Cai Shuya and Mao Pengfei SINGAPORE, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The 19th Shangri-La Dialogue, a premier defense and security summit in the Asia-Pacific region, concluded here on Sunday, with many delegates recognizing peace and development as common goals while urging dialogue and cooperation to maintain regional and global stability. Delegates and experts also highly appraised China's policy of safeguarding multilateralism, regional peace and stability, and building a shared future for humanity introduced during the three-day summit. Meanwhile, they cautioned against geopolitical strategies that bring division, instigate confrontation and undermine peace in the region, adding that any attempt to divide countries is doomed to fail. People attend the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 11, 2022. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua) GSI PROVIDES NEW GUIDE TO PEACEFUL DEVELOPMENT The Global Security Initiative (GSI) proposed by China is another global public good, injecting confidence in global security and demonstrating China's commitment as a major country to upholding world peace and stability. The world is facing multiple crises rarely seen in history. The way forward is to uphold and practice multilateralism and build a community with a shared future for mankind, said Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe. Noting that the Asia-Pacific is the world's most vibrant and promising economic powerhouse, Wei urged countries to strive for the bright prospect of building an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future that enjoys durable peace and provides security for all. During the summit, Malaysia's Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said security cooperation is essential. In a world blanketed with populist decisions, with an eye only on the next election, Hussein said it is vital to think about a more peaceful and stable future. The GSI has won high praise from experts. Woo Su-keun, director at the Institute of East Asian Studies of Korea, told Xinhua that the GSI is rich in content and highly relevant in upholding a vision for maintaining global peace and security. Woo said the GSI is in line with China's vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity, adding that it emphasizes win-win cooperation and support for genuine multilateralism and offers Chinese solutions to jointly safeguard world peace. Kin Phea, director-general of the International Relations Institute at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said China consistently upholds a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. "China has been playing a more important role in safeguarding global and regional peace and stability," he said. Chen Gang, assistant director of the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore, said that China wants to build a peaceful Asia-Pacific region and reiterated its promise on no-first-use of nuclear weapons at the summit, which is of significant importance, particularly in the current backdrop of growing nuclear threats. Under the GSI, China calls for establishing a community of security in the Asia-Pacific region, which is entirely different from the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy that seeks to form exclusive blocs to counter China, Chen said. Gu Qingyang, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore, told Xinhua that Wei's remarks emphasize solidarity and cooperation. Gu said China is an important contributor to world peace, playing a crucial role in fighting the COVID-19 epidemic and stimulating a global economic recovery. Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe delivers a speech on China's vision of regional order at the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 12, 2022. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua) CALLS FOR COOPERATION, COMMUNICATION During this year's dialogue, delegates urged countries to carry out security cooperation, with the interests of all parties guaranteed. On Sunday, Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said that the world stands at a potentially dangerous point in history. Ng said Asia desires a regional inter-dependency that is productive and mutually beneficial. Gu noted that many delegates from developing countries have expressed hope for peaceful development in the region rather than conflict. Seun Sam, a policy analyst at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said China believes in peaceful development and win-win cooperation. "China does not only want to grow alone but also wants other countries to grow with it." Woo said a Cold War mentality featuring opposing camps must be abandoned, and each country's circumstances should be considered. The right of each country to choose its own development path should be fully respected. Policemen carry out their duties for the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 10, 2022. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua) U.S. "INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY" DOOMED TO FAILURE Although U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin claims that the so-called Indo-Pacific strategy would promote freedom, openness and prosperity in the region, many senior officials and analysts believe that it would stir up tensions instead and cause regional conflicts, all in an effort to contain China's development. Many officials and experts criticized the Indo-Pacific strategy for attempting to divide the region. China believes that any regional strategy should bolster regional peace, stability and the shared interests of all, Wei sad. "Its true intention is to use this strategy to maintain the U.S.' hegemonic system," said Lieutenant General Zhang Zhenzhong, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission. It is a strategy that causes division, instigates confrontation and undermines peace in the Asia-Pacific region, Zhang said. "The U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy is a strategy that goes against historical trends and prevailing will of regional countries. It only serves the U.S. own interests and therefore is doomed to failure." Gu said that the purposes of the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy are to maintain its own hegemonic interests and cover up its intention to start a new Cold War. The United States would use the strategy to throw the Asia-Pacific region into a geopolitical conflict, destroying China's chances for a peaceful rise, said Gu. Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto called for an Asian approach to resolving challenges in the region, saying that "each country has their own way of solving their problems, but each country has to maintain good relations with their neighbors" and with all the major countries of the world, noting "the question here is that we must always consider and respect the national interests and rights." Prabowo said countries should respect China's rise. "We have some differences. We will strive to solve those differences in an amicable and in a mutually beneficial way. That is the Asian way." Joseph Matthews, senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, said U.S. strategy in the region directly threatens the centrality of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The so-called Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, initiated by the United States, aims to counter China's influence in the region by unsettling ASEAN, he said. Koh King Kee, president of the Center for New Inclusive Asia, a non-government Malaysian think tank, said ASEAN and China maintain close economic and trade ties thanks to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Koh said that despite only serving regional geopolitical interests, the Indo-Pacific strategy cannot harm ASEAN-China relations. (Video reporter: Zhang Yichi; video editors: Jia Xiaotong, Zhu Jianhui and Yang Zhixiang) KAMPALA, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The 22nd Chinese medical team has arrived in Uganda for a tour of duty aimed at boosting provision of health care in the east Africa country. Guo Zhiping, the team leader, told Xinhua in an interview here on Sunday that the group consists of seven physicians and surgeons, specialized in different fields like gastroenterology, urology, infectious diseases, otolaryngology, anesthesiology, and traditional Chinese medicine among others. "The mission of the 22nd Chinese Medical Team to Uganda is to devote ourselves to relieve the disease burden of Uganda people with our expertise, and continue to deepen cooperation in hospital management, talents training, telemedicine, public health," Guo said. "We are expecting to bring the Chinese advanced specialists in internal medicines, surgeries, anesthesiology, prevention and control of COVID-19 and other infectious, and traditional Chinese medicine to exchange with our African friends in the coming year," Guo added. The team will be based at China-Uganda Friendship Hospital in the capital Kampala. The team is the 22nd Chinese medical team to arrive in Uganda since 1983. Since then a cumulative total of 229 doctors and experts from China have provided medical services to local communities in Uganda. KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Three people were injured after a blast rocked Kunduz city, the capital of Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province, on Sunday, an official said. Head of the provincial health department Najibullah Sahel said that the injured people had been taken to hospital after the blast. The blast took place outside a moneychanger market in the morning rush hour, leaving casualties, an eyewitness said, declining to be named. This was the second bomb blast in war-torn Afghanistan since Saturday. A blast ripped through a mini-bus in the capital Kabul late Saturday and claimed at least four lives and injured some others. KABUL, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's central bank injected 11 million U.S. dollars into the local market in a bid to strengthen the national currency, afghani, Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) said on Sunday. The DAB was requesting all eligible banks, foreign exchange and monetary service providers to participate in the auction scheduled on Monday, according to a DAB statement. "In auction bids, partial settlement of currencies is not allowed and the winners of the auction must deposit to Da Afghanistan Bank their money at one time in cash," the statement said. The U.S. dollar has depreciated against afghani, compared with a couple of weeks ago. Earlier this week, the DAB conducted auctioning of 13 million dollars. Since the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in mid-August last year, the United States has frozen more than 9 billion U.S. dollars of assets of Afghanistan's central bank and thus undermined the banking system in the war-torn country. MOSCOW, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Russia has asked the United States to explain its military biological activities in some post-Soviet countries. On Sunday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the United States must fulfill its obligations under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), which is essential for international security. Russia plans to hold consultations with other BTWC members on measures to increase control over the activities carried out by the United States in bio-labs in the post-Soviet space, said Zakharova. During a special military operation in Ukraine, the Russian military found that U.S.-funded biological laboratories conducted research on dangerous viruses, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The Russian side has repeatedly urged Washington to explain the purpose of these facilities to the international community. CHICAGO, June 11 (Xinhua) -- CBOT agricultural futures recovered this week as the Russia-Ukraine conflict looks to continue into 2023, Chicago-based research company AgResource noted. AgResource holds that world grain prices could rise amid tightening supplies. CBOT corn recovered the entirety of the previous week's losses, with Ukraine not expected to be a sizeable grain exporter this summer and autumn and expectations of harsh weather in the Central U.S. Strong and expansive high-pressure ridging will be in place across the Central U.S. into late June. Rapid and widespread soil moisture loss lies ahead, and the weather pattern's duration remains critical. Interior U.S. cash markets have soared since early June. This, along with ongoing substantial export disappearance, suggests old crop stocks will be extremely tight, which raises a burden on yield performance. In the near term, the July contract is expected to trade in a range of 7.50-8.25 U.S. dollars. September and December contracts may turn explosive if wetter and cooler weather fails to return beyond the next two weeks. The outlook on corn remains bullish. Ukraine's absence from the market will be felt more intensely by late summer and early autumn. World wheat futures recovered by varying degrees this week, with spot Kansas wheat taking over near-term bullish leadership. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its June report lowered U.S. hard red winter wheat production by another 8 million bushels, and recent heavy rainfall across the Southern Plains has triggered questions over regional quality. Soft red winter wheat yields in the Delta are surprisingly disappointing. The North American high-protein wheat balance sheet will be extremely tight in 2022-2023. The market will not tolerate long periods of heat and dryness across the Northern United States and Canada. Nothing came from this week's Russian-Turkish meeting in Turkey. Ukrainian wheat exports will be minimal indefinitely. Ukraine typically begins to dominate global trade in July. Exportable world wheat stocks will be reduced to bare minimums in other exporting countries, including the United States. Seasonal lows have been formed. New price plateaus are forecast by early to mid-autumn, with new highs in CBOT and Kansas markets probable in 2022. Soybean futures rallied ahead of the June World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate (WASDE) report, marking historic prices. Spot futures traded at the highest price since September 2012, stopping just short of all-time highs. The June estimate report was bullish, with the USDA increasing old crop exports and cutting old crop stocks to 205 million bushels. The June Acreage and Grain Stocks reports will be released at the end of the month. The Crop Progress report released last week showed that planting progress had reached 78 percent. It is expected that 90-92 percent of the crop will have been planted through Sunday. The USDA indicated that initial crop condition ratings would be released on Monday. AgResource maintains that July soybean futures should reach new historic highs. BEIRUT: Lebanon's Labor Minister has requested international assistance in ensuring the safe and prompt repatriation of Syrian refugees inside the country to their homeland, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.. "Lebanon can no longer take the weight of hosting Syrian refugees because the country has experienced huge economic losses, not to mention high unemployment and crime rates, as a result of hosting the biggest number of displaced per capita," Mustafa Bayram said on Friday. The remarks were delivered by the Lebanese Minister during his virtual participation in the 110th session of the International Labor Conference in Geneva, as per reports. "It is Syria's right to reclaim its citizens and reconstruct their country alongside foreign organisations providing aid within Syria," Bayram said. He also called for international reparations for the losses Lebanon has suffered as a result of hosting Syrian refugees for more than a decade. Lebanon's Social Affairs Minister, Hector Hajjar, told an international conference in May that the country wanted USD 30 billion in compensation for hosting Syrian refugees. Lebanon continues to host the highest number of refugees per capita, with 1.5 million Syrian refugees estimated by the government. World Bank alerts danger if Lebanon fails to undertake reform Germans calls for saving energy amid rocketing energy prices Russia conducts Baltic drills amid NATO exercises Patna: The case of Nupur Sharma's controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammed is getting hotter day by day. Protests were held in many parts of India after Friday prayers. Union Minister Prahlad Patel has made a big statement on this. He blamed Pakistan for the protests seen across the country. Union Minister Prahlad Patel was in Jabalpur on Saturday. Talking to reporters, he said that you also know that the political parties of the country also know that some people want to disturb the country's peace and the country's prestige. Those who are envious of the rising reputation are doing so. Who are those who are doing violence? That is our neighbour Pakistan. Patel said this was being done using some maniacs in the name of religion. If someone is going down this path, the country has to be aware, the Government is alert. Whatever can happen within the ambit of the law, the government is going to do. But this mixed culture of ours, in which there is no conflict anywhere. This situation is creating this there. This is a challenge for the country, a matter of concern, we all have to be aware of. He also attacked the opposition over the growing Enforcement Directorate(ED) crackdown on Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi over the National Herald case and the proposed protest by Congressmen. He said the proposed performance of Congress MPs outside the Enforcement Directorate office was a shield to avoid investigation. The Union Minister said that Sonia Gandhi should not shield the party in this matter, because if nothing goes wrong, nothing will happen to her either. Sachin Pilot ready for a new role, will it give a jolt to the Congress before the elections? Delhi Police gave a big blow to Owaisi in the provocative speech case Bengal BJP president arrested while on way to a violence-hit area (Updates with POSCO production halt) By Cynthia Kim and Heekyong Yang SEOUL, June 12 (Reuters) - South Korean steelmaker POSCO said on Sunday will halt some of its plants in the country due to a lack of space to store finished products, which have not been shipped due to a strike by truckers who are demanding higher pay as fuel prices surge. POSCO follows automaker Hyundai Motor in cutting production lines as the strike by thousands of truckers disrupted cargo transport at the country's industrial hubs and major ports. "Some production at our Pohang steel plants is set for suspension, and we are not yet certain how long this suspension will last," a POSCO spokesperson said, adding that the halt will take effect from Monday. The decision came as the government and the Cargo Truckers Solidarity union were holding a fourth round of meetings to find a compromise and end the strike, which began on June 7. South Korea is a major supplier of semiconductors, smartphones, autos, batteries and electronics goods. The strike has deepened uncertainty over global supply chains already disrupted by China's strict COVID-19 curbs and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As ports worldwide struggle with supply bottlenecks, a slowdown in chip production, petrochemicals and autos threatens South Korea's mainstay exports, and consumer inflation in Asia's fourth-biggest economy is at a 14-year high. The truckers are demanding an extension to subsidies, set to expire this year, that guarantee minimum wages as fuel prices rise. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it responded to the union by explaining "that ship owners, the party of interest, demand the current Safe Trucking Freight Rates System be abolished". A joint statement from a total of 31 industry associations on Sunday urged truckers to end their strike and return to work, as bottlenecks are building up across industries including cement, petrochemical, steel, auto and IT components. Story continues "This lengthening strike by the Cargo Solidarity is nothing more than putting up a fight in an extreme way by holding national logistics as a hostage, even as the government has said it will find a way for inclusive growth through talks," associations representing employers, taxis, semiconductors, automobiles and others said in the statement. Around 40 people have been arrested in the strike, some later released. The actions have been largely peaceful, though tense at some locations. The ministry estimated some 6,600 truckers, or 30% of the Cargo Truckers Solidarity union members, were on strike on Saturday, halting trucking activities at petrochemical complexes in Ulsan and slowing product deliveries for POSCO. The union says the number of those striking was higher, without specifying a number, and that non-union truckers were also choosing not to work. Container traffic at Busan port, which accounts for 80% of the nation's total, had plunged by two-thirds from normal levels on Friday, a government official said. At Incheon port it has fallen 80%, while at the port for Ulsan, the industrial hub where much of the strike action has occurred, container traffic has been halted since Tuesday. (Additional reporting by Byungwook Kim; Writing by Choonsik Yoo; Editing by William Mallard, Jacqueline Wong and Louise Heavens) On World Day against Child Labour, 79 million children forced into dirty, dangerous and degrading work globally Record number of Canadians signed World Vision's petition for the Government of Canada to address child and forced labour through supply chain legislation $43 billion in Canadian annual imports of everyday products that are at risk of being produced by child or forced labour MISSISSAUGA, ON, June 12, 2022 /CNW/ - With child labour on the rise for the first time in 20 years, today, on World Day Against Child Labour, June 12, World Vision is renewing its urgent call to the Government of Canada to ensure the enactment of supply chain legislation in order to minimize Canadian connections to the problem of child and forced labour globally. A young girl with one of the 79 child mannequins displayed at Nathan Phillips Square by the nonprofit World Vision Canada, each representing one million children who are trapped in child labour, Toronto, Saturday, June 11, 2022. The event, called #ChildLabour3D Experience, was organized ahead of World Day Against Child Labour, to engage Canadians to stand up for those 79 million children. (CNW Group/World Vision Canada) According to the international development and advocacy agency, girls and boys as young as five years old could be involved in the production of more than $43 billion worth of risky goods Canadians buy and consume each year. that the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates 79 million children around the world have been forced into dirty, dangerous and degrading work that compromises their health, safety and education. No child should be exploited to make the products Canadians buy. It is unethical and unjust, and we can do better," says Michael Messenger, President and CEO of World Vision Canada. "We're encouraged by recent progress by the Government of Canada to move key legislation forward to help address this issue. With child labour on the rise for the first time in 20 years due to the global pandemic and other factors, Canada's child labour problem will continue to grow without bold action to address it. Canadians need to be able to make fully informed purchasing decisions." More than 160,000 Canadians have signed World Vision's main petition calling on the Government of Canada to commit to real, meaningful action to protect children in our supply chains through enacting supply chain legislation in Canada that requires companies to prevent human rights abuses throughout their operations and publicly report on their efforts . Tens of thousands of Canadians have also written directly to their MPs, various Ministers and to Parliamentary Committee Members to move the legislation process forward. Story continues "As part of the World Vision's No Child for Sale Campaign, I've seen first-hand the eagerness of Canadian youth and students from across the country to call on our government to take action on this issue," says Ashlyn, Chairperson of the World Vision Canada Youth Council and youth activist who attended the #ChildLabour3D Experience this weekend at Toronto's Nathan Philips Square. "Canadians want this and the more than [160,000] signatures on our petition proves it." MEDIA RESOURCES World Vision petition calling for a Canadian supply chain legislation: HERE Video of the #ChildLabour3D Experience: HERE A mother and young child walk past 79 child mannequins on display at Nathan Phillips Square by the nonprofit World Vision Canada, each representing one million children who are trapped in child labour, Toronto, Saturday, June 11, 2022. The event, called #ChildLabour3D Experience, was organized ahead of World Day Against Child Labour, to engage Canadians to stand up for those 79 million children. (CNW Group/World Vision Canada) SOURCE World Vision Canada Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2022/12/c5837.html By Trend The BA.4 sub-lineage of the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant has been detected in Russia, scientist Kamil Khafizov told reporters on Sunday, Trend reports citing TASS. "The genome of the BA.4 lineage of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been deposited into the VGARus base, developed by Rospotrebnadzors Central Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology," said Khafizov, who heads the institutes genome research lab. "One sample was deposited by the Smorodintsev Research Institute of Influenza, and another one - by Rospotrebnadzors Central Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology." According to Khafizov, those samples were collected in late May. "At present, the BA.2 variant and its sub-variants are dominant in Russia, accounting for about 95% of all new cases," he said. According to the expert, good herd immunity, acquired through vaccination and previous waves of the novel coronavirus, prevent the spread of new omicron sub-variants in Russia at the moment. "However, a number of researches published lately show that the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages of omicron are slightly more transmissive than earlier versions of the omicron," the scientist added. President Joe Biden on Saturday said the federal government is covering 100 percent of the cost for the response to a massive wildfire in New Mexico that was started by federal burns. We have a responsibility as a government to deal with the communities who are put in jeopardy, Biden said in remarks at the emergency operations center in Santa Fe, N.M. And today Im announcing the federal government is covering 100 percent of the cost of debris removal and emergency protective measures for the next critical months. The White House later released a statement announcing the president had amended the New Mexico Disaster Declaration to push the percentage of those costs to be covered by the federal government from 75 percent, set by the disaster declaration in May, to 100 percent for the first 90 days of the incident period. The White House said that the 90-day coverage period is meant to serve as a bridge from emergency operations to the potential passage of the Hermits Peak Fire Assistance Act, a piece of legislation that has not yet been approved by Congress. If passed, the act would require the Federal Emergency Management System to create a claims office to provide full compensation to those who have been injured or suffered financial losses due to the fire. This additional support will help ensure that New Mexico has no financial limitations related to immediate lifesaving and life sustaining operations related to the ongoing wildfires, including urgent debris removal, the White House said of Bidens order. This comes after the Forest Service last month said it was responsible for the two fires that merged last month to form the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon fire, which Biden emphasized in his address is the largest, most destructive wildfire in America so far this year and the largest wildfire in New Mexicos history. The Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon fires each formed as a result of escaped federal pile burns, the agency said. Story continues Biden acknowledged the role that the Forest Service played in the fire, saying the agency conducts 4500 prescribed burns each year and that 99.8 percent go as planned. This time, tragically, it did not, he said. Updated at 9:35 p.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. China's top official for Africa is headed to Zambia next week, just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping held phone talks with his counterpart from the debt-hit nation. Wu Peng, director general of the Chinese foreign ministry's African affairs department, is currently in South Africa during a tour of the continent that will also take him to Malawi, Tanzania, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Togo. "I hope that this trip will deepen friendly exchange and practical cooperation in various areas between China and African countries," Wu tweeted on Tuesday. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. Less than two weeks ago, Xi held his first telephone call with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema where he hailed the two nations' "all-weather" friendship and reiterated Beijing's commitment to "consolidate and deepen" bilateral ties. Hichilema, who took office last August, raised the issue of his country's debt crisis during the May 31 call. In a statement posted on his official Facebook page later, he said the two leaders discussed the potential for greater cooperation and their "shared commitment to working together to address and resolve the debt issue". However, a readout of the call released by the Chinese foreign ministry made no mention of this. Nonetheless, debt remains a key focus in bilateral relations. China holds the largest share of bilateral loans advanced to Zambia, which has been seeking help to restructure its debt. Zambia in 2020 became the first African country to default in the coronavirus era. By the end of last year, its external debt had reached US$17.27 billion, almost a third of which was owed to China. The debt issue also reportedly featured during Zambian Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo's visit to China in March, which included talks with his counterpart Wang Yi. Story continues Zambia is in the process of restructuring about US$15 billion of external debts as a precondition to secure US$1.4 billion in International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans. Chinese lenders make up more than US$6 billion of the amount, spent on mega projects including airports, highways and hydropower dams. Zambia has applied to be considered under the G20's new "common framework" to help more than 70 Covid-impacted developing countries with debt restructuring and relief - a process that would allow creditors to jointly renegotiate its foreign debt. In April, Hichilema thanked China for agreeing to be "engaged" in the debt resolution process. Hakainde Hichilema raised the issue of his country's debt crisis during his May 31 call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo: AFP alt=Hakainde Hichilema raised the issue of his country's debt crisis during his May 31 call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo: AFP> Ethiopia and Chad are the other African countries to have also applied for similar debt relief under the framework, but progress is slow. Mark Bohlund, a senior credit research analyst at REDD Intelligence, noted China agreed in April to co-chair the G20 Common Framework creditor committee along with France in a step forward, albeit delayed, in Zambia's debt restructuring process. "But clearly more progress is needed. The next step will be for the parties to discuss the debt sustainability analysis conducted by the IMF," Bohlund said. Bohlund said that while Chad had made more progress under the framework, it was a more straightforward case. He said Zambia would be a more challenging test for whether the system could implement debt restructuring with more challenging creditor constituencies, including both official and private-sector Chinese creditors as well as Eurobond holders. "Ideally, some of the time used over the past year has been used by Beijing to align Chinese creditors to a policy line that will be acceptable to other creditors," Bohlund said. President Xi Jinping delivers a virtual speech at a Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit. Photo: Xinhua via AP alt=President Xi Jinping delivers a virtual speech at a Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit. Photo: Xinhua via AP> Tim Zajontz, a research fellow at the Centre for International and Comparative Politics at South Africa's Stellenbosch University, said the "top-level interaction between presidents Hichilema and Xi shows that Zambia's debt negotiations are politically very sensitive for Beijing". He said while still waiting for the creditor committee to convene for the first time, Lusaka was under immense pressure to receive concessions from creditors to be able to receive an IMF credit facility and World Bank budget support. "Zambian hopes of securing a deal with the IMF by the end of June seem ambitious, as a swift agreement on easing Lusaka's debt burden remains up in the air, considering the very diverse set of creditors." Zambia is a key Chinese ally, and Chinese companies have pumped billions of dollars into the country's mining industry. But it was pushed into a debt crisis after the Covid-19 pandemic wiped out revenues. In November 2020, Zambia became the first African country to default on US$3 billion in dollar-denominated bonds during the pandemic, when its debt burden reached more than 120 per cent of GDP. Virag Forizs, emerging markets expert at London-based consultancy Capital Economics, said Zambia's debt restructuring talks would help reveal just how well the common framework worked in bringing together various creditors and dispelling mistrust between stakeholders. "A key question is whether we'll see any shift away from the hardball negotiating tactics China pursued in bilateral negotiations. Another related issue is the extent of debt restructuring creditors and the authorities end up agreeing on," she said. Forizs said other economies that had requested similar restructuring and those considering doing so would certainly be keeping a close eye on the proceedings. Zajontz, who is also a lecturer in global political economy at the University of Freiburg in Germany, said Beijing would continue to tread warily as it tried to avoid setting an unwanted precedent that might create a domino effect in terms of debt relief demands from other borrowers in Africa and beyond. However, Beijing also had a keen interest in not being seen as blocking multilateral debt restructuring efforts, Zajontz said. "Chinese banks will be instructed to engage constructively in the common framework and are likely to insist that any concessions towards the Zambian treasury will affect all lenders equally." Zajontz said the current wave of sovereign debt distress across the Global South had forced Beijing to redefine its role as the world's largest bilateral creditor in the so-called developing world. Chinese creditors had acknowledged the need for closer coordination with other creditors and the world's lenders of last resort - the IMF and the World Bank, Zajontz noted. But for Beijing, there was more at stake than potential debt write-offs, he said. "The Chinese government faces the dilemma of avoiding reputational damage to the development model it promotes across the Global South, while simultaneously ensuring returns on previous Chinese loan-debt investments." "Chinese interests in ongoing debt renegotiations diverge, as different Chinese creditors and state agencies pursue different goals, posing a serious coordination problem for Beijing." Zajontz said the stakes were highest for ordinary citizens in debt-distressed African countries, where increasing fiscal pressures translated to cuts in fuel or food subsidies and further retrenchment of the state. "China of course wants to avoid being associated with politically controversial and socially harmful austerity policies in Africa." This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright 2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Factbox-Impact of strike by South Korean truckers on autos, steel, others FILE PHOTO: Members of the Cargo Truckers Solidarity union take part in a protest in front of Kia Motor's factory tin Gwangju (Reuters) -Thousands of South Korean truckers were on strike for the seventh day on Monday, protesting over pay as fuel costs surge, disrupting production, slowing port operations and posing new risks to a strained global supply chain. South Korean industries, including auto, steel, petrochemical and cement, faced accumulated losses worth about 1.6 trillion won ($1.2 billion) as of Sunday due to the ongoing trucker strike, the industry ministry said. Following are details of the disruption, lost production and reactions from union officials and businesses. AUTOS The trucker strike had cost the South Korean auto industry about 5,400 vehicles in lost production, worth about 257 billion won as of Sunday, according to the industry ministry. Hyundai's Ulsan factories makes about 6,000 vehicles daily, the union said. The strike had cost the automaker more than 3,800 vehicles as of Friday - worth up to 120 billion won, according to the company's union. Some employees at Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia Corp were using newly assembled cars to make deliveries, customers told Reuters. Hyundai Motor Group's spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. Hankook Tire & Technology Co Ltd, supplier to major automakers such as Volkswagen AG and Mercedes-Benz Group AG, has seen daily shipments fall by about 50%, a spokesperson said. The industry ministry estimated that about 640,000 tires worth about 57 billion won had faced shipping issues as of Sunday. BATTERIES One battery maker made shipments before the strike as a precaution, said an official at the maker who declined to be identified. The firm did not experience disruptions last week but will reassess its handling of shipments if the strike continued, the official said. LG Energy Solution Ltd, SK Innovation Co Ltd's battery unit SK On and Samsung SDI Co Ltd together command more than one-fourth of the global electric vehicle battery market. SEMICONDUCTORS The truckers plan to stop shipments of raw materials for semiconductors produced in Ulsan, said union official Park Jeong-tae. Story continues Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and SK Hynix Inc, two of the world's biggest memory chip makers, declined to comment. One major tech manufacturer does not expect near-term disruptions given its inventories of raw materials, said an official at the manufacturer on condition of anonymity. CEMENT, STEEL Steelmaker POSCO said it halted work at some plants on Monday due to a lack of space to store unshipped products. About 450,000 tonnes of steel products worth about 698 billion won have faced transport issues due to the strike. The Korea Cement Association estimated daily revenue losses of about 15 billion won for the cement industry since the strike began last Tuesday. The industry ministry estimated that the strike had cost cement companies about 75 billion won as of Sunday. REFINERS, PETROCHEMICALS S.Korea's average daily shipments of about 74,000 metric tonnes of petrochemical products have been slashed by 90% since the strike, the Korea Petrochemical Industry Association said. The strike had cost the country's petrochemical sector about 500 billion won as of Friday, according to the industry ministry. South Korea has the world's fifth-largest refining capacity. HITE JINRO Police have made more than two dozen arrests including members of the truckers union for blocking the HiteJinro Co Ltd brewery in Icheon, Yonhap news reported. A HiteJinro spokesperson declined comment on the arrests, but confirmed that members of the truckers union were blocking entry to both its Icheon and Cheongju breweries, cutting shipments by about 40% as of Sunday. PORTS AND CONTAINERS Busan Port, the world's seventh-biggest container port, said the strike had cut its container traffic by two-thirds. Container storage sites are filling up and authorities are discussing measures to secure more, a government official said. The movement of containers at Ulsan port, which accounts for about 10% of South Korea's port traffic, has been suspended since Tuesday, a government official said. ($1 = 1,286.6200 won) (Reporting by Seoul bureau; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Stephen Coates) (Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson risks reopening divisions that tore his Conservative Party apart in 2019, with his government set to propose a law that would let UK ministers override parts of the Brexit deal he signed with the European Union. Most Read from Bloomberg Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis confirmed Sunday the legislation will be presented to Parliament on Monday. That was meant to happen last week, but last-minute wrangling between ministers and interventions from pro-Brexit MPs -- emboldened by Johnsons weakened position after he narrowly survived a party confidence vote -- led to a delay. The rebellion by more than 40% of his Conservatives has left Johnson battling for survival, and his response so far appears to be to double down on the most controversial policies rather than seek a broader unity in the party. The government is also pressing ahead with a plan to start deporting migrants to Rwanda this week, against the wishes of some Tory MPs. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss outlined her plan to publish the legislation in a phone call with her Irish counterpart Simon Coveney on Monday. During the 12-minute call held at the UKs request, Coveney warned the move would be deeply damaging to UK relations with Ireland and the EU, according to an Irish foreign ministry statement. Coveney also accused Truss of not engaging in meaningful negotiations with the EU since February. Far from fixing problems, this legislation will create a whole new set of uncertainties and damage relationships, he added. The British government is open to negotiations with the EU, but we cannot wait to fix the issues facing the people of Northern Ireland, Truss said in a tweet after the call. Story continues In tossing red-meat subjects like Brexit and immigration back into the public domain, Johnson may manage to deflect media attention from the countrys economic malaise -- as highlighted by a cost-of-living crisis with petrol prices at records and mortgage rates rising, chaos at the nations airports, and the train network about to be frozen by a strike. The situation is so bad that the OECD expects the UK economy to show no growth next year, the worst outlook among major nations. UK Faces Up to a Recession in All But Name as Living Costs Surge But Brexit is still the totemic issue among Conservatives. In playing hardball with the EU, Johnson will be hoping to win back the support of the most ardent Brexiteers, some of whom abandoned him over a series of scandals including the illegal pandemic parties in Downing Street. Yet while the legislation may appease some critics, Johnson is already facing a major backlash from Tory MPs appalled that the government is prepared to walk away from an international treaty, and risk further damaging trade with the EU when the British economy is suffering. Damaging According to the PoliticsHome website, some lawmakers were sharing a note over the weekend saying that doing so would be breaking international law and damaging to everything the UK and Conservatives stand for. Johnson has called on the EU to agree to rewrite the Northern Ireland protocol, the part of the Brexit deal designed to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland. The UK agreed to have a customs border between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland, which would remain in the EUs single market. Why Are the UK and EU Heading Toward Another Brexit Crisis?: Q&A The solution was central to Johnsons pitch in the general election in late 2019, to end the years of Parliament stalemate under his predecessor, Theresa May, with his oven ready deal to get Brexit done. In effectively telling Parliament that the deal he signed is not fit for purpose, hes taking a major gamble. Johnson has accused the EU of implementing the protocol more rigorously than the UK intended, but the premier has never shaken off accusations that he either signed the country up to rules his government didnt fully grasp, or that he never intended to stick to them. Clear Warnings Though Johnson fast-tracked the divorce deal through Parliament, critics were outspoken about the implications for Northern Ireland, where unionists loyal to London balked at the rules being signed up to. For Johnson, whose career is inextricably linked to the Brexit he campaigned for in 2016 and ultimately delivered as prime minister in 2020, the calculation appears simple. By returning the conversation to the UKs contentious divorce from the EU, Johnson can remind his party why they voted for him as leader in the first place. One potential problem is that Tory dynamics and support for Johnson have shifted dramatically in the interim. The slide began with a series of missteps and U-turns last year, including a failed attempt to save a colleague found to have broken Parliaments ethics rules. Anger then boiled over due to partygate, the British media nickname for the pandemic rule-breaking in Downing Street that left Johnson as the first sitting prime minister found to have broken the law. Last week, four in 10 Tories voted to remove Johnson from office, a devastating blow that left him clinging to power. Clinging On In a bid to head off some of the Tory criticism building over Northern Ireland, Lewis told Sky News that the planned legislation is within the law -- though he also said the government has only committed to publishing a summary of the legal advice it has received. Lewis also declined to say if the bill includes an expected plan to scrap the role of the European Court of Justice in Northern Ireland -- an EU red line. Any efforts to make unilateral changes would provoke the ire of the bloc, even if its initial response may be measured given the law is likely to face pushback from the UKs upper House of Lords. US President Joe Bidens administration has also warned the UK not to do anything to exacerbate tensions in Northern Ireland. Johnson is also hoping that publishing the legislation will persuade the pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party to restore Northern Irelands power-sharing executive and end a damaging political stalemate. But even this is a gamble -- the party has made clear it will only respond to tangible changes. In his last-ditch to Tory MPs before last weeks confidence vote, Johnson warned that kicking him out would mean the return of hellish groundhog debates about Brexit. They appear to be happening anyway. (Updates with Truss-Coveney phone call from fourth paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2022 Bloomberg L.P. VANCOUVER, BC, June 12, 2022 /CNW/ - The Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada (PacifiCan) will address the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. He will share his vision for how PacifiCan will work with British Columbians, discuss how the new agency will support Vancouver's tech community and announce funding that will help support a diverse and inclusive economy. Media Advisory - Vancouver, BC (CNW Group/Pacific Economic Development Canada) Following remarks, Minister Sajjan will engage in a question and answer session. Event: Minister Sajjan to deliver remarks on economic development Date: Monday, June 13, 2022 Time: Formal program begins at 12:30 pm Location: Harbourfront Ballroom Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront 1133 W. Hastings Street Vancouver, BC IMPORTANT: Anyone attending the news conference in person must not present any symptoms similar to those of COVID-19 and must not have been in contact with anyone who has received a positive diagnosis within the last 14 days. Stay connected Follow PacifiCan on Twitter and LinkedIn Toll-Free Number: 1-888-338-9378 TTY (telecommunications device for the hearing impaired): 1-877-303-3388 SOURCE Pacific Economic Development Canada Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2022/12/c6843.html Pat Brothwell says most politicians are self-absorbed, but few are as blatant about it as Madison Cawthorn. A memes been going around that reads, Lets take a moment to honor the sacrifice of our brave school children who lay down their lives to protect our rights to bear arms. North Carolina Republicans can add to that, lay down their lives to help adults further their political careers to that. Just hours after 19 children and two teachers were murdered by a man who purchased two assault rifles on his 18th birthday, North Carolina state Republican lawmakers made the baffling choice to hold a press conference to announce a proposed bill they claimed would protect K-12 students, not from being shot to death at their desks, but from learning about gender and sexuality. The Parents Bill of Rights is similar to Floridas Dont Say Gay bill that recently dominated headlines. When questioned about the stunning lack of empathy that led to the announcement hours after a massacre, Republican state Senator Phil Berger said, This has nothing to do with what happened in Texas and that its interesting someone would even try to connect the two things. Well, Phil Berger, the connection is dead children. Berger, whose election web site unsurprisingly lists him as pro-life, would probably claim not to realize that according to the Trevor Project, 45% of LGBTQ youth, those explicitly targeted in this legislature, have seriously considered suicide in the past year. Nearly 1 in 5 transgender and nonbinary youth attempted suicide. Governor Roy Cooper will likely veto this legislation. Still, this tasteless publicity stunt was probably successful for Republican state senators like Berger, Michael Lee, and Deanna Ballard, looking to court the kinds of voters who feel its their God-given right to own semi-automatic weapons yet have the gall to claim theyre pro-life in a vain attempt to convince themselves theyre good people. This legislation would require school districts to inform parents of any changes related to their mental, emotional, or physical health or wellbeing, which is vague enough to be interpreted as outing students to their families, which will be deadly to already vulnerable children from conservative, bigoted families. Rich, since the popular Republican deflection for the Uvalde school shooting is to pretend they care about mental health. Story continues "Hollywood and video games glorify violence while those with mental illnesses remain untreated. I hope we find a path as a nation that focuses on early intervention, help for those who genuinely need help, personal responsibility to our families and our communities, and not a path fueled by politics for short-term political gain at the expense of our personal freedoms," Chuck Edwards, the Republican primary winner for the districts next congressional representative race said in response to the massacre at Uvalde. Edwards said we need to come together as a nation and work to address the fundamental causes of such senseless acts of violence but was careful not to mention how easy it was for a troubled man to purchase a gun and murder 19 children and two teachers in their classrooms. Edwards campaigned and won the Republican nomination on being the anti-Madison Cawthorn, but like his predecessor, seems hellbent on putting his career over the good of his hypothetical constituents because if we continue acting like easy access to guns is not a problem and pretend that alienating already vulnerable children with bigoted legislature is for their protection and not personal political gain, well, people will continue dying, possibly right here in District 11. Edwards hasnt taken any money from the NRA yet, but hes still just a state Senator. If he wins, Im sure hell join the ranks of our Senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr, whove allowed the NRA to buy their morals with a combined $11,408,000 of donations, as reported by Newsweek We have a political crisis on our hands - elected officials in the grips of the gun lobby and too compromised to do the right thing, Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, the Democratic nominee for District 11, tweeted on May 25. 19 children and 2 adults murdered, more hospitalized, as of now, she tweeted in the same thread, If that doesnt bring you to your knees, I dont know what will. Can you imagine hearing about a gunman ripping apart children in their classroom with a gun he just purchased on his 18th birthday, but instead of outrage, you think about how you can further your political career? North Carolina Republicans can, and if youre actually pro-life, that should be a massive problem for you. Pat Brothwell is a former high school teacher, and current writer and marketing professional living and working in Asheville. This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Are North Carolina Republicans really pro-life? As the story goes, a little girl was picking up starfish stranded on a beach at low tide and throwing them back into the water. An adult walking by pointed out to her that the task was impossible with hundreds of them dying and her effort couldnt make a difference. She pointed at the one she had just thrown back and replied, It made a difference to that one. It was my birthday this past week, and I asked my friends on Facebook to participate in a fundraiser for the Perkins School for the Blind, where I serve as a trustee. The work of the school, and the Perkins Talking Book Library associated with it, is far more than depicted in the movie starring Patty Duke. It goes far beyond the campus in Watertown, or even the many Individual Education Plans in Massachusetts schools. Perkins is a national leader in the education of visually impaired and multiply-disabled children. Three guiding principles encapsulate the ongoing work toward fostering independence and human potential for these children. We believe every child can learn. Cynthia Stead Perkins stands for the principle that all children have great potential and that education is a human right. Given tools and training to reach their fullest potential, children can develop whatever talents and abilities they possess. Perkins comes to the student in homes, hospitals, orphanages and schools. By helping parents and teachers and communities see whats possible, attitudes and suppositions can be changed and improved. More from Cynthia Stead: Traffic in Hyannis is Biblical. Why are there so many simultaneous road projects? This is why Perkins is devoting resources to ending Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI), the birth defect that causes most childhood blindness. For 200 years, Perkins supported the principle that education and support allow every child and adult to contribute to society, and modern medicine and technology has made that goal one that can truly be realized. Story continues We stand for disability inclusion. We believe the world is made more vibrant when all people are seen, valued and empowered to make their voices heard. Parents who are terrified of what will happen to their children when they are gone, or siblings who worry about being able to take on a lifetime burden when they have their own lives to live, need the reassurance and support of us all to share the task of supporting those with disabilities to be able to help themselves. A living wage: Senate considers cash, regulations to boost pay for direct care workers To make children able to become self-sufficient adults, education and training must be provided. It is not an accident that disability was not included in the Civil Rights Act in 1964; those with disabilities had to wait more than 25 years for discrimination against them to become illegal. Even now, the everyday discrimination against the blind in a world of "online-only" access to public documents or lack of accommodation in housing and public buildings is met with a shrug and excuses about the expense. Teaching individuals and families about techniques and devices is a way to cope with everyday ignorance. We believe that real change is global change. Perkins is now an international institution. In more than 95 countries, Perkins-trained educators are teaching both students and teachers the techniques that allow disabled children to unlock themselves from a prison of darkness. Fewer than 10% of the 46 million children who are blind or visually impaired attend any kind of school. Working with the LEGO Foundation, there are new early learning programs in the 11 nations in east, west and southern Africa. UNESCO is part of an initiative for accessible textbooks in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Partnerships in India and Brazil are creating new opportunities for children there. Working with 250 partners in 65 countries, Perkins is transforming these lives. And these are all individual lives. When you stop to consider how many children and adults across the globe live in pain, darkness and deprivation, it is easy to become overwhelmed. There have always been these children; in ancient times they were killed quietly as they were too much of a burden to bother raising. The neglect and lack of opportunity could almost seem crueler. But these are not a sad mass; they are a community of individuals, each with a different and distinctive talent to offer if we only allow that to happen. Each person educated and helped is unique and valuable. So do not despair. And may you throw many starfish. Cynthia Stead is a columnist for the Cape Cod Times and can be contacted at mailto:cestead@gmail.com. This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: MA: Perkins School for the Blind has education programs worldwide (Bloomberg) -- A hedge fund pursuing a trading strategy based on fantasy goes broke. A market researcher who does it, on the other hand, is apt to get tenure. Most Read from Bloomberg That in a nutshell is the argument in a new paper by Duke University theoretician Cam Harvey, who says that way too many academic projects that go looking for trading edges succeed in finding them. In reality, only a handful stand up outside the walls of academia. By Harveys tally, more than 400 factors -- strategies that slice and dice stocks by things such as size, volatility or valuations, and which are supposed to beat the market -- have been published in top journals since the 1960s, with roughly half of them discovered in the past decade. It just didnt make any sense to me. Its really hard to find something that outperforms a market, Harvey said in a phone interview. How many factors can there credibly be? Well, to me, its maybe up to a couple of dozen. Harvey, whos also a partner at Research Affiliates and serves as an investment strategy adviser to Man Group, has pushed back against aspects of quant investing for years. Underpinning the seemingly widespread breakthroughs, he says, is an incentive culture that encourages researchers to manipulate the data and see what they want to see. As a result, many factors that look promising on paper fail to work in real life. The incentive problem, along with the misapplication of statistical methods, leads to the unfortunate conclusion that roughly half of the empirical research findings in finance are likely false, Harvey wrote in the paper titled The Pitfalls of Asset Management Research. Story continues Add on top implementation costs that eat into performance and the fact that some factors generate too small extra returns, and the number of true gems in the quant world is likely significantly lower, he says. The essay is the latest broadside against an area of research that has come to dominate the financial world and underlie the rise in both quantitative investing and smart beta exchange-traded funds. It joins a growing body of literature that suggests people looking for a trading edge through market chaos are often prejudiced, and sometimes confuse performance with luck. At the center of the controversy is the ever-popularized idea that certain stock attributes, from time to time, hold the key to picking winners and losers. For instance, a companys profit potential or size may give clues to its future returns. Readmore: Why Not Everyone Thinks Smart Betas a Smart Idea: QuickTake Q&A The latest proliferation of such factors, Harvey says, is likely inflated because of an incentive system that ties the number of publications to promotions or salary raises. To get positive results and achieve statistical significance, researchers resort to various tactics of data mining, such as choosing different sample starting dates or excluding certain influential periods that might diminish the strength of the results. Known as p-hacking, these deliberate choices for how to exclude outliers have cultivated a large pool of theoretical factors that claim to have an advantage over the market. Its not the first time that Harvey has criticized the quality of finance research. In a paper published in 2021, he warned that the industry faces the same replication crisis as the broad scientific field where many papers dont pass the test when theyre duplicated. The subject is far from clear-cut. A study conducted by scholars at Copenhagen Business School and AQR Capital Management looked at more than 150 factors and concluded they could largely be grouped into a dozen themes. The argument is that the deluge of identified factors Harvey sees as a warning sign is not an exercise in data mining but a natural outcome of a decentralized effort where contributions overlap. The same paper also found the majority of factors could be replicated, albeit with some degree of performance decay after they were published. To Harvey, replication should not only happen on paper but in real world as well. Granted, the propensity to bend data to ones will is less severe in the practice of finance simply because their research sometimes forms the foundation of a product. Without repeatable performance, money would flee. Still, the performance of theoretical factors doesnt take into account costs related to transactions or short selling. And evidence of data overfitting exists in asset management, Harvey says, pointing to a few recent ETF studies by other researchers that showed stellar returns during the years leading up to their launch only to languish afterward. That is the external validation of my thesis that is really hard to argue against, he said. So you can do all of these academic exercises without transactions costs and say, no, theres no replication crisis. And then what about the external validation? That is super powerful in my opinion. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2022 Bloomberg L.P. By Alexander Cornwell DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Telecom said on Sunday its board had proposed increasing the company's share capital by 30 billion riyals ($8 billion), or 150%, driving the share price nearly 10% higher. The Riyadh-listed company had earlier announced the proposed capital increase would involve issuing 30 billion new shares, with shareholders offered 1.5 new shares for each share owned. That sent shares up as much as 9.8% to 110.2 riyals in early trade before retreating slightly to 107 riyals, up 6.6% from the start of trade on Sunday, according to Refinitiv data. "This increase will undoubtedly lead to enhancing the liquidity in the company's shares and make them more accessible to wider group of investors," chairman of the board of directors Prince Mohammad bin Khalid Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal said. In a statement, he said the company's so-called "dare" strategy is based on four main pillars: expanding in scale and scope, enriching the customer experience, enabling digital transformation, and accelerating monetisation of its assets. Last year STC listed its unit Arabian Internet and Communications Services Co, raising $966.35 million. Saudi Telecom said in statement the capital increase through retained earnings would support growth and expansion plans. The company, in which Saudi Arabia's government holds a 64% stake through sovereign wealth fund the Public Investment Fund, also said the board had proposed trimming the dividend policy. Under the proposal, the three-year dividend policy in place since the fourth quarter of 2021 would be cut from a 1 riyal ($0.26) payment per share per quarter to 0.40 riyal ($0.10). That recommendation was in response to the proposed share capital increase, though the board would continue to consider additional dividend payments, the company said. ($1 = 3.7513 riyals) (Writing by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by William Mallard and Catherine Evans) (NEXSTAR) Mount Doane, a mountain within Yellowstone National Park, has a new name as part of the Department of Interiors process to remove derogatory terms from the names of federal lands. In a November order, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, in addition to declaring squaw a derogatory term, kickstarted the process to review and replace derogatory names of the nations geographic features. Following a 15-0 vote by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names the federal body responsible for maintaining uniform geographic name usage throughout the federal government Mount Doane becomes the latest feature to be renamed. It is now named First Peoples Mountain, the National Park Service announced. The 10,551-foot peak found east of Yellowstone Lake in Wyoming was previously named after U.S. Army Lt. Gustavus Doane. Who is Gustavus Doane? Doane was born in Illinois in 1840 but grew up in California, according to Montana State University. After graduating from the University of the Pacific at Santa Clara, he enlisted in a volunteer unit known as the California Hundred. The unit was later absorbed by the Second Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry. In 1867, Doane became mayor of Yazoo, City, Mississippi, before becoming a second lieutenant in the Second U.S. Cavalry. For the next 24 years, Doane served with this unit and was stationed throughout Montana, California, and Arizona. Doane was part of the Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition in 1870, where he and others explored present-day Yellowstone National Park. Nearly 600 miles have been added to the National Trails System: Heres where After a white fur trader was allegedly murdered, Doane led an attack on a band of Piegan Blackfeet, research has found. The Marias Massacre of 1870 left at least 173 American Indians dead, including women, children suffering from smallpox, and elderly Tribal members. Doane wrote fondly about this attack and bragged about it for the rest of his life, NPS explained. Story continues Doane also tried and failed to become superintendent of the park toward the end of his life, Montana State University reports. Renaming Mount Doane Following suggestions from the Rocky Mountain Tribal Council, votes within the Wyoming Board of Geographic Names, and support from NPS, the vote to rename Mount Doane was held earlier this month. In the months leading up to the vote, Yellowstone officials spoke with 27 associated Tribes and said there was no opposition to the name First Peoples Mountain. The park may have additional features renamed to remove derogatory or inappropriate names. Piikani Nation Chief Stan Grier calls the name change long overdue. See the top 5 most-searched summer travel destinations in the US According to the Board of Geographic Names, there are 17 other geographic features with Doane in their name, including Doane Peak in Grand Teton National Park. Not all of the sites are named after Gustavus Doane, though, like Sam Doane Mountain in North Carolina. Words matter, particularly in our work to make our nations public lands and waters accessible and welcoming to people of all backgrounds. Consideration of these replacements is a big step forward in our efforts to remove derogatory terms whose expiration dates are long overdue, Haaland said earlier this year. Both the Secretary of the Interior and the Board on Geographic Names have previously nixed other derogatory terms. In the 1960s and 70s, derogatory terms related to Black and Japanese people were eliminated. The Associated Press contributed to this report. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. The fifth edition of the Construction Technology Festival (CTF) ended on a successful note in Dubai with leading regional heavyweights in the field of architecture, engineering and construction discussing key industry issues. Held at The Address Hotel, Dubai Marina, CTF saw more than 500 leading industry experts put the spotlight on digitalisation and sustainability and also the use of new-age technology such as Digital Twins, Internet Of Things (IoT), Drones and Metaverse. Some of the key highlights of the event were sessions with 150+ speakers, the launch of PropTech Festival and the ConTech Awards, said the organisers. 150+ renowned speakers The influential speakers at these sessions included top officials from The Red Sea Development Company, Roshn, Dubai Municipality, Damac Properties, Deyaar, Saudi Aramco, who discussed key matters related to changing industry practices, including digital transformation, virtual construction, modern methods of construction. These regional heavyweights also discussed ways to decarbonise the built environment, migrating to the cloud, and many more engaging topics. During the two-day event, the participants enjoyed networking and also made use of the opportunities to collaborate with like-minded professionals. The CTF also hosted the first PropTech Festival to bring together the entire value chain to focus on how technology can be better scaled across each discipline. Highlighting digital asset management, property management, facility and community management, the attendees learned about how digital innovations could increase asset value, reduce operational costs and deliver better experiences for end-users. Exploring 10+ digital disciplines The Festival took a deep dive into 10+ digital disciplines, including Digital Twins, Internet Of Things (IoT), Drones, Machine Learning, the Metaverse, Gamification, ERP implementation and many more solutions. On the last day of the festival, Katie Briggs, Show Director at CTF and Partner at b2b Connect, said; "It was a delight to host, introduce and interact with the AEC industrys digital advocates." "CTF is firmly establishing itself as the regions annual platform to help the industry collaborate in delivering assets faster, greener and more cost-efficiently," she added. Construction Technology Awards 2022 A major highlight was The Construction Technology Awards 2022 which recognised the best-in-class people, projects and organisations that have embraced digitalisation and sustainability and are now reaping the benefits. The winners in different categories were: *Bim Project of The Year - Seaworld Abu Dhabi; Miral Asset Management *Digital transformation of the year - Sobha Facades *Digital transformation of the year (highly commended) - Aramco - Project Management Office Department *Digital project of the year- The Storm - Dubai Hills Indoor Coaster (Cundall) *Digital Twin Project of The Year - Dubai Digital Twin Project (Dubai Municipality) *Digital Twin Project of The Year (highly commended) - Adnoc Al Yasat IWC (Kent) *Digital Design Organisation of the Year - Cundall *BIM Organisation of the Year - Khatib & Alami *BIM Organisation of the Year (highly commended) - The Red Sea Development Company *Startup of the Year - Hypertunnel Limited *Offsite Project of the year - Turtle Bay Hotel and Coastal Village residential buildings at Red Sea Project (Dubox) *Technology for Good Award - Downtown Views II (China State Construction Engineering Corp (Middle East) *Sustainable Organisation of the year - Cundall *Consultant of The Year - Mott Macdonald *Consultant of The Year (highly commended) - Aecom *Contractor of the year - China State Construction Engineering Corporation (Middle East) *Client of the year - ICD Brookfield Place *Construction Technology Leader of the Year - Prakash Senghani of JLL *BIM Champion of the Year - Juan Tena Florez (KEO International Consultants) *Woman in Contech of The Year - Shilpa Mistry (McCallum) Mott Macdonald *Construction Technology Rising Star of the Year - Hussein Rida (Khatib & Alami) *Digital Construction Hub Award For Project Excellence - The Red Sea Development Company Lauding the winners, Sam Stacey, ISCF Challenge Director for Construction, UK Research & Innovation and one of the independent judges at the Awards, said: "Congratulations to the winners of this years Construction Technology Awards. I was thrilled to witness the pioneering work taking place by the companies across the region." "I believe that we are currently seeing an unprecedented revolution in construction. By helping to lead that revolution, those taking part in the Construction Technology Awards are delivering rewards not just for shareholders, but for the planet and its citizens alike. Well done to all!," he added. After winning three trophies, including the coveted Sustainable Organisation of the year Award, the Cundall team members said: "We are pushing the boundaries of engineering design. For us every project is an opportunity to make a positive impact." "Using digital tools, we were able to deliver designs that are not only good for clients but also for the environment," he stated. CTF was backed by Saudi Contractors Authority along with its key sponsors including Oracle Construction & Engineering, Yardi, Urban Surveys, Procore, RIB CCS, Knauf, Milwaukee, Conser Consulting Engineering Services, Autodesk, Bentley Systems, Polypipe Middle East, Constal, Concr, SenseHawk, Signax Software, Amana, Wakecap, Aksa Power Generation, Tactive Software Systems, PlanRadar, Gulf Construction, Digital Construction Hub, CIOB, and News on Projects.-TradeArabia News Service As with everything transportation during the pandemic, commuter traffic plummeted. That meant carpools and vanpools were no longer in demand. Those who carpool typically do so with co-workers, friends or through slugging, where anonymous commuters meet at area parking lots to catch a ride to work and back. Vanpools took it on the chin, too, with many of those companies simply fading away. The vanpools that continued operating during the pandemic carried only a few riders, and only sporadically. With the pandemic restrictions all but gone and a push to get workers back to offices, commuter traffic has steadily increased so far this year. With that increase has come more interest in carpools and vanpools, according to a recent update by the George Washington Regional Commission. According to the update there was a 185% increase in new applicants for GWRideconnect, a program that helps commuters find options to driving alone. The update also showed a 235% increase in requests for carpool matches for the third quarter of fiscal year 2022 (JanuaryMarch) compared to the same period in the prior fiscal year. Its a huge increase over COVID levels, Kate Gibson, GWRCs deputy director, said in an interview. GWRC manages GWRideconnct. She added that higher gas prices also seem to be playing a role in the growing interest in carpool and vanpool options. Despite the increases in those commuter options, Gibson said they arent where we want them. The climb back toward pre-pandemic numbers is a steep one, according to recent Vanpool Alliance data. Vanpool operators that join the Vanpool Alliance program report data that is passed on to the National Transit Database. Those vanpools earn federal funding through the program, as do GWRC, the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission and Northern Virginia Transportation Commission. In an email, Gibson said that in February 2020 GWRC Vanpool Alliance vanpools recorded 11,036 one-way commute trips and 69,497 one-way passenger trips, with an average of 6.3 passengers per trip. In April 2022, the 192 vanpools enrolled with the alliance program recorded 5,858 one-way commute trips and 28,161 one-way passenger trips, with an average of 4.8 passengers per trip, according to Gibson. A just-completed GWRideconnect count showed the region lost one third of its vanpools from pre-pandemic figures. In March 2020, there were 376 vanpools enrolled with GWRideconnect, according to Gibson. Now there are 249, operated by 48 vanpool companies, ranging in size from one van to the largest company, which operates 49 vans. After a two-year pause on that service, Gibson said its amazing that many vanpools are still operating. Dani Stone started Stafford County-based DS Vanpool in 2012. Before the pandemic hit, she had built up the fleet to 12 vans. Though she worked as a nurse, Stone used to commute in a vanpool and started her own vanpool service because it helps ease traffic and is a good business model. The pandemic battered that business model, whittling her fleet down to a pair of active vans. Since she and her husband both had jobs, invested and live frugally, they were okay during the pandemic. But Stone said she was struggling to keep the vanpool business afloat. Things started picking up about four to five months ago, she said. We are slowly getting back on track, said Stone, who quit her nursing job when the pandemic restrictions started to ease so she could devote her time to the vanpool business. The fleet is now up to six operating vans, Stone said, adding that commuter schedules have changed, making it trickier to coordinate. While things have improved, Stone said we are nowhere near the number of customers we used to have, but we are slowly and steadily getting there, hopefully. Gibson, with GWRC, understands the commuter numbers likely will not return to pre-pandemic numbers, and one key reason is the growth in telework. She noted that GWRideconnect also promotes telework, among other commuter options. Teleworking grew during COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, and a sizeable portion of workers prefer to continue working, at least part-time, from home. Gibson said the telework impact changed the model for commuting, adding that GWRideconnect is adjusting to those changes. To that end, GWRideconnect is trying to make it more convenient for commuters to find carpools and vanpools with an app (commuteva.app), introduced with a soft launch in March. Although there are fewer vanpools, they still reduce traffic, Gibson pointed out. Vanpool Alliance vanpools helped reduced vehicle miles traveled in the region by 2,795,450 in February 2020, according to data from the alliance. In April, alliance vanpools helped reduce vehicle miles traveled by 1,078,730. Even though this represents a 61% reduction from pre-pandemic levels, GWRC Vanpool Alliance vanpools are still reducing over 1 million vehicle miles each month on the I95 corridor! Gibson said in an email. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Theres a school of thought that says history is made by great men and women. Presidents and dictators, generals and visionary inventorsthose are the people who shape the course of human events. Yet there are others whom history seeks out, everyday people who while going about their usual routine unintentionally and unknowingly blunder into great events. Those people also reshape our times with their actions. But all too often, things turn out unhappily for them. This is the story of one such figure. There was no reason to suspect anything unusual when Frank Wills arrived in the world in Savannah, Georgia, in February 1948. Just another poor Black kid from the wrong side of the tracks whose story was sadly all-too-familiar: Parents separated when he was very young; dropped out before graduating high school; a future filled with uncertainty. Frank bounced around for a while, drifted to D.C., worked menial jobs at a few hotels, then landed the gig Fate had reserved just for him. Frank became a private security guard at the spiffy Watergate Office Building near the Potomac River. It was a hot location in the early 1970s; so choice, in fact, the Democratic National Committee had its headquarters on the entire sixth floor. Which was where Frank Wills happened to be in the early morning of June 17, 1972. The 24-year-old security guard, who worked the midnight-to-7 a.m. shift for a whopping $80 a week, spotted duct tape stretched over a door lock. He ripped off the tape, but when he came back on his rounds, the tape had reappeared. Frank rushed to the lobby and called Washington police, then led them on an office-by-office search. Five men were found inside the DNC headquarters. But they werent thieves. They werent there to take, but to leave something. Specifically, they were planting bugs, electronic listening devices to eavesdrop on private phone calls. And something else was strange. The Washington Post reported police found almost $2,300 in cash (nearly $16,000 today), most of it in $100 bills with the serial numbers in sequence White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler dismissed the incident as a third-rate burglary. But investigative journalists at the Post started digging, traced the break-in back to Nixons Committee to Re-elect the President (with its never-to-be-forgotten acronym CREEP), and things snowballed from there. The mounting scandal was shortened to the name of the place where it all started: Watergate. It ultimately ended with Nixons resignation in August 1974. Spotting that duct tape had set in motion a chain of events that concluded with a two-term president being driven from office. But what about the man whose vigilance had found it; what happened to him? Frank Wills savored his 15 minutes of fame. But the celebrity treatment took its toll. One news account said he left the security position because he wasnt given a raise after his historic discovery. A string of minimum wage jobs followed, but constant interview requests from reporters made him miss work. He even had a cameoplaying himselfin the 1976 hit movie All the Presidents Men, which led to making the rounds on the TV talk show circuit. Then the attention vanished as quickly as it had arrived. He eventually settled in North Augusta, South Carolina, so he could help his elderly mother after she suffered a stroke. The two barely made ends meet on her $450 monthly Social Security check. There were two arrests for shoplifting, with the second sending him behind bars for a year. When his mother died in 1993, Frank donated her body to science because there was no money for a burial. He scraped by as best he could: living quietly with cats, reading at the public library, and growing vegetables in order to eat. Every so often there would be a media interview, usually connected to a significant anniversary of the break-in. Frank told the same story and answered the same questions hed heard non-stop since the summer of 72. Everybody tells me Im some kind of hero I did what I was hired to do There was bitterness, too, as he continued, but still I feel a lot of folk dont want to give me credit, that is, to move upward in my job. Frank made news one last time when he died of a brain tumor at age 52 in September 2000, alone and utterly forgottenexcept for his moment of history inside a darkened office building exactly 50 years ago this month. J. Mark Powell is a novelist, former TV journalist, and diehard history buff. Contact him at HolyCow@insidesources.com. Travel is the best education. Not only do you learn about other cultures and ways of living and thinking about the world as well as the bogg Ukraine: Russia said to be using more deadly weapons in war Ukrainian and British officials have warned that Russian forces are relying on weapons with potential to cause mass casualties as they try to make headway in capturing eastern Ukraine As Britney Taylor toured the Mama Bird Maternity Wellness Spa in Aurora during its grand opening this spring, she reflected on the birth of her first child: a confusing and lonely experience that resulted in an unplanned caesarean section and an extended period of postpartum depression. But here local families and smiling doulas wandered amid a bright space resonating with upbeat music where primarily women of color can get massages, meet with birth professionals and support groups, and attend classes on breastfeeding, childbirth and infant care. This is perfect, Taylor said. Her next birth, she said, will be completely different. About 12 miles away in northeastern Denver, staff members at the Families Forward Resource Center were readying a room where families that might have a hard time getting to the doctor will be able to easily meet with clinical staff about their medical questions. They also were preparing to hire a doula trainer to help increase the local number of birthing-support workers of color. A major goal of both organizations is to reduce a significant health disparity in Colorado: Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native babies die at higher rates than white and Asian/Pacific Islander babies. Separated out by race/ethnicity, our disparities are persistent and are quite stark, said Dr. Sunah Susan Hwang, a neonatologist with the University of Colorado School of Medicine. By several measures, including infant mortality, Colorado is considered one of the healthiest states. For every 1,000 live births, fewer than five babies die before reaching their first birthday, putting Colorado among about 15 states that have met a threshold well ahead of a national 2030 target. KHN worked with the Colorado News Collaborative and other newsrooms in the state to map the states progress in recent years on racial and ethnic inequities, including in health. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data for 2003 through 2019, the largest range for which comparable data is available, shows that the gap between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic white infant mortality rates has narrowed more quickly in Colorado than nationally. The Colorado gap started out wider than the national gap but is now narrower. But according to state health department data, only Asian/Pacific Islander and non-Hispanic white babies have reached the 2030 goal. And despite a dramatic drop in mortality among Black babies in the past 20 years, their mortality rate, at about 10 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2020, remains far higher than the state average. Hispanic babies, meanwhile, are still dying at about the same rate as 20 years ago, with more than six deaths per 1,000 live births. (Data for American Indian/Alaska Native babies were not consistently available, because the numbers were too small to yield meaningful rates.) If Black and Hispanic infants had the same infant mortality rate as non-Hispanic white infants in the state, about 200 babies would have been spared from 2018 to 2020 alone, according to a Kaiser Health News data analysis. One major reason babies die is that they are born too early. According to March of Dimes data, Colorado was among 22 states where a preterm birth disparity between the best-faring demographic and the rest of the population has worsened in the past five years. The state health department is clear on one big factor: racism. We know that racism and structural racism is one of the root causes that can be contributing to that chronic stress in people's lives that can contribute to prematurity, which can then lead to infant mortality, said Mandy Bakulski, maternal and infant wellness section manager for the state health department. Infant mortality is just one health measure that disproportionately affects Black, Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native Coloradans: Compared with other Coloradans, they are more likely to die of kidney disease, diabetes, COVID-19, car crashes and other maladies, according to the state health department. Bakulski said that, in recent years, state health officials have flipped their approach in reaction to community feedback on the states infant mortality gaps, and a multistate project that studied a wide range of possible interventions. Bakulskis team said the combination led them to conclude that getting money in the pockets of people was a way that we could be improving health outcomes. So the department has been pushing the benefit of child tax credits that allow families to keep more of their income and is gearing up to promote a law that, starting in 2024, will give many Colorado parents three months of partially paid leave to care for a new child. According to the March of Dimes which tracks state efforts to reduce infant mortality and preterm birth Colorado has achieved four out of six policy measures thought to improve maternal and infant health, which are closely intertwined. Most important, it expanded Medicaid in 2013, which researchers say helps to lower infant mortality, though its unclear whether it has helped narrow racial gaps. We give Colorado a B. That is much better than a lot of states certainly better than the states that are surrounding Colorado, said Edward Bray, senior director of state affairs for March of Dimes. But there is room for improvement. One imminent change the organization expects will help: Colorado is in the process of temporarily extending Medicaid eligibility, so that more low-income women will have coverage for a year after they give birth, rather than the typical two months. That change is part of a bundle of laws passed last year that, among other things, elevated medical mistreatment during the perinatal period to a civil rights issue reportable to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. However, advocates, researchers and professionals who work with families of color say there is more the state can and should do. First, they say, create a workforce of culturally competent care providers, including doulas. Research has supported that doulas help with better outcomes in general for births, reduced preterm births, and reduced both maternal and infant mortality and morbidity, said Bray, whose organization identified doula access as one of Colorados main policy shortcomings. However, Anu Manchikanti Gomez, a health equity researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies interventions, including doula care, designed to improve birth outcomes, said other options could be pivotal, too. While a doula plays an important role as a support person, a navigator, and an advocate, she said, the doula is a very downstream solution. It's not really addressing the root of the problem. Gomez is interested in concrete interventions like no-strings-attached cash transfers to expecting families. In Canada, researchers found that when Indigenous women who were pregnant and poor received a cash benefit of about $60 a month, it helped families meet their needs and reduce stress, and babies were less likely to be born early or small. Gomez is involved in a pilot study, the Abundant Birth Project, which gives a monthly cash supplement of about $1,000 to pregnant women in San Francisco who are Black or Pacific Islander. The goal is to relieve types of stress that can lead to preterm birth. Grassroots groups, meanwhile, are minding the gaps in policy, acting as the problem-solvers in their communities while waiting for the policymakers to catch up. For example, Birdie, the owner of Mama Bird Maternity Wellness Spa, is working with Colorado Access, one of the states Medicaid providers, to see if they can get doulas reimbursed for working with low-income families one of the major gaps in Colorado identified by March of Dimes. In Aurora, where the maternity center is located, fewer than half of residents are white. Were serving women of color, said Birdie, who goes by one name. Our measure of success is happy mom, happy baby. Nearby, Families Forward Resource Center has received federal funding to support women prone to high-risk pregnancies and to train professionals who can help with birth, breastfeeding and postpartum care. It's run by people who know firsthand what it is like to experience bias in health care, such as Joy Senyah, whose son was born early and died within two days. Her doctors ignored her heavy bleeding before birth and, after an emergency C-section, they found he had been detached from the placenta for hours. Every time I asked, it was dismissed: Ma'am, you're fine, said Senyah, who was alone during the birth and covered by Medicaid. When I look in hindsight at the situation, of course, I'm like, Yeah, you should have known. You should have raised hell. Shes now the outreach specialist for the resource center, working with her colleagues toward the goal that babies of color will have the same chance at surviving their first year as other babies. A big part of that is figuring out how to support families and provide them with access to breastfeeding consultants, birth workers and medical professionals who understand their clients and are ready to help raise hell if necessary. The British Council is partnering with Sabis Network schools in the UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar to offer IELTS tests for its students. Through this partnership, students enrolled in Sabis schools will benefit from additional learner support on the English proficiency test, the ability to sit for the test in a familiar location, and easy access to the registration process. "For students planning to apply to university, IELTS is considered the preferred test of English for academic study and is recognised and accepted by 11,000 institutions around the world and has a high in-country recognition for domestic studies too. Important step We will create access to the worlds leading English proficiency test and related learner support for the students who register to take the exam. The IELTS test is one of the prerequisites for international opportunities in higher education and career progression. With the opening of the new test venues, students at the schools will have more convenience in terms of easy accessibility and a simplified registration process. "The partnership is an important step that reflects the British Council's commitment to continue supporting educational institutions in the UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar, said Deep Adhikari, Director Examinations Gulf South Cluster, British Council. Sabis Vice President Victor Saad commented: For over 135 years, our network of college-preparatory schools has been dedicated to providing students with a top-quality education that prepares them for admission to colleges and universities of their choice. This new partnership with the British Council further solidifies our commitment to our students and to offering them all that they need to succeed. Sabis schools offering IELTS tests Abu Dhabi: The International School of Choueifat Abu Dhabi, The International School of Choueifat - Khalifa City, Sabis International School -Yas Island, Sabis International School Ruwais, The International School of Choueifat Al Ain; Dubai: The International School of Choueifat-Dubai, The International School of Choueifat DIP; Sharjah: The International School of Choueifat Sharjah, Sabis International School Al Jada; Northern Emirates: The International School of Choueifat Ajman, The International School of Choueifat UAQ, The International School of Choueifat Ras Al Khaimah; Qatar: The International School of Choueifat Doha; Bahrain: The International School of Choueifat Manama; and Oman: The International School of Choueifat Muscat. IELTS is the only English language test that is accepted by all the key immigration authorities and recognised by higher education institutions across the globe including in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. Through IELTS, the British Council is opening a door to these life-changing opportunities for millions of aspiring people around the world.-- TradeArabia News Service Tina Passione needed health insurance in a hurry in December. The newly retired 63-year-old was relocating to suburban Atlanta with her husband to be closer to grandchildren. Their house in Pittsburgh flew off the market, and they had six weeks to move out 40 years of memories. Passione said she went online to search for the federal health insurance marketplace, clicked on a link, and entered her information. She promptly got multiple calls from insurance brokers and bought a plan for $384 a month. Later, though, when she went to a pharmacy and doctor offices in Georgia, she was told she did not have insurance. In fact, it said it right on her card: THIS IS NOT INSURANCE. Passione is one of 10 consumers who told Kaiser Health News that they thought they were buying insurance but learned later that they had been sold a membership to a Houston-based health care sharing ministry called Jericho Share. The ministry formed in 2021 when House of Prayer and Life Inc., a half-century-old Christian congregation, assumed the name Jericho Share, according to Texas business filings. Health care sharing ministries are faith-based organizations whose members agree to share medical expenses. The ministries grew in popularity before the Affordable Care Acts mandate for having insurance coverage was repealed because they offered a cheaper alternative to insurance. But they are not insurance, largely not regulated as such, and dont necessarily cover members medical bills. Massachusetts is the lone state that requires ministries to regularly report data, and only about half of claims submitted to ministries there were deemed eligible for payment. But last week, Gov. Jared Polis signed into law similar requirements for Colorado. The Better Business Bureau gives Jericho Share an F rating, its lowest, and its website shows more than 100 complaints filed in less than a year. Texas Department of Insurance documents show two complaints, from February and March, about Jericho Share. The department responded to both by saying it regulates insurance, which ministries are not, and forwarding them to the state attorney generals office. The attorney generals office did not respond to KHN questions about the status of the complaints. John Oxendine, a lawyer who was elected four times as Georgias insurance commissioner, responded to KHNs inquiries made to Jericho Share. He is currently facing federal charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud that he said are unrelated to Jericho Share. He denied any wrongdoing. If Jericho memberships are being sold to consumers in misleading ways, thats a good way for a broker to get fired, he said. Jericho Share does not tolerate any type of misrepresentation or unethical conduct on the part of its programs, according to a statement sent through Oxendine. Whenever we become aware of inappropriate conduct, we take appropriate action to remedy the situation. Consumers can always cancel their Jericho Share plans, Oxendine said. Many consumers who spoke to KHN did cancel their plans and receive refunds, but several said the process to do so was frustrating. Some were left to sort out payment for bills they incurred while they thought they were insured. At least seven of the people KHN spoke with said they ended up with Jericho Share after beginning their health insurance searches on Google. Encountering such issues while shopping for health insurance is not uncommon, said JoAnn Volk, co-director of Georgetown Universitys Center on Health Insurance Reforms. She co-authored a 2021 report that found misleading marketing practices were directing consumers to alternative health plans, like ministries, that can cost more than marketplace plans and offer fewer protections. Its especially unfortunate because people have set out to buy comprehensive coverage, Volk said. Susan Fauman, 47, a metalsmith from Germantown, N.Y., relied on her spouses insurance coverage but wanted her own insurance policy before submitting her divorce paperwork last fall. Fauman said her Google search landed her on a series of what the advertising industry calls lead-generating websites: nongovernmental webpages that connect insurance brokers to consumers. None of the consumers KHN spoke with could say with certainty which site ultimately connected them to the brokers who sold them Jericho Share memberships. ObamacarePlans.com and AffordableHealthPlans.org are among the lead-generating websites that show up on Google when someone searches with terms such as Obamacare insurance or healthcare marketplace. Those site listings are actually advertisements that resemble ordinary Google search results but are labeled with the word Ad and are placed above the most relevant search result: the federal governments official health insurance marketplace, healthcare.gov. Google spokesperson Christa Muldoon said companies that advertise on searches related to the Affordable Care Act must prove they are licensed to sell insurance via the federal or state marketplaces. Those marketplaces let consumers shop for comprehensive health insurance, tell them whether they qualify for financial assistance, and connect consumers with enrollment assistance, if needed. By contrast, lead-generating websites typically just sell the personal information provided by consumers to insurance brokers and agents who can sell other types of plans. The city of Colorado Springs recently agreed to pay $190,000 to settle out of court with a man who was bitten by a police dog. Colorado Springs police on Sunday arrested a suspect in connection with a homicide that occurred Saturday night at a local Walgreens, according to a news release from the department. Joshua Johnson, 28, was taken into custody without incident after an investigation identified him as the suspect in the killing, police said. Johnson faces a felony charge of first-degree murder. Officers on Saturday received a 6:55 p.m. call about a body at the Walgreens at 6820 Centennial Boulevard, police said. Victim information has not yet been released. Homicide detectives assumed responsibility for the investigation, which is still active. A makeshift memorial comprised of flowers, balloons and stuffed animals was placed outside the Walgreens, which is closed until further notice, according to an employee. Anyone with information that might help with the investigation is asked to call the Colorado Springs Police Department at (719) 444-7000. Callers who wish to remain anonymous may call the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at (719) 634-STOP [7867] or 1-800-222-8477. Finishing in 11th place out of 435 House members, U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, a Centennial Democrat, led Colorado's delegation on the list, while his Republican colleague from Silt, U.S. Rep.Lauren Boebert, landed near the bottom, just two spots above the lowest-ranking House member in the country. Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Dubai Customs has been certified among the best workplaces in the UAE for the second year in a row in the large-size company category. The annual report has been compiled by management consultancy Great Place to Work, which compiles the survey in 60 countries. Researchers sent out a 'trust index' to employees of companies, which measures how they are being treated at the company, if they are being fairly paid and if they feel informed about management decisions, among other issues. Dubai Customs is the first customs authority in the world to gain this recognition. The government department received the certificate for the first time in January 2021 based on an assessment of the work environment, including trust, innovation, organisation and leadership values, the positive results achieved by the department through internal communication between the leadership team and employees, and the employee's sense of pride in the work they perform. Developing work environments Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director General of Dubai Customs and CEO of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, said: Receiving this prestigious international accreditation for the second year in a row makes us proud of what we do. It is in line with the efforts we are making in the department in pursuit of the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in developing work environments, making them attractive to employees, upgrading them and providing them with all means of comfort and happiness. He stressed that Dubai Customs has become an important reference for many authorities locally and globally, which urges us to continue the march of achievements to enhance the competitiveness of the UAE and reach number one in all fields. Musabih thanked Dubai Customs employees for their dedication in performing the duties assigned to them, which in turn contributes to supporting the departments vision of being the leading customs administration in the world in support of legitimate trade. Changes to work culture Great Place to Work's managing director for the Middle East Ibrahim Mougharbel said: The department embarked on its journey to bring about changes in the work culture, which was reflected in the quality services their employees provide to clients in pursuit of excellence in their work. He pointed out that some entities tended to end their journey as soon as they obtained the accreditation, while Dubai Customs exerted more effort as soon as they obtained it to maintain their distinction and outstanding performance.-- TradeArabia News Service FILE PHOTO: A mushroom cloud rises with ships below during Operation Crossroads nuclear weapons test on Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands in this 1946 handout provided by the U.S. Library of Congress. REUTERS/U.S. Library of Congress/Handout via Reuters/File Photo After an aggressive mother moose was shot and killed on June 8 by a Boulder County deputy following the animal's attack on two people and a dog, members of the public were left to wonder about the fate of her orphaned calf. Two men visit near the blocked off entrance to the bathrooms in the underground bus concourse at Union Station on Friday, Dec. 17, 2021, in Denver, Colo. (Timothy Hurst/The Gazette) Bahrains Labour Fund Tamkeen has approved over 9,300 proposals and extended funding support worth BD39 million ($103.47 million) ever since it launched 16 programmes as part of its 2021-2025 strategy this year. The 16 programmes aim to develop the local Bahraini talent and incentivise high potential sectors, said Tamkeens Chief Executive Husain Rajab. He noted that Tamkeen also introduced seven human capital programmes with the objective of ensuring Bahrainis are the employee of choice and remain competitive in the current and future markets. Economic Recovery Forum Rajab reiterated the importance of the recently held Economic Recovery Forum, praising the commitment by all parties in implementing the initiatives of the Economic Recovery Plan, which positively impacts the national economy and creates high value sustainable jobs for local talents especially in high potential sectors, and achieve the desired results of financial sustainability. He praised the success of the forum, which was held under the patronage of Ali Bin Saleh Al-Saleh, Chairman of the Shura Council and organised by the Shura Council in cooperation with the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF). He noted the kingdom's achievements in enhancing His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's comprehensive development programme, supported by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, as well as the continuous cooperation between all entities that comprise Team Bahrain. Excellent results He added: The excellent results achieved thus far as a result of the economic recovery plan, particularly in the targeted sectors, reflect Bahrain's efforts and swift progress toward the successful implementation of the priorities outlined in the Economic Recovery Plan within the timeframe planned. Rajab participated in the first panel discussion, which focused on Human Capital Development, alongside Jameel Mohamed Ali Humaidan, Minister of Labour and Social Development and Dr Ahmed Mohammed Al Banna Board Chairman of the International Federation of Training and Development Organisations (IFTDO). The session was moderated by Dr Jihad Abdullah Al Fadhel, the Head of the Shura Council's Services Committee. 15 years of achievements Tamkeen continues to build on 15 years of achievements, while focusing on its core mandate to make Bahraini individuals the employee of choice in the labour market through programmes and initiatives that aim to upskill and reskill the local workforce, combined with supporting enterprises that create high-value sustainable jobs for the local talent. Paul L. Scudo is the executive director of Step Denver, was homeless for two years and is in recovery from the disease of addiction. However, elevated cases could last longer than anticipated just two weeks ago. But as health experts are quick to warn, the coronavirus is not one for following patterns and easily can shift course without warning. Combined, Danville and Pittsylvania County are averaging about 51 new reported cases of COVID-19 per day, a steady increase in the last month. That count is undoubtedly an underestimation of the real number of illnesses in the community. Thats because many people are opting for at-home testing. Those kits offer convenience, but the results arent reported to the Virginia Department of Health, leaving a gap in the true picture. As of Friday, Sovah Health was treating about a dozen patients for COVID-19 across its campuses in Danville and Martinsville. Thats more than double compared to late last month. The increase in hospitalizations pushed Danville back into the medium stage of the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions community level tracker. For a week, the city briefly dipped into the low stage. Pittsylvania Countys status has stayed steady in the medium tier. For this level, the federal agency doesnt recommend mask wearing for the general public, however, high-risk individuals are advised to don face coverings for indoor spaces, experts at the University of Virginias Biocomplexity Institute suggest. The CDC uses hospitalizations and current caseloads to weigh the burden on health care systems for its three-category system. When a location jumps into the high level such as neighboring Halifax County that triggers the mask recommendation for all. The Pittsylvania-Danville Health District remains in a surge trajectory, defined as a doubling of cases on a 100,000-population scale. Cases have dipped slightly across the state, but officials warn the impact of the Memorial Day weekend could be in play. The holiday may affect surveillance and modeling efforts with testing and reporting delays, researchers wrote in Fridays UVa report. A few districts are showing case declines this week, but interruptions in testing and reporting may be impacting case data. Also, since gatherings and travel may result in increased spread, the holidays impact may not become fully clear until two weeks from now. New models UVa narrowed its forecasting models in Fridays report to just three: the current course, one showing the impact in new emerging subvariants and the final exploring what increased mitigation efforts would do to the situation. The first model keeps cases increasing slightly with only a muted rise until the beginning of the fall. The second models shows a larger surge occurring by early September. The also anticipates two new subvariants of omicron itself a spawn of the original coronavirus will overtake the current version. Preliminary evidence suggests the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants have advantages over BA.2.12.1 and will eventually out-compete it, scientists wrote in the report. Models suggest the possibility of considerable growth in the coming weeks, but the uncertainty bounds are quite large. In this situation, the Pittsylvania-Danville Health District could see about 1,347 cases per week, Fridays model update shows. By comparison, there were 363 infections logged over the past seven days. The most optimistic scenario shows cases rising to a slight peak in early July, then falling until the rest of the year. This scenario shows the importance of Virginians continuing to practice appropriate prevention and following the prevention guidelines for the CDC Community Level in their area, researchers said. Overall, all forecasts point to smaller peaks compared to the model runs two weeks ago. None show a serious threat to capacity for the hospitals. These are all good signs for those hoping for a mild summer, authors of the report said. Despite this, there are reasons to remain vigilant. A new era With life relatively speaking resuming to pre-pandemic normals, a new era of COVID-19 has emerged. Vaccinations are considered to be the ultimate weapon safeguarding Virginians. Even as cases persist and new variants escape immunity, these vaccinations continue to provide protection from sever disease and death, UVa researchers said. Nevertheless, COVID-19 continues to kill, including over 100 Virginians in April. Acknowledging the battle is far from over, UVa suggests residents follow prevention methods based on current community levels. And even though cases statewide have leveled off, they are still much higher than a year ago. Though there is reason for optimism, there are also reasons to remain vigilant, UVa researcher said. 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. CONCORD Police were called to the Cabarrus County Republican Party headquarters twice on the evening of June 7 in response to an executive committee meeting that devolved into a shouting match between audience members and committee members. The main item on the agenda was for the committee to interview candidates and vote on its potential endorsement picks for the Cabarrus Board of Education. Traditionally, the interviews and voting take place in a closed meeting. Brandon Matthews, one of the 35 audience members, said there were many parents there who had concerns over the potential endorsements. The group also took issue with the interviews and vote taking place behind closed doors. The meeting soon devolved. Cabarrus GOP Chairman Addul Ali informed the audience that the interviews and vote would take be closed to the public. People in the crowd began to ask why they couldnt view the process. Ali told the Independent Tribune that it appeared some members of the crowd were unaware of the committees procedures. During the meeting, members of the crowd began raising their voices, as did some of the committee members. The audience was asked to leave, Ali said, but it seemed some people were not going to budge. Police were called at the request of committee members. We have to be able to conduct our business with decorum and make sure the executive committee elected by those in the county can choose the best people possible, Ali said. I personally did not feel unsafe, but I have a duty to make sure people are safe. A representative with the Concord Police Department said officers were called to the Cabarrus GOP building around 6:50 p.m. Officers were initially told people were protesting outside of the GOP building. Once officers arrived, it was found that the individuals in the parking lot were not engaged in a protest, but had arrived for a scheduled meeting of the GOP board. What was explained to our officers was that although there was a meeting scheduled, the board meeting was considered a closed meeting and those wishing to attend were asked to leave, thus the gathering in the parking lot. At the request of the chairman, officers did not ask anyone to leave nor was there any other actions on the part of any CPD officers, the police representative said. The Cabarrus GOP also gave a statement, saying in part, We thank the Concord Police Department for arriving to ensure the safety of all involved. We look forward to continuing our work of getting Republicans elected in Cabarrus County. The doors to the GOP building were blocked by an officer in arms once the group was outside. Matthews said that felt wrong. The GOP should have never locked their doors on their own people, Matthews said. Ali said the doors were never locked, but they were guarded. The group stayed outside until the meeting ended around 10:30 p.m. Police were called a second time to the GOP meeting after the interviews and voting. Officers were seen escorting some committee members to their cars. Some committee members said they feared for their safety. One thing you have to take into consideration, we are living in times where Supreme Court justices are run up on, and we live in dangerous times, Ali explained. We have elderly ladies here and they may not have felt as safe as they would have liked. Matthews said the group was never physically violent nor intimidating. The bill would take control from the governor and give it to the House and Senates top elected officials to appoint seats on the Rockingham Community College board, a move that has been done before. It is a local bill, meaning it cannot be vetoed by the governor. How to Clip Click and hold your mouse button on the page to select the area you wish to save or print. You can click and drag the clipping box to move it or click and drag in the bottom right corner to resize it. When you're happy with your selection, click the checkmark icon next to the clipping area to continue. Growing nutritious food almost seems like magic. You plant a seed in the soil, add water and sun and food with the potential to sustain life grows. But only if the soil has nutrients to support that life. Depleted soils lead to nutrient-deficient foods and yield less produce than healthy soils. This is an important point to consider as nearly 11% of U.S. households are food insecure, or lack consistent access to adequate quantities of nutritious food, according to a 2020 USDA report. Additionally, Feeding America estimates that 1 in 5 children in North Carolina face hunger. While many factors contribute to food insecurity such as affordability and access to nutritious food, degraded soils threaten to exacerbate the global food crisis. In 2020, between 720 to 811 million people went hungry, according to a report by the United Nations. Soil degradation happens when land is stripped of trees and other vegetation, leaving the soil exposed to the elements heat, wind, rain. Over time, the soil will dry out, leach nutrients, and erode. This will also lead to a loss of carbon dioxide sequestration, which is the process by which trees remove CO2 from the air and store it in the soil through photosynthesis. As summer and hurricane season start and experts forecast higher temperatures over the Southeast with more intense storms, maintaining the quality of soils will be a fundamental task for North Carolinians to keep their crops healthy and health-producing. That means paying attention to whats in the states soils. Garbage in, garbage out While increased amounts of atmospheric CO2 could be beneficial to certain plants such as sugar cane and Bermuda grass, it threatens to reduce the yields of many of the agricultural staples grown in North Carolina such as soybeans, corn and sweet potatoes, according to Bob Patterson, a crop sciences professor in N.C. States Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. If (certain crops are) growing in an environment where the temperature is high at night, and some of the precious carbon that was fixed photosynthetically in the daytime is lost from the crop(s) at night (due to respiration), it is not available for yield and quality purposes, Patterson said. Degraded soils can occur due to unsustainable agricultural practices, even without the impact of climate change, but climate change can accelerate soil decline, according to a 2019 special report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The greater the amount of organic matter in the soil, the more likely that soil will be healthy in ways that increase or, maintain as fully as possible, that fraction of the total water in the soil that is plant available, Patterson said. Nutrient-poor soils can be improved by adding organics, which promote an environment where microorganisms such as earthworms can thrive. Earthworms improve soil drainage by burrowing down in the subsoil, which creates pockets for moisture and air to flow. They also feed on organic material such as leaves and grass clippings, for instance, and produce nutrient-rich waste that is readily available to crops. Improving soil health is the one thing that is within a farmers control to mitigate the potential effects of climate change on food production. The North Carolina Climate Risk and Resilience Plan, produced by the Department of Environmental Quality in 2020, also stresses the benefits of healthy soils on the environment. Healthy soils will also increase soil water holding capacity, reduce soil erosion, reduce stormwater runoff, reduce pollutant loading of waterways, sequester carbon, and reduce reliance on synthetic fertilizers and irrigation to establish and maintain constructed greenscapes. Farmer resources While resources and technical support for farmers vary by country, U.S. farmers have access to experts and advice at the county, state and national levels. The USDAs cooperative extension service is a federal, state and county-supported program to improve the quality of peoples lives by providing research-based knowledge to strengthen the social, economic and environmental well-being of families, communities and agriculture. In addition to county extension agents, there are nonprofit organizations that offer support services to North Carolina farmers. Amanda Egdorf-Sand is the executive director of the NC Foundation for Soil and Water Conservation, whose mission is to promote, protect and improve North Carolina soil and water resources. North Carolinas largest industry is agriculture and agribusiness, and so there is a significant amount of technical and financial assistance provided to farmers through public and private funding, Egdorf-Sand said, to support immediate and long-term on-farm goals that ultimately sustains this strong agricultural economy. The foundation supports farmers through the Agriculture Cost Share Program, which provides funding to to support on-farm natural resource conservation to improve water quality, Egdorf-Sand said. One practice promoted to support the organizations water conservation efforts is no-till or conservation tillage, which is any tillage and planting system that covers 30% or more of the soil surface with crop residue, after planting, to reduce soil erosion by water. According to Egdorf-Sand, in fiscal year 2021, farmers who participated in the cost-share program saved nearly 60,000 tons of topsoil. She added, Since ACSPs inception in 1984, the practices implemented through the program have saved nearly 8 million tons of soil. To till or not to till Another nonprofit organization that provides support to farmers in the Carolinas is Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, whose mission is to advocate, educate, and build connections to create sustainable food systems in the Carolinas centered on local and organic agriculture, according to its mission statement. As the associations farm services manager, Mark Dempsey said his job includes working with growers to develop conservation strategies designed to improve soil management and prevent erosion. Dempsey, like the other exports, feels that, at least in the U.S., farming soils are in good shape, generally speaking. Nonetheless, he believes there are areas for improvement. The main thing that degrades soil organic matter is getting in there with the plow and the disk, he said. No-till farming is an approach that minimizes soil erosion, promotes the accumulation of organic matter, and helps soil hold onto moisture longer because it is not directly exposed to the sun and wind, for instance. While beneficial in many ways, no-till farming can be an obstacle for organic farmers. The no tillers of the world use herbicides and, as an organization that tries to promote alternatives to that, (its a) conflict for us. While acknowledging the dilemma that organic farmers face when weighing the pros and cons of no-till agriculture, Dempsey believes there is cause for optimism. But the cool and interesting thing is that theres been some recent research to show that, (yes), we degrade soil if we till it. But if we add back a ton of organic matter, it can bounce back pretty quickly. Dempsey stresses, however, that we need to produce a lot more organic matter than is currently available to improve soils on a global scale. Cover cropping is another weapon in the fight against soil degradation. We want a winter cover crop on the land to protect the soil from being damaged by bad weather, said N.C. States Patterson. The universitys College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Lake Wheeler Field Laboratory offers nearly 1,500 acres for teaching, research and extension, according to its website. Patterson said extensive research is being done there on how cover crops can improve soil health. If we protect our soil and try our best to maintain soil health thats the best way to address climate change issues, Patterson said.There is no question that climate change is affecting the health of our crops, both yield and quality. This article first appeared on North Carolina Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. North Carolina Health News is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit, statewide news organization dedicated to covering all things health care in North Carolina. Visit NCHN at northcarolinahealthnews.org. The Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) has received the Primary Certification for Customer Center of Expertise (Customer COE) from global software company SAP, making SIDF the first government entity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to receive this recognition. The Global Customer COE Program aims to establish Customer COEs that function with the utmost transparency and efficiency in the implementation, innovation, operation, and quality of business processes and systems related to the SAP software solutions and services. In order to earn Primary Certification for Customer COE, an entity must demonstrate its proficiency across five core functions: (1) Strategy, Governance and Organization, (2) Information and Knowledge, (3) Contract and License, (4) Continuous Success, and (5) Supportability and Collaboration. At the certificate handover ceremony today (June 12), Bader Alsamdan, VP Corporate Services at SIDF, said: This certification confirms the SIDF has its own Customer Center of Expertise with the knowledge, capabilities and network necessary to centrally drive continuous improvement and innovation. As part of the digital transformation journey, the SIDF has implemented a number of significant initiatives over the past year to digitally enable all business lines and maximize efficiency and value delivery to SIDF customers. This has been achieved by using advanced SAP technologies, such as cloud computing and business intelligence solutions, as well as by implementing an effective IT governance, continually optimizing IT operations and investing in knowledge and resource development." Mohammed Alromaizan, Vice President of SAP Saudi Arabia, said of the certification: Industrialization is a cornerstone of the Kingdoms diversified economic growth, and the continued SAP partnership with the SIDF is in line with our long-term support for public sector innovation and nationwide digital transformation. We congratulate the SIDF on this certification, which is testament to its commitment to building its technological expertise with a focus on continuous improvement, innovation and success. The SIDF was founded in 1974 to play a leading role in effectuating development policies and programs in Saudi Arabias industrial sector. With medium- and long-term soft loans complemented by technical, administrative, financial, and marketing consultancy services, the SIDF helps industrial firms to overcome challenges and succeed in a rapidly expanding economy. --TradeArabia News Service The Montana Military Museum at historic Fort William Henry Harrison is featuring two major exhibits, "The GI Bill" and The Colors of Our Country" until the end of June. The exhibits celebrate the 1944 Servicemen's Readjustment Act. It is open to the public. The act, also known as the G.I. Bill, was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 22, 1944. It provided World War II veterans with funds for college education, unemployment insurance and housing. It put higher education within the reach of millions of World War II veterans and later military conflicts. The GI Bill exhibit was built in New Orleans in 2017 as an initiative to celebrate the American Legion 100th Anniversary and to educate people about one of the countrys greatest achievements during that century. The first venue for display was at the National WW II Museum in New Orleans in June 2017. It is permanently installed at the Indiana War Memorial Museum in Indianapolis. A smaller, more portable version was built for short-term engagements and has also gone to Student Veterans of America conventions, festivals, museums, and multiple times in the U.S. Capitol. The companion exhibit, The Colors of Our Country, will also be on display but is scheduled to travel to Missoula for 2022 Department of Montana, American legion Convention on June 16-19. It illustrates the 250-year evolution of the Stars and Stripes from a battle flag for patriots to the enduring symbol of America freedom. The exhibits are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and other times as requested. Call 406-458-9847 or 406-235-0290. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 We the people of Montana grateful to God for the quiet beauty of our state, the grandeur of our mountains, the vastness of our rolling plains, and desiring to improve the quality of life, equality of opportunity and to secure the blessings of liberty for this and future generations do ordain and establish this constitution. -- The preamble to the Montana Constitution, written by delegates Mae Nan (Robinson) Ellingson and Bob Campbell And now there are 10. Those remaining of the 100 delegates to the 1972 Montana Constitutional Convention will gather June 15-16 in Helena to celebrate the 50th anniversary of a document that some describe as groundbreaking and visionary, while others have groused it needs fixing. Im so excited. It is going to be my last hurrah, said Arlyne Reichert of Great Falls, who at 96 is the oldest living delegate. It has stood the test of time, she said of the state constitution, adding that on balance it is highly respected. Reichert noted the provisions of a right to a clean and healthful environment and a right to privacy were ahead of their time. The delegates included a unique mandate to teach in the classroom about American Indians. Two students from Fort Peck, Lynn Leuppe and Mavis Scott, came to the convention and advocated for teaching Indian culture in schools and told the delegates they would like to see themselves in the books and materials they studied. This commitment to teach about Native Americans was reaffirmed by the state Legislature in 1999 with the passage of Indian Education for All. We have all these wonderful provisions," Reichert said. It is not perfect, but it has worked. It replaced a constitution from 1889 ramrodded by copper king William Clark. But by the 1960s people in Montana were ready for change, and the copper kings no longer had their grip on the state. In the book "Montana: A History of Two Centuries," Montana historians Mike Malone and Richard Roeder wrote, "Montanans seemed to be changing their minds about their state and about themselves. ... This attitude expressed itself in a new concern for preserving the environment, a renewed pride in the community, and a new interest in reforming and improving society and government." Sen. Diane Sands, D-Missoula, in a recent speech at the Montana Historical Society about the 1972 convention, said the 60s and 70s were a tremendous time for social change, and movements for social justice and women were demanding larger leadership roles. Sands offered several examples, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the National Organization for Women being founded in 1967, and the Clean Air Act and Environmental Protection Agency both coming about in 1970. Sands, who did not attend the convention, said the women of the ConCon came out of that rich, cultural stew and were not in it for personal gain. She noted she could not say the same about some of the men elected as delegates. She said the middle class also wanted to see change, saying they wanted to modernize government, wanted more transparency and wanted to reduce corruption in government. The new Montana Constitution has 15 sections, and defines the powers of the three branches of the government. It was adopted by the Constitutional Convention on March 22, 1972, and ratified by the people on June 6, 1972. According to Ballotpedia, it has been amended 33 times since then. Evan Barrett has a long history in state government and politics, is an executive committee member of the Constitutional Convention Celebration Committee and serves as a constitutional convention historian. He wrote this about the convention in 2018: Competition among citizens for delegate seats was strong, perhaps because the Montana Supreme Court had ruled that elected officials, like sitting legislators, could not be delegate candidates. An amazing 515 citizens filed to become delegates -- 247 Democrats, 232 Republicans, 32 Independents and 4 from the New Reform Party." He said that when the dust settled, 58 Democrats, 36 Republicans and six Independents were elected to fill the 100 delegate positions, including 19 women, a remarkable leap forward. Those selected included 24 lawyers, nine farmers, 17 business people, 14 educators, 11 homemakers, eight miscellaneous, four or five media people, four clergy and two bankers. The oldest member was 73 and the youngest was 24. Journalist Charles S. Johnson, who covered the convention for The Association Press, said no Native Americans were elected, but elections were countywide and there were no designated areas for Native Americans to run from. After a late November 1971 organizing session in which they chose Leo Graybill Jr. as president, the delegates convened Jan. 17, 1972, in an open convention with a free exchange of ideas including ideas submitted by Montana citizens, Barrett said. Johnson said delegates made two critically important decisions before the convention convened to minimize partisanship and promote bipartisan harmony: Leaders of the big Democratic majority agreed to share power with the leaders of the Republican minority, something that happens in the Montana Legislature only if a chamber is evenly split by party, Johnson wrote. Democrat Leo Graybill Jr. of Great Falls was elected president. Republican John Toole was picked as vice president. Other offices and committee chairmanships were evenly divided between the parties, with vice chairs who were of the opposite party of the chairs. And Johnson said the second important decision was that delegates decided to sit in alphabetical order, from Magnus Aasheim of Antelope to Robert Woodmansey of Great Falls. He noted the Legislature still sits with Republicans on one side of the center aisle and Democrats on the other, like warring factions. I suggested in newspaper columns several times that lawmakers ought to follow the convention delegates good example, but it fell on deaf ears, Johnson wrote. Reichert agreed the decision was groundbreaking. We were a rare breed and we didnt pay attention to party politics, she said, adding the rule dispensed of a confrontation style. She also agreed with Johnson that the Legislature should follow the delegates seating example. Johnson, during a recent speech to the Montana Historical Society about the constitution, remembered the Rev. George Harper. He was a Methodist minister who served as a delegate, for coming up with Praise the Lord and pass the constitution, which he said became the bumper sticker slogan of the convention. Barrett wrote that after 54 working days, the newly drafted constitution was signed by all 100 delegates and submitted to the people for ratification on June 6. Over 73 campaign days, the proposed constitution was debated before Montana voters. Opposition was well-financed, mostly by those who had profited from favorable provisions in the 1889 constitution, Barrett wrote. Many progressive elements and citizens hungry for change supported its ratification. On June 6, 1972 the new constitution was ratified by a 2,532 vote margin, upheld by a 3-2 Montana Supreme Court decision on a case brought by many of the opponents who had lost their favored status. Following ratification, the delegates formed a Constitutional Convention Society and have since met annually with family and friends in celebration of their collective efforts to help forge a new Montana, Barrett said. In late 2021, GOP state Rep. Derek Skees of Kalispell said the constitution's right of privacy clause gave state courts a legal basis for blocking new abortion restrictions and called the document a socialist rag that should be replaced. Reichert opposes the idea. I am happy with how it is, she said. My fear is that if people tear it apart, we will not have freedoms we have now. A celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Constitutional Convention and adoption of the constitution will be held June 15-16 at the state Capitol. The 10 remaining delegates from the original 100 are: Frank Arness, Mae Nan Ellingson, Gene Harbaugh, Lynn Kelley, Jerry Loendorf, Lyle Monroe, Marshall Murray, Arlyne Reichert, Bob Vermillion and Roger Wagner. If you go What: Montana Constitution 50-year celebration When: June 15-16 Where: Montana State Capitol The following is not a complete agenda, but touches on some of the activities planned: June 15 Events begin 10 a.m. in the House of Representatives chamber with a call to order by Marshall Murray, president of the Montana Constitutional Convention Society, convention delegate from Kalispell. It will be followed by an invocation, a recorded welcome from Gov. Greg Gianforte and comments by Murray and former Gov. Ted Schwinden. At 10:30 a.m. there will be a roll call of the delegates and remarks from the delegates and their descendants. at 11:45 a.m. there will be a brown bag lunch in the rotunda with comments from former Gov. Brian Schweitzer. At 1:20 p.m. there will be a welcome from the Constitutional Convention Celebration Committee. At 1:45 p.m. there will be a panel on how the 1972 constitution came to be. At 3:30 p.m. there will be a discussion on the citizens right to know and participate in government. At 5 p.m. there will be a reception at the Montana Historical Society. June 16 At 9:15 a.m. there will be a discussion on the allocation of powers and checks and balances among the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government. At 10:30 a.m. there will be a discussion on the right to a clean and healthful environment. At 11:45 a.m. there will be a brown bag lunch in the rotunda with a discussion on Native American perspectives on the Montana Constitution. The panels continue at 1 p.m. on Montanas unique and comprehensive declaration of rights. Other panels include revenue and taxation from 2:30-3:30 p.m. and education and public land at 3:45 p.m. The closing is at 5 p.m. with a panel discussion on the Hope and Vision for Future Generations under the Montana Constitution. It will feature Mae Nan Ellingson, convention delegate from Missoula, and former Govs. Marc Racicot and Steve Bullock. To know more For a complete list of the constitutional convention celebration activities, go to: https://bit.ly/3O99YeQ. Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021. Love 6 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DECATUR Ray Batman left a legacy on the community and on Dove Inc. as its founder. However, his friends and family know he wouldnt say he did it alone. It would be nice and wonderful to say, look what Ray did singlehandedly, look what Ray did by himself, taking Dove from this humble desk in a church storeroom to what it is today, said his friend and colleague Fred Spannaus. But that would be a lie. He never did anything significant by himself. On Saturday, Dove staff rededicated the facility at 788 E. Clay St., Decatur, as the Ray Batman Center for Social Justice. The location was one of the few sites where Dove was once housed. It now serves as Homeward Bound, providing support to homeless people living in Macon County. The building will continue to provide the same services, according to Barb Blakey, volunteer and community relations director. This is where the growth happened, she said about the buildings history. We thought this was the perfect building to share the legacy. It has a great history. Those invited to speak during the ceremony included Spannaus, Dove executive directors, family and friends. The genius of Ray Batman is that he never did anything significant by himself, Spannaus said. He always looked around when faced with a challenge. Who can I bring to the task? Who knows something that I dont know? Who knows somebody I dont know? Who has some talent that we need to ensure a better outcome for whatever challenge is ahead of us? Batman passed away a year ago. His first job with Dove was as the coordinator utilizing support of seven local Christian churches. His father-in-law, John Scotty Scott, confided in a preacher that he was worried about Batman. In 1970, Batman left a secure job to create an agency to help others. According to the Rev. Robert Clark, creating a job that had no potential for income was not safe for a family. They dont have any money, they dont have any facility, they dont have any staff, they dont have anything, Clark remembered the conversation. Hes leaving something for nothing. All he has is an idea. Clark had faith at the time, and reminded Batmans father-in-law that good things come from an idea. I guess I want to say, 'Hey, Scotty, what do you think about it now,'" he said. According to Doves history, the agency employed Batman only with an annual budget of $6,000. Dove now has 57 employees with a budget of $4 million. Programs, including Homeward Bound Homeless Shelter, the Domestic Violence Program, RSVP Volunteer Program, Childrens Clothing Room and BABES, reach into several counties throughout Central Illinois. Programs serving all kinds of human needs, engaging hundreds and hundreds of volunteers, Spannaus said. Through the years the building has been updated and has housed various programs for Dove and its clients. Tamara Wilcox will leave her position as executive director at the end of June. She had the opportunity to work with Batman as a finance specialist and finance director. He was so humble and wouldnt want any attention towards himself, she said. But the community needs this. This is going to be a place for everyone to come to remember him. Future plans for the center include fencing around the area. The gutters were also recently replaced. Wilcox found Doves first accounting book and presented it during the ceremony on Saturday. They literally started with nothing, she said. The sacrifices that he made to leave a job working for his father-in-law to come and run this organization, it was a sacrifice. But it was something he believed in. Wilcox handed the book to Darsonya Switzer, the current executive director. Switzer also had the opportunity to work with Batman. He left his comfort zone, she said. He knew there was a place in this world that didnt have that stability. He wanted to build it. He wanted to bring those together to the table that could help him build it. Switzer viewed her interactions with Batman as a blessing and education. Her previous positions with Dove were as a Homeward Bound case manager, then as the program director. He was such a wealth of knowledge, she said. He wanted to make things better for everyone. As the next executive director, Switzer wants to carry on the mission set by Batman. I want to lead by that example, she said. It does not escape me that he had a huge impact on the community. Im not going to disappoint him. Contact Donnette Beckett at (217) 421-6983. Follow her on Twitter: @donnettebHR Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. CHICAGO - More than 1,000 people gathered in the Loop on Saturday to rally against gun violence, while dozens of others participated in a city gun turn-in program at a St. Sabina Church, in a day of initiative and advocacy to stop gun violence. Over a hundred people lined up outside of St. Sabina Catholic Church in Auburn Gresham Saturday morning to turn in their guns for a $100 reward, no questions asked, in an effort by the Chicago Police Department to get guns off the streets. An extra $100 was given to those turning in an assault weapon. Chicago police Superintendent David Brown said the turn-in was not a trick to try and charge people with possession of a firearm but a way to help save lives. He said Saturday was the first gun turn-in of the year, and the city plans to hold as many as we can throughout the year. About 150 guns had been collected so far shortly after 11 a.m. with a long ways to go as a lengthy line of people extending around the corner were still outside, Brown said. Wayne Lach is a resident of southwest suburb Darien and said he turned in two guns Saturday morning, one that he inherited from a family member and the other from a friend. He said although he waited over an hour to get through the line and processing, the turn-in was a relief. Its a hassle selling the guns to people because youre worried about the paperwork getting done right, he said. This is good because its off the streets, taken care of, and you dont have to worry. From a big city like Chicago to a small Texas town like Uvalde, Brown said no one is immune to gun violence. Our communities are never the same when we have that type of violence, he said. Around noon on Saturday, around 1,000 people were loosely gathered on the gray tiles of Federal Plaza to take part in the rally, which was one of more than 500 other planned March for Our Lives demonstrations across the country. Near the edges of the plaza were booths with March for Our lives merchandise, more information on gun violence prevention and advocacy and a table for water and snacks. Amy Treadwell came to the rally from the southern suburbs with her daughters Zoe Treadwell, 21, Noelle Treadwell, 15, to support March for Our Lives and its message. Saturday was their first time participating in a March for Our Lives demonstration, and Zoe, who is going to be a senior in college this fall, said the school shooting in a Uvalde was a big catalyst for her to pay more attention and devote more of her time and energy to gun violence prevention. Noelle, who is a sophomore in high school, said protesting is a way for the youth who are still not of voting age to have their voices heard and be able to do something about the problems they are facing head-on. Amy Treadwell, a former teacher, said she is so done with how easy it is to purchase a gun and making the gun industry so much more important than the lives on earth. Seeing how they vilified the teachers right away instead of vilifying the gun manufacturers and vilifying the laws that have allowed this to happen, she said. Those things have to change. Wife and husband Morgan and Tom Vance came to the rally from Sauganash with their 10-year-old son Asher Vance, who said he was taking part because he shouldnt have to feel scared to go to school. Morgan said its important for her son to be included in the movement because she feels Asher is most affected by gun violence as he is the one going through active shooter drills at school and having to normalize being fearful. I feel like were sacrificing particularly our childrens safety to protect this false interpretation of the Second Amendment, she said. Tom said being involved in March for Our lives is a way for legislators and leaders to hear and see that people are concerned about this, and the movement should be pushed as far as theyll let us push it to try and protect our kids. Although glad to be a part of Saturdays rally, Asher said he wished there wasnt a reason for him to be there doing something for the kids in Texas who got shot. I feel two very strong emotions, Asher said. I feel sad, and I feel angry. I feel sad because I shouldnt have to be scared to learn something new every day, and I feel mad that I have to feel scared to go to school and that it is taking us this long to take action. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Sun and clouds mixed. High 99F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 74F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. Current events make clear that fossil fuels will not be going away. What we must do is increase research on how to burn fossil fuels more efficiently and cleanly. An article that recently ran in the Washington Post should remind us that good intentions and arbitrary deadlines arent a power source. Headlined As China mines more coal, levels of a more potent greenhouse gas soar, the article highlights Chinas current energy policies and should inform how we set our own. When China ramped up its reliance on coal-fueled power plants over fears of an energy crunch, climate experts were already worried, but now a study shows that the renewed mining will boost levels of methane, a greenhouse gas even more potent than carbon dioxide. The increased production and expanded capacity from mines is on track to add 10% to worldwide emissions of coal methane, threatening to undermine international efforts to tackle global warming, according to a recent estimate by Global Energy Monitor, a nongovernmental organization that tracks fossil fuel projects. The reasons for Chinas increased coal production should sound familiar. Demand for power strained the electric grid, forcing shutoffs. Other countries have experienced the same difficulties, including parts of ours such as California. To avoid repeating these episodes, China turned to coal. In its energy production, unlike in the United States, it is not bound by restrictions to make the process more environmentally friendly. Meanwhile, as Europes energy costs soar and its countries try to reduce dependence on energy imports from Russia, coal has also reemerged there. Here in the United States, coal power plants have been retired prematurely as utilities expected to transition to solar and wind power. Many of us warned that these fuel sources were not ready to meet energy demand, and utilities have belatedly recognized this fact. As an example, the Wall Street Journal reported that New Mexico electricity provider PNM pushed back a planned closure of a coal plant to the end of summer. The utility explained that solar power had not progressed quickly enough and that keeping the coal plant open will prevent an otherwise inevitable energy shortage. It is unfortunate that utilities only recognize that fossil fuels continue to play an essential role now, as investment in them has stalled and prices spike. So-called green energy activists have targeted coal for decades, but their animus for coal does not erase its viability as a fuel source when alternatives are lacking. Realistic energy policy would recognize that fossil fuels will not go away, no matter how ardently some might wish. The goal should be to use them more cleanly and efficiently. Thats why I advocate for parity in federal research spending on fossil and non-fossil fuel sources. The private sector can lead the way, and the federal government can support the research and streamline regulations to bring forth new generations of technology. The possibilities of this approach could be realized right here in Virginias 9th Congressional District. I recently met with Russell County Supervisor David Eaton, Russell Countys Industrial Development Authority, and several natural gas companies. The meeting centered on the potential to use coalbed methane from historical coal mining areas in Southwest Virginia. In Southwest Virginia, coalbed methane has been extracted for more than 50 years. Pipelines already run through Russell, Tazewell, etc., Counties carrying coalbed methane, but local businesses are not able to tap into this resource. Further, I am told that most homeowners in this area do not have access to natural gas. Some in Russell County are interested in using this coalbed methane here, but improved federal and state laws, rules, and regulations are needed to make the process work. Environmental progress and economic opportunity can work hand in hand, but only by setting aside the idea that global abandonment of fossil fuels is imminent. Green utopians may not be satisfied, but most Americans live in the real world where limiting carbon emissions must be accompanied by energy reliability and affordability. Thats a reasonable expectation, and one energy policy should be directed toward meeting. #4824 RE: CD / 13-06-2022 18:42 (12-06-2022 22:15) nord1971 (): Matrix / Runout : DIDP-10409 11A2 +++++ Sony Japan for EU Matrix / Runout : DIDP-10409 11 .+.++++ Sony , 2 . Sony Japan for EUMatrix / Runout : DIDP-10409 11 .+.++++ Sony , 2 . Some people are asking if North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper might be the Democrats best presidential candidate in 2024. Not likely, you say, Joe Biden is president. And every first-term Democratic president in modern times has run for reelection. There have been no serious challenges for Democratic incumbents seeking their party nomination, with one exception. In 1980, Ted Kennedy challenged Jimmy Carter. There has been no other serious intraparty challenge to a sitting Democratic president for the nomination. Although Biden has not announced his candidacy, it would be fair to assume that he will run and will be the Democratic nominee. Even so, people are talking about other possibilities. In an article titled There Has to Be a Backup Plan in the June 5, 2022 edition of New York magazine, Gabriel Debenedetti wrote about a gathering of the national Democratic Establishment held in North Carolina at Pinehurst in April. He called the attendees an unsettled cross section of the Democratic Establishment. Debenedetti explained, The lobbyists, donors, staffers, and elected officials were gathering for the spring policy meeting of the Democratic Governors Association, and the scheduled sessions concerned such topics as health care and diversity in governance. But there was also talk about politics, including worried conversations about the midterm elections in November. Conversations shifted from grim-the midterms-to grimmer. The grim refers to the prospects for this falls elections. The grimmer for them was the state of the partys planning for 2024, when Biden will stand for reelection on the eve of his 82nd birthday. Although there was no serious question raised about Bidens intention to be a candidate for reelection in 2024, some of those gathered in Pinehurst were calculating contingencies: If Bidens health turned, or if his polling truly collapsed, which of the partys governors might step up and save them from electoral ruin and the nightmare of a Trump comeback? Roy Cooper the conferences host, who had twice won North Carolina in the same years the swing state was carried by Donald Trump was the most frequent topic of shadow-campaign chatter, wrote Debenedetti. Other governors were mentioned, too: Phil Murphy, from New Jersey; J.B. Pritzker, Illinois; Jared Polis, Colorado: Gavin Newsom, California; and Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan. Bernie Sanders sent word that he also might be available for another run. And there are plenty more, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Corey Booker, Elizabeth Warren and California Rep. Ro Khanna. Many more are in the wings. But Cooper has something the other possible contenders lack. He is a Southerner. And Democrats will remember that beginning with Harry Truman, and until Barack Obama, every winning Democratic presidential candidate, except John Kennedy, had a Southern connection: Harry Truman (1948), Lyndon Johnson (1964), Jimmy Carter (1976), and Bill Clinton (1992). Include Al Gore if you count his popular vote victory in 2000. How do you explain their success? First, they learned to respond to the challenges in their states with pragmatic rather than doctrinaire solutions that did not frighten conservatives. Second, they learned to gain the support of Black voters and open doors with opportunities for them. Democratic governors of southern states are a vanishing breed. Two other Southern governors, John Bel Edwards of Louisiana and Andrew Beshear of Kentucky join Cooper in this small group. Like Cooper, they must work with Republican dominated legislatures. Edwards has a progressive record but because he signed a very restrictive abortion law he probably would lose the support of many Democrats. Andy Beshear is up for a tough reelection battle in Kentucky in 2223, one that will almost certainly preclude his preparing for a presidential run. Thus, if Biden is not a candidate for reelection in 2024 and the Democrats want to try their winning Southern governor formula again, they have one choice. Roy Cooper. D.G. Martin, a lawyer, served as UNC-Systems vice president for public affairs and hosted PBS-NCs North Carolina Bookwatch for 20 years. Back in 2013, it became possible for all states to expand Medicaid health insurance for lower income people. Twelve states, including North Carolina did not. Our politicians made a financially expensive and values-based moral mistake. Some North Carolina politicians seem intent on continuing to make the same mistake today. Last week, after 13 years of stalling, the North Carolina Senate passed a bill to finally expand Medicaid in North Carolina. Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives are indicating they will try to defeat that effort. Politicians can look at this issue through two different sets of eye glasses the cold lens peering into our states bank book, or the emotional lens focused on the crying family member burying their parent or child. Republican members of North Carolinas House of Representatives need to clean their lenses, because they are not seeing clearly out of either pair of glasses. Through the financial lens, the failure of our North Carolina Legislature to pass Medicaid expansion in 2013 has cost our state $40 Billion in federal funding. , Add to that the fact the hospitals in our state lost another $11 Billion because they had to deliver uncompensated care that Medicaid expansion would have paid for and as a consequence 6 North Carolina rural hospitals went broke and had to close . All the people who worked at those hospitals lost their jobs, and in addition to making it harder for constituents to get medical care, unemployment claims paid for by the state budget rose. And that is just the financial picture. Through the lens of Republican family values and protect the children, the situation is a bigger disgrace. Since we could have expanded Medicaid, 10,677 children born in North Carolina died before their first birthday . Based on many studies done in the 38 states that did adopt Medicaid expansion, sick babies get better care, and 1,884 of those North Carolina under-one-year-old childrens deaths would have been prevented the by Medicaid expansion . I bet our politicians sent sympathy notes. And the death rate drop was not limited to children. In those states that expanded Medicaid, because the poor sick could get regular examinations, cancer and heart screenings, and could afford to get their prescriptions filled, premature deaths among older adults dropped an average of 50%. These politicians are behaving in a way that does not reflect their stated goals of fiscal responsibility and family values. They are sabotaging the very people who elected them. Please reach out to your N.C. State Representative, and ask them to vote to expand Medicaid. Tell them they should follow the money, and their heart, be the role model leaders we badly need in our country today, and walk their talk. Dr. Koster spent his paid career in health care working for one of the nations largest specialty pediatric healthcare systems. He is now President of a not-for-profit calling attention to pollution that harms children. You can see that project at www.thepollutiondetectives.org CHICAGO The number of recreational marijuana shops in Illinois is due to more than double after the state announced its plans to issue 185 new dispensary licenses. The action comes after courts lifted bans on issuing the licenses while litigation continues. Applicants who won rights to licenses last year must finalize compliance checks before their conditional licenses can be issued. Beginning Thursday, the state plans to issue licenses in three waves. The first wave, for the Naperville-Chicago-Elgin region, is to be issued by July 22. The next wave, for other regions with multiple licenses, is due by Aug. 5, with the third wave, for districts with one license, due by Aug. 19. The pace of licensing will be determined by how quickly applicants compliance checks can be verified. Today marks the beginning of the next chapter of the most equitable adult-use cannabis program in the country, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. This means countless more opportunities for communities that have suffered from historic disinvestment to join this growing industry and ensure its makeup reflects the diversity of our state. All principal officers, or owners, will have 60 days after notification to pay any taxes or other debts to the state. In addition, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation must verify that no principal officers have a financial interest in more than 10 adult-use dispensary licenses. After issuing the conditional licenses, the agency will conduct background checks of principal officers. Licensees will have 180 days to select a physical storefront location and obtain the operating license, or may request a 180-day extension if necessary. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity offers low-interest loans to qualified licensed companies through its Social Equity Cannabis Loan Program. The first round of applicants is expected to finalize loan agreements with the agencys partner lending institutions in the coming weeks. The next phase of the loan program is to be launched in the near future, state officials said. The state also funds free licensing technical assistance through Oakton Community College in Des Plaines, The Trep School in Danville, the Womens Business Development Center in Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Chicago Law School. The announcement comes a day after U.S. Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer declined to issue a temporary restraining order against the new licenses in a lawsuit by two plaintiffs claiming the states residency requirements violate federal law. The judge said the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the previously allotted licenses, and that it was premature to rule on the issuance of new licenses, since state officials have proposed alternatives to state residency. The judge freed the state to issue the 185 licenses previously allotted, but said it must hold off on additional dispensary licenses until she makes further rulings. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 RTHK: North Korea fires artillery in show of force North Korea on Sunday fired multiple artillery shots between 8:07 a.m. and 11:03 a.m. local time, South Korea's military said, in another show of force a day after leader Kim Jong-un vowed to boost the nation's military power. The Joint Chiefs of Staff gave no other details but added it had decided to issue a statement late in the evening as the shots were of a traditional type, with relatively short range and low altitude. Firing of artillery shots comes as Kim on Saturday presented goals to boost the country's military power and defence research to protect North Korea's sovereign rights, as it concluded The Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPF) held last week. (Reuters) This story has been published on: 2022-06-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Dubai Airports has announced that the Northern runway rehabilitation programme at Dubai International (DXB) has surpassed its midway point on schedule, paving the way for the reopening of the runway on June 22. Since May 9, more than 1,000 vehicles and 3,000 people have been working on-site at DXB to complete the project, said the airports operator. The essential work involves resurfacing the entire 4.5-km-long Northern runway, strengthening the wider runway strip, as well as reinforcing the paving on key taxiway entries and exits, and repairing drainage infrastructure, it stated. Aeronautical ground lighting, navigational aids and meteorological equipment are also being replaced, and a navigation aids substation is being relocated as the Southern runway maintains operations at the world's busiest international airport. The programme's primary objective was timely rehabilitation of the runway and its supporting systems to enhance the safety, operational efficiency, and capacity at DXB. Once completed, the project will positively impact the airport's overall travel experience for years to come, said the statement from Dubai Airports. To ensure a seamless traveller experience and provide continuity in customer service while the essential work is being performed, Dubai World Central (DWC) has been handling more than 1,000 flights from several international carriers, including flydubai, SpiceJet, Indigo, Gulf Air, Air India Express and Qatar Airways during the 45-day transition period, it stated. Throughout the temporary closure period, Dubai Airports advises all passengers to carefully check their flight information before setting out for their departure airport and try to plan some extra time to get to and through, the airport to avoid delays or other issues, it added. CHICAGO - Salsa, merengue and reggaeton music blasted from cars driving around Humboldt Park Saturday afternoon as red, white and blue flags with a single star blew in the breeze, some out of car windows and sunroofs and others held by people on the sidewalk. Near the south end of Humboldt Park, on West Division Street and North California Avenue, people lined up along the road, many wearing Puerto Rican flag shirts or dresses as they watched the 44th Annual Puerto Rican Peoples Day Parade reach its end. People shouted, waved and danced as cars, bicyclists and people passed by, blasting music and waving more flags. The Puerto Rican Festival started Thursday and runs through Sunday, with live music and carnival rides in a closed off part of the southeast corner of Humboldt Park. On Saturday afternoon, the parade added to the festivities as Puerto Ricans in Chicago displayed their pride and joy in their heritage. Vendors sold food like savory and sweet empanadas, papas rellenos potato balls stuffed with seasoned ground beef tostones, bichos grilled pork or chicken skewers with onion, bell pepper and tomato and jugo de parcha or passion fruit juice. Other vendors along the park sold flags, T-shirts, hats, and other accessories, most with the Puerto Rican flag or its colors. Dasani Saldana, 13, whose family is from Puerto Rico, wrapped a large Puerto Rican flag around her back like a cape as she watched the parade with her friend, her mom and her moms friend. It was her third parade, but the second one she remembers because she was a baby when her mom took her to her first parade, Saldana said. She said she enjoys the food, hearing her Spanish language and seeing other Puerto Ricans in her community celebrating their culture together at the Puerto Rican Festival and parade. We can show where we are from, Saldana said. What Puerto Rico is about. After the parade, on a residential street south of the park, Edras Andujar grilled pork bichos to sell, as people sat around him on lawn chars, talking and drinking. People danced along to merengue waiting for the food to finish cooking. Jalesa Trotman took her daughter and nieces to the parade. It was her second time going to the festival, a convenient walking distance from her home, she said. We love it because the community just comes out and you see everybody together and having a good time. Its amazing, Trotman said. Compared to all the bad stuff you hear about Chicago, its like one big unity event for everybody. Trotmans grandparents are Puerto Rican and Mexican, and while she hasnt been to the island yet, she hopes to visit Puerto Rico someday. Going to the festival, she said feels welcome into her culture, and sees it as an opportunity to teach her daughter about their heritage and background. She said having her daughter and nieces come out and see and play with other kids that look like them and share their culture is a great way for them to learn about themselves. I feel like kids learn through experience, she said. So in order for them to understand what they are and who theyre about and what they can possibly do with their life, they have to be exposed to it. Iris Bellido moved to the U.S. from Puerto Rico when she was 1, and was raised in Humboldt Park. Shes gone to the festival almost every year since she was a child, she said. Thank God that finally COVID is over and we were able to celebrate it and feel back to normal, she said. And celebrate it the way we usually do. So that was a relief. As she waited in line to get into the festival, Bellido listed the many things she enjoys about the festival and about her culture the food, how people dress, the colors, the flag, the music, especially bomba y plena. Bomba and Plena are traditional music styles that reflect the African heritage of Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans are loud people that they love music and they love to dance, Bellido said with a giggle. And...the ladies are known for their big butt and curly hair. And they just love to have fun, listen to music, dance. And eat Puerto Rican food. Carmen Malave was at the parade with her youngest daughter, Heather Rodriguez and her three granddaughters, Ruby, 7, Naya, 8, and Sonie, 9. All three girls wore Puerto Rican flag dresses. Malave said she used to bring her own three kids to the parade when they were younger. Growing up in Humboldt Park, being a single mom, raising three kids, its not easy, she said. But, you know, I did it and even though theyre older Im still there. Now shes enjoying watching them start their own families and watching them share the culture with their children. It had been a while since they had participated in the festivities, as they avoided some of the violence in the area, Rodriguez said, as her daughter Ruby hugged her. This is her first time here, actually, Rodriguez said of her daughter. Thats why I wanted to bring her, just to experience her culture, get a little knowledge of where she comes from. Shes loving it. She cant stop dancing. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The Illinois Republican Party has successfully avoided being dragged into the hard-right camp at the state level for decades. Those days may be over. With relatively liberal Republicans Jim Thompson, Jim Edgar and then George Ryan as governor, the state never embraced the sweeping policy changes which emerged from the Reagan Revolution and defined the national party for decades. The Illinois AFL-CIO endorsed Thompsons last reelection bid. The National Abortion Rights Action League endorsed Edgars first gubernatorial run. Ryan campaigned to the left of his 1998 Democratic opponent on guns, abortion and gay rights. They were all from the governing wing of the party, eschewing the rabble on the far right and occasionally batting them off like flies. While Bruce Rauner defined himself by his rabidly anti-union stances, he was pro-choice enough to sign a bill that provided Medicaid funding for abortions. He never supported Donald Trump, even though the two shared several personality traits. That distance from the far right helped statewide Republicans win general elections in moderate-to-liberal Illinois, particularly after the state leaned harder Democratic when Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992. But if a recent Sun-Times/WBEZ poll is even close to accurate, those days may finally be behind the party. And, consequently, their statewide fate will likely be sealed without a sea change in Illinois political behavior and demographics. The new poll has Sen. Darren Bailey trouncing the establishments choice Richard Irvin by 15 points, 32-17. Bailey not only leads among downstate Republicans by 24 points, hes also ahead in the suburbs. Another 27 percent were undecided, with Jesse Sullivan the only other candidate polling in the double digits (11). This is the second poll in a row showing a Bailey lead. Hard-right activist and radio host Dan Proft released a poll at the beginning of last week showing Bailey with a seven-point margin. What has happened to Irvin and his $53 million war chest, most of it supplied by the states wealthiest resident, Ken Griffin? One huge factor is that Gov. Pritzker, the Democratic Governors Association and Darren Bailey, along with his big-money backer Dick Uihlein, have so far managed to turn this race into the same sort of traditional GOP primary like other, more conservative states have seen for years and years, but that Illinois has generally avoided. They have reshaped the playing field and it has become untenable for the more moderate Richard Irvin. After months of Irvin pounding Darren Bailey for being some sort of closet Democrat, the Democrats, Bailey and Dan Proft spent millions to prove without a shadow of a doubt that Bailey was a solid Trumpster. And by deriding Bailey for being too conservative for Illinois, the Democrats have also apparently managed to so far convince many rank and file Republicans that they arent actually trying to advance Baileys candidacy (even though the Democrats are clearly doing that very thing). The Irvin campaign claims that the Democrats are on pace to spend $32 million against their guy, although their numbers show that the Dems have only spent $15-plus million so far. Uihlein has contributed $17 million to Bailey and Profts People Who Play by the Rules PAC, more than hes ever done here. Uihleins big spending and the willingness of the Democrats to literally spend whatever it took seems to have caught Irvins team by surprise. Another factor could be that voters finally caught on to a big Irvin lie. Darren Bailey is one of the most far-right legislators in the state. Once voters saw through Irvins game, everything else he said could be disregarded. And Pritzker has come on strong in recent days with two very hard-hitting ads trumpeting some opposition research on Irvin that clearly left deep marks. Irvin spent $3.6 million on advertising during the last week of May. By the first week of June, that spending had dropped to less than $800,000. The Irvin campaign allowed all of its downstate broadcast TV ads to expire last week. Theyre now focusing solely on the Chicago media market. The story from inside is that regular downstate Republicans are already done with Irvin, so they want to focus on city, suburban and exurban Republicans with more Illinois-style Republican messaging. But the party has clearly changed. They have only one narrow path out, and its pretty rocky and steep. Irvin has taken to repeating a mantra that Pritzker is backing Bailey because he knows Bailey cant win. But by doing so hes essentially making the Democrats own case that Bailey is too conservative for Illinois. And that risks firing up the hardcore base even more. Rich Miller publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Country music star Toby Keith said Sunday, June 12, that he has stomach cancer. He said in a statement posted on Twitter that he was diagnosed last fall and has undergone chemotherapy, radiation treatment and surgery. "So far, so good," he wrote. "I need time to breathe, recover and relax." Keith said he is "looking forward to spending this time" with his family. "But I will see the fans sooner or later," he wrote. "I can't wait." The 60-year-old artist released his debut album, "Toby Keith," in 1993, according to IMDb. It contained his first chart-topping song, "Should've Been A Cowboy." He's since had "42 top 10 hits, 32 No. 1s, 40 million albums sold and more than 10 billion streams," his website says. Keith was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2021, according to CMT News. He started the Toby Keith Foundation, which provides support to children with cancer, in 2006, the foundation's website says. . In 2014, the foundation opened OK Kids Korral, which provides free housing to the families of children receiving cancer treatment in Oklahoma City. 2022 The Charlotte Observer. Visit charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. A suspect got away with an unknown amount of money late Saturday when he held up a Winston-Salem Marcos Pizza at gunpoint, according to authorities. A man with a white T-shirt over his face entered the business at 4908 Reynolda Road just after 11 p.m., showed a handgun and demanded money from the register, the Winston-Salem Police Department said in a press release. The suspect was last seen fleeing the business on foot. Anyone with information related to the robbery is asked to call the Winston-Salem Police Department at 336-773-7700, Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800, or 336-728-3904 for Spanish speakers. Information also can be shared on the Crime Stoppers of Winston-Salem Facebook page. Authorities say theyre looking for a suspect in a late-night shooting in north Winston-Salem Saturday that ended with a victim being hospitalized. The Winston-Salem Police Department responded at about 11:35 p.m. to a report of gunfire in the 1700 block of North Liberty Street, just north of East 17th Street, according to a press release. When officers arrived, they found Jovar Lmor Ross, 44, with a single gunshot wound. Ross was transported to a local hospital. Investigators determined Ross had been shot by an unknown suspect behind a building at 1713 N. Liberty St. The structure is a converted house that now is home to Neighborhoods Hands, a community outreach organization. Anyone with information related to the shooting is asked to call the Winston-Salem Police Department at 336-773-7700, Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800, or 336-728-3904 for Spanish speakers. Information also can be shared on the Crime Stoppers of Winston-Salem Facebook page. The first public report from the Jan. 6 House select committee on prime-time TV Thursday offered little that was new, critics say. We dont know if wed say little, but what was new was substantial especially committee member Rep. Liz Cheneys claim that following the attack on the Capitol, some Republican legislators asked then-President Trump to provide pardons for them before leaving office. Wed like to know who and wed like to know what precisely they did that would require pardons. As for what we already knew, there were bits and pieces, dribs and dabs. Like Attorney General William Barrs confrontation with Trump, spelling out that the allegations of extensive voter fraud in which he took comfort were bulls---. The FBI had looked into every claim of ballot stuffing and manipulated voting machines and found them to be complete nonsense. Though that didnt stop Trump from repeating them ad nauseum. But the committee succeeded in taking the various parts and connecting them to create a compelling narrative. In short, the committee made a powerful case that Trump summoned stand back and stand by and supported the attack on the Capitol in an attempt to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to overthrow the election results just one part of his plan to stay in office despite losing the election. And, despite Republicans shameful attempts to downplay it, the attack was horrifying violent and destructive as exemplified by the testimony of Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who was seriously injured by rioters as well as with explicit and previously unseen video from the day. That no guns were present is of little significance when police are outnumbered by a mob that uses pipes, bats and bear spray. These facts should be firmly cemented in every Americans mind. Also, at this point, there should be no doubt that Trump legitimately lost the election, a fact that practically every member of Trumps inner circle, from Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to daughter Ivanka Trump, knew on Jan. 6. For congressional Republicans and Fox News, the only major network that didnt air the report, Thursdays task was distraction: Talk fervently about anything and everything but Jan. 6. Rep. Jim Jordan tweeted, The primetime political theater is an attempt to distract from (real) issues and avoid addressing the many crises created under Joe Biden. But the committee was instituted more than a year ago, before the price of gas soared. Congress activities are often timed for political advantage, but this presentation was going to be held at some point. To allege that it was engineered to be a distraction is distinctly obtuse. More important than the timing, more important than our propensity for examining committee members performance, are the facts themselves and their implications for our future. The economy can legitimately be called a mess. It deserves attention from President Joe Biden and Congress. But the price of gas is transitory. Itll change. If we lose our democracy the ability of the American people to choose its own leaders and transfer power in a peaceful fashion we may never get it back. It would mean the end of the United States as the world has known it since its inception. The threat of Jan. 6 is still alive, and not only because Trump remains free and could run for president again in 2024. Election officials, like Maricopa County Board of Supervisors chair Clint Hickman, have been targeted by Trump supporters, intimidated and threatened. Some, including poll workers, have quit their jobs to protect their own safety. Other believers of the Big Lie are currently running for political positions that involve counting votes with Trumps endorsement. There, they may attempt to undermine election results with which theyre unhappy. The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who were heavily involved in the insurrection, now seek to influence local politics. Some Proud Boys members have spoken at school board meetings in North Carolina. And a significant portion of the population continues to allow itself to believe in disinformation. The greatest threats to our democracy still lie ahead. The Jan. 6 committees work is essential. Its performing a patriotic service for the country. The least the rest of us could do is watch. A sad nation When we stand by and allow children to be slaughtered, we are a sad nation. When we do nothing to stop it, when we are complacent, and say it is someone elses problem, we share the guilt. When we say there is nothing we can do, we are wrong. Regardless of political party or being right or left, it is wrong to allow little children to be shot and killed. There are many different ideas about how to stop gun violence. It isnt necessary to argue that there is only one way to stop it. We need to choose several ways and give them the backing of the law. Background checks, outlawing assault rifles, mental health funding, raising the age to buy a gun, better lock systems for gun owners ... all of these affect unnecessary gun deaths. This is the time to make our voices heard. We will not allow our children to be slaughtered. Our lawmakers are there to serve the people, and we need to let them know our options. Jodi Preslar Winston-Salem A good time Many in conservative politics are warning us that a great replacement is occurring. Democrats, they say, are deliberately encouraging immigration of people of color into the United States through relaxed border security, political correctness and wokeness to seize power and replace white people and white culture, a strategy that, among the loudest and most annoying voices, qualifies as genocide. First of all, Democrats arent clever enough to hatch a scheme like that. And secondly, dont threaten me with a good time. Having been white my entire life, I can say with certainty that our culture is not superior among races. I like wearing Hawaiian shirts and listening to Arcade Fire as much as the next white man, but if every week some Caucasian reacts to the possibility of having a Haitian neighbor by shooting up an elementary school, Id say white people deserve to be replaced. Having groovier music, tastier food and aging more gracefully would be no skin off my back. We could certainly have better beauty standards than whatever all-beige, poor-as-a-snake Kardashian theyre selling us. The average African can probably speak four languages, while the Americans who think themselves to be ubermensch barely have a passing grade in one. Like someone who insists their hometown is the best because theyve never left it, white people across the country are only afraid of foreigners because they dont know how good it could be. They say the average American will no longer be white by 2050, and I for one cant wait. John Belmont Winston-Salem The very day Wow just wow. I had to double-check to be sure this wasnt The Onion or fake Fox News or something. But it was true. The very day that a threatening gunman shows up at the home of a Supreme Court justice (Police: Kavanaugh targeted for death, June 9), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pushes a bill to increase security for Supreme Court justices. The very day. Never mind that Kavanaugh was in no real danger. After all, U.S. Marshals were on the scene and quickly arrested the man. Republicans have sat on their hands for years and years and years while our children were being slaughtered, offering nothing but thoughts and prayers. But one threat to a higher-up muckety-muck and Republicans rush a bill to the Senate floor. There is no better example, Republican friends: Your legislators dont give a damn about you or your children. All theyre interested in is stoking culture wars to get you riled up so youll vote against your very own children. Leave the cult. Howard Greene Winston-Salem Special permit Machine gun ownership requires a special permit. Why not apply the same standards, vetting and permitting process for assault weapons, silencers and other weapons of war? I believe that will help protect our children. John Fountain Kernersville Faulty design was the culprit in the fall of the 40-ton Hickory arches, according to a preliminary report from a forensic engineering firm. The report dated May 23 was completed by Dara Thomas, a forensic structural engineer with the firm FORCON International. Thomas concluded, the collapse was due to inadequate structural design by Oregon-based Western Wood Structures and specifically Paul Gilham, Western Woods chief engineer. Thomas found Gilhams approach to the design so flawed she filed a complaint about Gilham with the North Carolina Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors in April. Thomas and her firm were asked to produce the report by attorneys on behalf of Neill Grading and Construction Co., the contractor for the City Walk project. The City Walk included the decorative arches and accompanying pedestrian bridge. The city of Hickory sued Neill Grading for negligence and contractual breach in the arch collapse in April. Western Wood, the subcontractor tasked with designing and fabricating the arches, and Dane Construction, the subcontractor responsible for raising the arches, are also named in the suit. With the revelation of the report and the complaint filed against Gilham, the city amended the lawsuit Thursday to include Gilham himself as a defendant. The updated lawsuit alleges negligence in Western Woods design of the arches. The report is the first document to be made public providing any sort of detailed answer as to why the $750,000 wooden arches, which were touted by city leaders an iconic landmark, came crashing down. Why did the arches fall? The wind speeds near the arches when they collapsed in the early moments of Feb. 18 were not extreme. Citing information from Weather Underground, Thomas wrote that sustained wind speeds were 18 mph with gusts around 33 mph. So how did winds of that magnitude manage to knock down a structure that had been installed less than a year prior? After making a visit to the scene in the days following the collapse and reviewing relevant documents, Thomas concluded Gilham failed to meet specifications for the structure, made poor design choices and did not consider the role of key forces that would ultimately bring down the arches. Thomas emphasized the degree to which the arches were able to shift horizontally. Project specifications stipulated the movement of the arch under full wind load at around five inches. The design Western Wood crafted allowed for nearly three feet of motion under full load, Thomas wrote. Once the structure was moved by the wind, the weight of the arches could bring other forces into play, forces that were not properly accounted for in the design, according to the report. So even though those wind speeds are nowhere near the hurricane wind loads that could be encountered, it may have been enough to displace all that weight to the north and cause rotation forces to kick in, Thomas wrote. Once that rotation kicked in, the structure offered next to nothing in the way of resistance. The base plates were designed in such a way that they were allowed to freely pivot/rotate once the arches began to fall over, according to the report. Thomas wrote that the four guy wires securing the arches were the sole wind-resisting components. Elsewhere in the report, she wrote that the wires were not designed according to specifications for wind pressure. The wires were designed for 32.16 pounds-per-square-foot of wind while the specs called for a minimum of 35 pounds-per-square-foot. Summing things up, Thomas wrote: There is no way any of the structure, as designed, could resist the additional loads due to the dead weight shifting out of plane. She also faulted Gilham for apparently only modeling the upper arch in his design and not taking the second arch into account. Even though the upper and lower arch essentially only touched each other at one place the apex where the cables interact the structure certainly acted as one structure during the failure, so they should have been analyzed together, Thomas wrote. Gilham had not responded to a request for comment as of noon Friday. The report included additional details highlighting the destructive impact of the fall of the arches. Thomas described the base plates and anchor bolts as either deformed or completely pulled away from the foundation and wrote that a guy wire was nearly pulled completely apart. Thomas wrote she found no fault on the part of Neill Grading or Dane Construction and these companies merely followed instructions provided by Western Wood. Even with the written assessment from Neill Gradings expert, the city of Hickorys amended complaint makes clear the city is still pursuing claims against all three companies and now Gilham. Kevin Griffin is the City of Hickory reporter at the Hickory Daily Record. Lincoln, Nebraska (May 18, 2021) Union Bank & Trust (UBT) is pleased to announce that it has recently promoted Jeff Aldrich to investment officer account manager and hired Lars Gallagher as assistant vice president account manger within its Union Investment Management Group (UIMG). Aldrich joined Union Bank in 2006 and has served in numerous capacities, most recently as senior educator in Retirement Plan Services (RPS). Managing investment portfolios and offering financial planning services, creating and implementing goal-based financial plans for clients, and preparing and assisting in providing equity and fixed-income analytical support will be key roles for Aldrich in his new position, in addition to serving as an account manager for the RPS, UIMG, and Personal Trust departments. A 2006 graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University, Aldrich has also completed numerous professional certifications, including the Institute of Business & Finance Certified Funds Specialist (CFS) and College for Financial Planning Chartered Mutual Fund Counselor (CMFC), and is an accredited portfolio management advisor (APMA). He is currently working on his Certification Education Program through the College for Financial Planning. Gallagher has worked as a financial advisor for the past 14 years, helping develop, implement, and monitor financial plans for individual clients and small businesses. In his new position, hell focus on fiduciary investment account management with an emphasis on accounts held in trust. A 2010 graduate of University of Nebraska Lincoln, Gallagher obtained his certified financial planner in 2020 and chartered financial consultant certifications in 2021. He serves the community as a Boy Scout cubmaster for Pack 43 in Lincoln and is a lead audio engineer at Christ Lincoln Church. Union Bank & Trust is a privately owned Nebraska bank that offers complete banking, lending, investment, and trust services, in addition to serving as program manager for Nebraskas NEST College Savings Plan. The bank has 38 full-service and loan production offices in Nebraska and Kansas. It is the third-largest privately owned bank in Nebraska, with bank assets of $6.5 billion and trust assets of $46.8 billion as of December 31, 2021. The number of Lincoln students who showed up late to class or not at all rose significantly this past year, highlighting the difficulties some have faced readjusting to in-person learning. According to Lincoln Public Schools attendance data through March 31, student absences at the middle and high school level both excused and unexcused were up 32% compared with last year. Instances of students being tardy to any class in middle school and high school increased at an even higher rate 39%. In the 2020-21 school year, more than 16% of LPS students were chronically absent defined when a student misses at least 10% of school according to Nebraska Department of Education data. That's up from 11.7% in 2019-20 and 14.1% in 2018-19. The surge in chronic absenteeism is attributable to the pandemic, officials say, which reached unprecedented levels in January and February. In total, more than 14,000 students were forced to stay home since Aug. 8 because of COVID-19. In many cases, students were asked to quarantine for up to 14 days before restrictions were loosened. But officials also say increased mental health and behavioral issues among young people as they returned to the classroom have led to increased tardiness and absenteeism including truancy, in which a student skips class altogether. "We're highly concerned about absences and tardies, because they have an impact on instruction. Ultimately, that has an impact on student learning outcomes," said LPS Associate Superintendent for Instruction Matt Larson. Through March, middle and high school students missed a combined 1.5 million class periods, according to the data. Last year, that number was just more than a million during the same time span. The number of times students were tardy to class totaled nearly 500,000, up from 301,000 a year before. LPS policy states that a student shall be considered tardy if they are not in their assigned classroom when the tardy bell rings unless excused. Students who are tardy to class or truant can be asked to make up lost work at another time, be restricted from extracurricular and other activities, removed from a particular class or face other disciplinary measures, like suspensions. In general, Title I schools in which at least 40% students are in the federal free- and-reduced-lunch program saw more absences and tardies than non-Title I schools. Coming back to school a year later and relearning routines such as showing up to class on time was a challenge for many, said Director of Student Services Russ Uhing. Title I schools had more remote learners when LPS used a hybrid model of in-person and virtual learning in the 2020-21 school year. High schools also operated at half-capacity for three quarters that year. "For some of them, (there were) five quarters they were out of school," Uhing said. "And when you are 14, 15, 16, that's a whole new development of habits. And so being able to come in and go into that routine of school and not only that routine but the expectations academically and so on that was a challenge for some kids." Absences are broken down into three categories: parent-acknowledged, illness and truancy. If a student misses more than 20 days out of the year, that student can be referred to the Lancaster County Attorney's Office. From August to April, LPS referred 320 students, marking a significant increase since referrals dropped following a peak in the 2016-17 school year (334). Last year, 255 students were referred and in 2019-20 in which schools were closed for an entire quarter just 168 students were referred. Out of those 320 referrals, 145 students were offered a spot in the truancy diversion program, a collaboration between the Lancaster County Juvenile Court, the county attorney and LPS. The voluntary program offered at five of LPS' six high schools is an alternative to traditional court proceedings in which students work with school social workers to improve attendance, grades and their attitude toward school, while examining the barriers at home that prevent the students from coming to school regularly. A truancy diversion program is also offered at the middle school level. Brady Tolle, a truancy diversion social worker at Lincoln High School, typically works with about 20 students going through the program at a time. While he acknowledged that students in diversion have increased over the past two years, the reasons have remained the same, whether it be transportation obstacles, mental health issues or a tough family situation. "I think that it's been very similar to the reasons that were there before, it might just be a little bit exasperated," Tolle said. Before any intervention begins, the County Attorney's Office reviews each case to see if a violation of the state's mandatory attendance laws has occurred or if an intervention is necessary. In many instances, referrals are turned down at that point, said Christopher Turner, chief deputy county attorney of the office's juvenile division. This year, more than 15% of total referrals were reviewed and ultimately declined at that stage. In most cases, students who are not offered diversion either participate in an alternative program, enter the court system or were already on juvenile court probation. This year, LPS received a $226,000 grant from the Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement for its truancy diversion program as a way to prevent children from entering the criminal justice system. LPS employed some of its federal coronavirus relief aid to pay a staff member at each school to assist with attendance for an additional period this year. That work involved talking with students and collaborating with parents to reinforce the importance of showing up on time, Uhing said. Each time a student is truant, a parent is notified with a robocall or text. LPS also sends letters to parents when students have accumulated five, 10 or 15 excused absences. Jake Bogus, an eighth grade history teacher at Schoo Middle School, has raised questions to the school board about the district's response to increased behavioral issues and its effects on teachers. In emailed comments to the Journal Star, Bogus said "this has been my most-challenging year as an educator more challenging than the hybrid teaching year during the pandemic. "My professional responsibilities remain the same. However, I feel like Im playing therapist, counselor and parent for longer periods of time during my day," Bogus said. He's noticed increased truancies and tardies at Schoo and said it's his "biggest concern," adding that he feels like the consequences don't outweigh skipping class. "There is a blatant refusal to comply or listen to any adult direction," Bogus added. "This issue isn't necessarily new. We just have a larger number of students who are displaying apathy and insubordination." Bogus lauded Schoo staff and administration and said LPS' behavioral support system can work, but added more needs to be done at the district level to address the behavioral crisis and retain staff. Lincoln has not experienced the staff attrition notably plaguing districts in and around Omaha, but it is not immune to departures, either. As of March 15, when most retirement decisions have been made, 240 certified staff and administrators (6.2% of staff) indicated they were leaving LPS. At that time last year, the number was 190. Resignations among teachers have stayed relatively flat, however. As of May 10, 159 teachers had resigned, compared with 148 last year and 156 in the 2019-20 school year. Lincoln Education Association President Deb Rasmussen told the Journal Star last month the staff departure data was not concerning. "I'm not in panic mode," she said. Statewide, chronic absenteeism has been trending upward during the pandemic. In the 2020-21 school year, nearly 20% of students missed more than 10% of the school year, up from 14.6% the year before, according to state education data. It's unclear how many of those absences are COVID-related, since the way districts counted absences during the pandemic especially if a student was learning remotely differed across the state, a Nebraska Department of Education spokesperson said. Research has shown that as few as four days of missed school has a measurable impact on student achievement. Chronic absenteeism also tends to disproportionately affect students with disabilities, students of color and those from low-income backgrounds. Tackling the attendance issue at LPS must be a collaborative effort, officials said, involving students, parents and schools. At the building level, attendance will be a particular focus for principals and staff as part of summer planning for next fall. "We're going to emphasize that this has to be a focus of everybody's work at the start of the school year," Larson said. "Because, if we can get off to a very positive start at the start of the school year, it will help reestablish that norm of attendance and being to class on time." Contact the writer at zhammack@journalstar.com or 402-473-7225. On Twitter @HammackLJS Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Airbus and Kansai Airports have signed an agreement to explore the use of hydrogen at three of the Groups airports in Japan (Kansai International Airport, Osaka International Airport, and Kobe Airport). Through this memorandum of understanding (MoU), Airbus and Kansai Airports will jointly prepare a roadmap to address challenges and define an advocacy plan for hydrogen needs. Both parties would lead the study into the development of infrastructure for the use of hydrogen in the aviation sector. Each partner will leverage their complementary expertise to help define the potential opportunities that hydrogen can offer in support of the decarbonisation of the aviation industry. Airbus will provide aircraft characteristics, fleet energy usage, and insight on hydrogen-powered aircraft for ground operations. Kansai Airports will study the infrastructure required at the airports for the introduction of hydrogen-fuelled aircraft. We are very pleased to have Kansai Airports, one of Japan's major airport groups, on board, said Stephane Ginoux, Head of North Asia region for Airbus and President of Airbus Japan. Hydrogen is one of the most promising zero-emission technologies as it can be created from renewable energy and does not produce emissions. Renewable hydrogen will help decarbonise not only aircraft but also all airport-associated ground transport. We have set a target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 for the three airports we operate, and this partnership with leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus will help us reach this goal, said Yoshiyuki Yamaya, Representative Director and CEO of Kansai Airports. Benoit Rulleau, Representative Director and Co-CEO,. We are glad to extend here in Japan the joint efforts between Airbus and our shareholder VINCI Airports, leading the introduction of hydrogen in airports, to decarbonize air transport. Japan boasts a very active environment in the field of hydrogen development. Airbus is already working in partnership with airports around the world including the MoU with VINCI Airports, to lead the scale-up of hydrogen use in the aviation industry. This MoU with Kansai Airports is the first one Airbus has signed with an airport operator in Japan and follows the one signed with Kawasaki Heavy Industries last month to work together towards the realisation of a hydrogen society in Japan. TradeArabia News Service Lincoln would add firefighters and police officers, 911 dispatchers, public health nurses and a host of other new positions as part of the mayors biennial budget, which she will present to the City Council on Monday. The budget bolstered by an anticipated 18% increase in sales tax revenue in 2022-23 and a smaller 1.2% increase the following year adds 67 new city jobs to better serve the public, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird said. The number of city employees per capita has decreased from 9.1 to 7.8 over the past 16 years, Gaylor-Baird said, when Lincolns population grew by 53,000 people. This budget enhances our strong commitment to customer service for both our residents and the private-sector partners with whom we collaborate to grow a more prosperous and vibrant community, she said. The past two budgets, each single-year budgets instead of the traditional biennial city budget because of the uncertainty of the pandemic, worked to meet the challenges of the pandemic and to recover. Now, low unemployment, and record-setting building and development activity, marked by a record 2,273 building permits issued for homes, duplexes, townhomes and apartments, is evidence of strong growth, she said. As we turn to the future we are looking to build on that success and use it as a springboard to propel us forward, building on the success of a growing economy, she said. The $243.5 million tax-funded budget for 2022-23 represents a 7.4% increase in spending or nearly $16.7 million. The budget will increase $9.8 million, or 4%, in the second year of the budget cycle. The two primary sources of revenue are property and sales taxes, though various fees and an occupation tax comprise about a quarter of the citys revenue. Last year, the city benefited from a volatile housing market that resulted in a record increase in valuations and more than $3 million more property tax revenue than it anticipated. This year, the assessors office doesnt plan a total revaluation of property which means valuations shouldnt go up so dramatically and the city built its budget based on an assumption that property valuations will rise 3% in 2022-23 and 7% the following year. That means the city anticipates getting $77.7 million in property tax revenue the first year and $83.2 million the following year. The budget also includes some unused property tax revenue from the current budget. Robust sales tax revenue which officials expect to level out in the coming years is expected to bring in $99.8 million in 2022-23 and $101 million the following year. The city plans to lower its tax rate by a half-cent, saving taxpayers $1.2 million. The overall tax rate for the general fund, plus smaller levies for the library, police and fire pension and bond repayment will be 31.293 cents per $100 of valuation. The owner of a $226,342 home in Lincoln the average price in 2021 would pay $708.29 to fund city government, a savings of $11.31 The citys share of property taxes collected is 16%. The lions share of a homeowners tax bill 61% goes to support Lincoln Public Schools. More than half of new positions in the budget will bolster public safety and health departments. The police department will hire five additional police officers in 2023-24, the second year of the budget cycle, spending 2022-23 trying to fill what the police chief has said is about 40 vacancies. The department also will hire three civilian employees, to free up more officer time. The city also plans to add $150,000 for mental health services crisis-response programs. The fire department will hire six additional firefighters, and the city will add two emergency dispatchers. It will also add an additional $250,000 for fire equipment and will replace one fire station and make improvements on two others. The health department will add eight public health nurses to expand a health visitation program to support women and infants, a program now available to low-income residents but that will be available to all new mothers. Existing money will pay for expanding the program the first year, and it will cost $153,633 the following year. After that, the annual cost will be $737,725, a portion of which will be paid by the county. The health department also will add two environmental health educators, a dental assistant to help provide care to low-income residents and one animal control officer to address what has been a 22% increase in pets since 2007. Other new positions include an economic development specialist, a human resources recruitment manager, a fleet manager to coordinate the city's different vehicle fleets and a cybersecurity manager for the city's water supply. The budget also adds other positions in building and safety, finance, purchasing, the city clerk's office, the water department and StarTran. Sherry Wolfe Drbal, the citys budget officer, said each officer and firefighter costs about $100,000 for salaries and benefits, as will some other positions such as the fleet manager. Others are slightly less costly. Not all positions are paid through the tax-funded budget, she said. Some, such as the animal control officer, will be paid through pet licensing fees, and others are paid with federal funds. Some are in joint city-county offices, so the county assumes a portion of the cost. The mayor would continue funding added in the last budget from the additional property tax revenue, including $100,000 each year for creating inclusive playgrounds, $1.57 million each year for sidewalk replacement, $244,000 for tree trimming and $710,000 to increase affordable housing including creating a rental rehab program. Bus riders who have been able to ride for free because of pandemic aid will have to begin paying again, but will pay $1.25 instead of $1.75 for regular bus fare and $2.50 instead of $3.50 for paratransit. The mayor plans to spend $42.6 million in 2022-23 and $45.5 million the following year on street improvements and new construction. That includes about $15 million each year in revenue from the quarter-cent sales tax for streets. Other capital outlays include: * $5.3 million for StarTran, the bulk of which is federal money, for, among other things, new paratransit vans and to make bus stop improvements. * $33.8 million in 2022-23 and $40.7 million the following year for seven miles of water main replacement, 3 miles of new water mains, replacement of lead service lines, and water quality measures. * $19.4 million in 2022-23 and $23.4 million the following year for wastewater improvements, including sewer main repair and extension, increasing capacity and other improvements at the Theresa Street plant. The City Council can propose changes to the budget and will vote on them before an Aug. 1 public hearing. First reading on the final budget will be Aug. 15, followed by adoption Aug. 22. Reach the writer at 402-473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSreist Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Lincoln native Michael (Duling) D'Angora, who vowed he would never attend the Tony Awards until he was nominated for one, will be inside Radio City Music Hall on Sunday. There was a time when D'Angora believed the best way to watch the Tonys was from home, with a bottle of wine and while wearing pajamas. "Being there, everyone is very nervous and intense, worrying if their bow tie is on straight," said D'Angora, one of the producers of "Caroline, or Change," which has been nominated for best revival of a musical. And therein lies the issue for D'Angora, the 2000 Lincoln East High School graduate who fell in love with the theater by learning to do everything from building sets to taking tickets at the Lincoln Community Playhouse. What should he wear? His Tony Award debut comes with a red carpet conundrum that has required more thought than he could have ever imagined. Conventional wisdom might dictate that he dress conventionally, i.e., black tie and a tuxedo, but those who know D'Angora are aware he's anything but conventional. "That is something that I need to figure out," he said recently as he talked on the phone and walked through Central Park on a warm spring day. "That is the question of the moment. I have been known to wear some pretty ridiculous things in my time. Well see what happens. I will probably go classic just because Im feeling classic right now." There's also a certain amount of reverence he believes should be paid to the event, especially given that it will be his first time there. "Who knows if I will ever get to go again," he said. "Pictures last forever. For the first time, I should do something kind of timeless in case I never get to go again." He could be a one-and-done, a one-hit wonder, but looking at his career arc what he's done and what he's got on the back burner you get the feeling this could be the start of something grand. D'Angora and his husband Tom are also nominated for another Tony for an off-Broadway show they produced called "Harmony," which was written by Barry Manilow and has been so well received that there is a good chance it will soon find its way to the neon lights of Broadway. "That's what we're hoping," he said. Before the pandemic, Michael and Tom were gaining traction with an off-Broadway satirical musical they wrote called A Musical About Star Wars, which Michael described as "bizarre and incredibly stupid." Still, it was funny and quirky, the kind of show that can attract a cult following. The hope is that "Harmony," bolstered by Manilow's universal popularity, will have the same kind of interest. Whether it gravitates to the level of "Caroline, or Change" remains to be seen. The musical made its Broadway debut in 2004 and Michael and Tom were immediately enamored with it. Set in Louisiana in the 1960s, it gives a glimpse of a Jewish family and its Black maid during the days around President John F. Kennedy's assassination. "It explores the topics of race and religion and politics in a very intimate, close-to-home way," Michael said. "Its a very powerful story that is sadly still very, very relevant." The story centers around the maid, Caroline, who has four kids and makes $30 a week, which forces her to make some tough parental decisions Christmas gifts or dentists appointments? every payday. Meanwhile, the Jewish man, a doctor, is constantly reminding his own children about the privilege of having money and the responsibility that comes with that. "It's a beautiful story that we fell in love with it and were almost obsessed with," Michael said. "We wanted to bring it back, but we had heard there was already a revival of it in London and they were considering bringing it to Broadway. "We ended up hooking up with them because it's something we've wanted to bring to the masses for a long time." Reach the writer at 402-473-7391 or psangimino@journalstar.com. On Twitter @psangimino Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukrainian and British officials warned Saturday that Russian forces are relying on weapons able to cause mass casualties as they try to make headway in capturing eastern Ukraine and fierce, prolonged fighting depletes resources on both sides. Russian bombers have likely been launching heavy 1960s-era anti-ship missiles in Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry said. The Kh-22 missiles were primarily designed to destroy aircraft carriers using a nuclear warhead. When used in ground attacks with conventional warheads, they are highly inaccurate and therefore can cause severe collateral damage and casualties, the ministry said. Both sides have expended large amounts of weaponry in what has become a grinding war of attrition for the eastern region of coal mines and factories known as the Donbas, placing huge strains on their resources and stockpiles. Russia is likely using the 5.5-tonne (6.1-ton) anti-ship missiles because it is running short of more precise modern missiles, the British ministry said. It gave no details of where exactly such missiles are thought to have been deployed. As Russia also sought to consolidate its hold over territory seized so far in the 108-day war, the U.S. Defense Secretary said Moscow's invasion of Ukraine is what happens when oppressors trample the rules that protect us all. Its what happens when big powers decide that their imperial appetites matter more than the rights of their peaceful neighbors, Lloyd Austin said during a visit to Asia. And its a preview of a possible world of chaos and turmoil that none of us would want to live in. GOVERNOR: FLAMETHROWERS USED IN LUHANSK A Ukrainian governor accused Russia of using incendiary weapons in a village in the eastern province of Luhansk, southwest of the fiercely contested cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. While the use of flamethrowers on the battlefield is legal, provincial Gov. Serhii Haidai alleged the overnight attacks in Vrubivka caused widespread damage to civilian facilities and an unknown number of victims. "At night, the enemy used a flamethrower rocket system many houses burnt down, Haidai wrote on Telegram on Saturday. His claim could not be immediately verified. Sievierodonetsk and neighboring Lysychansk are the last major areas of Luhansk remaining under Ukrainian control. Haidai said Russian forces destroyed railway depots, a brick factory and a glass factory. The Ukrainian army said Saturday that Russian forces also were to launch an offensive on the city of Sloviansk in Donetsk province, which together with Luhansk makes up the Donbas, Moscow-backed rebels have controlled self-proclaimed republics in both provinces since 2014. ZELENSKYY SEEKS MORE EU SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA During a visit to Kyiv by the European Union's top official, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy called for a new round of even stronger EU sanctions against Russia. Zelenskyy called for them to target more Russian officials, including judges, and to hamper the activities of all Russian banks, including that of gas giant Gazprom', as well as all Russian companies helping Moscow in any way. He spoke during a brief media appearance with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the heavily guarded presidential office compound in Ukraine's capital. The pair discussed Ukraines aspirations for EU membership. Zelenskyy, speaking through a translator, said Ukraine will do everything to integrate with the bloc. Russia wants to divide Europe, wants to weaken Europe, he said. Von der Leyen said the EU's executive arm was working day and night on an assessment of Ukraines eligibility as a candidate. The goal is to share it with existing members next week. Zelenskyy and some EU supporters want Ukraine admitted to quickly. Von der Leyen described the membership process as a merit-based path and appealed for Ukraine to strengthen its rule of law, fight corruption and modernize its institutions. She said the EU would assist with the country's reconstruction. UKRAINE PRESIDENT ADDRESSES NATION Zelenskyy said later, in his nightly video address, that fierce street battles were continuing in Sievierodonetsk and he was proud of the Ukrainian defenders who for weeks have held back the Russian advance. Remember how in Russia, in the beginning of May, they hoped to seize all of the Donbas? the president said. Its already the 108th day of the war, already June. Donbas is holding. Zelenskyy said Russian forces are being pushed out of parts of the Kherson region they occupied early in the war. He also reported some success in the Zaporizhzhia region. He added that no one knows how long the war will last, but Ukraine should do everything it can so that the Russians regret everything that they have done and that they answer for every killing and every strike on our beautiful state. BATTLE AT A CHEMICAL PLANT Hundreds of Ukrainian troops remained blockaded inside a chemical plant on the outskirts of Sievierodonetsk, but some of the civilians with them have started to come out, an envoy for Russian-backed separatists said Saturday. Several hundred civilians could still be inside the Azot plant, where they sought safety from the shelling in underground shelters, Rodion Miroshnik said via Telegram. As the circle around the Ukrainian troops tightens, he said, the civilians will be able to leave and Russian forces are preparing transportation for their evacuation. The troops will be allowed to leave only if they lay down their arms and surrender, he added. Luhansk Gov. Haidai said the Russians shelled the plant for hours and a big fire broke out. He made no mention of the troops or civilians referenced by Miroshnik. RUSSIA SETS UP COMPANY TO SELL UKRAINE'S GRAIN Russian-installed officials in Ukraines southern Zaporizhzhia region have set up a company to buy up local grain and resell it on Moscows behalf, a local representative told the Interfax news agency on Saturday. Yevgeny Balitsky, the head of Zaporizhzhia's pro-Russian provisional administration, said the new state-owned grain company has taken control of several facilities. He said the grain will be Russian and we don't care who the buyer will be. It was not clear if the farmers whose grain was being sold by Russia were getting paid. Balitsky said his administration would not forcibly appropriate grain or pressure producers to sell it. Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of stealing Ukraines grain and causing a global food crisis that could cause millions of deaths from hunger. The head of Ukraines presidential office accused Russia's military of shelling and burning grain fields ahead of the harvest. Andriy Yermak alleged Moscow is trying to repeat a Soviet-era famine which claimed the lives of over 3 million Ukrainians in 1932-33. Our soldiers are putting out the fires, but (Russias) 'food terrorism' must be stopped, Yermak wrote Saturday on Telegram. His and Balitsky's claims could not be independently verified. RUSSIAN PASSPORTS FOR UKRAINE RESIDENTS Russian forces occupying parts of southern Ukraine began handing out Russian passports to local residents Saturday. In the Kherson region, 23 residents accepted the documents, including the new Moscow-installed governor, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported. For me this is a truly historic moment. I have always thought that we are one country and one people, the news agency quoted Gov. Volodymyr Saldo as saying. Soldiers also started giving out passports in the occupied city of Melitopol, according to Russian state news agency TASS. A Telegram post by TASS cited a Russian-installed local official as the original source of the information. It did not specify how many residents had requested or received Russian citizenship. Melitopol is located outside of the Donbas in the Zaporizhzhia region. CHILD DEATH TOLL Nearly 800 children have been killed or wounded in Ukraine since the beginning of Russias invasion, Ukrainian authorities said Saturday. According to a statement by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, at least 287 died as a result of military activity, while at least 492 more have been hurt. The statement stressed the figures were not final and said they were based on investigations by juvenile prosecutors. The office said children in Donetsk province have suffered the most, with 217 reported killed or wounded, compared with 132 and 116, respectively, in the Kharkiv and Kyiv regions. CIVILIAN KILLED IN BEACH BLAST Officials in the city of Odesa said Saturday that a man was killed by an explosion while visiting a beach on the Black Sea, where mines are a growing concern. The city council said via Telegram that the man was there with his wife and son despite warnings to stay away from beaches in the area. He was testing the waters temperature and depth when the explosion erupted. Russia and Ukraine each have accused the other of laying mines in the Black Sea. Follow APs coverage of the Ukraine war at 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. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 1872: Fifty-five University of Nebraska graduates received diplomas. Lincoln was only 5 years old yet boasted that it had 6 miles of sidewalks. A herd of Texas cattle being driven through the city created a commotion on the east edge of Lincoln, frightening an English family whose home they engulfed for a while. 1882: The contract to drill the first well for Lincoln's city waterworks was awarded to John Lanham. 1892: Two rival streetcar companies fought in the night for the privilege of laying track in Beatrice. Similar contests were reported in Hastings. An old settlers' picnic at Cushman Park was said to be "a success in every particular." The Honorable J.C.F. McKesson delivered the oration of the day, in which he reviewed the history of Lancaster County from its earliest settlement. 1902: Booker T. Washington, noted black educator born in slavery, delivered the commencement address at the University of Nebraska. 1912: Nebraska Wesleyan University's board of trustees issued notice that any society connected with the college that assumed a Greek letter name would be disbanded. 1922: A bandit held up and robbed two officers near Sidney. 1932: A five-auto caravan of gypsies was camped 3 miles north of Havelock. 1942: The Navy announced that Hastings would be the site of a naval ammunition depot estimated to cost $45 million. The depot east of Hastings would serve during World War II and for years afterward. 1952: A crowd estimated at up to 10,000 celebrated completion of the Harlan County Dam on the Republican River near Republican City. Lincoln's water reserves hit their lowest point in years. 1962: Bryan Memorial Hospital was in the middle of a $3.5 million expansion. Hospital spokesmen announced plans to add three floors after the current construction was completed. A Lincoln grocery store listed coffee at 39 cents per pound. 1972: Lincoln's P Street was a construction area. At Ninth and P streets, the old Lincoln Hotel site had been all but cleared after razing of the old hotel to make way for the new Lincoln Hilton. At 12th and P streets, the Nebraska Theater had been knocked down to make way for a new four-screen Cooper/Plaza motion picture house. And at the former YMCA site at 13th and P streets, work had begun on a new three-theater complex to be operated by Douglas Theaters. 1982: Damage from heavy rains could be in the millions of dollars, according to the Nebraska Civil Defense Agency and the National Weather Service. Lancaster County farmers alone may have lost $13 million in crop production and another $1.5 million in land damage and erosion. Neighborhood Watch Programs and an emphasis on swift and certain punishment were said to have contributed to a nearly 60 percent decrease in violent crime in Lancaster County outside Lincoln from 1976 to 1981. 1992: A powerful storm system packing tornadoes and hail pummeled central and Eastern Nebraska. Earlier that week twisters injured five people. Officials tallied damage costs and injuries throughout the week. The Associated Press described Seward as "looking like a war zone." Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 In December, a group of Ukrainian farmers gathered for a graduation ceremony. They exchanged certificates, tossed graduation caps, danced celebrating the completion of a course through Kultivariy, a Ukraine-based agriculture education company. They were ready to go back to their own farms and apply what theyd learned about efficiency and precision farming. Then everything changed. Russia invaded Ukraine. Missiles rained onto farmland, and military ships blocked the ports. And Ukrainian farmers had to figure out what to do next. Alexandra Kamyshina, managing partner of Kultivariy, was left wondering how to assist the farmers she works with during a time of war. The answer ended up including a trip to Nebraska. She traveled to farms and made connections through Nebraska Extension. She shared stories of what its like to be a farmer in Ukraine right now. We believe that the world needs some news from Ukraine, not only about victims and destruction, but of how business adapts to war and what has changed, Kamyshina said. Nebraska Extension, part of the University of Nebraska-Lincolns Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, is well-known for offering resources and education to Nebraska farmers. Kamyshinas company does similar work. Only, unlike Nebraska, Ukraine doesnt have a publicly funded farmer education program. Instead, Kultivariy is a for-profit business. Since the war started, Kamyshina has had to figure out how to keep that business going. Keeping Kultivariy afloat helps both the companys employees still in Ukraine and the farmers they work with. It keeps a Ukrainian business open at a time when the war has caused others to shut down. During her month in Lincoln, Kamyshina traveled to eastern Nebraska farms and visited Nebraska Extension county offices. She sat for hours talking with farmers about their processes and agricultural technology, absorbing their answers like a sponge, said Charles Stoltenow, dean and director of Nebraska Extension. Farmers love to visit with farmers. They just do, across cultures, Stoltenow said. They love to learn. And thats Extension lifelong learning. Before the war, Kultivariys courses focused on farming efficiency and productivity, teaching farmers how to scale up their businesses. But now, the farming challenges in Ukraine have turned more basic. How do you get fuel or find fertilizer when resources are scarce? How do you store your grain when exports are at a near-standstill? How much should farmers be sowing in a year of uncertainty? Kamyshina is already thinking of a future course to offer virtually: How to be creative when you dont have the resources you need. War turned farming into a crisis of everything, she said during a presentation at a recent Nebraska Extension conference. Nobody was expecting the war to come. Everybody thought about the question, if it comes, Kamyshina said. When the war did arrive, most farmers were ready to join the military. Or they stayed behind to help feed their country. In the early days of the war, Kultivariys education classes created a ready-made network of farmers keeping each other updated as the war unfolded. Kamyshina helped farmers sell their products to a Ukrainian railroad company, which was able to transport food to the northern and eastern Ukrainian cities that were bombed first. As trains arrived, people came directly to the stations to get food straight from the arriving trains, she said. In the months since, farmers have shared stories of gathering missiles that landed on their property. Theyve had to work with the Ukrainian military to de-mine their fields. People are wanting to spend this time in Ukraine. Nobody is making big money right now. The goal is just to stay in business, Kamyshina said. Otherwise, they will lose everything. Some of the smaller farms in Ukraine have had to shut down since the war started in February. If the war continues, even more will go out of business, Kamyshina said. For Stoltenow, Kamyshinas visit reshaped his own view of farming and Extensions role. Hes thought more about farming in times of crisis, and what it would look like for Extension to adapt and communicate with its network of farmers if life were to change overnight. That whole connection of farmer to farmer, that is amazing. It transcends cultures, Stoltenow said. I do hope that one day, Ukraine becomes a very safe place, so we can exchange our farmers and ranchers to go there and learn from them. The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraskas first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter. The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraskas first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 RACINE Lesia Hill-Driver had a vision for Juneteenth that was broader than just the historical legacy and a day of barbeques. The thought was not only do we need to celebrate in that manner, but we also need to educate and pull people in the community together and teach things that will make us a stronger people, she said. Hill-Driver is the supervisor at John Bryant Community Center, the headquarters for Racines Juneteenth, which will be celebrated with a week of events that includes classes in art, history, health and financial independence. There was a kickoff event Saturday. Hill-Driver said one of the quotes she stands on is, The mind is the key that sets the captive free. The week was made possible with the formation of the Juneteenth Day Committee, which began meeting in February. Hill-Driver said the theme for the week is Were stronger together. As one unit it can only get better, she said of the events meant to bring the black community together. We can only do more because were united and moving together. Hill-Driver said the weeklong event was historic coming just a year after President Joe Biden signed legislation that made Juneteenth a federal holiday and encouraged all members of the community to share in the celebration. Awareness The first event of the week was the walk for breast cancer awareness organized by the Sisters Network of Southeastern Wisconsin. Keeshia T. Jones herself a breast cancer survivor and president of the Sisters Network of Southeastern Wisconsin organized the walk to raise awareness of the importance of monthly self-examines and yearly mammograms. In the 30-40 years ago, if you heard breast cancer, it was a death sentence, she said. There are now so many treatment options, it doesnt have to be especially if its caught early. We do a lot for others in terms of our families, work and our church, she said. But in order to take care of our families, we have to take care of ourselves. Black women experience breast cancer at slightly lower rates than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, black women die from breast cancer at a 40% higher rate than white women. Jones said there are health care disparities that contribute to that number. Black women tend to be diagnosed later, which brings with it the potential for the cancer to metastasize, a more difficult diagnosis that requires more intensive treatment needs, Jones said. Juneteenth Juneteenth is celebrated June 19. It is the traditional commemoration date of the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation making it a U.S. federal holiday. The holiday also has been called Juneteenth Independence Day or Freedom Day. President Abraham Lincoln first issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring all slaves free in Confederate territory on Sept. 22, 1862, but the news took time to travel and was stopped by Confederates from reaching slaves. June 19, 1865, is the date when word of the proclamation reached African Americans in Texas. An article published in Hopkins-Bloomberg Public Health by Jenn Walton stated the most serious health issue black women face is the system. Jones said if black women do not ask the questions they have correctly, their concerns are dismissed, as if the question were not important, and they will not have that very important early-diagnosis. She encouraged women to take action if something doesnt feel right, reiterating that women know their own bodies. Dont put it off, she said. Make it a priority. Jones said the Sisters Network Inc. was excited to partner with the Juneteenth Day Committee for a week of events meant to empower the black community. Upcoming events One of the primary sponsors for Racines Juneteenth week was JP Morgan Chase, which will offer classes on financial literacy this week. Annette Washington, of JP Morgan Chase, is the community manager for Kenosha and Racine Counties, who spoke with the Journal Times about opportunities that will be offered to improve the communitys understanding of financial literacy. She said based on the companys commitment to racial equity, the time was right. Washington said she was out in the community when she was fortunate enough to meet Lesia, who shared her vision for a broader Juneteenth celebration. Washington said the classes were organized with the partnership of Divine 9, an African-American sorority, and will include a variety of issues from home-buying workshops, to the dangers of predatory lenders, credit and the fundamentals of managing money. She said some people will utilize places for ATM cards and a variety of other money management needs because the location is convenient, but that convenience is costing them in fees. The classes will help people learn how to build their credit in the right way so they are in a better position to buy a car or home. The classes can help people know their options. The schedule of classes on financial literacy can be viewed here: CityOfRacine.org/ParksRec/Events/Juneteenth Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. KENOSHA The jury trial of the man who allegedly shot and seriously injured a Kenosha Police officer in August 2020 is set to begin Monday. Jonathan T. Massey, 31, is charged in Kenosha County Circuit Court with attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the Aug. 8, 2020 shooting of Kenosha Police Officer Justin Pruett. Massey, a convicted felon with a long criminal history, is also facing felony charges for possessing a firearm and bail jumping. He is being held in the Racine County Jail on a $1 million bond. Judge Jason Rossell will preside over the trial. Massey is alleged to have shot Pruett in the early morning hours of Aug. 8, 2020, after the officer stopped to speak to him because he matched the description of a suspect in a vehicle entry complaint in the 4600 block of Sheridan Road. According to the criminal complaint, in an encounter partially captured on squad video, Massey is alleged to have shot Pruett in the abdomen after the officer deployed a Taser. Pruett then returned fire, striking Massey as he fled. According to court documents, several people who were with Massey when the shooting occurred helped him flee to Indiana. Those individuals are also facing criminal charges. Massey was arrested by U.S. Marshals on Aug. 12, 2020, in Gary, Ind. District Attorney Michael Graveley is helping prosecute the case. Were ready to go to trial and believe that its time the community hear what the details were of this case, Graveley said. Graveley said Massey is facing 80 years in prison if convicted. Long criminal history Masseys criminal history includes numerous felony convictions, beginning with a 2006 armed robbery case that landed Massey in state prison for five years. That case involved a victim and her three children being robbed at gunpoint. Other convictions, according to records, include: In 2012, he was convicted of misdemeanor counts of battery and disorderly conduct and received 10 months in the Kenosha County Jail. In 2014, a conviction for felony substantial battery, which ended with an 18-month state prison sentence that ran concurrently to the 2006 case. In 2019, Massey was convicted of misdemeanor marijuana possession, which landed him with a six-month county jail term. Also in 2019, he was convicted of felony bail jumping and misdemeanor obstructing and was given one year in the county jail. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Every day recently there have been headlines about major mass shootings. Following all the shootings its no wonder people showed up in force to express concern over neighboring Kenosha Countys proposal to change its gun policy to allow firearms and electronic control devices in certain Kenosha County government buildings. Its not the right answer to the gun crisis America has been facing. We hope the County Board listens to the constituents who showed up. The proposal that went to the board for a first read on June 7 would allow the concealed carrying of weapons in all county buildings with the exception of the Kenosha County Courthouse, the public safety building, jail, detention center, pretrial building and the Molinaro Building, which are part of the civic campus at 55th and 56th streets just west of Sheridan Road. Should the current firearm ban be repealed, adults age 21 and older with valid firearm permits, could bring weapons to the Administration Building, which is the seat of government for the board and the county executive. It would allow weapons to be carried into a host of other county-owned buildings, such as the Job Center, Brookside Care Center (the countys nursing home) and the Kenosha County Center in Bristol, among others. Signs noting the current ban would be removed. Not surprisingly numerous residents attended the County Board meeting and expressed their concern about the proposed policy. Among those who spoke to the board were parents concerned for the safety of their children, with one dad saying, Im here for my 8-year-old girl Vivian, so shes not the victim of a stray bullet from a pretend hero deciding to stand his ground against some other guy with a gun. A former county employee also expressed concern saying if the board were to change the policy to allow weapons, it should add the county human services building to the list of exemptions. Currently, the departments services are located at the Job Center, 8600 Sheridan Road. The one-stop shop provides everything from infant vaccinations to job training, placement of foster children and veterans assistance, among others. With all that help, it is also the place where bad news must be given by your staff. You dont qualify for help. Your benefits are ending. A child is removed from their home. You have an infection. Theres no money to pay for what you need, said Carolyn Feldt, a former county employee. Desperate people do desperate things, regardless of how good and law-abiding they are most of the time. Those are legitimate concerns. We understand that the County Board is trying to help individual, responsible gun owners but changing the Countys gun policy right now is not the answer to the gun problem. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 1. Yes. Tying up the courts and filling jails over small amounts of pot is unacceptable. 2. Yes. As long as there are exceptions for connection to felony charges, its a good idea. 3. No. Taking away law enforcements options is wrong. Police should have some discretion. 4. No. An ordinance that conflicts with state law is wrong and shouldnt be adopted. 5. Unsure. It seems to make sense in some ways, but it could prove problematic. Vote View Results NH Hotel Group, a multinational hospitality company based in Madrid, will officially join Dubai-based Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the worlds largest alliance of independent hotel brands, on June 20. The partnership includes the transformation of NH Rewards into the award-winning GHA Discovery loyalty programme, becoming NH Discovery, and thereby creating a hospitality offering of more than 800 hotels and resorts across 40 brands in 100 countries to a 21-million-strong global membership, said a statement. NH Hotel Group is one of the largest hotel companies in the world and brings to the alliance more than 350 properties in 30 countries under three brands NH Hotels, NH Collection and nhow expanding GHA Discoverys footprint in Europe and the Americas. NH Hotel Group is majority-owned by Minor Hotels, a Bangkok-based operator of more than 160 hotels and a GHA shareholder. Minors global family of brands such as Anantara, Avani, Elewana Collection, Oaks and Tivoli are already member brands of the alliance and participate in GHA Discovery. Supporting strategic plan For NH Hotel Group, joining the alliance supports its strategic development plans in the luxury segment as well as in new markets where GHA has an established presence, while its 10 million existing NH Rewards members are now spoiled for choice with rewards and recognition at new properties, in new destinations, offering more travel experiences. Existing NH Rewards members will retain the value of their points and their other benefits, including Member Rates with up to 10% discount and additional rewards for booking on the NH website, said the statement. The formal announcement of the upcoming integration took place at a joint GHA and NH event in Madrid attended by CEOs of the alliance member brands. Ramon Aragones, CEO of NH Hotel Group and a GHA board member, added: Joining GHA, and the transformation of NH Rewards into NH Discovery, marks a major milestone for NH Hotel Group and our guests at a time when the travel and hospitality sector is recovering at pace, as the encouraging turnaround in our Q1 results proves. This paves the way for growth, and by leveraging GHAs geographical footprint we can accelerate planned development in new markets where demand for our brands is strong. At the same time, with the new NH Discovery, we have access to incremental revenue streams, while offering our own loyal guests remarkable choice. Welcoming NH Hotel Group to the alliance, GHA CEO Chris Hartley said: As our newest and largest brand, NH not only enriches our global offering to members, providing access to new destinations and hospitality experiences across the Americas, Spain, Germany, Italy and Benelux, but nearly doubles our member base, further amplifying our marketing power. - TradeArabia News Service Dialogue of Papers - A legacy of Qatar Japan Year of Culture, an exhibition organised through the Years of Culture programme to mark 50 years of diplomatic ties between Qatar and Japan, has opened in Tokyo. The opening was attended by Qatari Embassy in Japan Representative Charge dAffaires Sheikh Hamad Nasser Hamad Khalid Al-Thani. The exhibition, comprised of 28 pieces crafted by prominent Qatari artists, Yousef Ahmad, and Japanese artist Hayaki Nishigaki, will be on view at the popular 3331 Arts Chiyoda artistic hub in Tokyo, Japan from June 10 through June 30. Years of Culture was established in 2012 by Qatar Museums Chairperson Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani to promote mutual understanding, recognition and appreciation between Qatar and the world. Since then, the Years of Culture programme has been remarkably successful in its mission partnering with the UK, Brazil, Germany, Turkey, India, France, and other nations over the past decade. Opening the event, Acting Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs at MATHAF: Arab Museum of Modern Art Dr Aisha Al Misnad, who also curated the exhibition, said: Dialogue of Paper is a special exhibition that marks the 10-year anniversary of Qatars Year of Culture and celebrates the 50 years of strong ties between Qatar and Japan. In fact, Japan was the inaugural Year of Culture partner, and we are privileged to be able to display these stunning pieces that represent the lasting artistic collaborations the exchange launched. At Qatar Museums we believe that when cultures connect, we create beautiful things. As an outcome of this collaboration, the exhibition is a true embodiment of this sentiment. Dialogue of Paper is the result of an incredible collaboration between Yousef Ahmad and Hayaki Nishigaki that highlight the similarities between the cultural practices of papermaking and calligraphy in Japan and Qatar. Together, Yousef Ahmad and Hayaki Nishigaki mixed Japanese washi dougha richly historic symbol of Japanese culturewith dough made from the fronds of the Qatari palm tree, considered a blessed tree in Arabic and Islamic culture. The result was a neo-hybrid paper that served as the literal medium, while also representing the merging of two different environments and cultures. Each artist then applied their own interpretation of calligraphy onto the paper to create a unique visual vernacular that explores both difference and similarity between the two cultural traditions. One special piece embodies the beauty that emerges when cultures connect. We made you nations and tribes so that you may know one another features a verse from the Holy Quran, chosen by Yousif Ahmad, that expresses the importance of a good relationship between different nations. The chosen verse is represented as a circular sentence in the centre of the artwork, with Hayhaki Nishigaki decorating the space in his own artistic style. In a symbolic turn of events, the resulting artwork matched the Arabic calligraphy style called Jeli Diwani. Yousef Ahmad had practiced this type of Arabic calligraphy for the first time in 1970, which coincidentally was also the start of the relationship between Qatar and Japan. TradeArabia News Service COZAD In honor of the 175th anniversary the Mormons set out for Utah, a group is following in their ancestors footsteps, or perhaps, more accurately, their wagon tracks. They passed through Dawson County on June 7 and 8. Joe and Marcyne Blythe, a Utah couple, are riding in a covered wagon from Illinois to Utah, following the path that the Mormon settlers took on their way to Utah. Their wagon, named The Trail Dreamer, is fashioned after the prairie schooners used by the pioneers. Their wagon is pulled by two mules, Doc and Roxy. Their friend, Bret Durrant, serves as outrider. Riding behind them in a support vehicle were Collin and Lilli Homer. Like Durrant, the Homers live near Boise, Idaho. The Blythes, who live in Genola, Utah, decided five years ago they were going to travel the Mormon Trail. All five people making the trip are Mormons. They began their journey last September in Nauvoo, Ill. It was the 175th anniversary of the Mormons leaving Nauvoo, Blythe said. They rode their wagon from Sept. 6 through Sept. 22, ending at the Mormons winter quarters in the Florence neighborhood in Omaha, according to the Grand Island Independent. Blythe has about eight ancestors buried at the winter quarters in Florence. This year is the 175th anniversary of the Mormons arrival in Utah. So on May 23, they started up again in Florence. The group covers 22 to 25 miles a day. They chose mules over horses because mules are sturdy and handle the heat better, Blythe said. Theyll arrive in Salt Lake City on July 24, which is celebrated as Pioneer Day in Utah. Thats when the Mormons entered the valley, Blythe said. Marcyne is documenting their trip on Facebook. On Day 15 of their trip they traveled 24.5 miles along Highway 30 and left Kearney on Monday and were able to stay at the Brennan farm near Elm Creek on Tuesday. They had to endure the severe weather that passed through the area. Winds were rocking the horse trailer. Rain was coming down so hard it sounded like hail. I was worried about the animals, she said. On Day 16, Wednesday, they crossed into Dawson County. There were many people taking pictures and video along the way. I'm starting to think The Trail Dreamer is the most photographed wagon in the world, she wrote. Found a place called Busy Bone Butcher in Darr. We're treating ourselves to ribeye steaks tonight, Marcyne said. The Mormon Trail is a 1,300 mile long route from Illinois to Utah that the Mormons traveled for three months. Under the leadership of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement, they had established several communities throughout the eastern United States, most notably Nauvoo, Ill. However, conflict with other settlers led the Mormons to be driven out of their communities. This included the actions of Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs, who issued Missouri Executive Order 44, which called for the "extermination" of all Mormons in Missouri. Mormons were finally forced to abandon Nauvoo in 1846. After Smiths death at the hands of a mob in 1844, his successor, Brigham Young, took around 14,000 Mormon citizens to find a new home in the West, where they eventually settled in the Salt Lake Valley in Utah. After being closed for more than a year because of lack of staff, Seth and Ashley Peters reopened The Villa Pizzeria and Restaurant on June 3 at 140-142 N. Water St. in downtown Sparta. The couple, who also continue to operate their Pizza Villa restaurant in downtown West Salem, first opened their Sparta restaurant in January 2021 in the former Italianos Pizzeria and Restaurant location. They closed the Sparta restaurant in May 2021 after having difficulty finding enough employees. We did really well when we had our soft opening, Seth said of the Sparta eatery. But maintaining help turned out to be a bigger issue than we were ready to conquer then. Bartenders and servers were hard to come by so he and his wife decided to focus on their West Salem restaurant. Now, Seth said, Weve got a good manager and weve got all of the pieces in place that should make us successful at the Sparta restaurant, which has about 10 employees. While the Italian restaurant had a limited menu when it opened last year, he said, This time were doing the full menu pizzas, all of the pastas, all of the appetizers, cocktails as well as beer and wine. Hours are 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and closed Monday. The Villa Pizzeria and Restaurant offers dine-in, carryout, curbside and delivery service. For more information, call the restaurant at 608-269-6393 or visit its Facebook page. A grand opening celebration will be held this Monday through Friday at Beltone Hearing Centers new location in Suite 102 at 2845 Midwest Drive in Onalaska. It will include such things as free hearing screenings, free demonstrations of hearing technology products, educational presentations and free cleaning and adjustment of current hearing aids. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday. There also will be refreshments and door prizes. The new Onalaska location opened Jan. 3 and offers a complete range of services, from hearing loss prevention to evaluating hearing loss, to offering the latest in digital hearing instrument technology. Newer items such as over-the-counter hearing aids, assistive listening devices and accessories are available, as are service and repair of hearing aids. The Beltone franchise in Onalaska is owned by Rebecca Younk, a doctor of audiology who lives in the Twin Cities area and owns 17 locations in Wisconsin and Minnesota. She acquired the Beltone locations in the La Crosse area along with others in the two states in 2021. She received her masters degree in audiology from Washington University in St. Louis and her doctorate from the University of Florida, and is a past president of the Minnesota Academy of Audiology. The Onalaska centers hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call the center at 608-399-2855 or visit www.beltone.com or Facebook. Younk can be reached at 612-868-3421 or Rebecca.Younk@associated-hearing.com. Three years after she began repairing sewing machines for others at her home near Lansing, Iowa, Arla Wagner opened Arlas Sewing Room on June 1 at 253 Main St. in downtown Lansing. Wagner repairs all brands of sewing machines and sells Swiss-designed Elna sewing machines. She also sells cotton fabrics, needles and thread. Other notions and things will come soon, she said. Im a retired school teacher, and I didnt handle retirement very well, Wagner said of her decision to open Arlas Sewing Room. Her husband, Paul, helps me fix sewing machines if I get behind, she said. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and closed Sunday through Tuesday. For more information, call 563-538-4990 or visit Facebook. Steve Cahalan can be reached at stevecahalan.reporter@gmail.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 In less than two months, around 200 students, professors and researchers will gather at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus for an annual statewide research conference. At the three day Spark Symposium, sponsored by UW system affiliate WiSys, attendees will present their projects and findings, hear from keynote speakers and attend networking and workshop panel. This is the first time since 2009 that University of Wisconsin-La Crosse has hosted the event. The symposium organizers said they hope attendees leave the symposium with opportunities to showcase their work to other students, professors and industry experts from across the state. I think our big goals really are giving people an opportunity to shine, said WiSys assistant director Adhira Sunkara. A lot of times students who attend our conferences, this is their first overnight conference and its a safe space where they get to dip their toes in and see what is it like to attend a research symposium. Hosting this event will also give UW-L the opportunity to demonstrate its value as a higher education institution to the local community and the entire state, said Nick Bakken, a UW-L sociology professor, student research coordinator and planning committee member for the conference. Some of our students are doing really groundbreaking and cutting edge research, and to be able to showcase that and present it to students and faculty from other campuses and people in the community and industry is amazing, Bakken said. Students and faculty from across the state can register and attend the conference. Many students from the Deans Distinguished Fellowship at the university will be participating, along with their faculty mentors, Bakken said. There is a strong focus on science, technology and health research topics presented at the symposium, but the conference also showcases work in the social sciences, arts and humanities, Sunkara said. The symposium also looks to facilitate skills outside of traditional research, like innovation and entrepreneurship. In recent years, attendees have showcased prototypes for products, video game models and proposals for virtual applications, Sunkara said. Industry partners are also an important part of the conference, as they can lead to future collaborations with students or faculty. Bakken said these partners will likely include the J.F. Brennan Company and Mathy Construction, both of which have been historic supporters of science and health research. As for right now, the planning committee is deep into their work as they determine logistics for the conference and the messages they want to highlight. Bakken said they are also considering how best to host an in-person event with around 200 anticipated attendees, as the conference was held virtually in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the Spark Symposium will give students and faculty the chance to showcase their achievements, organizers said they also want attendees to leave with inspiration and motivation for the future. We want to reinforce the idea and the belief that good ideas can come from anywhere, Sunkara said. Theres a network of support from your peers and other students that you can rely on to keep building on your innovation and to make some progress. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Senate negotiators announce a deal on guns, breaking logjam WASHINGTON (AP) Senate bargainers have announced the framework of a bipartisan response to last months mass shootings. It's a noteworthy but limited breakthrough offering modest gun curbs and stepped-up efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, Biden embraced the deal, and enactment would signal a significant turnabout after years of stalemate in Congress. Twenty senators, including 10 Republicans, are calling for passage. That's potentially crucial because at least 10 GOP votes will be needed in the Senate. In Jan. 6 cases, 1 judge stands out as the toughest punisher As the number of people sentenced for crimes in the U.S. Capitol insurrection nears 200, an Associated Press analysis of sentencing data shows that some judges are divided over how to punish the rioters, particularly for the low-level misdemeanors arising from the attack. U.S. District Tanya Chutkan, a former assistant public defender, has consistently taken the hardest line of any judge serving on Washington's federal trial court. Overall, the 20 judges who've sentenced riot defendants have given lighter sentences than prosecutors were seeking in nearly three-fourths of the cases. The judges have exceeded prosecutors recommendation for about only 10% of the defendants, according to APs analysis. Pulitzer and now top Tony, 'A Strange Loop' makes history NEW YORK (AP) A Strange Loop, an irreverent, sexually frank work about Blackness and queerness took home the best new musical crown at the Tony Awards on Sunday, as voters celebrated Broadways most racially diverse season by choosing an envelope-pushing Black voice. Michael R. Jacksons 2020 Pulitzer Prize drama winner is a theater meta-journey and also won for best book. Many of the nights Tonys were spread over several productions. A Strange Loop beat MJ, a bio musical of the King of Pops biggest hits for the top prize, although that Jackson musical nabbed four Tony Awards Jan. 6 panelists: Enough evidence uncovered to indict Trump WASHINGTON (AP) Members of the House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot say theyve uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against former President Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump has denied all wrongdoing. The committee says Trumps 2020 campaign manager, Bill Stepien, is among the witnesses scheduled to testify at a hearing Monday. The focus will be on Trumps effort to spread his lies about a stolen election. US: Pfizer COVID-19 shot appears effective for kids under 5 WASHINGTON (AP) A review by federal health officials says that Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine appears safe and effective for children under 5, the only group not currently eligible for vaccination. The review from the Food and Drug Administration is a key step toward an expected decision to begin vaccinating babies, toddlers and preschoolers as soon as June 21. Parents have been waiting months to protect Americas youngest children, who number roughly 18 million. On Wednesday the FDA will ask an outside panel of experts to vote on whether to recommend the shots. Brazil police: Items owned by missing men found in Amazon ATALAIA DO NORTE, Brazil (AP) Brazilian police say search teams have found a backpack, laptop and other personal items that belonged to Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and freelance British journalist Dom Phillips, who went missing in a remote area of Brazils Amazon a week ago. The Federal Police announced Sunday night that they had identified the belongings of both missing men, such as Pereiras health card and clothes. A firefighter says Phillips backpack was tied to a tree that was half-submerged. Pereira and Phillips were last seen near the entrance of the Indigenous territory, which borders Peru and Colombia. That area has seen violent conflicts between fishermen, poachers and government agents. Brookings president resigns amid FBI foreign lobbying probe The president of the Brookings Institution has resigned amid a federal investigation into whether he illegally lobbied on behalf of the wealthy Persian Gulf nation of Qatar. Retired Gen. John Allen said in a letter to the think tank Sunday that he was leaving with a heavy heart but did not offer any direct explanation. A retired four-star Marine general who led U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Allens announcement came less than a week after The Associated Press was first to report on new court filings that showed the FBI had seized Allens electronic data as part of the probe. Patriot Front leader among those arrested near Idaho Pride After the arrest of more than two dozen members of a white supremacist group near a northern Idaho pride event, including one identified as its founder, LGBTQ advocates said Sunday that polarization and a fraught political climate have put their community increasingly at risk. Police say the 31 Patriot Front members were arrested with riot gear came after a tipster reported seeing people loading up into a U-Haul at a hotel parking lot in Coeur dAlene, Idaho. Among those arrested was Thomas Rousseau of Grapevine, Texas, who has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as the 23-year-old who founded the group. Moscow-backed officials try to solidify rule in Ukraine KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Kremlin-installed officials in occupied southern Ukraine celebrated Russia Day on Sunday and began issuing Russian passports to those in one city who requested them, as Moscow seeks to solidify its rule over captured parts of the country. Russia Day is the holiday that marks Russias emergence as a sovereign state after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ukrainian media reported that few, if any, local residents attended the Russia Day festivities in the two cities. French projections: Macron's centrists will keep a majority PARIS (AP) French President Emmanuel Macrons centrist alliance is expected to keep its parliamentary majority after the first round of voting Sunday, but will likely have far fewer seats than five years ago. According to projections based on partial results, Macrons party and its allies got about 25-26% of the vote Sunday on the national level. They were neck-and-neck with a new leftist coalition. Yet Macrons candidates are projected to win in a greater number of districts than their leftist rivals. More than 6,000 candidates were running for 577 seats in Frances National Assembly in the first round of the election. For races that did not have a decisive winner on Sunday, up to four candidates will compete in a second round of voting on June 19. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Recently, Minnesota State College Southeast was fortunate to host a visit from U.S. Senator Tina Smith. She came to our Red Wing campus to tour our nursing lab space, which will soon be remodeled with federal funding she helped obtain. Two other community organizations that have federally funded projects in the works were also represented at a round table discussion. Sen. Smith asked great questions and listened to our concerns, but it was her last question that inspired this column. As we were nearing the end of our time together, Sen. Smith said she knew the last couple of years had been difficult due to the pandemic. Wanting to operate from a place of optimism, she asked us what we had learned during the pandemic that would stay with us going forward. It wasnt a complicated question, but it was an opportunity to reframe the last two plus years as we have navigated an extraordinary situation. I was asked to respond from the colleges perspective. Immediately three lessons came to mind. First of all, I will never again claim that education cant change and change quickly. In February of 2020, we had a very traditional model of serving students in offices, classrooms, and meeting spaces. In March of 2020, just one month later, we had to learn how to do everything through technology and distance learning. We didnt get it done perfectly right away, but we got it done and now, two years later, we provide more access in more ways to students than we ever have before. We have learned levels of flexibility we will keep going forward. The second lesson was less optimistic but just as important. We learned how fine the line is between success and failure for our students and how often it has nothing to do with what is happening on campus. As students navigated childcare challenges, job reductions, and other challenges to meeting their basic needs, we saw how those things can prevent them from succeeding. We learned once again that being committed to meeting students basic needs isnt just nice, it is essential if we want them to succeed. MSC Southeast worked to support students every step of their journey and will continue to do so. The third lesson came to me in the moment between the question being asked and the time it took to look around the room. I saw the senator and her staff. I saw our friends and partners from Red Wing Ignite and Goodhue County. And I saw staff members from all areas of the college. I thought of how both our Winona and Red Wing campuses have adult education partners and workforce agencies right on campus. I realized at that moment, although we had always done good work together, the pandemic raised the stakes on those partnerships and made them better. So, the final lesson I thought of that day is that whatever we do to serve our students and our communities, we do it better together. As we start to emerge from the challenges of the last two years, these lessons will shape who we are at MSC Southeast and who we will be. We are here for students in all their complexity. We can change and adapt as they need us to so we can help our communities thrive. And we will do all of this work better when we find partners and do it together. Thats who we want to be, your partner for a thriving and successful Southeastern Minnesota. Chad Dull is Vice President of Student Success, Minnesota State College Southeast. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 You may think youve seen every horror in Russias kit of war crimes against Ukraine (short of weapons of mass destruction). You havent. Moscow is blockading (or destroying) Ukraines port cities on the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea and preventing them from exporting grain. This has created a global food crisis. With a level of cynicism that makes Machiavelli look angelic, Vladimir Putin is trying to turn a made-in-Moscow food disaster into a weapon. He is blackmailing the West to drop sanctions or concede Russian domination over all Ukrainian ports, including Odesa in return for Russias ending its blockade. Neither NATO members, nor the United Nations, should permit Putin to profit from starving the worlds poor who depend on Ukrainian grain exports. The White House needs to focus on how to break Putins blockade now. On Monday, at a U.N. Security Council meeting, the European Councils president Charles Michel blamed Russia for using the blockade as a stealth missile against developing countries. This week, Russian missiles deliberately destroyed Ukraines second-biggest grain storage facility in the city of Mykolaiv, while Russian bombs and mines are preventing farmers from planting and harvesting. This is driving up food prices, pushing people into poverty, and destabilizing entire regions, Michel said. The fallout affects both Africa and the Middle East, which are heavily dependent on Ukrainian wheat. Efforts by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to mediate the crisis with Moscow have gone nowhere. It is not possible for Ukraine to export its grain by rail or road; trains and trucks can carry only a small percentage of what the bulk ships can transport. Russia is solely responsible for this looming food crisis, Michel said. When Moscows U.N. ambassador walked out of the Security Council meeting, Michel tweeted: Maybe its easier not to listen to the truth, dear Ambassador (Vasily) Nebenzia. So what is Putins game in trying to starve much of the world? For starters, Putin is trying to put the blame for the food crisis on Ukraine and on Western sanctions. Nonsense. If Russia hadnt launched its unprovoked attack on Ukraine and closed off Ukraines coast with its warships, Kyivs exports would be flowing. Moreover, Russias grain exports also critical to world supplies are not sanctioned, and can still exit from Russian ports on the Baltic Sea and on the Pacific. The Kremlin is also using the blockade to try to blackmail the West into accepting its control over Ukraines Black Sea coast. Russia has already captured two Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov Mariupol, which it razed to the ground, and Berdyansk. The Kremlins key strategic goal now so far unsuccessful is to seize Ukraines largest port, Odesa, on the Black Sea. Playing savior (from the crisis he created), Putin has proposed that Ukraine hand over its grain to the Russians, who will export it from occupied Mariupol. (Russian forces have already stolen 500,000 tons of Ukrainian wheat from territories they occupy and shipped it out of Russian-controlled Crimea.) Obviously, it is a nonstarter to reward the thief for marketing stolen goods. Putin has made an even more outrageous proposal. If Ukraine demines its coast removing a key defense of its shoreline the Russian naval forces will permit grain exports to leave Odesa. In other words, Putin says the world should recognize Russian control of the Black Sea, which grossly violates international law and threatens the economic survival of Ukraine. While Russian warships in the Black Sea are loaded with missiles, it is very dangerous to open Ukrainian waters for them, I was told by Ukraines U.N. ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya. If Ukrainian mines are disabled, he said, Russia could use this as an excuse even to land on Ukrainian shores. Kyslytsya said Ukraine would only demine its coast (after Russia removes its own mines) if Kyiv were given security guarantees from someone powerful that would escort incoming and outgoing merchant vessels to protect them from Russian attack. That powerful country would also need to guarantee that Russian warships would not make use of the demined channel to attack Odesa once commercial ships left. And this is very important the U.S. and European allies would have to finally deliver the anti-ship missiles that Odesa needs to hold off any Russian attack. What country is in position right now to provide such naval escorts? Only Turkey. A member of NATO, Turkey has reasonably good ties with both Russia and Ukraine. It also has a long Black Sea coast and international legal control over who can enter the Black Sea in wartime (via the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles straits). Will Turkey take on the huge role of shipping escort and security guarantor for Odesa, with or without other NATO members? Will Russia try to block, or misuse, Turkish intervention? Time is of the essence. July is a red line in the south of the Odesa region, I was told by phone by Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian parliament member from Odesa. The harvest starts in July, and by the end of the month, there will be a big problem for grain storage. The farmers have grain but they cant sell it. Left unstored, grain will rot. Putin must not be allowed to succeed in his latest war crime. The time to break the Russian blockade of grain shipments from Odesa is now. Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial-board member for the The Philadelphia Inquirer. Readers may write to her at: Philadelphia Inquirer, P.O. Box 8263, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101, or by email at trubin@phillynews.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Kuwait-born concept Pick was crowned this years Restaurant of the Year at the inaugural Deliveroo Restaurant Awards, which honoured Kuwaits top restaurants. The event, which took place last week virtually on Deliveroos Instagram channel, saw 19 of Kuwaits best restaurants win one of this years esteemed trophies. The awards ceremony was a celebration of Deliveroos amazing restaurants in Kuwait who have prospered despite a couple of rollercoaster years for hospitality. Over 50 restaurants were shortlisted for an award, and the winners of 19 of the categories were chosen by public vote, with customers voting for their favourite local brands. Deliveroo recorded over 17,000 votes at the Deliveroo Restaurant Awards, a true testament to locals love for food delivery. The final award of the night - Restaurant of the Year - was won by Pick, after battling it out with finalists Madison & Heig and Shrimpy. Seham AlHusaini, General Manager at Deliveroo Kuwait, said: We are excited to announce the winner of our coveted Restaurant of the Year award: Pick! Congratulations are also in order for the winners of all our restaurant categories from Best Burger to Best New to Roo and more. We are excited to be the first food aggregator to launch an initiative like this in Kuwait, and are incredibly proud to witness our restaurant and coffee partners get the recognition and accolades they deserve. In addition to being named the Best Restaurant of the Year, Pick was also named the Best Healthy restaurant in Kuwait.- TradeArabia News Service Seattle-based Seabourn, a luxury cruise line, has welcomed the decision of the US to terminate testing requirement for travellers entering the country. Seabourn said in a statement that its guests can feel more confident in traveling to and from the US with reduced fear of getting stuck in an international destination and being unable to return on schedule. The cruise line said that that all five of its ships are now in service: Seabourn Ovation: Sail through the dramatic Norwegian Fjords and visit the iconic North Cape this summer with itineraries from Copenhagen and Dover before transitioning to the Western Mediterranean in autumn and Southern Caribbean in the winter. Seabourn Encore: Enjoy the culturally rich Eastern Mediterranean from Athens, Istanbul and Haifa with stops throughout the Greek Islands and Turkey including Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, and our Seabourn exclusive event A Spectacular Evening at Ephesus. Seabourn Sojourn: Bask in the beauty of the French and Italian rivieras with stops in iconic St. Tropez, Monte Carlo, Portofino, Portovenere (home of Cinque Terre) and the magnificent Amalfi Coast. Cross the Atlantic to the Caribbean in autumn before setting sail on the World Cruise, departing from Miami in January and featuring over 61 unique destinations in 32 countries. Seabourn Quest: Explore the tranquil beauty of the Adriatic Sea and the Dalmatian Coast with voyages to and from Venice, visiting beautiful ports like Dubrovnik, Kotor, and Brindisi. Transition to Miami where Seabourn Quest will sail the crystal-clear waters of the Caribbean and transit the Panama Canal in autumn before setting sail on the Grand South America, Antarctica & Amazon voyage in January. Seabourn Odyssey: Seek adventure as you sail the Inside Passage through Alaska's Frontier. Experience calving glaciers and breaching humpbacks this summer with our Ventures by Seabourn excursions. Enjoy the autumn and winter months traveling through the South Pacific to Australia and New Zealand including the iconic Milford Sound. Seabourn Venture: Our newest ship, Seabourn Venture, a state-of-the-art, purpose-built expedition ship will begin operation this summer in the Arctic before traveling to Antarctica for its maiden season. Experience luxury and adventure as you sail through these unforgettable regions and become an active participant in the natural world around you. - TradeArabia News Service Some lawmakers in the U.S. state of California want to use taxpayer money to buy out farmers. A proposal in the state Senate would spend up to $1.5 billion for their senior water rights. That would permit farmers to take as much water as needed from the states rivers and streams to grow their crops. If state officials owned those rights, they could leave the water in the rivers to aid endangered salmon and other fish. Severe drought in California California has faced severe lack of water for most of the last 20 years. Lawmakers want to more closely examine the states complex water system to see how it might be changed to ensure continual supplies during especially dry periods. A separate state proposal would pay farmers to grow fewer crops to save water. Currently, about 98 percent of the state has severe drought conditions. Summer months in California rarely produce any major rainfall. Many areas have begun restricting water use for homeowners. And farmers have had their water supply from the two major state-owned water systems reduced or, in some cases, completely shut off. Legally, all the water in California is the property of the government. But farmers have water rights that let them take water for agriculture. Farmers have used those rights to turn Californias Central Valley into a major agricultural center. The area provides much of the nations fruits, nuts and vegetables. Buying water rights from farmers California now has a record budget surplus of nearly $100 billion. The $1.5 billion proposal to buy senior water rights would involve either buying the land connected with the rights or buying just the right itself. Lawmakers could also require that the water be used for fish and other animals and plants. The proposal is part of budget negotiations between lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsoms administration that should be completed by the end of this month. Regulators measure water by acre foot. An acre foot is defined as enough water to cover 1 acre, or 0.4 hectares of land to a depth of 30 centimeters. That is the same amount as 1.2 million liters. The $1.5 billion would be enough to buy about 200,000 acre feet of water. That amount is based on an average price of $7,500 per acre foot, says Tom Birmingham. He is the supervisor of Westlands Water District, the largest agricultural water district in the U.S. Climate change demands quick action Right now, the only way to get more water flowing in rivers and streams is to get state and federal regulators to change the rules. They can do that by requiring more water be left in rivers and streams. But that means less water for farmers. Those rule changes often bring about lawsuits that can take 10 years or longer to reach a decision, said Lester Snow. He is a former secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency and regional director of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. We need a way to take much quicker action. And I think acquiring water rights for that purpose is one of the ways to do that, he said. With climate change, we just dont have that kind of time. For this to work, farmers would have to voluntarily sell their water rights. Tom Birmingham says that should not be a problem. Lots of farmers try to sell their water rights to Westlands Water District every year, he said. Birmingham added, For many farmers ... their children simply are not interested in continuing to farm. Im Ashley Thompson. Adam Beam reported on this story for the Associated Press. Jonathan Evans adapted this story for Learning English. ____________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story acquire v. to get, especially through effort regulator n. one that governs or directs according to rule or law Dubais Jumeirah Creekside Hotel, a top arts and lifestyle city destination, has announced Austrian based Marie Theres Madani as its third artist in its Artist in Residency programme showcasing expressive abstract paintings. Madanis motivation behind her art is the creation of a dialogue which allows the visitors and the guests to connect with the artworks and independently interpret them. The artist has drawn inspiration from her 3-months stay at the hotel creating bespoke pieces inspired by the hotel and the city. Madanis series of artworks will be on display from June 10 and will conclude on July 1. The exclusive exhibition titled Echos of Tomorrow will complement the hotels impressive art collection that is spread across the guest rooms and the public spaces offering a truly unique hospitality experience in the emirate. Andy Cuthbert, General Manager at Jumeirah Creekside Hotel, commented: Taking from art and design as key pillars of the Jumeirah brand, we continue with our motivational Artist in Residence programme at Jumeirah Creekside Hotel. As such, we aim to further deliver truly unforgettable moments for our guests through the medium of art, give them the chance to discover new works from exciting names and support emerging artists from around the world, hence reinforcing our position as an art hub and creative destination. We are delighted to welcome Marie Theres Madani to our hotel and look forward to connecting guests to the emirate and to continuing with our inspiring residency programme series. Marie Theres Madani added: I am excited to be part of the Artist in Residence series and to be bringing my art to new audiences. The space at Jumeirah Creekside Hotel is perfectly aligned with my desire to connect with my audiences and evoke an emotional connection through sharing my experiences of the emirate and its heritage, creating expressive and creative art works. Launched in April last year, the Artist in Residency programme is an ongoing initiative from Jumeirah Creekside hotel directed by Artist and Curator Seth Benzel and set up to support international and regional artists in advancing their skills through dedicated spaces, enhanced visibility and endorsement, while providing an inspirational setting from which to create unique pieces of art and enjoy living in one of the most diverse cities in the world. The city hotel is home to one of the citys largest art collections. With the aim of connecting guests to the culture and heritage of their surroundings, Jumeirah Creekside Hotel shines a spotlight on the regions vibrant art scene, housing 482 specially commissioned pieces by 51 artists with roots from across the Middle East. Building on its reputation as an art hub, the hotel further features some of the worlds most celebrated design houses across its grounds, including custom-made furniture by Sawaya Moroni, Walter Knoll, Poltrona Frau, BnB Italia, Frag, Se London, Matteograssi and De Sede. Most impressively, Tom Price, an internationally recognised creator renowned for his sculptural works, was commissioned to create 88 red Meltdown Bowls, which are dotted across the hotel as part of a limited-edition collection. TradeArabia News Service To Maria Clara Ruiz Zapata, owner of Madisons Estacion Coffee, sharing an espresso with loved ones is an act of savoring the moment versus consuming caffeine to rush and get the day started. The ritual also represents supporting ones community, Ruiz Zapata said, which is the backbone of her online subscription-based coffee business that launched two years ago to financially support 45 families in Colombia with their small-scale coffee farms and the selling of their product directly to consumers. Ruiz Zapata hails from Colombia and frequently travels back to her home, which happens to be one of the worlds top exporters of the aromatic brew. The country also has a rich and extensive history surrounding coffee but its a history thats not without economic challenges for growers of the popular bean and thats why the business came to fruition in the first place. The UW-Madison graduate is a veterinarian by trade, who when travelling the Colombian countryside years ago discovered just how much the coffee farmers that lived there struggled sporadic coffee bean sales that turned up minimal profit to support high labor, production and equipment costs. In 2022, farmers also face a changing Colombian climate amid global warming. As many as 500,000 farmers were not getting the bang for their buck back then as they farmed coffee beans, Ruiz Zapata said she found out as she established the precursor of Estacion Coffee back in 2012 a tourism organization called ZoOming.co that dissolved amid the COVID-19 pandemic as the companys industry experienced major financial blows. Now, Estacion Coffee is able to add 30% on top of what coffee farmers make on a regular day, but that figure is dependent on several factors weather, environmental conditions, hands to help and more. Whereas a typical farmer could make just under a dollar per hour on a typical workday hours can vary Estacions support bumps that up to roughly $5 per hour, Ruiz Zapata said. According to 2018 data from The Borgen Project, a nonprofit in Washington, Colombia is a poverty-stricken coffee sector, with farmers living on less than $2 a day. It doesnt help that growing coffee is a complicated and time-consuming feat requiring a few harvests per year, Ruiz Zapata said. As the business moves to commercialize, the hope is to one day be the sole purchaser of beans from the 45 families Estacion works with, Ruiz Zapata said. Currently, the company makes up only a portion of that. The direct buying of coffee beans from farmers has been a trend, even among large corporations like Starbucks, to better support impoverished growers. Working out of Synergy Coworking on the West Side, Estacion has 2,500 subscribers from across the country buying its beans. Shoppers can choose three places in Colombia from which to purchase their brew, and for prices starting at $13.90 up to $58.99. All coffee growers that work with the business have their fair trade certification, Ruiz Zapata said. In order to market herself, Ruiz Zapata hosts what she calls experiences in which attendees can taste, touch and smell Estacions product. Ruiz Zapata demonstrates how the coffee is brewed, and even has participants undergo mindfulness exercise as they sip their beverage. Tell us more about what you observed during your travels in the Colombian countryside. Once I met the coffee growers 10 years ago, I was completely touched by what they do. They always have a smile. Its easy to portray them as having hard jobs. But they love their land, birds, water, forest and view. They know they are fortunate to have that. (Some farmers would carry their coffee product) down on mules every six months to sell it in nearby towns. Others would walk five hours to access their crop. Whats so unique about how Colombian farmers cultivate their product? Colombia is the only country where the coffee is grown by the people that own the land. The country has a lot of fresh water resources. When you picture Estacion Coffee a year from now, or even five years from now, how do you see the business operating? I see people going to Colombia with us at least twice a year, and getting involved in the project. I see the coffee growers coming to the U.S. to see where their product is and to get a sense of what that means. There are many things that can connect us in that way, and that is our main goal. What does coffee represent for you as a Colombia native? It represents my family, for sure. We started drinking coffee when we were really young a little bit of coffee with a lot of milk and panela (unrefined whole cane sugar). We dont drink coffee alone, and take it in small cups with something sweet. Its sharing and thinking about how you are drinking the coffee in such a beautiful place with landscapes you see every morning. Its about slowing down. The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has convened a political conference where hes expected to review state affairs, including a COVID-19 outbreak, and possibly address relations with Washington and Seoul amid his revived nuclear brinkmanship. The plenary meeting of the ruling Workers Partys Central Committee began Wednesday in the capital, Pyongyang, the official Korean Central News Agency said Thursday, and may last several days. The meeting comes amid signs North Korea is preparing for its first nuclear test explosion in nearly five years, which would further escalate a provocative streak in weapons demonstrations this year that has included multiple tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles. KCNA published photos of the meetings participants walking into a party building and said they approved of the agenda that would be discussed, which wasnt specified. State media previously said the meeting would review state affairs and make decisions on a series of important issues. The meeting is likely to address the countrys COVID-19 outbreak. Officials at the World Health Organization said Wednesday they believed the outbreak was worsening and requested more information be shared with the U.N. health agency. South Korean officials and experts have said Kim may address relations with the United States and rival South Korea amid long-stalled diplomacy and double down on his ambitions to build a nuclear arsenal that could threaten U.S. allies and the American homeland. During the party's previous plenary meeting in December, Kim repeated his vow to boost his military nuclear program and order the production of more powerful and sophisticated weapons systems during discussions that lasted a record five days. The North Korean meeting took place as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with her counterparts from South Korea and Japan on Wednesday in Seoul, emphasizing trilateral security cooperation in the face of the accelerating North Korean threat. She warned a swift and forceful response if the North proceeds with a nuclear test but didnt elaborate. Shermans visit to Asia came after North Korea launched a single-day record of eight ballistic missiles into the sea from multiple locations across its territory on Sunday, prompting the U.S. and its Asian allies to respond with tit-for-tat missile launches and aerial demonstrations involving dozens of fighter jets. In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, North Korean envoy Kim Song berated those pushing for strengthened sanctions against the North over its weapons tests. He said his country was exercising its rights to self-defense by modernizing its weapons while facing direct threats by the United States, which is hell bent on reinforcing its military might in the Korean Peninsula and northern Asia. His comments were backed by envoys from China and Russia, who questioned the effectiveness of sanctions in slowing North Koreas nuclear weapons and missile programs. Chinas envoy urged the United States to make significant concessions, such as lifting sanctions in certain areas and halting its joint military exercises with Asian allies that North Korea portrays as invasion rehearsals. Jolting an old pattern of brinkmanship, North Korea has already set an annual record in ballistic launches through the first half of 2022, firing 31 missiles over 18 different launch events, including its first demonstrations of ICBMs since 2017. The unusually fast pace in testing activity underscores Kim Jong Uns dual intent to advance his arsenal and pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled negotiations aimed at leveraging its nukes for badly needed economic benefits and security concessions, experts say. Kim may up the ante soon as U.S. and South Korean officials say North Korea has all but finished preparations to detonate a nuclear device at its testing ground in the northeastern town of Punggye-ri. The site had been inactive since hosting the Norths sixth nuclear test in September 2017, when it claimed to have detonated a thermonuclear bomb designed for its ICBMs. Kim Jun-rak, a spokesperson for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the South Korean and U.S. militaries were closely monitoring North Korean activities at nuclear-related facilities and sites but didn't make specific predictions about the timing of the possible nuclear test. With a new test, North Korea may claim it has acquired an ability to build a bomb small enough to be clustered on a multiwarhead ICBM or on its widening array of short-range missiles threatening South Korea and Japan, analysts say. Kim Jong Un's pressure campaign hasnt been slowed by the COVID-19 outbreak, despite fears it may be severe in a country that has poor public health care and was largely unvaccinated. GAVI, the nonprofit that runs the U.N.-backed COVAX distribution program for vaccines, believes North Korea has begun administering doses given by its ally China. But the number of doses and how they were being distributed wasn't known. Some experts say North Korea would prioritize inoculating groups based on the country's economic needs, including workers and soldiers involved in trade or major construction projects Kim considers crucial to his rule. North Korea was believed to have shunned COVAX vaccines because they came with monitoring requirements, such as ensuring fair distribution. While the Biden administration has said it would push for additional sanctions if North Korea conducts another nuclear test, the divisions between permanent members of the U.N. Security Council make the prospects for meaningful punitive measures unclear. Russia and China this year vetoed U.S.-sponsored resolutions that would have increased sanctions, insisting Washington should focus on reviving dialogue. Nuclear talks between the U.S. and North Korea have stalled since 2019 because of disagreements over easing sanctions in exchange for North Korean disarmament steps, which underscored Kims unwillingness to give away an arsenal he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. A 23-year-old man was found with a chest wound and died at a hospital after a disturbance on the Far East Side early Sunday, Madison police said. Officers arrived at the 5600 block of Black Onyx Drive about 5:30 a.m. in response to reports of a disturbance and found the victim with a chest wound. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Lt. Paul Bauman said in a statement. Police took a person of interest into custody in connection with what they are calling a homicide. Police did not say what kind of weapon caused the victims chest wound. The Police Departments Violent Crimes Unit is investigating the death. Police ask that anyone with information on the incident contact them at 608-255-2345. Tipsters may remain anonymous by contacting Madison Area Crime Stoppers at 608-266-6014 or P3Tips.com. Individuals contacting Crime Stoppers can receive a reward of up to $1,000 for tips that lead to an arrest. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A developer is proposing a $150 million, 550-unit, low-cost housing project near a prized wetland and open space thats the first offering under the citys ambitious plan to remake the area around the former Oscar Mayer plant on the North Side. But city staff and neighborhood groups disagree over where the city should place new roads in the area, and the outcome could influence the number of housing units and how much open space near the development site is preserved. Lincoln Avenue Capital of Santa Monica, California, is proposing two six-story buildings, one with 250 apartments for seniors and the other with 300 units for families, on the former Hartmeyer property near a large natural area with wetlands, trees and open space adjacent to Roth Street and west of the former meat processing plant. Each building would be wrapped around a parking garage and would include a fitness center and space for a community service organization to provide education and job training. The proposed use aligns with the Oscar Mayer Special Area Plan, adopted in 2020, that will guide future development at the Oscar Mayer site and surrounding areas. The plan envisions housing, commercial and industrial spaces, the preserved wetland and park, new roads and more pedestrian-friendly trails, with a mix of building heights, some as high as 12 stories. The Oscar Mayer Special Area Plan is one of Madisons most important redevelopment opportunities to create a vibrant urban neighborhood that will provide housing, jobs and a new sense of place for this historic area, said Kevin McDonell, vice president and regional project partner at Lincoln Avenue Capital. The former Hartmeyer site provides the opportunity to develop a significant number of housing units, as recommended in the plan, as well as addressing Madisons pressing need for more affordable housing. But the citys plans for where to place new roads in the area has pitted city staff against the developer, Ald. Syed Abbas, 12th District, and neighborhood advocacy and environmental groups. An original location supported by four city agencies extends Roth Street toward Coolidge Street to create an east-west connection between Packers and Sherman avenues, and merges Huxley and Ruskin streets to create a north-south connection between Aberg and Commercial avenues. The new streets would cross like an X near the redevelopment site. The location likely offers the best chance of the city winning approvals to relocate the current Roth Street railroad crossing to the south on the new east-west street connection a key move to creating better access across the larger Oscar Mayer planning area presents fewer conflicts with vehicles and is best for bicyclists, pedestrians and future transit moving through the site, the Planning, Engineering, Traffic Engineering and Parks divisions contend in a joint memo. Its more direct and safer for all modes of transportation, principal planner Bill Fruhling said. An alternative eliminates the X and makes the connections with two T intersections and is backed by Abbas, the Sherman Neighborhood Association, Friends of Hartmeyer Natural Area, and the Four Lakes Group of the Sierra Club. The alternative placement would maximize the amount of housing in the proposed development, preserve more open space and trees sooner and place the road slightly further from open space, likely reducing and slowing traffic while still allowing the railroad crossing to be relocated to the same spot, they said. Protection of the wetlands is key, Abbas said. At the same time, housing is extremely important. We have an affordable housing crisis. Its a win-win. The citys Transportation Policy and Planning Board has endorsed the original location with Plan Commission consideration set for Monday and a City Council decision scheduled for June 21. The developer will submit a land use application once the street placement is determined. A place of solace The city has been laboring on how to best realize the potential of the greater Oscar Mayer area since parent company Kraft Heinz announced in November 2015 it would close Oscar Mayers sprawling operations on Packers Avenue as part of a restructuring that would shutter seven plants in the U.S. and Canada. As the City Council considered the special area plan, neighbors and environmentalists fought hard to preserve all 29 acres of the former Hartmeyer property, which includes the wetlands and natural areas to the west of the 54-acre main Oscar Mayer property. We all understand this is a post-industrial area, resident Beth Sluys said. But the natural areas have maintained their integrity and are a place of solace and comfort. Neighbors and environmentalists have also raised and continue to express concerns about potential Native American mounds on the Hartmeyer property and contamination from decades of industrial use at the Oscar Mayer facility. Ultimately, the councils plan for the area set aside 14 acres of the Hartmeyer property plus two acres from an adjacent parcel for green and open space, with the rest envisioned for residential and mixed-use development. The plan also includes new streets, and the city is now considering an amendment to the citys official map to reserve land for future roads in the Hartmeyer piece of the larger planning area. A difference over streets Earlier this year, after speaking to area property owners, staff prepared, and Abbas sponsored, a map amendment and related rezoning of the former Hartmeyer property consistent with the special area plan. But during the city approval process for the road placement, Abbas offered a substitute street location that arose from meetings he facilitated between Lincoln Avenue Capital and local advocacy groups. The main goal of the meetings was to accommodate the potential lower-cost housing project while maximizing the size of the proposed open space. The alternative street alignment provides better sites for redevelopment, maximizes the number of much-needed affordable housing units, and increases the size of the conservation area by more than an acre, bringing it closer to the size recommended in the OMSAP and supported by the neighborhood, McDonell said. It is direct and more efficient with less impervious surface. Lincoln Avenue Capital has negotiated with the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority to preserve the eligibility of the site for WHEDA financing, despite the fact that it is no longer eligible under the 2020 census, the developer said in a memo to the city. If the project is delayed or does not move forward, the city risks losing the opportunity to develop affordable housing in this area, it says. We support this (alternative) road mapping, said Jennifer Argelander, co-chair of the Sherman Neighborhood Association. This new road would save at least 15 of the 16 acres promised. It would allow for better and more creative development. The new street alignment would protect the ecologically important mature tree line which currently has many healthy large trees that support the natural area biodiversity and sustainability as well as the bur oak trees to the north. Even though we all prefer no through road, this is a compromise the community will support, she said. The alternate placement is technically feasible, but inferior to the original road design for many reasons, the joint staff memo says. The original placement best supports future relocation of the Roth Street railroad crossing, the memo says. The original placement also protects the highest-quality natural features on the site and will not harm potential archeological sites, it says. The staffs preferred location preserves the stand of mature, high-quality oak and hickory trees just south of Roth Street, the memo says. A stand of trees north of Ruskin Street includes many trees that are dead or dying, and if the property were ever conveyed or sold to the city for a future park, all of the buckhorn understory would be removed and up to 80% of the trees removed, as they would be considered a hazard due to their condition, it says. But if the original placement is chosen, it will significantly reduce the number of affordable units that can be built, McDonell said. The senior building will lose approximately 80 units and it will divide the development area into inefficient sites. Abbas said the contention the city will have a better chance winning approval for the railroad crossing with the original placement is not a very strong argument, adding, Do you want affordable housing or not? That is the question. (The alternate location) is a good balance between housing and open space. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Engine Company 4 was sent to 730 Braxton Place about 5:40 a.m. for reports of a smell of something burning. Firefighters searched the building and found an apartment with evidence of a fire that had self-extinguished, along with an occupant who was deceased, Fire Department spokesperson Cynthia Schuster said in a statement. KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Kremlin-installed officials in occupied southern Ukraine celebrated Russia Day on Sunday and began issuing Russian passports to residents in one city who requested them, as Moscow sought to solidify its rule over captured parts of the country. At one of the central squares in the city of Kherson, Russian bands played a concert to celebrate Russia Day, the holiday that marks Russias emergence as a sovereign state after the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to Russias state news agency RIA Novosti. In the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region, Moscow-installed officials raised a Russian flag in Melitopols city center. Ukrainian media reported that few, if any, local residents attended the Russia Day festivities in the two cities. Russia Day was also celebrated in other occupied parts of Ukraine, including the ravaged southern port of Mariupol, where a new city sign painted in the colors of the Russian flag was unveiled on the outskirts and Russian flags were flown on a highway leading into the city. Also, the Russia-aligned administration in Melitopol started handing out Russian passports to those who applied for Russian citizenship. RIA Novosti posted video of a Moscow-backed official congratulating new Russian citizens and telling them: Russia will not go anywhere. We are here for good. President Vladimir Putin earlier this year issued a decree fast-tracking Russian citizenship for residents of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. In captured cities in the south and east, Moscow has also introduced the ruble as official currency, aired Russian news broadcasts and taken steps to introduce a Russian school curriculum. The Kremlin's administrators in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions have voiced plans to incorporate the areas into Russia, despite protests and signs of an insurgency among local residents. Russian-installed officials Sunday in Melitopol reported an explosion in a garbage bin near the citys police headquarters and said two residents were injured. Another blast was reported at an electrical substation in the city of Berdyansk, which is also under Russian control. The Kremlin-backed administration pronounced it a terrorist attack, and officials said electricity was shut down in parts of the city. On the battlefield, Russia said it is used missiles to destroy a large depot in western Ukraine that contained anti-tank and air-defense weapons supplied to Kyiv by the U.S. and European countries. It said the attack took place near the city of Chortkiv in the Ternopil region. Ternopil Gov. Volodymyr Trush said four Russian missiles damaged a military installation and four residential buildings in Chortkiv. More than 20 people were wounded, including a 12-year-old girl, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. This strike had no tactical or strategic sense, just like the absolute majority of other Russian strikes. It is terror, just terror, he said in a video address. In light of the strike, Zelenskyy made another plea for modern missile defense systems from the U.S. and other Western countries, saying, These are lives that could have been saved, tragedies that could have been prevented if Ukraine had been listened to. Also, heavy fighting continued for control of Sievierodonetsk, an eastern city in Luhansk province with a prewar population of 100,000 that has emerged as central to Russia's campaign to capture the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland. Russian forces shelled a Sievierodonetsk chemical plant where up to 500 civilians, 40 of them children, were holed up, Luhansk Gov. Serhii Haidai said. An official with the pro-Moscow, self-proclaimed Luhansk Peoples Republic, Rodion Miroshnik, said 300 to 400 Ukrainian troops also remained inside the plant. He said that efforts were underway to evacuate the civilians. Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Luhansk Peoples Republic, said the Ukrainians making their stand in Sievierodonetsk should save themselves the trouble. If I were them, I would already make a decision" to surrender, he said. We will achieve our goal in any case." Follow AP's coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine This story has been corrected to show that a 12-year-old girl, not a boy, was wounded in a missile strike on Chortkiv. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. When you think about it, it's not all that surprising that Tim Michels received Donald Trump's coveted endorsement in the 2022 Republican primary race for governor. Trump couldn't resist the chance to snub the GOP establishment choice of Rebecca Kleefisch. And, of course, both Trump and Michels are wealthy developers from New York. The letter to the editor in the June 7 Wisconsin State Journal "Bishops shouldn't meddle in politics" condemned Bishop Donald Hying of the Madison Diocese for expressing his support for San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. Cordileone had decided to deny Holy Communion to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. The letter contended this was a political move on behalf of the Republican Party. Bishops shouldn't meddle in politics -- John Murphy When the Catholic bishop of Madison, Donald Hying, recently approved of the withholding of H Nothing could be further from the truth. The Catholic Church considers abortion and same sex marriage to be intrinsic evils. Pope Francis also has stated his opposition. Speaker Pelosi champions abortion right up until birth, along with gay marriage and every aspect of gender ideology. Bishop Hying is not meddling in politics but is simply fulfilling his duty to affirm Catholic teaching as the chief shepherd of his flock. Pelosi is as far from being a good Catholic as you could get. She is causing great scandal in claiming to be a Catholic in good faith. I applaud Bishop Hying for taking a stand in favor of the necessary action taken by Archbishop Cordileone. I wish that all of our Catholic bishops had the same courage to shine a light in the darkness of this world steeped in sin. Timothy Rookey, Middleton Planned Parenthoods oldest Idaho location in Boise in the city with the largest population has closed, the organization told the Idaho Statesman on Thursday. The closure of the Boise medical center leaves two Planned Parenthood locations in the state, in Meridian and in Twin Falls, as concerns over abortion access in Idaho have escalated. The Boise Planned Parenthood, which was located at 3668 N. Harbor Lane off of State Street, closed June 1. The property was listed for sale through Keller Williams Commercial for $999,000. A sign on the former clinics door directs patients to Meridian or Twin Falls. Katie Rodihan, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, said it was one of five clinic closures in the region following a comprehensive review of all of our health centers and patient needs across all six of our states. Rodihan said the review was prompted by the U.S. Supreme Courts likely overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that outlined abortion rights. Rodihan said patients can still visit the Meridian or Twin Falls location and said Planned Parenthood invested heavily in telemedicine during the coronavirus pandemic. The organization will soon begin offering gender-affirming care in Idaho through telemedicine, she said. Three of the six states in Planned Parenthoods Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky region, including Idaho, are likely to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Rodihan said Planned Parenthood will shift its focus in those states to offer contraception or help patients access abortion services in states where the procedure remains legal. The Boise Planned Parenthood location was one of four medical facilities including the organizations two other locations and a private medical practice in Boise offering abortion services in Idaho. Dr. Kara Cadwallader, chief medical officer for the Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, told theStatesman in December that abortions make up a small fraction of the clinics services. They also provide contraception, screening for sexually transmitted infections, family planning, breast cancer screening and other medical care. Idaho laws would outlaw abortion, allow family to sue providers The closure comes as concerns over abortion access are at a fever pitch. Idaho stands poised to ban abortions altogether if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which established a womans right to an abortion, as well as a timeline for when abortion procedures could take place. A draft opinion leaked last month showed justices intend to overturn both cases, returning control of abortion to the states. The court is expected to issue its final opinion this month. Planned Parenthood is currently suing the state of Idaho over a law passed in March that allows some family members to sue medical professionals who provide abortions for a minimum of $20,000. The Idaho Supreme Court temporarily halted the law from implementation while the lawsuit is pending. Idahos new law would apply to any abortion performed after roughly six weeks when lawmakers said a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Physicians have said the heartbeat is better described as electrical activity and occurs often before women even know theyre pregnant. Idaho has a trigger law in place that would effectively ban all abortions if control is returned to states. The Idaho law, passed last year, would make it a felony for any medical professional to perform an abortion. The only exceptions are in instances when a pregnant womans life is at risk or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest and then only if the crime was reported to law enforcement. Were not anticipating any decrease in demand for abortion care in Idaho, even if full trigger ban goes into effect, Rodihan said. We remain fully committed to the state of Idaho. We will continue to be a presence no matter what the Idaho state laws look like. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Air travelers through Idaho this summer will have more flight choices for making cross-country trips, with Delta Air Lines expanding service between Boise and the nations busiest airport. Starting July 11, Delta will add a second nonstop flight to and from its headquarters at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The additional trip an overnight red-eye will run every day except Saturday, and is expected to operate into September, according to Boise Airport officials. It gives our passengers more options to choose from when traveling east to domestic and international destinations, said Shawna Samuelson, a Boise Airport spokesperson. The route in and out of Atlanta is the longest flight at the Boise Airport, and also its farthest east, after JetBlue Airways announced earlier this year that it ceased its seasonal flight to and from New York Citys John F. Kennedy International Airport. That nonstop flight lasted just a single summer. Deltas decision to add another near-daily flight between Boise and Atlanta through the summer months was based on demand, Drake Castaneda, an airline spokesperson, told the Statesman by email. Through this years first quarter, the Boise Airport is on pace to break its record for annual passengers. We have seen demand in this market grow pretty significantly recently, which drove the decision for added capacity, Castaneda said.He declined to disclose the existing Atlanta flights average passenger loads. Other air carriers in Boise also dropped seasonal routes this year. Allegiant Air stopped service to and from Nashville, while Southwest Airlines ended trips for the summer to Chicago-Midway, Dallas-Love Field and Orange County, California. But the regional air hub also welcomed the launch last month of a brand-new route between Boise and Burbank in Southern California, with the local debut of Avelo Airlines. Fellow low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines is scheduled to begin service between Boise and Las Vegas on Aug. 5. Boise Airport mainstay Alaska Airlines is expanding its flight options as well. The Seattle-based carrier introduced a Burbank flight last month to compete with Avelo, and next week will add daily service to Idaho Falls and Las Vegas. Delta, among the worlds two largest commercial air carriers by several metrics, has operated a year-round, daily flight between Boise and Atlanta since November 2020. The nonstop route was initially planned to start in July 2020, but was delayed as a result of impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic on the air travel industry, according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting. Delta also operates nonstop flights between Boise and four other destinations: Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Seattle and Salt Lake City. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 BOISE The Federal Communications Commissions has proposed a $34,000 fine against an Idaho man that the agency says interfered with firefighters radio communications during a wildfire last year when he alerted them to hazards in the region. The FCC said alleged interference happened while the U.S. Forest Service and the Idaho Department of Lands were fighting a wildfire near the small north-central Idaho village of Elk River. The agencies were using the radios to guide firefighting aircraft when someone identifying himself as comm tech made eight unauthorized transmissions on the government radio frequencies, telling the crews about hazards near an airstrip in the region, the FCC said. Jason Frawley, a HAM radio operator and broadband service provider in the region with equipment at the airstrip, later told officials that he was trying to help the firefighting crews by giving them details about conditions in the area. Still, the FCC said that regardless of the intent, the violations were willful. Interfering with authorized radio communications and especially public safety related communications is a serous violation of the law and can put lives and property at risk, the agency wrote in a statement released Wednesday. Frawley will have the opportunity to respond to the FCCs proposal and allegations before the fine becomes final, the FCC said. Frawley told The Associated Press that he could not immediately comment on the matter. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 LUKE JAMES KIMBALL The Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office asks that anyone with information please call 208-735-1911 or Crime Stoppers at 208-343-2677, where they can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward. Tips can be made at www.343cops.com or download P3 Tips on your mobile phone. TWIN FALLS The company behind the Lava Ridge Wind Project spent this week discussing their second proposed wind farm in south-central Idaho, the Salmon Falls Wind Project. Magic Valley Energy and its parent company LS Power held a series of open houses this week to bring information and outreach to communities regarding their proposed Salmon Falls Wind project, which would be located in southern Twin Falls County near Hollister. The project, still in its early phases, has filed an application with the Bureau of Land Management, which is expected to issue a Notice of Intent as soon as this fall. The scoping process will begin with public meetings to collect comment from the public and from state and local agencies like counties and cities. The process leading to the BLM issuing a determination on Magic Valley Energys request could take up to two years. If approved, Magic Valley Energy said the wind farm could become operational by 2026. The 800 megawatt Salmon Falls facility would occupy public lands managed by the BLM in southern Twin Falls County. Magic Valley Energy said that once constructed, the proposed project would generate $1.9 million in local taxes annually, including up to $614,300 for Filer School District, and up to $665,300 for Twin Falls County. BLM project manager Katherine Farrell said comments from the public are an important part of the permitting process through scoping and the Environmental Impact Statement. Im here today to talk to members of the public about this project, because Im managing it for the BLM, Farrell said, and I want to know what the public has to say. Farrell stressed the importance of public comments submitted to the BLM. We use the public comments to determine which resources we need to study, he said. If they dont provide us public comments, we cant consider it. And public comments do have an influence on the ultimate decision. Written comments can be submitted by email to BLM_ID_SalmonFallsWind@BLM.Gov, postal mail, or even fax. Comments can also be made by phone, but Farrell said a written comment in the individuals own words is preferred to a phone call, because sometimes transcribing a phone call can result in some missed elements of the comment. Salmon Falls is about 18 months behind Lava Ridge, but local concerns or objections to Lava Ridge have also been voiced for Salmon Falls as well. A citizens group called Stop Lava Ridge has held community meetings around the Magic Valley and has an active online presence. No protests were observed at the open houses, but several attendees did have questions and concerns about the project. Locals in person and online have expressed the following concerns: Where will the energy be used? Could south-central Idaho become an energy producer for places like Las Vegas, Salt Lake City or California? Several western states have established clean energy goals, Luke Papez, Magic Valley Energy Project director for LS Power, said. Energy generated in south-central Idaho would likely be sent out of state. Right now the energy has not been sold, Papez said. When you look at that need here within the state, coupled with needs all across the west theres 10s of thousands of megawatts needed to meet these clean energy goals, so were responding to that by proposing project in areas that we feel will make sense for a wind development project to be successful. LS Power owns transmission assets in place, and more are being developed. The transmission piece of the clean energy puzzle is important for renewable sources such as wind or solar, to allow regions with higher generation to supply regions with lower generation, for instance, on the days the wind doesnt blow or the sun doesnt shine. Papez said that while he understands concerns about energy produced in Idaho being shipped out of state, similar things already happen in other industries such as agriculture. Energy is already an interstate-commerce commodity, Papez said. Idaho has been a wonderful state for export economy. Potatoes, dairy, beef, microchips. All are produced here, some are used in-state, much is shipped out of state. Energy can be another commodity that Idaho can accept investments have tax revenues and jobs here locally, just like the agricultural industry provides. On Saturday afternoon, the wind project also hosted an information session for contractors and vendors who might be interested in partnering with the project. About 20 people attended the session, representing interests such as crane operators, industrial lubrication, logistics and transportation. LS Power has stated hopes to hire as much local talent for the project as possible. Magic Valley Energy spokesperson Amy Schutte said the contractor and vendors meeting was to help give people an idea of the timeline for construction. For Lava Ridge and for Salmon Falls theres a lot opportunity for folks with concrete, gravel, fencing, Schutte said. Theres a lot of things and it makes a lot of sense to use local talent for this. Most construction guys are planning out multiple years ahead now, so its good to get a grasp on what could be available to them if they wanted to be involved in the project. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 The New York Times reckons that four gun control measures Congress is considering might have changed the course of at least 35 mass shootings since 1999 one-third of attacks in which a gunman killed at least four people. While that conclusion is excessively optimistic, the newspaper is at least asking the right question: Are new restrictions on firearms likely to work as advertised? President Joe Biden, by contrast, simply assumes the wisdom of the policies he favors and the bad faith of anyone who opposes them. The issue we face is one of conscience and common sense, he insisted last week, implying that skeptics lack one or both. Among other things, Biden wants Congress to require background checks for private gun transfers, which means such transactions must be completed through a federally licensed dealer. The Times found that four of the mass killers in the 105 cases it examined bought guns in private transactions. One of those perpetrators had already failed a background check. One of the other three, the Violence Policy Center reports, legally bought a pistol from a gun shop. According to a 2013 review in The Atlantic, it is not clear whether either of the two other killers had disqualifying criminal or psychiatric records. In at least one case out of 105, then, an expanded federal background-check requirement might have been an obstacle. But thats assuming private sellers generally would comply with that mandate, and data from states that notionally require universal background checks suggest such rules are widely flouted. The Times found that at least 20 mass murderers used magazines that held more than 10 rounds. The 1994 federal assault weapon law, which expired in 2004, prohibited the production and sale of such magazines, and Biden wants Congress to renew that limit. Even if we assume that the need to switch magazines after firing 10 rounds can make an important difference in mass shootings, the effectiveness of a ban is doubtful. A 2004 report commissioned by the Justice Department found that the 1994 ban had no measurable impact on the use of large capacity magazines in crimes, probably due to the immense stock of exempted pre-ban magazines a stock that is even bigger now than it was then. In 10 of the 105 mass shootings analyzed by the Times, the perpetrators used stolen guns. The paper suggests safe storage legislation backed by Biden might have made a difference in those cases. One such bill would establish a $500 fine for gun owners who fail to secure their weapons in circumstances where a minor is likely to gain access to them or in households where a resident is legally barred from possessing firearms. If a minor or prohibited person uses an unsecured gun to injure or kill someone, the owner would face up to five years in prison. The bill also would provide grants aimed at encouraging states to establish and enforce similar requirements. The idea that such laws could prevent would-be mass shooters from obtaining firearms assumes wide compliance and a lack of alternative sources, both of which are debatable assumptions. The Times says four of the gunmen might have been stymied by a law prohibiting federally licensed gun dealers from selling semi-automatic centerfire rifles that accept detachable magazines to anyone younger than 21. That bill, which Biden also supports, avoids the arbitrary distinctions drawn by assault weapon bans, which target guns based on functionally unimportant characteristics. Since the bill does not apply to private transfers, however, adult buyers younger than 21 could still legally obtain semi-automatic rifles. Furthermore, a federal appeals court ruled last month that prohibiting young adults from buying such firearms because a tiny fraction of them might commit violent crimes was inconsistent with the Second Amendment. Before deciding whether to support policies like these, legislators should rationally weigh their costs and benefits, including their constitutional implications. Biden prefers a different approach, replacing logic and evidence with self-righteous certitude. Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason magazine. Syndicated by Creators.com. Love 5 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 3 Moroccos Supreme Council of Ulema has strongly condemned the content of the film The Lady of Heaven, expressing its categorical rejection of the blatant falsification of established facts in Islamic history. Here follows the English translation of the statement issued by the Council on Saturday in this regard: The Supreme Council of Ulema has taken cognizance of the overall content of the film recently produced under the title The Lady of Heaven and has noted the following: The person who wrote the film belongs to a Shiite current. He was stripped of his Kuwaiti nationality for his extremist ideas. The film is a blatant falsification of the facts and contains a heinous act that cannot be accepted by Muslims, namely for the incarnation of the Prophet, peace be upon Him. The film dared, with loathsome partiality, to use the person of Fatima Zahra, may Allahs blessings be upon Her, the daughter of the Prophet, peace be upon Him, for purposes that are contrary to the spirit of religion and the reality of history. The high rank of Fatima Zahra, may Allahs blessings be upon Her, in the eyes of all Muslim men and women does not need to resort to false allegations to talk about Her. The slander against Sidna Abi bakr, may Allahs blessings be upon him, who was the subject of the greatest testimonies from the Prophet, is part of the scandals in this film. Those who are behind this film seek fame and sensationalism, promotion of their production, and the achievement of the largest number of viewers, by hurting the feelings of Muslims and stirring up religious sensitivities. For all these considerations, the Supreme Council of Ulemas, which has the distinguished honor of being chaired by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful, descendant of the Prophet, may God assist Him, strongly condemns the content of this film and expresses its categorical rejection of the blatant falsification of established facts of Islamic history. This falsification of facts, which is detrimental to Islam and Muslims, is rejected by all peoples, because it does not serve their higher interests among nations, especially in these times. The Council calls upon the competent authorities to take all necessary measures in this regard. How can I make my home safe for my child? Parents worry endlessly about how to protect their children from everything -- from ill-intentioned strangers to random bullets and stray dogs -- but many overlook one of the biggest threats to their children's safety and well-being: their own home. Experts say that children ages 1 to 4 are more likely to be injured by falls, burns, drowning, choking, cuts, or poisoning than by a stranger. As former surgeon general C. Everett Koop said, "If a disease were killing our children in the proportion that accidents are, people would demand that this killer be stopped." There are a slew of childproofing gadgets on the market to make your home safer. But Anne Altman of Childproofer, a consulting and contracting company in Forestville, California, cautions parents that the best protection is still supervision. "I'd rather not recommend a product than suggest one that gives parents a false sense of security," she says. Here are some other tips for a safer home: Put safety plugs in all unused electrical outlets, or place large pieces of furniture in front of them to prevent your child from sticking her finger or a toy into the holes. Use outlet covers and outlet plates to protect children from electrical shock and possible electrocution, and be sure that your child can't easily remove the outlet protector. Attach cushioned corner-and-edge bumpers to the sharp corners of furniture like coffee tables and desks. You can also use them on fireplace hearths to soften falls against a hard brick or metal edge. Consider the potential hazard of anything you drop into the garbage. If you discard batteries, paper clips, plastic bags, or other dangerous items, your trash should have a child-resistant cover. Keep pens, scissors, letter openers, staplers, paper clips, and other sharp instruments in drawers with safety latches or locks. Prevent accidental poisonings by installing safety latches or locks on drawers and cabinets in the kitchen, bathrooms, and other areas where your child could reach medicines or household cleaners. Some children are able to open child-resistant bottles, so lock those away as well. Make sure your child's toys are appropriate for her age. If she still explores the world with her mouth, she should never play with balloons, buttons, toys with small parts, or anything else that could choke her. (A 3-year-old should never play with anything smaller than her own mouth.) Install smoke detectors in every level of your house and near the bedroom and kitchen. Check monthly to be sure they're working, and change the batteries annually. A working smoke detector cuts the chances of dying in a fire in half, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Install a carbon monoxide detector outside your bedrooms, particularly if you use gas or oil heat and have an attached garage. If possible, find one that plugs into an electrical outlet and shows you the level of carbon monoxide at any given time. If you have a two-story house, put one on each floor. Avoid drapes and blinds with cords; dangling cords are a strangulation hazard. If you must have them, cut the cord loop and tie up cords with window cleats. To order free window blind cord safety tassels, call the Window Covering Safety Council at (800) 506-4636, or visit their Web site at www.windowcoverings.org. Place colorful stickers on large areas of glass, such as sliding glass doors, to prevent them from "disappearing." Always open casement windows from the top, and fit them with locks so small children can't open them. Low windows shouldn't open more than 5 inches; keep furniture and other climbing structures away from them. Use window guards and safety netting for balconies, windows, decks, and landings. Make sure area rugs have non-slip backs or put non-slip pads underneath; this will help prevent falls. Use safety gates and door gates. Every year, an estimated 2.5 million children are treated in emergency rooms for fall-related injuries. Choose a gate that has a straight top edge and a rigid mesh screen to keep your child out of rooms that are off-limits. Put a safety gate at the top of the stairs and another three steps from the bottom to keep toddlers out of harm's way. If you have an older safety gate, make sure it doesn't have a "V" shape large enough for a child's head and neck to fit through. "And remember," says Altman, "childproofing is an ongoing process: The gate you put at the top of the stairs for your 1-year-old may become her favorite climbing structure when she's 2." Hide lamp and appliance cords behind heavy furniture, or conceal them with a special hide-a-cord device. Tall, potentially tippy lamps should be secured behind furniture. Use a cordless phone so that you can continually keep an eye on your young children, especially if they're in the tub, a swimming pool, or other dangerous areas. Use door stops to help prevent your child from getting her fingers mashed in the door hinges, and install door locks to keep her out of the swimming pool or rooms with potential dangers. Put a lock on the toilet to prevent accidental drowning; toddlers can drown in a few inches of water. Keep your medications locked up and never leave vitamins out when children can get to them: too many vitamins with iron can be fatal. Keep first-aid supplies on hand, and tell babysitters and other caregivers where to find the supplies and how to respond in an emergency. Be sure you've also poison-proofed your home to protect your children from hazardous substances, including checking the household plants to make sure all of them are nonpoisonous. Turn down the water heater to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, or medium, to prevent scalding burns. Avoid buying cards or toys with button batteries. These can kill a child if swallowed. Get the lead out. If you live in a building constructed before 1978, it may contain lead paint. If your child breathes lead dust or fumes, chews on paint chips or window sills, or swallows anything with lead in it, she can get lead poisoning, which can cause learning disabilities and other neurological problems. If there's lead paint in your home, have it completely removed by a licensed professional trained in hazardous waste removal or covered with an approved sealant; you and your child should also stay out of the house until the job is done. (Don't attempt to remove the lead paint yourself: Home removal methods can spread hazardous lead fumes and dust throughout your house.) For information on how to get a paint chip analyzed, call the National Lead Information Center at (800) 424-5323. Imported vinyl miniblinds are a far less familiar source of household lead. Some decades ago, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission discovered that some of these blinds, which use lead as a stabilizer for the plastic, pose a lead poisoning hazard to young children who touch the blinds and then put their fingers in their mouths. Look for cartons labeled "nonleaded formula" or "no lead added." Even if your house is adequately childproofed, you still need to practice safe habits. Cook on the back burners of your stove, and turn all pot handles away from the edge of the stove so your child can't pull them over and burn himself. Remember that hot objects, especially curling irons, tend to remain dangerously hot for quite some time after being unplugged. And never leave a young child alone in the bathroom, especially the tub, while you answer the phone. Again, the best childproofing of all is supervision. References Consumer Products Safety Commission, Childproofing Your Home. American College of Emergency Physicians, How to Childproof Your Home. Centers for Disease Control. Health, United States, National Fire Protection Association. Smoke Alarms. Childrens Hospital Boston. Falls. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange. The headline in the paper morning made me recoil. Another young boy had died in a wilderness boot camp -- a victim, like many before him, of abuse at the hands of those in charge of helping him. That was 20 years ago, but today TikTok is flooded by victims of wilderness therapy camps, now young adults, who describe what it was like to be kidnapped as a teen and taken far away to a place their parents were assured they would be "straightened out." Tony Haynes, 14, drowned after employees at an unlicensed boot camp in Arizona, run by a group called America's Buffalo Soldiers, stuck him in a bathtub half-conscious and turned on the shower. They left Haynes unattended in the tub, even though the boy had been vomiting and delirious after being forced to stand in 115-degree desert heat as punishment for asking to go home. The Phoenix boy's tragic death -- and charges that other children were also abused by camp drill instructors -- were investigated, and the camp's director was convicted of manslaughter and aggravated assault. To me, the story is all too familiar. Six years before Tony Haynes death, I wrote an expose for Vibe magazine about a new trend in managing America's rebellious teens -- "wilderness therapy" programs that promise to straighten out problem children with tough love, fresh air, and strenuous hikes through the desert. The camps were touted as an effective middle-ground solution for worried parents -- something in between institutionalizing problem kids and doing nothing. Hundreds of teens were sent off to camps like these, most because they were experimenting with drugs, doing poorly in school, defying their parents, or even just refusing to do their chores. Some parents paid extra for camp employees to "escort" their children to the camps -- that is, arrive at the family home in the middle of the night, wake the teenager, and drag him off to a helicopter standing by for the trip. The philosophy behind the wilderness stays was to remove the teens from whatever bad influences they were exposed to in their hometowns, and rely on camp counselors and the harsh elements of the desert to teach kids discipline and responsibility. Other goals were to build self-esteem though physical prowess and survival skills, and to make the teenagers long to get back home to air conditioning, ample food, and the other comforts of home. Unfortunately, some kids never made it home. At the time of my investigation, three teens had already died in three separate camps in Utah. Kristen Chase, 16, perished of heatstroke in 1990. Michelle Sutton, 15, died from dehydration in another camp the same year. And in 1994, 16-year-old Aaron Bacon endured a slow and agonizing death from a perforated ulcer, which counselors failed to treat because they believed the boy was faking his illness. Bacon's parents shared a diary with me that their son had been keeping up to the time of his death. His mother wept while describing Aaron as a wonderful child and an "old soul," a sensitive and politically aware teen who wrote poetry. She and her husband Bob turned to the wilderness program only because Aaron had begun experimenting with marijuana, and become despondent during his sophomore year in high school. "I was seeking a place where Aaron could go and get in touch with God and himself," Sally Bacon said. "Where he could get clearheaded and think about choices, about where his life was going. I was trying to help my child, and what they did to him is so horrible that I can't even talk about it." In one of Aaron's last entries, in handwriting that had begun to deteriorate, the teenager speculated that his parents would never have sent him to the camp if they'd known what it would really be like. "It's my 21st day here, and I'm in terrible condition," he wrote. "I feel like I'm losing control of my body.... I'm so scared of everything here -- staff, slick rocks, nights, the cold, everything. I couldn't tell at all that I would be doing this sort of thing from the catalog. I describe it as legal child abuse." Following Bacon's death, Utah state officials shut down several camps and adopted strict standards for regulating the private, for-profit camps in the mid-1990s. Things seemed to improve briefly, but it wasn't long before wilderness therapy programs and "boot camps" began to sprout up in other states (and even foreign countries) where regulations were lax or nonexistent. Talk Shows and Juvenile Courts Today, TV talk shows often promote boot camps as an effective fix for parents with rebellious teens. They invite camp drill instructors to the show who yell into the faces of the "out-of-control" kids and make them cry on camera. Many judges have also jumped on the boot camp bandwagon, often sentencing juvenile offenders to attend either state-run or privately run boot camps. Such was the case of 14-year-old Gina Score, who was ordered to attend South Dakota's state-run boot camp for girls after she'd been caught shoplifting, her parents say. Score, who weighed 226 lbs at 5 feet 4 inches tall, died of heat exhaustion two days into the program, when she collapsed near the end of 2.7-mile forced run. Staff members left the girl on the ground for three hours because they thought she was pretending to be ill. She died of heat exhaustion in a hospital later that day. The girl's death led South Dakota officials to re-examine state juvenile justice policies, and now fewer children in that state are being sent to boot camp. The national Youth Law Center filed a class-action lawsuit against the state on behalf of Score and other teens in boot camps and juvenile detention centers. As a result, South Dakota agreed to discontinue two practices the suit had criticized: placing both girls and boys in four-point restraints (spread-eagle), and locking juveniles in isolation cells for 23 hours a day for up to weeks at a time. Of course, not all boot camps and wilderness therapy camps are bad. Some juveniles have been shown to benefit from such programs, especially if the camps have highly-trained staff and comprehensive aftercare programs that offer follow-up counseling once the youth returns home. The nonprofit Anasazi Foundation in Arizona has been providing wilderness therapy for youth with substance abuse or behavioral problems for more than 40 years. Its founders, who say they repudiate the use of force against kids and base their teachings on Native American philosophy, have been outspoken against the "military mentality" of many boot camps. "We believe the wilderness can be a very safe place to work with young people," says Mike Merchant, the camp's chief executive officer. "It's not a place to break children down. The wilderness is an environment free from clutter and conflict, a place where they can sort through their problems." In general, though, the controversial nature and military mentality of these camps -- combined with many documented cases of abuse and even death -- should make parents wary of shipping their kids off to wilderness programs. Deborah Vargas, a former policy analyst for the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, advises parents to explore all other avenues -- including available community services and counseling -- before resorting to boot camps. If they are still determined to send their teen to such a camp, they should investigate it thoroughly in advance. There are dozens of state-run boot camps in the country, and dozens more privately run programs. According to the late Project NoSpank, a parent and teacher group that advocated against violence towards children, at least 45 young people have died at wilderness camps. One of those deaths was that of 15-year old William "Eddie" Lee, who was killed in September 2000 at the privately run Obsidian Trails Outdoor School, based in Bend, Oregon. Lee died of an injury to an artery in his neck caused when camp counselors pinned him to the ground for refusing to stick with the group. No criminal charges were filed. Lee's mother, who sent her son to Obsidian hoping it would improve his behavior and help him make a better transition into high school, filed a $1.5 million wrongful death suit and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. Tony Haynes, who died on July 1, 2001, is another boot camp casualty. The 14-year-old had been going to a wilderness camp on the weekends, and his parents hoped the five-week program would help their son even more. Haynes, who reportedly had a bad temper, had been picked up for shoplifting and had recently slashed the tires on his mom's car in an attempt to escape being sent back to the camp. "He was going to take his punishment like a man," the boy's grieving father, Gettis Haynes, Jr., of Missouri, told reporters. "I didn't think dying was included in that." Other deaths at wilderness camps and "troubled teen" residential facilities have been reported through 2022. At the very least, Vargas advises parents not to be naive about the camps' claims. "These programs promise parents who are at their wit's end a quick fix, but there is no quick fix," she says. "If you think that a four-month program in the desert is the solution, you're fooling yourself." Further Resources Youth Law Center Children's Legal Protection Center 417 Montgomery Street, Suite 900 San Francisco, CA 94104 Phone: 415/543-3379; Fax: 415/956-9022 Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) Main Administrative Office 1622 Folsom Street San Francisco, CA 94103 Phone: 415/621-5661; Fax: 415/621-5466 Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) 810 Seventh Street, NW Washington, DC 20531 Phone: 202/307-5911; Fax: 202/307-2093 Michelle Sutton Foundation (run by Cathy Sutton, mother of one of first wilderness camp victims) References Anasazi Foundation. Founding Philosophy. http://www.anasazi.org/philosophy.html Project NoSpank. Deadly Restraint. http://www.nospank.net/camps.htm Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse. Wilderness Death Camp Suit Settled. http://www.caica.org/NEWS%20DEATH%20EDDIE%201.htm Arizona Republic, "Director of boot camp where teen died released from prison," Feb. 20, 2010. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/02/20/... You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange. SUNDAY, June 12, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- If you have a family history of cancer and are considering genetic counseling to measure your risk for the disease, an expert offers some advice. Genetic counseling can help you understand your family's cancer history and how it applies to you, said Tanya Eble, an associate professor of molecular and human genetics and a genetic counselor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She outlined a number of red flags for hereditary cancer in a person's individual or family history. Cancer diagnosed at an early age for example, breast cancer diagnosed before menopause. Rare cancers like ovarian or pancreatic cancer and cancers in a less commonly affected gender for example, breast cancer in men. Multiple primary cancers in a single family member. Multiple generations of family members impacted by the same type of cancer or specific constellations of cancer. When conducting genetic counseling, Eble asks patients for a four-generation family history. "It's helpful to come prepared to answer questions about the types of cancers and ages of diagnosis in your family," she said in a Baylor news release. "Bring a family member's genetic test report if you have it. When a variant was identified, it's helpful to know the exact change in the gene and whether it is a known pathogenic variant or an unknown variant. We may want to test specifically for that variant." Information about healthy relatives can also be helpful. "If you come because your paternal grandmother had breast cancer and your father has six sisters, I might be reassured about a hereditary cancer syndrome if all those sisters are now in their 80s with no cancer," Eble said. "If the sisters are young, I might still be concerned because they might still develop cancer." Family get-togethers "can be a good time to start the conversation about family history," she said. "There's usually someone in the family who has that information and can share. But remember that different people have different levels of comfort when talking about their family history." Other resources include online tools like My Family Health Portrait, developed by the U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute. If your family history suggests a need for genetic testing, you can provide a genetic sample either through a blood draw or mouth swab. A genetics provider will review the results of the test with you and discuss what it means for your health. It's important to follow up with your physician about the test results to discuss what health management and screening plan best suits you, Eble said. More information There's more on genetics and cancer at the U.S. National Cancer Institute. SOURCE: Baylor College of Medicine, news release, June 8, 2022 You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange. A Flag Day ceremony will take place on Tuesday, June 14 at 4 p.m. at the American Legion open field on Tower Street. Set-up for the ceremony will begin at 3 p.m. Prior to the ceremony, all damaged flags may be brought to Missoula Textile stores, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post Headquarters or American Legion Post Headquarters. Flags can also be brought to the ceremony for retirement on June 14. Following the short service, members of the public and veterans will carry the flags to fire marshals who will be stationed at the ceremonial burn barrels to place the flags in the flames. The process of retiring the 600 flags in the ceremony takes about three hours, and many volunteers are invited to help. During the retirement of the flags, members of the public will read famous speeches from historic figures in American history. At 4 p.m., full military honors, complete with a 3-volley salute by the VFW Post 209 Honor Guard and the American Legion Post 27 Color Guard, will take place. A brief history of the American flag and Flag Day will be read by a veteran. Taps will play as the last flag (from Denny Menholt University Honda Dealership) is lowered into the ceremonial barrel. The ashes from all flags will be taken to the Western Montana State Veterans Cemetery and will be buried. People of all ages are invited and encouraged to attend this event and help facilitate it if they are able. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 4 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) General Zhang Youxia (R) meets with the visiting Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa (L) in Qingdao, capital city of East China's Shandong province, on June 12, 2022. (Photo by Fu Yu) QINGDAO, June 12 -- Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) General Zhang Youxia met with the visiting Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa in Qingdao, capital city of east China's Shandong province, on the morning of June 12, 2022. General Zhang said that in face of the changes unseen in a century and the global pandemic, Chinese President Xi Jinping has put forward the Global Development Initiative (GDI) and the Global Security Initiative (GSI), which provide China's solutions to promote the establishment of a more equitable and reasonable global governance system. "China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners," said General Zhang, noting that over the years, both sides have kept close coordination and firmly supported each other on issues concerning each others core interests. China is willing to strengthen communication, reinforce cooperation, deepen pragmatic exchanges with Pakistan, and properly deal with the complicated factors in regional situation, so as to push the mil-to-mil relations for further development, General Zhang added. General Bajwa remarked that Pakistan-China friendship is unbreakable and rock-solid. Pakistan will stand firmly with China at any time, no matter how the international and regional situation changes. He stressed that Pakistan is ready to enhance dialogue and coordination with the Chinese military, carry out mutually beneficial cooperation, crack down on the terrorist forces, strive to improve the capabilities of both sides in dealing with various security challenges, safeguard the common interests of two countries, and make contributions to regional peace. In the meeting, both sides strongly condemned the terrorist attack on the shuttle van of the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi in Pakistan, and stressed that any attempt to undermine China-Pakistan friendship is doomed to fail. Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) General Zhang Youxia meets with the visiting Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa in Qingdao, capital city of East China's Shandong province, on June 12, 2022. (Photo by Fu Yu) We the people of Montana grateful to God for the quiet beauty of our state, the grandeur of our mountains, the vastness of our rolling plains, and desiring to improve the quality of life, equality of opportunity and to secure the blessings of liberty for this and future generations do ordain and establish this constitution. -- The preamble to the Montana Constitution, written by delegates Mae Nan (Robinson) Ellingson and Bob Campbell And now there are 10. Those remaining of the 100 delegates to the 1972 Montana Constitutional Convention will gather June 15-16 in Helena to celebrate the 50th anniversary of a document that some describe as groundbreaking and visionary, while others have groused it needs fixing. Im so excited. It is going to be my last hurrah, said Arlyne Reichert of Great Falls, who at 96 is the oldest living delegate. It has stood the test of time, she said of the state constitution, adding that on balance it is highly respected. Reichert noted the provisions of a right to a clean and healthful environment and a right to privacy were ahead of their time. The delegates included a unique mandate to teach in the classroom about American Indians. Two students from Fort Peck, Lynn Leuppe and Mavis Scott, came to the convention and advocated for teaching Indian culture in schools and told the delegates they would like to see themselves in the books and materials they studied. This commitment to teach about Native Americans was reaffirmed by the state Legislature in 1999 with the passage of Indian Education for All. We have all these wonderful provisions," Reichert said. It is not perfect, but it has worked. It replaced a constitution from 1889 ramrodded by copper king William Clark. But by the 1960s people in Montana were ready for change, and the copper kings no longer had their grip on the state. In the book "Montana: A History of Two Centuries," Montana historians Mike Malone and Richard Roeder wrote, "Montanans seemed to be changing their minds about their state and about themselves. ... This attitude expressed itself in a new concern for preserving the environment, a renewed pride in the community, and a new interest in reforming and improving society and government." Sen. Diane Sands, D-Missoula, in a recent speech at the Montana Historical Society about the 1972 convention, said the 60s and 70s were a tremendous time for social change, and movements for social justice and women were demanding larger leadership roles. Sands offered several examples, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the National Organization for Women being founded in 1967, and the Clean Air Act and Environmental Protection Agency both coming about in 1970. Sands, who did not attend the convention, said the women of the ConCon came out of that rich, cultural stew and were not in it for personal gain. She noted she could not say the same about some of the men elected as delegates. She said the middle class also wanted to see change, saying they wanted to modernize government, wanted more transparency and wanted to reduce corruption in government. The new Montana Constitution has 15 sections, and defines the powers of the three branches of the government. It was adopted by the Constitutional Convention on March 22, 1972, and ratified by the people on June 6, 1972. According to Ballotpedia, it has been amended 33 times since then. Evan Barrett has a long history in state government and politics, is an executive committee member of the Constitutional Convention Celebration Committee and serves as a constitutional convention historian. He wrote this about the convention in 2018: Competition among citizens for delegate seats was strong, perhaps because the Montana Supreme Court had ruled that elected officials, like sitting legislators, could not be delegate candidates. An amazing 515 citizens filed to become delegates -- 247 Democrats, 232 Republicans, 32 Independents and 4 from the New Reform Party." He said that when the dust settled, 58 Democrats, 36 Republicans and six Independents were elected to fill the 100 delegate positions, including 19 women, a remarkable leap forward. Those selected included 24 lawyers, nine farmers, 17 business people, 14 educators, 11 homemakers, eight miscellaneous, four or five media people, four clergy and two bankers. The oldest member was 73 and the youngest was 24. Journalist Charles S. Johnson, who covered the convention for The Association Press, said no Native Americans were elected, but elections were countywide and there were no designated areas for Native Americans to run from. After a late November 1971 organizing session in which they chose Leo Graybill Jr. as president, the delegates convened Jan. 17, 1972, in an open convention with a free exchange of ideas including ideas submitted by Montana citizens, Barrett said. Johnson said delegates made two critically important decisions before the convention convened to minimize partisanship and promote bipartisan harmony: Leaders of the big Democratic majority agreed to share power with the leaders of the Republican minority, something that happens in the Montana Legislature only if a chamber is evenly split by party, Johnson wrote. Democrat Leo Graybill Jr. of Great Falls was elected president. Republican John Toole was picked as vice president. Other offices and committee chairmanships were evenly divided between the parties, with vice chairs who were of the opposite party of the chairs. And Johnson said the second important decision was that delegates decided to sit in alphabetical order, from Magnus Aasheim of Antelope to Robert Woodmansey of Great Falls. He noted the Legislature still sits with Republicans on one side of the center aisle and Democrats on the other, like warring factions. I suggested in newspaper columns several times that lawmakers ought to follow the convention delegates good example, but it fell on deaf ears, Johnson wrote. Reichert agreed the decision was groundbreaking. We were a rare breed and we didnt pay attention to party politics, she said, adding the rule dispensed of a confrontation style. She also agreed with Johnson that the Legislature should follow the delegates seating example. Johnson, during a recent speech to the Montana Historical Society about the constitution, remembered the Rev. George Harper. He was a Methodist minister who served as a delegate, for coming up with Praise the Lord and pass the constitution, which he said became the bumper sticker slogan of the convention. Barrett wrote that after 54 working days, the newly drafted constitution was signed by all 100 delegates and submitted to the people for ratification on June 6. Over 73 campaign days, the proposed constitution was debated before Montana voters. Opposition was well-financed, mostly by those who had profited from favorable provisions in the 1889 constitution, Barrett wrote. Many progressive elements and citizens hungry for change supported its ratification. On June 6, 1972 the new constitution was ratified by a 2,532 vote margin, upheld by a 3-2 Montana Supreme Court decision on a case brought by many of the opponents who had lost their favored status. Following ratification, the delegates formed a Constitutional Convention Society and have since met annually with family and friends in celebration of their collective efforts to help forge a new Montana, Barrett said. In late 2021, GOP state Rep. Derek Skees of Kalispell said the constitution's right of privacy clause gave state courts a legal basis for blocking new abortion restrictions and called the document a socialist rag that should be replaced. Reichert opposes the idea. I am happy with how it is, she said. My fear is that if people tear it apart, we will not have freedoms we have now. A celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Constitutional Convention and adoption of the constitution will be held June 15-16 at the state Capitol. The 10 remaining delegates from the original 100 are: Frank Arness, Mae Nan Ellingson, Gene Harbaugh, Lynn Kelley, Jerry Loendorf, Lyle Monroe, Marshall Murray, Arlyne Reichert, Bob Vermillion and Roger Wagner. If you go What: Montana Constitution 50-year celebration When: June 15-16 Where: Montana State Capitol The following is not a complete agenda, but touches on some of the activities planned: June 15 Events begin 10 a.m. in the House of Representatives chamber with a call to order by Marshall Murray, president of the Montana Constitutional Convention Society, convention delegate from Kalispell. It will be followed by an invocation, a recorded welcome from Gov. Greg Gianforte and comments by Murray and former Gov. Ted Schwinden. At 10:30 a.m. there will be a roll call of the delegates and remarks from the delegates and their descendants. at 11:45 a.m. there will be a brown bag lunch in the rotunda with comments from former Gov. Brian Schweitzer. At 1:20 p.m. there will be a welcome from the Constitutional Convention Celebration Committee. At 1:45 p.m. there will be a panel on how the 1972 constitution came to be. At 3:30 p.m. there will be a discussion on the citizens right to know and participate in government. At 5 p.m. there will be a reception at the Montana Historical Society. June 16 At 9:15 a.m. there will be a discussion on the allocation of powers and checks and balances among the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government. At 10:30 a.m. there will be a discussion on the right to a clean and healthful environment. At 11:45 a.m. there will be a brown bag lunch in the rotunda with a discussion on Native American perspectives on the Montana Constitution. The panels continue at 1 p.m. on Montanas unique and comprehensive declaration of rights. Other panels include revenue and taxation from 2:30-3:30 p.m. and education and public land at 3:45 p.m. The closing is at 5 p.m. with a panel discussion on the Hope and Vision for Future Generations under the Montana Constitution. It will feature Mae Nan Ellingson, convention delegate from Missoula, and former Govs. Marc Racicot and Steve Bullock. To know more For a complete list of the constitutional convention celebration activities, go to: https://bit.ly/3O99YeQ. Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Standing in front of a larger-than-life photograph from the early 1900s, Margo Real Bird proudly pointed out her great grandparents, Frank Bethune and Annie Medicine Crow-Real Bird. The portrait, on display at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman as part of the newly opened exhibit, Apsaalooke Women and Warriors, shows the couple with three of their grandchildren resting in the shade of a cottonwood tree. Apsaalooke Women and Warriors is the first exhibit of its kind, pairing artifacts and sacred objects with contemporary art, fashion, music, storytelling and beadwork made by Crow people and curated by Nina Sanders, an Apsaalooke scholar and Annie and Franks great-great-granddaughter. The exhibition first opened in 2020 at the Field Museum in Chicago and is now on display in Bozeman through the end of the year. In the photo, Frank leans against the tree as Annie sits below him. She wears an elk-tooth dress and holds a sleeping child bound in a cradleboard, while two older children sit at her sides. The young girl, also adorned in an elk-tooth dress, holds a cradleboard of her own with a doll nestled inside. At age 86, Margo Real Bird knows the landscape well. The photo was taken by William Wildschut on her familys land on the banks of the Little Bighorn River near Garryowen, where she has resided her whole life. The National Museum of the American Indian (part of the Smithsonian Institute) archived Wildschuts images, and Sanders tracked down the photo of her relatives. For Apsaalooke Women and Warriors, she paired the photo with a similar floral-style beaded cradleboard from the Smithsonians collection. Sanders described her great-great grandmother as a kind and loving woman who raised many of her grandchildren and crafted for them beaded cradleboards, clothes and toys. My family no longer owns any of these cradleboards, so I continue to search for them, Sanders wrote in the text that is part of the exhibit. A homecoming Bringing the exhibit to Montana represents a historic moment. The objects including sacred war shields, tobacco bundles and historic beadwork have not been in the same place at one time on Crow land since the late 1800s and early 1900s. The vast objects curated for Apsaalooke Women and Warriors came from museum collections and private holdings. The exhibit includes audio and interactive displays compiled from Indigenous research and oral histories that take visitors on a cultural journey of the Crow people. Museum of the Rockies Curator Michael D. Fox said he contacted the Field Museum after reading about Sanders work and asked if the show could be shared with other museums. He was struck by the inclusion of the Crow community in the creation of the exhibit. As a museum curator, I recognize that is the direction that museums need to be going with Indigenous exhibits working with the communities rather than working just with objects as if theyre not part of a community, said Fox. Nina really broke new ground with that approach. The exhibit, organized by the Field Museum in collaboration with the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society at the University of Chicago, opened on March 13, 2020, just one day before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of public spaces across the city. Margo Real Bird, along with many members of the Apsaalooke nation, attended the opening. When we first saw it, it really surprised all of us, she said. Some of us were crying. Apsaalooke Women and Warriors eventually reopened and remained on display at the Field Museum through July 2021. Museum staff then began preparing the extensive exhibit for shipping to Bozeman. It will be on display at the Museum of the Rockies through Dec. 31, and in 2023 will travel to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. Birdie Real Bird collaborated with Sanders and the Field Museum to contribute dolls, clothing and replicate beaded artifacts. She also helped translate the Crow language for the various auditory portions of the exhibit, narrated by Sanders. She said when the exhibit was in Chicago, it felt so far away. Now, its close to home, and its kind of a relief, she said. I am sure those things are feeling the same way. In the Apsaalooke worldview, objects such as tobacco bundles and war shields have autonomy and are considered living entities, so bringing them home required special care. Before removing the exhibit from crates in Bozeman, Crow tribal member Stanley Pretty Paint welcomed those items back to their home by burning sage and leading a ceremonial prayer. He blessed them and those working on the installation, giving staff permission to work with the objects. Sanders, speaking at the opening of Apsaalooke Women and Warriors, described the audience as allies. What you see here, youll share. And your children will see these things and begin to realize that Indigenous histories our narratives need to be taught to our children. Theres a layer of history missing from this country, and its the story of Native people. Chris Dobbs, executive director of the Museum of the Rockies, anticipates 150,000 visitors will view Apsaalooke Women and Warriors during the next seven months, and an additional 5,000 school children will visit the exhibit this fall. The museum is planning a range of programs with tribal members and Apsaalooke artists, musicians and performers. Museum of the Rockies is a guest on the ancestral lands of the Apsaalooke, and we are grateful for our growing partnership with the Apsaalooke tribe and for their trust in sharing their beautiful culture with us, Dobbs said. We are home The Museum of the Rockies offers free admission to schoolchildren and partial reimbursement to schools throughout Montana for bus travel. Chelsea Hogan, director of education and public programming at the museum, said the Apsaalooke Women and Warriors exhibit is an opportunity for educators to receive Indian Education for All credit, as well as a chance for Indigenous students to experience an exhibit curated by Native people. We want to make every effort to make sure that Native schools can get here, said Hogan. Emily Pease, a student at Montana State University majoring in childhood education and a member of the Apsaalooke tribe, was hired just before the exhibit opened. Pease, who understands the Crow language and speaks some of it, said she is excited to work with museum tours and will be supporting the fall school programs for students and teacher workshops surrounding the exhibit. It just brings a little bit of comfort here, said Pease of the exhibit. Now that the shields are home, its more peace for the Crow tribe. They are supposed to be here. I feel happy that they are home, and we are home. This is our first land. Kristin Hopkins, a librarian at Longfellow Elementary in Bozeman, said teaching about Native people is often rooted in the past, and this exhibit will give educators a chance to share the traditions of the Crow tribe with a modern infusion directly from the source. Im telling about a culture that is not mine, but its the best I can do, and I am going to do as much as a I can and do so respectfully, said Hopkins. But to bring them in and let the Crow people tell their own story is more powerful than someone like me can offer. Sanders described the exhibit as a window into the Crow Tribe but represents just a teeny, tiny part of who they are. Its just a taste of whats to come, said Sanders. There should be many more exhibitions in this space, and spaces like this, about Indigenous people by Indigenous people. This story is printed with the permission of the Montana Free Press. The original story can be accessed here. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 These days, the refrain has echoed to the groaning point of cliche: Newspapers are dying. And sure, the assertion contains some grudging truth. Sadly for us nostalgic sorts, the traditional print newspaper seems destined for the dustbin of history alongside the likes of Blockbuster Video, Royal typewriters and fast-food joints paying less than $20 an hour. Thats unfathomable for a newspaper junkie who still gets a surge of adrenaline watching the first fresh papers flow off a printing press conveyor belt at midnight. Ink-stained gloom and doom aside, I write with a message of optimism: Lee Enterprises five Montana newspapers have made an emphatic commitment to local people-centric journalism unlike any Ive witnessed since our industrys headiest days began ebbing in the late 1980s. Our mantra going forward is Your Story Lives Here, a tagline that serves as a reminder that local news is a pillar of a communitys cultural fabric. And that we as editors, reporters and photographers are neighbors deeply embedded in these places we call home, some for a lifetime. The first big step came in February, when Lee named a new vice president of local news in Jason Adrians and separated our 77 newspapers across 26 states into three regions. Included is a West Region led by Pulitzer Prize finalist David McCumber, who formerly managed our five papers the Standard, Billings Gazette, Missoulian, Helena Independent Record and Ravalli Republic and who remains entrenched in Butte because he could never fathom living more than a long Spey cast away from the Big Hole River, where his story lives. After more than five years overseeing our fledgling 406mtsports.com adventure, I was handed the news reins of our papers to expand my editors quiver. The message from Jason and David from the get-go: Lets Go! So we have. Readers have noticed new names at the Missoulian. They include Bret Anne Serbin covering local government, Joshua Murdock on outdoors and natural resources, and standout University of Montana journalism student Griffen Smith serving a general assignment reporting internship this summer. We're saying a deeply grateful goodbye to Ravalli Republic Associate Editor Perry Backus, who's retiring after more than 30 years as an award-winning and community-building journalist. And we're welcoming Jess Abell, who's been behind the award-winning appearance of the RR and the Missoulian for years as a designer, and will now have her byline and photos on the cover. Along with filling local newsroom vacancies, we have added new statewide positions in recognition that while the five communities remain our anchors, Montana truly is a small town with long streets. As such, an immediate priority was securing an Indigenous affairs reporter covering all eight reservations and 12 tribes in Montana. Were thrilled to announce that Nora Mabie, widely respected for similar work at the Great Falls Tribune, started with us June 6. Between Noras stories and a new partnership with Indian Country Today, well be able to cover Native issues with breadth, depth and context that have been absent for far too long. Also joining us soon is Antonio Ibarra Olivares, a talented and decorated recent University of Montana journalism school graduate who will focus on visual story telling statewide. Both Mabie and Ibarra will base out of the Missoulian newsroom, but cast their storytelling nets across the whole Big Sky. These journalists along with our four-person Montana State News Bureau enable us to provide The First Best Coverage of The Last Best Place. Theres more. In perhaps our boldest move, Lee created a 12-member national public-affairs/investigative reporting team to assist local reporters in diving deep into issues that matter most to local readers. Four reporters will be based in the West. Topics of urgency include the housing crunch, climate crisis, missing and murdered indigenous people, infrastructure, energy, our political divide, and more. Id be sugar-coating if I didnt acknowledge the past 15 years or so have been fraught with pain. Ive said good-bye to so many laid-off friends and colleagues across the country that Ive lost count. Three newspaper buildings I've called home have been sold or demolished; another, The Billings Gazette, is on the market. Its been gut-wrenching. At the same time, after trying to both mitigate and exploit the diverse realities of the Internet age, we are at last experiencing a digital pendulum swing back in our favor. More of you than ever are reading your morning paper while nursing a cup of coffee over your laptop, iPhone or iPad, surging past print readership. The primary reason why: In an age of hyperbole, disinformation and outright lies, polls consistently show the local newspaper is still the most trusted source of news and information, no matter how often your neighbor insists were the liberal rag or the conservative rag or just "the rag." The unrelenting message is that local journalism is the cornerstone of a successful business model going forward. That narrative was reinforced recently when many on our editorial staffs received pay increases, reflecting Lees desire to retain accomplished journalists while acknowledging the skyrocketing cost of living in Montana. Does pain remain? Sure. Restructuring, especially on the advertising side, has meant more lost jobs as what was once the revenue backbone of our industry wanes and we seek new sources to support producing objective, compelling, essential local journalism. Yes, we are leaner than we were 20 years ago. Yet our commitment to meaningful local journalism is more resolute than ever as it becomes clear how vital we are to informed communities and a flourishing democracy. As Thomas Jefferson once said, The only security of all is in a free press. Lee Montana executive editor Jeff Welsch can be reached at jeff.welsch@lee.net or 406-670-3849. Follow him on Twitter at @406welsch. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 2 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Election filing for most offices took place months ago and a primary election was held. But filing for seats on the Soil and Water Conservation District in Burke County has yet to begin. Filing for the two seats up on the board starts at noon Monday and ends at noon on July 1. The filing fee is $5, according to the Burke County Board of Elections. Incumbent board members whose seats are up for election are Matt Johnson and Joseph Wentzel, said Debbi Mace, director of elections for Burke County. There is no primary election for the two seats. Those who file will face off in the General Election on Nov. 8, Mace said. The non-partisan Soil and Water Conservation District Board is made up of five members, three of which are elected by voters and two of which are appointed by the state Soil and Water Conservation Commission, according to information from Burke County. The four-year terms are staggered, the information says. Districts promote the wise use and management of natural resources - soil, water, air, plants and animals. The Burke Soil and Water Conservation Districts objectives are secured largely through voluntary cooperation of landowners, according to information from the county. The district also provides educational services for schools, civic groups and many other organizations, the county says. Soil and Water Conservation Districts are subdivisions of State Government. There are 96 Districts in North Carolina, covering the states 100 counties. The local Soil and Water Conservation District board meets at 8:30 a.m. on the first Wednesday of the month at the Burke County Agricultural Building, located at 130 Ammons Drive, Morganton. State, county and city leaders gathered with North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics faculty, staff, students, alumni and supporters to celebrate the grand opening of the Morganton campus on Friday. For school leaders, Friday represented the culmination of more than a decades worth of planning and work. Were super excited to be able to share this day with so many people who helped make it happen, said NCSSM Chancellor Todd Roberts. To be here on this day for the grand opening is just, not only an historic day for our institution, but really for the UNC system and the state. Kevin Baxter, vice chancellor and chief campus officer for NCSSM-Morganton, agreed. This is a day weve been waiting a long time for; its incredible that its finally here and we are so excited to celebrate it with all of our friends across the state, he said. Held in a large tent seating more than 600 people, the grand opening ceremony featured remarks from Roberts and Baxter as well as N.C. Secretary of Commerce Machelle Baker Sanders; N.C. Rep. Hugh Blackwell; N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore; Jabbar Bennett, chair of the NCSSM Board of Trustees; N.C. Sen. Warren Daniel; N.C. Senate Deputy President Pro-Tempore Ralph Hise; UNC System President Peter Hans; Morganton City Manager Sally Sandy and a few NCSSM students and alumni. Today marks a new chapter in the storied history of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Bennett told the crowd. A history full of early challenges and unlimited future opportunities for our students, the city of Morganton, Durham and the state of North Carolina. Secretary Sanders pointed to the critical importance of STEM education to the future of North Carolinas economy. STEM education and careers are critical components of our current success and our future economic success, she told the crowd. Sanders said the new Morganton campus will have a statewide impact, increasing access to a world-class STEM education for North Carolina students regardless of background or geography. Its going to expand access to the brightest and best students across North Carolina to the STEM programs here and have a tremendous economic impact, she told The News Herald. Rep. Blackwell told the crowd he is particularly excited about the new campus being located in western North Carolina. Its saying to people from outside the state and to people within the state, this kind of quality education, this kind of education for the future is available wherever you choose to live, he said. Hans told the crowd NCSSM represents equal opportunity for all students regardless of background, financial status or geographic location within the state. The school of science and math was meant to not only serve those students fortunate enough to attend, but all of North Carolina, he said. It would draw talent from every region, inspiring students everywhere, reminding us all that ability is not tied to geography. NCSSM serves academically talented high school juniors and seniors from all parts of North Carolina, including in its residential high school program in Durham and hundreds more through online programs. Funded by $85 million in state appropriations and an additional $12 million in private investment, the new campus will expand both the residential and online offerings. Hise told the crowd Morganton is the perfect location for the new campus. The community of Morganton and the surrounding areas were really the only community in the state that were the ones standing up and saying, we want this campus here. There were other considerations, but they were never going to happen, he said. Sandy praised the commitment and energy surrounding the project, not just from the state level, but also from local leaders and educational institutions. This is a project that, from its very beginning, had a positive support, Sandy said. Everyone is excited about it, and everyone brings excitement and energy to the table to get it done. Roberts agreed, telling The News Herald local support was critical in bringing the vision for a new campus to life. Weve had universal support from day one, he said. We wouldnt be here today without a lot of the folks in the city, the county, public schools, the local institutions of higher education and the grassroots efforts in the community. Roberts reiterated NCSSMs continuing commitment to build partnerships with educational institutions including Burke County Public Schools, Western Piedmont Community College and the North Carolina School for the Deaf. We are blessed to be expanding what we can do in this amazing place, he said. We have some amazing supporters in the local area as well as in the UNC system that are making things possible and will make things we cant even imagine possible as we collaborate going forward. Construction on NCSSM-Morganton is nearly complete and the new campus welcomes its first group of students for summer programs today before opening its doors Aug. 10 to an inaugural class of 150 high school juniors. The campus full enrollment of 300 residential students will arrive in Aug. 2023. Jason Koon is a staff writer and can be reached at jkoon@morganton.com Butte police say a man was reportedly shot Saturday afternoon and was taken to St. James Healthcare. Sheriff Ed Lester said in a news release at 3:30 p.m. that his condition was "not known at this time." Police were called to a residence in the 1300 block of East Park Place in Butte shortly after 2 p.m. on a report a man had been shot, Lester said. "Investigators are at the scene and the investigation into the incident is ongoing," Lester said. Butte Fire Rescue and A-1 Ambulance joined police in responding to the residence. More information would be released when available, the sheriff said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 2 Sad 10 Angry 7 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Glacier National Park has rolled out three new information websites to help hikers, campers and bikers. Each new landing page will provide information about road conditions, campsite closures and trail statuses. By visiting bit.ly/39k5d3r, hikers will be able to check the status of trails before arriving at the trail head. Hikers and visitors can use the interactive map on the site to locate which trails are open and which are closed due to dangerous animal activity. The site also gives trail status summaries for any date of a given year so hikers can plan for trail conditions far in advance. The new camping status webpage, bit.ly/3xdDYzu, will show campers what campsites are open, closed, full, or what requirements are in place to camp there. Campers can filter their search by selecting either first-come/first-served campgrounds or campgrounds that require a reservation. This summer many campgrounds in Glacier have gone to a reservation-based camping experience during peak camping season. Those interested in making reservations at these campgrounds can do so by visiting recreation.gov. The third new status webpage will help bikers and drivers navigate road construction and closed roads. The site, bit.ly/3aQi9P2, gives real-time road status for many popular routes in Glacier, such as Going-to-the-Sun Road, Chief Mountain Highway and Cut Bank Road. Frequently asked questions can also be found on the directions, transportation and road condition site with in-depth answers. Park crews are working to clear roads of snow and any debris that may have slid during the winter months. From the west, snowplow crews have reached Triple Arches, and from the east, crews are just past Siyeh Bend. "West Side crews re-cleared the snow that slid at Triple Arches over Memorial Day weekend and cleared almost to Rim Rocks," according to an update on the National Park Service website. "High avalanche danger and low visibility has caused delays and continues to be a concern. Additional hazards include increased rockfall this weekend and into early next week due to the predicted atmospheric river and large amounts of rainfall." Travelers may find information about the location of snow-plow crews by visiting the directions, transportation and road condition site. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Many of Montanas businesses, and the jobs they bring, wouldnt exist if it werent for wide open spaces, high-quality access to public lands, and the conservation efforts of previous generations to keep our lands mostly intact. If our businesses have collectively learned anything from our combined decades of experience building outdoor businesses, its that you need to continually reinvest in the assets that set you apart. Thats why its crucial that state lawmakers continue supporting the Montana Outdoor Fund a 21st-century investment to protect the Last Best Place. How it works The Montana Outdoor Fund sets aside a small percentage of revenue from recreational marijuana sales to protect and sustain our access to the great outdoors. Montana is the only state in the nation to establish this type of investment, which was approved by Montana voters via a 2020 ballot initiative and authorized last year by Montana lawmakers, including Governor Gianforte. What it funds If you enjoy Montanas outdoors, the Montana Outdoor Fund supports and sustains something you care about. Have you ever visited one of Montanas state parks? The Montana Outdoor Fund contributes over $2 million a year to help maintain picnic areas, repair roads, and support hardworking state parks managers and their staff. Do you bike, hike, or use motorized vehicles on Montanas trail system? Again, the Montana Outdoor Fund contributes over $2 million a year to fund local trail grants for motorized and non-motorized use. These dollars are easily accessible to trails groups across the state who work to maintain deteriorating trails or create new ones to support improved access for all trail users. Our businesses share a concern with deteriorating access to our public lands. The Montana Outdoor Fund provides up to $10 million a year to support the Habitat Montana program. This is Montanas best tool to facilitate voluntary agreements with landowners to unlock and protect our public access while also protecting working ranches from development. Dependable and popular revenue stream Montanas burgeoning recreational marijuana industry is growing rapidly. Dispensaries across the state have already reported more than $43 million in adult-use sales - enough to bring in over $9 million in state tax revenue. Updated projections show annual revenue will blow past early estimates. This all adds up to a dependable and long-term funding commitment for our land, water, and wildlife. In fact, a recent University of Montana poll showed that over 80% of Montanans support continuing to use recreational marijuana taxes for this purpose. Only 12% of the population would want lawmakers to redirect these funds toward some other purpose. A critical test The Montana Outdoor Fund will face its first real test with the upcoming release of Governor Gianfortess state operating budget. When released later this year, the 2025 Biennium Executive Budget will be a reflection of the Gianforte administrations funding priorities and values. We sincerely hope they consider the interests of 80% of Montanans and commit to this valuable investment in our public access, state parks, wildlife, and public trails. The importance of this funding commitment will only grow over time. Already the demands on our public lands, waters and recreational facilities have never been greater, and we must continue to build on the successful programs that protect our outdoor assets by investing in our incredible, world-class outdoors, which hold great value for Montanans and visitors alike. The Montana Outdoor Fund is not just an investment in our land, water, and wildlife. Its an investment in Montanas brand, our way of life, our freedoms, and our economic well-being. And for many Montana businesses like ours, its an investment in the assets that drive our innovation and in the remarkable landscapes that contribute to our success. We encourage you to visit gofundmt.org to learn more and to show your support. Eric Siegfried is the founder of onXmaps, Inc. and Ryan Holm is Director of Marketing for MYSTERY RANCH. Both are members of Business for Montana Outdoors. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Kremlin-installed officials in occupied southern Ukraine celebrated Russia Day on Sunday and began issuing Russian passports to residents in one city who requested them, as Moscow sought to solidify its rule over captured parts of the country. At one of the central squares in the city of Kherson, Russian bands played a concert to celebrate Russia Day, the holiday that marks Russias emergence as a sovereign state after the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to Russias state news agency RIA Novosti. In the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region, Moscow-installed officials raised a Russian flag in Melitopols city center. Ukrainian media reported that few, if any, local residents attended the Russia Day festivities in the two cities. Russia Day was also celebrated in other occupied parts of Ukraine, including the ravaged southern port of Mariupol, where a new city sign painted in the colors of the Russian flag was unveiled on the outskirts and Russian flags were flown on a highway leading into the city. Also, the Russia-aligned administration in Melitopol started handing out Russian passports to those who applied for Russian citizenship. RIA Novosti posted video of a Moscow-backed official congratulating new Russian citizens and telling them: Russia will not go anywhere. We are here for good. President Vladimir Putin earlier this year issued a decree fast-tracking Russian citizenship for residents of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. In captured cities in the south and east, Moscow has also introduced the ruble as official currency, aired Russian news broadcasts and taken steps to introduce a Russian school curriculum. The Kremlin's administrators in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions have voiced plans to incorporate the areas into Russia, despite protests and signs of an insurgency among local residents. Russian-installed officials Sunday in Melitopol reported an explosion in a garbage bin near the citys police headquarters and said two residents were injured. Another blast was reported at an electrical substation in the city of Berdyansk, which is also under Russian control. The Kremlin-backed administration pronounced it a terrorist attack, and officials said electricity was shut down in parts of the city. On the battlefield, Russia said it is used missiles to destroy a large depot in western Ukraine that contained anti-tank and air-defense weapons supplied to Kyiv by the U.S. and European countries. It said the attack took place near the city of Chortkiv in the Ternopil region. Ternopil Gov. Volodymyr Trush said four Russian missiles damaged a military installation and four residential buildings in Chortkiv. More than 20 people were wounded, including a 12-year-old girl, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. This strike had no tactical or strategic sense, just like the absolute majority of other Russian strikes. It is terror, just terror, he said in a video address. In light of the strike, Zelenskyy made another plea for modern missile defense systems from the U.S. and other Western countries, saying, These are lives that could have been saved, tragedies that could have been prevented if Ukraine had been listened to. Also, heavy fighting continued for control of Sievierodonetsk, an eastern city in Luhansk province with a prewar population of 100,000 that has emerged as central to Russia's campaign to capture the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland. Russian forces shelled a Sievierodonetsk chemical plant where up to 500 civilians, 40 of them children, were holed up, Luhansk Gov. Serhii Haidai said. An official with the pro-Moscow, self-proclaimed Luhansk Peoples Republic, Rodion Miroshnik, said 300 to 400 Ukrainian troops also remained inside the plant. He said that efforts were underway to evacuate the civilians. Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Luhansk Peoples Republic, said the Ukrainians making their stand in Sievierodonetsk should save themselves the trouble. If I were them, I would already make a decision" to surrender, he said. We will achieve our goal in any case." Follow AP's coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine This story has been corrected to show that a 12-year-old girl, not a boy, was wounded in a missile strike on Chortkiv. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Multichoice is looking to spend half its content investment on African-made shows with local actors and producers within the next two years. The aim by Africas largest pay-TV company could result in more cost savings given the expense of buying rights to shows in the US and elsewhere and more viewers on the continent, Chief Executive Officer Calvo Mawela said in an interview. The Johannesburg-based companys streaming service Showmax increased paying subscribers by 68% in the year through March, in part due to the decision to double down on local content offerings, he said. Making African content and paying actors and staff in local currencies comes at a fraction of the cost of buying dollar-denominated international content, said Mawela. Many stories can be redeployed in different African countries and still resonate, adding to savings, he said. The MultiChoice production The River about wealthy businessmen and exploited township people was made in South Africa and successfully adapted for audiences in countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya, said Mawela. Two Portuguese channels have been rolled out in Angola and Mozambique, where the language is spoken, and are proving very popular, according to Mawela. Netflix Inc., which has been trying to make inroads in Africa, has also channeled cash into continent-made shows such as Blood and Water. The U.S. giant said this year it will invest 929 million rand ($59 million) into the South Africa creatives industry by 2023, The company, spun out of e-commerce giant Naspers Ltd. in 2019, has been operating on the continent for 28 years and has almost 22 million customers. The group is offering cheaper packages on mobile phones to access a younger, less affluent audience and making deals with other content providers such as Netflix and Amazon.com Inc. to come onto its decoders. People tend to go onto our decoder and use all the different platforms through us, said Mawela. The company recently started offering Disney Plus, adding a further revenue stream, he said. Poor service delivery could see South African municipalities lose revenue from electricity tariffs as more private power producers are expected to come online in the coming years. That is according to economist Dawie Roodt, who recently spoke to the Sunday newspaper Rapport about a letter from the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa). The chamber which includes over 700 businesses in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro has asked Nersa to revoke the municipalitys electricity distribution licence because it was not abiding by its licencing conditions. It stated that the municipality loses over 20% of the power it buys to electricity theft through meter tampering, resulting in law-abiding consumers paying more. According to the chamber, the municipality has been uncooperative when it offers to help with the situation. The chamber has also asked that Eskom be allowed to supply electricity directly to the metros customers. Roodt said municipalities would face mounting pressure to be more efficient in electricity provision or risk losing customers to private power in the coming years. Sakeligas Piet le Roux told Rapport that it was common for municipalities not to meet their licencing conditions. The conditions for distributing electricity include that the provider can keep outages outside of load-shedding to a minimum or attend to most of them within a reasonable time. Should more customers move away from municipal power, local governments could lose a substantial portion of their revenue to fund various other functions. Many businesses have also accused municipalities of charging exorbitant rates compared to Eskom. Municipalities fighting back Municipalities are not making it easy for customers to acquire private power or get direct supply from Eskom. Some have proudly proclaimed big plans to buy private power and resell it to customers, but present a different face when residents want to provide their own power or choose their own suppliers. The South African Local Government Association (Salga) has launched a legal bid for municipalities to get a monopoly over distributing power within their jurisdictions. That would mean customers couldnt buy power from private producers or directly from Eskom, as some areas currently do. Another area where municipalities could get in the way is Nersa regulation. Although private individuals and businesses can now build power projects with a capacity of up to 100MW, they must still get a registration certificate from Nersa. Nersa requires that a private project first get permission from its power distributor. These distributors could be municipalities, Eskom, or a combination of the two, depending on where the electricity must be transported. However, most municipalities do not yet have separate tariffs for distribution and would have to conduct a thorough cost analysis to determine these. Nersa recently announced it had approved the registration of 216 private power projects since the threshold for licencing was lifted. Most recently, it approved 16 private power projects which will provide electricity for personal or commercial use. The projects will boast a combined maximum capacity of 211MW and consist of solar and wind power generation. The regulator also said it approved over 50 projects with a combined capacity of more than 29MW in the first quarter of 2022. Synology recently provided MyBroadband with several of its DiskStation DS220+ network-attached storage (NAS) units to give to our readers. These were quickly snapped up, and in return, we asked these readers to provide us with feedback on their experiences with the Synology devices and the Synology Photos media management tool. Those who tested these units all agreed that Synology Photos is an incredible tool that is easy to install and use. Heres what our readers had to say about Synology Photos. Esbendzn Synology Photos is an all-in-one photo management system. Photos can be organised and stored according to people, places, name tags, etc. You also can have private or shared storage, allowing other users to access albums/folders in any web browser via shared links, thus allowing restricted access. Because you can download Synology Photos to mobile, via Google Play store, you can seamlessly backup your mobile photos to your Synology DiskStation, knowing that you will always have those memories backed up wherever you go, and they can be accessed anywhere and anytime. The NAS is networked, and this makes it extremely easy to Air-Cast those precious memories and videos to your Smart TV and around your home. Rocket-Boy I was very impressed with the Package Center, and in my mind, this is the area where Synology adds the most value versus its competitors. The list of options is great, and it contains everything from backup software to container orchestration software. I started by installing the Synology Photos package to get the massive collection of photos off of my wifes phone and onto secure storage while still allowing her to view those photos at any stage. These are the standout features for me: Simple viewing and sorting of photos. I have found the Synology Photos app easier to sort photos than the default Android viewer. Albums can be created and securely shared with others. This is really great as my family all take pics at gatherings and then send them to each other. I can now pull those pics into an album and create a secure link for anyone to use. The conditional albums are great and can create albums based on various criteria like location, time/date, camera type, iso, exposure etc. I did find the geolocation to be very hit and miss in SA because of changing street/town names, but I can only assume this would be less of a problem in other countries. Mobile backup this is really what I was after. It works extremely well and has a number of conditions to set around when to backup those photos and which ones to backup. Read the full review here. Glib Reaper Synology makes great hardware, but the thing Ive always most looked forward to is the software. The device comes pre-loaded with all the software you need to get going, with the option for an insane number of other packages. One of the best packages is Photos. This is Google Photos on steroids and without the concern of giving a giant company access to all your info. It is locally stored and controlled by you, with features like automatic albums based on folders, time, location, tags, people, etc. And I still have so much to explore. I cant wait to play with the mobile apps, quota management, security groups, different packages, notifications, remote access and so much more! MyBroadband Synology also provided us with a Synology DiskStation, and we used it to test Synology Photos for ourselves. We found that the setup process was seamless, and the app does a great job of balancing comprehensive functionality with a simple interface. We were also impressed with its automatic file sorting features that made it easier to organise our photos. The Synology Photos app for Android and iOS was also a hit in our office, as it allowed us to upload media from our smartphones and set backups remotely. We put the tool in the hands of our multimedia team, and they thought it was great, too. The Synology NAS, when combined with Synology Photos, completely revolutionised our media management strategy and is perfect for backing up our library, said one member. Synology Photos allows our team to easily share media with each other, which significantly streamlines our workflow, said another team member. Read our full review of Synology Photos here. Click here to learn more about Synology Photos. Notations about countless courtships, weddings and marriages that have unfolded in Napa County fill the local records and history books. While special to the individuals involved in those relationships, most were typical or to-be-expected in nature and character. However, the Napa County stories from the late 1800s also include unique and even scandalous local relationships. One of the most sensational marriages was that of Sam Brannan, California's first millionaire who gave Calistoga its name, and his wife, Ann Eliza. As his spouse, she endured great embarrassment and shame. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. She, their children and Sam were cast out of the Mormon church after Sam was found to have pocketed church monies for his own profit. During their Calistoga days, Sam was frequently, as it was called in their time, in his cups and also conducted himself inappropriately in public. Then, of course, there were all of his affairs. Finally, in 1870, Ann Eliza had reached her limit and filed for divorce, a rare and scandalous proceeding at that time. She was granted her divorce and awarded half of all of his holdings. Although victorious in those legal proceedings, Ann Eliza wore widows weeds mourning attire for the balance of her life. That divorce was also the beginning of the unraveling of Sams financial empire. Another relationship branded as being scandalous by contemporary Napans was the May-December marriage between 61-year-old Edward Frisbie and 28-year-old Laura Walden, circa 1886. Laura and her three siblings were childhood friends of the four youngest of Edward's 11 children born to him and his first wife, Phoebe. For a time, the Walden and Frisbie families had been neighbors while the Frisbies lived in Napa until the latter moved to Shasta County in 1877. The two families regularly visited one another at the Frisbies new home. During those visits a romance blossomed between George Walden, Lauras eldest sibling, and Adela Lulu Frisbie. Their wedding was held at the Frisbie ranch on April 22, 1884. At that time, there was no inkling of anything between Laura and Edward. Two years later, Edwards first wife, Phoebe, met with a fatal accident. Apparently, she fell down the stairs of their home and sustained fatal injuries. That tragedy was considered a sad accident as there appeared to be no indication of foul play. But the grief-stricken Edward remarried within a year to his much younger second wife, Laura Walden, who never addressed her husband by his first name. She called him Mr. Frisbie, as she had when she was a childhood friend of his children. Their marriage apparently had a rocky beginning. It seems Laura was determined to become a missionary in China. In fact, she had boarded a China-bound ship, but just before it set sail, Edward boarded the ship and removed Laura from the vessel. They were married shortly thereafter, much to the dismay and disapproval of both of their families. One particular incident underscored that objection; when the newlyweds made a social call upon George and Lulu Frisbie Walden, Lulu refused to welcome and socialize with her father and onetime childhood friend. Laura and Edward eventually had two children of their own and moved to Oakland. In 1906, 47-year-old Laura was faced with a serious health issue. Edward enlisted one of his sons, a San Francisco surgeon, to perform the necessary surgery. His son sternly warned Edward Laura might not survive the procedure, which was scheduled for April 18, 1906. The great San Francisco earthquake and fire occurring that day caused the cancellation of her operation. Instead, Laura assisted her 81-year-old husband down the stairs of their Oakland home as it nearly collapsed around them. For months, they were forced to camp out in their backyard, awaiting the repair of their home. Two years later Edward passed away. His widow relocated to New York for a while before returning to her hometown of Napa. Laura remained in Napa, a single woman until she passed away in 1945 at the age of 86. Regarding their relationship, there remains a number of unanswered questions, such as: Did either one of them, or both, play a malicious role in Phoebes death? Was there anything going on between the two during those earlier years? And what was the ship to China melodrama all about? Their story would be great fodder for a historical, fact-based novel! However, while curious and odd, from all indications, there was nothing truly scandalous about the marriage and relationship between Laura Walden and Edward Frisbie. The last of these interesting accounts is brief in detail. In time, more historical research may reveal the full account of the following unique marriage. On March 28, 1882, a local woman named Margaret Hamilton married an English lord. Hamilton was 22 years old when she married the widowed, 60-year-old Sir Sydney Hedley Waterlow. He had served as lord mayor of London and M.P. from 1872 to 1880. Several years after their wedding, in 1889, Sir Sydney gave the Waterlow Park at Highgate to the London County Council. After he passed in 1906 at the age of 84, Margaret apparently continued to live in the U.K. (Thank you, Nancy Brennan, for the initial information regarding the Hamilton and Waterlow marriage.) Regardless of their demeanor, relationships from the past provide interesting insights into the life and times of former Napa Valley residents. Abodu, a company focused on building prefabricated Accessory Dwelling Units, installed its first North Bay unit in unincorporated Sonoma County roughly two weeks ago. The company says more units will be coming to both Sonoma and Napa counties in the coming months. ADUs are small, self-contained living units that can be attached or detached to single family homes, within the single family lot. A statewide boom in ADU approvals started up roughly five years ago, when California legislators required local municipalities to relax their regulations on ADUs approvals. Further legislation, particularly in 2020, has made building such units even easier. Legislators have framed opening up the approval process for ADUs as one part of an effort to take on Californias housing crisis. Though getting ADU plans approved by local governments has become swifter and easier, thats only one part of the process. The time and financial burden of building such units falls on homeowners who typically have no experience with construction, said John Geary, CEO of Abodu. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Thats a problem because even if a homeowner has sufficient money and interest to build such a structure in their backyard perhaps because doing so could give them needed rental income, because theyd like to move a family member in there or a variety of other reasons they might see the time commitment and uncertainty of trying to learn how to navigate the process as too much of a burden. Abodu designed its business around taking stress out of the process by handling most of it themselves, Geary said. Renee Schomp, director of the Napa Sonoma ADU Center nonprofit, said that similar options are offered by a several other prefab ADU companies. Construction is tough. Its dirty. Its expensive. Its confusing. And when the average homeowner is building an ADU, theyre essentially building a home in their backyard, Geary said. What we saw is most homeowners arent equipped to do that well. Its a scary endeavor; theres a lot of opacity in the industry. And so our goal was, how do we make this as simple as buying a car or a product; how do we make it easy as possible for folks? Cindy Loughridge and Seth Restaino, owners of the ADU in Sonoma, said that when they bought their home roughly a year ago, there was already an old, run down ADU on the property. The homeowner at the time was working with another company to replace that with a new ADU, which Loughridge said was a selling point for the house. The state of the old ADU was almost a deal-breaker, Restaino recalled. It was an eyesore, and it had to either come down or be reworked. But the company that wouldve built the ADU ended up busy for at least a year, perhaps because of supply chain delays, Loughridge said. Loughridge then discovered Abodu as a replacement option that would get the new ADU installed there relatively quickly. Restaino said the unit the most expensive model out of three possible Abodu choices, a two-bedroom unit with some upgrades cost roughly $425,000 in total. Loughridge said they began talking with Abodu in August 2021 and signed a contract for the ADU in October. Abodu started building the unit at a factory in November, Restaino said, and it took three months for the custom build to be finished. Owing to various permitting and code compliance delays, the unit was installed in late May, and it will be ready to serve as a residence for the bride and groom during a wedding June 25. We knew we were the guinea pigs, Restaino said. Im just also a realist about permitting and stuff going to take a little while. Restaino said the main point of the ADU for now is that it will serve as a guest house to the two-bedroom main house. He added that its possible they might move their parents into the unit when they get older, or it could serve as a long-term rental should they decide to sell the property. The speed of building such prefab units depends on whether homeowners buy in-production units or wish to design various aspects of the unit. Geary said the organization has installed more than 100 units in California over the past two years, and has several hundred in production behind that. Schomp said she sees prefab ADUs as one important way to fill California's extreme need for housing. (Though ADU approvals have been picking up in Napa County and across the state in recent years, the number of total ADU approvals is still minuscule compared to the state's housing need.) Schomp added there's essentially three categories of prefab unit: manufactured, factory built and panelized. Manufactured housing is certified and regulated on the federal level through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That means building requirements are less onerous than factory built, or modular, housing which is what Abodu builds because it's certified at the state level and must be built to state building code standards. As a result, manufactured ADUs tend to be cheaper than factory-built, Schomp said. Panelized ADUs allow a greater level of customization because only the outer shell of the house is prefabricated, and it's delivered in flat panels that then have to be assembled. All prefab ADUs have the advantage of generally being built more quickly than traditionally constructed units and taking a much shorter time to be installed on the property, Schomp said. "What we do is we manage the ADU process from start to finish, the home is built entirely off site," Geary said. "So there's no months and months and months of construction in a homeowner's backyard. We're talking about two weeks before delivery, one day of delivery and then about two weeks after delivery, and that's all the homeowner sees of us in that backyard." But, Schomp added, it's important to recognize that other options traditional "stick-built" ADUs, junior ADUs that convert areas inside an existing home into housing, multifamily affordable housing have upsides as well. And there are also a few limitations to prefab units to consider, she said. Having a flat lot and enough access to the site that a truck can drive in there with the unit, or so a crane can place it, is essentially a requirement. The ADU center recently launched a Standard Plans Program which features a gallery of plans that at least some of 16 Napa and Sonoma county jurisdictions have pre-approved. That allows for a diversity of options for interested buyers, and helps the center pursue a goal of saving homeowners and cities time and money on the design and permitting process for ADUs, Schomp emphasized. And though organizations like Abodu also work with local governments to have their ADU options essentially be pre-approved to cut down on delivery time and hassle, the ADU Center's program attempts to solve another potential flaw of prefab ADUs: the relative lack of options most prefab companies offer on their own. Those looking for ADUs can see options from a variety of companies: Abodu, Villa, Connect Homes, Inspired ADUs, Homes for Sonoma and more. What I have seen time and time again in the housing space is theres no single silver bullet solution, Schomp said. You cannot say prefab is the answer; its one of the tools in the toolkit. And were going to be the most successful to meet our housing crisis if we approach with a diversity of housing options. Schomp added that she was initially skeptical of prefab ADU companies given that many of them started up, backed by venture capital, after the state's 2020 housing laws that made local permitting processes for ADUs more uniform came into effect. Those processes still aren't entirely uniform, she said, which means that in order for the companies to be successful, they need teams of employees that work closely with every jurisdiction they're building ADUs in. Schomp said she didn't anticipate that she'd feel the prefab companies have proven themselves this quickly, but she now feels confident referring people to them. And she believes prefab ADUs are a vital part of solving California's current housing puzzle. Im pleasantly surprised by how successful these companies have been so far, and Im seeing homeowners significantly shifting from wanting to do traditional construction to wanting to do prefab, Schomp said. You can reach Edward Booth at 707-256-2213. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. NATO to deploy troops, equipment on its eastern flank for first time since Cold War Biden administration officials admits that sanctions on Russia are hurting US economy Germany to supply MARS II multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine Armenia President to pay working visit to Russia US to provide $1bn in additional military assistance to Ukraine Medvedev doubts that Ukraine will exist in 2 years Israel FM pins hopes on Bidens visit to Middle East next month EU envoy to Armenia meets with civil society organizations representatives working in Meghri Biden slams oil industry for failing to curb rising fuel prices Armenia PM attends church wake of the late renowned actor Rafael Kotanjyan 8th convocation Armenia parliament 3rd session concludes Armenia National Assembly takes note of 2021 state budget execution report Armenia legislature deputy chair receives delegation led by OSCE PA President Chinas Xi tells Putin that Russia's actions are legitimate Turkey rejects NATO invitations to trilateral talks with Finland, Sweden Armenias Pashinyan: Karabakh status is not goal but means to ensure security of its people Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf: North-South corridor construction is necessary to ensure security of Iran, Armenia Dollar, euro rise in Armenia Armenia premier: Karabakh budget recorded unprecedented growth in 2021-2022 Starmus festival organizer: Im ready with pleasure to collaborate postgraduate students from Armenia Russia MFA: Moscow is ready to facilitate the commission meeting in the nearest future Armenia PM: After Common State idea, issue of exchanging territories appeared on negotiating table Macron: We will do everything to stop military forces of Russia In Kazakhstan, 26 people receive real sentences after January riots Fallen soldiers relatives continue their sit-in at downtown Yerevan Armenia parliament speaker is in Iran on official visit Armenia opposition movement participants reach Prosecutor General's Office building Armenia official: Russia considering possibility of setting up additional checkpoint near Upper Lars Infantino presents Armenia PM nominal T-shirt, nominal ball of 2022 FIFA World Cup (PHOTOS) Aliyev and Karen Donfried discuss normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia CSTO Committee of Secretaries to meet in Yerevan 16.8% of Armenia state budget expenditures in 2021 goes to defense sector Russia FM to pay working visit to Azerbaijan Armenia FM briefs Bulgarian MPs on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Russia considers Israeli strikes on Syrian territory unacceptable Expert: Armenia must increase country's attractiveness not only for IT specialists Krisp: Preconditions for technological boom have been created in Armenia Report: Key Indicators for Execution of State Budget of Armenia for 2021 North Korea spends $1,221 a minute on nuclear program, analysts estimate Armenia bloc MP: Let's gather in Vardanyan Park on Italy Street Synopsys Armenia: Countrys IT sector has shortage of 4,000 staff Three earthquakes hit Iran's Kish Island this morning Swiss airspace closes due to technical failure Conference held in occupied Armenian Shushi to mark anniversary of so-called 'Shushi Declaration' Armenia FM and Bulgarian NA Speaker discuss possibilities for deepening relations between two countries Newspaper: How was created the right picture from Pashinyan's visit to Ararat region? Prosecutor General of Armenia Artur Davtyan leaves for Russia Russia President to meet with Armenia President at SPIEF SPIEF kicks off in St. Petersburg Armen Avetisyan appointed as new General Director of Viva-MTS Armenian parliament discusses execution of 2021 state budget Global oil prices rise slightly Russia calls on Turkey to peacefully resolve situation in Syria Canada and Denmark settle territorial dispute WhatsApp makes it easier to switch from Android to iPhone Astronomers make most detailed map of Moon Company to pay $2,000 to volunteers to release 100 cockroaches into their home Hungary objects to introduction of global minimum tax in EU Resistance Movement members remove their tents from France Square Some European plants shut down due to skyrocketing global energy prices Erdogan: Turkey must defend its interests in space European leaders visit Israel hoping to reduce dependence on Russian gas Resistance movement to hold information march on Thursday and a rally on Saturday Resistance movement holds procession in Yerevan Slovak PM calls on Scholz to support Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova as EU candidates Armenia ex-President Kocharyan participates in Resistance movement rally German howitzers soon to be delivered to Ukraine Resistance Movement rally starts in Yerevan Turkey President meets with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Media revealed some details of opening of Armenian-Azerbaijani roads HYECoin, Inc. invites conversation among venture capitalist firms open to funding startup tech and crypto projects Three times vaccinated Lithuanian PM tests positive for Covid-19 Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Bulgaria discuss cooperation Austria to allocate 28 billion to compensate population for increased costs Dollar rises after long decline, euro continues to depreciate in Armenia Georgia prosecuting cartographers because of whom David Gareja monastery was to pass to Azerbaijan AraratBank Brings Apple Pay to Customers Moldova decides to analyze pros and cons of participation in CIS Court allows Armenia ex-deputy premier and now lawmaker Armen Gevorgyan to head for Strasbourg 2 people convicted in connection with 9 November 2020 night riots in Yerevan South Korea, US and Japan to conduct missile defense exercises in August in Hawaii Euronews: Forget France, as Armenia is hub of winemaking history Armenian village Norabak deprived of water supply after Azerbaijani invasion Armenia to join CIS agreement on use of military satellite communication systems Biden extends US sanctions regime against North Korea for another year Armenia FM, Bulgaria President discuss prospects for development of bilateral relations Armenian Shushi city of Artsakh to become venue for Azerbaijan conference on cooperation with Turkey Premier meets with Father Emir of Qatar, presents him Order of Friendship of Armenia State council for protection of cultural heritage of Karabakhs occupied territories holds first meeting Premier, Qatar Business Council members discuss implementation of investment programs in Armenia Armenia ex-President Kocharyan, former-deputy PM and now MP Gevorgyan trial to reconvene Armenia PM meets with Qatar FM David Babayan: Artsakh, Armenia are in difficult situation Driver of car that went onto tents at France Square in downtown Yerevan is apprehended Armenia FM meets with Bulgaria President Azerbaijan Security Council chief: Armenia opposition protesting against peace talks will not achieve its goal Armenia-France cooperation in defense sector is discussed Draft statement on Armenia-Azerbaijan, Armenia-Turkey relations not put on legislature agenda Armenia PM to Al Jazeera: We are currently in process of constructing very strategic highway Armenia premier to Al Jazeera: Wording about corridor is unacceptable, red line for us Sri Lanka may be forced to buy more oil from Russia as the island nation desperately searches for fuel amid an unprecedented economic crisis, the newly appointed prime minister told AP. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an interview with the agency that at first he will turn to other sources, but he will be ready to buy more oil from Moscow. Western countries have largely stopped importing energy from Russia in line with the sanctions imposed over the situation around Ukraine. Wickremesinghe also said he was ready to accept more financial aid from China despite his country's mounting debt. And while he acknowledged that Sri Lanka was in a predicament through its own fault, he noted that the war in Ukraine was exacerbating the situation, and that acute food shortages could last until 2024. He said that Russia also offered wheat to Sri Lanka. The PM, who is also Sri Lanka's finance minister, spoke to the AP from his office in the capital, Colombo. He was appointed to this post by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resolve the economic crisis, which nearly devastated the country's foreign exchange reserves, Sri Lanka has amassed $51 billion in foreign debt but has put on hold nearly $7 billion in debt due this year. Due to the huge debt, the country has no money for basic imports, so citizens can hardly buy food, fuel, medicines, even toilet paper and matches. Electricity shortages have led to power outages, and people are forced to wait in kilometer-long queues for days for cooking gas and petrol. Two weeks ago, the country bought 90,000 metric tons (99,000 tons) of Russian oil to reopen its only refinery, the energy minister told reporters. Wickremesinghe did not comment directly on these reports and said he did not know if new orders were in the pipeline. However, he noted that Sri Lanka is in desperate need of fuel and is currently trying to get oil and coal from the country's traditional suppliers in the Middle East. Officials are negotiating with private suppliers, but Wickremesinghe said one of the problems they face is that there is a lot of oil going around that can be unofficially returned to Iran or Russia. Fiji warns it faces 'devastating' climate change threat Fiji faces its biggest threat from "devastating climate change" rather than geopolitical tensions, the country's defence minister warned Sunday at a high-level security summit. Fijian Defence Minister Inia Seruiratu This weekend's Shangri-La Dialogue, which brings together defence ministers from Asia and around the world, has been dominated by the United States and China sparring over Taiwan. It also comes as Beijing jostles with Western powers for influence over Pacific island nations. But Fijian Defence Minister Inia Seruiratu sought instead to focus attention on the threat posed by climate change to his Pacific country, which is regularly hit by cyclones. "Machine guns, fighter jets, ships... are not our primary security concern," he told hundreds of delegates at the event in Singapore. "The single greatest threat to our very existence is... human-induced, devastating climate change. It threatens our very hopes and dreams of prosperity. "Waves are crashing at our doorsteps, winds are battering our homes, we are being assaulted by this enemy from many angles." He said security was "broader than many of us have traditionally defined it", urging other countries to support Fiji's efforts to combat climate change. Last September, Fiji passed a sweeping climate change act which declared a climate emergency while setting out the legal framework for the nation's response. Other low-lying Pacific island nations also face threats from climate change. These range from cyclones that are becoming more regular and powerful, to rising seas. Ahead of last year's key climate talks in Glasgow, Pacific states warned they were bearing the brunt of global warming and urged wealthy, industrialised nations to do more. Fiji was among 10 Pacific nations that last month rebuffed China's push for a wide-ranging security pact amid worries the proposal was designed to pull them into Beijing's orbit. The failure of the plan, which would have directly challenged the influence of the United States and its allies in the strategically vital region, amounted to a high-profile political setback for Beijing. Stop smearing China, defence minister tells US Stop smearing China, defence minister tells US Defence Minister Wei Fenghe said on Sunday that it was up to the United States to improve the bilateral relationship, as ties were at a critical juncture. Repeating several times at an Asian security meeting that China only sought peace and stability, and was not an aggressor, he called on the United States to "strengthen solidarity and oppose confrontation and division". He said China firmly rejected "US smearing, accusations and even threats" in US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin's speech on Saturday. "We request the US side to stop smearing and containing China. Stop interfering in China's internal affairs. The bilateral relationship cannot improve unless the US side can do that," Wei told the Shangri-La Dialogue. Austin said on Saturday there had been an "alarming" increase in the number of unsafe and unprofessional encounters between Chinese planes and vessels with those of other countries. He added that the United States would stand by its allies. Russia's attack on Ukraine has taken centre stage at the meeting, and Wei made a point of saying China supported peace talks and opposed "providing weapons, applying maximum pressure". "What is the root cause of this crisis? Who is the mastermind behind this? Who loses the most? And who stands to gain the most? Who is promoting peace and who is adding fuel to the fire? I think we all know the answers to these questions," he said, without addressing them. In an address via video link on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned delegates that the attack on Ukraine threatened the rules-based order and put the entire world in danger of famine and food crises. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a special operation that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists. Wei noted that China had contributed to global efforts to fight Covid-19, and that the country's efforts to develop the South China Sea were peaceful. "Countries big and small, weak or powerful, are all equal," he said. "We should respect each other and treat each other as equals." (Reuters) Hong Kong needs patriotic media: Luo Huining Hong Kong needs patriotic media: Luo Huining The director of Beijings liaison office in Hong Kong, Luo Huining, said on Sunday that the SAR needs patriotic media that will continue to hold on to the truth as the SAR anticipates the 25th anniversary of its return to Chinese sovereignty. In a pluralistic society like Hong Kong, we especially need media that love the country and love Hong Kong, that can drain away filth and bring in fresh water, and we need patriotic media people who hold tight to their mission and shoulder their responsibilities, he said. Luo was speaking at a ceremony to celebrate 120 years of the Ta Kung Pao newspaper. The official also read out a letter from President Xi Jinping, who congratulated the paper and its staff, and said they had contributed to Hong Kongs stability, its integration with the mainland and the reunification of peoples hearts with the nation. Also speaking at the ceremony, Chief Executive-designate John Lee said freedom of the press in Hong Kong is protected by the Basic Law and is in line with international laws. As long as they do not breach the law, freedom of the press is unlimited, he said, adding this standard is in line with those adopted by western countries and other advanced nations. The outgoing CE, Carrie Lam, meanwhile, said the media should not only monitor the government, but also take the initiative to promote national security, so people can receive correct, complete and impartial information. The reactive politics as visible in Pakistan is indeed unique, especially when it comes to developments in India and on sensitive issues. In reaction to the statement made by BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, one found the Pakistani media and radical Islamic organisations full of strong rhetoric targeting India, the BJP and, of course, the two party members who had made statements on Islam and had come under criticism by the Muslim world. Protest rallies were held in various cities and towns of Pakistan, PoK and GB including Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Jhang, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Muzaffarabad, Jhelum Valley, Mirpur, Kotli, Bagh, Haveli, Neelum, Hattian, Chinari, Barnala, Rawalakot, Gilgit against on June 10 against alleged blasphemy by Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal. Protestors carried banners inscribed with slogans such as "we offer our life for the honor of the Prophet", "Hang Nupur the blasphemer" etc. They chanted anti-India/BJP and anti-PM Modi slogans including "gustakh ki saza- sar tan se juda". Indian flags and Sharma's pictures and effigies were burnt all across. Several demonstrations were organised by Islamist and political parties, trade organisations and lawyers fraternity including JeI, JUI, Sunni Ulema Council, Sunni Tehreek, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, Muslim Conference, Markazi Seerat Committee, Jamaat Ahle Sunnat and other Sunni groups. Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani led a rally to the Indian High Commission Islamabad. Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan held a rally on June 9 at Chinari, Jhelum valley district against defamatory remarks of Sharma and Jindal. It was led by TLP, Jhelum Valley district Amir Mohammed Tasleem Kayani. TLP Mirpur leaders comprising Mufti Rashidul Qadri, Amir TLP Mirpur district, Allama Muhammed Waseem Nazim-e-Ala Mirpur and Muhammed Kashif, secretary publication and media advisor Mirpur district and other leaders, in a joint statement, alleged that Pakistan's silence over blasphemous caricatures in France provided opportunities to the other forces of the world to commit blasphemy. Mufti Rashidul Qadri urged Pakistan to use military force to deal with this challenge. He also said that the TLP was prepared to play a lead role in this regard. TLP leaders warned India that if it doesn't seek pardon over the blasphemy, TLP will "teach an exemplary lesson to Indian beasts". They urged the Pakistani government to take urgent notice of this incident and respond sternly, as otherwise he said that TLP activists know how to protect the honour of the prophet and offer their lives in his defence. JeI PoK's acting Amir Sheikh Aqilur Rehman held meetings with various delegations in connection with the protests after Friday prayers. He urged PoK people to participate in protest rallies in an all-out manner and stressed that international community including Muslim ummah must boycott India politically, diplomatically and economically. JeM leader Naveed Masood Hashmi also demanded boycott of Indian goods not only by the Gulf countries but by all Muslim countries including Pakistan, Turkey, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Hashmi mentioned that it is highly shameful that condemned Sharma committed the crime of blasphemy 14 days ago, but Pakistani rulers, media and other powerful sections remained silent for several days. Even clerics were found careless and lethargic in this regard. PM Shahbaz Sharif and other people became aware only when Ulema and common Muslims of Arab countries announced boycott of Indian goods. He questioned as to why protests against blasphemy began late in Pakistan? It is a matter of serious concern as to why Pakistan failed in playing leading role against the attack on the honour of the prophet in India, he stated. PTI women wing Mirpur district leader Fauzia Butt announced on the eve of Friday protest that those committing blasphemy in honor of the Prophet are fit to be killed. There is no scope of concession for blasphemers. It is interesting note that the negative rhetoric took time to catch on as Pakistan has been embroiled in its own internal issues which take away most of the time and energy of the people and the government. This all the more reinforces the fact that Pakistan and the Pakistani people should look after their own priority interests at first rather than delve into criticism of others. --IANS scor/ ( 697 Words) 2022-06-11-22:46:02 (IANS) Actor Kriti Kharbanda thanked her fans as she completed 13 years in the film industry on social media. The '14 Phere' actor took to her Instagram handle and shared a video where she added clips of her characters played by her in movies. Along with the video, she penned a long note where she expresses gratitude to her well-wishers. https://www.instagram.com/p/CesePsko0wr/ She wrote, "As I complete 13 years in the industry today, I want to take this moment to thank each and everyone who's been a part of this journey. My family, friends and well-wishers. But biggest of all, my fans and fan clubs. Every time I log onto the gram I realise how lucky I am. You guys celebrate me more than I celebrate myself. She added, "You'll have given me more love than I could have imagined which has become my strength! I work hard for me, but I know you'll are the reason I don't give up on bad days. so u guys basically give me the strength to keep going and I love u for that! "All in all, it's been a crazy 13 years. And here's looking forward to the next 13! Yea baby! Bring it on! I'm ready! P.S. these are just some characters I've portrayed over the years. Will post the others in my stories. Love all equally but technologically challenged. Thank you for understanding," she concluded. As soon as she shared the post, fans congratulated her on the completion of 13 years in the film fraternity. Meanwhile, on the work front, Kriti was last seen in '14 Phere' alongside Vikrant Massey which was released on ZEE5. (ANI) With fresh Covid-19 cases crossing 200 per day in Tamil Nadu, parents are worried as schools are set to reopen on Monday, June 13. Priya Sethumadhavan, a housewife, said that she is worried about her daughter Akansha going to school. While speaking to IANS, she said: "I am worried as children will mingle with one another and we don't know what is in store for our child. If they were conducting classes in two shifts it would have been better, but most of the classes are in a single shift." Teachers, however, said that there is no other option than to reopen schools. Selvanayagan, a teacher at a private aided school in Madurai told IANS, "Connecting with students during online classes was very difficult and students were even confused about the basics. We have to start with basics again and then move ahead." He said that students of classes 1 to 5 need strong foundation and if there is any delay in reopening of schools, learning basics would be affected and this would lead to students losing out, which the state cannot afford after prolonged lockdowns due to the pandemic. State School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi in a statement had announced that schools in Tamil Nadu will reopen on Monday, June 13. --IANS aal/kvd/skp/ ( 229 Words) 2022-06-12-19:06:04 (IANS) Police said acting on specific information generated by Police regarding the presence of a terrorist in village Khandipora area of Kulgam, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, Army (9RR) and CRPF. "During the search operation, as the joint search party approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorist fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated effectively leading to an encounter. However in order to evacuate the civilians trapped around the encounter site, the joint team ensured the evacuation of all civilians to the safer places," police said. "In the ensuing encounter, a categorized terrorist identified as Rasiq Ahmed Ganie, son of Mohd Amin Ganie, resident of Shouch Kulgam of proscribed terror outfit HM was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of encounter." As per police records, the killed terrorist was involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on Police/security forces and civilian atrocities. "Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including 303 Rifle along with 23 rounds, Pistol along with 31 rounds, one Hand grenade etc, have been recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation," police said. Police have registered a case and investigation has been initiated. --IANS zi/skp/ ( 252 Words) 2022-06-11-20:02:05 (IANS) On February 17, 2017, Kerala woke up to the shocking news that one of the most popular actresses in the Malayalam film industry had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted in a moving car. The actress reached the residence of actor and director Lal in Kochi and informed him of the assault and the trauma she had undergone after she was kidnapped while on her way back to her room after a film shoot. The actor-director at once called up the then Thrikkakara legislator, P.T. Thomas, who immediately informed the police, and a case was registered. The actress complained to the police that six men were involved in the kidnap and sexual assault and said the assault was filmed to blackmail her. The police swung into action and on the same night, one of the accused was arrested and his two accomplices were also rounded up in the next two days. Then came the shocker. In a major breakthrough, the Kerala police arrested a former driver of actor Dileep, Pulsar Sunil, on February 23, 2017, and all the accused were charged under Sections 366 (kidnapping) and 376 (rape) of Indian Penal Code, and Section 66 of the IT Act. From day one after the arrest of the accused, there were reports that Dileep was behind the kidnapping, but the actor slammed the media for carrying "false news" about him. He even took to social media to say that he was being targeted. The case took an ugly turn when on April 12, 2017, Pulsar Suni wrote a letter to Dileep from jail to say that he was facing a bad time behind bars. In June 2017, Dileep issued a controversial statement blaming the victim for the rape and accused her of having a relationship with Pulsar Suni and they had been together in Goa. This evoked a sharp response from the actress, who said that she would sue Dileep. At the same time audio tapes were leaked to the media in which Pulsar Suni was heard talking to the manager of Dileep, Appuni, that he needed ransom money and demanded Rs 1.5 crore. The police then questioned Dileep and his close friend and actor-director Nadirsha for 13 hours at the police club in Aluva on June 28. Thereafter he was arrested. Dileep, who enjoyed superstar status, and his wife and Malayalam actress, Kavya Madhavan, are still under the police scanner and the case is on trial. The actress, meanwhile, has alleged that Dileep was attempting to erase the phone calls using sophisticated technology. The actor's advocates are also in the shadow of suspicion, with the senior lawyer being accused of trying to intimidate witnesses. The Malayalam film industry, aka Mollywood, which was famous for bringing home laurels and acclaim from across the globe, is now under flak over the actions of a superstar. His wife is under the scanner and the victim has acted in several movies with him and was once a close friend of his wife. Interestingly, Dileep's first wife, Manju Warrier, who got a divorce from the actor after it was known that he had a relationship with Kavya Madhavan, has also deposed before the court and presented all the information she has with her. Even as it was recovering from the Dileep case, the industry got another rude shock when an upcoming actor complained to the Kochi police that actor-producer Vijay Babu had raped her repeatedly promising her roles in the movies he was making. Immediately after the complaint was lodged, Babu went underground and left for the UAE from Goa. The Kerala police tried its best to bring the actor back to the country, but he did not move. The cops, however, got his passport cancelled and issued a red corner notice. Vijay Babu did come back to Kerala, but with an order from the Kerala High Court specifying that he be not arrested till his anticipatory bail plea was heard. The court also directed the actor to approach the investigating officer immediately and give his statement. With Vijay Babu running from one police station to another and from one court to the other, the same old Dileep story is being repeated here with the difference that it was Babu who is under the allegation of raping the upcoming actress while in Dileep's case he is alleged to have used his cohorts or had given a quotation' to rape the super actress of South Indian indu Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shaji N. Karun, the late G. Aravindan and Pavithran are some of the directors who are respected around the world for their movies and for taking Malayalam cinema to higher levels of excellence. Mammootty, Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi, the late Prem Nazir and Murali are the actors who brought laurels to the industry without even a single blemish to besmirch their illustrious careers. Other than Dileep and Vijay Babu, Sreejith Ravi, an NIT product and son of Mollywood's most popular anti-hero, T.G Ravi, who has played both character actors and villains, was also charged in a rape case and served a prison term. And one of the most popular Malayalam producers, Siad Koker, set the cat among the pigeons a couple of years ago when he declared that money sourced illegally, or not accounted for, was finding its way into Kerala's film industry . On the one side, the industry is nurturing exceptional young talents such as Basil Joseph, the engineer-turned-director who has created Malayalam cinema's first superhero in 'Minnal Murali', and actors like Fahadh Faasil and Dulquar Salman, who are now nationally known, are bringing home accolades, but the industry's black sheep are letting down Mollywood. With the Dileep case in court, filmgoers who had once been fans of the superstar, have been left disappointed as each passing day leads to murkier details about the actor and the means he has been employing to escape the law coming out in the open. His movies, which were released after the case came to light, bombed in the market, clearly indicating which side the public's sympathy lay. --IANS aal/srb ( 1028 Words) 2022-06-11-20:12:01 (IANS) Union Minister for Home and Cooperation, Amit Shah on Saturday presided over the 25th meeting of the Western Zonal Council in Diu in which he emphasised the need for early investigation of rape and sexual offences against women and children and stringent punishment in a time bound manner. The meeting was attended by the Chief Ministers of Goa, Gujarat and the administrators of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu senior ministers of Gujarat and Maharashtra, Union Home Secretaries, Chief Secretaries of the member states of the Western Region, Secretaries, Central and State Ministries including the Inter-State Council Secretariat and senior officers of the departments. This is the first time that the meeting of the Western Zonal Council has been organised in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Amit shah mentioned the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take advantage of cooperative and competitive federalism while highlighting the importance of Zonal Councils established under the States Reorganization Act in 1956 for achieving all round development of the country. The Union Home Minister said that meetings of various Zonal Councils are now being organised regularly by the Inter-State Council Secretariat of the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with the State Governments. In the last 8 years under the guidance of PM Modi, the number of meetings of the Zonal Councils and its Standing Committees has increased by almost three times. Appreciating the role of the Zonal Councils, the Union Home Minister said that the Zonal Councils take an integrated approach through discussion and exchange of views between the States on important issues of social and economic development. A total of 36 issues were discussed in the 25th meeting and the 12th meeting of the Standing Committee in Panaji on January 28, 2022. Out of these, six subjects have been identified as nationally important subjects and these are being discussed and monitored regularly in the meetings of various Zonal Councils. These are -- Improvement of banking services in rural areas, Monitoring of cases of rape and sexual offences against women and children, Implementation of fast track courts for such cases, Verification of identity of marine fishermen at sea, Large scale in seas Development of local contingency plans by coastal states for rescue operations, and, promotion of Make in India through preference in public procurement. Out of the 30 topics discussed in the 25th Western Regional Council, 27 have been resolved and only three are left for further discussion. It shows the resolve and commitment of the Modi government towards the all-round development of the nation in the spirit of cooperative federalism. Amit Shah stressed the need for early investigation of rape and sexual offences against women and children and stringent punishment in a time bound manner in these cases. Shah said that additional Director General of Police level officers, if possible, women officers should be entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring the investigation of all such cases in the Police Headquarters of each State. He expressed satisfaction over the progress made on the issue of QR code based PVC Aadhaar cards to marine fishermen urged the coastal states to make efforts to ensure that 100 per cent sea-goers including migrants and seasonal Fishermen should have Aadhaar cards which can be easily verified. Highlighting the need for an all-inclusive local emergency plan and its role in mass rescue operations, Shah advised identifying the existing infrastructure along the coast and integrating them with disaster mitigation plans. Emphasizing on the importance of Direct Benefit Transfer to ensure that the benefits of social security schemes reach the target beneficiaries, he advised that the Direct Benefit Transfer Platform to the States should include schemes of all States, except the Centrally Sponsored Schemes. The cash deposit facility through Common Service Centres be extended in a time bound manner and all banks should be linked to the platform. He advised that quarterly review should be done with a focus on this. --IANS asmita/skp/ ( 671 Words) 2022-06-11-21:08:02 (IANS) The accused have been identified as Vishal Anand (30) and Pawan alias Pappu (35). The incident took place on June 9 when one person named Amrender Kumar was present near the Ghazipur Paper Market. "The two accused came on a motorcycle, pointed a country-made pistol at Kumar and asked to hand over all the valuables," DCP Priyanka Kashyap said. The accused also hit the victim on his head with the pistol butt. "A police patrol team was passing by and seeing the incident, it swung into action," the officer said. One of the policemen overpowered one accused person while the other tried to flee from the spot. "The police team chased and apprehended him and also recovered the country-made pistol," Kashyap said. --IANS uj/arm ( 157 Words) 2022-06-11-21:12:01 (IANS) Rahul Gandhi was summoned on June 2, but he could not join the probe as he was abroad. "Rahul Gandhi was summoned to appear before the probe agency on June 2. He had requested the ED to give him some time to join the investigation as he was abroad," said an official. The ED then issued a second notice asking him to join the probe on June 13. On Friday, Sonia Gandhi was issued a fresh summon by the ED to join the investigation in the same case on June 23. Earlier she was summoned on June 8, but she wrote to the ED informing that she was infected by Covid-19 and hence was unable to join the probe. Subsequently, the ED issued a fresh summon to her. Sources said that both have been asked to appear before ED's Delhi headquarters. The case has been lodged against various Congress leaders, including the Gandhis, for allegedly misappropriating National Herald fund. Initially, the case was lodged with the Central Bureau of Investigation. The ED case is based on the CBI case. --IANS atk/kvd/arm ( 215 Words) 2022-06-11-21:22:03 (IANS) Southwest monsoon further advanced into the remaining parts of central Arabian Sea, most parts of Konkan, including Mumbai, some parts of Madhya Maharashtra and some more parts of Karnataka on Saturday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that conditions are favourable for further advancement of monsoon into some parts of north Arabian sea, remaining parts of Konkan, some parts of Gujarat, most parts of Madhya Maharashtra, entire Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, some parts of Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, and northwest Bay of Bengal during the next 48 hours. With this, the monsoon starts covering what IMD identifies as 'monsoon core zone', i.e., the area that lies mostly in central India from west to east coast and largely dependent on monsoon rainfall for agriculture. After onset over Kerala on May 29, three days ahead of its normal date in June, there was a slow progress of southwest monsoon owing to lack of system that could push it forward. Then, after almost a week of slow progress, IMD had declared on June 9 that conditions were favourable for the advancement of southwest monsoon further. "Conditions would continue to become favourable for further advancement of monsoon into some more parts of north Arabian Sea, Gujarat, some parts of Marathwada, some more parts of Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, most parts of Bay of Bengal, entire Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, some parts of Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharakhand and Bihar during the subsequent 2-3 days," the IMD forecast said. --IANS niv/arm ( 253 Words) 2022-06-11-21:38:04 (IANS) The view looking North from 18th street on the Dan Ryan South Expressway, as officials and guests gathered for a dedication ceremony which officially opened the expressway in December 1962. (Chicago Tribune historical photo) It was snowing when the opening of the Edens Expressway was marked with a quick ribbon-cutting atop the Peterson Avenue overpass on Dec. 20, 1951. Afterward a motorcade of notables followed a dozen snowplows to a celebratory luncheon in a restaurant at the Lake-Cook county line, the highways northern terminus. The guest of honor was Col. William Edens, for whom the expressway, initially known as the Edens Parkway, was named. He championed the states 1918 highway bond issue that had taken Illinois out of the mud, as the Tribune noted. The Edens took Chicago into the age of the expressway, behind schedule. Advertisement A beleaguered president of the Cook County Board had promised the six-lane Edens Expressway would open in 1951 if we have to pour concrete Christmas morning. The concrete for new expressways was laid as Chicagos hinterland was in the midst of a building boom. The explosive postwar growth of suburban Chicago did not come without costs that included deeper racial segregation and economic divides as more affluent white residents left the city behind. Advertisement The Edens and the expressways that followed proved to be more than a transportation network. They dramatically reshaped Chicagolands human geography, determining who resided where and how well they lived. In 1951, Chicago had 3.6 million of the regions 5.1 million inhabitants. According to the latest census figures, Chicagos population has shrunk to about 2.7 million, while the regions has ballooned to 8.9 million. Ald. Bernard Prusinski, 32nd, looks at a map of the Northwest Expressway project which runs through his ward on May 16, 1956. (James Quinn/Chicago Tribune) Many of those changes were inevitable. New-home construction had lapsed during World War II, and thousands of returning veterans eager to restart their lives in Chicago found themselves bunking with relatives. GIs are pleading their case in the streets with loudspeakers, Chicago Mayor Edward Kelly told a congressional committee, with a bit of hyperbole, in 1946. Two years later, a builder in west suburban La Grange boasted, Who said there are no homes ready to move into? amid pages of Tribune real estate ads for new suburban developments that urged potential buyers to Drive out today. One of Americas first planned communities, Park Forest, was projected to provide homes for 70,000, 27 miles south of Chicago. It had the first outdoor shopping mall. Those early population projections for Park Forest were well off the towns population peaked at around 30,000 in 1970 but that may have been one of the few undercounts in the suburban surge. In 1973 sociologist Pierre de Vise wrote that In metropolitan Chicago, 50,000 to 60,000 people each year pay homage to their preference for small towns by moving from the big city to the suburbs. Advertisement People tour model homes in Park Forest on June 8, 1952, after reading about them in the newspaper. (Ed Smith / Chicago Tribune) Like many of the early suburbs, Park Forest was accessible to the city via commuter railroad. But other new homes, especially as suburbia gave way to exurbia and beyond, were being built at some distance from the towns that clustered around Chicagos railroad lines. How would those families breadwinners get to jobs in Chicago? Daniel Burnhams 1909 Plan of Chicago suggested the answer: a series of superhighways radiating out from the city. President Dwight D. Eisenhower provided the money to realize that vision. His Interstate Highway System was partially justified as a defense against a nuclear attack. Funding was provided for connecting roads through cities so their inhabitants could be evacuated. Locally, expressway building offered some shady fringe benefits to Chicagos ward bosses. Properties along an expressways route had to be acquired from whoever owned them just before they were bulldozed. One of those West Side ward bosses, Bernie Neistein, had a heads-up on the route of the future, Congress, now Eisenhower, expressway. So I bought two-flats in the path of the highway, he later explained. A view looking west from the main post office, shows caissons on which Congress expressway pavement will be supported in the 1950s. (Chicago Tribune historical photo) According to the citys Department of Urban Renewal, 3,472 families and 1,695 solitary dwellers lost their homes when the Congress Expressway was built. Advertisement At the other end of the expressways, alums of Chicago apartment buildings raised their children in split-level homes with backyards and swing sets. Kids rode bicycles to school without adults worrying. The Weber grill and a station wagon were the totems of the suburban good life. In Chicago: City on the Make Nelson Algren decried suburbia: Where the homes so complacent, and the churches so smug, leave an airlessness like a microscopic dust over the immaculate pews and the self-important bookcases. The Kennedy Expressway took a toll on the Polish Triangle neighborhood and its gritty tenements and taverns, where Algrens novels and short stories are set. A building where he once lived was among those demolished, and 4,433 families and 1,102 solitary dwellers were displaced when that expressway was built. A view looks north from North Avenue at the lunchtime traffic on the Kennedy Expressway on July 5, 1966. (Jack Mulcahy / Chicago Tribune) The Kennedy runs just west of Old Town, a community that successfully opposed the building of an expressway along North Avenue that would have bisected the gentrifying neighborhood. There, and in the adjoining Lincoln Park neighborhood, young professionals were replacing Spanish speakers, some unable to afford rising rents. Others were tempted by the rising property values of Victorian homes with a priceless lived-in patina. Those lakefront neighborhoods offered culture-vultures and foodies a cornucopia of trendy restaurants, theaters and pub-crawls. The hip could learn banjo strumming at the Old Town School of Folk Music and see myriad comics launch careers at the Second City. Advertisement Other neighborhoods were less favored by the changes. On the South Side, the Dan Ryan Expressway separated Bronzeville from Bridgeport, where Mayor Richard J. Daley was born and would remain until he died. Containing the Negro was unspoken city policy, Mike Royko wrote in Boss, his Daley biography. The Dan Ryan, for instance, was shifted several blocks during the planning stage to make it one of the ghettos walls. A 3-mile section of the Dan Ryan Expressway was opened Dec. 12, 1961. Wielding scissors are Mayor Richard J. Daley, Dan Ryan III, Marcy Ryan, Gov. Otto Kerner, John J. Duffy, county board President William Mortimer, county highway Superintendent and County Commissioner Seymour Simon. Mrs. Dan Ryan stands with her two grandchildren. (Chicago Tribune historical photo) Bridgeport remains a largely white community, while neighborhoods to the east and south of it are predominantly Black. Expressways facilitated the white flight accelerated by the civil unrest of the 1960s. In 2005 a Tribune reporter met a young professional who moved to Bridgeport from the North Side in search of an old-fashioned neighborhood feel. On an evening when a Near North restaurant featured Seared ostrich in guava dressing on a coulis of papaya, chayote, ginger, and chives, she was sharing a table with visiting cousins at Schallers Pump. The days specials at the 124-year-old bar and restaurant was liver and onions and short ribs. Just east of the Dan Ryan, from 39th to 54th streets, the Robert Taylor Homes 28, 16-story public housing buildings were constructed. Life for its 27,000 residents was light-years different from the middle-class suburbs that lined the Kennedy Expressway Advertisement In 1986, a Tribune reporter seeing children on a concrete playground on the grounds of the Taylor Homes wrote: Bodies tangle scrambling over benches that have no seats and dodging the rusted swing set without a single seat. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. talks to a crowd at 48th and South State streets near the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago on July 24, 1965. (Ed Wagner Sr. / Chicago Tribune) This isnt no place for children, a woman told the reporter. Not fit to be anybodys home. She had been thrilled to move into the Taylor Homes two decades before. Her apartment was spotless. Like many Black Chicagoans, she previously lived in an overcrowded and deteriorated ghetto. When public housing complexes were proposed to replace those slums, many aldermen said, Fine, but not in my ward. So, too, did virtually every suburb. So Chicago packed public housing residents into high-rises along 2 miles of State Street, Bronzevilles historic axis. That gave airline passengers a dramatic view of parallel lines of skyscrapers: The one along the lakefront was home to well-to-do Chicagoans. The inland one wasnt. Any fool can see we got too many desperate people piled up on top of each other in here, a male resident told the Tribune. Were just stuck out here in the middle of nowhere, and they just leave us alone and hope we kill each other off. Most of the tenants were unemployed. The drug trade was a cottage industry. Poverty is crimes breeding ground. Advertisement One piece of the drug trade was controlled by a convicted murderer, the cops told the Tribune reporter stunned by a disgrace of a playground. Prodded by a judges decision that its public housing perpetuated segregation, Chicago began bulldozing the buildings. In 2007, a 26 year-old tenant of the Taylor Homes, took a last look out her window at the Loops skyline. The 16-story towers of the Robert Taylor Homes are bordered by railroad tracks and the Dan Ryan Expressway in the shadow of the downtown skyline in December 1984. (Frank Hanes/Chicago Tribune) Thats probably what the rich man hated, she told a Tribune reporter; Poor people had a good view. Fifteen years later, the neighborhood looks quite different. The Dan Ryan is paralleled by stretches of grassy parkland that sparkle in the sunlight, almost like the meadows that drew suburban builders after World War II. Pockets of redevelopment provide homes for middle-class Black families amid a landscape thats softened considerably from the hard concrete blight of public housing. So its belatedly looking like Daniel Burnham was on to something: It needs no argument to show that direct highways leading from the outlying towns to Chicago as the center are of necessity for both, he wrote in 1909. Isolated communities lack those social and commercial advantages which arise from easy communication with another. Advertisement Sign up to receive the Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter at chicagotribune.com/newsletters for more photos and stories from the Tribunes archives. Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Ron Grossman and Marianne Mather at rgrossman@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com. "Congress also has rules for some leaders and exceptions for others. Rules are applied selectively. Indiscipline has been repeatedly ignored in the past. In my case, I listened to my soul & acted on my morals," he said in a tweet. In an earlier tweet, he also took a jibe at the party's "swift and strong action". "Had @incindia acted this swiftly & strongly in 2016 & on every other critical opportunity they've missed, they wouldn't have been in such dire straits," he said. The Congress on Saturday expelled Adampur MLA Bishnoi from all party positions after he openly cross-voted against official Congress nominee Ajay Maken in Rajya Sabha polls held on Friday. Congress General Secretary, Organisation K.C. Venugopal said: "Hon'ble Congress President has expelled Kuldeep Bishnoi from all his present party positions including the post of special invitee in Congress Working Committee with immediate effect." Two Congress MLAs cross-voted in Haryana as Maken got only 29 votes out of 31 and Independent candidate backed by the BJP, Kartikeya Sharma defeated him with a slight margin. Bishnoi was reportedly upset with the party after he was denied the state President's post and had said he will only take a decision after meeting party leader Rahul Gandhi. This meeting did not take place. --IANS avr/vd ( 250 Words) 2022-06-11-22:32:04 (IANS) Sarma said that to make Assam self-sufficient in energy, the ambitious solar power project would be taken up and a MoU to be signed soon with NLC India Ltd, a Navratna enterprise, to set up the JVC for the solar power plant. Already 5,000 bighas of land is allotted for the proposed solar power project in mountainous Dima Hasao district, he told the media. Sarma on May 31, inaugurated a solar power project at Amguri in Sivasagar district with a generation capacity of 70 MW. The Rs 300-crore Amguri solar park project was executed by Jackson Power Private Ltd, as solar power developer, with the government-owned Assam Power Generation Corporation Ltd acting as solar power park developer. --IANS sc/vd ( 177 Words) 2022-06-11-22:34:03 (IANS) Mumbai police's summon was regarding the enquiry and recording of Sharma's statement. Police earlier filed a case against her on a complaint filed by Raza Academy. This comes as the row over the comments on Prophet Muhammad by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma has blown up, leading to global outrage. Over the last few days, several countries such as Malaysia, Kuwait and Pakistan condemned recent remarks made by a few BJP leaders. While Nupur Sharma made comments during a TV debate, another leader Naveen Jindal posted a controversial remark on Twitter. The BJP suspended spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled media in-charge, Naveen Jindal, over the remarks. The party issued a statement emphasising its intolerance for disrespect of any religious personality. (ANI) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said "together we should create such an environment in the next 25 years, when India will complete 100 years of independence in 2047, that our children and youth should be proud of". "For 'Amrit Kaal' we will have to work together, when it is 100 years in 2047 for our youth, for our children creates an environment of which they should be proud of," Sitharaman said after inaugurating 'Dharohar', National Museum of Customs and GST in Panaji. Built by the Portuguese, this blue building was the Customs office under their rule. It was the headquarters of Goa's Indian Customs and Central Excise Department after liberation. Comic books, digital games and other digital modes to educate people about GST were launched on the occasion. "All of us will have to be together in building a nation. You have comic books, you have digital things to educate people. Comic books, drawing from children's artwork, give a message to children as well as wardens. This is motivating and inspiring for me," she said. "Can the ministry otherwise sit and work on budget, sometimes can't be so interesting, has come up with so many different ways of speaking about how this ministry actually has been serving the people and empowering the role of gadgets," Sitharaman said. She said that her ministry contributes to nation buildings. --IANS sanjay/pgh ( 240 Words) 2022-06-11-23:22:03 (IANS) The search operation was based on a tip-off. The police after reaching the spot found 4 to 5 persons who opened fire on the personnel. "During the search operation last night in the Yamuna Khadar area, two people got injured after they fired upon the police. One person has also been apprehended during the operation," said police. One 9 mm pistol, 2 live rounds and one CMP, 2 live rounds have been recovered from their possession. In addition, total of 25 suspicious persons have been rounded up. The operation was launched after information was received about the presence of robbers in Yamuna Khadar area. The injured have been shifted to the hospital and a case under sections 186/353/307/34 IPC and 27 Arms Act was registered. Further investigations are underway. (ANI) Temple Committee said that till the evening of June 11, the total number of pilgrims who reached Uttarakhand Chardham is 19,04,253 (nineteen lakh four thousand two hundred fifty-three). From May 8 to June 11 evening, 6,57,547 pilgrims reached Badrinath Dham while 6,33,548 pilgrims have reached the Kedarnath Dham from May 6 to June 11 evening. Meanwhile, a total of 91 pilgrims have lost their lives during the course of the Char Dam Yatra in Uttarakhand till May 27. The Uttarakhand government, on May 11, announced its decision to increase the number of pilgrims by 1,000 each to Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath. "The government has decided to increase the number of pilgrims at Chardham by one thousand," Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had told ANI. With this, 16,000 devotees can visit Badrinath and 13,000 can have 'darshan' of the deity at Kedarnath Dham in a day. Now, as many as 8,000 and 5,000 pilgrims can visit Gangotri and Yamunotri Dham, in a day, respectively. The doors of the Gangotri-Yamunotri Dham were opened on May 3, whereas the portals of Kedarnath and Badrinath were opened on May 6 and May 8, respectively. This year, the registrations for Yatra have also observed a new record as more than 10 lakh pilgrims have registered. Meanwhile, twenty-six people were killed and four others injured after the bus carrying pilgrims from Panna district in Madhya Pradesh fell into a deep gorge en route to the Yamunotri temple in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand on June 5, according to officials. Besides the driver and the helper, there were 28 passengers on board. (ANI) The West Bengal BJP submitted a memorandum to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday seeking the deployment of paramilitary forces in the state over the violent protests in Howrah and Murshidabad against the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad made by suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled leader Naveen Jindal. "The deployment of mobile squads of Central paramilitary forces in affected areas, including route marches in extra-sensitive zones. If the grave situation persists, the deployment of the army should be seriously considered", stated the BJP letter. "Those who organized the mobs and delivered inflammatory hate speeches have been identified on CCTV. They should be booked under relevant sections of the IPC", added the BJP. According to them, the attacks on BJP offices in different parts of the state were orchestrated and aimed at intimidating the Opposition. West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday expressed concerns over the worsening law and order situation in the state, days after protests erupted in parts of West Bengal. In a tweet today, Dhankar wrote, "Since June 09 in particular there has been awful administration failure that took no preventive and precautionary measures. Lawbreakers were allowed to have free for all. Only prompt exemplary action can be deterrent. Over a month, the situation has been a cause of concern." Protests erupted in several states across the country over remarks made by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma on the Prophet Muhammad. Demonstrations were carried out in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Jharkhand and West Bengal after Friday prayers. The protestors carried placards demanding Nupur Sharma's arrest. Incidents of stone-pelting were reported in several States as protestors clashed with police. For the second day, protests in Murshidabad took a violent turn with protesters hurling bricks at cops when they tried to disperse the crowd near NH-34. The West Bengal police resorted to lathi-charge and firing tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. Few cops were injured in the stone-pelting. Notably, a controversy erupted over suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma's remarks against the minorities. Some Gulf countries have also lodged their protest. However, India on Thursday reiterated that the controversial remarks concerning Prophet Muhammad do not reflect the views of the Government and added that action has been taken by concerned quarters against those who made the comment. (ANI) Delhi Police arrested two persons on Saturday in connection with the Jama Masjid protest that took place on Friday over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad made by suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled leader Naveen Jindal. "Two persons have been arrested last night under section 153A of IPC. Friday namaz always has a crowd, so we were alert that something could happen. But the way people came after offering namaz with banners and placards denotes that there is some kind of planning behind it," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Central district, Shweta Chauhan. Section 153A of IPC is charged for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc; and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony. "We are investigating the matter and the messages circulated on WhatsApp over it. The initial probe has identified 4-5 locals. But most of the people are not locals," added the DCP. Earlier on Friday, a massive protest erupted after Friday prayers at Delhi's Jama Masjid over alleged inflammatory remarks of suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma and expelled leader Naveen Jindal. "Almost 1,500 people had gathered in Jama Masjid for Friday prayers. After the prayers, nearly 300 people came out and started protesting over the inflammatory remarks by Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal," DCP Chauhan had told ANI. Delhi Police had said they removed the protesters and the situation was brought under control. All this came as the row over the alleged remarks on the Prophet Muhammad by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma led to global outrage. Nupur Sharma made comments during a TV debate, and another leader Naveen Jindal posted a controversial remark on social media. Delhi Police registered two FIRs-- one against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and the other against 31 people, including AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand - for allegedly spreading hate and hurting religious sentiments, officials said on Thursday. Former Delhi BJP media unit head Naveen Kumar Jindal, who was expelled from the party over alleged remarks against Prophet Mohammad, and journalist Saba Naqvi, are among the people named in the second FIR. (ANI) Moradabad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Hemant Kutiyal said that an investigation is underway over the suspected hand of PFI behind the protests that erupted across the city after Friday prayers. "Nothing like that has come in the investigation so far. But the investigation is going on. So, we won't deny it, there might be a possibility," says Moradabad SSP Hemant Kutiyal when asked if there was the hand of PFI or any other organisation behind Friday's protest. Protests erupted in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad made by suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled leader Naveen Jindal. Uttar Pradesh Police has detained the "mastermind" of the violent protest which broke out in Prayagraj after Friday prayers on June 10. Names of people linked with All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) have surfaced, said Prayagraj Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajay Kumar, adding that there could be more masterminds. "Mastermind Javed Ahmed detained, there could be more masterminds...The anti-social elements used minor kids to hurl stones at the police and administration. A case registered under 29 crucial sections. Action will be taken under Gangster Act and the NSA," he told reporters here. "Names of some people from AIMIM have surfaced, we are gathering evidence against them," Kumar said. The SSP said that there are 70 others who are named as accused and over 5000 people unnamed in the violence. "Action will be taken under the Gangster Act and NSA," he added. Police further said that names of some people associated with AIMIM have surfaced but we are engaged in gathering evidence. Several incidents of violence including sloganeering and stone-pelting were reported from several parts of Uttar Pradesh after Friday prayers when people began protesting against the inflammatory statements of suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled party leader Naveen Kumar Jindal. As per the reports, a massive protest broke out at Delhi's Jama Masjid which was later brought under control after the police removed protestors from the protest site.Notably, a controversy erupted after Nupur Sharma's remarks against the minorities. Some Gulf countries have also lodged their protest. However, India on Thursday reiterated that the controversial remarks concerning Prophet Mohammad do not reflect the views of the Government and added that action has been taken by concerned quarters against those who made the comment. Delhi Police had registered two FIRs on Wednesday-- one against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and the other against 31 people, including All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi and controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand - for allegedly spreading hate and hurting religious sentiments, officials said on Thursday.(ANI) Ernakulam Central Police registers a case against Kerala Gold Smuggling Case prime accused Swapna Suresh's Advocate, Krishna Raj, under 295A over a social media post on Saturday. Police registered a case against him under 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) for his Facebook post against a KSRTC bus driver who was allegedly in a Muslim religious dress. Krishna Raj alleged in the Facebook post that the driver is running a bus which is from Kondotty (in Malappuram district) to Kabul (in Afghanistan). The case was registered in a complaint filed by Advocate Anoop VR, who is a Thrissur native. Gold smuggling case prime accused Swapna Suresh made an emotional appeal before the media here on Saturday in the wake of her lawyer R Krishnaraj's potential arrest saying 'don't hurt people who are around me'. According to her, it's a deliberate attempt to isolate her. "Why are they attacking me like this. I stick to the statement I gave. Don't hurt people who are around me. Hurt me, please kill me so that the story will get over," she said."Give me chance to live. Why are you doing this to my lawyer also now? Shaj Kiran told us that the lawyer will be affected, the case will be taken against him," she added. The Kerala gold smuggling case pertains to the smuggling of gold in the state through diplomatic channels. It had come to light after 30 kg gold worth Rs 14.82 crore smuggled in a consignment camouflaged as diplomatic baggage was busted by the customs department in Thiruvananthapuram on July 5, 2019. Swapna Suresh alleged that in 2016, M Sivasankar, the former Principal Secretary to the Kerala CM, had asked her to send baggage to Dubai which belonged to Vijayan. However, when the bag was brought to the consulate, it was found that it contained currencies and the entire gold smuggling business had begun from then. (ANI) Senate bargainers announced a bipartisan framework Sunday responding to last months mass shootings, a noteworthy though limited breakthrough offering modest gun curbs and bolstered efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, the accord was embraced by Biden and enactment would signal a significant turnabout after years of gun massacres that have yielded little but stalemate in Congress. Advertisement Biden said in a statement that the framework does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades. Given the bipartisan support, there are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House, he said. Advertisement Leaders hope to push any agreement into law rapidly they hope this month before the political momentum fades that has been stirred by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. Participants cautioned that final details and legislative language remain to be completed, meaning fresh disputes and delays might emerge. In a consequential development, 20 senators, including 10 Republicans, released a statement calling for passage. That is potentially crucial because the biggest obstacle to enacting the measure is probably in the 50-50 Senate, where at least 10 GOP votes will be needed to attain the usual 60-vote threshold for approval. Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities, the lawmakers said. The group, led by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., produced the agreement after two weeks of closed-door talks. Its far less than any of us would want in protecting against gun violence, but it will help save lives and we can build on it, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said. I regard it as a start that we can use as a base for more progress. The compromise would make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 available when they undergo background checks. The suspects who killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde were both 18, and many perpetrators of recent years mass shootings have been young. The agreement would offer money to states to enact and put in place red flag laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns from people considered potentially violent, plus funds to bolster school safety and mental health programs. Some people who informally sell guns for profit would be required to obtain federal dealers licenses, which means they would have to conduct background checks of buyers. Convicted domestic abusers who do not live with a former partner, such as estranged ex-boyfriends, would be barred from buying firearms, and it would be a crime for a person to legally purchase a weapon for someone who would not qualify for ownership. Congressional aides said billions of dollars would be spent expanding the number of community mental health centers and suicide prevention programs. But they said some spending decisions are unresolved, as are final wording on juvenile records and other gun provisions that might prove contentious. Advertisement Yet underscoring election-year pressures from Buffalo and Uvalde, the parties shared desire to demonstrate a response to those shootings suggested momentum toward enactment was strong. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the accord a good first step to ending the persistent inaction to the gun violence epidemic and said he would bring the completed measure to a vote as soon as possible. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has supported the talks, was more restrained. He praised the bargainers work and said he is hoping for a deal that makes significant headway on key issues like mental health and school safety, respects the Second Amendment, earns broad support in the Senate, and makes a difference for our country. The agreement was quickly endorsed by groups that support gun restrictions including Brady, Everytown for Gun Safety and March for Our Lives, which organized rallies held around the country on Saturday. The National Rifle Association said in a statement that it opposes gun control and infringing on peoples fundamental right to protect themselves and their loved ones, but supports strengthening school security, mental health and law enforcement. The group has long exerted its sway with millions of firearms-owning voters to derail gun control drives in Congress. The agreement represents a lowest common denominator compromise on gun violence, not a complete sea change in Congress. Lawmakers have demonstrated a newfound desire to move ahead after saying their constituents have shown a heightened desire for congressional action since Buffalo and Uvalde, but Republicans still oppose more sweeping steps that Democrats want and Sundays agreement omits. Advertisement These include banning assault-style firearms such as the AR-15 style rifles used in Buffalo and Uvalde, or raising the legal age for buying them. AR-15s are popular and powerful semi-automatic weapons that can fire high-capacity magazines and have been used in many of the nations highest-profile slaughters in recent years. One of them, the killing of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, occurred six years ago Sunday. Democrats have also wanted to ban high capacity magazines and to expand required background checks to far more gun purchases. None of those proposals has a chance in Congress. I wouldve liked to see a ban on assault weapons, a safe storage proposal Ethans Law, a ban on ghost guns and even more improvements on background checks, among others, Blumenthal said. Im determined to continue the fight to adopt additional gun violence measures and build on these proposals that will save lives, thats the key measure for me. Highlighting that, the Democratic-controlled House approved sweeping bills this past week barring sales of semiautomatic weapons to people under age 21 and large-capacity magazines, and giving federal courts the power to rule when local authorities want to remove guns from people considered dangerous. Currently, only 19 states and the District of Columbia have red-flag laws. Those measures will go nowhere in the Senate, where Republicans can block them. The last major firearms restrictions enacted by lawmakers was the 1994 assault weapons ban, which Congress let expire 10 years later. For years, congressional Republicans representing rural, pro-gun voters have blocked robust restrictions on firearms purchases, citing the Constitutions Second Amendment. Advertisement Democrats, whose voters overwhelmingly favor gun restrictions, have been reluctant to approve incremental steps that they have thought would let GOP lawmakers argue they have tried stemming the tide of violence without meaningfully addressing the problem. A woman who levelled rape allegations against the son of a Rajasthan minister was attacked with ink in the National Capital, an official said on Sunday. "The case has been registered in Shaheen Bagh police station and further investigation is on," said Delhi Police. Speaking about the matter, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat told ANI, "Whatever incident has happened, it is very unfortunate. The government should work with a lot of sensitivity in such a high-profile case. Delhi Police should be completely impartial in this matter. The investigation should be done because there is a matter related to the reputation of a girl. The way she is being intimidated, then definitely there should be stern action against the culprits in this regard." According to him, a criminal must be punished no matter whichever is the ruling party. "The investigation of this case must be impartial," he added. According to reports, the girl, who accused the son of a Rajasthan minister of rape, was publicly attacked in Delhi by throwing a chemical-like substance. The victim told that unknown youths threatened her to withdraw the case. At present, Shaheen Bagh Police is investigating the matter. On 11.6.22 a PCR call was received that some miscreants have thrown something on a girl and run away. In this matter, we gave a statement that while she was walking with her mother near Kalindi Kunj Road two boys threw something on her and fled away. She was thoroughly examined at AIIMS Trauma Center. The blue liquid prima facie looks like ink. In the matter a case u/s 195 A/506/323/34 IPC has been registered in PS Shaheen Bagh. The investigation is underway. (ANI) As the World Trade Organization's 12th ministerial conference began on Sunday in the Swiss town of Geneva, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has said India will be benefited from the tariff on e-transmission. A delegation of Swadeshi Jagran Manch is also participating in the WTO meeting in Geneva. Ashwani Mahajan, National Co-Convener of the SJM, said, "Although there are many topics in this year's WTO meeting, but imposing a tariff on e-transmission is in the great interest of our country. In e-transmission like downloading apps, movies, songs, or downloading OTT content. Earlier, e-transmission was very little but now it is very much. Today its turnover has crossed USD 30 billion. If the tariff is imposed on it in the WTO, then the country will benefit a lot." He further said, "We also got the support of the Government of India in this demand. Even if 10 per cent is levied on USD 30 billion, we will get USD 3 billion in tax revenue. Those e-products will start manufacturing in the country and due to the manufacture of those products, employment will be created." "We have prepared our documents in this regard and have also submitted to the government how we can take forward the progress of the country by brining tariff on e-transmission. We can move towards self-reliance in manufacturing of e-products," he added. Mahajan said that the revenue of the Government of India can be increased by collecting tax from all the tech companies whether it is Google or e-commerce companies but it is a big challenge. Further replying to what if things become expensive if tariffs are increased, he said, "We think things will get expensive if tariffs are increased but we have to think for the long term. We have imposed a 100 per cent tariff on our cars. The cars of India are the cheapest in the world, the reason is that it does not come from other countries because if it is imported from other countries then tariff is imposed on it and it may become costly. There is a kind of protection on the automobile business in our country, due to cars are cheap and are sold at cheap rates." Mahajan said that India has to take care of its interests on other matters as well. "The Government of India and South Africa together proposed in the WTO demanding patent rights on medicines, vaccines and other treatment equipment. According to that proposal, it was demanded to give patent rights to India on medicines, vaccines and other treatment equipment which are with foreign companies. To revoke those patent rights for some time so that the common people could get cheap medicines, after a long-running struggle, the US agreed to remove the patent on the vaccine," he said. He said that the countries like the US and the European Union have recognized that they will make the vaccine patent-free. (ANI) Notably, the Kerala High Court cancelled the bail of the district president in connection with an attempt to murder case observing that he was involved in the 12 cases during the bail period. The case against the SFI leader was registered in 2018. He was arrested for a case registered under sections 308, 355, 323, 324, 506, and 427 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly attacking a student. Arsho was involved in 12 cases after obtaining bail in the murder attempt case. Observing this, a Single Bench of Justice Sunil Thomas issued an order cancelling his bail in February this year. The court also asked the police to arrest him immediately. But police submitted in the High Court that he was absconding. But recently, Arsho participated in the SFI state conference held in the Malappuram district and got elected as state secretary. (ANI) Vishva Hindu Parishad on Sunday passed a resolution in favour of the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code with the aim of finding a permanent solution to various challenges the country is facing. However, the VHP has not warned of any protest for the purpose, rather it has suggested the Centre to take all sections of the society into consideration and reach a consensus to implement the UCC. In a high-level meeting convened by the VHP's Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal held in Haridwar, Juna Peethadheeshwar Acharya Mahamandaleshwar Swami Avdheshanand Giri Maharaj, said, "For the resolution of various problems in the country, it is imperative to implement one law for every section of the society." Notably, some Muslim bodies including Jamaat Ulama-e-Hind and the All India personal law board had objected to the implementation of UCC. It is to be mentioned that there are also many cases pending in the Supreme Court on Uniform Civil Code. Through several petitions, there has been a demand to implement the UCC in the country. Citing Article 44 of the Constitution, the demand for the implementation of the legislation is being raised. The Central government, in response to a petition, has said that the issue is under consideration of the Law Commission and the implementation of the same would be done only after its report comes out. The Centre has yet not shown a concrete move on the matter. However, states like Uttarakhand have already constituted a team to prepare the draft for the same. In the high-level meeting of the VHP, discussions were also held on the forceful religious conversions across the country. "Forceful conversions are being made in some of the tribal areas strategically It is difficult to stop such conversions without taking stringent steps," said a saint in the meeting. (ANI) The accused had been identified as Dinesh Kumar Kallusingh Saroj (34) who hails from the Pratapgad district of Uttar Pradesh and currently residing in Pune. The action was taken on the tip-off and raid done during an 'all-out operation' campaign organised by Pune police ahead of the VVIP movement in the district. According to a press statement by Pune Police, the officials of Crime Branch Unit 1 received a tip-off from their undercover informant that a scrap dealer had kept gun cartridges in his shop in Guruwar Peth area of Pune city. "After making sure of the information a raid was conducted and a total of 56 live cartridges, 79 not working cartridges and 970 bullet leads, totally worth Rs 1.56 lakh were seized," police said. He has been booked with offences under the Arms Act and the Maharashtra Police Act. Senior Police Inspector Sandip Bhosale said," Investigation is going on to find out from where did the accused bring such a large quantity of cartridges and bullets? Has he given cartridges or firearms to anyone else before? He was produced before a judicial magistrate court which has remanded him to police custody till June 15 for further investigations." (ANI) After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won all the 26 seats in the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that this huge victory is a true affirmation of public trust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Sabka Saath Sabka Vishwas. In a series of tweets, the Chief Minister bowed before the people of Karbi Anglong for giving Assam BJP a historic mandate in KAAC polls for the second time in a row. "We bow before people of Karbi Anglong for giving Assam BJP a historic mandate in KAAC polls 2nd time in a row. After wins in urban body and GMC polls, this huge victory is a true affirmation of public trust in Adarniya PM Narendra Modi ji's vision of Sabka Saath Sabka Vishwas," he said. Sarma this unprecedented mandate has given BJP even a bigger responsibility to live up to people's expectations. "Under the guidance of PM, Amit Shah ji and JP Nadda ji, we will work for overall growth and development of Karbi Anglong," he added. Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, in a series of tweets also congratulated all the Assam BJP workers on the landslide victory in the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council polls and said the win reflects the complete trust of people in the development initiatives of PM Narendra Modi in the last eight years. "Gratitude to BJP National President JP Nadda, CM Himanta Biswa and BJP Assam Pradesh State President Bhabesh Kalita for their leadership. Heartfelt thanks to the hardwork of all karyakartas and the people for their unstinted love and support," he said. He also thanked Home Minister Amit Shah for bringing peace to the beautiful hill region of Karbi Anglong under the guidance of PM Narendra Modi. "My best wishes to all the elected candidates. May you work with dedication and honesty to carry forward the journey of peace & development of Karbi Anglong," he added. The elections for the 26 seats were held on June 8. BJP on Sunday won all the 26 seats in the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) in Assam while Congress drew a blank after the results for the council elections were announced. Notably, violence had erupted at two polling booths under Duar Amla council constituency in West Karbi Anglong district on Wednesday during the KAAC election, said police. According to the police, an irate mob destroyed ballot boxes of two polling booths and also had set a large number of ballot papers. Security personnel were forced to fire in the air to control the situation. Heavy security personnel were deployed in the area following the incident. Re-polling at two polling booths was held on June 10. (ANI) Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday laid foundation stone for RR Nagar Grade Separator and said that works which have been launched for development of Bengaluru would be completed in a time-bound manner. The Chief Minister in his address after laying the foundation stone for a Grade Separator at RR Nagar Arch and Diversion Drain at Hosakerehalli and Kenchenahalli lakes, said, "RR Nagar is a densely populated area with huge traffic congestion. The traffic snarl extends from Kengari to Town Hall. The Grade Separator would not only help in easing the traffic congestion at RR Nagar, but in a wider area of the city." He further said that the work on the eight-lane Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway would be completed in the next four-five months. "Once these two works are completed the traffic could have a smooth flow upto Town Hall from RR Nagar as it would become a long signal-free corridor," Bommai said. He said that the State government has laid special emphasis on the development of Bengaluru. "It has been decided to draw up a special plan for the development of roads and traffic management, the Prime Minister is set to lay the foundation stone for Satellite Town Ring Road project too on June 21 along with the foundation stones for Suburban Rail project and Peripheral Ring Road project on the same day. These works would decongest the traffic considerably in the city," he added. Ministers V Somanna, R Ashok, Muniratna and senior officials were also present on the occasion. (ANI) The members of Jayakarnataka Janapara Vedike run by Gunaranjan Shetty have submitted a petition to Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Sunday, seeking protection and legal action. The members have alleged that the death threats are issued by friends-turned-foes Manvit Rai and Rakesh Malli. Gunaranjan Shetty, Manvit Rai and Rakesh Malli worked for reformed don Muttappa Rai, after whose death, they separated. Gunaranjan Shetty, brother of actress Anushka Shetty, had identified with the close circles of late don Muttappa Rai. He has become popular in Mangaluru and Bengaluru. It is alleged that the opponents Manvit Rai, who is also a relative of Muttappa Rai, and Rakesh Malli are planning to execute Gunaranjan Shetty. The members who submitted petition to the Home Minister demand arrest of the accused persons. On the other hand, Manvit Rai has clarified that he is abroad and unable to understand why these allegations are made against him. He claimed that no threats are being made at anyone, adding that there are no criminal cases against him either. However, police sources stated that Rakesh Malli had been questioned by the police in this regard. Further investigation is underway. --IANS mka/kvd/skp/ ( 232 Words) 2022-06-12-19:30:05 (IANS) The Indian Army on Sunday paid tribute to Rifleman Lokendra Singh who made the supreme sacrifice on June 10 at a forward post along the Line of Control (LoC) in North Kashmir's Baramulla district, in a solemn ceremony at BB Cantt in Srinagar. Lt Gen ADS Aujla Corps Commander, and all ranks of Chinar Corps paid homage to the gallant soldier. Late Rifleman Lokendra Singh was deployed at a forward post along the Line of Control in Gulmarg Sector. On June 10 at around 10.15 p.m. while observing enemy from a surveillance post in an inclement weather, he was struck by lighting. "Rifleman Lokendra Singh got grievously injured due to lightning strike and was immediately provided first aid at the post. He was evacuated to nearest medical facility, where he was declared dead at 11.45 p.m.," the Army said. Late Rifleman Lokendra Singh was thirty years old and joined the Army in 2011. He belonged to Village Bhadrauli of Bah Tehsil, Agra District in Uttar Pradesh and is survived by his wife, two children. "The mortal remains of Rifleman Lokendra Singh are being taken for the last rites to his native place, where he would be laid to rest with full military honours. In this hour of grief the Army stands in solidarity with the bereaved family and remains committed to their dignity and well being," the Army said. --IANS zi/skp/ ( 245 Words) 2022-06-12-19:44:03 (IANS) The Dwarka district police of New Delhi on Sunday said that it has arrested as many as 10 criminals during a surprise foot patrolling in Dabri area. DCP of Dwarka, M. Harsh Vardhan said that to catch the criminals they took many initiatives, and foot patrolling was one of them. "On Saturday evening, we did surprise foot patrolling in the area. We arrested ten criminals in order to instil confidence in the public. The exercise was carried out under the supervision of Dabri ACP Vijay Singh with police teams of Uttam Nagar, Dabri and Bindapur," said Harsh Vardhan. The official said that in Uttam Nagar area they arrested three criminals. SHO, Uttam Nagar was leading the team which arrested Nitin Tiwari and Shubham, both wanted in Gambling act. The police recovered Rs 2,740 cash from them. After this the team held one Sunny with 102 quarters of illicit liquor. "In Dabri area we held five criminals. The foot patrolling team was headed by Dabri SHO. Those who were held by this team were identified as Aman, Praveen, Vicky, Manohar and Rohit. Stolen items were recovered from them," said the police official. The official said that apart from stolen items, 174 quarters of illicit liquor were recovered from Vicky and 120 from Manohar. In Bindapur area, two were held by the police team. They were identified as Kishori and Mohammed Khalid. Police recovered some money from them and impounded the car. "Apart from above, four motorcycles have been impounded for violation of MV rules and action against encroachment on public roads was taken," said Harsh Vardhan. --IANS atk/skp/ ( 279 Words) 2022-06-12-19:56:03 (IANS) A mother and her seven children, aged 2 to 15, were hospitalized Sunday, including at least four kids who suffered serious injuries, following an early morning rollover crash near Hoffman Estates, according to Illinois State Police. Four of the children were left with serious to life-threatening injuries after the woman driving a blue 2003 GMC Yukon apparently lost control and the SUV rolled over into a ditch along the right side of Interstate 90 east at milepost 61 in Cook County around 12:25 a.m., according to a news release from the state police. Advertisement The woman was taken to a nearby hospital with serious injuries after the crash and all seven children initially were taken to area hospitals before the four children with the more serious injuries were taken to regional hospitals for additional treatment, state police said. State troopers who responded to reports of a single-vehicle crash closed the two right lanes of I-90 east until about 4:30 a.m. for the investigation. Advertisement State police said the cause of the crash had not yet been determined. The intensity of the explosion was low and took place while repairing a washing machine. While repairing the washing machine a gas blow torch was being used and due to excess blow, an explosion took place. The police were informed following the incident and the officials said that there was no need to panic. "No casualties have been reported in the incident. Nothing Suspicious, investigation is on," said Police Commissioner (Pune), Amitabh Gupta. The person staying in the flat has been taken to the local police station for an enquiry. (ANI) A BJP legislator was held hostage by angry villagers in Bihar's Bhagalpur district for around two hours on Sunday after he allegedly ignored their demands. Engineer Kumar Shailendra, the MLA from Bihpur Assembly constituency, went to Shihkund village in Lokmanpur Panchayat to give details of what the Narendra Modi government achieved in the last 8 years. A public function was organised in the village where he was giving the speech. Meanwhile, the villagers complained that that they are living under huge fear of the Kosi river being in spate, as its water is rising all the time and soil erosion is taking place. They urged the MLA to take effective measures to stop soil erosion in the village, as if this is not done, a number of houses may be damaged or even submerge. However, villagers said that Shailendra tried to ignore them, which caused anger and they held him hostage for around two hours. Local police and the MLA's supporters subsequently pacified the villagers with assurance of adequate measures and got the MLA freed. Following the incident, Shailendra sat on a dharna in the village. On his Facebook page, he said that he had contacted the Water Resources Department officials ,despite being held hostage but they did not respond and refused to come in the village. "I have informed the officials of Water Resources Department about the incident but they did not come or take initiative to stop soil erosion in the village," he said. --IANS ajk/vd ( 265 Words) 2022-06-12-21:04:03 (IANS) Two Chinese nationals were arrested on Sunday for illegally crossing the India-Nepal border in Bihar's Sitamarhi district, the Sashastra Seema Bal said. The two Chinese nationals are identified as Lo Lung, 28, and Yung Hai Lung, 34. SSB personnel apprehended them over 300 metres inside Indian territory near pillar number 11/6. Nepalese passports, 3 ATM cards, cigarettes, and some other items were seized from them. The two were handed over to the Surshand police. During brief interrogation, the two Chinese nationals said that they came from China to Nepal via Thailand, and from Kathmandu, hired two bicycles to reach the Bihar border. --IANS ajk/vd ( 116 Words) 2022-06-12-21:28:02 (IANS) The Gajraj Corps of the Indian Army organised the event. The school students attended lectures by army personnel. The event included career counselling and 'Know your Army Mela'. The event included various performances and cultural programmes which included dance performances and 'Gatka' (a form of martial arts). Students and teachers participated enthusiastically and appreciated the efforts of the Indian Army. (ANI) The Congress' two Chief Ministers, Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan and Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh, will be part of the party's protest on Monday against the Enforcement Directorate, following its summons to party leader Rahul Gandhi. Before leaving for the national capital, Baghel said: "All of us from the AICC will go with Rahul Gandhi... the government is misusing the ED, the CBI, and the IT Department." The Congress has called a show of strength on Monday and Delhi Congress has asked its workers to reach the party head office to protest against the ED. The party MPs will also accompany former party president Gandhi to the ED office. The Congress on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Centre, alleging that the ED is being used to cover the failures of the government. "When the caretaker of the country failed in his duty to protect the integrity of our borders, it sent in the ED to cover its failures. But we will not allow the security of our country to be at risk. "India is raising its voice against the hate instigated by the BJP. Now the ED has come in to silence this voice. But our voice against hate cannot be quelled. The fight goes on," the party said. "When the truth begins to come out, so does the ED. But the truth can't stay hidden for long, because we will always fight for it." The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Rahul Gandhi on Monday and party chief Sonia Gandhi on June 23 in connection with National Herald case, lodged against various Congress leaders, including the Gandhis, for allegedly misappropriating funds. --IANS miz/vd ( 287 Words) 2022-06-12-22:08:03 (IANS) As the Russian invasion of Ukrainian soil continues, the troops have been amassing heavy weapons and setting up firing bases in schools across the Donetsk People's Republic, including in Slovyansk, Pokrovsk, Kostyantynivka, and Privolye, Sputnik reported, quoting a senior Russian official said on Saturday. "In DPR's Slovyansk, personnel of the Ukrainian armed forces have been quartered in Boarding School No 1 and at the Research Institute of High Voltage Engineering. They set up arms depots and rocket launchers on the grounds," Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev told reporters. With US-donated heavy weapons stationed nearby, the firing nest were also reported at schools No 17 and No 9, the military official added. A school in the DPR's Pokrovsk is housing snipers, heavy machine guns, and military hardware, including multiple rocket launchers. The Ukrainian troops have entrenched at two schools in the village of Privolye, Sputnik stated, citing local media. Ukrainian forces controlling the city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine turned three schools into firing bases, and arms and ordnance depots, while the city of Dnipro saw a school and a church transformed into military strongholds, Sputnik reported. On February 24, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine, responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in countering the aggression of Ukrainian troops. Nearly 14 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to United Nations (UN) estimates and most of those displaced are women and children. The conflict has left 15.7 million Ukrainians in need of humanitarian support, with some of them lacking access to water and electricity. Three million children inside Ukraine and over 2.2 million children in refugee-hosting countries are now in need of humanitarian assistance. Almost two out of every three children have been displaced by incessant rocket attacks and fighting between the two nations. (ANI) Amid the deteriorating human rights situation due to the Taliban regime, Special Envoy of the European Union for Afghanistan Tomas Niklasson hosted Special Representatives and Envoys for Afghanistan from the EU Member States in Brussels on Saturday. Taking to Twitter, the envoy said, "Concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation, notably for women, girls and ethnic groups, the lack of political inclusivity, and the inability of the Taliban to adopt and implement coherent policies in line with commitments to the Afghan people," Khaama Press reported. "In addition to the delegates, "external specialists" on human rights and economics attended the event, he further wrote on his Twitter handle as he condemned the Taliban's enforced stringent policies on women. He wrote about the meeting's detail which concentrated on recent issues involving women and girls, the "deteriorating human rights situation", the absence of policy and public engagement, and the difficulty to implement coherent policies compliant with the international universal principles that also serve the people of Afghanistan. The meeting was held in Brussels, and the representatives of EU member states have been reminded of their continued support and commitment to the Afghan people, Khaama Press reported. Moreover, this comes at a time when the Human Rights Watch has accused the Taliban of war crimes in Panjshir and has called on the international community to impose a travel ban on senior Taliban officials in a separate report. It also stated that expressing "deep concern" alone is not effective and that the Taliban should be made to behave in a practical and objective manner. The atrocities of the Taliban against Afghan women have been on an incessant surge since the organization seized power in Afghanistan in August last year, banning young girls and women of humanitarian rights. Most female workers in government institutions have been denied access to work since the Taliban assumed control of the country last August, and a number of them have been fired. Meanwhile, the Taliban has suspended the secondary education of girls, and enforced a strict form of Hijab. They have also provided no opportunities for Afghan women to participate in political and public life, to fit the pattern of absolute gender segregation that is aimed at making women invisible in society. (ANI) Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan has knocked at the doors of the country's Supreme Court to challenge the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) declaration on May 11 that rejected the disqualification references against 20 party dissident members of the National Assembly (MNAs). The ECP had dismissed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf's references last month seeking the disqualification of its dissident members of the National Assembly after they voted against Imran Khan in the no-confidence motion leading to the collapse of PTI government. In a unanimous decision, a three-member ECP bench rejected the disqualification references which were referred to the commission by the PTI against 20 dissident MNAs on the ground that Article 63A of the Constitution, which deals with the lawmakers' disqualification for defection, did not apply to the 20 MNAs who had jumped ship ahead of the no-confidence move against former Prime Minister Imran Khan last month, Dawn reported. The PTI had filed references against MNAs Noor Alam Khan, Dr Mohammad Afzal Khan Dhandla, Nawab Sher Waseer, Raja Riaz Ahmad, and Ahmed Hussain Deharr among many others. PTI's lawyer Faisal Chaudhry had requested the court to provide a copy of the reserved verdict, saying that he will appeal against it. He maintained that the dissidents had opposed PTI's request to provide more records. "Some things couldn't be brought on record properly," Faisal had added. The election commission in his verdict, unanimously said the declaration filed against the MNAs under Article 63(A) was not found in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan. The voting on the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan-led Pakistan government was held in the National Assembly on April 9, with 174 members recording their votes in favour of the motion. Imran Khan has become the first Prime Minister of Pakistan to lose a no-trust vote in the National Assembly. Notably, no Prime Minister has completed a full five-year tenure in Pakistan so far. (ANI) Discussing China's vision for regional order, Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe said that Beijing "will fight to the very end", adding that "no one should ever underestimate the resolve and ability of the Chinese armed forces to safeguard its territorial integrity". Chinese leader's comment comes in response to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's speech yesterday where he asserted that Beijing's coercive, aggressive and dangerous actions threaten stability around Asia. The Chinese Minister today said that those who pursue Taiwan independence in an attempt to split China will definitely come to no good end. "We will fight at all cost, and we will fight to the very end," Fenghe said today. "No one should ever underestimate the resolve and ability of the Chinese armed forces to safeguard its territorial integrity. Those who pursue Taiwanese independence in an attempt to split China will definitely come to no good end," he said further. On Saturday, Austin at the premier defence forum taking place in Singapore said: "Indo-Pacific countries shouldn't face political intimidation, economic coercion, or harassment by maritime militias." Pledging to support Taiwan in the face of growing Chinese assertiveness, he said "We remain firmly committed to our longstanding one-China policy--guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances. We categorically oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side." "The PRC's (People's Republic of China) moves to threaten to undermine security, and stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific," Austin said while referring to the country by its official name. "Now, as part of our one-China policy, we'll continue to fulfill our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act. That includes assisting Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defence capability. And it means maintaining our own capacity to resist any use of force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security or the social or economic system of the people of Taiwan," he added. In the major speech at the defence forum, the US defence chief also laid emphasis on a free and open Indo-Pacific, which he said was at the heart of American national security strategies, and the power of the partnerships that regional nations have built with the United States forms the core of a peaceful and prosperous world for all. American strategists no longer talk about the "US pivot to Asia." That has happened. On the military side, Austin noted that the Indo-Pacific is Washington's "priority theater" with more than 300,000 American service members in the region working with allies and partners to ensure the rules-based international order is maintained. The Indo-Pacific is at the heart of this interconnected world and events halfway around the world resonate throughout the region, Austin said while pointing to the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia as one of those events. The defence secretary said that Russian President Vladimir Putin's "reckless war of choice has reminded us all of the dangers of undercutting an international order rooted in rules and respect." Meanwhile, the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has met with Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe to discuss US-China defence relations on the fringes of the Shangri-La Dialogue. The two had discussed global and regional security issues and the bilateral defence relationship between the United States and China. They spent most of the meeting discussing Taiwan. On the global and regional security issues, the two discussed North Korea and the challenges in Northeast Asia. They also discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (ANI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will brief the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on External Affairs on June 18 over the ongoing crisis in Sri Lanka. Apart from Jaishankar, India's Foreign Secretary and other MEA officers will be present at the meeting at the ministry office at 11 am. During the meeting, the Indian government is likely to brief the members of Parliament on the economic crisis and the country's neighbourhood policy and how and what kind of aid has been provided by New Delhi to Colombo. The members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee include Congress Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, DMK Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchi Siva, BJP MP from Silchar Dr Rajdeep Roy. Members of the Parliament including from Tamil Nadu are expected to ask the government about the impact that will have on the subcontinent. Tamil Nadu government has also sought help from the Centre to help out Sri Lanka in this crisis and has also sent consignments of medicines and other humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka. India is becoming a stronger and more mutually beneficial partner to Sri Lanka. Apart from assistance during the pandemic and fertilizer chaos, India is also donating basic products for island nations. On June 3, High Commissioner to Colombo Gopal Baglay handed over a total of 3.3 tons of essential medical supplies to the 1990 Suwaseriya Ambulance Service. Baglay said that Jaishankar was apprised of the looming shortage of medical supplies faced by the Foundation during his visit to the Suwaseriya Headquarters in Colombo in March 2022. Earlier on May 27, Acting High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka Vinod K Jacob handed over a consignment of over 25 tons of medical supplies to Minister of Health, Keheliya Rambukwella in Colombo. Taking to Twitter, the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka said that the consignment is valued at close to Rs 260 million. These humanitarian supplies are in continuation of the Government of India's ongoing support to the people of Sri Lanka in multiple forms such as financial assistance, forex support, material supply and many more. These efforts prove that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Neighborhood First' policy which places people-to-people engagement is still active. (ANI) Chicago police officers work the scene where an officer was shot and wounded in the 6900 block of South Sangamon Street on June 5, 2022, in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) A Chicago police officer who was shot during an attempted traffic stop last week was released from the hospital on Sunday. Officer Erik Moreno was greeted by fellow officers, who cheered as he left a Chicago hospital in a wheelchair. Advertisement Moreno was shot June 5 as he and other officers in an unmarked squad car attempted to stop a vehicle they said was driving erratically on the citys South Side, according to police. The officers followed the vehicle into an alley, where they say a man got out and began firing. Officers returned fire, injuring the man. Jerome Halsey, 27, of Chicago, remains hospitalized. He faces charges of attempted murder and aggravated battery charges. During a court hearing, his defense attorney said Halsey has as a firearm owners Identification card and a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and that he feared for his life when he began firing, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Advertisement Moreno was the third law enforcement officer shot in Chicago in the span of one week. Another Chicago officer was shot during a traffic stop a few days before Moreno and was released from the hospital on Monday. A member of U.S. Marshals Services fugitive apprehension team was shot in the hand while serving a warrant. The officer declined to be treated at a hospital. This comes amid warnings from the US that Pyongyang is preparing to conduct a nuclear test. Career diplomat Choe Son Hui was appointed at a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea from June 8-10, overseen by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, CNN reported citing state-run outlet KCNA. Her appointment comes at a time of tension on the Korean Peninsula as North Korea aggressively ramps up its weapons testing program in defiance of United Nations sanctions. On Tuesday, US Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim warned that Washington believes North Korea is preparing to conduct a seventh nuclear test. The International Atomic Energy Agency also said Tuesday that North Korea is "readying their nuclear test site," warning the situation surrounding Pyongyang's nuclear program "is quite concerning because we have seen a fast-forward in every line," based on the activity at the Punggye-ri site, CNN reported. This year alone, North Korea has conducted 17 missiles including two successful tests of presumed intercontinental ballistic missiles. However, in response to North Korea's missile launch, South Korea and the US fired a Hyunmoo-II ballistic missile and an Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile into the East Sea to establish their rapid strike capabilities, said the JCS as reported by Yonhap News Agency. (ANI) The presence of Chinese Private Military Companies (PSCs) in Africa is expected to increase Beijing's interference in the country, besides violation of human rights and increased illegal activities. China has been using PSCs as a ploy to maintain a discreet military presence in Africa and avoid being seen as another colonial power. Chinese investments in Africa have multiplied with the establishment of terrestrial and maritime routes connecting China with Africa since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013. Besides entailing huge investments, the BRI has also led to the deployment of about a million Chinese nationals and the positioning of over 10,000 Chinese companies in Africa. The safety of its assets and nationals as well as securing sea routes, threatened by piracy along the African coasts, provided China with a pretext for "interference" in Africa through its PSCs. Recently, Chinese interests in Africa have been experiencing threats emanating out of conflicts with local, organized crimes such as illegal wildlife trade of which in many cases Chinese nationals are also part of, kidnapping, civil conflicts, terror attacks and piracy, Geopolitica.info reported. Further, the BRI is being seen as an opportunity by the PSCs to enhance their footprint in Africa. Notably, China continues to provide arms and equipment to African countries and has emerged as a key arms supplier to the Continent. A 2021 report of the US Department of Defence stated that China "may have considered" military installations in 13 African countries, including Angola, Kenya, Seychelles, Namibia and Tanzania to expand its military footprint. Meanwhile, China has established a naval base in Djibouti to station a "Rapid Reaction Force" for covering Africa. The base has the capacity to house 10000 soldiers against the provision of deployment of 1000 soldiers in the Chinese-Djiboutian Agreement. In August 2021, China announced its intent to build its first naval base on the Atlantic coast at Bata in Equatorial Guinea, to look after its oil and commercial interests along the West coast of Africa. Despite Chinese claims that PSCs are involved in providing passive security services, such as access control and protection against theft & violence, it has been observed that often they act as 'Private Military Companies' carrying out covert activities such as spying, gathering of intelligence using 'Humint' sources and advice local forces on the information gathered by way of intelligence collection, Geopolitica.info reported. The Chinese PSCs have a poor staffing record due to the poor quality of training of their personnel, who also have language barriers and lack openness towards the locals. Instances have come to notice that Chinese companies have hired local militias for their protection through the PSCs. In 2020, a Chinese coal mine owner in Zimbabwe shot and wounded two local workers for complaining and demanding wages. (ANI) At least one Taliban member was killed and six others, including a civilian, sustained injuries in a blast explosion that rocked Afghanistan's Kunar. The blast took place in the city of Kunar's centre Assadabad on Sunday when a mine, which was planted in the vehicle of Taliban forces exploded, according to Tolo News citing local security officials. "A blast today in Kunar's centre Assadabad killed an Islamic Emirate forces member & injured 6 others, including a civilian, said local security officials, adding that a mine was placed in a vehicle of the Islamic Emirate. Eyewitnesses said multiple civilians were harmed," TOLO News tweeted. The cases of blast in Afghanistan is not new. Earlier, on Saturday, several people were injured after a blast took place in Afghanistan's Kabul. The blast took place at Batkhak Square in the 10th district of Kabul, Tolo News said in a Tweet. Citing a spokesman for the Kabul police, the Afghan media outlet said that many people had been killed while many were injured in the explosion. According to him, the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device planted in a passenger car. A similar case was reported on Thursday, where five Taliban members and one civilian were killed in an IED blast in the Spin Boldak district of Afghanistan. Taking to Twitter, Reporterly, a local media outlet in Afghanistan said, "Five Taliban members and a civilian were killed and another member of this group was wounded in a roadside IED blast in Spin Boldak district of #Kandahar, local sources reported. According to sources, the blast took place at around 0800hrs on Thursday morning June 09." Earlier, on June 6, a blast took place in Police District-4 of Kabulfrom with explosives carried on a bicycle, the Kabul security department said. Security forces have arrived in the area to investigate the matter, reported TOLO News. Previously, on May 25, three explosions rocked the capital of Balkh province, leaving at least 9 people killed and 15 others injured. Meanwhile, on the same day, a blast at Masjid Sharif Hazrat Zakaria mosque in Kabul City left at least two worshippers dead, according to officials. In response to the attacks in Balkh and Kabul, the US Special Envoy for Women and Human Rights in Afghanistan, Rina Amiri said that the Taliban must ensure people's security and prevent atrocities. The Taliban faced a severe security threat from the Khorasan branch of ISIS, which has been active in Afghanistan since 2014. Earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the recent attacks in Afghanistan that claimed the lives of numerous civilians, among them members of the Hazara Shia community and several children." (ANI) On the sidelines of the 12th World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting in the Swiss town of Geneva on Sunday, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal held discussions with the Director-General WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala pertaining to prospects of a permanent solution to public stockholding for food security. At the G33 Ministerial Meeting, a coalition of developing countries of which India is a key member, Minister Piyush Goyal also held extensive talks with his counterparts from developing and least developed nations. Taking to Twitter, Goyal wrote, "Fighting for rights of our farmers within an hour of landing at WTO, Geneva at the G33 Ministerial Meeting. Discussed prospects of a permanent solution to public stockholding for food security with DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and my counterparts from the developing and least developed nations." Moreover, the Commerce and Industry Minister Goyal will also meet with the Trade Representative of the United States of America, Katherine Tai. The ministerial meeting began in Geneva, Switzerland on Sunday, after a gap of five years. The Indian delegation at the meeting is led by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. "India has a vital stake in protecting the interests of all stakeholders in the country as well as the interests of the developing and poor nations that look up to the leadership of India at multilateral forums including WTO," the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said earlier in a statement. The key areas of discussions and negotiations at this year's conference include WTO's response to the pandemic, fisheries subsidies negotiations, agriculture issues including Public Stockholding for food security, WTO reforms and moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmission. WTO Director-General in May 2022 brought three draft texts on agriculture, trade and food security and exemption of the World Food Programme from export restrictions for negotiations. "India has reservations about some of the provisions in the draft decisions and has been engaging in the process of discussions and negotiations in order to be able to preserve the rights under the agreement on agriculture without undermining the existing ministerial mandates," the Ministry of Commerce & Industry added. An important issue under negotiation at the WTO relates to the protection of India's food grain procurement programme at Minimum Support Prices (MSP). Such programmes involve the purchase from farmers at administered prices and are key to supporting the farmers and consumers in the country. WTO rules limit the subsidy that can be provided to such products being procured. This issue is being negotiated at the WTO by the G-33, a coalition of developing countries of which India is a key member and the African Group which has come together along with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP group) in submitting a proposal on a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes on 31 May 2022. India co-sponsored a G-33 proposal for a permanent solution on PSH for food security purposes at the WTO, on 15 September 2021, which had the co-sponsorship of 38 Members. In the negotiations, improvements are being sought by developing countries over the ministerial decision adopted at the ninth ministerial conference of the WTO in Bali in December 2013 where members agreed to negotiate a permanent solution on the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes by the 11th Ministerial Conference of the WTO. It was agreed that in the interim, until a permanent solution is reached, Members would exercise due restraint (commonly termed as 'peace clause') in raising disputes in respect of public stockholding programmes for food security purposes instituted before 7th December 2013, even if countries exceeded their permissible limits. Consequent to the firm stand taken by India at the WTO, this peace clause was extended by a decision of the WTO General Council (GC) in November 2014 until a permanent solution was agreed and adopted. Thus, it was ensured that the 'peace clause' would be available in perpetuity. At the Nairobi Ministerial Conference held in December 2015, WTO members agreed to engage constructively to negotiate a permanent solution. India neither wants to link public stock holding (PSH) issue with other agriculture issues nor a work programme as negotiating a permanent solution has a standalone mandate at the WTO, the ministry said. (ANI) Taiwan's Council of Agriculture (COA) Chief Chen Chi-Chung on Saturday said that China has violated the international trade rule with their decision of suspending the imports of grouper fish from his country and added that they may raise the issue at the World Trade Organization (WTO). China's General Administration of Customs on Friday without giving any prior notice announced that it would suspend the grouper fish imports from June 13, citing several findings that stated that prohibited chemicals and excessive levels of Oxytetracycline been used in the grouper fish imports since last December, Focus Taiwan reported citing Chen. China has reacted in the same way in the past when it discovered problems with agricultural imports, including the suspension of Thai longan and the banning of imports of pineapples, wax apples and sugar apples from Taiwan last year. In those cases, Taiwan questioned China's findings, and Chen on Saturday tried to reassure consumers about the quality of Taiwanese grouper, saying there were no findings of excessive levels of drugs in the fish in 2019 and 2020. Last year, China notified the COA that it had found the excessive drugs in the grouper imported from two Taiwanese fish farms, after which COA ran a test which indicated that the products were safe, Chen said. He further added that COA forwarded its findings to China but they never responded, Focus Taiwan reported. Chen said the COA will provide more scientific evidence to China through existing bilateral channels, but it will not rule out submitting its concerns to the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Committee (SPS Committee) under the WTO if China failed to provide an official explanation for the suspension. The WTO committee oversees the implementation of the "Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures," also known as the SPS agreement, and provides a forum for discussion on animal and plant health and food safety measures affecting trade. Chen said the COA will launch contingency measures to help grouper farmers hurt by the Chinese ban sell their product in both domestic and foreign markets, including setting up cold chain logistics to help farmers sell frozen grouper to markets in the West. According to the COA chief, China's market was not as important for Taiwanese grouper farmers in 2021 as before, however, China bought 6,000 metric tons of the fish in 2021, down from more than 10,000 metric tons in previous years. Still, China accounted for 91 per cent of Taiwan's grouper fish exports last year. While the rest goes to Hong Kong, the U.S., Japan, New Zealand and Australia. In 2021, Taiwan exported 6,681 metric tons of grouper, worth New Taiwan Dollar (NTD) 1.68 billion (USD 57.3 million), out of a total of 16,940 metric tons raised around Taiwan, according to Focus Taiwan citing COA data. In response to Saturday's development, fish farmers who were accused last year of exporting subpar grouper expressed frustration. One of them, Wang Chi-Yi in Pingtung County said that there are too many uncertainties in the Chinese market, and he had given up raising grouper and switched to growing mangrove red snappers for the domestic market. The COA Chief claimed that China's strategy has always been to target Taiwanese products that are relatively dependent on the Chinese market, but Taipei has tried to help farmers diversify their markets. (ANI) Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned the incident where a Chinese fighter plane forced its plane while on routine surveillance into a dangerous manoeuvre over the South China Sea. On May 26, a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) "P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft was intercepted by a Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft during a routine maritime surveillance activity in international airspace in the South China Sea region," the Australian Department of Defence said in a statement. "The intercept resulted in a dangerous manoeuvre which posed a safety threat to the P-8 aircraft and its crew," it added. Addressing the presser, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said, "What occurred was that the J-16 aircraft flew very close to the side of the P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft," Marles said. "In flying close to the side, it released flares, the J-16 then accelerated and cut across the nose of the P-8, settling in front of the P-8 at a very close distance. At that moment, it then released a bundle of chaff which contains small pieces of aluminium, some of which were ingested into the engine of the P-8 aircraft. Quite obviously, this is very dangerous." But this is not the first time when the Chinese plan showed unprofessional behaviour. Last week, Canada accused Chinese air force pilots of unprofessional and risky behaviour during encounters with Canadian planes in international airspace, while Ottawa was enforcing UN sanctions against North Korea, reportedly in the East China Sea, Taipei times reported. Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at Australian National University, over this incident said, "The P-8 could have been flying adjacent to a Chinese claimed artificial island over which Australia does not recognize any Chinese entitlement to a territorial sea and, as such, the freedom of overflight would apply. China would counter by saying this is an area where they can assert a legitimate territorial sea and Australian aircraft cannot enter. So the matter could be a simple issue of an Australian versus a Chinese interpretation of the relevant airspace." Meanwhile, Euan Graham, a maritime security expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore thinks that China might be testing the resolve of US allies. He further said that Beijing was "making life difficult for unarmed surveillance aircraft both from Canada and Australia" but was "not reacting in the same way to US aircraft when they are doing their surveillance operations." Graham further said the actions sent "a very clear message that China doesn't want foreign militaries operating on, under or above the waters around its coastline, especially the waters that it claims sovereignty over in the South China Sea." According to the publication, that was consistent with Beijing's long-term strategy to weaken the US alliance system. Over this incident, the Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister on Monday evening said that Beijing would not allow any country to violate China's sovereignty and security, and harm peace and stability in the South China Sea by using "freedom of navigation" as an excuse. A separate editorial cited "data" stated, "that from February 24 to March 11, Australian military aircraft have visited the East China Sea north of the island of Taiwan six times this year to conduct close-in reconnaissance activities." Even the Chinese-state-run 'Global Times' editorial section said, "No one can act as Washington's 'goon' while making a fortune from China." (ANI) "Both sides discussed their perspectives on the international and regional security situation, and expressed satisfaction on defence cooperation between the two countries," Inter-Services Public Relation said in a press release. A senior-level tri-service military delegation of Pakistan visited China from June 9 to 12 and held wide-ranging discussions with senior officials the of Chinese military and other government departments. "Apex Meeting was held on 12 June wherein Pakistani side was headed by Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Qamar Javed Bajwa while the Chinese side was led by General Zhang Youxia Vice Chairman Central Military Commission of China," according to the statement. During the apex meeting, Pakistan and China reaffirmed their strategic partnership in challenging times and agreed to continue the regular exchange of perspectives on issues of mutual interest. "Both sides also vowed to enhance their training, technology and counterterrorism cooperation at the tri-service level," the statement further read. Meanwhile, on June 2, China agreed to refinance Pakistan with USD 2.3 billion worth of funds amid the dwindling foreign exchange reserves of the country. "Good News: The terms and conditions for refinancing of RMB 15 billion deposit by Chinese banks (about US$ 2.3 billion) have been agreed. Inflow is expected shortly after some routine approvals from both sides. This will help shore up our foreign exchange reserves," Ismail tweeted. This development comes as the restoration of the country's delayed International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme depends on the government's capacity to make a fiscal adjustment of about 2.5 per cent of the GDP. The fiscal adjustments can be made by increasing the revenues and reducing the expenditure in the next budget, Geo News reported citing The News. (ANI) Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid Khan on Sunday accused the central government of intentionally slashing the region's development budget by half, claiming that this was done "under an agenda to push the region backwards". Addressing a presser in Islamabad along with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Murad Saeed and Ali Amin Gandapur, Gilgit-Baltistan CM said that the incumbent government had cut the development budget of their region by 50 per cent to Rs 23 billion, Dawn reported. Khurshid Khan clarified that his government had given the federal government a total of Rs 47 billion where Rs 32 billion was given under the recurrent head and the remaining money was given as an additional grant. The Gilgit-Baltistan CM said that his government was in a position to meet salary and other expenses with Rs 47 billion "but currently we do not have the resources to meet disaster relief management, building human capacity, or poverty alleviation." He went on to say that Gilgit-Baltistan's allocations had reached billions of rupees for the first time when the Imran Khan-led government was in power. Previously, the Public Sector Development Programme's (PSDP) portfolio was Rs 2 billion which Imran raised to Rs 10 billion, he added. Khurshid Khan further said that the PTI-led government had made an announcement of a development package which was set at Rs 18 billion in the first stage and "our average was to be Rs55bn annually." The Gilgit-Baltistan CM recalled the Nawaz Sharif tenure and said that he also had increased the region's development portfolio to Rs2bn which used to be in millions before that, reported Dawn. When Imran Khan took over, he had for the first time allocated Rs 400 billion for Gilgit to make it a hotspot for tourists, according to Khurshid Khan. That package had now been "sabotaged" and some six to seven important projects which were in an advanced planning phase had also been shelved, he alleged. "Last time, Imran had moved ahead with interim constitutional rights for GB and we had calculated our share of the National Finance Commission (NFC), which amounted to Rs 137 billion. But a province that should get over Rs 130 billion is now seeing a deduction of over 50 per cent from what it was already receiving," the chief minister claimed. (ANI) Four rockets, presumably fired from the Black Sea, hit Chortkiv at about 9:46 p.m. local time (1846 GMT) on Saturday, according to Volodymyr Trush, head of the Ternopil regional military administration. A military facility was partially destroyed in the attack, while four apartment blocks were damaged, Trush told reporters, adding that most of the injured were in stable condition. (ANI/Xinhua) Pakistan reported 67 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the country's ministry of health said on Sunday. The tally of infected people climbed to 1,531,179 across the country after adding the fresh cases, according to the data released by the ministry. A total of 30,381 people died of COVID-19 in Pakistan, with no more deaths over the last 24 hours, according to the ministry's statistics. As many as 13,548 tests for COVID-19 were conducted in Pakistan while the positivity rate stood at 0.49 per cent. There are 47 active cases that are in critical condition in the South Asian country. Earlier on Friday, Pakistan reported 73 new COVID-19 cases and 51 active cases that are in critical condition. Meanwhile, the National Institute of Health of Pakistan reported the first case of COVID-19 Omicron sub-variant BA.2.12.1. on May 9. This new sub-variant is causing an increasing number of cases in different countries, the National Institute of Health (NIH) had said in a statement. "NIH has detected the first case of Omicron sub-variant BA.2.12.1. This new sub-variant is causing an increasing number of cases in different countries," the health body had tweeted. In view of this, NIH advised people to take preventive measures to avoid contracting the virus, which is vaccination against it. "We strongly recommended getting vaccinated and all those due for boosters must get the shots immediately," it added. Director General Health Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar said that the Omicron sub-variant BA.2.12.1 was detected in a traveller who had returned from Qatar. He added that this sub-variant is seen in the recent spike in cases in the US. "The disease severity and hospitalisation remain the same as Omicron but data is limited as of now," Pakistani media Geo TV reported. The WHO (World Health Organisation) designated Omicron as a Variant of Concern on November 26, 2021, while the first case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Karachi was reported on December 13. Since then, the Ministry of NHSRC (National Health Systems Resource Centre), NCOC, NIH (National Institute of Health) and the provincial health departments have remained vigilant to detect the variant in Pakistan," read an official statement. (ANI) Authorities arrest members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front near an Idaho pride event on June 11, 2022, after they were found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear. (Georji Brown) A Downstate Illinois man was among the 31 suspected white supremacists arrested over the weekend near a Pride event in Idaho after they were found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear. The men were standing inside the truck wearing khakis, navy blue shirts and beige hats with white balaclavas covering their faces when Coeur dAlene police stopped the U-Haul and began arresting them on the side of the road. Advertisement They came to riot downtown, Coeur dAlene police Chief Lee White said at a news conference. All 31 were charged with conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanor, White said. The men were going through the booking process Saturday afternoon and are scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, he said. Advertisement Among those arrested was Garret Joseph Garland, 23, who was charged with criminal conspiracy, according to Kootenai County Jail officials. He had a $300 bail as of Sunday, according to a county jail booking document. In April, the Southern Poverty Law Centers Hatewatch blog linked Garland, of Freeburg, Illinois, to the white nationalist Patriot Front. It accused Garland of assisting the alleged ringleader, Mitchell Wagner, 24, and others in helping spray-paint the groups logo on a mural of prominent African Americans at Washington University in St. Louis last December. Wagner, of Florissant, Missouri, the one person charged in connection to the property damage incident, was with Garland and among those arrested in Idaho, according to jail records. Patriot Front is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white nationalist hate group that formed after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Patriot Front focuses on theatrical rhetoric and activism that can be easily distributed as propaganda for its chapters across the country, the law center said of the group. The groups manifesto calls for the formation of a white ethnostate in the United States, the law center said. Based on evidence collected and documents, authorities found that the group was planning to riot in several areas of downtown, not just the park, White said. Advertisement Police found riot gear, one smoke grenade, shin guards and shields inside the van, White said. The people in the truck wore arm patches and logos on their hats that identified them as members of Patriot Front, he said. Police learned about the U-Haul from a tipster, who reported that it looked like a little army was loading up into the vehicle in the parking lot of a hotel, White said. Officials spotted the truck soon after and pulled it over, he said. Videos of the arrest posted on social media show the men kneeling on the grass with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. Reclaim America was written on the back of one shirt. Police led the men, one by one, to the front of patrol cars, took off their masks and then brought them to a police van. Those arrested came from at least 11 states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia and Arkansas, White said. Only one was from Idaho, he said. Advertisement The truck was stopped near where the North Idaho Pride Alliance was holding the Coeur dAlene Pride in the Park event. Police had stepped up their presence in the area during the event. It appears these people did not come here to engage in peaceful events, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told a Coeur dAlene Press reporter. The Chinese demand came in a meeting of senior officials of Pakistan and China who discussed their perspectives on the international and regional security situations, reported Frontier Post. The developments come after the Islamabad Police recently decided to set up a foreign security cell at the Central Police Office (CPO) with requisite staff and logistics amid reports of Chinese nationals continuously being targeted in Pakistan. It was decided to apply all standard operating procedures to non-China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) security projects on the pattern of CPEC security, reported The News International. Similarly, the Special Branch, Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and Security Division will audit the security arrangements periodically. Pakistan's Army Chief General Bajwa headed the Pakistani delegation in an "Apex meeting" with the Chinese military in China. Both sides pledged to enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism. Attacks on Chinese nationals by Baloch groups were also discussed in the meeting. Geopolitical issues in Pakistan have propped up, as the Baloch insurgency poses a constant threat to peace and stability. The Baloch insurgents are regularly targeting CPEC infrastructure projects, such as gas pipelines and electricity towers, because they consider China as an imperialist power that, along with the Pakistan government, wishes to plunder Balochistan's natural resources. "Both sides discussed their perspectives on the international and regional security situation, and expressed satisfaction on defence cooperation between the two countries," Inter-Services Public Relation said in a press release. A senior-level tri-service military delegation of Pakistan visited China from June 9 to 12 and held wide-ranging discussions with senior officials the of Chinese military and other government departments. "Apex Meeting was held on 12 June wherein Pakistani side was headed by Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Qamar Javed Bajwa while the Chinese side was led by General Zhang Youxia Vice Chairman Central Military Commission of China," according to the statement. (ANI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday lauded the Indian foreign policy and said that it was "good to hear appreciation" and discussed how the "world perceives India." On the occasion of the completion of eight years of Bharatiya Janata Party government at the centre in Vishakapatnam, he tweeted, "Glad to be in Visakhapatnam. Interacted with a wide cross-section of how the world perceives India. Thank team @BJP4Andhra for organizing." Sharing his experience of Vande Bharat Mission - the biggest evacuation exercise to bring back Indian citizens stranded abroad amidst the coronavirus-induced travel restrictions, he said, "Good to hear the appreciation of a Vande Bharat evacuee from Wuhan." It is considered as the largest exercise to bring back Indian citizens since the evacuation of 177,000 from the Gulf region in the early 1990s at the start of hostilities between Iraq and Kuwait during the first Gulf War. The mission gave priority to Indian citizens with "compelling reasons to return" - like those whose employment was terminated, whose visas expired and those who lost family members during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also welcomed a local civil service ranker who aspired to join the Foreign Service. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also celebrated 8 years in government and highlighted enabling the youth to achieve their dreams and fulfil their potential. "India's youth is full of energy and remarkable tenacity. Here's a thread on how the government is strengthening our Yuva Shakti to prepare them for their crucial role in building the #AatmaNirbharBharat of our dreams. #8SaalYuvaShaktiKeNaam," tweeted PM Modi on Sunday. He focussed on various achievements of the government in this thread related to empowering of youth like - National Education Policy 2020, one new IIT & IIM opened every year since 2014, 80 per cent increase in medical seats, one new university every week since 2014, 100 unicorns created, 1.34 crore youth trained under PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana, two new colleges every day since 2014, 1,000 Khelo India Centres being set up and best ever Olympics haul - 7 medals and in Paralympics - 19 medals at Tokyo. "India's Yuva Shakti is our greatest strength. Our youth is excelling in different sectors and contributing to national progress, said PM Modi. (ANI) Members of the fishing community from several coastal areas of India on Sunday protested against the World Trade Organization (WTO) proposal to curb fishery subsidies as it was not responsive to the demands of the developing nations. "If subsidy stops for traditional fishermen, their lives and livelihood will be stopped. So this should not be against the traditional fishermen, if the subsidy discipline is required it should be for industrial fishermen. This is our main demand," said Biman Jana, from West Bengal. The draft does not adequately address the concerns on food security and livelihood of small fishers while including provisions that could help advanced countries perpetuate their huge dole for long-distance fishing. During the 12th World Trade Organisation ministerial meet that began on June 12, fishermen from across India assembled outside the United Nations Office, Geneva and protested against the proposed cut and explained how huge fishing giants from Europe and China are responsible for the depletion of marine resources. To protect the interest of the Indian fisher population a group of 34 fishers from India has arrived at Geneva, representing Gujarat (5), Maharashtra (6), Goa (1), Karnataka (2), Kerala (6), Tamil Nadu (5), Andhra Pradesh (4) and West Bengal (5) states of India. "I am a ninth-generation fisherman and my family has been involved in fishing for ages. The fishing boats from developed nations like China and Europe catch thousands of tonnes of fish, freeze them on the boat and they take it away," said a protesting fisherman from Maharashtra. https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1536068083126702080 Indian fishermen need this subsidy for their survival. India has an 8,118 KM coastline with an Exclusive Economic Zone of 2.08 Million SqKm. According to the CMFRI Census 2016, the total marine fisher folk population is 3.77 million comprising 0.90 million families. They reside in 3,202 fishing villages (DoF, GoI Statistics Data). Nearly 67.3 per cent of the fishermen's families were under the BPL category. The average family size was 4.63 and the overall sex ratio was 928 females per 1000 males. "I am fishermen's family. There are more women in fishing across our country. If this subsidy is taken away, women will be affected the most. If the subsidy is gone our 'kutumb' will be gone too", said Jyotibua, a fisherwoman from Maharashtra. India is in favour of stopping IUU (illegal, unreported, unregulated) fishing and supporting sustainable fishing by checking harmful subsidies. Another Indian fisherman protesting said that they pick up plastic from the sea as plastic pollution leads to depletion of fisheries. He said that no other country does this (picking up plastics). However, the text is tilted heavily towards advanced fishing nations letting them maintain their subsidies for high-sea fishing. At the same time, developing countries are denied adequate carve-outs that could hurt both livelihood and food security interests. "If this subsidy is taken away, it will be a matter of life and death for us. We treat the sea as our father and respect it so much that we do not even go fishing on the night of 'amavasya'. We will not be able to survive if this subsidy is taken away," said a fisherman from Gujarat. In the ongoing talks on curbing fishery subsidies, negotiations are taking place under three categories -- IUU, over-fished (where stock is already declared as overfished) and over-fishing and over-capacity. As the standards are set by advanced fishing countries, it is easy for them to follow. Developing nations, on the other hand, may not be in a position to immediately show those standards. Traditional fisheries involve fishing households (as opposed to commercial companies), using a relatively small amount of capital and energy, relatively small fishing vessels usually about 20 meters in overall length, making short fishing trips, close to shore. It is also called small-scale fisheries. The marine fishery in India is small-scale and provides food security to millions of people. There is no industrial fishing in India. Industrial fishing by developed nations involves large fishing vessels conducting fishing activities in High Seas beyond EEZ and also within EEZ and is detrimental to fish stock. There are around 2 lakh fishing crafts in Indian waters of which 59,000 (37 per cent) are mechanised and the remaining are non-motorized fishing crafts. The Indian boat type ranges from the traditional catamarans, masula boats, plank-built boats, dug-out canoes, machwas, dhonis to the present-day motorized fibre-glass boats, mechanized trawlers and gillnetters. The traditional and sustainable fishing practices by Indian fishers are being practised for thousands of years and it is only subsistence fishing. The Indian fisheries' resources are conserved and protected well by the fishers by their traditional and cultural beliefs. Sustainable fisheries are supported by the Government by means of a declaration of fishing holidays for a period of 61 days and implementation of fisheries regulation act by the concerned states. India is not a major fishery subsidy provider. Meanwhile, China, the EU and the US offer an annual fishery subsidy of USD 7.3 billion, USD 3.8 billion and USD 3.4 billion, respectively, India offered just USD 277 million in subsidies in 2018 to small fishers. Subsidy assistance to fishers helps them to venture into fishing for supporting their livelihood and protection of their family. The stoppage of subsidy assistance to fishers in India will ultimately affect millions of fishers and their families and will lead to poverty. (ANI) Kuwait will be deporting expats who took part in the Fahaheel demonstration after Friday prayers in support of Prophet Muhammad despite the instructions of the Kuwaiti government. The sources confirmed on Sunday that they will be deported from Kuwait as they violated the laws and regulations of the country which stipulates that sit-ins or demonstrations by expats are not to be organized in Kuwait, reported Arab Times. Instructions were issued to arrest and bring in expats from the Fahaheel area who organized the demonstration defying Kuwaiti government instructions. The detectives are in the process of arresting them and referring them to the deportation centre to be deported to their countries and will be banned from entering Kuwait again, reports Al Rai. All expats in Kuwait must respect Kuwait laws and not take part in any type of demonstrations, said the instructions. India had earlier told Kuwait that it had taken strong action against those who made controversial remarks on Twitter against the minorities. In response to a media query regarding the statement issued by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs on offensive tweets in India, the Spokesperson of the Embassy of India in Kuwait said, "Ambassador Sibi George had a meeting in the Foreign Office in which concerns were raised with regard to some offensive tweets by individuals in India." Strong action has already been taken against those who made derogatory remarks. A statement was also issued by concerned quarters emphasizing respect for all religions, denouncing insult to any religious personality or demeaning any religion or sect. Vested interests that are against India-Kuwait relations have been inciting the people using these derogatory comments. The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday suspended its spokesperson Nupur Sharma from the party's primary membership and expelled its Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal after their alleged inflammatory remarks against minorities."Ambassador conveyed that the tweets do not, in any manner, reflect the views of the Government of India. These are the views of fringe elements," said the spokesperson. "In line with our civilizational heritage and strong cultural traditions of unity in diversity, the Government of India accords the highest respect to all religions," added the spokesperson.The spokesperson further urged to work together against such mischievous elements who aim to undercut the strength of bilateral ties between the two nations. (ANI) Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Sunday challenged the incumbent coalition government of Shehbaz Sharif to win the next elections in Pakistan. Khan said that it was "impossible for the incumbent coalition government to win the next election," reported Geo News. He said that it would also be very difficult for the current government to run an electioneering campaign as PTI is working in full swing for the next polls. Speaking to a private TV news channel, Khan also talked about his ill-fated "Azadi March" held on May 25, which was called off after a strong curb down by the Shehbaz Sharif government. Khan said that the government registered first information reports (FIRs) against members of the PTI following the party's "Azadi March" to Islamabad last month so that it could "throw anyone it wanted behind bars," reported Geo News. The former prime minister also criticized the Shahbaz Sharif-led government for passing the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2022 on June 9, which had previously been returned by President Arif Alvi. Commenting on the development, Khan said that the PTI will "approach the Supreme Court soon". Regarding the overall political situation of the country, the PTI chairman said that the entire nation was "looking towards the institutions to intervene and make things right," reported Dawn. Answering a question about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Khan said that the projects "had to be halted because of the coronavirus pandemic." Meanwhile, China has asked Pakistan's Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to stop attacks on its nationals who are working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects in the Balochistan region. The Chinese demand came in a meeting of senior officials of Pakistan and China who discussed their perspectives on the international and regional security situations, reported Frontier Post. The developments come after the Islamabad Police recently decided to set up a foreign security cell at the Central Police Office (CPO) with requisite staff and logistics amid reports of Chinese nationals continuously being targeted in Pakistan. In response to another question regarding Pakistan's relations with the US during PTI's tenure, Khan said that he enjoyed cordial ties with former US President Donald Trump, adding that Joe Biden's administration was "stuck in dealing with matters related to Afghanistan," reported Geo News. (ANI) Sanaa [Yemen], June 13 (ANI/Xinhua): Rashad Al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), called for regional organizations, such as the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council, to make peace and defend the Yemeni people's interests, state-run Saba news agency reported Sunday. Al-Alimi made the remarks when he delivered a speech on Sunday at Arab League's headquarters in Cairo, during which he criticized the Houthi rebels for violating the ongoing truce, according to Saba. The Yemeni leader said the conflicts in Yemen, a country that holds a strategic position at the eastern Red Sea, are threatening the region's security and the safety of one of the world's most important shipping lines. The warring parties in Yemen entered into a nationwide cease-fire on April 2. Although the truce has been broadly kept, mutual accusations of breaches are still traded between the internationally recognized government and the Houthi group. Also on Sunday, Al-Alimi held a meeting with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit and briefed him on the efforts the PLC has made to solve the challenges facing Yemen since its formation. On April 7, Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi issued a decree on establishing the PLC headed by Al-Alimi to succeed him in running the government and holding peace talks with the Houthis. For his part, Aboul-Gheit stressed the Arab League's continued support for the Yemeni government, calling for a political solution to the country's years-long conflict. During the meeting, the two sides also discussed the recent developments in Yemen and the means to bring the truce forward to end the country's eight-year war. Al-Alimi arrived in Cairo on Saturday for his first visit to Egypt as the Yemeni leader. He held a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who reiterated his country's support for the Yemeni government. Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government out of the capital Sanaa. The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 4 million, and pushed the country to the brink of famine. (ANI/Xinhua) NextShark A viral video of a 12-year-old girl kneeling and being repeatedly slapped in the face incited a citywide police search for her five assailants in Hong Kong. The 12-year-old victim kneeled as a group of teenagers, aged 12 to 19, took turns slapping her across the face on the rooftop of a five-story building on Luen Yan Street in Tsuen Wan shortly before 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Half the Hong Kong people hate [the victim], one attacker can be heard saying. The Daily Beast Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via GettyPayton Gendron, the 18-year-old white supremacist charged with killing 10 people in upstate New York last month, left a handwritten note to his parents apologizing but stating that he had to commit this attack because he cared for the future of the White race, federal prosecutors revealed on Wednesday.FBI agents discovered the chilling note in Gendrons bedroom in Conklin, New York after he opened fire at Black shoppers at a Tops Friendly Market on M Employees at Birth Choice pregnancy center in Dallas pray every afternoon "for the courts and for the protection of the unborn." (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) Rayenieshia Cole did not want another child. She couldnt afford it. A single mother who made her living dancing at a strip club, she had few relatives in Texas to help raise her three boys. When Cole learned she was pregnant last fall, she visited an abortion clinic, where she passed an ultrasound screening Texas had just enacted a law prohibiting abortion after about six weeks and made an appointment to return the next day to end her pregnancy. As Cole was leaving the clinic, several antiabortion activists approached. They directed her to a nonprofit a couple of hundred yards away called Birth Choice, which they said could help her financially if she chose to keep the baby. Cole had never heard of a pregnancy center. Curious, she walked over and was struck by how the staff did not judge her. They were really willing to help. They had a lot of resources, said Cole, 27. Housing resources, helping you get a job resources. In March, she gave birth to a son, Kanye, three months premature. Birth Choice provided a car seat, stroller and other items and promised continuing support for three years. Rayenieshia Cole cuddles her son Kanye. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) Pregnancy centers vary in what they offer and their religious affiliations, but they have the same goal: persuading abortion-minded women to reconsider and supporting those who continue their pregnancies. Abortion rights advocates accuse the facilities which they often refer to as crisis pregnancy centers of deceiving women by setting up shop next to abortion clinics and dressing staff in doctors coats and surgical scrubs despite being exempt from medical standards of care and monitoring. The state calls them pregnancy resource centers, said Dr. Bhavik Kumar, staff physician at the Planned Parenthood Center for Choice in Houston. I call them state-funded fake clinics. He said the centers dont provide enough financial support or address the many other reasons that women seek abortions. Simply providing diapers and baby clothes is not going to make this go away, Kumar said. This is years of caring for people and probably the children they have at home. Story continues An antiabortion protester outside a Dallas abortion clinic. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) The first center opened in 1967 in a home in Hawaii as the movement to legalize abortion was gaining momentum. Today they operate as nonprofits in every state, with more than 2,500 centers nationwide about triple the number of abortion clinics. Most belong to one of four Christian antiabortion networks. The Associated Press recently found that 13 states have spent $495 million since 2010 to help fund the centers including at least $89 million this fiscal year. That is expected to grow if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe vs. Wade, a ruling expected this month that could lead to abortion in effect being banned in 26 states. We pray for an end to abortion. We hope that day will come, said Ronda Kay Moreland, chair of Birth Choices board. But that wont put an end to the need for what we do. Were going to be inundated, and if anything, well need to grow our services. As tensions build over the looming court decision, pregnancy centers are finding themselves facing backlash. Since a draft opinion overturning Roe was leaked last month, centers in New York, Maryland, Ohio, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia and a Dallas suburb have had windows smashed and been set on fire and splashed with red paint. They were also tagged with messages that included Forced birth is murder and If abortion isnt safe, you arent either a signature slogan of an abortion rights group called Janes Revenge. Moreland said Birth Choice has consulted with local police and increased security ahead of the Roe ruling. Anyone associated with the pro-life movement needs to practice good safety measures now more than ever, she said. :: Texas has about 200 pregnancy centers more than any other state and over this year and the next will spend $100 million on them, a total that includes some federal welfare dollars. Birth Choice received $116,000 in state funding this year. Were blessed to live in a state that does have an active approach, Moreland said. I mean, the state of Texas is giving, providing financial support and resources. The rest of the centers budget roughly $500,000 comes from private donations and grants. Moreland, executive producer of a local conservative talk radio show, said she supports Birth Choice because she was adopted in the fall of 1974, less than a year after Roe. My birth mother could have chosen to have me aborted, she said. I had a really good life, so I do this to give back. We pray for an end to abortion. We hope that day will come. But that wont put an end to the need for what we do." Ronda Kay Moreland, chair of Birth Choices board Rosaries hang from a tree outside the windows of an abortion surgical center in Dallas. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) Started by a local Catholic activist, Birth Choice opened in 2009 in the same office complex as a new abortion clinic, the Southwestern Womens Surgery Center. Moreland said the goal was to have a last line of support next door. Some of the regular protesters in the parking lot handing out antiabortion pamphlets and rosaries belong to the Catholic Diocese of Dallas. While they dont have a formal affiliation with Birth Choice, staffers call them sidewalk counselors. Located in a second-floor office near an accountant and a spa in a sprawling middle-class neighborhood, the center has nine employees, including two nurses. It offers counseling, pregnancy tests, ultrasounds and other services aimed at helping women through pregnancy and early motherhood. Some assistance comes without strings, but the women they help can get more by using baby bucks they earn by attending classes. Moreland said the center sees about 1,000 women a year and over the last dozen years has prevented at least 2,000 abortions. The center belongs to Heartbeat International, a nonprofit founded in 1971 that describes itself as an interdenominational Christian association that aims to reach and rescue as many lives as possible, around the world, through an effective network of life-affirming pregnancy help. It claims more than 3,100 affiliated centers in 80 countries. In a recent speech at the groups annual conference this spring, the groups general counsel, Danielle White, spoke proudly of a brief she filed in the abortion case now before the Supreme Court. I had the distinct honor and opportunity to tell the court women dont need abortion, she said. Because I know what we know here in the pregnancy help movement: That we are here for them. Its unclear how many women have been denied access to abortion because of the new Texas law banning the procedure after detection of fetal cardiac activity usually at about six weeks of pregnancy. But some have ended up at Birth Choice. A 27-year-old woman who asked not to be identified because she was fleeing domestic violence moved to an apartment provided by Blue Haven Ranch maternity home after visiting a Dallas pregnancy center. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) Last fall, after an ultrasound showed one 27-year-old was too far along for an abortion under the new law, she was directed to clinics in New Mexico, more than 700 miles away. She didnt have a car and had never traveled out of state. Im thinking, how am I going to go to New Mexico? said the mother of three, who had fled domestic violence and spoke on condition that she not be identified. I couldnt hold back my tears. She was leaving the clinic with her sister when one of the Catholic sidewalk counselors approached with a message: You are not alone. Aubrey Schlackman, who founded Blue Haven Ranch maternity home, listens as a 27-year-old pregnant woman describes the domestic abuse she faced before fleeing with her children. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) Birth Choice connected the woman with Blue Haven Ranch, a maternity home opened last year by an evangelical couple in a Dallas exurb. They gave her and four other women and their children their own apartments for free during their pregnancies and as they recover after giving birth. Imagine the feeling of being somewhere safe, said the woman, who is studying online to become a certified bookkeeper. Her baby, a boy she plans to name Cason, is due Wednesday. The family can stay at the ranch for up to 18 months after she delivers. Aubrey Schlackman, who runs the ranch with her husband, recently threw her a baby shower and is raising money to get her a used van. For Schlackman, being pro-life is about not only banning abortion but also helping mothers. If Roe vs. Wade really is overturned, every state is going to have to deal with that same issue, she said. Theres going to be a lot of need, and a lot of people looking for options. :: In 2018, public health researchers at the University of Georgia launched a project to track and map crisis pregnancy centers. Its a very critical time to be looking at what CPCs are doing, where and how they may change as the policy landscape changes, said Andrea Swartzendruber, an epidemiologist who leads the initiative. Among her biggest concerns is that many centers have been changing their names to include the words medical or clinic, creating the impression they are medical professionals when that is often not the case. As states provide restrictions or bans, theyll fund crisis pregnancy centers, she said. It worries me that theyre looking like medical services, and that could slow people down or delay them from care. While about 77% of the centers offered free ultrasounds last year up from 66% in 2018 Swartzendruber said she fears nonmedical staff may not properly interpret or explain the results. Pregnancy centers are also expanding services that she said are not backed by science, most notably the idea that medication abortions can be reversed using the hormone progesterone a strategy that has been discredited by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Robin Sikes, a counselor at the abortion clinic in the same office complex as Birth Choice, said she has seen patients who had received inaccurate ultrasounds there. Others who visited the center relayed to her that they were told falsely that abortion could lead to death, cause infertility or increase the risk of breast cancer. She also finds it hard to accept the way the centers name plays on pro-choice, which she sees as a deliberate attempt to lure women seeking abortions, with the activists on the sidewalk intentionally trying to mislead and misdirect them. Despite all that, Sikes described the relationship between the abortion clinic and the pregnancy center as cordial. Their staffs rarely interact except when they accidentally receive each others mail. Aaron Fowler, the executive director of Birth Choice, said that the ultrasounds it performs are accurate and that the center doesnt pose as a clinic or try to manipulate or misinform women: Under no circumstances does my board, my staff, myself or volunteers misrepresent to clients what the opportunities are here. :: While some pregnancy centers provide only short-term support, Birth Choice prides itself on helping women for up to three years after they give birth. Tequila Brown, 33, who has lupus and is bipolar, is still receiving support two years after the birth of her second son, Levi. Brown discovered Birth Choice when she was pregnant with her first child 4-year-old Ezekiel and working as a call center supervisor. My company was really good to me until I got pregnant, she said. The first day of my third trimester, I got fired. She also lost her health insurance. So Brown researched pregnancy centers online, came to Birth Choice for an ultrasound and returned for parenting classes, supplies and counseling. Like family, they embraced me, Brown said. Their objective is to uplift single mothers, women that are pregnant, and just make sure that their self-esteem stays intact, their spirituality stays intact. Employees at Birth Choice pregnancy center in Dallas pray at an altar inside the clinic's chapel. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) After each consultation with a client, some employees pray at the centers chapel before an altar surrounded by portraits of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Pope John Paul II and Gianna Beretta Molla, an Italian saint who died in childbirth. Others are drawn to the chapel by the daily tolling of a bell, signaling afternoon prayer. A dozen staff members knelt in chapel pews one day last month as a colleague led them in a prayer for the courts and for the protection of the unborn. We pray that our laws will protect their right to life, and that the decisions of our courts will uphold those laws and preserve that protection, she said. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. People dance on a float during the annual Puerto Rican People's Day Parade on Division Street in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood on June 11, 2022. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune) Salsa, merengue and reggaeton music blasted from cars driving around Humboldt Park Saturday afternoon as red, white and blue flags with a single star blew in the breeze, some out of car windows and sunroofs and others held by people on the sidewalk. Near the south end of Humboldt Park, on West Division Street and North California Avenue, people lined up along the road, many wearing Puerto Rican flag shirts or dresses as they watched the 44th Annual Puerto Rican Peoples Day Parade reach its end. People shouted, waved and danced as cars, bicyclists and people passed by, blasting music and waving more flags. Advertisement The Puerto Rican Festival started Thursday and runs through Sunday, with live music and carnival rides in a closed off part of the southeast corner of Humboldt Park. On Saturday afternoon, the parade added to the festivities as Puerto Ricans in Chicago displayed their pride and joy in their heritage. Vendors sold food like savory and sweet empanadas, papas rellenos potato balls stuffed with seasoned ground beef tostones, pinchos grilled pork or chicken skewers with onion, bell pepper and tomato and jugo de parcha or passion fruit juice. Other vendors along the park sold flags, T-shirts, hats, and other accessories, most with the Puerto Rican flag or its colors. Advertisement Dasani Saldana, 13, whose family is from Puerto Rico, wrapped a large Puerto Rican flag around her back like a cape as she watched the parade with her friend, her mom and her moms friend. It was her third parade, but the second one she remembers because she was a baby when her mom took her to her first parade, Saldana said. She said she enjoys the food, hearing her Spanish language and seeing other Puerto Ricans in her community celebrating their culture together at the Puerto Rican Festival and parade. We can show where we are from, Saldana said. What Puerto Rico is about. After the parade, on a residential street south of the park, Edras Andujar grilled pork bichos to sell, as people sat around him on lawn chars, talking and drinking. People danced along to merengue waiting for the food to finish cooking. Jalesa Trotman took her daughter and nieces to the parade. It was her second time going to the festival, a convenient walking distance from her home, she said. We love it because the community just comes out and you see everybody together and having a good time. Its amazing, Trotman said. Compared to all the bad stuff you hear about Chicago, its like one big unity event for everybody. Trotmans grandparents are Puerto Rican and Mexican, and while she hasnt been to the island yet, she hopes to visit Puerto Rico someday. Going to the festival, she said feels welcome into her culture, and sees it as an opportunity to teach her daughter about their heritage and background. She said having her daughter and nieces come out and see and play with other kids that look like them and share their culture is a great way for them to learn about themselves. Advertisement I feel like kids learn through experience, she said. So in order for them to understand what they are and who theyre about and what they can possibly do with their life, they have to be exposed to it. Iris Bellido moved to the U.S. from Puerto Rico when she was 1, and was raised in Humboldt Park. Shes gone to the festival almost every year since she was a child, she said. Thank God that finally COVID is over and we were able to celebrate it and feel back to normal, she said. And celebrate it the way we usually do. So that was a relief. As she waited in line to get into the festival, Bellido listed the many things she enjoys about the festival and about her culture the food, how people dress, the colors, the flag, the music, especially bomba y plena. Bomba and Plena are traditional music styles that reflect the African heritage of Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans are loud people that they love music and they love to dance, Bellido said with a giggle. And...the ladies are known for their big butt and curly hair. And they just love to have fun, listen to music, dance. And eat Puerto Rican food. Advertisement Carmen Malave was at the parade with her youngest daughter, Heather Rodriguez and her three granddaughters, Ruby, 7, Naya, 8, and Sonie, 9. All three girls wore Puerto Rican flag dresses. Malave said she used to bring her own three kids to the parade when they were younger. Growing up in Humboldt Park, being a single mom, raising three kids, its not easy, she said. But, you know, I did it and even though theyre older Im still there. Now shes enjoying watching them start their own families and watching them share the culture with their children. It had been a while since they had participated in the festivities, as they avoided some of the violence in the area, Rodriguez said, as her daughter Ruby hugged her. This is her first time here, actually, Rodriguez said of her daughter. Thats why I wanted to bring her, just to experience her culture, get a little knowledge of where she comes from. Shes loving it. She cant stop dancing. Advertisement Editors note: An earlier version of this story used the incorrect word in Spanish for grilled skewers of meat. The correct word is pinchos. The Daily Beast ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKOForeign volunteers fighting against Russian troops in Ukraine sounded the alarm Wednesday over two American fighters they say had been taken captive amid heavy fighting.Robert Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, were serving with the Ukrainian military when they were taken in Kharkiv last week, The Telegraph reported. We were out on a mission and the whole thing went absolutely crazy, with bad intel. We were told the town was clear when it turned out the Russians were already as A 1-year-old girl is dead after authorities issued an Amber Alert, in fear she was abducted by her father. The Georgia Bureau of Investigations confirmed the death of Jaquari Bennett on Sunday morning and that the Newton County Sheriff's Office would continue the investigation. A member of the sheriff's office told NBC affiliate WXIA that Jaquari was shot and killed by her father, Darian Javaris Bennett, who then died by suicide. Bennett is also believed to have killed Jaqauri's mother before abducting her, WXIA reported. The Newton County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News Sunday. An Amber Alert was issued for Jaqauri after authorities reported she had been abducted late Saturday. The alert identified Bennett as her potential abductor, traveling in a 2000 Honda Accord. She was believed to be in extreme danger, the alert said. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources. You don't have to go to the Black Hills to find picturesque and challenging hiking spots in South Dakota and the area. And just because you live in Sioux Falls doesn't mean you're limited to Great Bear or Sertoma Park there are several options outside of well-trafficked state parks like Palisades and Good Earth. If you're willing to drive just a little farther or try some smaller parks, you'll find hiking gems that you'll be sure to love. Here are 15 trails within an hour's drive of Sioux Falls you should visit: Disclaimer: There are other great areas you should check out, they just don't fit within the 60-minute parameter we've set here, which means you miss out on Yankton hikes, Nebraska hikes and Minnesota lake hikes. Hiking with elevation changes Great Bear Recreation Area: Southeastern South Dakota is known more for its flat expanse than its steep hiking trails. So, you're pretty limited if you're looking for significant elevation changes for hikes. However, the Great Bear Recreation Area does offer a 446-foot elevation gain along its 3.1-mile Skyline, Cactus Hills and Valley Trail Loop within the heavily wooded park. Newton Hills State Park (30-40 minutes from Sioux Falls): Hike along the 4.6-mile Blue Diamond and Woodland Trail Loop and you'll get a 518-foot gain in elevation through the wooded valley and up along prairie views. More than 200 species of birds visit the state park near Canton each year. You'll also find white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, marmots, rabbits, red and gray fox, and squirrels throughout your hike. Newton Hills State Park Union Grove State Park (45 minutes): This little-trafficked state park features a 4.2-mile, 433-foot elevation gain as it winds through South Dakota prairie, woods and along Brule Creek. Spot deer, wild turkeys, beaver and a variety of birds as well as a range of trees and plant life. This trail does include a horse trail, so watch where you step; otherwise, the hiking-only trail is a 1.2 mile loop. Story continues More: Phone alert didn't go off? How to prepare for severe weather, tornadoes in South Dakota Hikes with prairie views Families take a walk through Good Earth State Park in Sioux Falls. Touch the Sky Prairie (40 minutes): Get 360-degree views of the prairie along the 2.4-mile To The Sky hike at Touch the Sky Prairie near Luverne, Minnesota. The grassland is dominated by Bluestem native grasses and wildflowers in the spring and summer. Good Earth State Park (15-20 minutes): While you can take a hiking trail down into the Big Sioux River valley at Good Earth, the state park also offers acres of natural prairie land as well. Good Earth State Park is also the largest Oneota Native American cultural site discovered to date in the upper Midwest, as a significant trader center and gathering place for tribes from the 1300-1700s. Wildflowers & wildlife The sun shines on wildflowers at Good Earth State Park in Sioux Falls. Blue Mounds State Park (40 minutes): You don't have to drive to Custer State Park or visit the Great Plains Zoo to see bison. Take a peek at herds of bison grazing on the open prairie at Blue Mounts State Park, near Luverne, Minnesota. Take the 4.1 mile Mount Loop Trail or the 6.8 mile Mound, Lower Cliff Line and Campground Loop Trails to see the bison enclosure, natural prairie and old rock quarry views. If you're birdwatching, check off the birds you see on the Minnesota State Park bird checklist. Valley of the Giants (20 minutes): This Brandon hiking trail is a 1.5-mile loop that cuts through several large trees growing along the Big Sioux River floodplain soil, boasting some of the state's largest oak and cottonwood trees. There are also plenty of elm, ash, boxelder and willow trees to walk through, as well as plants and animals to spot along the trail. Oak Grove County Park (60 minutes): Explore along the Big Sioux River on the border of South Dakota and Iowa in Hawarden, Iowa. The Oak Grove County Park Loop is a 3.9-mile loop with a bounty of wildflowers to see in the summertime. There's also two large outcroppings of Sioux Quartzite along the trail and a mound of slag, which is the remains of a 100-year-old coal bed. More: Everything you need to know about the 2022 Sioux Falls Pride parade and events Hiking with waterfalls & waterfronts Dell Rapids (25-30 minutes): Hike along the Sioux River Red Rock Trail, which is a 2.6-mile route that features waterfalls along the Ace Park Trail. The city hopes to expand the trail to a 12-mile-long trail for hikers and cyclists to share through the city and along the river. Dakota Nature Park (45-60 minutes) What began as a city landfill is now a multi-purpose, 135-acre park in Brookings with miles of paved bike and hiking trails. Use docks and small beaches to access the water and enjoy some fishing or bird watching as well. If you have a kayak, three of the four ponds are connected and there is a kayak and canoe launch at the park. Touch the Sky Prairie (40 minutes): Explore this nature preserve near Luverne, Minnesota along the 1.3-mile Prairie Waterfall trail. The hike is lightly trafficked but has plenty of wildflowers along a sleepy creek that leads to a secluded waterfall and pool. The area is part of the Northern Tallgrass Prairie National Wildlife Refuge, which covers over 12,000 acres. Pipestone National Monument Trail (50-60 minutes): Hike along this 3/4-paved path trail as it cuts through a Tallgrass Prairie, along a creek with endangered Topeka Shiner, in front of a waterfall and past the working pipestone quarry. Palisades State Park (30 minutes): One of the most popular hiking destinations in southeastern South Dakota, the Palisades offers a variety of hiking trails that follow the Big Sioux River and rapids along the Palisades. Pause on your hike and go fishing, wading in water below the rapids or enjoying a riverside picnic. Historic hikes Mary Jo Wegner Arboretum (15 minutes): Explore the Mary Jo Wegner Arboretum and East Sioux Falls Historic Site, a granite mining town that had 500 residents at one time. The Perry Nature Area features a handful of trails throughout its 23 acres that are full of native plants, wildflowers and wildlife. Follow the Quarry Trail along the old rail bed to the quarry where stone cutters of East Sioux Falls worked, then veer northeast on the House Trail to discover the remains of a house that was abandoned years ago. As you continue through the nature area, explore the creek and historic bur oak, which is over 200 years old or hike along the Floodplain Trail. Lake Herman State Park (50-60 minutes): Take a drive up near Madison and hike along the 1.25-mile Luce Adventure loop at Lake Herman State Park. The park is the site of historic and prehistoric artifacts, including Native American villages, a historic cabin and fossils. You'll also see plenty of wildflowers depending on the time of season, including Blue Flax, Blanketflower, Coreopsis, Coneflower, Sunflower, Aster, Lupine, Purple Prairie Clover, Spiked Gayfeater and Yarrow. You might even catch a glimpse of the state flower, the Pasque flower. Spirit Mound Historic Prairie (50-60 minutes): 1.4 mile hike that traces the steps of Lewis and Clark and their party during their 1804 exploration of the western United States. The group hiked a few miles north of the Missouri River to visit Spirit Mount, which was believed to be important to Native American tribes such as the Omaha, Sioux and Oto tribes. After the damming of the Missouri River, this spot is one of the few sites the explorers visited that isn't now underwater. The site is being reestablished with prairie grasses and other native plants. Spirit Mount features a variety of prairie wildflowers and grasses and is home to Fritillary butterflies, birds and other prairie animals. This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota hiking: Hikes for waterfalls, wildlife near Sioux Falls President Biden is using key political capital on a risky gamble that meeting with condemned Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will convince the Kingdom to stabilize global oil markets and ease prices for Americans at the gas pump. But experts say its not guaranteed that the trip will produce lower gasoline prices and the political cost may be far greater for the president. I dont believe theres an amount of oil the Saudis could provide that would substantially reduce U.S. gas prices. It will be difficult for Biden to come away with something he can call a win, Samantha Gross, fellow and director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution, told The Hill. Bidens allies, and even critics, are stressing the necessity of the president addressing areas of cooperation with Riyadh for U.S. national and global security despite revulsion at Mohamad and the Kingdoms violations of human rights. Further, Saudi Arabias position as the worlds second largest oil producer and unofficial head of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), make it a key gatekeeper in helping to lower peak energy prices. The average price of a gallon of gas reached nearly $5 on Friday. The White House is planning for Biden to travel to the Middle East in July. Announcement of the trip comes as the OPEC+, a group of major oil exporting nations that includes both Saudi Arabia and Russia, recently sped up its plans to increase oil supply as part of its efforts to offset pandemic-related supply cuts, from 432,000 barrels per day previously to 648,000 barrels per day for July and August. Saudi Arabia wants to manage the oil market via OPEC+ rather than through unilateral moves, Ben Cahill, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in an email. But, Cahill said, its not clear what the countries will do in the coming months. And the reality is that spare capacity is quite limited, and Saudi Arabia and the UAE and the rest of OPEC+ have to manage it carefully. Their output may rise, but we shouldnt expect a big burst of production from Saudi Arabia this fall, he said. Story continues Its not going to be because Biden has made the trip there, he said, noting that they would be most motivated by high oil prices in order to prevent demand reduction. Robert Weiner, professor of International Business and International Affairs with the George Washington University, said its impossible for any one country to fill the void left by sanctions on Russian oil, put in place over Moscows invasion of Ukraine. There is no way that Saudi Arabia has the ability to produce as much oil as the world has lost because of the Russian embargo, and no country has that ability. Claudio Galimberti, senior vice president of analysis at Rystad Energy said that at most, the Saudis could ramp up production to levels that would bring down oil prices by $10 to $15 per barrel. But he added that this is unlikely. Instead, the Saudis are likely to stick to the OPEC+ timetable and only increase output after that if Russian production drops significantly. And while crude oil prices, which were around $120 per barrel Friday, are a major predictor of gasoline prices, other factors, including reduced refining capacity, are also currently raising prices. Galimberti said that could be resolved by August, as new refineries open in the Middle East. While its not clear whether the trip to the Kingdom will deliver lower gas prices, it also comes with political risks. Saudi Arabia faced scrutiny over its human rights record including the devastation of the war in Yemen, arbitrary detention of political dissidents and the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the direction of Mohammed. Bidens Democratic allies in Congress have given their blessing for the trip, while urging the president to be direct and express concern about human rights violations in the Kingdom. I think its important for the president of the United States to have opportunities for conversations with the Saudis, theyre a strategic player in the region, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told The Hill. I hope that he will be very direct about our concerns, including the human rights violations, and our need for greater cooperation from Saudi, in regards to oil production. So theres reasons why dialogue needs to take place. I hope they have frank discussions. Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), an outspoken critic of the administrations foreign policy, also gave his blessing for Bidens trip. He has a responsibility to try to bring that region together as a strong counterweight to Iran. He has a reason to try to ensure that there is energy stability in the world. I think he has a reason to try to extend greater relationships for the state of Israel. But in doing that, he should also be raising human rights Menendez told The Hill. Biden is expected to meet with the Crown Prince in July, part of his first visit as president to the Middle East and that will likely kick off in Israel. The trip is considered essential for the president to demonstrate the administrations commitment to the Middle East and Gulf. Republicans have criticized Democrats, alleging that they have lost focus on the regions importance. The Biden administration has gone out of their way to alienate the Saudis and to drive away our allies in pursuit of their effort to embrace Iran and the theocratic and incredibly hostile regime there, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), told the Hill. The administration has also failed to return with Iran to the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that former President Trump withdrew the U.S. from in 2018. While the talks to revive the JCPOA are on pause, Bidens envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, told lawmakers last month that chances for success are tenuous at best. Malley added that without the constraints of the deal, Iran has accumulated enough enriched uranium and know-how to produce a nuclear bomb within a matter of weeks, before we can know it, let alone stop it. Strengthening an anti-Iran coalition in the Middle East among Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and others is a top priority for the president and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. On Thursday, Democrats and Republicans introduced legislation directing the Pentagon to pursue an integrated missile defense system in the Middle East with Israel, Gulf nations and Iraq. The bill was introduced in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements reached by Trump between Israel, the U.A.E. and Bahrain. Biden has come under criticism from Republicans and some supporters for failing to harness the potential of Israeli-Arab rapprochement, which the White House hopes to accomplish with its trip. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Bolivian ex-president Jeanine Anez was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison, more than a year after her arrest for an alleged plot -- dismissed as fictional by many -- to oust her rival and predecessor Evo Morales. Anez, who has been held in pre-trial detention since March 2021, has consistently denounced what she calls political persecution. The former interim leader will serve 10 years in a women's prison in La Paz, the administrative capital's First Sentencing Court announced in a decision that comes three months after her trial began. Convicted of crimes "contrary to the constitution and a dereliction of duties," Anez was sentenced to "a punishment of 10 years" over accusations stemming from when she was a senator, before becoming president. Prosecutors had asked for a 15-year jail sentence. The former leader had already announced she would appeal if convicted, saying: "We will not stop there, we will go before the international justice system." Also sentenced to 10 years were the former head of the armed forces, William Kaliman, and the former head of the police, Yuri Calderon, both of whom are on the run. Anez still faces a separate, pending court case for sedition and other charges related to her short presidential stint. At the start of her presidency, Anez had called in the police and military to restore order. The post-election conflict caused 22 deaths, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). For that, Anez also faces genocide charges, which carry prison sentences of between 10 and 20 years. - 'Political persecution' - Right-wing Anez became Bolivia's interim president in November 2019 after Morales, who claimed to have won a fourth consecutive term as president, fled the country in the face of mass protests against alleged electoral fraud. The Organization of American States (OAS) said at the time it had found clear evidence of voting irregularities in favor of Morales, who had been in power for 14 years. Story continues Many potential successors to Morales -- all members of his MAS party -- also resigned and fled, leaving opposition member Anez, then vice-president of the Senate, next in line. Virtually unknown, the lawyer and former television presenter proclaimed herself interim president of the Andean nation on November 12, 2019, two days after Morales' resignation. The Constitutional Court recognized Anez's mandate as interim, caretaker president, but MAS members disputed her legitimacy. Elections were held a year later, and won by Luis Arce -- a Morales protege. With the presidency and congress both firmly in MAS control, Morales returned to Bolivia in November 2020. After handing over the presidential reins to Arce, Anez was arrested in March 2021, accused of irregularly assuming power. The arrest occurred in the city of Trinidad, located in the country's Beni department, where she was born and where she returned after her tenure in office. "I denounce before Bolivia and the world that in an act of abuse and political persecution, the MAS government has ordered my arrest," she said on Twitter at the time. In detention, Anez would go on to carry out hunger strikes. Shortly before the start of her trial in mid-February, she echoed the same sentiment, stating: "I assumed the presidency of Bolivia without asking for it, without seeking it and even less expecting it... with the sole mission of organizing elections and calming a country in crisis." According to one of Anez's lawyers, Luis Guillen, the fact that multiple cases were being pursued against her at the same time violated the law. He additionally maintained that the court that weighed in was not capable of deciding constitutional matters, and that the former president would need trying in congress. The IACHR described the 22 deaths that occurred at the beginning of Anez's tenure as "massacres," and found they indicated "serious violations of human rights." Unlike the other accusations against Anez, the case will be dealt with by congress, which will decide whether or not to hold a trial. jac/fj/bfm/smw/lb Letitia Dean won Outstanding Achievement for playing Sharon Watts in EastEnders. (BBC) EastEnders legend Letitia Dean had a bittersweet moment at The British Soap Awards as she was honoured with Outstanding Achievement - but tearfully dedicated the win to her father, revealing he had died just a week earlier. The long-serving soap star has played Sharon Watts on the BBC One series for more than 30 years and was recognised for her incredible achievement on Saturday at the ceremony, which has been absent for the previous two years because of COVID restrictions. Read more: Adam Woodyatt 'absolutely loves' motorhome life She was welcomed on stage by her on-screen mum Anita Dobson who played Angie Watts and joked "hello Mum!" as she stepped forward to receive the trophy, but was in tears during her acceptance speech. Congratulations to @bbceastenders Letitia Dean for winning the Outstanding Achievement Award! #SoapAwards2022 pic.twitter.com/tqRfQLZT99 British Soap Awards (@SoapAwards) June 11, 2022 Dean wiped away tears as she told the audience of fellow soap stars: "I lost my daddy a week ago so this is for him. I hope he is proud. "This is for my daddy and my darling mummy, I hope you're enjoying your fish and chips." Paying tribute to Dean as she announced her as winner of the Outstanding Achievement Award, Dobson said: "She has been in 2,000 episodes, she has had 237 'doof-doof's', and she has also been landlord of the Queen Vic six times. Read more: Adam Woodyatt says Ian Beale is 'stuck on the Circle Line' "She has had amazing storylines, the death of her son, return from the grave of her father, and her affair with Phil Mitchell which brought in 23.5 million viewers. She is quirky, funny, talented, glamorous, and iconic." Story continues Paige Sandhu won Best Leading Performer. (Empics) EastEnders picked up a number of other awards on the night, including Best Comedy Performer for Tameka Empson as Kim Fox, Best Newcomer for Ross Boatman as Harvey Monroe, and Best On-Screen Partnership for Lacey Turner and Gillian Wright as Stacey and Jean Slater. But it was Emmerdale that won the coveted Best Soap award and many of the other biggest categories, too. Maximus Evans won Villian of the Year as Corey Brent. (PA) The ITV soap won Best Leading Performer for Paige Sandhu as serial killer Meena Jutla, Best Family for The Dingles, and Best Dramatic Performance for Mark Charnock as Marlon Dingle who has featured in a stroke storyline. Coronation Street got fewer trophies than its rivals but saw Maximus Evans win Villain of the Year as Corey Brent, Best Young Performer for Millie Gibson as Kelly Neelan and screenwriter Jan McVerry got The Tony Warren Award. Hollyoaks won Best Storyline and Scene of the Year, both for Misbah Maalik's (Harvey Virdi) historic rape, while Doctors surprised by winning Best Single Episode with 'Three Consultations and a Funeral'. Watch: Adam Woodyatt talks motorhome living Retired four-star Marine Gen. John Allen resigned as president of the Brookings Institution on Sunday as federal authorities investigate his lobbying on behalf of Qatar. Glenn Hutchins and Suzanne Nora Johnson, the co-chairs of the think tanks board, announced Allens departure in an email to Brookings staff after he submitted a resignation letter dated Sunday. We want to thank John for his contributions to Brookings, including his leadership in successfully guiding the institution during the pandemic, as well as his many years of service and sacrifice for our country, Hutchins and Johnson wrote in the email. Brookings had placed Allen on administrative leave on Wednesday, one day after The Associated Press reported that the FBI seized Allens electronic data in connection with the investigation. Authorities allege Allen made false statements and withheld incriminating documents about his role in the lobbying campaign on behalf of the wealthy Persian Gulf nation. Allen has not been charged with any crimes and has previously denied any wrongdoing. In his resignation letter, Allen said he was honored to lead the think tank through the COVID-19 pandemic, also touting its recent focus on social justice and emerging technologies. While I leave the institution with a heavy heart, I know it is best for all concerned in this moment, he wrote. Before becoming president of Brookings in 2017, Allen served as the special presidential envoy for the global coalition against ISIL in the Obama administration and a variety of other military roles. I spent forty-five years in dedicated service to the American people and United States, serving our country and our precious citizens in peace, crisis and war, Allen wrote in his resignation letter. I did so with the greatest sense of humility and pride in having been part of something greater than myself. The co-chairs of Brookingss board said Ted Gayer will serve as acting president until his previously announced departure later this summer, adding that arrangements for an ongoing interim leader and the search for a permanent president will be announced later. The integrity and objectivity of Brookingss scholarship constitute the institutions principal assets, and Brookings seeks to maintain high ethical standards in all its operations, the co-chairs wrote. Our policies on research independence and integrity reflect these values. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. SINGAPORE Cambodia has denied reports that the country is giving China exclusive access to a naval base undergoing construction along the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore over the weekend, Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh reminded the audience that the presence of foreign military bases on his countrys soil is in violation of the constitution. During a Q&A session after his speech, Tea clarified that the naval base at Ream is being modernized and upgraded in accordance with Cambodian requirements, and that there will be no exclusive rights for its use. The Washington Post reported earlier this week that China will have exclusive use of some parts of the base, which is undergoing extensive construction believed to have been funded in part by China. Tea called such reports insulting to the Cambodian government, saying the country possesses sole authority of the naval base. The naval base at Ream was initially a modest facility built with U.S. assistance, but it was demolished in 2020 before the ongoing construction began. Cambodian naval personnel walk during a government-organized media tour at Ream Naval Base on July 26, 2019. (Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP via Getty Images) Writing in Foreign Policy magazine, Indo-Pacific defense policy specialist and U.S. Navy Reserve officer Blake Herzinger noted details that emerged during the June 8 groundbreaking ceremony at the base suggested the result would be modest. Herzinger wrote that the area identified by The Washington Post as being partitioned off for Chinas use is miniscule, measuring a purported 0.3 square kilometers (0.12 square miles), and that there is little reason to assume that Cambodian leaders would agree to Ream Naval Base being used for Chinese power projection in Southeast Asia or combat operations in the region. Upgrading capabilities During a plenary session on military modernization and defense capabilities, the minister also said technological advances will potentially drive an increase in defense spending and modernization efforts. The improvement of defense capabilities is a requirement for every nation as they adapt to the national, regional and global security environment, he added. He also said Cambodia will continue with plans to modernize its armed forces, confirming the Royal Cambodian Army recently received a series of heavy and modern weapons. He did not provide more details, although photos posted on social media show mobile artillery and multiple rocket launcher systems of Chinese origin at what is believed to be the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville. These included the AR2 long-range and Type 90B multiple rocket launcher systems as well as the 155mm SH-1 self-propelled howitzer along with support vehicles. Its unclear how many of each system Cambodia ordered. By Steve Scherer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian police are investigating a possible risk to national security that forced parliament to lock down for several hours on Saturday after border agents warned of a bomb threat, a government source said on Sunday. The intelligence branch of the border agency on Saturday warned that vehicles near parliament could be laden with explosives, according to the source, who was not authorized to speak on the record. Ottawa police on Saturday said they had located "two vehicles of interest and two persons of interest", without elaborating, and said there was no threat to public safety. No charges against the two individuals have yet been announced. However, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's (RCMP) special Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, which investigates threats to national security, has opened a probe, the source said. "It is still unclear how serious the threat was," said the source, who has been briefed on the investigation. The RCMP declined to confirm or deny the news, first reported late on Saturday by Global News TV, which said a "major" national security investigation was underway. "For privacy and operational reasons, the RCMP does not confirm, deny, or release information relating to criminal investigations unless or until charges are laid," an RCMP spokesman said in a statement. Tensions in Ottawa's parliamentary precinct have been high since hundreds of trucks and vehicles blocked the area for three weeks earlier this year. The protest was against what demonstrators saw as government overreach during the COVID-19 pandemic. The road that runs in front of parliament has never fully reopened since the protest to prevent vehicles from parking along it. (Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Daniel Wallis) Renata Poulton Kamakura, center, a Ph.D. student at Duke University, who also works with the Nature Conservancy, stands under a ginkgo tree and leads a tree health monitoring training outing on June 1, 2022, in McKinley Park. The training was hosted by Imani Green Health Advocates. (Raquel Zaldivar/Chicago Tribune) While Chicago figures out how to make its urban forest more equitable, some residents are taking tree matters into their own hands. A Tribune investigation found that in the past decade more street trees have ended up in higher socioeconomic areas deemed lower priorities for planting. These trees, which the city plants on the public right of way, can have a direct impact on residents lives. Advertisement Mayor Lori Lightfoots administration has promised to plant 75,000 trees as part of an initiative called Our Roots Chicago, and advocates are hopeful about a city where the benefits of trees are equitably distributed. Meanwhile, residents are fighting to save ash trees and rallying to keep old-growth trees in the ground during water department work. Some neighborhood groups have worked for years to engage and excite residents about trees efforts that the city says it will support as part of its new program. Advertisement Heres how some Chicagoans are helping out the urban forest: I want to believe were in a city that cares More than a thousand tree removals in recent years were a result of water department work. Rosemary Feit organized the West Lakeview neighborhood against the removal of old-growth trees last fall after residents learned about a water main replacement project. Feit, who grew up in the city, had childhood memories of laying on the grass and looking up at arched hallways of trees. She didnt want to see that image disappear. I want to believe were in a city that cares about this, Feit told the Tribune when the fate of the trees was unknown. But it kind of feels like window dressing at this point. Rosemary Feit near her home in Chicago's West Lakeview neighborhood on June 3, 2022. Feit organized her neighborhood against the removal of old-growth trees last fall after residents learned about a water main replacement project. (Raquel Zaldivar/Chicago Tribune) As neighbors signed a petition and voiced their concerns at community meetings, the department didnt budge. But crews eventually planned to move the main away from the trees. To date the trees are still there, Feit said. The water department credited the tree-sparing effort to a combination of solutions. In recent years, some aldermen have encouraged the city to try technologies used in other cities that allow for repairs that lessen tree harm. Given the work other cities have undertaken to save trees, Feit thought Chicagos immediate approach lacked creativity. Advertisement It just feels like it shouldnt have been this hard, Feit said. It still confuses me as to why it was such a struggle and why there is so much resistance in the department of water management to tackling these projects in a way that prioritizes trees given that the city is making an investment in the tree canopy. When asked if the city has a plan to minimize tree removals during the large-scale water main and lead pipe replacement work ahead, as well as how many trees stand to be affected, a water department spokeswoman said the department evaluates the removal of old-growth trees on an individual basis and decisions often cant be made until construction begins. The department said its always investigating new techniques and procedures to carry out work while saving trees. Feit wondered whether other neighborhoods would fare as well in similar circumstances. Were a well-resourced neighborhood, Feit said. So what does that mean for other neighborhoods that dont have that same level of resource, or the same sort of alderman whos invested in the outcome we were invested in? Its people who are from this community Farther south, residents are focused on their own tree endeavors, by making sure dying trees are replaced and educating neighbors about the benefits of new ones. Advertisement Imani Green Health Advocates trains young people to learn about the connection between conservation and community health. The program is part of Imani Village, a Black-led organization connected to Trinity United Church of Christ. The advocates have begun another summer of tree health monitoring and planting in South Side neighborhoods including Pullman, Roseland, Washington Heights and Chatham, said Ajiah Gilbert, program leader for Imani Green Health Advocates. Imani Green Health Advocates program leader Ajiah Gilbert, left, records data from a honey locust tree with Maybelline Mariscal, 21, during a tree health monitoring training outing in McKinley Park. (Raquel Zaldivar/Chicago Tribune) Gilbert said this seasons goal for their Treesilience program is 50 trees in the ground by the end of November. Theres been a turning point since the program started, Gilbert said. Sometimes, even if a resident doesnt need to have a tree removed, theyll request a new one. Im not sure if a few years ago that would have been the case, Gilbert said. A lot of people wanted trees removed but they didnt want a new tree on their property. That change may be a result of the groups grassroots approach, which involves door knocking, handing out flyers and dispelling tree myths. Advocates are also directly connected to the community, Gilbert said. Advertisement Its not just Chicago coming in, planting trees without asking, she said. Its people who are from this community, people who work in this community. No other equitable way to do it Residents have fought to get the city to treat ash trees again, a practice it gave up years ago as the invasive emerald ash borer beetle killed off thousands of trees. John Friedmann is a leader of the effort, which picked up steam in North Side communities where neighborhood groups have organized to pay for tree-saving treatments. Friedmann visits the seven species of ash trees in Horner Park hes been able to treat with money from craft beer fundraisers, with another coming up in July. But it shouldnt be up to residents to pay out of pocket to treat the trees, advocates say, as that effort may not be an option or priority for all residents. A sign warns that an ash tree may be removed near Winnemac Park in Chicago on April 29, 2021. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) In recent years, some communities have had more ash trees removed than overall trees planted. Advertisement The reason why were trying to maintain the ash is so we can maintain the canopy, Friedmann said. We really feel the city has to pick up the charge to expand the program. Theres just no other equitable way to do it. The city says it will survey all remaining ash trees starting in July, but plans to treat the trees again have not been solidified. Those organizing to save ashes worry the process could drag on, with more trees lost in that time. Between 2011 and 2016, the city treated tens of thousands of ash trees and tracked the population as the emerald ash borer spread. By 2015, more than half of overall street tree removals were ash trees, as nearly 10,000 ashes were cut down. The city says it moved to a new system in 2016 and wasnt able to track species again until last year. Friedmann recently visited two neighborhood ashes next to each other. Only one had been treated. A few years ago they looked the same, but today one has lost more than half of its leaves, while the other has full, leafy canopy. It personifies the waste of letting these things die, he said. If we dont intervene now, theres going to be nothing to intervene for. mgreene@chicagotribune.com Advertisement jmahr@chicagotribune.com LANSING Charlotte resident Michael Varrone, 50, pleaded guilty Thursday to making a threatening phone call to the Michigan Capitol Jan. 7, 2021, the day after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Varrone and his lawyers, from Coontz Law, entered a plea deal with the Michigan Attorney General's Office to a charge of making a false bomb report, in exchange for dropping two terrorism charges against him. Ingham County 30th Circuit Judge James Jamo accepted the plea deal, records show. Varrone is scheduled to appear in court for sentencing on July 27, 2022. Varrone was arraigned Jan. 8, 2021, in Lansing's 54A District Court on two terrorism charges and one count of making a false bomb report. The case was bound over to Ingham County Circuit Court Aug. 19, 2021. In addition to making the bomb threat, Varrone had been charged with terrorism for allegedly threatening to kill Rep. Cynthia Johnson, D-Detroit, and her family during a phone call Dec. 12, 2020. Requests for comment with Coontz Law and the Attorney General's office were not immediately returned. Why is Varrone in court? State Police arrested Varrone Jan. 7, 2021, after he told an operator they needed to evacuate the Capitol because of an impending explosion. He made the call a day after insurrectionists attacked the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to prevent Congress' certification of the 2020 presidential election and help former President Donald Trump maintain power. A month prior to that call, Varrone called Johnson's office threatening to kill her and her family. He identified himself and spelt his name in a voicemail left with her legislative office. The call was referred to the Michigan State Police, according to the Free Press. Johnson's impact statement Not everyone is satisfied with the outcome of the case. Johnson posted a statement to her Facebook page. The Detroit lawmaker wrote that the system "failed Black people and women once again," as a result of the plea agreement. She wrote that no one from the court notified her about charges being dismissed against Varrone for threats against her family. Story continues "You have no idea how this and the many thousands of threats I've received since Dec. 2, 2020, and I still shiver from knowing that my own government and its civil servants are complicit in dismissing Black people and women," Johnson wrote. Johnson also wrote the deal was a "slap on the wrist" and a "slap in my face." A request for comment with Johnson was not immediately returned. Support local journalism and get unlimited digital access! Subscribe for only $1 for six months! Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at (517) 267-1344 or knurse@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @KrystalRNurse. This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Bomb threat against Michigan Capitol ends with guilty plea by man China will "fight to the very end" to stop Taiwanese independence, the country's defence minister vowed Sunday, stoking already soaring tensions with the United States over the island. It was the latest salvo in a growing war of words between the superpowers over the self-ruled, democratic island, which Beijing views as part of its territory awaiting reunification. Frequent Chinese aerial incursions near Taiwan have raised the diplomatic temperature, and on Saturday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin accused Beijing of "destabilising" military activity in a speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit. Defence Minister Wei Fenghe hit back in a fiery address at the same event, saying Beijing had "no choice" but to fight if attempts are made to separate Taiwan from China. "We will fight at all cost, and we will fight to the very end," he said. "No one should ever underestimate the resolve and ability of the Chinese armed forces to safeguard its territorial integrity." "Those who pursue Taiwanese independence in an attempt to split China will definitely come to no good end," he added. Wei urged Washington to "stop smearing and containing China... stop interfering in China's internal affairs and stop harming China's interests," he said. But he also struck a more conciliatory tone at points, calling for a "stable" China-US relationship, which he said was "vital for global peace". During his address, Austin also said he wants "lines of communication" with Chinese officials to remain open. The pair held their first face-to-face talks on the sidelines of the summit in Singapore on Friday, during which they clashed over Taiwan. - Myriad disputes - Tensions over Taiwan have escalated in particular due to increasing Chinese military aircraft incursions into the island's air defence identification zone (ADIZ). President Joe Biden, during a visit to Japan last month, appeared to break decades of US policy when, in response to a question, he said Washington would defend Taiwan militarily if it was attacked by China. Story continues The White House has since insisted its policy of "strategic ambiguity" over whether or not it would intervene had not changed. The dispute is just the latest between Washington and Beijing. Another major flashpoint has been the South China Sea. China claims almost all of the resource-rich sea, through which trillions of dollars in shipping trade passes annually, with competing claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. The United States and China have also been at loggerheads over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with Washington accusing Beijing of providing tacit support for Moscow. bur-sr/cwl Chris Stirewalt, a former top editor at Fox News, is set to be one of the witnesses testifying during Mondays public hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Stirewalt was a member of the team at Fox that made the decision to call Arizona for now-President Biden on election night 2020. The decision infuriated then-President Trump and his top aides, some of whom reportedly complained directly to Fox leadership about the relatively early call. During an interview on Friday, Stirewalt said the hope is that following the hearings, people are clear eyed and sturdy footed knowing that we can keep our constitutional system in place. This is the first time in the history of the country that we really threatened the peaceful transfer of power, he said. We need to make sure that doesnt happen in 2024. Stirewalt is originally from Wheeling, W.Va., and worked at various local news organizations in the state before joining Fox News in 2010. He hosted a number of podcasts and authored newsletters while with Fox before eventually moving to its Decision Desk. Since leaving Fox, Stirewalt has been critical of the news media over its Trump coverage. Americans gorge themselves daily on empty informational calories, indulging their sugar fixes of self-affirming half-truths and even outright lies, he wrote in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times after leaving the conservative media giant. Can anyone really be surprised that the problem has gotten worse in the last few years? Stirewalt did not indicate what exactly he would be testifying about on Monday, but the committee has signaled its second hearing would focus on how Trump and those in his orbit knew there was no validity to his claims of widespread voter fraud. The Jan. 6 House panel held its first prime-time hearing on Thursday, drawing nearly 20 million viewers as it began to lay out its case that Trump and his allies were at the center of a criminal effort to overturn the 2020 election, an effort that culminated in the insurrection at the Capitol. Story continues All Americans should keep this fact in mind: On the morning of Jan. 6, President Trumps intention was to remain president of the United States despite the lawful outcome of the 2020 election and in violation of his constitutional obligation to relinquish power, said committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). Stirewalt is currently a political editor at NewsNation, which is owned by The Hills parent company, the Nexstar Media Group. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. WEST END Tre Munson has just made history. All he had to do was sign on the dotted line. The 2021 graduate became the first athlete from the Cincinnati College Prep Academy (CCPA) to go Division I when he signed to play for New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Sunday afternoon. More: Aiken High School names Derrell Black as next head boys basketball coach "He (Munson) is one of the hardest-working kids I've coached. He got better every year from his sophomore season to now," CCPA head basketball coach Reggie Revels said. "It's a testament to his work ethic and discipline." Munson started a stellar prep career at Deer Park, where he averaged 13.6 points per game as a junior in 2020, helping lead the Wildcats to a regional championship appearance, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Munson was a first-team All-Cincinnati Hills League and honorable mention all-district selection. After playing briefly at International Sports Academy (ISA) in Willoughby, Ohio, Munson transferred to CCPA, where he was reunited with Revels, who was an assistant at Deer Park before being named the Lions' next head coach in June 2020. Tre Munson helped lead CCPA to a state-ranking and a division title in 2021, averaging 21.4 points per game. As a senior, Munson averaged 21.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, helping lead CCPA to a Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference-Blue division title and a pair of playoff victories. The 6-foot-4-inch guard was named honorable mention all-conference, second-team all-district and third-team All-Ohio. Munson was named one of the Top 21 under-the-radar boys basketball recruits in a feature done by The Enquirer in May 2021. Munson reclassified to the Class of 2022 last summer and attended the Pro Holmes Sports (PHS) Academy, a post-graduate basketball program in Florida, where he picked up multiple Division I offers, including North Carolina A&T, Florida Gulf Coast University and Jacksonville University. At PHS, he averaged 17.5 points, 5.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game while shooting 36% from three-point range. Story continues Tre Munson is the first athlete in CCPA history to sign to a Division I school. NJIT has now quickly become a sort of local hotbed for Cincinnati talent. Last month, Woodward guard Paul McMillan IV, one of the most prolific scorers in Ohio high school basketball history, signed his NLI to suit up for the Highlanders, which play in the American East Conference. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: CCPA guard Tre Munson signs with New Jersey Institute of Technology Fiji's Nananu-I-Ra island: Many Pacific states are low-lying and prone to flooding Fiji has told an Asian security summit that climate change is a bigger threat to the Pacific than military tensions. "Machine guns, fighter jets... are not our primary security concern. The single greatest threat to our very existence is climate change," Fiji Defence Minister Inia Seruiratu said. He was addressing a summit in Singapore which has focused on China-US tensions and the Ukraine war. Cyclones have repeatedly battered Fiji and other low-lying Pacific countries. "It threatens our very hopes and dreams of prosperity. Human-induced, devastating climate change," Mr Seruiratu told the forum, called the Shangri-La Dialogue. Floods in Fiji caused by tropic cyclones have displaced thousands of people in recent years and wrought economic havoc. Pacific states have urged advanced industrialised nations to do more to combat climate change. "Waves are crashing at our doorsteps, winds are battering our homes, we are being assaulted by this enemy from many angles," Mr Seruiratu told delegates. The world is now about 1.2C warmer than it was in the 19th Century - the result of humans burning fossil fuels, which release greenhouse gases, mostly carbon dioxide (CO2). But much attention has focused on China's growing challenge to Western strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific region. In April China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands, causing concern in Australia, New Zealand and the US. The details of it were not disclosed. Besides the Solomons, Pacific island nations have not so far reached consensus on China's proposal for a new regional trade and security pact. Flooding in Fiji caused by cyclones has displaced thousands of people (Getty Images/iStockphoto) Climate change poses a greater threat to the security of the Asia-Pacific region than conflict, a top Fiji offcial told a defence summit. Addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asias key security meeting, Inia Seruiratu, Fijis minister for defence, said: In our blue Pacific continent, machine guns, fighter jets, grey ships and green battalions are not our primary security concern. The single greatest threat to our very existence is climate change. It threatens our very hopes and dreams of prosperity. Seruiratus comments marked a shift in tone at the defence summit, which has so far been dominated by the war in Ukraine and disputes between China and the United States. The flow-lying Pacific island of Fiji, which also includes Tonga and Samoa, are some of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the extreme weather events caused by climate change. And the island has been battered repeatedly by tropical cyclones in recent years, causing devastating flooding that has displaced thousands from their homes. Waves are crashing at our doorsteps, winds are battering our homes, we are being assaulted by this enemy from many angles, Seruiratu told delegates. Talks have thus far been dominated by debate over Russias military operations in Ukraine, and the US and China exchanging barbs over everything from Taiwans sovereignty to naval bases in the Pacific. To the alarm of the US, Australia and New Zealand, China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands in April, stirring up fears pf a stepped-up military presence by Beijing in the Pacific. But Beijing has said that it is not establishing a military base in the Solomon Islands and that its goal is to strengthen security cooperation with Pacific island nations. Chinas foreign minister Wang Yi conducted a tour of the Pacific islands last month in the hope of securing a sweeping regional trade and security pact, but the island nations were unable to reach a consensus on a deal. Seruiratu played down concerns about a battle for influence in the Pacific islands while highlighting his countrys willingness to work with a range of countries. In Fiji, we are not threatened by geopolitical competition, Seruiratu said, adding: We have to adapt how we work and who we work with to achieve stability. Community Hospice & Palliative Care is a 2022 Hospice Honors recipient by HEALTHCAREfirst, a leading provider of billing and coding services, Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) surveys, and advanced analytics. This annual review recognizes agencies that continuously provide the highest level of quality care as measured from the caregivers point of view. It acknowledges the highest performing agencies by analyzing the performance of the CAHPS hospice survey satisfaction measures. Being the only hospice provider in the Northeast and North Central Florida to receive this distinction, Community Hospice & Palliative Care President and CEO Phillip Ward credits the dedication and commitment to extraordinary care by the entire 2022 Hospice Honors recipient. We know the care provided by our interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and hospice aides is the best available and that it makes a difference for patients and families at the end of life, Ward said. It is gratifying to see that the rest of the nation is recognizing our staff for that great patient care. Award recipients were identified by evaluating performance on a set of 24 quality measures. Performance scores were aggregated from completed surveys and were compared on a question-by-question basis to a National Performance Score calculated from all hospices contained in the HEALTHCAREfirsts Hospice CAHPS database. HEALTHCAREfirst enables home health and hospice providers to streamline and optimize their business through CAHPS surveys, billing, coding and OASIS review, and advanced analytics services to increase business efficiencies, simplify CMS compliance, expedite reimbursement, and improve patient care. Bo Diddley Plaza: Gun control advocates march on Gainesville, frustrated over gun violence Pain at the pump: Florida gas prices rise by 18 cents; $5 a gallon 'a very real possibility' this summer More: DeSantis appoints Gainesville attorney Raemi Eagle-Glenn to Alachua County commission Story continues Girl Scouts of Gateway Council hosted the 30th annual Women Who Make a Difference event on June 2 at the Hilton University of Florida Conference Center in Gainesville. The event, sponsored by Publix Charities, serves to recognize outstanding women leaders for their contributions to their community. This years honorees are Alena Lawson, Dorothy Benson, Sheila Crapo, Dorothy Thomas, and Ann Marie Rogers, who received the lifetime achievement award. Honorees exemplify the Girl Scout mission as women of courage, confidence and character who are actively working to make the world a better place, emphasizing the organization's four pillars: STEM education, the outdoors, life skills and entrepreneurship. This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Girl Scouts of Gateway Council celebrate Women Who Make a Difference A couple of weeks ago our youngest kid graduated from high school. It was a perfect day. Outside underneath a big tent, the ceremony was both traditional and unique. There was a feeling of excitement, pride, and nostalgia that had parents simultaneously smiling and crying as our kids walked across the stage. With all the trials and tribulations that everyone goes through from their first day of kindergarten until the moment they receive a diploma, the pomp and circumstance of a graduation ceremony feels like the perfect way to celebrate a job well-done. JJ Rosen is the founder of Atiba, an IT consulting, programming, networking and web development firm located in Nashville. Visit Atiba online at Atiba.com or AtibaSoftware.com. As our kid walked proudly across the stage, celebrated by family and friends, I couldnt help thinking about my own graduation (from the same high school) over 30 years ago. I remembered feeling the finality of an accomplishment after years of hard work. It felt like a victory lap that marked a clear line in the sand where one goal had been achieved and another was about to start. In school, beginnings, endings, and success were well-defined. But from there, as you make your way into the work world, things become fuzzier. The closest thing to a graduation ceremony is a retirement party. But with careers spanning 40 years or more, its hard to compare the two. Without the clarity of test scores and grades, and without the clear finish line that a graduation ceremony represents, in a job, it can sometimes be hard to tell exactly what youre aiming for. I remember struggling with this in my mid-30s. Working day and night, I was determined to be successful. But at some point, I realized that I had no idea what that meant. I found myself missing the measurable goals and on-the-horizon finish line that motivated me when I was in school. I asked a few friends if they were feeling the same way. As expected, the answers were all over the board. My friends who worked in jobs that clearly made the world a better place seemed motivated by the obvious good they were doing for others. Healthcare workers, artists, non-profit professionals, and teachersthese jobs seemed incredibly hard, but the successes they could celebrate along the way were very well-defined, like getting straight As in school. Story continues But for others, like myself, defining success was much harder. Most of us said we wanted to be successful financially, but even that was difficult to put a number on. Discouraged, I realized that in order to stay motivated, I needed to understand the purpose of my work beyond a paycheck. I found myself needing a reason to work hard just like I had a reason to study hard in school. After some soul searching, I determined that for me, the reasons I work come down to: Solving complex problems with smart friends. I realized that despite being an introvert at heart, solving tech and business problems with a group of people I liked gave me great satisfaction. Providing myself and others with the freedom to manage our own time. I wanted to build a workplace where everyone had the flexibility to manage their time in the way they see fit. This made me feel like I was making a difference in other peoples lives. Having the inner confidence to know I am an expert at something interesting. Ive not yet achieved this, but its helped me stay motivated. Doing something different. I enjoy having a unique path. The transition from life in school to life at work is not an easy one. It took me some time to realize this. My hope for the 2022 graduates is that they will create their own definition of success, and their own milestones to celebrate, and that those successes and milestones happen long before retirement. JJ Rosen is the founder of Atiba, a Nashville custom software development and IT support company. Visit www.atiba.com or www.atibanetworkservices.com for more info. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Re-create motivation by figuring out your own goals and celebrating success Position players pitching is one of the most absurd things in sports. Yet it happens with regularity at the MLB level, where professional baseball teams on the wrong end of blowouts trot out most decidedly unprofessional pitchers to face big-league competition. Take, for instance, Frank Schwindel. The Chicago Cubs first baseman is a fine hitter and a solid source of power with eight home runs and 30 RBI in 56 games this season. He is not, however, a capable MLB pitcher. He found himself on the mound in the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday as the New York Yankees held a 17-4 lead at home. The Cubs had gone through four pitchers at that point, and manager David Ross was done putting stress on his bullpen. Catcher Kyle Higashioka was first up at the plate for the Yankees. On his first offering, Schwindel threw out this beauty: Higgy baby one more time. pic.twitter.com/DebAKuWGNI New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 12, 2022 Higashioka responded with his second home run of the day, this one over the left-field wall. Per Codify Baseball, Schwindel's lob clocked in at 35.1 mph and is the slowest recorded pitch in MLB history to result in a home run. Some opined on social media that Scwhindel's toss was an eephus pitch. That's giving it credit for qualifying as a pitch at all, which is generous. Frank Schwindel is not a pitcher (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Schwindel escaped the inning without further damage to the scoreboard in the 18-4 Yankees win. He allowed a base hit to Aaron Judge, but retired the other three batters he faced. Despite the historically bad pitch, it added up to a better effort than Schwindel's previous pitching outing. On June 3, he took the mound for the ninth inning of a 14-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. That day, he allowed two runs on back-to-back home runs by Corey Dickerson and Lars Nootbar. Just days before he is set to lead a Jan. 6 House committee hearing, Illinois Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Sunday it was obvious Donald Trump knew he lost the 2020 election and if the former president believes the election was stolen he is not mentally capable to return to the White House. Kinzinger, one of only two Republicans on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, also warned that if Trump were elected president again, he would install government leaders who value loyalty to him over their oath to the country. Advertisement Speaking on CBS Face the Nation, Kinzinger of Channahon said he will be leading the panels Wednesday hearing, which will be focused on Justice Department activities leading up to, and including, the insurrection and will also include members of Congress who sought pardons from Trump. U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, looks on during a hearing in Washington on June 9, 2022, by the House select committee to Investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images/AFP via Getty Images) Trump continues to insist without evidence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and, in a fundraising email to supporters on Sunday, again labeled the committee hearings another partisan witch hunt. Advertisement Kinzinger said the rejection of election fraud claims by Trumps own attorney general, William Barr, along with the evidence of failed challenges to state election results, debunk Trumps continued baseless allegations that he lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden. If you truly believe the election was stolen then, if the president truly believed that, for instance, hes not mentally capable to be president. I think he didnt believe it. I think the people around him didnt believe it. This was all about keeping power against the will of the American people, said Kinzinger, a frequent Trump critic who is not seeking reelection. The president absolutely tried to overthrow the will of the people and he tried to do it initially through misinformation, for the Department of Justice, theyre pressuring the vice president, and then, on Jan. 6, Kinzinger said. And he was told repeatedly by people that he trusted, that he respected folks around him, that the election wasnt stolen, that there is no corroborating proof of any kind of a stealing or any kind of a corruption that would change the outcome. And so I think its pretty obvious he knew but he didnt want to lose. Kinzinger said Trumps efforts to try to reverse the election outcome by first pressuring the Department of Justice, then Vice President Mike Pence and ultimately Congress through a public attack should be a warning if the former president decides to run again in 2024. I think if Donald Trump gets elected again, there is no doubt in my mind, zero doubt, that he will, instead of screening candidates like he probably did when he got elected in 2016 for qualifications, hes going to screen people based on their loyalty to him, Kinzinger said. Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. I think its important for us as a country to recognize that the importance that the oath to the United States plays, he said. If we have people in power whether its in politics or law enforcement or the military we have any people that are unwilling to put their oath above any loyalty to a person, no law matters. Kinzinger also said Trumps assertion he reached out to the National Guard to help quell the insurrection was false. Advertisement I think its very obvious the president didnt do anything but gleefully watch television while this was going down. He can say anything he wants. The real leader, the only person in charge that made those calls was Mike Pence. Well prove that, Kinzinger said. During the committees opening public hearing on Thursday, the other Republican on the panel, Wyoming congresswoman and committee vice chair Liz Cheney, said Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Scott Perry was one of several Republicans who sought a pardon from Trump in the days after Jan. 6. Perry is one of the leading figures in the effort to throw out Pennsylvanias votes in the 2020 presidential election. Why would you ask for a pardon? Lets just say in general, if somebody asked for a pardon, it would be because they have real concern that maybe theyve done something illegal, Kinzinger said. Perry has denied he sought a pardon and called the accusation an absolute shameless and soulless lie. Kinzinger did not directly address Perrys comments but said of the panel, Were not going to make accusations or say things without proof or evidence backing it. Advertisement rap30@aol.com Jun. 12Mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, have reignited America's gun control debate. Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives quickly passed a slate of gun control measures last week, while groups of senators are huddling to negotiate alternative reforms. Some states also have responded by enacting or proposing additional restrictions. And activists rallied across the country Saturday to demand reforms to keep schoolchildren and other victims safe. But don't expect gun rights to become a prominent political issue in Maine, especially in an election year. The state has a high rate of gun ownership, driven primarily by hunters, and past efforts to restrict firearms have backfired politically, only motivating opponents of gun control to turn out to vote. Maine's aversion to gun restrictions can be traced, in part, to the state's constitution, which says the right to bear arms "shall never be questioned." Another key factor is Maine's rural nature, which not only provides ample opportunity for people to hunt, but also makes people more inclined to purchase firearms for self-protection given that many small towns don't have their own police force, said Jim Melcher, a political science professor at the University of Maine at Farmington. "(Maine) is one of the highest gun ownership states in terms of rates east of the Mississippi and it's generally been fairly resistant to add much in the way of gun control," Melcher said. "Obviously, a lot of hunters and a lot of rural people want to have guns because the police department isn't two blocks away." When gun control does come up as a state-level political issue, it's usually because of an out-of-state group, Melcher said. That was the case in 2016 when former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's group, Everytown for Gun Safety, bankrolled a statewide referendum for universal background checks. It was defeated at the polls by 52 percent of the vote. Story continues Gun rights also is not likely to become a significant issue in the November election, partly because no one in the race has been an advocate for restrictions. And the debate is not expected to become an issue at the local level in Maine, either, for one simple reason: State law prohibits towns and cities from enacting their own gun laws something that has prevented communities like Portland from being able to ban firearms in public meetings and municipal buildings. But Geoff Bickford, executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, believes the political tide is turning toward support for gun control, even in Maine. The state's elected officials are just not keeping pace, he said. "I think the ground has shifted in the public and the perception of the Maine political world is very disconnected from the reality on the ground," Bickford said. "Things that are lifesaving and common sense and don't affect anyone's Second Amendment rights in any way have huge support among the public." Polling has shown that a majority of Mainers supported expanding background checks for gun sales between strangers. Bickford said he doesn't consider the 2016 referendum the last word on the issue, because it was poorly worded to include gun transfers from parents to their children and between family and friends, rather than focusing on background checks for sales at gun shows and classified ads. Bickford said that the current Legislature organized a Gun Safety Caucus, which had over 50 members from the House and Senate representing communities across the state. The group, with the help of stronger community organizing for legislative hearings, is looking to build off of last session's successes of passing less ambitious laws requiring annual state reports on gun violence and safe storage of firearms. While leaders are not likely to take up major reforms at the state or local levels here, Maine politicians and advocates on both sides are involved in the national debate. The Maine Gun Safety Coalition and the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, which advocates for hunters and defends gun rights, are both working with Maine's congressional delegation on a national gun safety package. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, voted in favor of a sweeping gun reform package passed by the House last week, along with nearly all other Democrats and a handful of Republican members. But Rep. Jared Golden, who represents Maine's more conservative 2nd District, was one of two House Democrats who opposed the bill. Golden released a written statement saying he wants a more limited, bipartisan approach. "I am hopeful that the Senate negotiations will result in a bipartisan package that strengthens penalties for illegal straw purchases, makes targeted improvements to the National Instant Background Check System (NICS), and provides federal resources for states to invest in community and school mental health services, safe storage programs, and to implement emergency protection orders similar to Maine's so-called 'yellow flag' law," Golden said. The House bill is expected to fail in the Senate, but Republican Sen. Susan Collins is involved in negotiations for a bipartisan reform package and said she supports elements of the House bill. And independent Sen. Angus King said he would support raising the age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, a key provision in the House bill. David Trahan, executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, said some of the measures being discussed at the national level already exist in Maine, including safe storage laws and the so-called yellow-flag law, which allows police to confiscate firearms of people in mental health crisis after receiving a court order and a medical opinion. "It's not going to be everything the gun control community wants," said Trahan. "We have already done those things in Maine. ... We were ahead of our time." Advocacy groups on both sides of the gun control debate consider Maine to have moderately restrictive gun laws. It is not considered one of the more gun-friendly states by gun rights advocates. Nor is it rated among the states with strong regulations by those pushing for gun controls. Overall, Maine is below the national average when it comes to gun violence, a result of the state's low homicide rate. Maine ranks 26th in the country for gun safety, with about 10.4 gun deaths per 100,000 residents, compared to the national average of 15 deaths, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. However, Maine sees a higher rate of suicides and suicide attempts using firearms than the national average. The rate of death from a gun suicide is 9.2 per 100,000 people in Maine, compared to a rate of 6.9 per 100,000 people nationwide, according data collected by Everytown for Gun Safety. Steve Cartwright of Tenants Harbor lost his son, Joel, in 2008 to suicide with a gun. Cartwright, now 70, said he tried to get his son help after realizing he was spiraling into a deep depression, but was put on a waiting list. Then he had his son involuntarily committed the day after the 24-year-old attempted suicide by taking sleeping pills, but the hospital discharged his son after eight days. Days after leaving the hospital, Joel walked to a sporting goods store, filled out a form and walked out with a handgun and ammunition and shot himself. It should not have been that easy, Steve Cartwright said. "(Joel) seemed to have a good present and a bright future that didn't make (his death) easier," Cartwright said. "What did seem too easy is he could walk into a sporting goods store in Rockland, buy a gun and use it within hours." Cartwright is now among those in Maine who want more to be done to prevent gun violence, including increasing mental health support, expanding background checks to include medical information, implementing waiting periods and banning semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines. "I'm devastated by politicians who don't think we need to do anything about the massacres or think we should arm the teachers or something absurd like that," he said. Melcher said he doesn't expect gun control to become a factor in this fall's race for governor between former Republican Gov. Paul LePage, Democratic incumbent Gov. Janet Mills and political newcomer Sam Hunkler, a physician who is running as an independent. That's partly because Mills has not given LePage any openings to criticize her record on gun control or public safety reforms, he said. "I would say Gov. Mills has really been gingerly handling it," he said. "Compared to what other Democrats would do, she has left fewer opportunities for LePage to poke her on this stuff." Out of the gubernatorial candidates, LePage has perhaps the clearest stance on gun control, saying he would never infringe on the the right to bear arms. In addition to opposing the 2016 referendum, LePage supported a new state law in 2013 that excluded concealed weapons permit information from the state's public records law. He also championed a successful effort to make Maine a constitutional carry state, meaning that people over the age of 21 do not need a permit to carry a concealed firearm unless otherwise prohibited. In a statement released by his campaign to the Press Herald last week, LePage noted that Maine has one of the lowest rates of gun crime, despite its relatively high ownership rates. He blamed gun violence on weak prosecutors in cities, mental illness and a lack of security measures in schools. "The horrific violence we have seen, resulting from mental illness and evil, is only matched by the lawlessness in our nation's largest cities driven by weak prosecutions," said LePage, who worked during his previous two terms to dismantle safety net programs. "We need to enforce the laws we have on the books, punish those who commit violent crimes, and seek stronger school safety measures and an effective mental health safety net," he continued. "As a volunteer for many years in Waterville with charities which provided mental health services, I know it is critical we find and provide a helping hand to those in crisis with mental illness." When asked for specific policy proposals for dealing with mental health issues, his campaign strategist, Brent Littlefield, said LePage would be discussing his ideas "at a later time." Hunkler also said more needs to be done to address mental health issues, but did not offer specifics. "Gun control is another example of where we need to bring all facets to the table," he said. "This issue needs a solution starting from the bottom up rather than the top down. People buy guns because they hunt or they are afraid; neither need multi-magazine assault weapons, though the latter believe they do." He said mental health should be addressed like other health issues. "Anxiety, depression and PTSD are endemic in our society. We need better means to identify children at risk (who become adults at risk) and treat them effectively," he said. Mills, meanwhile, has a more complex record on guns. As a legislator representing the Farmington area from 2002 to 2008, Mills received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association. That endorsement was used against her during the 2018 Democratic primary for governor, even though Mills by then had served as attorney general and, like other Democrats in the race, received a failing grade from the association. During a June 2018 primary debate, Mills talked about how a former romantic partner held a loaded gun to her head while in a drunken rage and she expressed support for restrictions such as banning high-capacity magazines. But she later changed her position and dropped her opposition to semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines after meeting with the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine. The group gave her an A- but ultimately endorsed her Republican opponent, Shawn Moody. After her election, which coincided with the election of Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, Mills made it clear that she was not interested in pursuing universal background checks, noting the failed 2016 referendum. As Maine's attorney general, Mills voiced support for a so-called "red flag" law that would allow police to seek a court order to temporarily confiscate someone's guns if they were deemed by a judge to be a threat to themselves or others. But that bill was vetoed by LePage, who cited a lack of due process for the individual. Mills did not take a position as governor when the red-flag bill was reintroduced by the Democratic Legislature in 2019. Instead, her office helped negotiate a compromise, resulting in the state's existing yellow-flag law. Maine's version adds a requirement that a medical professional provide an assessment of the individual that supports the need for intervention before a gun is taken away. "The Governor's focus has always been to bring together people of different views including Democrats, Republicans, public safety officials, public health officials, members of the judicial system, advocates, community members, and more to implement lasting public safety reforms," Mills spokesperson Lindsay Crete said in an email. "That is the approach she took in 2019 when the Legislature overwhelmingly approved Maine's yellow flag law, and that is the approach she will continue to take with any proposal that comes before the Legislature." One example of how politically sensitivity gun issues are in Maine is a new law directing the state to provide an annual report on gun violence to the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee. Even though the bill was focused solely on collecting data related to firearms violence deaths, suicides and injuries neither "firearm" nor "gun" appeared in the title of the bill: "An Act Directing the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention To Release Annually Public Health Data Regarding Certain Fatalities and Hospitalizations." Keeping firearms out of the title was a way to keep the focus on public health, said its sponsor, Rep. Lori Gramlich, D-Old Orchard Beach. "I was really looking at this through the lens of a public health perspective," Gramlich said. "I wasn't looking at this through the lens of a gun bill." Still, the bill was opposed by all legislative Republicans, plus a few Democrats. Three House Republicans spoke against the bill, citing potential costs and arguing it would infringe on people's Second Amendment rights and be used to create a gun registry. "Public health that is funded by our tax dollars should not be used as a backdoor mechanism to infringe upon our Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms," Rep. John Andrews, R-Paris, said. It became law without the governor's signature Crete said the governor was concerned about funding the initiative. The first report a straightforward three-page document outlining gun-related deaths and injuries in 2020 was quietly submitted to the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee earlier this month. The Legislature also passed a law in 2021 that holds parents and guardians criminally negligent if a child under the age of 16 gains access to an unsecured, loaded firearm and uses it recklessly or in a threatening manner, uses it in a crime or discharges it. That bill narrowly passed the Senate, after passing the House on a mostly party-line vote. It, too, became law without the governor's signature. Bickford, of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, said he's frustrated that Mills, who he believes cares about gun safety issues, didn't work more closely with control advocates during her first term or support expanded background checks or the red-flag law. He hopes that will change is she's re-elected to a second term. Bickford said he was in high school when the Columbine massacre occurred in 1999. He's now a parent who worries about his own children's safety at school and hopes that there's a critical mass of people here in Maine and across the country who support reforms. "We have failed our kids. It is just abysmal that we are now in our second generation that has grown up with school shootings," he said. "I just hope that this is the end that there will not be another generation and that my kids will be able to go to high school and not worry about the sound of every loud door that shuts, or me dropping them off and not knowing if I'm going to pick them up." Oligarchs have put assets such as superyachts in Dubai. Getty Images A growing number of politicians and activists are calling for Dubai to be blacklisted: The Observer. 8 European Parliament members signed an open letter to a European Commissioner demanding sanctions. The Financial Action Task Force watchdog put Dubai on its 'gray' earlier this year. Politicians and activists are calling for Dubai and the United Arab Emirates to be blacklisted over its failure to observe sanctions against Russian oligarchs and stem the flow of dirty money flowing through the UAE. Western countries including the US and UK hit Russia with stringent sanctions in February after Russia invaded Ukraine. This prompted some oligarchs to flee to Dubai and buy properties in the UAE. "Dubai has long been a safe place for dirty money. It should now be put on financial blacklists and its leaders shouldn't be welcome [in Britain]," Bill Browder, a campaigner and critic of Vladimir Putin, told Britain's The Observer newspaper. Browder joins a growing list of politicians and activists who have called for sanctions against the UAE. Last month a group of European Parliament members signed an open letter to European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness calling for the UAE to be blacklisted. "How many scandals will it take before Dubai gets on the EU money laundering list?" asked Kira Peter-Hansen, one of the MEPs to sign the open letter, in a tweet on May 11. The letter came after news reports that the UAE is a safe haven for Russian oligarchs who took their private jets and yachts to places such as Dubai in an attempt to escape western sanctions. "It is clear that the UAE facilitates money laundering at a grand scale," the letter stated. "This is highly damaging to the EU and cannot be tolerated." The Financial Action Task Force, a global financial crime watchdog, placed the UAE on a "gray" list in March to monitor its activities and encourage stronger action against money laundering. An investigation and data leak in Mayt from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) in May exposed how sanctioned individuals have poured money into Dubai. The Dubai Financial Services Authority did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Read the original article on Business Insider Prince Andrew - Paul Grover for the Telegraph The Duke of York has asked the Queen to be reinstated as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, The Telegraph understands, as he pushes for a return to royal duties. Prince Andrew has been lobbying the monarch for his status as a blood prince to be restored, meaning readmittance to official events alongside other members of his family. He has also been pushing for his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, to be made working royals. A source said: The colonelcy of the Grenadier Guards was his most coveted title and he wants it back. Having remained a Counsellor of State, he also believes he should be included at royal and state events. Most importantly for him is his status as an HRH and Prince of the Blood and he feels that should be reinstated and his position recognised and respected. As first revealed in The Telegraph, the Duke will appear in public on Monday alongside senior members of the Royal family at the annual Order of the Garter ceremony, resplendent in full regalia as he takes part in the colourful procession at Windsor Castle. It will be his first official outing since he controversially took centre stage at the Duke of Edinburghs memorial service in March. The Duke inherited the colonelcy of the Grenadier Guards from his father, the Duke of Edinburgh - Paul Grover for the Telegraph As far as his future is concerned, the Duke will be all too aware that time is of the essence, with any potential return to the spotlight only possible with the agreement of the Queen. Prince Charles has made clear that in his opinion, there is no way back. While talks about the Dukes future are very much underway behind the scenes, there is no desire behind palace walls to return any of his honorary military titles or patronages. Although he has the ear of the Queen - visiting her at Windsor Castle several times a week - palace aides are under no illusion about the strength of public feeling over his links with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender, and recent sexual abuse allegations. In February, the Duke paid around 12million to settle a civil case with his accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre after several months of legal wrangling and mud slinging. He has always denied any wrongdoing. Story continues Despite being all effectively sacked as a working royal, he remains ninth in line to the throne and as such, a Counsellor of State, a role undertaken by any spouse of the monarch and the next four adults in the line of succession, currently Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince Harry and Prince Andrew. While senior royals including his three siblings and the Duke of Cambridge, are said to have little sympathy for the Duke given his questionable conduct, they do recognise that a role for him needs to be found. At 62, he still has time to rebuild his life with a new focus away from the public gaze. Despite being cut free from much of the institution when sacked from official duties, both family members and courtiers appreciate that in order to do this, he will need palace support. Clearly at some point soon, thought will have to be given as to how to support the Duke as, away from the public gaze, he seeks slowly to rebuild his life in a different direction, a senior Palace source was quoted as saying. Reports that he could relocate to Scotland, however, are understood to be wide of the mark. Andrew - Kelvin Bruce The Duke inherited the colonelcy of the Grenadier Guards from his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, when he retired from public life in 2017, and it was a position of which he was particularly proud. It was said to have been his desire to wear the regiments formal uniform at the Dukes funeral last April that prompted the decision that all royal men should wear morning coats instead. The colonelcy was returned to the Queen in January. However, when out riding in Windsor, the Duke has continued to wear a waterproof jacket bearing the cypher of the Grenadier Guards and its motto, honi soit qui mal y pense - shame upon he who thinks evil of it. The Duke's spokesperson declined to comment. Meanwhile, the Cambridges are expected to move to a property on the Windsor estate this summer, with Prince George, eight, and Princess Charlotte, seven, starting at a new Berkshire prep school in September, joined by Prince Louis, four. Their private office will remain at Kensington Palace and they plan to maintain their Norfolk bolthole, Anmer Hall, to use as a permanent base after the school years, according to reports. Fayetteville police are investigating a sexual assault that occurred early Sunday morning in a home on Shaw Road, the Police Department said in a statement. Officers responded about 1:45 a.m. Sunday to a report of a sexual assault on the 1400 block of Shaw Road, according to the statement. A preliminary investigation revealed the victim was randomly identified and assaulted by the suspect after he forced his way into her home, police said. The suspect is described as about 25 years old, 5 feet, 8 inches tall and about 160 pounds with a strong build. He had a low afro-style haircut and was wearing light-colored jeans, a blue shirt, light jacket, tennis shoes and a gray knitted hat with a brim, police said. He was operating a heavy-duty "dually" truck, police said. Anyone with information about the investigation or the identity of the suspect is asked to call Detective A. Blake at 910-433-1542 or Fayetteville / Cumberland County Crimestoppers at 910-483-TIPS (8477). Crimestoppers information can also be submitted electronically, by visiting fay-nccrimestoppers.org and completing the anonymous online tip sheet, or by downloading the FREE P3 Tips app available for Apple devices in the Apple App Store and available for Android devices in Google Play. News director Beth Hutson can be reached at bhutson@fayobserver.com. Special Subscription Offers This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville police investigate sexual assault on Shaw Road Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers speaks at meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington, in 2015. NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images Former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said it's "likely" that the country will see a recession. "I think there's certainly a risk of recession in the next year," he told CNN on Sunday. His opinion opposes Janet Yellen, who said last week nothing is pointing to a recession. Former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summer suggested that "it's more than likely" the country will grapple with a recession "within the next two years." "I think when inflation is as high as it is right now, and unemployment is as low as it is right now, it's almost always been followed within two years... by recession," Summers said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday. "I look at what's happening in the stock and bond markets. I look at where consumer sentiment is," he added. "I think there's certainly a risk of recession in the next year. And I think, given where we have gotten to, it's more likely than not that we will have a recession within the next two years." He was responding to host Dana Bash's question about current US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's recent remarks, where she eased the fears of a possible recession, saying "there's nothing to suggest that a recession is in the works." "Consumer spending is very strong, investment spending is solid," she said at the New York Times Dealbook conference in Washington DC last week, responding to concerns tweeted by hip hop star Cardi B. During the interview, Summers added that a recession is something the US can take on. "That is something we can manage. We have had them for the whole history of the country," Summers said. "We need to be prepared and to respond quickly if and when it happens." Read the original article on Business Insider Most readers would already be aware that Fortescue Metals Group's (ASX:FMG) stock increased significantly by 18% over the past three months. Given that the market rewards strong financials in the long-term, we wonder if that is the case in this instance. Specifically, we decided to study Fortescue Metals Group's ROE in this article. ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments. See our latest analysis for Fortescue Metals Group How Is ROE Calculated? ROE can be calculated by using the formula: Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) Shareholders' Equity So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Fortescue Metals Group is: 57% = US$9.0b US$16b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021). The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each A$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made A$0.57 in profit. Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth? We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. Assuming all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features. Fortescue Metals Group's Earnings Growth And 57% ROE To begin with, Fortescue Metals Group has a pretty high ROE which is interesting. Secondly, even when compared to the industry average of 16% the company's ROE is quite impressive. Under the circumstances, Fortescue Metals Group's considerable five year net income growth of 43% was to be expected. Story continues We then compared Fortescue Metals Group's net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 26% in the same period. Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Fortescue Metals Group is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry. Is Fortescue Metals Group Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits? Fortescue Metals Group's significant three-year median payout ratio of 78% (where it is retaining only 22% of its income) suggests that the company has been able to achieve a high growth in earnings despite returning most of its income to shareholders. Besides, Fortescue Metals Group has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 67% of its profits over the next three years. However, Fortescue Metals Group's future ROE is expected to decline to 21% despite there being not much change anticipated in the company's payout ratio. Conclusion In total, we are pretty happy with Fortescue Metals Group's performance. We are particularly impressed by the considerable earnings growth posted by the company, which was likely backed by its high ROE. While the company is paying out most of its earnings as dividends, it has been able to grow its earnings in spite of it, so that's probably a good sign. With that said, on studying the latest analyst forecasts, we found that while the company has seen growth in its past earnings, analysts expect its future earnings to shrink. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. SUMMERVILLE, S.C. Freshman Rep. Nancy Mace's first job as a high school dropout was at the Waffle House off College Park Road in Ladson, South Carolina. That was before she became the first woman to graduate from The Citadel, before she flipped South Carolina's first congressional district and before she criticized former President Donald Trump for his actions on Jan. 6. Her criticism of Trump over the Capitol riot landed her a Trump-backed challenger in Tuesday's primary election, even as Mace now scrambles to woo Republicans and prove that she does, in fact, support the president, despite a vote to certify Joe Biden's victory in 2020. Mace's maneuvering is about more than just her district, though. For people across the political spectrum, the race will help answer a basic question: How far can Republicans buck Donald Trump and still survive in office? Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) speaks at a press conference on the introduction of the Active Shooter Alert Act 2022, outside of the U.S. Capitol Building on May 19, 2022 in Washington, DC. The direction of the Republican conference in 2023 is much more dependent on the fate of Republicans who did not vote to impeach (Trump) but have crossed Trump in some other way, said David Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. The way that Republicans in this predicament have been successful is to make the races more personal and less ideological, Wasserman said. That's what we're seeing Nancy Mace do in South Carolina. Trump: Who will be Jan. 6 hearing's most avid viewer? Donald Trump, with a team ready to hit back. On Sunday morning nine days before the primary, none of the employees nor two tables of diners at the very Waffle House that Mace proudly traces her career back to said they were following the primary election or knew anything about the race. Outside, below the restaurant's signature yellow sign that lines highways throughout the South, three yard signs provided the only indication of the upcoming contest: one for Mace, and two for Katie Arrington that declared in all capital letters that she is the Trump endorsed candidate. Story continues Biden midterms strategy: Why Biden is blasting the 'ultra MAGA' agenda, not Donald Trump, in his midterm push Arrington versus Mace If Arrington defeats Mace, it wont be the first time she took out an incumbent in the district. In 2018, Arrington mounted a primary challenge against then-incumbent U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, a Trump critic. Trump endorsed her the day of the primary, and Arrington won the nomination. She went on to lose the general to former Rep. Joe Cunningham, the first Democrat elected to represent the district in decades, 50.7% to 49.3%. Arringtons backers attribute the loss to a severe car accident before election day. Cunningham represented the seat for just one term before Mace won the seat back for Republicans in 2020 also with the endorsement of Trump 50.6% to 49.4%. South Carolina Rep.Katie Arrington campaigns after voting for herself in the primary election, June 12, 2018 at Bethany United Methodist Church in Summerville, S.C. Trump won the district by six points in 2020, and by about 13 points in 2016. Whichever woman emerges from Tuesdays primary will face Democrat pediatrician Annie Andrews in November. I think people understand that Im not going to lose it. I won it for Republicans, and Ill keep it in Republican hands, Mace told USA TODAY while knocking doors in Moncks Corner the week before the election. Midterms:Here are ten House races to watch in 2022 An overlap in the statehouse Mace dropped out of high school but went on to become the first woman to graduate from The Citadels Corps of Cadets in 1999. She ran a PR and marketing firm with clients that included current GOP Sen. Tim Scott and former Rep. Mick Mulvaney, according to the Post and Courier. Nancy Mace is congratulated by fellow band members after The Citadel Class of 1999 was dismissed from the long gray line Friday, May 7, 1999, in Charleston, S.C. Mace was the first woman to be a part of the traditional long gray line, consisting of all the graduating seniors, and became the first woman to graduate from The Citadel. In 2014 she primaried GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, and in 2016 she worked for the Trump campaign. The following year she was elected to the state legislature, and in 2019 she launched her campaign for Congress. In the statehouse, Mace pushed for the inclusion of exceptions for rape and incest in an abortion ban bill, citing her own rape while in high school which she largely blames for pushing her to drop out. Arrington also served in the state house, overlapping with Mace. After her congressional bid, she served as at the Pentagon as Chief Information Security Officer for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Acquisition and Sustainment. Her job at the Pentagon has become a major talking point in the race because her security clearance in the role was suspended and she was placed on leave before ultimately resigning, after she was accused of improperly disclosing classified information. According to the Associated Press, the issue revolved around Arrington communicating with a contractor mentioned in a top-secret briefing, whose name Arrington said had been revealed before she received the information. Arrington has said that her departure from the Pentagon was political, telling the AP I literally got blacklisted because I was a Republican, because I was associated with Trump. Some voters arent buying it. Her security clearance, that's a huge thing. I'm a retired military person. I still work for the government. I've had the DOD clearance for 26 years, said Jason Daley, a Trump supporter backing Mace from Mount Pleasant. I've been investigated three different times. I'm still standing here and everyone knows who I am as a Republican, so it's not a hit. The Mace campaign has slammed Arrington over the security clearance, a message that Mace said has been coming up more since her campaign did an ad on it. Outside one home in Moncks Corner, a man riding a lawnmower brought it up unprompted as Mace approached his door: Youre in luck, we dont like Ms. Arrington very much. She cant keep her clearance, she cant work for me. A mean tweet and cheap gas Mace and her allies also criticize Arringtons vote for a South Carolina's 2017 gas tax overhaul while in the state legislature. Arringtons camp in turn calls Mace as a sellout who has chased media attention and prioritized issues that don't matter to the district including legislation shes introduced around Britney Spears, marijuana and pandas. House of Representatives candidate Katie Arrington stands on a step stool while speaking to a crowd during a rally with former U.S. President Donald Trump at the Florence Regional Airport on March 12, 2022 in Florence, South Carolina. The visit by Trump was his first rally in South Carolina since his election loss in 2020. The top refrain from the Arrington campaign remains, however, that she has the endorsement of Trump, and that Mace does not as a result of her public break from the former president. Trump looms large over the race, having backed Arrington, then Mace, then Arrington again in the last three elections for the seat. He is the most popular Republican figure in South Carolina, Steven Wright, chair Dorchester County Republican Party, told USA TODAY at Summervilles Coastal Coffee Roasters. Much of the press and pundits want to talk about his rhetoric, they want to talk about the way he behaved in office. I will take a mean tweet and $1.85 gas right now, he said. Trump endorsed Arrington just days after she announced her bid. In a February statement Trump said: Katie Arrington is running against an absolutely terrible candidate whose remarks and attitude have been devastating to her community, and not at all representative of the Republican party to which she has been very disloyal. The number one thing that matters to him is loyalty, and he has stated publicly he feels that Congresswoman Mace has been disloyal, said Wright, who is staying neutral in the primary due to his role as county chair. May primary takeaways: Trump's revenge tour falters in Georgia as Kemp, Raffensperger crush GOP rivals Past isn't even past On a telephone townhall a week before the election, Trump said Arrington is fighting hard. She's a really good woman who's working very hard and doing pretty well, I have to tell you, Trump said. Mace has a complicated history with Trump. She was a coalitions director and field director for his 2016 campaign and ran with his support. "I helped run seven states for Trump in '16. So I ran the ground game, phone banking the door knocking, the data," Mace said while knocking doors near the Cooper River. "That's the irony in all this. I learned a lot on that campaign and a lot of folks that I worked with or that volunteered for me in those states are volunteering for me now." But just days after being sworn in, Mace broke hard with Trump as rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. She said at the time that Trump and Republicans legacy for the previous four years was wiped out by the attack and voted to certify Trump's defeat at the hands of Joe Biden. Jan. 6 committee hearings: Will they affect the 2022 elections? That decision is top of mind for some constituents who have decided to back Arrington instead. On Jan. 6, I was really looking for some strong leadership, said stay-at-home mom Shannon Renfro at the Summerville Republican Womens Clubs June meeting, who is voting for Arrington. I was disappointed by an elected official who jumped to conclusions and rushed in front of a camera. While she criticized the former president heavily at the time, Mace has drifted back toward Trump. After Trump endorsed Arrington, Mace recorded a selfie video in front of Trump Tower outlining her past support and ties to the former president. I was one of his earliest supporters, Mace said in the video. It may be a difficult sell: Mace did not vote to impeach the former president but some in her district believe she did. At the women's club lunch, attendee Pat Antonsen, who said she was undecided in the race but leaning towards Mace, expressed concern that others in the district, including at the club meeting, believe Mace voted to impeach. You hear that a lot, she said. Still, Mace has worked to woo Trump supporters in the district who may be convinced by his endorsement to back Arrington. On the front porch of a constituent who said she will not be supporting Mace in the primary, the congresswoman quickly listed off her priorities around the economy and supply chain and stressed her support of Trump. "I will tell you President Trump was the number one president," Mace said. "I hope I have your support in November." Despite his large presence in the race, many are reluctant to make Tuesday's results a referendum on Trump. If Mace wins they will say Trump rejected in South Carolina. And if Katie wins, they will say an insurrection happened in the first district. I don't think either of those headlines will be right, said Wright. I think that voters here have demonstrated time and time again, we're independent in our thinking and whichever way you want to look at it, we need to not look at it through the eyes of Donald Trump. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: South Carolina primary: GOP Rep. Mace tries to woo Trump voters A group of Black Detroit officers say they were denied service at a restaurant because of their race. The alleged incident happened when 11 off-duty officers, who were mostly Black, went to a restaurant in Novi, Michigan after their shift on Monday night. The officers said they waited several minutes to be seated, but the Bar Louie manager later came out and told them the kitchen was closed. One of my co-workers asked, What time does the kitchen close? He didnt give us a direct answer, Sgt. Myron Watkins told Fox 2. He pulled out his cell phone, looked at his cell phone and said, Its 9:26 and it closes at 9:30.' According to Fox 2, nine of the 11 officers are Black, one is Latino and the other is white. After they were allegedly denied service, the officers asked another Black man nearby to go in and try to get service. He was able to sit down, had a menu and he asked them whats good to eat? officer Dominique Brown told the newsstation. She responded A burger. We didnt get that treatment. Although the Black customer was served without issue, the officers said they still felt that the restaurant had racially discriminated against them. One single Black guy isnt a problem, officer Johnathon Gardner told Fox 2. As a group, I feel we were judged. They looked at us, and they judged us as a group, (like) This is too many Black people coming into our establishment, this is too big of a concern, theyre going to cause a scene or a ruckus. And I feel like they judged us. Gardner, who has served 15 years in the military, said it felt like Jim Crow all over again. Like I told them outside being a Detroit police officer, Im in the military for 15 years, and when you add it up weve all got 40 years weve served this country between us, Gardner said. And its like we can serve our country, but we cant come in and have a burger, we cant have anything to eat. Its kind of infuriating because the same people we fight for, wont even serve us. Story continues The officers, who eventually went to a Buffalo Wild Wings nearby, said they saw Bar Louie still opened later that night. Once we left the other restaurant, as we were walking by Bar Louie, they were serving food. And that was around 11 oclock at night, Watkins said. So their kitchen didnt close. It was just closed for us. According to the officers, the restaurant also has a sign on the door that says kitchen stays open late. A spokesperson for Bar Louie said the restaurant has apologized for the incident. We have reached out to the group of officers to sincerely apologize for their experience and invited them back in to enjoy a chef-inspired meal and handcrafted cocktails on us, the spokesperson said in a statement to Fox 2. While we regret the incident occurred, we will use this opportunity to better train and educate our teams to ensure that it never happens again. Phone scams and fraud are nothing new; and unfortunately, a vast majority of these scams are being targeted toward the 50+ and their parents. There are several universal truths that exist in human nature, which are very familiar to most of us. To name a few, it is commonly true that people worldwide want to be loved and accepted, realize contentment and gain a reasonable level of financial security. Along with the other aforementioned truths, realization of financial security is particularly imperative as aging is inevitable; and as we age, our financial security becomes more critical not only for ourselves but also for the future of our loved ones. I want to expose some of the unfortunate incidents that have occurred in recent years pertaining to the theft of funds from individuals and the tactics being used that are not obvious to everyone. More advice: Do not be misled by Medicare disinformation; here are some tips to help When I mention the idea of personal funds being stolen, I am sure it is easy to conjure up images of people being held up on the street, a home invasion or even a bank robbery. However, these thieves are lurking in the most innocuous places and frighteningly have direct access to us on a daily basis. These scams and fraud are nothing new; and unfortunately, a vast majority of these scams are being targeted toward the 50+ and their parents. However, the way they are being conducted has changed drastically with the use of technology and intelligence to manipulate and circumvent the authorities. According to https://stacker.com, more than 60% of internet users in the U.S. have experienced a cybercrime; and in 2020 alone, this percent of the population lost more than $966 million to online fraud. I feel it is crucial that you, the hard-working citizens of this great country, as well as those who have worked a lifetime for their financial security, learn how to be a part of the solution to shutting down these operations. Candler Eve, the vice president, director of Enterprise Fraud at MidFirst Bank in Oklahoma City, spoke with me about how they, along with other banks, are actively networking to thwart these scammers. As an expert on the topic of scam and fraud prevention, he explained that these fraudsters will target anyone to scam; however, there are specific scams they use depending on the persons age or demographic. Seniors are often targeted because the scammer connects with something they value such as generating problems with a family member, creating an issue with the IRS, and initiating phantom complications with their computers or banking accounts. As I talked about last month, they are also using Medicare fraud. The scammers instill a certain level of fear and urgency that takes advantage of the victim. Story continues Eve explained that these scams often involve calling seniors at home to tell them a family member has been arrested and is in jail or in major trouble, along with the above-mentioned created scams. They instruct the victim not to tell anyone or ask questions because there is a current gag order about the situation. The victim who is then fearful to question anything is directed to go to his/her bank to withdraw money. These scammers instruct them not to share any information with the bank tellers because this will cause even further problems. Often using rental vehicles or curriers, the scammers will have the victim withdraw thousands of dollars to be put into boxes or containers and dropped off for pick up. Regrettably, by the time the victim realizes they have been scammed and reports it to the authorities, it is rare for the money to be successfully traced, found and returned. This is why it is so important to stay informed and educated on this subject. This scenario may sound familiar from personal experience or hearsay, but sadly these situations are happening on a daily basis. Eve explained that these scams have become so frequent that banks are creating specific divisions focused primarily on scam and fraud prevention, detection and investigation. Banks often work together to discuss the generalities of scams and frauds. This It is quickly becoming a community effort to stop the scammers. Additionally, bank employees are receiving training specific to fraud detection to identify the signs of a potential victim withdrawing funds. Each expert I spoke to regarding this subject mentioned that the Oklahoma Bankers Association elected Elaine Dodd in 2003 to be the executive vice president of the Fraud Division. According to www.oba.com, Dodd is a retired Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent who spent 22 years investigating white-collar crimes as a diversion investigator. Since joining the association, she has provided fraud training to thousands of bankers and customers across the state. Scam and fraud prevention education empowers people to avoid these fraudsters, which is a vital component to interrupting their operations. Experts emphasized that if you or someone you know is ever contacted about a suspicious or unusual situation, be sure to call and confirm the information with a trusted family member, friend or local bank representative to be certain of its validity. Avoiding and not answering unknown calls is best, but it is a good idea for all families to have a family code word that is specific to only them that can be used for verification if needed. These actions are key to helping shut down these heartless scammers and fraudsters. This article will be a two-part series and will be continued in the next months issue. I have had the privilege to speak with two other experts in this field, Erin Batey who is the chief communications and innovations officer at Quail Creek Bank in Oklahoma City, and also Alicia Wade, the president and chief operating officer at Valliance Bank in Oklahoma City. Both are decidedly included in this endeavor to stop scams and fraud in Oklahoma. They will shed light on these disturbing crimes that are plaguing our fellow senior citizens and potentially our friends and family members. More from Gunn: Are you or someone you know a family caregiver? Respite support is available. Robin Gunn Robin Gunn is the owner of The Oklahoma Senior Journal. She can be reached at rgunn@okseniorjournal.com This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ignoring unknown calls could save you from scammers Vietnam makes continuous efforts to fight IUU fishing Over the past four years, the Vietnamese fisheries sector has been implementing recommendations from the European Commission (EC) to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The southern province of Kien Giang, one of 28 coastal localities, has rolled out various policies and activities to raise local awareness of the 2017 Law on Fisheries. Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Le Huu Toan, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said all boats in Kien Giang that operate offshore and measure 15m and above in length have been equipped with monitoring devices. Since late 2021, no violations have been detected in the province, the official said, adding that Kien Giang will continue efforts to deal with limitations in the fight against IUU fishing this year. The south central province of Ninh Thuan has also taken measures against illegal fishing, including communication activities and warnings. Dang Van Tin, head of the provincial department of fisheries, said apart from monitoring devices, his agency has sent engineers to support fishermen off Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Kien Giang provinces. Over the past two years, Ninh Thuan has organised 70 training courses for 3,000 boat owners, captains and fishermen, with 2,300 boat owners committing not to operating illegally in foreign waters. Thanks to free trade agreements (FTAs) and advantages of quality and diversity, Vietnamese seafood products have seen their competitiveness improve across the world market. To ensure sustainable maritime economic development, localities like Kien Giang, Ca Mau, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen have stepped up aquaculture efforts. The Directorate of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said as of late 2021, aquaculture farms covered 260,000ha with a combined output of 600,000 tonnes. China's Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development Index, based on a survey of 3,000 SMEs, edged down 0.1 points from the previous month to 88.2 in May, the latest industry data showed. The index saw its decline narrow from the previous month, but still made the fourth consecutive month of fall for the gauge, the lowest since 2021, said the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises. Severe epidemic situations in major cities which choked industrial and supply chains, coupled with overseas uncertainties, have undermined the business prospects of SMEs, said the association. The sub-indexes for capital and labor force stood in the expansion zone in May, while that for costs was in the contraction zone, indicating rising business costs for SMEs. The survey on samples showed business resumption made better progress in May but still was at a lower level. The share of enterprises operating at full capacity rose 2.2 percentage points compared with that in April. The industry group calls for faster implementation of the State Council's policy package last month which includes a prominent part contributing to bolstering micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen have released 11 passengers who were abducted during a train attack in northern Nigeria at the end of March, a government minister said, though dozens of others are thought to remain in captivity. Gbemisola Saraki, the minister of state for transportation, said in a statement late on Saturday that the government was working to ensure all the kidnapped passengers were released. The freed passengers were taken to a hospital in Abuja. Saraki did not say how and where they were released, or if ransom was paid. Armed gangs, known locally as bandits, blew up the track on the Abuja-Kaduna route in the north of the country and opened fire on the night train on March 28, killing eight people. Nigeria's state railway company initially said it could not account for 168 people who according to a passenger log had booked to travel on the train. Most were later traced to their homes, but 65 were confirmed missing. Video released by the suspected bandits has since shown a number of people in captivity who identified themselves as passengers from the train. "As grateful as we are for this positive development, we are equally mindful of the anguish of all the victims and their families, who have unfortunately endured and (are) still enduring unimaginable trauma since the tragic incident," Saraki said. Bandits have killed and abducted hundreds of people for ransom in northern Nigeria, leaving citizens terrified. Marking Democracy Day on Sunday, President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigerians were worried by rising insecurity, but promised his government was working to contain the situation and ensure a safe and secure general election in early 2023. "I am living daily with the grief and worry for all those victims and prisoners of terrorism and kidnapping," said Buhari in a televised speech. (Reporting by Garba Muhammad in Kaduna and Felix Onuah in Abuja; Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Jan Harvey) Members of the Eliminators Car Club drove their classic cars along the old Route 66 to California in 2010. In September of 2010, the Eliminators Car Club took a trip to San Bernadino, California, via Old Route 66 to attend the 21st Annual Rendezvous. Glenn Steiner and Carl Cooperider spent several weeks planning the trip itinerary. They checked the age of the motel, when it was remodeled, how far off the interstate, aerial view of surroundings and available restaurants. On Sept. 8, 2010, a group of 13 from the Eliminators Car Club left in seven classic cars from Bucyrus: Guy and Ann Dunn; Bill and Joyce Bloomfield; Bud and Carole Schiefer; Jim and Louann Miller; Paul Stinehelfer; Jim Brown and Harold Siefert. Because of the age of the cars, they had a check list of things that could easily go wrong. Everyone had different spare parts in their trunks, hopefully to cover all problems. They traveled in a caravan and used their cell phones to communicate. When it was time for dinner, where one went, they all went. Day One heading to Vandalia, Illinois, a 397-mile trip, things went smoothly. Day Two planned stops included Chain of Rocks Bridge that used to go across the Mississippi. It was the worse for wear as over the years; semis had hit the bridge when they drove through it. They traveled on to the St. Louis Arch and they went up into it and on to the Merrimac Caverns and Jesse James Hideout. The caravan had a delay when some of the group went the wrong way, but at day's end they had traveled 205 miles. Day Three plans for 394 miles of travel. They passed Joplin and headed to the scenic route of Kansas. One of cars had trouble with the brakes. The entire caravan stopped in the middle of the road, jacked up the car, and it was fixed. Ironically not a single car drove by. Leaving Kansas, they headed for the Trains and Mining Museum and the last of Rainbow Bridges with a big arch. Then they continued on to the Blue Whale which a guy built in the mid '30s out of fiber and concrete. In the '40s and '50s you could slide down into the water. One car had trouble with wiring and it was fixed at this point. Before they left Oklahoma they saw The Round Barn and ended another day just in time for their community dinner. Story continues Day Four while still in Oklahoma they planned to drive 269 miles. They saw the Federal Building that Timothy McVeigh bombed and caused so many deaths. Next was the Leaning Tower, a yesteryear water tower, built as a "tourist trap." Day Five with 288 miles to go one sight was Cadillac Ranch where half of the car is buried and people go thru and spray paint on those cars. Crossing into New Mexico they saw the block long mural and Blue Swallow Motel. Day Six with 286 miles ahead they toured the Laguna Indian Pueblo, watched for old lava beds, and toured the Mining Museum. Entering Arizona they saw the Red Rock Cliffs, the Querino Canyon, trading post ruins, the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. In Oatman, Arizona, on a stop, the burros wouldnt leave Carole Schiefer alone; they walked beside her and she didnt like it. Day Seven 130 miles ahead they saw the Meteor Crater, but then had car trouble when the starter went out until a wrecker came and towed it. They had to stay overnight. Day Eight with 160 miles to the Grand Canyon. Day Nine entering California, they arrived in San Bernardino, a day before the car show. Spaces were marked off for 1,900 cars to park, including their group. Theyve arrived for the two-day show, but one of the cars was having transmission problems a very big deal. One of the members of the Good Guys Car Club came and fixed it. The other Eliminator members took a side trip to the ocean. All the classic cars were judged, and Bud Schiefer was the only one of the group to get a trophy. He made sure on the return trip that everyone knew about it too. They visited Las Vegas and continued on north where they saw a Copper Mine, Bonneville Salt Flats and Yellowstone, and Mt. Rushmore, North Dakota. The big Wall Drugs offered a glass of water at no charge; signs were everywhere. Glenn needed more than water when he got sick and bought some meds and finished the day with his head hanging out the window. Carl Cooperider had taken over the wheel at this point! They visited the Corn Palace and House on the Rock in Wisconsin. The last big city ahead was Chicago and everyone was given the ultimatum to have fuel, drinks and leave by 7 a.m. Carole wasnt too happy about it, but she took it very well. When they arrived back home to Bucyrus, they were better friends then when they left. Go online for more of Mary Foxs stories and photos on bucyrustelegraphforum.com. If you are interested in sharing a story, write Mary Fox, 931 Marion Road, Bucyrus, OH 44820 or email littlefoxfactory@columbus.rr.com. This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: It Happened in Crawford County: Eliminators Car Club California trip Scott Hegle and his guide dog, Lumiere, stand under the Pedestrian Bridge during the CMA Fest in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, June 11, 2022. Scott Hegle wove through the crowd like a pro by the Riverfront Stage at CMA Fest on Saturday, with a little help from his guide dog, Lumiere. "He does not mind the crowds at all," Hegle said. "I'm totally blind, so he's my eyes. I would not be here without him." Hegle is a music fanatic, but he said country music has a special place in his heart. This year marked his fifth CMA Fest. He traveled by himself with Lumiere, a golden retriever he affectionately calls "Lumi," from Janesville, Wisconsin. Hegle's wife and 15-year-old son stayed behind. He said his family used to worry about him when he traveled, but they've grown more comfortable with it over the years. "They're very supportive," Hegle said. Hegle also often travels for his job with the American Printing House for the Blind. He works with teachers and visually impaired students. In his free time, he tries to make it out to hear live music as often as he can. Lumiere, Scott Hegles guide dog, rests in the shade under the Pedestrian Bridge during the CMA Fest in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, June 11, 2022. So how exactly does a guide dog like Lumiere get someone through dense crowds, busy streets and a massive lineup of performances across several stages? Lumiere knows to disobey a command if he knows it would put Hegle into an unsafe situation. Part of his training is to do traffic checks to keep Hegle out of harm's way. Lumiere is also trained to guide Hegle to the left, which keeps him away from the street and curbs. "It's the worst on bike paths," Hegle said with a chuckle. Hegle also uses assistive technology on his iPhone to book rides and find information about the festival, uses beeping signals at crosswalks when they've available and relies the kindness of strangers as he goes along. Most days at CMA Fest, Hegle said he stopped dozens of times to ask for help. Scott Hegle smiles at the CMA Fest in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, June 11, 2022. "People are amazing," he said. One day, Lumiere navigated Hegle all the way through the jam-packed exhibits and shops along Lower Broadway with no problems. "I bent down and hugged him after that," Hegle said. "I couldn't believe what he was doing." Story continues Dogs of CMA Fest: Dogs of CMA Fest: These very good pups join the fun in downtown Nashville Day 3 recap: CMA Fest's third day delivered these unforgettable moments Sometimes, Lumiere gets distracted. When that happens, Hegle will pause and take moment to help his dog refocus. Lumiere also knows that when Hegle lowers or drops his harness, he can take a break from guiding him. Scott Hegle and his guide dog, Lumiere, navigate through the entrance of Riverfront Park at the CMA Fest in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, June 11, 2022. At the end of the day, when they get back to the hotel room, he takes Lumiere's harness off. One night he said they got back to the hotel at 1:30 a.m. but that didn't slow Lumiere down. "You should see him play," Hegle said. "He jumped on the bed, rolled on the floor, ran around, jumped on me." Hegle said he fit as many shows into his days at CMA Fest as possible. He especially enjoyed how Kane Brown blended different styles. "He'd go from hip-hop into country with fiddles in the same song," Hegel said. Scott Hegle and his guide dog, Lumiere, navigate through crowds at the CMA Fest in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, June 11, 2022. He also loved Zac Brown Band and was excited for Priscilla Block and Luke Combs on Saturday. Organizers estimated on Saturday that 67,000 people had attended the festival so far. Sunday's lineup featured acts like Blanco Brown and Brittney Spencer, among others, with Dierks Bentley and others set to play at Nissan Stadium that night. The day was the hottest and most humid yet for the festival, with highs in the 90s and a slight chance for storms in the afternoon and evening. Find reporter Rachel Wegner at rawegner@tennessean.com or on Twitter @rachelannwegner. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: CMA Fest 2022: Lumiere the guide dog helps owner through crowds Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov urged city residents not to attend any mass events arranged by the Russian occupation authorities and collaborating city officials. Read also: Resident of Enerhodar on living under Russian occupation: We hope for survival According to insider information from sources close to the special services of Ukraine, provocations are being prepared against citizens of Ukraine by the special services of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied cities of the Zaporizhzhya Oblast, Orlov wrote on the Telegram messenger on June 11. I urge you, for your own safety, not to attend mass events planned by the ruscists (Russian fascists) in Enerhodar on June 12!!! Orlov wrote. Read also: Explosion rocks home of Enerhodar puppet mayor He gave no indication what provocations the Russians might be planning. The Jacksonville Jaguars and TIAA Bank Field Stadium Partners will host a job fair Sunday, June 12 from 10 a.m. to noon Monday, June 13 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at TIAA Bank Field. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< Hosted by the Jaguars Guest Experience Department, the event will help the team and its stadium partners fill more than 1,000 part-time positions for all 2022 home games and other stadium events. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] Available positions include ushers, ticket takers, food service staff, bartenders, servers, cashiers, security, merchandise staff, housekeeping, and parking attendants. Professional dress, a smile and a pen are recommended. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] As the number of people sentenced for crimes in the Capitol insurrection nears 200, an analysis of sentencing data shows that some judges are divided over how to punish the rioters. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) An Ohio couple climbed through a broken window of the U.S. Capitol and livestreamed a video of themselves inside. A Texas mortgage broker posed for a selfie in front of rioters breaching the building. An Indiana hair salon owner celebrated on Facebook a day after she joined the pro-Donald Trump mob. Federal prosecutors did not seek prison time for any of them after they pleaded guilty to petty offenses for their actions Jan. 6, 2021. The judge had other ideas. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan put them all behind bars, describing it as the appropriate punishment for their participation in the riot that halted the certification of President Biden's victory, sent lawmakers running for their lives and left dozens of police officers beaten and bloodied. As the number of people sentenced for crimes in the insurrection nears 200, an Associated Press analysis of sentencing data shows that some judges are divided over how to punish the rioters, particularly for the low-level misdemeanors arising from the attack. Were asking judges to do what they think is right, and they dont agree on whats right, said Greg Hunter, a lawyer defending several Jan. 6 defendants. A House committee that held it first public hearing Thursday cast a wide net in its investigation of the insurrection, examining how then-President Trump and his allies tried to undermine the election results. So far, the Justice Departments criminal investigation has focused primarily on the hundreds of Trump supporters who broke through police barricades, shattered windows, attacked officers and stormed into the Capitol. Chutkan, a former assistant public defender who was nominated to the bench by President Obama, has consistently taken the hardest line against Jan. 6 defendants of any judge serving on Washington's federal trial court, which is handling the more than 800 cases brought so far in the largest prosecution in Justice Department history. Chutkan has handed out tougher sentences than the department was seeking in seven cases, matched its requests in four others and sent all 11 riot defendants who have come before her behind bars. In the four cases in which prosecutors did not seek jail time, Chutkan gave terms ranging from 14 days to 45 days. Story continues Overall, the 20 judges who have sentenced riot defendants have given lighter sentences than prosecutors were seeking in nearly three-fourths of the cases. The judges have exceeded prosecutors' recommendation for about 10% of the defendants, according to APs analysis. Most judges appointed by presidents of both political parties have gone easier on defendants than prosecutors wanted in most or all of their cases so far. Though some judges have sentenced few Jan. 6 defendants, no other judge besides Chutkan has exceeded prosecutors' recommended punishment in most of the cases assigned to them. Depending on the judge you get, the same facts could get you anything from probation to months in jail, said Hunter, the defense lawyer. When you can literally look at who the judge is, who has been assigned to a case, and know that every defendant is going to get more time or less time because of the judge they drew ... that doesnt promote respect for the law, he added. In one case, two friends from Indiana, Dona Sue Bissey and Anna Morgan-Lloyd, both pleaded guilty to the same misdemeanor offense for engaging in essentially the same conduct inside the Capitol. Prosecutors did not seek jail time for either, noting their lack of a criminal record. Chutkan sentenced Bissey to 14 days in jail. A different judge sentenced Bissey's friend to probation. While Judge Royce Lamberth did not send Morgan-Lloyd to jail, he has also been among the toughest judges on defendants. In one case, Lamberth, who was nominated by President Reagan, gave a Pennsylvania man two months behind bars for a misdemeanor when prosecutors were seeking only two weeks. More than 300 people have pleaded guilty in connection with the insurrection to crimes that include misdemeanors and felony seditious conspiracy. Five others have been convicted at trial. A judge decided two other cases without a jury, acquitting one defendant and partially acquitting the other. The Jan. 6 cases pose a unique challenge for judges in that even though the riot was unlike anything the country has seen before, hundreds of people were charged only with misdemeanors such as illegal entry that typically do not land first-time offenders behind bars. Some judges have criticized prosecutors for what they see as disparities in prosecutors' charging decisions across the cases and their recommendations for punishment. Chief Judge Beryl Howell, an Obama nominee, has sharply questioned whether prosecutors are letting off some rioters too easy with misdemeanor plea deals even as they describe the insurrection as an attack on democracy. To be sure, every case and defendant is different. Also, judges must weigh a slew of factors, including the seriousness of the crime, the persons criminal history, whether the defendant admitted guilt and showed remorse and what sentences similarly situated defendants have received in order to avoid unwarranted disparities. In the case of a Maryland man who sprayed a fire extinguisher at officers defending the Capitol, prosecutors sought more than four years in prison. But Judge Randolph Moss sentenced Matthew Ryan Miller to less than three years, noting that the man was just 22 years old on Jan. 6, 2021, was intoxicated when he stormed the Capitol and has shown remorse. Before handing down the punishment, Moss said he believes judges have done a good job at ensuring the punishments are consistent while also weighing the individual factors of each case. When one looks at these sentencing decisions that have been made by this court across many judges, its remarkable how consistent sentencing has been, said Moss, an Obama nominee. When I see differences, Im able to go back through the record and look at it and understand the basis for those differences. In case after case, Chutkan has expressed her belief that prison can be a powerful deterrent against the threat of another insurrection. Every day were hearing about reports of anti-democratic factions of people plotting violence, the potential threat of violence, in 2024, she said before sentencing a Florida man who attacked police officers to more than five years behind bars the longest sentence so far in the attack. It has to be made clear that trying to violently overthrow the government, trying to stop the peaceful transition of power and assaulting law enforcement officers in that effort is going to be met with absolutely certain punishment," she said. Of the more than 190 defendants sentenced so far, about 20 admitted to felony charges, including nine who assaulted police officers. The rest pleaded guilty to misdemeanors punishable by no more than one year imprisonment. Prosecutors recommended prison terms in more than 70% of the cases. Judges have agreed to prison in about 45% of them, with terms ranging from nine days to more than five years. In one case, prosecutors sought a month in prison for California bartender Kevin Cordon, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. Judge Trevor McFadden, who was nominated by Trump, said jail time was not appropriate given his lack of criminal record. In my experience as a judge and former prosecutor, its almost unheard of for someone who is essentially a first-time offender to get jail time for a nonviolent misdemeanor, McFadden said. I think its important that Im consistent in sentencing, not only compared with other judges in Jan. 6 cases but also with an eye to how misdemeanors are handled more generally outside of this politically fraught event." McFadden has condemned the Jan. 6 riot as a "national embarrassment, while also suggesting that the Justice Department was being too hard on those who broke into the Capitol compared with the people arrested during racial injustice protests following George Floyds 2020 murder. Without naming her colleague, Chutkan slammed McFadden's suggestion days later. "People gathered all over the country last year to protest the violent murder by the police of an unarmed man. Some of those protesters became violent, Chutkan said during an October hearing. But to compare the actions of people protesting, mostly peacefully, for civil rights, to those of a violent mob seeking to overthrow the lawfully elected government is a false equivalency and ignores a very real danger that the Jan. 6 riot posed to the foundation of our democracy." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Jun. 12The League of Women Voters of Oklahoma is hoping to increase the amount of residents who vote during local and general elections. Its newest campaign, "Grab Your Future by the Ballot," especially encourages residents ages 18 to 29 to make their voices heard at polling places, not just on social media. "We want young voters to understand that their vote truly is their voice and that their vote determines their futures in the state. The point of the campaign is really a call to action," said Jenni Gray, League of Women Voters of Oklahoma spokesperson. "Young people are really great at making their voices heard in forums like social media, but we want to inspire young voters to convert their voices on social media to voices heard at the ballot box, as well." Sponsored by the Kirkpatrick Foundation and released in May, the campaign's logos and phrasing were determined in conjunction with league members and Tulsa-based public relations company Schnake Turnbo Frank. The campaign will run through the next general election in November. Despite record voter turnout numbers in the state for the 2020 November general election, Gray said Oklahoma had the lowest voter turnout in the nation based on the eligible voter population, which is what the league uses to determine voter turnout numbers. "Oklahoma was last in the nation. That's not an award that we want to win," she said. Gray said young voters who now make up 21.8% of Oklahoma's eligible voter population are the focus of the campaign, because they are underrepresented at the ballot box, with only 34% voting in the 2020 general election. By contrast, 70% of residents ages 65 or older voted in 2020, but they only make up 21.8% of the voting population and 15.8% of the overall population. Gray said some younger Oklahomans may not vote because they believe their votes won't count, they're not educated enough about the elections or they don't have enough time to vote. Story continues "We want young voters to represent themselves at the ballot box," she said. "We want all voices to be heard in Oklahoma, of course, but do young voters want their future determined by the 45-plus and 65-plus voters, or do younger voters want to determine their own futures with their own votes?" To counter these excuses, Gray said local elections are especially important because a small number of votes can make a difference, sometimes by fewer than 20 votes. "It's always the national elections or big elections that draw a larger crowd at the ballot box, but we want younger voters to understand that it starts local, then it grows from there. How you vote in local elections is what most determines the things closest to you, and then it grows from there," she said. Gray said the league offers help to voters from start to finish, including registration, finding polling places and vote411.org, which offers information about ballot items and candidates' positions. Additionally, she said employers are required with a few stipulations to allow some time for employees to vote. Early voting is available about four days prior to the election date, or young voters can register to vote by absentee ballot at okvoterportal.okelections.us under Voter Services. Addresses and political affiliations can be changed online. Some bigger races coming up in Oklahoma's general election include governor and a state Senate post. "The league's mission really is to get all eligible voters to the polls. Anybody who's not showing up, we want to show up. We're in support of everybody who is eligible to use their voice in this way to do so," she said. In addition to the campaign, the league is partnering with young professional groups, University of Oklahoma alumni and rural community organizations to encourage more voters to go the polls. Residents can register to vote in upcoming runoffs elections in August and in November's general election, as the state requires residents to register to vote at least about 25 days prior to the election date. Gray encouraged young voters to grab friends and take them to the polls, offer rides, hold each other accountable on voting, provide resources regarding elections and remind others about election days and times. "Social media is such an amazing tool, and if young voters could use social media to get out to vote, it could really make a difference in what we're trying to do," Gray said. Lin-Manuel Miranda promises that Tony Awards host Ariana DeBose, an original cast member in Hamilton before her Oscar win for West Side Story will have a doozy of an opening number kicking off Sunday nights show. There will be dancing, he predicted in a telephone interview with Deadline, without revealing specifics. You couldnt ask for a better host. Miranda noted that he is attending the Tonys even though he doesnt have a horse in the race. In large part, the night will be about celebrating Broadways return from the devastation of Covid. More from Deadline 75th Annual Tony Awards: Deadlines Full Coverage Were just rallying, he said. It is Job-like what theater has gone through, so this will be an incredible rally for the whole theater community. The Omicron variant, which gathered steam at the end of 2021 just as the holiday season was beginning was crushing at a tme when we most depending on tourist business, Miranda noted. The interview came two weeks after Miranda had to skip a gala in his honor at the Greenwich International Film Festival in Connecticut due to his own bout with Covid, from which he has recovered. The playwright and filmmaker received the Changemaker Award, which GIFF gives to artists who have used their public platform and the medium of film to further positive social change. Branching out from his theater roots, Miranda has assembled an increasingly robust body of film work, with last year seeing a peak level of activity. His original songs appeared in Disneys animated Oscar winner Encanto; he directed Netflixs Oscar-nominated musical tick tick BOOM! And he also appeared in and produced the big-screen version of his breakthrough musical In The Heights. Tony Awards: See The Best Looks From The Red Carpet Photo Gallery At the gala in Greenwich, Jimmy Fallon accepted the award on Mirandas behalf. Jessica Darrow, who was the voice of Luisa Madrigal in Encanto, sang Dear Theodosia from Hamilton, whose former cast members Warren Egypt Franklin and Renee Elise Goldsberry also performed. In addition, Goldberry also had a conversation about The Miranda Family Foundation with Luis Miranda. Story continues In the interview, Miranda said the foundation started very organically after Hamilton became a once-in-a-lifetime commercial juggernaut. A combination of good luck and incredible hard work got me through the doors, he said. So our question was, How do you widen those doors behind you? Piece by piece, were trying to create opportunities for artists of color. Today, he said, there is a broader alumni network of Miranda Fellows they all know each other and that networking will ultimately be the foundations legacy. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Jun. 12NEW LONDON The day after Gov. Ned Lamont came to New London for a ceremonial signing of a bill making Juneteenth a state holiday, the city continued its celebration of the holiday a commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States, and thus a celebration of freedom on Saturday at the Hempsted Houses. Connecticut Landmarks has been holding an event at the historic site at Jay and Hempstead streets for the past eight or nine years. On June 19, 1865 more than two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation n the Civil War Union Army General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to proclaim freedom for enslaved Black people. "Although we had that Emancipation Proclamation long before June 19th, it really meant nothing if there were no federal forces," said Joseph McGill of South Carolina, who is Black and has been coming to the Juneteenth celebration here for the past six years. He has a background in heritage work and is a history consultant for Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, S.C., in addition to being founder and director of the Slave Dwelling Project, according to the project's website. As founder of the Slave Dwelling Project, he travels around the country inhabiting spaces that enslaved people inhabited, and on Friday night, he slept in the garret of the Joshua Hempsted House, where enslaved farmer Adam Jackson lived in the early 1700s. But before sleeping there, he sat around a campfire on the grounds having conversations about racism, anti-critical race theory measures, white supremacy, the Constitution and more, with a group he called a microcosm of the diverse crowd seen Saturday. McGill was involved in finding the keynote speaker for Saturday: Ife Franklin, a Black multidisciplinary artist who lives in Boston, whose work is about ancestors and trauma. "My ancestors gave their life so I could be standing here with no scars on my back," Franklin said. And while she said we've become comfortable with having no scars, which is what our ancestors wanted, we shouldn't be "so comfortable we're not willing to sacrifice." Story continues She spoke of generational trauma and the importance of learning from history. Citing the words of her grandmother, she said, "If you don't want your dirty laundry to be seen, then keep your drawers clean. It's that simple. None of it is rocket science." Friday evening included the screening of Franklin's short film "The Slave Narrative of Willie Mae," which she debuted on Juneteenth last year. It's based on the book she wrote about Willie Max Lenox, a woman enslaved in Virginia in the mid-1800s. Franklin said there will eventually be a full-length film, that right now it's three of 17 scenes. Playing Willie Mae's mother in the film is Tammy Denease, who is Black. On Saturday, as she has done for Juneteenth in the past, Denease portrayed Joan Jackson, mother of Adam Jackson. Lining the Hempsted Houses property were informational booths from the League of Women Voters of Southeastern Connecticut, Public Art for Racial Justice Education, New London Landmarks, Connecticut Freedom Trail and more. The event was supported in part by the New London branch of the NAACP and the nearby Opportunities Industrialization Center, or OIC. The Juneteenth celebration also included a petting zoo and activities for kids, food trucks, the ability to go into the Hempsted Houses to learn more, and musical, dance and spoken word performances. "It's Juneteenth; we're here to learn a little something," Felicia Hurley said at the beginning of the day, as she welcomed people under the tent on the lawn by playing a djembe drum, dancing and teaching about the drum. Emcee Curtis Goodwin highlighted how great it was to see parents bringing their kids, saying the most important thing we can do to dismantle racism is to "protect, encourage and inspire our youth to be better than we are." Nicole Thomas, assistant site administrator for the South East Region at Connecticut Landmarks, wore a shirt that said: "Juneteenth: Free-ish since 1865." She said systems built on slavery still exist and there's "a lot of undoing that has to happen," and that Connecticut Landmarks is committed to keeping these "courageous conversations" going. e.moser@theday.com You are here: China China on Friday allocated 360 million yuan ($53.74 million) in advance from its central natural disaster relief funds to help local governments with flood control and disaster relief, the Ministry of Emergency Management said Saturday. Some 340 million yuan was earmarked for 12 southern provincial-level regions, including Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou, to help them with the search, rescue and relocation of affected people, emergency treatment, secondary disaster detection and the repair of damaged houses, the ministry said. The remaining 20 million yuan was allocated to northeast China's Liaoning Province to solve the water shortage there. Several rounds of rainstorms have battered the country's southern areas this year, triggering floods, landslides and mud-rock flows. In May, floods damaged over 1,000 houses and affected 2.52 million people in 15 provincial-level regions, leaving 10 people dead or missing, according to the ministry. Floods caused a direct economic loss of 5.09 billion yuan last month, up 35 percent from the average during the same period over the past five years. A man was taken to the hospital after a shooting in Dayton Saturday afternoon. Crews were called to reports of shots heard in the 1500 block of Fotip Lane around 6:25 p.m., minutes later they were alerted of a man shot there, according to Montgomery County Dispatch. >> Teen in critical condition after boat reportedly capsizes in Clark County In a 911 call obtained by News Center 7 through a public records request, a caller tells dispatchers there was a shootout and that she believes she was grazed by a bullet during it. We were outside, I was talking to my friend and they just got to shooting, it was a shootout, the caller tells dispatchers. The caller tells dispatchers she believes a man was also shot but isnt sure due to all the gunfire. Dispatch records show that one man was taken to Kettering Health Dayton. The caller states that she did not get a description of any suspects as they all ran from the scene. We are working to learn the condition of the man shot and if any suspects have been identified. We will update this story as we learn more. When Fatima Basha became pregnant at the age of 34, she realized her body wouldn't be able to handle another child. The mother of nine children in Syria had experienced a couple of miscarriages earlier, a stillbirth and also suffered from gastrointestinal problems that often left her weak and fatigued. "She and my father knew that her body could not withstand the trauma of another childbirth," her eldest son, Dr. Yahya Basha, 76, of West Bloomfield, recalls. "I was about 16 at the time, and vividly remember my father confiding in me, saying their intent was to terminate the pregnancy." In the 1960s, the mother of Dr. Yahya Basha died during childbirth in Syria. She and her husband wanted to get an abortion because of her health problems but were unable to. Basha speaks as he chokes back tears of his loss and the importance for a woman's right to choose Friday, June 3, 2022 at his offices in Royal Oak. They visited several doctors to get an abortion, but she was unable to find one to perform the procedure, Basha said. Fatima soon died during childbirth in 1962, unable to survive the bleeding. "Coming back from school, we were taken to the hospital," Basha said, weeping as he recalled seeing his mother dead on a hospital bed when he was 16 years old. Decades later, the memory of his mother's death still haunts Basha and has compelled him to speak out in favor of abortion rights. When he read last month that Roe v. Wade may be overturned after a U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion was leaked, Basha said thoughts of his mother came flooding back. "All the painful memories came out bursting," Basha said. "Like a bottle exploded in my brain." 'I must speak out' Basha is a noted physician who founded Basha Diagnostics, a medical testing company headquartered on Woodward Avenue in Royal Oak that does about 100,000 tests a year with several offices in metro Detroit. He's also a prominent community leader in the Arab American and Muslim communities who often meets with elected officials in Michigan, visits the White House, and has often donated to candidates from both parties. Just within the past two weeks, he lunched with U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Waterford, at his Royal Oak office and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel visited him on a recent Friday. Story continues Basha worries if the Supreme Court overturns the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationally, women like his mother will suffer. More: GOP Legislature seeks to intervene in Planned Parenthood suit over 1931 abortion law More: Abortion injunction is a political victory for Nessel, despite 'losing' the case "Women have to have a choice," Basha said. "The recent leak ... made me realize that I must speak out. What I want everyone to know, including my brothers and sisters in the Muslim community, is that we all must act to protect access to legal abortions in our state." In the 1960s, the mother of Dr. Yahya Basha died during childbirth in Syria. She and her husband wanted to get an abortion because of her health problems, but were unable to. Basha speaks about his feelings of his loss and the importance for a woman's right to choose Friday, June 3, 2022 at his offices in Royal Oak. Basha supports the ballot initiative in Michigan led by ACLU Michigan and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan that would amend the state constitution to ensure reproductive rights in the state. Overturning Roe v. Wade "is too much and too dangerous," Basha said. "Because my mother could not receive the abortion needed to save her life, weve all struggled to live out our lives without her. It left a hole in my heart that will never heal." The son of a candy store factory who struggled to make a living, Basha immigrated 50 years ago to the U.S. for a medical residency after excelling in school in Syria. Since then, he has helped bring siblings and other relatives to the U.S., where there are about 30 medical doctors in the Basha family. Basha said that while he is speaking out for a woman's right to choose, he also "respects religions greatly" and often is in dialogue with people of Muslim, Christian, Jewish and other faiths about abortion. He said he also respects families and notes that he has seven children of his own and thirteen grandchildren. Basha's story also offers a perspective on abortion and the Muslim world at a time when some have made bigoted remarks. In the national discussion about abortion in recent months, there have been Islamophobic comments at times trying to link the views of conservatives in the U.S. to Muslims and their faith. On social media, phrases such as the "Texas Taliban" are used by some liberals to mock strict abortion laws in Texas. On the "Daily Show" last month, host Trevor Noah also made similar comparisons when talking about abortion, saying: "After all these years of the right screaming about sharia law, it turns out they were just jealous." Noah's remarks and others like it were criticized by Muslim advocates who said it's wrong to target their religion on this issue. Islamic clerics and experts note that Islam generally has a more liberal and nuanced view on abortion compared with the official views of the Catholic Church and evangelical Protestant groups. The Vatican says life begins at conception and thus all abortions are not allowed. In Michigan, Catholic Church leaders are battling in court this year to preserve abortion restrictions under a 1931 law that could go back into effect if Roe v. Wade is overturned. In contrast, abortion is allowed in Islam in many cases, with different schools of thought offering varying perspectives. And local Muslim leaders have not been active in anti-abortion movements. "A lot of the religious people, they are divided over the issue," Basha said. Basha said that based on his understanding of his faith, abortion is allowed before a certain number of months during the pregnancy, according to three of the four main schools of thought within Sunni Islam, which he practices. The fourth school of thought allows abortion, but under a shorter time period, he said. Islam also allows for contraception use, unlike the Catholic faith. Other Muslim leaders in metro Detroit and experts have varying views. In Islam, the issue of abortion is not "black and white, a yes or no answer," said Dr. Mahmoud Al-Hadidi, chairman of the Michigan Muslim Community Council. "It's decided case by case." Al-Hadidi said he's speaking as a practicing doctor and a Muslim, but not as an Islamic leader or expert. "In Islam, abortion is permitted under certain circumstances, depending on the state of the pregnancy and the health of the mother," he said. Aborting for financial reasons is not permissible, he said. "Most scholars agree that it is permissible in the first 30 to 45 days," Al-Hadidi said. Al-Hadidi worries that the abortion issue is splitting the country and he hopes there can be a way for both sides to reconcile based on medical science. "We should avoid both extremes and have a balance in our behavior toward this very critical issue," said Imam Mohammed Elahi, leader of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights. "Generally speaking, we are against abortion, and we are for life. But there are exceptions." Moreover, Elahi said, it's hypocritical for politicians who are pro-life, but then don't take action on issues such as gun violence and war. Religious debates Other religious communities in metro Detroit have also been wrestling with the issue of abortion. There are a variety of opinions within the faiths that reflect denominational and philosophical differences. "Judaism is both 'pro-choice' and 'pro-life,'" said Rabbi Aaron Starr, spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, the largest and oldest Conservative synagogue in Michigan. "When the mothers life is determined to be at risk, then abortion is not a choice; in such a situation, abortion becomes an obligation. Protecting the mothers life always takes precedence over preserving the fetus, until the child emerges. ... If the fetus poses no threat to the womans body, she is prohibited from aborting." While some identify as anti-abortion in the Jewish community, they may still be supportive of the right to an abortion. "Because protecting life is among the highest Jewish values, access to safe abortions is for Jews a moral and religious requirement," Starr said. "Our community is very committed to separation of church and state," said Rabbi Asher Lopatin, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of metro Detroit/American Jewish Committee. "When human life begins is really a religious question." In the 1960s, the mother of Dr. Yahya Basha died during childbirth in Syria. She and her husband wanted to get an abortion because of her health problems but were unable to. Basha speaks about his feelings of his loss and the importance for a woman's right to choose Friday, June 3, 2022 at his offices in Royal Oak. Last month, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, the Right Rev. Bonnie Perry, and other community leaders, met with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in Sterling Heights, where the topic of abortion was discussed. "I do not believe that any one religion should be able to impart its views or its values on another group of people," Perry said, reiterating the views she expressed at the meeting. "Abortion should be safe, accessible and rare." Other Protestants, such as those in the evangelical community or more conservative factions within mainline Protestantism, support the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The Michigan Catholic Conference, which is the official public policy voice of the Catholic Church in the state, is battling Whitmer in court to preserve the 1931 state law banning abortion that may go into effect is Roe v. Wade is overturned. The law only allows abortion in cases when the life of the mother is threatened, but Nessel and experts have said that exception is written vaguely and could lead to a ban on all abortions. Some candidates for governor, such as Garrett Soldano, who identifies as a proud Catholic on his campaign website, say abortion should be banned even in cases of rape. But the views of many Catholics as well as evangelicals, Muslims, Jews and people of other faiths often differ from the views of leaders. Almost half of Catholics, 48%, support abortion being legal, according to a 2018 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute. Among Muslims, it's 51%. For white evangelical Protestants, it's 31% and for Jews, it's 70%. Life in Syria Dr. Basha's father, Mahmood Basha, was an orphan. Mahmood's dad died when he was 4 and his mom when he was a teenager. He struggled while raising children with his wife, Fatima, but things started to improve after he opened a small business making candy. They lived in Hama, a city in Syria that became known later for being largely destroyed by the Syrian government as it crushed an uprising in 1982. The death of his mom led to their family being separated as the children were adopted by others. "We were separated, cast far and wide," Basha recalled. "Along with losing our mother, we also lost the comfort of being with each other. It was a terribly difficult time for all of us." His father died at about the age of 50 of a stroke. "My father ... was devastated, and had a difficult time coping with the loss of the woman he loved deeply," Basha said. Growing up, Yahya Basha thought he might go into business like his father, but he encouraged him to instead go into medicine, impressed with the doctors he encountered when he visited the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. "After my mom's death, I focused on studying day and night," Basha said. He did well on his exams and earned admission to a medical school in Damascus, from which he graduated. Success in Royal Oak In 1972, Basha immigrated to the U.S., working as a medical intern at Mount Carmel Mercy Hospital in Detroit and then completing his residency in radiology at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. He worked several jobs as a radiologist in local hospitals before buying a struggling radiology practice in downtown Royal Oak in 1978. Basha said he lost $200,000 in his first year. He decided to buy a small ultrasound machine, which he would bring to doctor's offices so patients wouldn't have to travel to another location. He founded Basha Diagnostics in 1980 and today the business has grown into a successful operation that administers X-rays, MRIs, ultrasounds and other tests, serving tens of thousand of patients a year. In the 1960s, the mother of Dr. Yahya Basha died during childbirth in Syria. She and her husband wanted to get an abortion because of her health problems, but were unable to. Basha speaks about his feelings of loss and the importance for a woman's right to choose at his offices in Royal Oak, Friday, June 3, 2022. Basha puts in long hours at his jobs, often working seven days a week. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his offices have been more busy than usual. In recent years, he developed prostate and kidney cancer and has high blood pressure. Basha is active in supporting Arab American and Muslim groups across Michigan, donating to groups and speaking up on civil rights issues. He has been outspoken in support of attempts to bring democracy to Syria and also helping Syrian refugees. He was known for supporting Republicans such as former Gov. John Engler and President George W. Bush, whom he would meet at the airport during presidential visits to Michigan. But he has also been supportive of Democratic politicians, especially in recent years, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who caucuses with Democrats, when he ran for president. Standing on the fourth floor of his office in Royal Oak in front of an MRI machine, Basha is overcome with emotion as he recalls his mom. "The whole thing is so painful," Basha said. "Even the thought of what we all went through all those years ago still overwhelms me with sorrow. The emotional pain of the loss remains so overwhelming." Asked why he is now speaking out publicly about his mom's death and his support for abortion rights, Basha said it was because of the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned. Before, he thought that while there were some threats, the 1973 court decision would stand and ensure the right to choose. "Ive always avoided discussing it publicly, until now," Basha said. "Ive lived in a country where abortion is illegal, and have experienced firsthand the grief and hardship such a ban can cause," he said. "I came to America because of the freedom and opportunity this country offers. For the past 50 years, one of those freedoms has been for people to make their own choices regarding reproductive health, the kind of choice that could have saved my mothers young life if it had been available to her. Basha said he wants to "sound the warning of what others will face if we do not fight to protect all of our rights, including the right to reproductive freedom." "As I can personally attest," he said, "it is literally a matter of life and death." Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or Twitter @nwarikoo This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan doctor recalls mom's death in childbirth amid abortion debate PERTH AMBOY When the U.S. marks its 250th birthday in 2026, local and state officials want the Proprietary House to play a key role in the celebration. Local officials say the Georgian mansion at 149 Kearny Ave. is the last-standing mansion of a royal governor among the 13 colonies. The site is well maintained and showcases late 18th century living as the home of a loyalist royal governor, William Franklin, from 1764 to 1766. The historical significance of Perth Amboy during the Revolutionary War rivals any city in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania or Virginia, said Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin. As America prepares for celebrations in 2026, it is vital that Perth Amboys history play an integral role, as well as a top tourism site. Coughlin and fellow 19th District Democratic lawmakers, state Sen. Joe Vitale and Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez, led the charge for state funding to support needed renovations at the Proprietary House and secured $3 million in the state's fiscal 2019 budget to support the buildings rehabilitation. More: Revolutionary War battlefield in Edison will become a park thanks to federal funding Revolution NJ, through the nonprofit Crossroads of the American Revolution, was established in 2018 as the state's planning entity for the upcoming anniversary. The group is now conducting planning studies to establish New Jersey as a major Revolutionary War Heritage Tourism destination. Investments in state-owned Revolutionary War sites over the next few years are aimed at creating eight to 12 visitor sites. One of the rooms in the Proprietary House in Perth Amboy Urban areas are typically overlooked for heritage tourism potential but are precisely the types of places that stand to benefit enormously, Lopez said. We need more grants to make the Proprietary House ready to accommodate many more visitors, while further boosting its historical and heritage identity in Middlesex County. Vitale said about 6 percent of New Jerseys tourism dollars are generated from heritage tourism, amounting to just under $400 million in state and local tax revenues and $3 billion in economic impact. He said that's about half of the average activity generated by heritage tourism nationally. Story continues A lower-level room at the Proprietary House in Perth Amboy During the Revolutionary War, the Proprietary House was occupied by both Patriot and British troops and, for a time, served as headquarters for both American Gen. Hugh Mercer and British Gen. Sir William Howe. After the war, Proprietary House was abandoned, vandalized and nearly destroyed by fire. The building also served as a hotel, private home, run-down boarding house and now a museum, operated by the nonprofit Proprietary House Association. It is open for guided tours, lectures, concerts, storytelling, ghost tours and teas, as well as for weddings, dinners, meetings and luncheons. The ground and first floors of the original mansion are leased to the association, charged with raising funds for programs, interpretation and restoration. Email: srussell@gannettnj.com Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today. This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Perth Amboy NJ Revolutionary War site eyed for USA's 250th birthday SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea on Sunday fired multiple artillery shots between 8:07 a.m. and 11:03 a.m. local time, South Korea's military said, in another show of force a day after leader Kim Jong Un vowed to boost the reclusive nation's military power. The Joint Chiefs of Staff gave no other details but added it had decided to issue a statement late in the evening as the shots were of a traditional type, with relatively short range and low altitude. Firing of artillery shots comes as Kim on Saturday presented goals to boost the country's military power and defence research to protect North Korea's sovereign rights, as it concluded The Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPF) held last week. (Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Catherine Evans) HELSINKI (AP) NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday that Turkey has legitimate concerns over terrorism and other issues that need to be taken seriously. Turkey has accused Finland and Sweden of supporting Kurdish militants and says it will not back the two Nordic nations joining NATO until they change their policies. Speaking at a joint news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Stoltenberg stressed that no other NATO ally has suffered more terrorist attacks than Turkey and pointed to its strategic geographic location with neighbors like Iraq and Syria. These are legitimate concerns. This is about terrorism, its about weapons exports, Stoltenberg said. We have to address the security concerns of all allies, including Turkish concerns about the terrorist group PKK. He spoke at Finland's presidential summer residence Kultaranta in western Finland. After decades of military non-alignment, Russias war in Ukraine pushed Finland and Sweden to apply to join NATO in May. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, accuses the Nordic nations of supporting Kurdish militants deemed by Turkey to be terrorists and has vetoed their entry into the 30-member alliance. When a vital key ally as Turkey raises concerns on terrorism then of course we have to sit down and take them seriously. And thats exactly what we do, Stoltenberg said. The demands from Ankara to Helsinki and Stockholm also include lifting restrictions on arms exports to Turkey and extraditing members of certain Kurdish organizations that are opposed to Erdogans government. In the past weeks, NATOs chief has been trying to resolve the dispute but he did not disclose Sunday whether any progress has been made. He was to attend an annual discussion panel in Kultaranta later Sunday together with Finnish and Nordic politicians, foreign and security policy experts and military representatives. Stoltenberg will visit Sweden on Monday for talks with the Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. ___ Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Serhiy Kyslytsya Read also: Half a million Ukrainians already deported to Russia Ukraines UN ambassador "Thousands of Ukrainian men and women have stood up to defend their nation and the future of their children, and, let us be frank, by doing so they defend the entire European continent and beyond, Kyslytsya said. Read also: Over 14 million Ukrainian left homes due to war, says UN report They are fighting against a cruel enemy. An enemy that has come to kill, to destroy, to steal and to humiliate. An enemy that makes no distinction between military and civilians. An enemy that does not consider itself to be bound by any norms or rules. Neither power, nor the army, nor wealth will save the evil Putin and his wicked henchmen from the wrath of God, Kyslytsya added. Read also: This is not just war this is genocide Putin and his minions can put on heavy gold crosses and walk in circles with shamans and Gundyaevs, the diplomat said, referring to pagan holy men and the family name of Moscow Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, which supports Russias war on Ukraine. In his speech, Kyslytsya recalled the tens of thousands of civilians casualties in Kyiv Oblast and Mariupol, where he said more people had been killed than during the Nazi invasion during the Second World War. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) declined on Sunday to say if she would endorse President Biden if he runs for reelection in 2024, saying she is focusing on this years midterm elections. Well cross that bridge when we get to it, she told CNN State of the Union co-anchor Dana Bash. But I think if the president has a vision, and thats something certainly were all willing to entertain and examine when the time comes, she continued. Bash pressed Ocasio-Cortez on her declining to endorse the sitting president of her own party. Thats not a yes, Bash noted. Ocasio-Cortez then reiterated her focus on this years elections. I think we should endorse when we get to it, but I believe that the presidents been doing a very good job so far, Ocasio-Cortez said. And, should he run again, I think that well take a look at it. Ocasio-Cortez has made challenging her partys establishment a hallmark of her tenure in Congress. The New York Democrat on Tuesday endorsed progressive New York state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (D) in her primary bid to unseat Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.). Maloney, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), received criticism from Ocasio-Cortez and some other Democrats after he announced he would run in New Yorks 17th congressional district shortly after a new map was announced that pitted some incumbents against each other. The district is currently mostly represented by Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), but Maloney avoided a potentially awkward member-on-member primary when Jones subsequently announced he would run in a separate district. By endorsing somebody who wants to beat and take out a member of your own party leadership, the very guy who is trying to get Democrats elected to keep control of the House, youre obviously comfortable with that, Bash said on Sunday. Ocasio-Cortez responded by noting younger generations were underrepresented in Congress, arguing that lawmakers should not be elected in perpetuity. We need to have a generational shift in the United States Congress in order for us to have a policy shift in the United States Congress, she said. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. COLUMBUSThe Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) recently announced the winners of its 2022 Ohio State Parks Photo Contest this week. All winning entries, except the Peoples Choice award, were chosen over three rounds of judging by a panel of ODNR employees. The Peoples Choice Award was voted on by the public. ODNRs photo contest offered five categories for images taken in an Ohio state park after Jan. 1, 2022. These categories are wildlife in action, recreation in the parks, wondrous water, novice naturalist and explore trails. Participants were able to submit up to five entries per category. We love to see the parks from visitors perspectives, said Chief Glen Cobb, ODNR Division of Parks and Watercraft. These photographs celebrate Ohios outdoors and the memories created when family and friends gather in our state parks. "Mohican Sunshine" by Ashley Hendershot was the first place winner in the 2022 ODNR photo contest. First place went to Ashley Hendershot of Ashland who submitted her photo titled Mohican Sunshine. Her image depicts a biker on the 25-mile mountain bike loop at Mohican State Park with their hands up in the air while the sun bursts through the surrounding trees. This picture captures the hidden beauty at Mohican if you are just willing to seek the adventure, said Hendershot. This scenery can only be seen if you follow the mountain bike trail and get out and ride! "Kayaking" by Michael Cordell won second place in the 2022 ODNR photo contest. Second place went to Michael Cordell of Johnstown who submitted his photo titled Kayaking. It depicts a kayaker in the bay at East Harbor State Park and is taken at the level of the water to include the lily pads. Third place went to Kimberly Jackson of Athens who submitted her photo titled Home Away from Home, which shows a camping set-up on a sunny day at Strouds Run State Park. The contest was co-sponsored by US eDirect, ODNRs reservation management provider. The grand prize was a collapsible Oru kayak and a $120 Ohio State Parks gift certificate. Prizes were also awarded to the second and third place winners. Winners of the Peoples Choice in each category received a free night of camping in any Ohio State Park campground. To see all the winning photos you can visit the discover Ohio state parks website. This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Ohio State Parks announce 2022 photo contest winners While promoting the rule of law under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)'s advantages in legal services and its role in the construction of foreign-related rule of law of the country were praised and stressed by officials at a symposium on foreign-related legal affairs. Thanks to the implementation of "One Country, Two Systems" and adherence to the Constitution and the HKSAR Basic Law, Hong Kong has enjoyed stable development, according to Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng. Xie made the remarks at the symposium commemorating the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, which was held both offline and online on Thursday. Around 130 officials, experts and scholars from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions participated in the event, which was jointly organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Shenzhen University. During his remarks, Xie called for Hong Kong to continue attracting international law organizations to establish branches in the region and hold more legal seminars to help the region become an international center for legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific Region. Xie also encouraged Hong Kong to more actively integrate into the development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, serve the overall situation and major strategies of the country with legal expertise, and jointly promote the construction of the rule of law concerning foreign affairs in the new era. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at the symposium via video link that the rule of law is fundamental to Hong Kong, and the Constitution and HKSAR Basic Law are the cornerstones of Hong Kong's prosperity and stability. Acknowledging that rule of law is the advantage of Hong Kong, Lam noted that Hong Kong has a sound legal foundation and a large pool of talented people, which will help the country improve the rule of law concerning foreign affairs. "With the full support of the central government, Hong Kong successfully held the annual meeting of the AsianAfrican Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) last year and established the AALCO Regional Arbitration Center in Hong Kong," said Lam. "In the future, the HKSAR government will continue to firmly adhere to the principle of 'One Country, Two Systems' and further integrate itself into the overall development of the country to embrace an even brighter future." Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Getty/Getty Content creators are garnering millions of views posting Amber Heard and Johnny Depp trial content. The content skews towards support for Johnny Depp. A jury found both Heard and Depp liable for defamation against each other. Haider Ali, a 27-year old YouTuber who had never posted trial content prior to Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's trial, told Insider that at first, he had "zero interest" in the lawsuit. After watching clips of the trial online, however, Ali found Depp's story to be "relatable." Now, after a month of commenting on aspects of the trial for his YouTube channel Haider Tonight, Ali went from 100 subscribers to 18,000 subscribers during the month of May. He now has 22 million views on his channel. During the live-streamed trial between Heard and Depp, online creators like Ali are finding their own ways to take part in the conversation, and finding themselves with millions of views as a result. Business Insider reported that law channels on Youtube made tens of thousands of dollars by streaming the trial. Ali, who posts pro-Depp content, said that he does not collect ad revenue from his videos. He said he was a victim of domestic abuse with a former partner, and contemplated taking his own life as a result. Ali said he and his viewers have connected to Depp. "The response I got on my YouTube channel has been overwhelming because I never expected it to go anywhere," Ali said. "I thought it was going to be just a small community, people talking about their experiences, but the way the clips were received overall has been quite stunning." Ali said that now that the trial is over, he plans to return to music, but will continue to post content about domestic abuse and mental health topics. Content creators covering the Heard-Depp trial garnered views and followers on platforms like TikTok and YouTube, NBC reported. Most of the accounts are in support of Depp and use hashtags like #JusticeforJohnny. Content creators have also used the hashtags like #IStandwithAmberHeard to share pro-Heard messages on platforms like Twitter. Story continues Ivana Escalera is one such social media personality who has used her platform to tweet in support of Heard. Escalera, a photographer based in London, said that she began following a similar libel suit between Depp and British newspaper The Sun two years earlier. Depp lost that case. Escalera posted trial moments and tweets in support of Heard on her Twitter account during the Virginia trial. "I saw not a single person supporting Amber, and after reading the court transcripts and the evidence everyday, I felt like I need to speak up for her and to get the truth out there," Escalera said. Escalera said that during the Virginia trial, she amassed 7,000 new followers on her Twitter account. She said she has found a community of people who "silently" support Heard because of a fear of harassment by Depp fans. She also said that now that the trial is over, she will continue to tweet about "injustice in this world." Recently, a TikTok trend has gone viral mocking Heard's testimony, Variety reported. Observers online have also said that some of the videos going viral contain misleading or fabricated thumbnails and video titles. A spokesperson for YouTube did not immediately answer questions Insider sent regarding these videos. Vice News also reported that conservative outlet The Daily Wire spent at least $35,000 on social media ads promoting articles biased towards Depp and against Heard. On June 1, a jury found both Heard and Depp liable for defamation against each other. Depp was awarded $15 million in damages, while Heard was awarded $2 million. Heard plans to appeal the verdict. Depp sued Heard for $50 million over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed that he said damaged his career. Heard countersued for $100 million, claiming that Depp was controlling, sexually abusive, and violent during their rocky relationship between 2012 and 2016. Representatives for YouTube and TikTok did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Read the original article on Insider If the Supreme Court rules to overturn Roe v. Wade this month, lawmakers and law enforcement may have varied means to go after women and health care providers who participate in abortions in large part because of technology that didn't exist before the 1973 landmark ruling protecting abortion rights. Period tracking apps, telehealth appointments, mail-in pharmacy requests and other online medical records and data could be used as evidence in criminal cases, experts said. At least 26 states are likely to move quickly to ban abortion if the court's conservative majority strikes down federally protected abortion rights. Among them are 13 including Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Idaho, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming that have "trigger laws" that would take effect automatically or through a quick state action if Roe no longer applies, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research and policy organization. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers concluded in a report in August that anti-abortion measures will lead to "rampant criminalization through regulatory enforcement and to mass incarceration on an unprecedented scale," especially if Roe is overturned. Because some states have passed laws redefining "personhood" to include an unborn child, people who seek abortions or anyone who helps them could face charges of feticide or aggravated assault, the report said. Most of the rhetoric around penalizing abortions has targeted health care workers who help people obtain abortions rather than pregnant women, said Brietta Clark, a health law and reproductive justice professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. She said that unless laws clearly state women won't be prosecuted for the outcomes of their pregnancy, they are at risk. Many states regularly bring criminal cases against women accused of putting their pregnancy at risk, including charges of child abuse, child neglect or endangerment or feticide, manslaughter and murder, said Dana Sussman, acting executive director of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women. The group documented 1,331 cases from 2006 through 2020 in which a woman was arrested, detained or otherwise deprived of her liberty for a reason related to her pregnancy. Since the Roe ruling in 1973, the researchers found more than 1,700 of these cases, which they noted is likely an undercount. The majority were economically disadvantaged women of color who often must rely on publicly run or funded hospitals. Story continues "Our criminal codes have ballooned, the war on drugs has transformed the types of charges that are brought, how many people are criminalized and the communities impacted," Sussman said. "And we have used the criminal legal system to respond to public health crises, to mental health crises, to poverty, to education, in ways that I don't think were fully understood or fully applied back in 1973." New York City Mayor Eric Adams, wearing a black cap and carrying a pink sign, marches with abortion rights activists on May 14. Even in California, which vowed to become a sanctuary for women seeking abortions, the state's attorney general issued a legal alert in January to law enforcement advising that the penal code "intended to hold accountable those who inflict harm on pregnant individuals, resulting in miscarriage or stillbirth, not to punish people who suffer the loss of their pregnancy." Two women in California's Central Valley in 2018 and 2019 gave birth to stillborn infants and were flagged by medical staff after testing positive for methamphetamine. Both of the women were jailed and charged with fetal murder. The charges against one woman were dismissed in May 2021, and the other woman was freed in March after years in prison. "Women who have to rely on public health care systems have the least amount of privacy. Theres a lot that the state can do through that process to basically monitor, surveil and control," Clark said. It's possible some prosecutors will shy away from pursuing criminal charges against a pregnant person or anyone who helps her seek an abortion. More than 80 elected district attorneys and attorneys generals, including in conservative states, have committed to using their discretion to not charge individuals or those who help them end a pregnancy should Roe be overturned, said Miriam Krinsky, executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution, a nonprofit organization that advocates for criminal justice changes. Krinsky noted that prosecutors frequently decide whether to use their limited resources to prioritize certain crimes over others. Anti-abortion activists demonstrate at the U.S. Supreme Court in January. "We are now facing a moment where elected public prosecutors are going to be the last line of defense," Krinsky said. "Just because something can be prosecuted doesnt mean it should be prosecuted." Tom Jipping, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, said "rogue prosecutors" are "going to be a problem" for lawmakers who want laws criminalizing abortion to be enforced. "This is not about prosecutorial discretion, its about who gets to make the law, and its not prosecutors," Jipping said. "If this is something they want to do, they ought to run for the legislature." Jonathan Mitchell, Texas former solicitor general who crafted the states abortion law SB 8, which enforces a ban on abortion as early as six weeks by enabling private citizens to sue those who aid and abet, told USA TODAY that he doesnt believe most of the legislative efforts by states to ban abortion will be very effective. Abortion clinics are located in more liberal cities where a prosecutor wont bring charges or it would be hard to get juries to convict even if they do, Mitchell said. Since states do not run the Postal Service, it's difficult to detect and prosecute those who distribute pregnancy-ending pills on the black market. I think anti-abortion advocates who pushed for these trigger bans are going to be disappointed when they take effect, Mitchell said. Laws of this sort worked in 1970 or 1960 when every state banned abortion, they didnt have abortion pills and didnt have one of our two major political parties committed to the ideology of legal abortion. Also, they didnt have widespread internet access. What worked in the United States in 1970 is not necessarily going to work in the United States in 2022. Unlike in 1973, conservative lawmakers are concerned about not just ensuring residents don't undergo abortions in their states but also outside their borders, legal experts said. Although it's a "dicey question" whether a state can regulate abortions outside its borders, "you'll definitely see efforts to address the issue of abortion travel," Mitchell said. If states really want to reduce abortion, theyre going to have to resort to tactics that go beyond the trigger bans, Mitchell said, such as what SB 8 did. He said states are "going to have to rely on private civil enforcement to overcome the unwillingness of local district attorneys to bring charges. The risk of criminal charges could stop many women from receiving lifesaving medical care and affect relationships with their doctors, experts said. For more vulnerable individuals, such as victims of rape or incest, there may be a greater reluctance to report crimes to authorities if it complicates their ability to pursue an abortion under the watchful eye of law enforcement, Krinsky said. If there are complications from unsafe procedures and the patient turns up at an emergency room seeking help, she may be incentivized to lie to workers rather than face legal repercussions, Clark said. That could prompt doctors to flag her for law enforcement. Despite the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal health privacy law, in many states, health care providers can, and sometimes must, disclose protected information to law enforcement if they suspect a crime occurred. Investigators can subpoena records from period tracking apps to build a case against someone or engage in other types of surveillance, which has prompted women's health clinics to move to paper records or encrypted communication. "There's a whole digital footprint question thats going to come up a lot in these cases: What research did you do? Who did you text with? Did you go to a crisis pregnancy center?" Sussman said. "Thats a whole other level of potential surveillance that can be coordinated with law enforcement. What credit card purchases did you make? You can almost do nothing without leaving a trail." Period tracking app Clue said in a statement that the health data it collects, including about pregnancies, pregnancy loss or abortion, "is kept private and safe." Because it is a European company, developed by a Berlin-based tech company, Clue is required to abide by strict protections to health data and "will not disclose it," the statement said. Anti-abortion laws may become another tool of coercion for abusers to use against their victims, said TuLynn Smylie, who oversees Sojourn, a domestic violence program run by the People Concern, one of Los Angeles County's largest social services agencies. He could use that to threaten, If you leave me, I'll disclose you had an abortion or you want an abortion, Smylie said. That could definitely become another element of control. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New abortion laws could see many women, doctors face criminal charges We have been witnesses to yet another senseless slaughter, of 19 innocent, defenseless school children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, a place many of us had never heard of before. Uvalde has, overnight, become a metaphor for every unnamed community anywhere in the country. Thoughts and prayers have been sent, again. The expression has become a meaningless cliche. I can join in prayers seeking Gods comfort and resilient strength for loved ones of those who died. Thoughts, on the other hand, need to be focused on what can actually be done about this recurring nightmare. God has no hands but our hands. Lets start with the inescapable fact that there isnt one single thing that can be done to stop all gun violence in this country. The argument is made (by those opposed to regulation of guns) that, absent such a silver bullet, theres no need to discuss the subject. An equally flawed permutation of that argument is that, because whatever is proposed would not have avoided the most recent example of gun violence and innocent lives being lost, such a discussion isnt timely. Neither argument holds up under scrutiny. They are mostly designed to avoid consideration of workable solutions. More: Hundreds call for action against gun violence during March for Our Lives rally in downtown Des Moines More: Rekha Basu: As Congress debates gun measures, NRA money distorts the arguments I think some scrutiny is warranted, and its not just timely, its long overdue. There are things that can be sensibly done to reduce some of the gun violence, even knowing that doing all of them wont completely eliminate gun violence. We should not let perfection be the unwitting enemy of the good. Reasonable people should be able to agree on these measures being implemented: No fly, no buy. That is to say, anyone who cannot pass muster enough to board a commercial airplane should not be allowed to buy a gun. Background checks. There should be no loopholes in required background checks. Anyone who wants to buy a gun should have a satisfactory background check completed, however long that takes. Story continues Domestic violence. Anyone who has committed domestic violence, used a weapon to commit a crime of any kind, or has had a restraining order or no-contact order entered against them by a judge, should not be allowed to buy or own a gun. Weapon capacities. Just as surely as bazookas are outlawed, automatic weapons (those where the shooter who merely pulls the trigger once and holds it can shoot until the magazine is empty), should be fully banned, not just restricted. Bump stocks. Similarly, bump stocks that effectively convert a semi-automatic weapon to approximate automatic operational capabilities should be permanently outlawed except for military use, and those already in the public domain should be taken (with just compensation). Clip capacity. Six shots should be enough to dissuade a home intruder or kill a deer. Require a reload after six rapid-fire shots, and give intruders and deer the running chance they deserve. Ghost guns. The sale of parts that buyers can assemble to create a gun without serial numbers should be illegal. Age restriction. No one under the age of 21 should be allowed to buy or be in possession of a gun of any kind without adult supervision; OK, strike that, a BB gun would be fine, but nothing more lethal than that. Mental health commitment. Anyone who has been involuntarily committed for mental health treatment should not be allowed to buy or own a gun. Treatment insurance. Mandatory mental health coverage under Medicare and Medicaid should be reinstated. Red flag enforcement. Pursuant to red flag legislation, local law enforcement should be able to blacklist anyone reasonably suspected of being mentally or emotionally unfit, subject to the right to appeal to a judge. Concealed carry. There should be no unlicensed concealed carrying of a gun allowed except for law enforcement. Bodyguard contractors and employees should also be an exception if they are first trained and certified as such. Parental accountability. Personally, Id be willing to go somewhat further, like holding parents and custodians liable for actions of minor children in their care who are able to access a gun at home and use it or threaten to do so. That wouldnt prevent such access, but it would get folks attention because of the market and premium cost it would create for an insurance policy to cover the liability exposure. Insurers, in turn, would be able to impose access restrictions as a condition of coverage. Want more opinions? Read other perspectives with our free newsletter, follow us on Facebook or visit us at DesMoinesRegister.com/Opinion. Respond to any opinion by submitting a Letter to the Editor at DesMoinesRegister.com/Letters. Those should be seen as sensible things that could be done nationwide. Even collectively, those things would not stop all gun violence, but each of them would stop the use of a gun to commit indiscriminate or targeted gun violence in some situations where it currently is too convenient. Collectively, they would reduce the occurrence and/or magnitude of gun violence. We are not without options if there were to be a genuine search for a collection of steps that could help. The steps Ive outlined would help, without compromising the intent of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Journalist Randy Evans called for political leaders to lead on this subject in the May 18 Bloomfield Democrat. The foregoing litany of steps that can be taken, or any of them, would be a good place to start and a step in the right direction. With that leadership, we would not have to be helplessly victimized as we are right now. We are in our perpetual political season. Those who attend candidate town hall meetings should insistently ask candidates about these specific recommendations and maybe others, and insist on knowing whether or not the candidate would support each of them and, if not, why. Jonathan Wilson is an attorney practicing in Des Moines. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Opinion: Gun violence horrors can be significantly reduced Red Table Talk | What It's Like to Live with Someone Who Has Alopecia As the proud husband of a woman living with alopecia, Kevin Aldridge has a unique perspective on the impact of this disease. He and his wife Nichole join the Table to share their journey. RTT fam, show some love below for the people in your life that lift you up like Kevin. Posted by Red Table Talk on Thursday, June 2, 2022 Sometimes really good things can come from awfully bad mistakes. And our pain can become our purpose. In the weeks since actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars over a joke about his wife's short haircut, alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss, has been thrust into the national spotlight. News outlets from CBS News to PBS NewsHour to local newspapers and TV news stations have published or broadcast stories about alopecia and the 147 million people worldwide who suffer from it. Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, has a scarring form of alopecia. Last week, her Red Table Talk show focused on the topic for several days in a row. "Considering what I've been through with my own health and what happened at the Oscars, thousands have reached out to me with their stories," Pinkett Smith said at the outset of the series of episodes. "I'm using this moment to give our alopecia family an opportunity to talk about what it's like to have this condition and to inform people about what alopecia really is." My wife Nichole and I had the privilege of being featured and appeared at the table with Pinkett Smith, her daughter Willow and mother Gammy in their Los Angeles home. Producers from the show came across a column I penned after "the slap" and were moved by the story of my wife's journey with alopecia. In addition to our story, other Red Table Talk episodes featured guests such as Niki Ball, the mother of 12-year-old Rio Allred of Indiana who took her own life after being bullied for having alopecia, and Christie Valdiserri, the first-ever bald Sports Illustrated model who revealed she had alopecia by throwing off her blonde wig on the runway. Story continues Will Smith, right, hits presenter Chris Rock on stage while Rock was presenting the award for best documentary feature at the Oscars on March 27 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Being on Red Table Talk was an amazing experience in all the ways you might imagine hanging out with Hollywood celebrities would be. And while I could write about what it was like being in the presence of the Smiths (no, we didn't get to meet Will), the grandeur of their estate and the incredible hospitality we were shown during our visit, there were bigger issues at play. I was most gratified that my wife got to share her powerful story on a national stage. For almost five full minutes, America got a glimpse of what I see everyday my wife's courage, her strength, her intelligence, her beauty and mega-watt smile that can light up any room. It was significant because she got to do what she does best inspire others who are walking the same painful path she has conquered. She got to show the country how you can turn your pain into your purpose. Enquirer opinion editor, Kevin S. Aldridge (front right) and his wife Nichole (front left) appeared on the Red Table Talk show on Thursday, June 2, with Jada Pinkett Smith (center), her daughter Willow (back right) and mother Gammy. "You got out there and you shared your testimony, but guess what? It wasn't even about you," Damarla Whatley of Blue Ash told my wife in a voicemail after watching our Red Table Talk episode. "It was about the other viewers who were watching, and they shared it with other people they knew who had alopecia. "Your and Kevin's testimony, you changed lives that day," she said. "You gave people hope. You gave people confidence. People threw wigs away, they stopped being emotionally attached to hair, everything. You guys helped to change so many lives that day, and you don't even know it, but you did." Women coming out of their wigs, weaves and shame is more than we could have hoped for two short months ago. There's no doubt that awareness of alopecia is greater since "the slap." Fewer people now assume that women who wear their hair bald do so by choice or because they have cancer. But most of all, people are feeling more comfortable about sharing their stories of living with alopecia. Five Greater Cincinnati women are also telling their stories in this Sunday's Enquirer. These women came together to talk about Alopecia, an autoimmune disease the causes hair loss. There is no cure. (L-R top row) Nichole Aldridge, Sharon McCreary, Pamela King and Kesandre Brown. (Second row) Terriwana Cauthen and Sharla Ponder. The women were photographed in the Enquirer studio, Wednesday, June 8, 2022. "People are learning that alopecia is more common than they think. Everybody knows somebody with alopecia whether they realize it or not," Nichole said. "People are being more open and honest about letting others know they have it now, even if they are still wearing their wigs or weaves. People feel like they are no longer alone." And as the alopecia community grows, so too does the camaraderie. Nichole and Pinkett Smith bonded on the show. "Your journey reminds me of mine a bit," Pinkett Smith told my wife. Especially the common experience of gritting through painful steroid injections (sometimes 30-40 shots) into their scalps every month. "It hurts, these little tiny needles," Pinkett Smith said of the treatments, adding going through the pain wasn't worth it in order to continue hair growth. "The part that makes it most difficult for me is that it (hair loss) comes and goes. So when you're going through a spout of something, you've got to shave your head because it's falling out. It's stressful; a patch grows and then another patch comes out, and that gives me a lot of anxiety. What's my hair going to look like today? "I was trying to hold onto it, and then I cut it, you know, and then I was just like bunk it," Pinkett Smith said. "All the trying to manage itI was just over it." The two even shared a special moment after the taping when Nichole presented Pinkett Smith with a bald Barbie doll as a gift. Nichole Aldridge (left) poses with Jada Pinkett Smith and a bald Barbie doll she gifted the Red Table Talk host after the taping of an episode focusing on Nichole's journey living with alopecia, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss. "I'm just grateful that the message is getting across," Nichole said of her biggest takeaway from the experience. "People understand now what I'm, and others, are going through. That gives me hope and it gives me the courage and confidence to continue." This is a moment that could change the narrative about how society defines beauty, and an opportunity for each of us to develop a little more empathy and sensitivity toward each other. What began with a joke and a slap is rapidly becoming a movement. One I pray continues to gain momentum so that more men, women and children dealing with alopecia can feel comfortable and confident living in their truth. Opinion Editor Kevin S. Aldridge can be reached at kaldridge@enquirer.com. Twitter: @kevaldrid. Kevin S. Aldridge is the Enquirer's opinion and engagement editor. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Opinion: Oscars incident opened door to sharing, understanding KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO SUNDAY, 12 JUNE 2022, 21:32 Over 50 people were detained on Sunday, 12 June in the Russian metro, allegedly in relation to their involvement in the organisation of protests set to take place in Moscow on 12 June. Source: Radio Svoboda, the Russian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, citing OVD-Info, an independent Russian human rights media project and several independent TV channels Details: Among the detainees there are political activists, journalists, and citizens who have been previously seen at protests against Russian military aggression in Ukraine. It is noted that the police have used facial recognition software to trace and detain those citizens. Most detainees were asked to sign a "warning about the inadmissibility of illegal actions" and then released. However, some of the detainees were held in custody for four to five hours; their pictures were taken and the police requested that their fingerprints be taken as well. According to OVD-Info, mass detentions in Moscow took place in relation to information, shared on various Telegram channels, about a protest that was allegedly supposed to take place in central Moscow on 12 June, when the Russian Federation celebrates the Russia Day. It is unclear where this information originated. No large demonstrations took place in Moscow on Sunday, 12 June. Several people held solitary pickets, which take place in Moscow almost every day. Dmitriy Koval, who held a poster that read "Freedom to political prisoners! Having an independent opinion is not a crime," was detained in Tverskaya Square. Tatiana Lomakina, who held a solitary picket against the war in Ukraine, was also detained. It is reported that an administrative protocol was drawn up against Lomakina; she is accused of discrediting the actions of the Russian army. In addition, Ivan Romanov, who used a street musicians microphone to sing a Ukrainian folk song on Pushkin Square, was also detained. Romanov reported his detention to OVD-Info himself. Several protesters were also detained in St Petersburg. In particular, Aleksey Abdullin was detained near Gostinniy Dvor; he was holding an anti-war poster. He is also being accused of discrediting the actions of the Russian army. Former Vice President Pences attorney advised him on Jan. 5, 2021, that if he blocked the certification of electoral votes the following day as then-President Trump was urging him to do he would likely face a loss in court or a standoff with Congress, according to a memo released for the first time on Saturday. In the memo, which was obtained by Politico, Pence lawyer Greg Jacob evaluated a proposal from Trump legal adviser John Eastman on how Pence could refuse to count electoral votes from any state for which an alternate but uncertified slate of electors has been submitted. If the Vice President implemented Professor Eastmans proposal, he would likely lose in court, Jacob concluded. In a best-case scenario in which the courts refused to get involved, the Vice President would likely find himself in an isolated standoff against both houses of Congress, as well as most or all of the applicable State legislatures, with no neutral arbiter available to break the impasse. Pences ultimate decision to go against Trump and continue as normal with the certification of votes led to tension between the two and made the then-vice president a target amid the violent insurrection on Jan. 6, where many Trump supporters expressed anger toward Pence over his refusal to overturn the election results. Pence has since reiterated that he did not have the authority to do so. President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election, the former vice president said earlier this year. The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. Frankly, there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president. The release of Jacobs memo to Pence comes days after the first of a series of public hearings held by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. In Thursdays prime-time hearing, the committee laid out the framework of its case asserting that Trump was at the center of an effort to remain in power that directly led to the Jan. 6 insurrection. Story continues Jacob, who met with the House panel in February, is expected to testify in an upcoming hearing. In the memo to Pence, Jacob noted that Eastman himself acknowledged his proposal would violate the 1887 Electoral Count Act and laid out multiple provisions of that law Pence would be breaking if he held up the certification as Eastman urged. Jacob also said that Eastmans advice was contradicted by the Electoral Commission of 1877 decision authored by a Supreme Court justice. In that decision, Republican Supreme Court Justice Joseph Bradley wrote of the vice president: He is not invested with any authority for making any investigation outside of the joint meeting of the two Houses. Jacob further noted that the proposal was strongly in tension with a federal district court ruling issued the previous day. During the Capitol attack, Jacob emailed Eastman. And thanks to your bullshit, we are under siege, he wrote. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Three Pennsylvania parents filed a federal lawsuit last week alleging that their children's first-grade teacher violated district policy, state law and the Constitution by teaching children about gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning. The suit, filed by mothers Carmilla Tatel, Stacy Dunn and Gretchen Melton against the Mount Lebanon School District, seeks a court order to stop the gender-related instruction at Jefferson Elementary School in Pittsburgh, or else provide parents the option to opt their children out of it. It also seeks a jury trial in federal court to decide compensating and punitive financial damages. In addition to the district, the suit names the district's superintendent and school board, as well as first-grade teacher Megan Williams. It also names other school officials and an elementary school principal. The mothers allege Williams did not respect their parental rights with her "direct classroom instruction" on gender dysphoria and use of books on the subject. MICHIGAN MIDDLE SCHOOL HIDES STUDENT'S TRANSGENDER STATUS FROM PARENTS The lawsuit points out the "unique perspectives and views" that Williams might have as the mother of a transgender child who is the same age as her students, but noted that such a fact "does not give her the right to impose those views on a captive audience of six- and seven-year-old children." "Williams also began the process of interjecting her own personal life and views into the classroom, explaining that her child had worn an Elsa dress for Halloween," the complaint also said, alleging that Williams "explained to her students that sometimes parents are wrong and parents and doctors make mistakes when they bring a child home from the hospital." BIDEN ADMIN HOLDING SCHOOL LUNCH MONEY 'HOSTAGE' TO FORCE TRANSGENDER POLICIES, ACTIVIST PARENT SAYS The lawsuit also claims that the district violated its own polices by not listing gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning as part of the curriculum online and also alleges that parents were not given the opportunity to excuse their children from such instruction if it does not conform with how they would like to broach such topics. Story continues It also noted how the district previously allowed parents such leeway when approaching sensitive topics such as the Holocaust, slavery, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Black Lives Matter. Emphasizing that the plaintiffs have both family and friends in the LGBT community and have been intimately involved with diversity efforts in their own workplaces, the suit pushed back against any who would attempt to dismiss the complaint as political. Spectators displayed their support toward transgender and non-binary people during a Trans March in Toronto, Ontario, on June 21, 2019. Anatoliy Cherkasov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images "This lawsuit is not about politics. It is not anti-transgender. It is not about censorship. It is not about banning books. It is not about precluding appropriate DEI initiatives," the suit reads. "Rather, it is about Plaintiffs parental rights and each of their respective decisions not to want their six- or seven-year-old child to receive first-grade classroom instruction on gender dysphoria or transgender transitioning from their first-grade teacher." Williams did not immediately respond to a request for comment. District spokesperson Kristen James said in a statement that the complaint contains "allegations that are untrue or based on partial truths that mischaracterize events for sensational effect," and that the district "looks forward to the opportunity to set the record straight," according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Inductees to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame called on President Biden and the U.S. government to safely bring Brittney Griner home from Russia during their induction speeches on Saturday night from the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville. Brittney Griner has been wrongfully detained in Russia for 114 days," Penny Taylor, Griner's former teammate with the Phoenix Mercury, said to open her speech. "BG is our family. She's yours, too. The entire global sport community needs to come together to insist that she be a priority. DeLisha Milton-Jones and DePaul head coach Doug Bruno also mentioned the star. Brittney is a great human being, and no one deserves what she is going through, said Bruno, who has coached Griner as an assistant with Team USA. "Enough is absolutely enough. It is time for the powers that be to bring Brittney Griner home." Griner has been detained in Russia for 115 days as of Sunday, dating back to Feb. 17 when vape cartridges containing hashish oil were allegedly found in her luggage at the Moscow airport. She was returning to play for her Russian club, UMMC Ekaterinburg, after an international break. The U.S. government classified her as wrongfully detained on May 3, allowing friends and family to talk publicly about her case and bring attention to it. Taylor, Griner and Taylor's wife, Diana Taurasi, played on the 2014 WNBA championship Mercury team. Taylor and Taurasi also won titles in 2007 and 2009. Bruno has experience with the seven-time All-Star through Team USA and Milton-Jones played against Griner in the latter years of her career. Debbi Antonelli (contributor), Alice "Cookie" Barron (veteran player), Becky Hammon (player), Paul Sanderford (coach) and Bob Schneider (coach) were also inducted. Hammon could not attend as her Las Vegas Aces were in action against the Los Angeles Sparks that night. They moved to a league-best 11-2 record. Penny Taylor drops in Diana Taurasi joke Brittney Griner (left), Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor during the 2014 WNBA championship run for the Phoenix Mercury. Taylor used her Women's Basketball Hall of Fame acceptance speech to call for Griner's safe return from detainment in Russia. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) Taylor was joined at the induction ceremony by Taurasi, her wife of five years. Taurasi flew overnight after defeating the Atlanta Dream in Phoenix's Footprint Center on Friday night. The GOAT, as voted on during last year's WNBA 25th anniversary season, celebrated her 40th birthday. Story continues "'I'm so grateful for basketball and all the experiences that it's brought me, but mostly for introducing me to my love," Taylor said during the speech, via the Associated Press. She then joked about Taurasi, "If you continue to work hard, you, too, may be up here." Taylor spent much of her speech talking about her family and cameras captured the heartwarming interactions by Taurasi and their son, Leo. Their daughter, Isla, was also in attendance. Leo blowing kisses to Penny during her speech has us in tears pic.twitter.com/GYJXpyCm0Y Phoenix Mercury (@PhoenixMercury) June 12, 2022 Taylor was inducted as an international player, though her impact in the WNBA is large. She won three WNBA championships in 13 seasons, 10 of which were in Phoenix. She was a three-time WNBA All-Star (the WNBA did not previously award All-Star nods during Olympic years) and was a 2007 All-WNBA first-team selection. She is the soul of what we did to win three championships. In honor of Penny Taylor being inducted into the Womens Basketball Hall of Fame today, we introduce to you Episode 1 of , presented by @CarMax! pic.twitter.com/uMbwRYKpH3 Phoenix Mercury (@PhoenixMercury) June 11, 2022 Taylor also won a championship in the Women's National Basketball League in Australia as well as titles in Italy, Russia and Europe. With the Opals she won a FIBA World Cup gold and two bronze medals. STORY: Crowds of people were seen holding large rainbow flags, a globally-recognised symbol of the LQBTQ+ community, as they marched through the Nepalese capital, while others danced to Nepalese songs and the popular tunes of Bollywood. Attendees welcomed the return of the annual event after organisers were forced to hold it virtually last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The socially conservative Himalayan nation has become increasingly progressive regarding LGBTQ+ rights since a decade-long Maoist civil war ended in 2006, and a feudal monarchy was abolished two years later. LGBTQ+ people were counted for the first time in Nepal's 2021 census, a move that campaigners said could help sexual minorities gain better access to education and health schemes. VENICE, Italy (AP) Venices Jewish ghetto is considered the first in Europe and one of the first in the world, and a new effort is underway to preserve its 16th-century synagogues for the Jews who have remained and tourists who pass through. For nearly two years, restorers have been peeling away paint and discovering the original foundations of three of the ghettos synagogues, which are considered the only Renaissance synagogues still in use, art historian David Landau said. Landau is spearheading the fundraising effort to restore the synagogues and nearby buildings both for Venices small Jewish community, which numbers around 450 people, and for tourists who can visit them on a guided tour through the Jewish Museum of Venice. I was really deeply offended by the state of the synagogues, said Landau, a Renaissance specialist who bought a home in Venice 12 years ago. I felt that the synagogues were in very bad condition. They had been altered beyond recognition over the centuries, and needed to be kind of cared for and loved. He has secured about 5 million euros to date and expects workers can complete the restoration process by the end of 2023 if the rest of the funding comes through, although the original outstanding 4 million euros has now ballooned to 6 million euros because of soaring building costs. Venices ghetto dates from 1516, when the republic forced the growing numbers of Jews into the district where the old foundries, or geti as they were known, had been located. The area, which was locked down at night, became what is considered Europes first ghetto and remains the hub of Venices Jewish community in the Cannaregio area. The first synagogue dates from 1528 and was built by German Ashkenazi Jews. Others followed and served different groups, including one for Spanish Sephardic Jews and one for Italian Jews. None is visible from the street, as strict rules imposed by Venices rulers didnt allow Jews to practice their faith openly. All the synagogues are hidden away on the top floors of seemingly normal buildings that on the lower levels held cramped living spaces for Jewish families. Story continues The synagogues have remained operational continuously, except for the years of World War II during the German occupation. The head of Venices Jewish community, Dario Calimani, said the restoration project was necessary both to maintain the religious and cultural life of Venices Jews today and to preserve the community's history. They are a testimony to the life that it was, to the history of our community, small community, he said. Suffering from uremia, an 18-year-old teenager who called herself Xiaowei, lives a much healthier life after receiving a kidney donation five years ago in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. "This little angel gave me the gift of life, bestowing hope for me and my family," Xiaowei said, expressing her gratitude to the donor, who was a two-year-old boy. The sixth Organ Donation Day in China falls on June 11 this year. Tens of thousands of patients have been reborn through organ transplantation as organ donation is being accepted by an increasing number of people. China started piloting its organ donation program in 2010. According to the latest report on organ transplantation development in China in 2019, the country's body donation rate per million population rose from 2.01 in 2015 to 4.16 in 2019. The number of registered organ donors in China had exceeded 4.78 million, according to the China Organ Donation Administrative Center, an increase of more than 100 times compared with the 25,000 registered cases in 2015. In 2021, Yi Zecheng, 75, and his wife Chen Maoxiu, 65, both registered donors, held their wedding at the Chongqing Organ Donation Memorial Park. "We hope to give our thanks to and commemorate all donors, and also to bring more public attention to human organ donation, so that more people can be a part of this voluntary activity," Chen said. Over the past few years, the couple have participated in numerous public welfare activities, calling volunteers together to pay a comfort visit to the donating families, and accompanying donors amid their cremation. "There are about 300,000 patients in China every year who need organ transplantation, and the transplant organs are still very short," said Zhang Leida, a member of the Chinese Society of Organ Transplantation. "We hope more people to participate in organ donation and transplantation to save more lives," Zhang added. Rep. Don Bacon speaks during a press conference to discuss the 'Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act of 2018' on Capitol Hill, February 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images GOP Rep. Don Bacon said he won't support Donald Trump in the 2024 primary if the former president runs. However, Bacon did not commit to swearing off Trump if he were to be the Republican nominee. On "Meet the Press," Bacon urged his party to focus on the 2022 midterms instead of the 2024 election. Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon said he won't support former President Donald Trump if he tries to seek the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Trump has been toying with the idea of running for president in the next election but has not made any firm commitments. According to a Politico report, Trump may be more likely to commit to a 2024 run if Biden announces his own reelection bid. Bacon made his remarks to NBC's Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press" on Sunday when Todd asked if he would vote for Trump in 2024. "I'll be looking for other candidates," Bacon said. "We have a great slate of potential Republican presidents for 2024, and I look forward to being very involved and trying to get the right candidate nominated." When pressed by Todd on if he would "never" vote for Trump, Bacon said: "I'm reluctant to go there, but he's not going to be my choice in the primary. That's for sure." Bacon added that the average American person does not like the "name-calling" and "rude behavior" of politicians. "We have to also learn the lesson, 'Why did we lose in 2020?' It was the comportment and the temperament, and yes, a democracy respects elections," Bacon said. "And our president should have respected the conclusion." Bacon said the Republican party should focus on the 2022 midterm elections instead of the 2024 elections. "I feel like we're missing the boat if we focus on 2024," Bacon said. "I think if we have a Republican House and maybe a Republican Senate, it will force Joe Biden and his administration to go to the middle. But right now, he is not. He's catered more to his left side of the aisle." Democrats may face an uphill climb in November as strategists have raised the alarm that the party needs to solidify its messaging on the economy and other major issues affecting voters. President Joe Biden has recently been said to be "really twisted" over his low approval rating, which has dropped down to 33 percent, per a June 8 Quinnipiac poll. Read the original article on Business Insider Douglas Rooks Ready or not, Mainers vote in their primary election next week, June 14. A primary election never just primary was a big deal when, a century ago, Maine amended its Constitution to repeal the smoke-filled room party caucuses that were the sole means for candidates to get on the ballot. Amid Progressive-era fervor, we also got the initiative and referendum system for enacting state laws and direct election of U.S. senators by voters, rather than state legislatures. It hasnt been all downhill from there, but theres no doubt primary elections arent what they used to be, and ideological homogenization is the result. At one time, incumbent Maine governors often faced primary challengers. Now, its only in the opposition party, or when theres an open seat. Kennebunkport election 2022: Four vie for two seats on the Board of Selectmen As recently as the 1970s, there were challengers in both major parties, and those challenges helped shape Maines political history. In 1966, incumbent Gov. John Reed faced a challenge from a young attorney named Jim Erwin in the Republican primary, and though he won, it signaled Reed had been governor too long seven years, when no previous governor had served more than four. That November, 35-year-old Ken Curtis ousted Reed, the last time an incumbent facing re-election lost. Four years later, after Curtis collaborated with Republican leaders to enact a progressive income tax, a previously unknown anti-tax crusader named Plato Truman got a third of the vote in the Democratic primary. Curtis prevailed over Erwin in November 1970 one of the closest elections ever. Wells election 2022: Five-way race for two seats on Board of Selectmen Had Curtis lost, the income tax probably would have been repealed, and Maine might have been one of those rare Northeastern states, like neighboring New Hampshire, without one. Predictably, there are no primary challengers to incumbent Democrat Janet Mills or her Republican opponent, former governor Paul LePage. Theres only one independent candidate, primary care physician Sam Hunkler. Story continues Its too bad. Primaries' results once told volumes about what voters were thinking. Peter Kyros, a bright Democratic Congressman from the 1st District who unfortunately looked down on constituents, had a primary challenger every time until he lost in 1974 to 26-year-old Republican David Emery, one of Maines biggest upsets. Kennebunk election 2022: Three candidates vie for two Kennebunk Select Board seats Today, its by no means clear Mills represents mainstream thinking among Democrats witness her numerous vetoes, and anomalous positions on taxes and guns. LePage, meanwhile, is a default option. He governed through the force of his own personality, with no more concern for party-building than Donald Trump. Still, there are numerous contests in at least some parts of the state. Cumberland County has a lively Democratic primary race for district attorney, a partial rerun of the 2018 contest in which both the Republican and Democratic candidates withdrew. RSU 21 election 2022: Three-way race for two Kennebunk seats on RSU 21 School Board The Democrat, Jon Gale, almost certainly would have won, but he was, bizarrely, forced out by state Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett a few days before the election over rumors about long-ago sexual misconduct allegations. Jonathan Sahrbeck, the independent who won by default, is now running as a Democrat in an overwhelmingly Democratic county against Jackie Sartoris of Brunswick, one of Gales 2018 rivals. Should be interesting. Legislative races are always tough for recruiting, given low pay, long hours and, now, many outraged constituents. There are relatively few contested primaries. I count six in the Senate two in District 8, where a moderate Democrat, Jill Dill, is term-limited. Elections are 'extremely safe': Seacoast clerks assure NH Voter Confidence committee The House seems better, with two dozen contests, about equally divided between parties, but given many more members, not really. Weigh it against 18 districts with no competition in November; only one candidate filed. Democrats usually out-recruit the GOP, but not this time: 11 of the 18 getting a free pass are Republicans. At least in Maine, the verb primaried is rarely used, as when one wing of a party declares war on the other, currently happening nationally, with the divide over the former president. We use these contests for their intended purpose, even if there are too few. And yes, theres a question that often comes up: Why does Maine vote in June, when all the other New England states vote later? Nationally, most states have early primaries, with Texas absurdly beginning March 1. Vermont and Connecticut vote in August, and Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island on Sept. 13, the latest primary date. The reason: Maine, until 1960, held its general election in September for all offices except president origin of the As goes Maine, so goes the nation slogan. Only after Gov. Ed Muskie convinced Republican leaders to change the Constitution did Maine finally shift to November. The primary election remains in June, so winners can now choose to go the beach, or keep knocking on doors. Douglas Rooks, a Maine editor, commentator and reporter since 1984, is the author of three books. His first, Statesman: George Mitchell and the Art of the Possible, is now out in paperback. He welcomes comment at drooks@tds.net This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Maine primaries have waned, but they're still essential Previous attempts to cross the Siverskyi Donets ended in significant losses for the invaders. Photo taken on May 12, 2022 Read also: River might save Slovyansk from capture by Russian invasion forces, US think tank says For the second week, the weather has been hot, sunny, no rain, Hayday wrote on social networks on June 11. The water level in the river has dropped significantly. We even see Russian equipment that sank while trying to cross in Belohorovka. That is, the river has already dropped somewhere about three meters or even more. Perhaps, there will be (more Russian) attempts to cross the river and make a new foothold in the area of Belohorovka. Read also: Russia again suffers major losses while attempting to bridge the Siversky Donets river in Donbas According to Hayday, Popasna, Toshkivka and Severodonetsk remain the areas of the fiercest battles. Heavy fighting is taking place on the streets of Severodonetsk. The city is under heavy artillery fire from the Russian invaders, after which the enemy advances with armored vehicles, he said. Hayday said that the Russians had for several hours been shelling the positions of the Ukrainian military on the territory of the Azot chemical plant. As a result of an oil leak a, a large-scale fire has broken out in the area. Read also: Several enemy attacks repulsed in Donbas, invaders suffer losses, retreat General Staff According to the General Staff, as of June 11, Ukrainian soldiers are successfully resisting enemy assaults in Severodonetsk. As of June 11, a third of the city is under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Russian invaders have already made unsuccessful attempts to conduct assault crossing of Siverskyi Donets. In one incident in mid-May, as a result of attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on a pontoon bridge, the invaders lost more than 80 units of military equipment and about 480 military personnel. Several explosions took place in Berdyansk Read also: Invaders issuing Russian passports to residents of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya, Kherson Oblasts It noted that the extent of the destruction is being checked. Some of the town has been left with out power. Earlier, the city council reported that more than 10 explosions were heard in different areas of Berdyansk during the day on June 2, including at the citys port. Read also: State officials comment on explosions in Berdyansk port At that time, state officials said the explosions in the port might have been due to Russian invasion forces mishandling ammunition. Read also: Russia forces businesses in Berdyansk to import goods from Crimea ROMAN PETRENKO SUNDAY, JUNE 12, 2022, 12:35 PM Russian occupation forces have already destroyed two of the three bridges that lead to the Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk region. Source: head of the OMA Serhii Haidai on the 24-hour news broadcast Haidai's direct speech: "Overnight, the Russians destroyed the second bridge leading to the Regional Centre. Right now they are massively firing artillery at the last one - the third overpass in the city. The Russians are throwing all their forces at "cutting off" Sievierodonetsk. The next two or three days will be important. We are not ruling out offensives in other directions, namely the Lysychansk-Bakhmut highway, which the Russians are trying to take control of." Details: According to Haidai, the Kadyrov command post was covered by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Rubizhne. Note: Fighting for Sievierodonetsk continues; the situation in Toshkovka is very difficult, where the Russians are trying to "push through" the line of Defence, Haidai said. Jun. 12Blue and yellow balloons flapping in the wind Wednesday afternoon were the first sign that a recently closed Spokane hotel is coming to life again. Inside, massive bouquets of flowers fill the lobby. Between two bouquets, Albina Semivrazhnov-Shapovalov's smiling face welcomed Ukrainians who spent the past few months in transit after fleeing war in their home country. The Thrive Center opened last week in the former Quality Inn, 110 E. Fourth Ave. The center will provide much-needed housing for refugee families and offer a community of people all enduring the struggles adjusting to their home. Oleh Antonov, 25, and his girlfriend, Kazina Onyshko, 21, arrived in Spokane two months ago and have been staying with family. As Semivrazhnov-Shapovalov showed the two their new temporary residence, the couple shared a smile. They began unloading their belongings from a family friend's car minutes later. "We are very grateful," Antonov said. Three women whispered among themselves as they arrived at the Thrive Center. As their check-in progressed, the women opened up, sharing smiles and flurries of conversation. Yelyzaveta Nikora fled Odesa, Ukraine, with her two pregnant sisters and their children. The group has been staying with their brother for the past two months, but with two more children about to join the group and expectant mothers worried about their husbands fighting in the war, the Thrive Center is a welcome sanctuary. Nikora said she felt "happy" to be in Spokane "Because in Ukraine, it's war." The amount of help and support the Spokane community has offered the sisters was an unexpected blessing, Nikora said. On Wednesday afternoon, the women relaxed as they debated who should take which room, where the babies would get the most sleep and how the rooms would function once their husbands, as they hope, join them. The hotel has a large number of adjoining rooms, perfect for families with small children who need the extra space, Semivrazhnov-Shapovalov said. Story continues Some of the rooms are joined through dark wood-framed French doors and filled with light from the large windows that have desks tucked under them. After everything was decided, the trio left, sheets in hand to be washed at their brother's house before move-in day later in the week. Community meets urgent need The Thrive Center is a collaboration between two recently founded local organizations: the Ukraine Relief Coalition and Thrive International. Boris Borisov, founder of the coalition, is a former city planner turned pastor of Pacific Keep, a local church that serves largely second-generation Slavic immigrants. When the war in Ukraine broke out, he knew he had to help, so he reached out to pastors of the 20-some Slavic churches in the Spokane area. Ukrainian refugees Kazina Onyshko, center and Oleh Antonov, left carry their luggage into the former Quality Inn as part of Thrive International's refugee housing program in Spokane on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (Kathy Plonka/The Spokesman-Review) Spokane is home to roughly 50,000 Slavs, many of whom fled religious persecution from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. Those church communities came together to meet the needs of their Ukrainian friends and family whose lives were uprooted by the Russian invasion. Pastor of Emmaus church in Spokane's Perry District Mark Finney led World Relief for years until the organization's national office rejected the hiring of a gay man at the Spokane office early this year. He resigned in January. Finney had a strong desire to continue serving the refugee community in Spokane and founded Thrive International in February. The goal was to slowly and thoughtfully grow a variety of programs to help refugees navigate their new home, Finney said, but God had other things in mind. Later that month, Russia attacked Ukraine and Thrive jumped into action. Working with the Ukraine Relief Coalition, the nonprofit supported the grassroots efforts of the Slavic community in Spokane. Then in April, President Joe Biden announced the Uniting for Ukraine program, which allowed Ukrainians to come to the United States if they have a "supporter" who agrees to provide for them financially once they arrive. "This is going to be one of the centers for Ukrainians coming to the U.S. because this is where there are relationships that have already been established," Finney said. Last month, the Spokane County Commission secured a $1 million grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce to meet the urgent need of Ukrainian refugees. Thrive International was selected to administer those funds. "Spokane County recognizes the hardships that these refugees are facing during this crisis," County Commissioner Mary Kuney wrote in a news release on the announcement. "With these funds we hope that those who choose to find sanctuary in our county will be one step closer to finding peace and experience the generosity and kindness that Spokane County is known for." With Finney's experience administering grants, it made sense that Thrive would take the lead on the administrative aspects of the grant while the coalition would focus on outreach. The group began accepting applications for aid this month and has already received more than 500 responses from families in need of support. 'A safe place to stay' One of the biggest needs refugees have now is housing, Finney and Borisov said. Most Ukrainians have not received their work authorization, making it difficult to find a place to stay, especially with the tight housing market. In hopes of addressing that need, Thrive started the search for a building to house refugees. It settled on the former Quality Inn. Located near Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, the 153-room hotel recently was purchased by Fortify Holdings, which plans to renovate the building into apartments. "It's really unbelievable that a facility like this would be available right now," Finney said. While the community has absorbed arriving refugees so far, it's not a long-term solution, Finney said. "You can't have your relatives live with you forever," Finney said. "People need their own space." The Thrive Center will provide refugees with a hotel room, outfitted with a minifridge and hot plate for free for at least two months, then depending on funding, refugees could have to pay a rent, but that cost still would be under market rate, Borisov said. Thrive International signed a lease on the building Monday, and refugees began moving in Tuesday. Finney expects the facility to fill up in the next few weeks. The building, with conference rooms, a large lounge and commercial kitchen, is the perfect place to expand its other fledgling programs, Finney said. As Fortify begins remodeling some of the hotel rooms into apartments, refugees will rotate into vacant rooms, then, as the remodels are completed, be allowed to move into the new apartments. The company has renovated four hotels in the Spokane area into apartments and has at least one additional building under development. Watching the first families move into the Thrive Center was emotional for Borisov, who came to the United States from Mykolaiv, Ukraine, when he was 5. One family Tuesday had children similar in age to Borisov's children, which made Borisov think about how easily it could be him fleeing from the war if his parents hadn't left decades earlier. Similarly, Semivrazhnov-Shapovalov moved to Spokane from Mariupol in 1997. She heard about the Thrive Center from Borisov and offered to help. Thrive hired her on the spot, and she quit her job working in a local lab. It was Semivrazhnov-Shapovalov whose smiling face greeted the first of Thrive's new residents on Tuesday. "I'm really happy I can do that," she said of helping her fellow Ukrainians. "Because this is what God called us for." After the last new residents arrived late Tuesday night, Semivrazhnov-Shapovalov volunteered to sleep at the hotel, just to make sure everything went smoothly. Thinking about why her fellow countrymen are fleeing makes Semivrazhnov-Shapovalov emotional. "It's hard even thinking about my hometown," she said with tears in her eyes. "But to know they have a safe place to stay ..." As of Friday afternoon, 72 people had moved into the hotel, occupying 41 rooms. On a sunny afternoon midweek, Mila and Artem Rakailva's two young boys ran into the Thrive Center lobby followed by their parents and grandmother, Galyna. The couple moved to Spokane two years ago from Sacramento, California, to be closer to Mila's sister. When the war broke out, Galyna, 61, fled Ukraine, leaving her husband and son behind. Artem said he worries about friends and relatives in the Odesa area where they're from, but is focusing on the positive of having his mother close by. Still, he hopes the war will come to an end soon. He sighed. "We hope ... we hope." Sanctioned by Ukraine in the past over his close ties to Russia, Dmytro Firtash, one of the country's wealthiest citizens, made international headlines this week for saying he is sheltering hundreds of Ukrainians in his chemical factory. "This war is completely pointless and cannot be justified in any way, it only brings suffering and misery on all sides. This humanitarian tragedy is intolerable," the 57-year-old said in a statement on his company's website. A one-time ally of ousted pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, Firtash, who is currently in Austria and fighting extradition to the US on bribery accusations, has a controversial history. - Providing refuge - In June 2021, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree imposing sanctions on Firtash, including the freezing of his assets and withdrawal of licences from his companies, after accusing him of selling titanium products to Russian military companies. But now some 800 civilians, including 200 factory workers, have taken refuge in the bunkers of the Azot chemical plant, owned by Firtash's Group DF, in Ukraine's strategic eastern city of Severodonetsk, the tycoon's lawyer Lanny Davis said this week. Russian troops have been pushing for control of the key city over the past weeks as part of their effort to conquer eastern Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin "is never going to come out victorious... No matter what happens, Russia will lose," Firtash said in an NBC News interview in April. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Firtash's Inter has also joined the pool of several main Ukrainian news channels, which broadcast news 24/7 and fully reflect the official position of the Ukrainian authorities. Before the invasion, Inter, one of the largest Ukrainian national TV channels, was considered pro-Russian. Firtash insists he has always been pro-Ukrainian, telling NBC that he was "never pro-Russian". "But you have to understand that I am a businessman. And my goal is to earn money. That's my job," he said in the interview. Story continues An AFP request to interview Firtash is pending. - Wanted by US - Firtash is also wanted on bribery and racketeering charges in the United States. In the case, Indian officials allegedly received $18.5 million in bribes to secure titanium mining licences in 2006. The United States argues it has jurisdiction because the conspiracy involved using US financial institutions, travel to and from the US, and use of US-based communications -- computers, telephones, and the internet. Firtash, who denies the charges and says he is the victim of a smear campaign, was detained in Austria in March 2014. He had to pay bail of 125 million euros ($130 million) -- reportedly a record high for Austria -- and has since not been able to leave the country. Austria's supreme court ruled in 2019 that he could be extradited. But Firtash is still fighting the extradition and can remain in Austria while court proceedings continue. In an interview with CNN in May, Firtash said he had requested prosecutors to be allowed to return to Ukraine while the war is going on -- but his request was denied. He has also been accused of being involved in alleged efforts by Rudy Giuliani, former New York mayor and a personal lawyer of former US president Donald Trump, to dig up dirt on Joe Biden before he became president, but Firtash denies ever having met with Giuliani. Born in a village in western Ukraine, Firtash's father was a diver and his mother an accountant, and for additional income the family grew tomatoes. Firtash began his business career by organising commodity trading in Ukraine and Russia. In 1993, he established business ties in Central Asia and organised the supply of consumer goods in exchange for natural gas. In 2004, he set up a joint venture with Russia's Gazprom to supply natural gas from Central Asia to Ukraine and other European countries. Three years later, Firtash set up Group DF, growing it into a business empire, employing some 100,000 people. The group is involved in energy, chemicals, media, banking and property in Ukraine and other countries. dg-jza/pvh Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on Sunday that evidence showing several GOP lawmakers sought pardons related to their roles in overturning the election was the most compelling consciousness of guilt related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. During an appearance on ABCs This Week, Schiff was asked about remarks from Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), a fellow member of the House panel investigating Jan. 6, who said multiple House GOP lawmakers requested pardons from the Trump administration. We will show the evidence that we have that members of Congress were seeking pardons. To me, I think that is some of the most compelling evidence of a consciousness of guilt, Schiff told moderator Martha Raddatz. Why would members do that if they felt that their involvement in this plot to overturn the election was somehow appropriate? he asked. So well present the evidence that we have, as the vice chair outlined, along with the evidence of other actions that were taken by members of the Congress. But, again, I dont want to get too far ahead of the committee. And well be presenting that in the days and weeks to come, Schiff added. Schiffs remarks come in the aftermath of the House select committees first June public hearing on Thursday night, which drew nearly 20 million viewers. The second hearing is scheduled for Monday morning. Schiff also said on Sunday that the committee plans to show proof of former President Trump not condemning chants by rioters to hang Mike Pence and that Trump, according to lawmakers, said that perhaps Pence deserved it because he would not contest the 2020 election results. We will, I think, be demonstrating the proof behind that comment. Everything that the chair and vice chair said during our hearing was, you know, well-documented and analyzed and dotted every i and crossed every t in vetting what our committee would say. So well be presenting the evidence of that, Schiff said. And, you know, thats perfectly tragically consistent with Donald Trumps character, which is, he doesnt care about anything but himself and so people who are attacking the Capitol on his behalf, well, you know, they were for him and thats all that seemed to matter to Donald Trump, Schiff concluded. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Close up of parked police vehicles outside a county police station. Getty Images A former police chief was granted a $1.52 million settlement to resign. Former Kent Assistant Chief Derek Kammerzell was initially reprimanded in September 2020. Kammerzell was suspended for putting up Nazi insignia on his office door, The Seattle Times reported. A Seattle suburb has reached a $1.5 million agreement with a former assistant police chief who was suspended for posting Nazi insignia on his office door, The Seattle Times reported on Friday. In September 2020, former Kent Assistant Chief Derek Kammerzell was suspended for two weeks without pay for the violation, which also included making fun of the Holocaust, per The Times. KIRO7, a CBS TV affiliate in Seattle, reported that the city said Kammerzell's two-week suspension was "appropriate based on the facts and after considering the assistant chief's 27 years of performance without discipline, the lack of any allegations of excessive force during his career, and a record with no known complaints from the community." However, members of the community were outraged and Mayor Dana Ralph demanded Kammerzell step down. Kammerzell was placed on administrative leave in December 2021. Since he was already disciplined, Arthur Fitzpatrick, who is the interim city chief administrative officer and also the city's attorney, said the discipline would come at a high cost to the city, per The Times. Kammerzell initially had demanded $3.1 million for his resignation but after months of negotiations, he and the city reached an agreement of $1.52 million. "While this is a substantial sum, we strongly believe that settling this matter will be a substantial step towards meeting our commitment to the community and continuing with the excellent work the police department is doing," the city said, according to KIRO7 The Seattle Times reported that even if Kammerzell was initially fired, he would have been able to win his job back and get back pay. "Had the city terminated the assistant chief, it is confident it would have been in no better position than it is now," Fitzpatrick said. Read the original article on Insider With phased myopia prevention models introduced and innovative therapies combining both Chinese and Western medicine, China is making new progress in addressing vision impairments among the country's younger generation. Part of that initiative is being driven by this year's month-long anti-myopia publicity campaign, launched by the Ministry of Education, which officially kicked off on May 15. Over the past few weeks, vision professionals across the nation have worked to raise public awareness of eye care, encourage teenagers to engage more in outdoor exercise, and correct bad habits that affect eye health. For instance, Aier Eye Hospital, a leading Chinese ophthalmology hospital group, introduced a one-stop personalized diagnosis and treatment model on China's National Eye Care Day on June 6 to prevent and control myopia among children and teenagers aged 3 to 18. Their model involves five aspects, including myopia prevention, prediction, standardization, and personalization of the treatment process, and supporting parents' participation. The hospital also suggests parents keep a record of their children's refraction test results from the age of 3 and take them to vision tests twice a year. While existing Western medical therapies such as laser surgery or implant procedures are indispensable to correct myopia, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has offered several other effective approaches. On June 5, a clinical practice guideline for suitable TCM-based techniques for myopia prevention and control was published. The guideline proposed a total of nine TCM therapies that have been proven effective in treating myopia, such as moxibustion, acupressure, and TCM fumigation. Already applied in optometry clinics in Yunnan and Heilongjiang provinces, these techniques can adjust blood flow to the eye and improve hypoxia. Statistics from the National Health Commission (NHC) show that the prevalence of myopia among Chinese children and teenagers was 52.7% in 2020, 0.9 percentage points lower than in 2018. Specifically, the myopia rate for children aged 6 stood at 14.3%, and that for students in primary school, middle school, and high school reached 35.6%, 71.1%, and 80.5%, respectively. As the COVID-19 pandemic has brought most learning activities online and reduced children's outdoor activities, myopia prevention and control are facing tremendous pressure. In 2018, China rolled out an action plan and set the target of reducing the overall myopia rate for children and adolescents by more than 0.5 percentage points per year by 2023. The NHC also unveiled the country's five-year vision care plan this January and vowed to improve the coverage rate of eye care and vision testing services to over 90% for children aged six and below by the end of 2025. WASHINGTON (AP) Senate bargainers on Sunday announced the framework of a bipartisan response to last months mass shootings, a noteworthy but limited breakthrough offering modest gun curbs and stepped-up efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, the accord was embraced by Biden and enactment would signal a significant turnabout after years of gun massacres that have yielded little but stalemate in Congress. Biden said in a statement that the framework does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades. Given the bipartisan support, there are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House, he said. Leaders hope to push any agreement into law rapidly they hope this month before the political momentum fades that has been stirred by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. Participants cautioned that final details and legislative language remain to be completed, meaning fresh disputes and delays might emerge. In a consequential development, 20 senators, including 10 Republicans, released a statement calling for passage. That is potentially crucial because the biggest obstacle to enacting the measure is probably in the 50-50 Senate, where at least 10 GOP votes will be needed to attain the usual 60-vote threshold for approval. Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities," the lawmakers said. The group, led by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., produced the agreement after two weeks of closed-door talks. Story continues The compromise would make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 available when they undergo background checks. The suspects who killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde were both 18, and many perpetrators of recent years' mass shootings have been young. The agreement would offer money to states to enact and put in place red flag laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns from people considered potentially violent, plus funds to bolster school safety and mental health programs. Some people who informally sell guns for profit would be required to obtain federal dealers' licenses, which means they would have to conduct background checks of buyers. Convicted domestic abusers who do not live with a former partner, such as estranged ex-boyfriends, would be barred from buying firearms, and it would be a crime for a person to legally purchase a weapon for someone who would not qualify for ownership. Congressional aides said billions of dollars would be spent expanding the number of community mental health centers and suicide prevention programs. But they said some spending decisions are unresolved, as are final wording on juvenile records and other gun provisions that might prove contentious. Yet underscoring election-year pressures from Buffalo and Uvalde, the parties shared desire to demonstrate a response to those shootings suggested momentum toward enactment was strong. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the accord a good first step to ending the persistent inaction to the gun violence epidemic" and said he would bring the completed measure to a vote as soon as possible. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has supported the talks, was more restrained. He praised the bargainers' work and said he is hoping for a deal that makes significant headway on key issues like mental health and school safety, respects the Second Amendment, earns broad support in the Senate, and makes a difference for our country. The agreement was quickly endorsed by groups that support gun restrictions including Brady, Everytown for Gun Safety and March for Our Lives, which organized rallies held around the country on Saturday. The National Rifle Association said in a statement that it opposes gun control and infringing on people's fundamental right to protect themselves and their loved ones, but supports strengthening school security, mental health and law enforcement. The group has long exerted its sway with millions of firearms-owning voters to derail gun control drives in Congress. The agreement represents a lowest common denominator compromise on gun violence, not a complete sea change in Congress. Lawmakers have demonstrated a newfound desire to move ahead after saying their constituents have shown a heightened desire for congressional action since Buffalo and Uvalde, but Republicans still oppose more sweeping steps that Democrats want and Sunday's agreement omits. These include banning assault-style firearms such as the AR-15 style rifles used in Buffalo and Uvalde, or raising the legal age for buying them. AR-15s are popular and powerful semi-automatic weapons that can fire high-capacity magazines and have been used in many of the nations highest-profile slaughters in recent years. One of them, the killing of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, occurred six years ago Sunday. Democrats have also wanted to ban high capacity magazines and to expand required background checks to far more gun purchases. None of those proposals has a chance in Congress. Highlighting that, the Democratic-controlled House approved sweeping bills this past week barring sales of semiautomatic weapons to people under age 21 and large-capacity magazines, and giving federal courts the power to rule when local authorities want to remove guns from people considered dangerous. Currently, only 19 states and the District of Columbia have red-flag laws. Those measures will go nowhere in the Senate, where Republicans can block them. The last major firearms restrictions enacted by lawmakers was the 1994 assault weapons ban, which Congress let expire 10 years later. For years, congressional Republicans representing rural, pro-gun voters have blocked robust restrictions on firearms purchases, citing the Constitutions Second Amendment. Democrats, whose voters overwhelmingly favor gun restrictions, have been reluctant to approve incremental steps that they have thought would let GOP lawmakers argue they have tried stemming the tide of violence without meaningfully addressing the problem. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) speaks during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations on Capitol Hill on Dec. 7, 2021, in Washington. Murphy, who came to Congress representing Sandy Hook, begged his colleagues to finally pass legislation addressing the nation's gun violence problem as the latest school shooting unfolded May 24 in Uvalde, Texas. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) Senate bargainers announced a bipartisan framework Sunday responding to last months mass shootings, a modest breakthrough offering measured gun curbs and bolstered efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Biden and many Democrats. Even so, if the accord leads to the enactment of legislation, it would signal a turn from years of gun massacres that have yielded little but stalemate in Congress. Leaders hope to push any agreement into law quickly they hope this month before the political momentum fades that has been stirred by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The bipartisan Senate deal aimed at preventing gun violence includes funding for a nationwide expansion of community mental health clinics, senators said Sunday. The proposal marks a significant move on mental health in addition to the measures aimed directly at guns. The measure from Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) would provide funding nationwide for community mental health clinics that provide 24/7 mental health crisis response, substance abuse treatment, and other services. The clinics would be reimbursed through Medicaid, which the senators argue provides a more stable source of funding than one-time grants, which can run out. The package would expand the mental health clinic program nationwide, up from 10 states currently fully participating. This bipartisan proposal builds on our work and will make sure health care above the neck is funded the same way as health care below the neck, Stabenow said in a statement. Its time to get this across the finish line and expand these highly successful clinics to people in every corner of our country. There are also other mental health measures included in the bipartisan package released Sunday, though the details have not been provided. The framework released by the bipartisan group of 20 senators calls for major investments to increase access to mental health and suicide prevention programs and funding for school-based mental health and supportive services. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), one of the leaders of the overall effort, tweeted that there would be billions in new funding for mental health and school safety, including money for the national build out of community mental health clinics, though he did not provide an exact number. For too long, emergency rooms and law enforcement have served as the de facto mental health care delivery system in our country, Blunt said in a statement, also stressing the need to avoid stigmatizing all mental health issues as associated with violence, as advocates note as well. It is important to remember that people who do have a mental health issue are more likely to be the victim of a crime than the perpetrator, Blunt said. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. A group of 20 senators struck a bipartisan gun safety framework on Sunday, marking a significant breakthrough in Congress' attempts to address recent back-to-back mass shootings. In a Sunday morning statement, 10 senators in each party announced support for the deal. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blessed it, vowing to put this bill on the floor as soon as possible, and President Joe Biden said it would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades. The president urged both chambers of Congress to finish the package quickly. The emerging package is anchored around extra scrutiny for gun buyers under the age of 21, grants to states to implement so-called red flag laws and new spending on mental health treatment and school security. While translating the agreement into legislation will take time, the large group of supportive senators shows that the package could gain 60 votes on the Senate floor before heading to the House. Our plan saves lives while also protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans. We look forward to earning broad, bipartisan support and passing our commonsense proposal into law, the 20 senators said in their statement. Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) are the lead negotiators on the proposal. The most significant piece of the proposal would subject gun buyers 21 and younger to scrutiny of their criminal and mental health records as juveniles. It's proved tricky to write because each state has different laws governing juvenile records. A broader bipartisan group has held its own regular meetings on guns over the past three weeks since the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. And with Democrats controlling only 50 Senate seats, the approval of 10 Republicans is critical to moving forward. In addition to the core four negotiators, the legislation is backed by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Angus King (I-Maine), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). Portman, Toomey, Blunt and Burr are all retiring at the end of the year. Story continues Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities, the 20 senators said. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement welcoming the announcement as proof of "the value of dialogue and cooperation," though he sidestepped a direct endorsement of the framework: "I continue to hope their discussions yield a bipartisan product that makes significant headway on key issues like mental health and school safety, respects the Second Amendment, earns broad support in the Senate, and makes a difference for our country. In addition to provisions on red flag laws, which allow law enforcement to seek temporary removal of firearms from an individual who is a threat to himself or others, the package also would close what's known as the "boyfriend loophole" by broadening firearms restrictions on those who have abused their romantic partners. The package also aims to crack down on straw purchasers and illegal unlicensed firearms dealers, according to a summary of the agreement. The emerging framework comes nearly three weeks after 19 children and two teachers died in the Uvalde shooting. The killings in Texas occurred roughly a week after a racist mass shooter killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y. March for Our Lives, a gun safety group founded after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., held nationwide demonstrations on Saturday urging Congress to address gun violence. Each day that passes, more children are killed in this country: the sooner it comes to my desk, the sooner I can sign it, and the sooner we can use these measures to save lives, Biden said Sunday. While Sundays announcement is a major breakthrough, translating a framework into an actual bill often proves challenging. During last years bipartisan infrastructure negotiations, for example, more than six weeks passed between negotiators' announcement of a framework and Senate passage of the resulting bill. And a GOP aide involved in the negotiations stressed that Sunday's agreement was an "agreement on principles, not legislative text." "The details will be critical for Republicans, particularly the firearms-related provisions," the aide warned. "One or more of these principles could be dropped if text is not agreed to." While the nascent framework is modest compared to Democrats long-running push for expanded background checks, it could result in a high-water mark for GOP support for any level of gun restrictions. And at the moment, it's the closest the chambers been to a broader gun safety deal since 2013, when Manchin and Toomey wrote bipartisan legislation in response to the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. After an unrelenting wave of gun-related suicides and homicides, including mass shootings, the Senate is poised to act on commonsense reforms to protect Americans where they live, where they shop, and where they learn. We must move swiftly to advance this legislation because if a single life can be saved it is worth the effort, Schumer said in his statement on Sunday. Most Republicans and a handful of Democrats blocked the Manchin-Toomey legislation. And while the Senate tried again in 2019 to reach a deal after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, then-President Donald Trump disengaged amid the House impeachment inquiry. The most significant recent new gun law came from Murphy and Cornyn, which strengthened the background check system. This time around, Democrats would have preferred to expand background checks to more prospective gun buyers and ban assault rifles, though those moves lack the necessary support among Republicans. A handful of Republicans are supportive of raising the age to purchase assault rifles to 21, something McConnell has expressed personal openness to, but neither McConnell nor Cornyn have pushed that as part of the package, and the idea may not get the 60 votes needed to survive a GOP filibuster. Given those challenging dynamics, Senate Democratic leaders are willing to take a more modest deal than the sweeping restrictions most in Biden's party support. Any legislation on the Senate floor may be subject to amendments, provided the bipartisan group can complete legislative text and lock in the 60 votes needed to start debate. After two more weeks in session, Congress is currently scheduled to take a two-week break on June 24. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North Korea test-fired what appeared to be artillery shells toward the sea on Sunday, South Koreas military said, days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for greater defense capability to cope with outside threats. South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected several flight trajectories believed to be North Korean artillery on Sunday morning. It said in the statement that South Korea maintains a firm military readiness in close coordination with the United States amid boosted surveillance on North Korea. During a national security council meeting convened to discuss the launches, South Korean officials expressed concern that North Korea is upgrading weapons systems that pose a direct threat to South Korea and reaffirmed they would sternly deal with such North Korean efforts, according to South Korea's presidential office. The Norths artillery tests draw less outside attention than its missile launches. But its forward-deployed long-range artillery guns are a serious security threat to South Korea's populous metropolitan region, which is only 40-50 kilometers (25-30 miles) from the border with North Korea. The suspected artillery launches were the latest in a spate of weapons tests by North Korea this year in what foreign experts call an attempt to pressure its rivals Washington and Seoul to relax international sanctions against Pyongyang and make other concessions. South Korean and U.S. officials recently said North Korea had almost completed preparations for its first nuclear test in about five years. In March, North Korea test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland U.S. in breach of a 2018 moratorium on big missile tests. In a speech at a ruling party meeting last week, Kim underscored the need to strengthen his countrys military capability, saying the current security environment is very serious. Kims speech carried by state media didnt mention the United States or South Korea. But he still set forth militant tasks to be pursued by his armed forces and scientists, a suggestion that he would press ahead with his high-profile arms buildup plans. A possible new nuclear test by North Korea would be the seventh of its kind. Some experts say North Korea will likely use the test to build warheads to be mounted on tactical nuclear weapons aimed at hitting targets in South Korea. Crowds of people filled Falls Park Saturday during the 25th annual Festival of Cultures hosted by the Multi-Cultural Center. Throughout the day, there were performances by Bhutanese dancers representing Nepal, Lakota hoop dancing by father-daughter duo Dall Chief Eagle and Starr Chief Eagle, the Sioux Falls Lion Dance Team, Ballet Folklorico Estrellas De Jalisco and Tuff Roots. There were also multiple vendors selling drinks from Mexico, tacos, Grecian gyros, Polynesian barbeque and more. All of the cultures on display during Saturday's festivities were representative of the many different people living in Sioux Falls, Mayor Paul TenHaken said. He encouraged people to ask questions about each other's cultures and what makes them special. Follow Annie Todd on Twitter @AnnieTodd96. Reach out to her with tips, questions and other community news at atodd@argusleader.com or give her a call at 605-215-3757. This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls celebrates 25th Annual Festival of Cultures MissTuni / Getty Images/iStockphoto In spite of constant news about Americans overspending on their credit cards, when it comes to travel, they seem to prefer using their savings. This is according to an April 2022 survey by GOBankingRates, in which 62% of respondents indicated they used savings instead of a credit card or other source of funding for their travel expenses. This is a smart move because going into debt just to go on vacation can lead to long-term financial consequences. If youre looking for some help with building up your own travel fund, take a look at these tips that can help you save for a good vacation while avoiding going into debt. Find Out: 10 Things You Should Always Buy at Walmart Important: 9 Bills You Should Never Put on Autopay Set Up a Dedicated Travel Fund Saving for travel is a good strategy, but the best way to ensure you save is to set up a separate account dedicated exclusively to your travel fund. Most Americans have multiple savings goals, from retirement to college funding to emergencies and more. If you keep all of that money in a single account, youre likely to dip into it for other purposes. You dont want to be in the position of borrowing from your retirement savings to fund a vacation, just like you dont want to take emergency funds out of your travel savings. Keeping your accounts separate is also a good way to keep track of how close you are to meeting each of your individual savings goals. POLL: How Much Do You Expect To Spend on Travel This Summer? Set Up Automatic Transfers Saving is inherently difficult for most Americans. While most people desire to save as much as possible, the reality of day-to-day living often provides excuses that get in the way. If youre intent on building as large of a travel fund as possible, you should strongly consider setting up automatic transfers. With an automatic transfer, you dont have to worry about missing a deposit in any given week or month. Perhaps even more importantly, youll protect your travel savings from impulse spending or using the money for other purposes since it will be automatically deducted from your checking account without you even thinking about it. Story continues Deposit All Windfalls A windfall payment is any type of money you receive that you either werent expecting or that is somehow out of the ordinary. A year-end bonus, for example, qualifies as a windfall, as would an inheritance or a big tax refund. Any time you receive a windfall payment, divert it immediately to your travel fund before you have the temptation to spend it. Windfalls can be a great way to boost your vacation savings fund rapidly. Use Round-Up Accounts Another good way to funnel more money to your travel fund is to use an app that rounds up your purchases and deposits the extra amount into savings. Say you buy a cup of coffee for $3.69, for example. A round-up app will charge your card an even $4, with the extra 31 cents being deposited into your travel fund. While this might not seem like much, these small amounts can add up fast. Add in your other daily purchases and you might end up stashing away a few dollars every day. By the end of a year, you might be able to save $1,000 or more in your travel fund without you even noticing. Make Your Travel Fund Larger Than You Expect To Need One of the best ways to make sure you dont blow your travel budget is to make your savings goal larger than you think you need. Most travelers have a tendency to overspend while on holiday, so to avoid going into debt, add on at least 10% or 20% to what you think youll need. You can accomplish this in a number of ways, from saving more every pay period to delaying your travel by a few months to further build up your savings. The Bottom Line Although there are many ways to fund a vacation, saving enough money before you travel can prevent stress and allow you to enjoy a guilt-free holiday. No one wants to come home from a vacation staring at a massive pile of debt, so put these specific processes into place ahead of time so that youre constantly refilling your travel fund. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Summer Travel 2022: Nearly Two-Thirds of Americans Pay For Vacation With Savings How To Build Your Fund Deputies have arrested a man they suspect injured one person during a Friday shooting outside the Westfield Brandon mall. Quran Deandre Johnson, 19, was arrested Saturday while operating a stolen vehicle, the Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office said. He faces multiple charges, including attempted second-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and simple battery. Deputies responded to the Westfield Brandon mall, 459 Brandon Town Center Drive, after receiving reports of a shooting around 4:13 p.m. Friday. Deputies learned that two people were arguing near the Club Vape kiosk, according to a news release from the agency. The two continued to argue outside the mall, and one man shot the other. The sheriffs office said the shooter fled from the mall and said detectives believe the suspect and victim knew each other. The shooting prompted authorities to briefly lock down the mall with its 150 stores. The person who was shot was taken to the Tampa General Hospital with a non-life-threatening injury. The sheriffs office did not provide the name or age of the victim. The investigation is ongoing, the Sheriffs Office said. NTT IndyCar Series driver Romain Grosjean loves the Road America track but isn't too fond of cheese. ELKHART LAKE Romain Grosjean might just as well have said he cheered for the Chicago Bears. The former Formula One driver and second-year NTT IndyCar Series driver was effusive in his praise of Road America and Wisconsin in general Saturday in his television interview after qualifying for Sundays Sonsio Grand Prix. But there was one exception. One. Glaring. Exception. Loves brats, not so much the cheese. @RGrosjean has enjoyed his time at @roadamerica, calling it the Spa-Francorchamps of the U.S. #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/z4u75LS7kh INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) June 11, 2022 I love the fans, Grosjean said. I love not so much the cheese, but I love the racetrack. Every time I was in Wisconsin it was sunny, so today is a bit of a day off. But I like being here, I love driving that place. Wait. What?!?! Back up a couple of sentences. Grosjean may be Swiss, but that will be of little consolation at Sartori Cheese headquarters just a few miles away in Plymouth. NBC pit reporter Kevin Lee did his best to save Grosjean from himself with a follow-up question asking if hed be up for cheese if he got to victory lane Sunday. Can I go for the brat? Grosjean said. Theyre good. So hes still in good standing with Johnsonville anyway. More: Alexander Rossi ended a 3-year drought when he won the pole at Road America. Next come the race. More: Myles Rowe blazes new path as a Black race car driver, but he hopes to stand out on the Road America track This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Swiss IndyCar driver Romain Grosjean disses cheese at Road America Texas Gov. Greg Abbott AP Photo/Eric Gay, File A Texas judge has temporarily blocked the state from investigating the families of trans kids. A February directive allowed the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate the parents of trans kids. The Texas Supreme Court reversed a previous injunction of the law in May. A judge temporarily halted a directive from Governor Greg Abbott that ordered the state of Texas to investigate the families of transgender children receiving gender-confirming care. The decision, issued by Judge Jan Soifer on Friday, stops the ongoing investigations against three families who sued the state and prevents similar investigations against members of LGBTQ rights organization PFLAG, the Associated Press reported. The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal sued the state on Wednesday on behalf of the three families and Texas members of PFLAG. Judge Soifer said during a hearing Friday there was reason to believe that plaintiffs would "suffer immediate and irreparable injury" if the law was enforced, the AP reported. Brian K. Bond, executive director for PFLAG, said in a statement the ruling would allow Texas families to be protected from "invasive, unnecessary, and unnerving investigations." "However, let's be clear: These investigations into loving and affirming families shouldn't be happening in the first place," Bond said. The Texas Supreme Court lifted a previous injunction of the law in May. In February, Abbott issued a directive ordering the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents who allowed their children to receive gender-confirming care such as puberty blockers. The Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, also issued an opinion at the time stating that gender-affirming medical care for trans youth is "child abuse." Medical studies show that gender-affirming care is linked to lower rates of suicide and depression among trans youth. Representatives for Abbott and Paxton did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Read the original article on Business Insider The Jan. 6 committees series of public hearings will resume Monday morning with a number of in-person witnesses who are expected to shed new light on former President Donald Trumps effort to overturn the results of the election. One of the witnesses will be Bill Stepien, Trumps 2020 campaign manager. Committee members are likely to press Stepien, a behind-the-scenes veteran of Republican campaigns, on what Trumps inner circle knew about the results of the election they lost, even as their candidate actively contested the outcome. Then-Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, right, Eric Trump and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany at a campaign stop in Old Forge, Pa, in 2020. (Evan Vucci/AP) Committee aides told reporters Sunday that the public will hear from both in-person witnesses and taped depositions of others who have spoken to the committee about Trumps decision to declare victory on election night, even though he was told again and again he didnt have the numbers needed to win. The committee staffers also said the panel will reveal information about how the former presidents political apparatus used these lies about fraud to drive fundraising and bring in millions of dollars between the election and Jan. 6, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a violent attack aiming to stop the certification of then-President-elect Joe Bidens win. (The aides spoke on background, meaning that their names would not be used.) Stepien is set to testify alongside Chris Stirewalt, a former Fox News political editor who was fired by the cable network in January 2021, amid backlash from Trump supporters over the journalists decision to accurately call Arizona for Biden as the final votes were tallied. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, and Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the committee chairman. (J. Scott Applewhite/File, AP) Mondays hearing will mark the second in a new series of panels that the select committee plans to hold this month. During the initial primetime hearing on June 9, Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., outlined how the committee plans to use the hearings to reveal what it has learned over the past 11 months about the Jan. 6 attack. Committee aides told reporters that Mondays hearing would be focused on the big lie, or the decision by the former president to ignore the will of the voters, to declare victory in an election that hed lost, to spread claims of fraud, and to continue to do so after his attempts to litigate those claims in court were unsuccessful. Story continues Stepien and Stirewalt will make up the first of two panels of witnesses for the day. In a Los Angeles Times op-ed published after his firing, Stirewalt wrote that the refusal of many Trump supporters to believe the legitimate results of the election was a tragic consequence of the informational malnourishment so badly afflicting the nation. The second panel will feature conservative election attorney Benjamin Ginsberg, former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt and BJay Pak, who served as U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Georgia for the Trump administration. After the election, Trump falsely claimed that widespread voter fraud delivered Bidens victory in swing states like Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia. In a recorded phone call, Trump even pressured Georgia state election officials to find enough votes to flip the state from Biden to himself; Pak is likely to testify about this period of time. Committee aides also said that Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., will play a key role in Mondays hearing, which they predicted will likely last a little more than two hours. On June 9, Cheney promised that the upcoming hearings would show evidence of Trumps involvement in what she described as a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power. In the primetime hearing last week, committee members also offered a preview of how they plan to use both live and pretaped witness testimony to connect the dots between Trumps efforts to subvert the outcome of the election and the violence that took place at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. In addition to Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards and documentarian Nick Quested, who appeared in person on Thursday night to describe their interactions with members of the extremist group the Proud Boys, who were among the first to breach the Capitol on Jan. 6, the committee also showed clips of some of the more than 1,000 witness interviews it has conducted over the last 11 months. Among the most notable witnesses featured in the clips shown Thursday include: Trumps daughter and former White House adviser Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner; Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller and former Attorney General William Barr; Stewart Rhodes, founder and leader of the far-right paramilitary group the Oath Keepers, who has been charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the attack on the Capitol; as well as a number of other accused and convicted rioters. A scathing editorial in Saturdays New York Post lashed former President Donald Trump for obsessing over the 2020 presidential election, and urged Republicans to abandon him in the past and move on. Trump has become a prisoner of his own ego, slammed the conservative newspaper controlled by longtime Trump supporter Rupert Murdoch. He cant admit his tweeting and narcissism turned off millions. He wont stop insisting that 2020 was stolen even though hes offered no proof that its true. Respected officials like former Attorney General Bill Barr call his rants nonsense, the editorial added. This isnt just about Liz Cheney. Mitch McConnell, Betsy DeVos, Mark Meadows they all knew Trump was delusional. His own daughter and son-in-law testified it was bull. Trumps response? He insults Barr, and dismisses Ivanka as checked out. He clings to more fantastical theories, the newspaper complained. The former president could have quietly kept a low profile following the bombshell hearing Thursday by the Jan. 6 House select committee investigating the insurrection. Instead, the editorial noted, Donald Trump, the King Lear of Mar-a-Lago, decided to tweet er, Truth yet another statement confirming that he refuses to accept reality. January 6th was not simply a protest, he wrote, it represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again. It wasnt, of course. It was a national shame one that neither Democrats nor Trump can stop obsessing over. Its time for Republicans to move on, the Post snapped back. Meanwhile, reports that Trump was pleased that the Jan. 6 crowd chanted for Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged a truly reprehensible sentiment makes him unworthy for the office. Trump cant look past 2020. Let him remain there, the editorial concluded. Check out the full New York Post editorial. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk put on one of the greatest fights in UFC history on March 6, 2020, in Las Vegas at UFC 248. More than two years later, they met again on the main card of UFC 275 in Singapore and put on another classic. After a fast-paced first round in which Zhangs wrestling controlled the battle, Zhang caught Jedrzejczyk with a spinning backfist during a flurry. Zhangs forearm landed squarely on the side of Jedrzejczyks face and she did a face plant. Zhang Weili delivered an incredible finish and is now next in line to fight Carla Esparza for the title. #UFC275 pic.twitter.com/pgUIn7Dimj Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) June 12, 2022 Referee Marc Godard immediately called it at 2:28 of the second, giving Zhang the win and the next title shot at champion Carla Esparza. Jedrzejczyk, a former strawweight champion, removed her gloves and announced her retirement. She was such a huge part of the growth of womens MMA and it was incredible to have her be a part of this company, UFC president Dana White told Yahoo Sports. We will all miss her! SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - JUNE 12: (L-R) Zhang Weili of China knocks out Joanna Jedrzejczyk of Poland with a spinning back fist in a flyweight fight during the UFC 275 event at Singapore Indoor Stadium on June 12, 2022 in Singapore. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC) They came out quickly in Round 1 and were firing shots at each other. But unlike their first fight in which it was nearly entirely stand-up fighting, Zhang took the fight to the ground. She got into mount and was dropping powerful elbows on Jedrzejczyk but Jedrzejczyk, like shed shown throughout her career, kept battling and didnt quit. They immediately got after it again in the second. As they were in the midst of a wild exchange, Zhang missed a shot. As Jedrzejczyk loaded up to throw, Zhang spun and caught Jedrzejczyk on the side of the head to end it in stunning fashion. I was very, very calm and relaxed for this, Zhang, another ex-champion, said in the Octagon after the win. I knew i wasnt fighting Joanna. I was fighting myself. Story continues It wasnt such a happy finish for Jedrzejczyk, who said she didnt expect Zhang to be as fast or as strong as she was. Jedrzejczyk has lost two in a row and three of four and, at nearly 35, said it was time to move on to something else. Im retired, guys, she said, fighting back tears. I love it so much. DC, Dana, Im so sorry I let you guys down. LONDON (AP) Opponents of the British governments plan to deport migrants to Rwanda are preparing for an appeals court hearing Monday amid the political backlash following reports that Prince Charles had privately described the policy as appalling. A coalition of groups including immigration rights advocates and public employee unions will ask the Court of Appeal in London to reverse a lower court ruling allowing the first deportation flight to go ahead as scheduled on Tuesday. Prime Minister Boris Johnsons Conservative government in April announced plans to send some undocumented migrants to Rwanda, where their claims for asylum in the east African nation would be processed. If successful, those migrants would stay in Rwanda. Britain paid Rwanda 120 million pounds ($158 million) upfront and will make additional payments based on the number of people deported. The program is aimed at discouraging migrants from risking their lives by crossing the English Channel in small boats after a surge in such journeys over the past two years. But human rights groups say the policy is illegal, inhumane and will only magnify the risks for migrants. The debate filled Britains news media over the weekend after the Times of London reported that an unidentified person had heard Prince Charles express opposition to the policy several times in private conversations. He said he thinks the governments whole approach is appalling, the newspaper quoted the source as saying. Charles office, Clarence House, refused to comment on anonymous private conversations, but stressed that the prince remains politically neutral. Charless comments are problematic because he is the heir to the throne and the British monarch is supposed to remain above the political fray. The reported conversations raise concerns about whether Charles can be a neutral monarch after a lifetime of speaking out on issues ranging from ocean plastic to architectural preservation. Charles, 73, has taken on an increasingly central role in recent months as health problems have limited the activities of Queen Elizabeth II, his 96-year-old mother. Story continues The comments set off a firestorm in British newspapers, with the Daily Express warning the Prince of Wales: Stay out of politics Charles! The Mail on Sunday said: We will not back down on Rwanda, Charles. Johnsons government shows no signs of changing course. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, who represented the government on Britains Sunday morning TV programs, offered a robust defense of the plan, saying the British government wants to upend the business model of people smugglers. The reality is this is a policy that is going to deliver to ensure that modern slavery and these people smugglers know that their criminal methods will be broken down, he told Sky News. More than 28,500 people entered Britain on small boats last year, up from 1,843 in 2019, according to government statistics. The risk of such crossings was made clear on Nov. 24, when 27 people died after their inflatable boat sank in the waters between Britain and France. The Home Office, the agency that oversees border enforcement, launched its own defense of the policy on Sunday, posting comments from a Rwandan government spokesperson on social media. Its about protecting and ensuring the wellbeing and development of both migrants and Rwandans in Rwanda, the Rwandan spokesperson, Yolande Makolo, said. A High Court judge in London on Friday rejected a request from opponents of the plan to block Britain's Rwanda asylum flights until the court had reached a decision on whether the program is illegal. The decision allows the flights to begin even as the broader legal challenge moves forward. That ruling has been appealed to the Court of Appeal, which will hear the petition on Monday. Government lawyer Mathew Gullick said Friday that 37 people were originally scheduled to be aboard Tuesdays flight, but six had their deportation orders canceled. The government still intends to operate the flight, he said. The government has not provided details of those selected for deportation, but refugee groups say they include people fleeing Syria and Afghanistan. Rwanda is already home to tens of thousands of refugees. Competition for land and resources contributed to ethnic and political tensions that culminated in Rwandas 1994 genocide, in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and the moderate Hutu who tried to protect them were killed. President Paul Kagames government has achieved significant economic progress since the genocide, but critics say it has come at the cost of strong political repression. The United Nations refugee agency has opposed Britains plans, saying it's an effort to export the countrys legal obligations to provide asylum to those seeking a safe haven. People fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy, said Gillian Triggs, UNHCRs assistant high commissioner for protection. They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing. ___ Follow all AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration. ___ Follow all AP stories on Britain's royal family at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii. By Kanupriya Kapoor SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Ukraine has established two routes through Poland and Romania to export grain and avert a global food crisis although bottlenecks have slowed the supply chain, Kyiv's deputy foreign minister said on Sunday. Dmytro Senik said global food security was at risk because Russia's invasion of Ukraine had halted Kyiv's Black Sea grain exports, causing widespread shortages and soaring prices. Ukraine is the world's fourth-largest grain exporter and it says there are some 30 million tonnes of grain stored in Ukrainian-held territory which it is trying to export via road, river and rail. Ukraine was in talks with Baltic states to add a third corridor for food exports, Senik said. He did not give details on how much grain has already moved or would be moved through these routes. "Those routes are not perfect because it creates certain bottlenecks, but we are doing our best to develop those routes in the meantime," he told Reuters on the sidelines of an Asian security summit in Singapore. The Ukrainian rail system operates on a different gauge from European neighbours such as Poland, so the grain has to be transferred to different trains at the border where there are not many transfer or storage facilities. Re-routing grain to Romania involves transport by rail to ports on the Danube river and loading cargoes onto barges for sailing towards the port of Constanta, a complex and costly process. Moscow, which calls the war a special military operation and denies hitting civilian and agricultural targets, blames Western sanctions on Russia and sea mines set by Ukraine for the drop in food exports and rising global prices. It is also a major exporter of grain. The war in Ukraine dominated proceedings at the Singapore meeting, the Shangri-La Dialogue. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the delegates via video link on Saturday, telling them their nations' support was crucial not just to defeat the Russian invasion, but to preserve the rules-based order. (Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Elaine Hardcastle) SINGAPORE Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for preemptive action to forestall violence and calm regional tensions, citing Russias invasion of his country as an example of what can happen anywhere in the world. Speaking during an unprecedented address delivered via video link at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, Zelenskyy said the world must push for diplomatic solutions to support countries that are in need of help. We must not leave them behind at the mercy of another country which is more powerful in financial terms, in territorial terms and in terms of equipment, he said in response to a question about what Taiwan can do in the face of military and political pressure from China. No one benefits from [open conflict}, apart from certain political leaders, who are not content with the present level of their ambitions. Therefore, they keep growing their appetites and their ambitions. Zelenskyy also spoke of the importance of international law for smaller states, quoting the words of Singapores first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew: If there had been no international law, and the big fish ate the small fish and the small fish ate shrimps, we would not have existed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses participants at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit via a video link on June 11, 2022. (Roslan Rahman/AFP via Getty Images) Zelenskyy cited the late leader while accusing the Russian leadership under President Vladimir Putin of striving to dismantle international law by invading Ukraine. The Kremlin seeks to make it impossible for a neighboring country, which it regards solely as its colony, to be able to exist freely and independently, he said. He charged Russians with systematically looting the resources of occupied Ukrainian territory by stripping it of everything from industrial machinery to crops and cars, and he blamed global food insecurity on Russias blockade of Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea. The blockade has left Ukraine unable to export its grain harvest, and Zelenskyy warned the world will potentially face an acute food crisis and famine in many Asian and African countries, possibly leading to political chaos. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock Joe Biden has urged US lawmakers to get a deal on gun reforms to his desk quickly as a group of senators announced a limited bipartisan framework on Sunday responding to last months mass shootings. The proposed deal is a modest breakthrough offering measured gun curbs while bolstering efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. It falls far short of tougher steps long sought by Biden, many Democrats, gun reform advocates and America citizens. For example, there is no proposal to ban assault weapons, as activists had wanted, or to increase from 18 to 21 the age required to buy them. Even so, if the accord leads to the enactment of legislation, it would signal a turn from years of gun massacres that have yielded little but stalemate in Congress. In a statement, Biden acknowledged the deals weaknesses but welcomed and urged quick action. It does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades, he said. The president added: There are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House. Each day that passes, more children are killed in this country: the sooner it comes to my desk, the sooner I can sign it, and the sooner we can use these measures to save lives. Leaders hope to push any agreement into law quickly they hope this month before the political momentum fades that has been stirred by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. Significantly, the agreement in principle appears to have the backing of at least 10 Republican senators, enough to reach a 60-vote threshold in the chamber and overcome the filibuster. The deal aims to make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 available when they undergo background checks. The suspects who killed 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde were both 18, and many of the attackers who have committed mass shootings in recent years have been young. Story continues The agreement would offer money to states to implement red flag laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns from people considered potentially violent, and to bolster school safety and mental health programs. And it would take other steps, including requiring more people who sell guns obtain federal dealers licenses, which means they would have to conduct background checks of purchasers. The agreement follows weeks of intense negotiations between the divided groups of senators, led by Chris Murphy of Connecticut on the Democratic side, and for the Republicans by John Cornyn of Texas. In a statement, the bipartisan group of lawmakers said the measures provide needed mental health resources, improves school safety and support for students, and helps ensure dangerous criminals and those who are adjudicated as mentally ill cant purchase weapons. The Senate majority whip, Dick Durbin, expressed his blessing on social media. Each of the elements in this bipartisan gun safety package has the potential to save lives, he wrote in a series of tweets. I continue to believe military-style assault weapons that can shred the bodies of their victims have no place in civilian use but we cannot let the perfect Congressional response be the enemy of the good. Though this agreement falls short in this and other respects, it can and will make our nation safer. Gun reform advocacy groups also welcomed the development. John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said in a statement: If the framework announced today gets enacted into law, it will be the most significant piece of gun safety legislation to make it through Congress in 26 long and deadly years. We applaud this bipartisan coalition, led by senators Murphy and Cornyn, for leading this push to address our nations raging gun violence crisis, and we call on their colleagues to answer the call of history, and honor the victims and survivors of gun violence with long overdue action. Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, said: Were breaking the logjam in Congress and proving that gun safety isnt just good policy its good politics. Our grassroots army has been demanding action from the Senate for nearly a decade and now well fight like hell to get this historic deal over the finish line. The announcement came one day after thousands of people protested in numerous March for Our Lives events around the country on Saturday, calling for stronger gun laws. David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, and co-founder of the movement, tweeted a photograph of himself celebrating with a giant milkshake. When senators reach a bipartisan deal on guns for the first time in 30 years time to celebrate with the breakfast of champions, he wrote. Im beginning to accept that we might never see our dinosaur again (Carla Nizzola) The Gobi desert is hot. Too hot. Batu, our guide, is wearing a coat and gloves. He gestures to a rock formation on the horizon. Nick Cage dinosaur, he says, enthusiastically. James looks at me and shrugs. Weve no way of knowing if its the real dig site or not, and in the heat and dust, Ive kind of forgotten why we care. Forty eight hours earlier it had seemed essential that we visit Mongolia and find the precise location where the Tyrannosaurus skull was discovered that was later smuggled out of the country, and subsequently sold to the movie star Nicolas Cage for $276,000. Americans, Batu sighs, they love to steal dinosaurs. Were in Mongolia looking for clues in the hunt for our own dinosaur, which has gone missing. We acquired the 50-million-year-old Thesceloraurus skeleton two years earlier at the Tuscon Fossil and Gem show, but sometime between our paying for it and it being delivered, it had disappeared. Someone, it seemed, had stolen our dinosaur. One of the largely but not entirely discredited early theories about its whereabouts was as follows; a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa drug cartel, using his US lawyer as an intermediary, had negotiated the purchase of our dinosaur as a birthday gift for his youngest son, who was obsessed with the Jurassic Park films. The dealer who had originally sold us the skeleton had not only received a far higher offer, but also one he felt was unwise to refuse. The cartel member in question was now incarcerated whilst awaiting trial in the US, and we were told that our best bet at being reunited with our dinosaur might be to wait until his case was over, when his properties would be confiscated by the Mexican authorities, which might take several years. Unsatisfied by the idea of such a long wait for answers, we spent a few months doing some investigating of our own. Our efforts eventually led us to the back room of a New York gallery, where our US gallerist, Bernie Chase, had brokered a meeting with the aforementioned lawyer. After a minder confiscated our phones, he politely explained that his client did indeed have a son, Teo, who was obsessed with dinosaurs, but that the theory couldnt possibly be true, because his client would never have bought a herbivore. Story continues A second line of enquiry came not from law enforcement, but along a grapevine of commercial palaeontologists and auction house specialists. A well-known Australian movie star, having recently purchased a Mosasaur skull from Leonardo DiCaprio, had developed an obsession with collecting dinosaurs, and had been offering previously unheard of amounts of money for good specimens. Hed allegedly paid a record $1.5m for a Triceratops skull, and there was a good chance hed come across our Thescelosaurus, and gazumped us. Emails and phone calls to the actors agent went unanswered. No closer to a definitive answer of what had happened to our dinosaur, in February this year we travelled back to Tucson, to dig a little deeper. The fossil world is filled with wonderful, knowledgeable, passionate people, punctuated by the occasional rogue. In that way, its the exact opposite of the art world which we usually inhabit. Dinosaur people are also, we found out, discrete and tight-lipped. Rumours of new discoveries are whispered, not announced, and, after a number of high-profile controversies and several prison sentences in the community, it was hard to find anyone willing to talk about a stolen dinosaur. We took to buying beers and tequilas for weather beaten, craggy faced, fossil hunters in some of Arizonas most colourful dive bars, with the hope of loosening tongues. One name cropped up multiple times; Eric Prokopi. Prokopi had traded in smuggled dinosaurs for years, until he was finally caught out selling a Tyrannosaurus bataar hed smuggled out of Mongolia for over $1m, and sentenced to three months in prison. He may know something, he may not know something, one dealer in rare iridescent ammonites drunkenly slurred, either way, he wont tell you boys s***. In a world full of discovery and adventure, it seemed that the possibilities of what had happened to our skeleton were exciting and endless, but one collector told us the answer was likely less glamorous the seller had simply reneged on our agreement. The market for dinosaur bones has never been hotter, and in a hot market, greed trumps handshakes. To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment, sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here In October 2020, a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, discovered and excavated by Pete Larson and his team at Black Hills Institute, sold at Christies for $31.8m, and in May of this year, a chicken-sized Velociraptor made $12.4m. With dinosaurs making such huge sums of money, perhaps the seller of ours simply got a better offer. Back at our hotel in Ulaanbaatar, James and I drink fresh Chatsarganii juice, and sit in exhausted silence. Im beginning to accept that we might never see our dinosaur again, and that its whereabouts might forever remain a mystery. Since childhood Id always wanted to find a dinosaur, and the next best thing, as an adult, was to own one. I guess in some strange way, for a brief time, I had owned one. Im thinking this, and other things, when James interrupts. Did you know that the moon is one of the rarest materials on earth? Every lunar meteorite known could be contained within just five footlockers. I consider this for a few minutes with a growing sense of wonder, before an idea begins to form. Shall we buy a piece of the moon? I ask. Mike Snelle is one half of the artist duo The Connor Brothers. The Connor Brothers will curate Some of My Best Friends are Dinosaurs at Extraordinary Objects in Cambridge from 2 July2 October Jun. 12WALES Nearly 100 packed into a standing-room only space Saturday at the Town Office for the annual Town Meeting. In total, residents voted on 39 warrant articles in a meeting moderated by selectman Randall Greenwood. Greenwood said the large turnout was likely tied to the contested Regional School Unit 4 board of directors election. Last year, just under 50 people participated in the annual Town Meeting. During the meeting, Selectman Eric Gagnon was elected to his fifth term on the board and Fyfe was elected to complete the final year of a three-year term on the RSU 4 board of directors. The proposed $1.33 million municipal budget was passed without amendments. The 27% budget increase is $287,000 more than the current spending plan of $1.05 million. If the proposed $23.1 million school budget is adopted Tuesday, residents of Wales can expect to see an estimated property tax increase of $1.20 per $1,000 of assessed value. At that rate, the owner of a property valued at $100,000 would see an increase of $120. This calculation includes the municipal, county and proposed school budget. All 18 expenditure articles were approved. The selectmen recommendation, which was often the same as the Budget Committee and stakeholder recommendations, was chosen for each article. One article authorized the town to raise $25,000 in overdraft fees from town paving projects and approve up to $30,000 from the undesignated fund in the event of future overdraft. Town Treasurer Sharon Siegel said it was the first time the town has overdrafted. Residents additionally approved $9,500 in donations for local nonprofit organizations, with the largest amounts allocated to Rural Community Action Ministry ($3,000) and Community Concepts ($2,000). One article asked residents for authorization to transfer up to $180,000 designated to the Public Works maintenance budget for snow plowing to the capital equipment reserve account if the town is unable to find a contractor to maintain town roads this winter. Story continues If the town cannot find a contractor, Public Works will need to purchase its own snow plow and snow-plowing equipment under state law. At the start of the meeting, Gagnon presented Amy Raymond with the Spirit of America Award. As the mother of six, Raymond is deeply involved with RSU 4. She is the current president of the Oak Hill Boosters Club and a member of the Oak Hill Pike Derby Committee. She additionally helped to organize prom in 2021 for Oak Hill High School students. Incumbent Gagnon ran uncontested for the Board of Selectmen. Fyfe, who will serve a one-year term, was appointed to the board of directors by selectmen last August to finish the second year of a three-year term. There were 84 voters present during the RSU 4 director election, but only 79 cast ballots. Fyfe, Hannah Dieterich and Jess Smith were nominated for the position. In the initial election, Fyfe received 30 votes, Dieterich 29 and Smith 20. Town charter requires a majority vote to fill the position, so Smith was dropped from consideration and a runoff election was held. Fyfe won the seat by a single vote, earning 40 votes to Dieterich's 39. Following the board of directors' election, roughly one-third of attendees left the meeting. A solar ordinance targeting commercial developers was also passed by voters following significant discussion. The ordinance details which zones solar farms are allowed in, setback requirements and screening requirements. "It's not to keep solar farms out, it's to adhere them to guidelines," said Planning Board Chairman Christopher Siegel. Several residents expressed concern about whether the ordinance contained a clear distinction between residential and commercial development projects. Chairman Siegel responded that residents would continue to be able to put solar panels on their roofs for personal electricity use. "If we don't pass this, they can really come in and do whatever they want," he said. A moratorium previously passed by the Board of Selectmen expired this week, according to Sharon Siegel. One resident pushed back against the statement, commenting that a solar project would still need to go through a site review by the town without the ordinance. "If we don't pass this, there's a lot less things we can hold solar developers to in this town," Christopher Siegel amended. The fee schedule referenced in the ordinance has yet to be set, according to Sharon Siegel. Battery Park Hotel in July 1936 I dont know whether my brother Tom will get here tomorrow for my body or not. Tonights his night off, 22-year-old Martin Moore, a tall and lanky Black man, mumbled to the cadre of reporters stationed outside the bars of his cell in Raleighs Central Prison. It was Dec. 10, 1936, and without a pardon from the governor, Martin would enter the gas chamber at 10:30 the following morning. It had been less than five months since Martin had been convicted of murder though his original execution date had been set for only six weeks from when the guilty verdict was read. Prior to his arrest, Martin lived in a small house on Hill Street in Asheville with his mother, Celia, and sister, Alice. The trio had moved to Asheville from Spartanburg, South Carolina, when Martin was in grade school. Celia worked laundering clothes. Alice cooked and cleaned for a white family. Martin attended nearby Hill Street School through the sixth grade, but quit in order to help support his family. Martin, like many people who lived in his historically Black neighborhood, eventually found work at the Battery Park Hotel, one of the many luxury hotels serving downtown Ashevilles tourism industry. Hotel work was good, steady work for the Black population in segregated 1930s Asheville. And the Battery Park Hotel was within short walking distance of Martins Hill Street home. Martin Moore August 1936 By all accounts, Martin was an exemplary employee. He worked at the Battery Park as a full-time hallboy, or janitor, for nearly three years with no complaints. He was thorough, dedicated, and punctual despite a split shift schedule that consisted of short early morning shifts followed by a longer day shift and then another short night shift. The hotels manager, Pat Branch, said of Martin during his trial, I would say that any employee that has worked in your hotel, and you have been associated with him and seen him working for two and one-half years, and he has never given you any trouble, and you have never heard anything against him, ought to be a pretty good man. Story continues But, yet, in the early morning hours of Aug. 9, 1936, nearly three weeks after the sensational slaying of a 19-year-old white New York University student, Helen Clevenger, in her room at the Battery Park Hotel, Martin Moore signed a statement confessing to her murder, which read in part: Helen Clevenger When I entered the room [Helen] said, What do you want? I told her I opened the door, I did not know she was in there. I looked at her and she said, I am going to scream. I told her not to. So she screamed once. I closed the door. She said, You better get out of here or Ill call the office. I was standing close to her and I shot her before she could go back and I hit her with the butt [of the gun]. She fell on her knees, she screamed again and I hit her again, she screamed again and I hit her twice. Just a week after signing the confession, an officer escorted Martin, handcuffed, to the defense table inside the Superior Courtroom at the Buncombe County Courthouse. His trial began. Helen had been killed around 1 a.m. on July 16, 1936. July 15 had been a relatively normal day for Martin. He completed his shifts at the hotel and then walked to Fannie Lee Gilliams house to attend her birthday party. He and Fannie had been dating for almost a year. He remembered the night in detail, recalling that he arrived at Fannies around 8:30 p.m. and socialized with her and a couple other people in her kitchen until about 9:45 p.m. He was tired and decided to call it an early night, but Fannie wanted him to stay longer. I started to leave, Martin said, and Fannie Lee [came] as far as the yard with me, so me and her stood and talked five or ten minutes, until Gene Williams and his wife, Virgie, came along. [Fannie] said Come and go back to the house. I went to the kitchen for ten or fifteen minutes. I told her I was feeling bad, and I believed I would go home. She said, You can lay down across my [bed]. I went and laid down on the bed. When I woke up her clock was five minutes to two. I got up and went home. Gene and Virgie confirmed Martins alibi. Martin slept until 4 a.m., then walked to the hotel for his early morning, 45-minute cleaning shift. He returned home again and slept until his mother woke him at 7:15 a.m. He was back at the hotel before his regular 8 a.m. day shift began. He entered through the employee entrance at the back of the hotel Black people were not allowed to use the front doors and stashed his belongings in his locker in the basement-level locker room. Martin was cleaning the first floor when, around 8:30 a.m., Helens uncle opened his nieces unlocked hotel room door on the second floor. Her bloodied body lay crumpled on the floor. She had been shot through the chest and beaten in the face. On the first floor, guests checked out of the hotel, bellhops carried luggage, and waitresses served breakfast all unaware of the drama that was unfolding above. The hotel manager did his best to keep it that way. Helens room was sealed, her uncle was secured in his own room, the coroner was called, and the few staff members who had been alerted to the suspicious death quietly waited. It was not until 9:30 a.m. that manager Pat Branch called the sheriffs office. Martin Moore's mother's house on Hill Street in 1936. Martin first heard about the murder from a co-worker as they cleaned a back stairway. He could not recall having noticed Helen in the hotel. Martins shift ended at noon and he headed home. By that time, officers from the Sheriffs Department had begun their investigation into Helens death in earnest, sealing the second floor and questioning the few eyewitnesses they could find, but Martin had not yet learned much about what had occurred the night before. Martin was due back at work at 8 p.m. During his break, he walked over to another Hill Street house, which belonged to the grandmother of his friend and co-worker, Lem Roddy. Lem pulled him aside and handed him a .32 Spanish automatic pistol that he had borrowed from Martin a couple days earlier. It had a stain on it. Martin, scared, stuffed it in his pants and returned home. He crawled underneath his mothers house and hid the gun on a rafter. For the next few weeks, Martin went to work as usual. He and the other employees were questioned by officers, but since Martin had not been on duty at the time of the murder and no one had seen him at the hotel after the end of his shift, his interview was brief. Investigators were instead focusing their efforts on stocky, white men who could have been in the hotel that evening. Shortly after 1 a.m. on July 16, several witnesses had seen a man fitting that description sneaking through the hotel lobby, bursting through a door in the managers office, and vaulting the hotels balcony to the street below. They were holding three white men in the jail, including Helens uncle, but had not charged any of them with a crime. After more than three weeks without an arrest, the sheriffs office, and particularly the lead investigator, Buncombe County Sheriff Laurence Brown, who was up for reelection in a few months, were getting desperate. The public was clamoring for answers. Then the stalled investigation shifted. One eyewitness, who had spoken to a shadowy figure in Helens doorway the night of her murder, had changed his story at the urging of the sheriff. He had previously insisted that the figure had been a white man, but now he was certain that it had been a Black man. The investigators called Martin and the other Black employees back in for questioning. They asked Martin if he owned a gun. He told them he did not. They released him. Back at work, Martin mopped alongside his co-worker, Banks Taylor. Do you know that girl was shot with an automatic just like yours? Banks told Martin. I sure am glad I gave mine to my old man. Martin looked up at Banks. Yeah, it dont worry me none cause I lent mine to Lem Roddy two days before the girl got killed. The next day, Banks and Lem were brought to the sheriffs office. After an extensive grilling by officers and an inspection and elimination of Banks gun as the murder weapon, Banks told the officers, What you worryin me so much for? Martin Moore got a gun. Why dont you worry him? Sheriff Lawrence E Brown examines Martin Moore pistol on Browns desk in August 1936. Less than an hour later, just after midnight on Aug. 9, officers burst into Martin Moores small bedroom, woke him, and began bombarding him with questions. Give me that gun you killed that girl with! one of the investigators shouted above the din of the other officers pushing their way toward the young man. I aint got no gun, Martin, now fully awake, told the men towering over his bed. Tell them where the gun is, Banks Taylor, who had accompanied law enforcement, interjected. All right, I own a gun, but I lent it to [Lem] Roddy. He gave it back a day after that girl got killed, Martin acknowledged. Well, where is it? demanded one of the officers. Martin quickly pulled on his clothes and led the group outside. Its right there under the porch. One of the deputies knelt down, crawled under the porch, and retrieved the weapon. You come with us, the deputy ordered. Back at the courthouse, Martin was taken into a room with several of the investigators. He was grilled for hours. He stuck to his story. The gun was his, but it was not in his possession the night of the murder. One of the officers the sheriffs brother left the room and returned with a short length of rubber hose that he had taken from the nearby janitors closet. Martin Moore with arresting officers August 1936. The investigators began to beat Martin across the torso, demanding after every blow that he confess that he killed Helen Clevenger. For 20 minutes, Martin resisted. They told him they were going to beat him to death. They told him they found his bloody fingerprints on the light bulb in Helens room. (They had not.) They told him that the judge would be lenient if he confessed. They began beating him again. Martin gave in. The officers sat me down there and they wrote out half of what I told them, and helped me explain it, and told me what to say, that I went in there to take some money, Martin remembered. Then he signed the confession. (Just six months earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that coerced confessions were not admissible as evidence in court.) A week later, Martin was on trial for his life. After a three day trial with a defense attorney who began his closing arguments by saying that he was only defending Martin because it was his court-appointed duty to do so, the all-white jury returned a verdict in less than an hour. Martin was escorted from the courthouse to a car waiting to take him to death row in Raleigh for his Oct. 2 execution. Midway through the trip, the deputies stopped for dinner. Martin, left guarded and handcuffed in the car, said, Tell them to charge [dinner] to me and to collect from me personally on October 3rd. Martin Moore and his sister sit at the defense table with one of Martin's court appointed lawyers in the Buncombe County Courthouse, August 1936. While Martin sat in prison, mostly despondent and resigned to his fate, representatives from the NAACP raised money for an appeal. Though Martins attorney filed the appeal, which immediately postponed his execution date until Dec. 11, the appeal was not properly perfected and was denied without being considered. Public opinion was divided. Some people were satisfied that the murderer was in prison. Many others felt that Martin, who had been identified as being of low intelligence, was a scapegoat. Rumors circulated around town that the son of an unnamed prominent white man, perhaps even the hotel managers son, had borrowed Martins gun from Lem Roddy the night of the murder. In the week leading up to his execution, Martin asked to be baptized. Two ministers came to the prison and immersed Martin in a bathtub. Im all right with God now, Martin said, All my sins are forgiven and I think Im going to heaven. Ive written to my brother to come and get my body Friday morning. Martin was still wet from the baptism when word from the governors office arrived. The governor would not intervene. Martin sighed, If [Lem] Roddy would only tell the truth. ... It just goes to show you cant rely on a friend. The next morning, Martin awoke in his dank and dark cell. Rainwater leaked through the roof. The two ministers who had baptized him sat and prayed with him as the hour of his execution approached. He told them that the state was going to kill an innocent man. The ministers accompanied Martin, now clad only in white shorts, to the door of the execution room. The warden strapped him to the wooden chair, taped a stethoscope over his heart, and sealed the air-tight door. The ministers began to sing a hymn. Martin shakily joined in. The executioner tripped a lever, dropping cyanide pellets into a pan of sulfuric acid under Martins chair. Fumes filled the room. Martin held his breath for as long as he could. Finally, he took several deep breaths and his head fell back against the chair. He lost consciousness. The prison physician, listening to Martins heart through the stethoscope, whispered. The heart is growing weaker. [Martin] will be dead in another minute. And then the stethoscope was silent. Martin Moore was dead. The executioner turned on the air pumps and blew the toxic fumes from the chamber. Martins body was taken to the morgue to await his family. But his mother and siblings could not afford to make the trip to Raleigh, much less the fees to claim his body. So less than a week after his execution, Wake Forest Medical School paid the fees and placed his tall frame diagonally in the tin-lined box filled with a solution where he [would] repose until medical students start[ed] carving into him [the] next September. A 100-lbs. iron weight [held him] under the surface. Martins family was never able to afford to claim his body and it is unknown where he was ultimately laid to rest. In the best case scenario, he could have been buried in an unmarked grave in the nearby segregated cemetery. However, after Wake Forest Medical School moved from Raleigh to Winston-Salem, the Raleigh site was redeveloped. Construction workers excavating the old site uncovered human remains in a trash pile. There were leg bones, arm bones but no skulls. The county coroner investigated, and after talking to a former professor associated with the cadaver lab, determined that the medical students buried the bones in the trash pit after the cadavers had been dissected. As for the skulls, the professor acknowledged, I understand medical students used to make ashtrays out of the skulls. Martins mother continued to live on Hill Street after her sons execution, but vacated the house they had lived in, moving in with another son next door. She said of her youngest son during his trial, Martin was a good boy to me. I raised him, and he minded me just like a little child. Of course he ran around like all the boys, but every pay day he always gave me half of his wages. If he done it he never told me. Only God and Martin know what is inside his breast. Anne Chesky Smith Anne Chesky Smith is the Executive Director of the Western North Carolina Historical Association and the author of the 2021 book Murder at Ashevilles Battery Park Hotel: The Search for Helen Clevengers Killer. This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: WNC History: Story of accused murderer at Battery Park Hotel in 1936 The threat of early rain showers did not stop people from attending the Flag Day Commemoration Tour at Old City Cemetery on Saturday morning. History Specialist and Administrative Manager Kathy McGlothlin said Flag Day, along with the history behind it, is important. What it stands for is what makes me an American, McGlothlin said. If I didnt know some of this stuff I can be easily biased towards misinformation. McGlothlin led a group of 12 people around the cemetery for an hour and showed them the landscape of the cemetery and gave the group short stories about people who were buried there. She told a story about William Brooks, soldier who died November 11, 1918, the last day of the war. Brooks had a sister who died 4 years prior, in 1914. Their family lost two kids in a four year span. She gave another tale of Pleasant Whitely, a man who left Lynchburg to go North to fight on the behalf of the Union against the Confederate South. He survived the war and traveled back down South to live and work. McGlothlin said it was unclear if he had a tough life, due to his decision to fight for the opposing side. McGlothlin used these stories to show the sacrifices people took for us to have the freedoms that we have today. Flag Day was officially established by the U.S. Congress in 1949. President Woodrow Wilson proposed a proclamation in 1916 to have a Flag Day before it was recognized by Congress 33 years later. Its a holiday intended to celebrate the creation of the national flag. Karen Bridgett, a participant of the tour and a former resident in Lynchburg, said her favorite part was all of the information McGlothlin gave about people and families buried in the cemetery. I think she did a fabulous job, very informative, Bridgett said. Bob Allen said the tour gave him a new perspective on whats held in the cemetery and the stories behind the people buried there. With each person buried comes history of not just that person but the time and the era that person lived in, Allen said. McGlothlin showed the group seven different flags. The first flag she showed flew during the early Revolutionary War, it only had 13 stars which symbolized the original 13 colonies. The next flag she presented was hung during the War of 1812 and it is directly linked to the star spangled banner. The War of 1812 was a conflict between the colonies and Great Britain due to the British restrictions on trade and expansion. The colonists would go on to win the war, successfully breaking away from Britain. This war, along with Fort McHenry, inspired the Star-Spangled Banner, written by Francis Scott Key. This flag had 15 stars. The next flag she displayed had 38 stars, which flew during the Civil War and Spanish American War and the final American flag she showed flew during World War I, World War II and Korean War. This flag had 48 stars, at a time where Alaska and Hawaii were not formal states. The history specialist also showed the three flags in the South, created when those colonies broke away from the Union. McGlothlin explained the common Confederate Flag shown throughout the media and displayed today were actually a battle flag. The flag that flew in cities in the South is called the First National. It looked similar to the very first flag, created by Betsy Ross, which had 13 stars. This flag flew for about three years, according to McGlothlin. Flag Day is this Tuesday, June 14th. McGlothlin said Flag Day is important, because it shines light on those who made a difference. If I dont know whats going on with my country whether its through the government, through the city, through the state, through the national, then how can I make lives better for somebody else, McGlothlin said. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. With the Japanese government recently deciding to ease entry restrictions for overseas tourists, Chitose Airport near Sapporo is preparing to welcome visitors again. And Niseko, a major winter resort two and a half hours' drive west, is taking more reservations for the upcoming ski season. All seems well, but there is one glaring weakness in the tourism business in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido: a shortage of foreign staff. Niseko resort, which straddles the towns of Kutchan and Niseko, is a top destination in Hokkaido for affluent overseas tourists, and foreign staff help make their trips more pleasant by lowering the language barrier. Niseko offers high-end lodgings, some of which go for more than 100,000 yen ($740) a night. Foreign visitors made around 680,000 overnight stays in the two towns in fiscal 2018. The Kutchan Tourism Association says 132 condominiums in the two towns had taken 1,349 reservations for the six-months between November 2022 and May 2023, as of May 23 this year, with foreigners accounting for 90% of the bookings. That is four times more than last season and just over 60% of the level seen three seasons before. The association attributes the rebound to a recovery in reservations from Australia and elsewhere. The cap on daily arrivals to Japan has been raised to 20,000. Tourists from abroad will be limited to guided tours from 98 countries and territories for the time being, including the U.S. and China. The restrictions are due to be eased in phases. More than 3 million overseas tourists visited Hokkaido in fiscal 2018, giving a boost to the regional economy. But overnight stays by overseas tourists in Kutchan dropped 95% year on year in fiscal 2020 to just 20,925 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Local business are pinning their hopes on the resumption of inbound tourism. However, hotel operators in the Niseko area are far from cheery. A personnel official at Miru Niseko, a hotel in Kutchan, says the hotel been searching for new employees, but applicants with language skills and other qualifications are hard to find. You are here: World Flash British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has pledged to continue providing military aid for Kiev while meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart here, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Saturday. During the talks held on Friday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov urged more defensive aid from Britain, saying that "we need more heavy weapons to continue the struggle." Wallace said Britain's support for Ukraine will continue, noting that cooperation between the two sides "will be as effective as possible." Last month, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the British government will provide 1.3 billion pounds (1.6 billion U.S. dollars) in military aid to Ukraine. Vietnamese tourists able to easily travel to 25 countries worldwide Outbound tourism is recovering very strongly amid high demand among Vietnamese people when many countries enthusiastically open up to international visitors. Vietnamese people now have plenty of choice with regard to outbound tours. Most recently, the Republic of Korea and Japan began to welcome tourists back from early June, whilst other countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia have already started simplifying procedures in a bid to attract tourists. The Middle East and Europe have also proven to be popular draws among Vietnamese tourists as they resumed air routes and eased COVID-19 restrictions in the post-pandemic period. A group of Vietnamese tourists visit Mongolia. (Photo: Vietravel) Nguyen Nguyet Van Khanh of Vietravel, a leading travel company I Vietnam, says destinations such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and the Republic of Korea are proving to be the most popular places among local travelers heading abroad. At present tourists find it easy to travel to Thailand and Singapore as these two countries have lifted PCR COVID-19 test requests. In June Vietravel is offering a five-day tour to the Republic of Korea without applying visa or financial proof for Vietnamese tourists, she says. Moreover, outbound tourism has developed strongly with several new tourism products on offer. Since February, Saigontourist has reopened tours to 25 destinations, including the Americas, Western Europe, Northern Europe, Australia, Maldives, Dubai, South Africa, and Southeast Asian countries. Tours lasting between four and 11 days with departure times until December, include package tours, Free & Easy tours, retail air tickets, and hotel service. Most notably, there are large groups of 100 to 300 foreign tourists using these services, showing that outbound tourism is gathering steam. This has created great encouragement for the overall operation of the tourism industry, Doan Thi Thanh Tra of Saigontourist shared. Vu Giang Bien, vice president of Hanoi Travel Association, said that new tourism products such as Nordic cruises, discovering winter with lighting festival in Australia, or visiting places used as scenes in famous films has brought new experiences and continues to attract increasing numbers of Vietnamese people. CAIRO, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday called for a peaceful solution to the Yemeni crisis, expressing his country's support for the legitimate government of Yemen. Sisi's remark came during a joint press conference with Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), following their talks in Cairo. "I affirmed our full support for the unity, independence, and territorial integrity of the Yemeni state," stressed the Egyptian president. Cairo also welcomed the UN announcement on June 2 of a renewal of the ongoing ceasefire agreement between the forces of Yemen's government and the Houthi militia for another two months, according to Sisi, who underlined the importance of Yemen's security and stability to Egypt and the whole Arab world. "I call on all parties to fully implement the terms of the agreement as this represents a positive development that can be built upon to launch a comprehensive political process in Yemen," Sisi noted. He also highlighted the need to intensify joint action to protect the "security and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf, for this vital issue is linked to regional and international security and stability." For his part, Al-Alimi said that he updated Sisi on the latest developments in Yemen and the efforts made by the PLC to improve the economic conditions and services, especially in the provinces freed from the Houthis. The PLC chief sought Egypt's support regarding reforms and the integration of the security forces and the military in Yemen. "We affirmed our positive approach of all peace endeavors" in coordination with the pro-legitimacy alliance led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally recognized government out of the capital Sanaa. XIAMEN, June 12 (Xinhua)-- Xiamen, a coastal city in east China's Fujian Province, will build a 5G-based telemedicine platform for eye diseases, as part of its efforts to promote smart medicine and health. Approved by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the project is one of the "5G plus medical and health" application pilot projects in the country. The platform will be established by a 5G-powered eye hospital, which was jointly set up by the Xiamen Eye Center of Xiamen University, the Xiamen branch of China Telecom, and the tech giant Huawei. Based on 5G technologies, the telemedicine platform will encompass real-time medical videos and images, thus allowing doctors to conduct remote consultation, AI screening of eye diseases, and other diagnosis and treatment measures, said Li Xiaoxin, head of the Xiamen Eye Center of Xiamen University. Medical professionals believe that the implementation of 5G-based telemedicine will effectively optimize regional medical resource allocation, and improve the timeliness of monitoring, diagnosis, and treatment of eye diseases. Since China kicked off the commercialization of 5G services in 2019, 5G technology has been embedded in intelligently connected hospitals, factories, ports, driverless cars, and various aspects of people's lives. Xiamen had built around 11,000 5G base stations by May, and it strives to bring the total number to 20,000 by the end of this year, statistics from the municipal bureau of industry and information technology showed. People gather during a rally decrying rising gun violence while urging politicians to take action in Washington, D.C., the United States, June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) by Xinhua writer Sun Ding WASHINGTON, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Large groups of Americans descended on Washington, D.C. and several other cities across the United States to decry rising gun violence while urging politicians to take action. Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered under the Washington Monument at the National Mall in the afternoon, many with self-made banners that read "protect children not guns," "end gun violence" and "enough is enough" as they listened to speeches from shooting survivors and gun control activists. "Everyday shootings are everyday problems," Trevon Bosley, whose brother Terrell was shot and killed in 2006, said from the podium. "The cries of the nation's children can be heard across the world, and you choose to turn away." Sweta Kumar, a mother from Falls Church, Virginia, stood among the crowd. She told Xinhua that the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead at an elementary school last month "hit me in a way that just shook me to the core." "We all have kids," Kumar said, complaining that gun violence is "happening every day" and "everywhere" in the United States, and more disturbingly, "it's happening to our children." "Schools are supposed to be a safe place for our children to go, and to have to put our kids on a school bus and be afraid that this could happen to us," she continued. "It's just absolutely ridiculous." Alex Spector, who's going to the 12th grade at a high school around the Baltimore area north of Washington, D.C. this year, described the Uvalde school shooting as a "big tragedy" and a "common occurrence in the United States" when speaking to Xinhua. "Although it happens so often there still isn't any legislation or much that kind of change that happens in our country," he lamented. "The United States is the only country where this is a significant reoccurring problem." Spector is a member of the so-called "lockdown generation" -- millions of American children and teenagers who regularly practice responding to a shooting at school, taught to "hide under desks, lock classrooms, turn the lights off." Though Spector hasn't been directly impacted by gun violence, he acknowledged he doesn't feel safe all the time going to school. "There's always a disconnection between an individual and a mass shooting because it's not your life, but sometimes it gets really close to being my life," he said. "It's scary. It's scary to hear about." The Uvalde gunman used an AR-15-style rifle to carry out the rampage. A popular semiautomatic weapon among American gun owners, it was regularly used in many other mass shootings in the United States, prompting calls to ban the gun. Kate Coho, who came to the demonstration in Washington, D.C. with Kumar, told Xinhua that she believes AR-15s "are military-style weapons that should be used in war and should not be accessible to everyday Americans," arguing that "nobody needs an AR-15. You do not need an assault rifle to go hunting." Coho called out the National Rifle Association of America, an influential gun rights advocacy group that routinely spends money lobbying politicians at different levels against gun control measures despite most Americans supporting stricter laws on firearms. "So in America, we have a very strong gun lobby," and "they speak a lot to our politicians, and they prevent safe gun laws from being passed," she elaborated. "Most Americans favor gun control legislation, and our politicians need to start listening to us -- the people -- and not the money that they get from the gun lobby." The rally came days after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a gun package that appeared unlikely to pass the evenly-divided Senate, whose members have engaged in separate talks to reach a compromise. It's unclear whether the negotiations will bear fruit as gun violence continues to wreak havoc on American lives. According to the latest data from Gun Violence Archive, the United States has suffered 257 mass shootings over the past five months, with more than 19,300 lives lost to gun violence. Enditem (Xinhua reporter Xiao Xiao in Washington, D.C. also contributed to this story.) People gather during a rally decrying rising gun violence while urging politicians to take action in Washington, D.C., the United States, June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) People gather during a rally decrying rising gun violence while urging politicians to take action in Washington, D.C., the United States, June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) People gather during a rally decrying rising gun violence while urging politicians to take action in Washington, D.C., the United States, June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) People gather during a rally decrying rising gun violence while urging politicians to take action in Washington, D.C., the United States, June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) People gather during a rally decrying rising gun violence while urging politicians to take action in Washington, D.C., the United States, June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) People gather during a rally decrying rising gun violence while urging politicians to take action in Washington, D.C., the United States, June 11, 2022. (Photo by Xiao Xiao/Xinhua) People gather during a rally decrying rising gun violence while urging politicians to take action in Washington, D.C., the United States, June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) People gather during a rally decrying rising gun violence while urging politicians to take action in Washington, D.C., the United States, June 11, 2022. (Photo by Xiao Xiao/Xinhua) People gather during a rally decrying rising gun violence while urging politicians to take action in Washington, D.C., the United States, June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) People gather during a rally decrying rising gun violence while urging politicians to take action in Washington, D.C., the United States, June 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) BEIRUT, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon on Sunday condemned the Israeli missile attack on Damascus International Airport in the Syrian capital that has damaged facilities and forced flights to a halt, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The ministry said the attack targeted a vital civilian facility, calling it an "affirmation of Israel's aggressiveness and its interventionist policies in the region." It affirmed Lebanon's support for Syria to confront the repeated Israeli aggressions. Syria on Friday suspended all flights to and from the Damascus airport following the overnight Israeli missile strikes on sites south of the Syrian capital. BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhua) -- China's Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development Index, based on a survey of 3,000 SMEs, edged down 0.1 points from the previous month to 88.2 in May, the latest industry data showed. The index saw its decline narrow from the previous month, but still made the fourth consecutive month of fall for the gauge, the lowest since 2021, said the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises. Severe epidemic situations in major cities which choked industrial and supply chains, coupled with overseas uncertainties, have undermined the business prospects of SMEs, said the association. The sub-indexes for capital and labor force stood in the expansion zone in May, while that for costs was in the contraction zone, indicating rising business costs for SMEs. The survey on samples showed business resumption made better progress in May but still was at a lower level. The share of enterprises operating at full capacity rose 2.2 percentage points compared with that in April. The industry group calls for faster implementation of the State Council's policy package last month which includes a prominent part contributing to bolstering micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe delivers a speech on China's vision of regional order at the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 12, 2022. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua) SINGAPORE, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on Sunday delivered a speech on China's vision of regional order at the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. Wei said the world is facing multiple crises rarely seen in history, and the way forward is to uphold and practice multilateralism and build a community with a shared future for mankind. "China's development is unstoppable," Wei said, adding that China is rock-solid in its commitment to pursuing peaceful development. China's development is not a threat to others. On the contrary, it is a huge contribution to global peace and development, the minister said. China steadfastly pursues a defense policy that is defensive in nature, he said. "The Chinese military is always a force for peace and will remain firm in safeguarding China's sovereignty, security and development interests." Noting that the Asia-Pacific is the world's most vibrant and promising economic powerhouse, Wei urged countries to strive for the bright prospect of building an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future that enjoys durable peace and provides security for all. On the Taiwan question, Wei said Taiwan is part of China, and the Taiwan question is China's internal affair. "China will definitely realize its reunification." Those who pursue "Taiwan independence" in an attempt to split China will definitely come to no good end, and foreign interference is doomed to failure, he said. Peaceful reunification is the greatest wish of the Chinese people, he said. "We are willing to make the greatest efforts to achieve that." "If anyone dares to secede Taiwan from China, we will not hesitate to fight, we will fight at all costs," Wei said, adding that no one should ever underestimate the resolve and capabilities of China's armed forces to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Wei also expounded on China's position regarding the South China Sea, China-U.S. relations and the Ukraine crisis. UNITED NATIONS, June 12 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian on Saturday discussed peace in Yemen and the Iran nuclear deal in a phone call. The secretary-general received a phone call from Amir Abdollahian, said Guterres' press office on Sunday in a readout. "The secretary-general expressed his satisfaction at the extension of the truce in Yemen as well as his appreciation of Iran's efforts in this regard. The secretary-general also reiterated his position that diplomacy must prevail in order to return to the full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)," said the press office, using the official name of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. In 2015, Iran signed the JCPOA with the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States, plus Germany) and the EU. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled Washington out of the pact in May 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran. This prompted Iran to drop some of its nuclear commitments and advance its previously halted nuclear program. Since April 2021, Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties have held several rounds of talks in Vienna to revive the deal. PHNOM PENH, June 12 (Xinhua) -- China has been playing an important role in maintaining global and regional peace, security, stability and development, Cambodian academics have said. Their comments were made on Friday as the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue, a premier defense and security summit in the Asia-Pacific region, is being held in Singapore after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kin Phea, director-general of the International Relations Institute at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said China always upholds a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. He said China urges the world to discard Cold War and zero-sum mentalities, rejects the law of the jungle, and encourages the settlement of conflicts through peaceful ways. "China has been playing a more important role in safeguarding global and regional peace and stability," he told Xinhua. Phea said that in his observation, China has never invaded other countries or engaged in proxy wars, nor has it ever sought spheres of influence or participated in military bloc confrontations. The academic said China always stays committed to the path of peaceful development and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. "I notice that China firmly opposes all hegemonies and power politics and resolutely upholds the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries, especially small and medium-sized countries," he said. Seun Sam, a policy analyst at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said that China believes in peaceful development and win-win cooperation, and praised China's concept of global, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. "China does not only want to grow alone but also wants other countries to grow with it," Sam said. "We can say that China wants to grow with other countries." Unlike the United States, China's vision is to transform the region into a hub of peace, stability and development through digital connectivity and infrastructure development, said Joseph Matthews, senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh. He said China's vision of global development through the Belt and Road Initiative, "green Silk Road," and "digital Silk Road" strategies has helped the region attract investors from all over the world. "In contrast to China's vision, the USA and its allies in the region are trying to trigger a conventional and non-conventional arms race after having created the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue among the U.S., Japan, Australia and India (QUAD) and the military pact among the U.S., Britain and Australia (AUKUS), which are true replicas of NATO in Asia and the Asia-Pacific region," Matthews said. "The USA strategy in the region has directly threatened the centrality of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), which is the soul and spirit of the bloc," he added. Apart from these NATO-like security alliances, last month during the QUAD summit conference in Tokyo, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the creation of the so-called Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), which is neither a free trade agreement nor even a trade agreement. Calling the IPEF "a symbolic agreement that will not affect regional economic and social development at all," he said "the USA has created this group to counter China's influence in the region and the ulterior motive for the creation of IPEF is to divide the ASEAN." Many of us have been touched by cancer, whether as a personal challenge or as the relative, friend, or acquaintance of someone facing this insidious disease. Wheels of Courage, an annual local car show fundraiser sponsored by businesses in the Council Bluffs area, help those in need as they face this battle. As an entrepreneur and local business owner, Carol Elder brings the perfect amount of charisma and determination to the Wheels of Courage planning committee. I help secure event sponsors, solicit auction and raffle items, and get people registered for the event. Our Wheels of Courage Committee is at Quaker Steak and Lube every Thursday night, promoting the event and selling 50/50 raffle tickets, said Elder. Wheels of Courage is important to me because I have learned that life can change in a heartbeat, Carol goes on to explain. You never know when and if you might be the one who needs a little help so that you are able to keep fighting the fight. Every sponsor, volunteer, car registration and T-shirt sale adds up and makes Wheels of Courage a successful event. All Wheel of Courage proceeds are donated to the Jennie Edmundson Foundation Spirit of Courage Charitable Patient Care fund. This fund provides assistance to patients in need of help covering expenses associated with diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Funds are also used to help patients with incidental expenses such as medications, utility costs, groceries and transportation. This years seventh annual Wheels of Courage event takes place at Quaker Steak and Lube, located at 3320 Mid America Drive, on Saturday, June 25th. Please visit www.jehfoundation.org or call Tara Slevin at 712-396-6040 for more information. Together, we can make this years event a rousing success! The last of eight properties that Pottawattamie County purchased last year as part of its Flood Buyback Project was demolished Friday, clearing the way for new development. In a status report presented to the county board last week, Metropolitan Area Planning Agency associate planner Ryan Ossell outlined the progress that has been made, and how much more work there was yet to finish. The demolition project accumulated $1,861,054 in costs by the end of May, with the total cost expected to be $2,232,792. The majority of the funds have come from FEMAs Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, with the remainder coming from a Community Development Block Grant from the state of Iowa. Pottawattamie County received a CDBG of $500,324 on Jan. 27. As of May 31, the county had received $354,140 of the funds. The FEMA program provides funding to state, local, tribal and territorial governments so they can develop hazard mitigation plans and rebuild in a way that reduces, or mitigates, future disaster losses in their communities, according to the program website. This grant funding is available after a presidentially declared disaster. A CDBG comes from a federally-funded program that provides communities with resources to address a wide range of housing and community development needs, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. One of the eight properties will go to the countys conservation group for future river access, according to Planning and Development Director Matt Wyant. The other seven properties will be offered as land leases for agriculture to adjoining property owners. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Drivers near 35th Street and Nebraska Avenue may have happened upon one of the straightforward advertisements on a digital billboard in the area. It reads: Thank you law enforcement. Paid for by your law abiding citizens. The billboard went up in late May and will stay up through late July. Tom Liston got the idea a few years back. A truck driver by trade, he noticed similar signs popping up in Sioux City and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. When it didnt appear here, he called Lamar Advertising of Omaha, which helped get permission to use the Sioux Falls design on billboards locally. The first billboard went up in May 2021 on West Broadway, near Puerto Vallarta. Then we put up two in Omaha, Liston said. We decided to put one more up this year, and its up. The billboard is on display near the Caseys gas station at 35th and Nebraska. Im sure people come up and tell them (law enforcement) thanks, but they do a lot, and I think it helps them to see it in writing, Liston said. Its a message from the community, especially after recent events nationally, just to let them know theyre appreciated. Liston lived in Council Bluffs for 20 years before moving to Avoca. His daughter, Sally, lives locally and helps gather donations to continue to billboard project. The family works with area businesses and community supporters to sponsor the effort. Its just a grassroots deal, Liston said. Its fun and also rewarding. We pass out flyers to get people to help out and weve got a good response. Those interested in helping fund another billboard can find more information on GoFundMe at gofundme.com/f/jcf7fu-thank-you-law-enforcement. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Chinese market remains vital for Vietnamese wood China is one of the leading five consumers of Vietnamese wood and wood products, with its imports accounting for between 10% - 12% of Vietnams total wood export value, according to wood processors and Forest Trends. The Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association (VIFOREST) reports local businesses shipped over US$14 billion worth of wood and wood products abroad throughout 2021, with US$1.49 billion of this figure going to China. Processing timber for export in Vietnam Meanwhile, wood imports were valued at more than US$2.5 billion, including US$1.1 billion coming from the northern neighbour. Typically, Vietnam mainly focused on exporting raw wood coded HS44 to China, with more than 20 products making up approximately 80% of its total wood exports to China. Among them, wood chips represented a large proportion of the countrys total annual wood export turnover to this market. In the other direction, the northern neighbour is the largest supplier of wood and wood products to Vietnam, accounting for between 25% and 37% of the countrys total annual wood imports. Local wood processors import more than 20 wood products from China, with the majority of them belonging to the HS44 group. Vietnam maintains a timber trade surplus with China, mostly coming from the export of wood chips, but its imports are growing faster than its exports, says Nguyen Vinh Quang, a policy analyst at Forest Trends. The Forest Trends report shows that Chinese investment in the Vietnamese wood industry remains relatively high, accounting for 17% to 35% of the total investment capital injected into the industry as a whole. In addition, the merge and acquisition (M&A) capital of Chinese enterprises makes up between 6% and 35% of the total M&A capital of FDI enterprises specialising in this industry locally. Speaking at a workshop held on June 10, Cao Chi Cong, vice chairman of VIFOREST, affirmed that China represents a major trading partner for Vietnam in terms of both imports and exports of wood and forest products. Cong anticipated that wood processors of the two countries would put forward recommendations to the Government and management agencies as a means of providing business support towards sustainable and effective production. Hai Ling, from the Chinese Academy of Forestry, agreed that Vietnam is widely viewed as an important market for Chinese timber. Along with fully complying with legal regulations, introducing preventive measures to combat risks and better improving the supply chain, she said China also looks forward to having close co-operation ties with Vietnamese wood enterprises to fully optimise co-operation opportunities. To Xuan Phuc, another policy analyst at Forest Trends, pointed out that Vietnamese wood enterprises usually lack knowledge of market regulations. On the other hand, Chinese enterprises do not have a great understanding about the timber supply flow in Vietnam. We do hope that the wood processor associations of the two countries will have more exchanges to share information and experiences so as to contribute to the sustainability of the wood industry of the two countries, said Phuc. TEHRAN, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Iran's parliament speaker and parliament members condemned on Sunday an anti-Tehran resolution recently adopted by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), according to official news agency IRNA. A statement, signed by 260 parliament members in an open session, said the representatives of the Iranian people in the parliament condemned the "politically motivated" move resulting from some Western states' excessive demands. It stressed that the Islamic republic, as shown in IAEA reports, is a country of goodwill that has provided the agency with the largest number of opportunities for monitoring and accessing Iranian nuclear sites at different intervals. The statement added "instead of helping resolve Western claims against Iran's peaceful nuclear program, the agency's free access has only given rise to its new questions, which have raised Iran's doubts about the necessity of continuing such cooperation." It also regretted that "the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi and the agency have clearly lost their technical reputability and legitimacy following the adoption of the resolution." On the same day, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said that Iran sees the move as "hostile" and "unconstructive," adding the UN nuclear watchdog has turned a blind eye to Iran's "constructive, voluntary and generous" cooperation with it, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency. On Wednesday, the IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution proposed by the United States, Britain, France and Germany, accusing Iran of noncooperation. In reaction to the resolution, Iran has taken a number of measures, including shutting off a number of the IAEA's surveillance cameras at its nuclear sites. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. The Lincoln County commissioners on Monday will discuss the cooperative services agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for wildlife services. The commissioners regular meeting begins at 9:10 a.m. in the Commissioners Room at the Lincoln County Courthouse, 301 N. Jeffers St. in North Platte. The board also will: Discuss an interlocal agreement for the provision of cooperative Extension services. Consider authorizing the chairman to sign the Allstate Benefits customer agreement in conjunction with TBX benefit services. Consider authorizing the chairman to sign addendum two to the Electronic Government Level Services Agreement between NIC Nebraska and Lincoln County. Consider a resolution transferring $10,000 from the miscellaneous general fund to the retirement fund. Consider authorizing the chairman to sign the quarterly federal excise tax return to submit the PCORI fee implemented to fund research as part of the Affordable Care Act. Consider authorizing the chairman to sign an agreement with William Troshynski to provide legal services for Lincoln County for guardianship and conservatorship matters. Consider authorizing the chairman to sign an agreement with Troshynkski to provide legal services for Lincoln County for criminal and juvenile matters. Lets imagine that North Plattes incorporation as a city which was 150 years ago next year, by the way had never taken place. How would we, and all who preceded us, have gone about making decisions affecting this place in which we live? And would those decisions have been any more or less aboveboard or secretive, altruistic or selfish, than the ones made by generations of elected mayors and City Council members? Such are our musings over how often the word government has been invoked often suspiciously in debating city help for North Plattes momentous economic development projects. The questions above cant be answered. But they should give us pause whenever were tempted to lash out at local governments in places our size and smaller. From where we sit, theres precious little difference in these parts between deciding informally but collectively to help a needed employer start or expand and doing so through the organized structure of a publicly elected body. We are the government. At every level. But at the local level, more than at any other level, the government is us. Ronald Reagan, whom North Platte recalls fondly for his August 1987 visit as president and three other stops before and after his presidency, probably summed up local worries about government best. The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: Im from the government, and Im here to help, he said at a press conference on Aug. 12, 1986 (a year and a day before Air Force One touched down at Lee Bird Field). That quote and its context can be found on the Reagan Foundation website (reaganfoundation.org) of Californias Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. It says Reagan, who majored in economics in college (a fact often obscured), meant the government tends to be inefficient, to such a degree that instead of helping, it often causes harm instead. This happens because government creates unpredictability due to constantly changing policies and the governments goals sometimes dont align with the nations goals. No doubt. In our republican (small r) form of government, elected leaders come and go. What one president, Congress, governor or legislature decides, future executives or lawmakers can change. And thats no less true of our city councils, county boards, school boards and other local elected boards. But think about those quotes and paraphrases of Reagans thinking. They refer, above all, to the higher levels of government in America. The federal government above all. Reagan in his 1986 remarks, his foundations website continues, expresses the need for a more diminutive form of government where an individual or organization can complete an activity more effectively than the whole government. Its a view shared by Reagans famous contemporary, Pope St. John Paul II, who called it the principle of subsidiarity in his 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus. He wrote: A community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order ... but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good. We believe both Reagan and John Paul would consider our regions local governments surely communities of a lower order places where subsidiarity and democracy function at their best. Thats because of you. And the people you elect. Even when we all disagree. North Platte has been making use, though not with unanimity, of economic tools given Nebraskas cities by our states leaders to advance the common good of renewing itself for future generations. We dont see the foreboding specter of government when we look at our own City Council, County Board and other boards and their day-to-day employees. We see small organizations, not faceless bureaucracies. We know our elected and appointed leaders and see them at local events and in our stores and churches. Theyre part of us. Yes, bad apples can and do sneak in. Thats why its our duty as citizens not our option to be informed and vigilant and act to neutralize or cast them out. But we cant reflexively dismiss good-faith efforts by our elected leaders to improve our community as the insidious influence of government. Call us naive, maybe, but we prefer to start by believing better of our neighbors. All of them. You are clearly a super-user of NUVO.net. Thats a good thing. It means you depend on independent and local news sources to keep you informed. You are a smart person. Coincidentally, independent and local news sources depend on you too. Youve read 25 articles this month and now, wed like you to be join our mission and become a NUVO Supporter. For as little as $4 a month, you can keep us alive and fighting -- and can have unlimited access to the independent news that cant be found anywhere else. Yep, Sarah Barracuda is back. Photo: Mark Thiesssen/AP/Shutterstock Former governor, vice-presidential nominee, and proto-MAGA celebrity Sarah Palin appeared on an actual ballot for the first time since 2008, and in preliminary results is comfortably leading a 48-candidate field in a special Alaska primary election to complete the congressional term of the late Don Young. Under Alaskas unusual new election system, which debuted in this contest, the top four vote-getters in the primary will proceed to an August 16 general election that will offer ranked-choice voting to ensure the eventual winner has majority support. Because of the short time frame of the special primary, Alaska conducted it by mail with all registered voters receiving a ballot and a postage-paid return envelope. Saturday, June 11 was the deadline for getting a ballot postmarked, though they count if they are received before June 21. As of June 11, about 140,000 ballots had been received, and with 108,000 counted, Palin has 30 percent of the vote in the nonpartisan contest. Running a clear second at 19 percent was Nick Begich III, the conservative Republican grandson and namesake of the Democrat who held the House seat before Young was elected in 1973. Begich was actually running against Young (to his right) when the venerable congressman died in March. Another reasonably clear winner of a top-four spot was orthopedic surgeon Al Gross, the Democratic Senate nominee in 2020, now running as an independent; Gross currently has 12 percent of the vote. Name ID alone in this very sudden election likely propelled Palin, Begich, and Gross into the general election. After these three the results get murky. Currently, former Democratic state legislator Mary Peltola, an Alaska Native, is running fourth with 7 percent, followed by Republican Native leader Tara Sweeney with 5 percent. But not far behind Sweeney is the sentimental favorite, self-identified democratic socialist Santa Claus (born Thomas OConner), who hails from the Fairbanks suburb of North Pole. The primary results will be finalized on June 21. What makes the contest especially confusing to voters is that the same day they resolve the special election in August they will be voting in the regular statewide primary, where among other things they will choose four candidates to compete in a November general election for a new House term. Some 31 candidates, including Palin, Begich, Gross, Peltola, and Sweeney but alas, not Claus have filed for that regular primary. As the votes drifted in on June 11, Begich quickly made a move to attract support from Alaskans embarrassed by Palins political comeback. The wealthy software executive told the Anchorage Daily News: We have one candidate who makes her living on celebrity videos, and we have another candidate whos made a living creating jobs. Begich was endorsed by the state GOP; Palin was endorsed by Donald J. Trump, who called her a true America First fighter. Alaska is basically a red state with a strong independent streak, and with the new electoral system almost anything could happen. But clearly, at a still relatively youthful 58, Palin is making a serious bid to be taken seriously again. At various junctures after her abrupt resignation as Alaska governor in 2009, Palin seemed to be leaving the state behind as she pursued political and commercial ventures battening on the national fame she secured as the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket and a self-proclaimed champion of the Tea Party movement. Most recently she gained attention in the familiar role of media scourge in an unsuccessful libel suit against the New York Times. But now she is again Sarah Palin of Wasilla, and could make a genuinely surprising comeback if she can get past her three rivals in August. If Sarah Barracuda actually makes it to Congress, it will be difficult if tempting to ignore her all over again. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) Coronavirus cases are on the rise again in New Mexico, but top state health officials said Wednesday that a return to mask mandates or other widespread public health restrictions are unlikely because infections are becoming more mild. Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase said during his first briefing on the pandemic in months that the situation is very different now than it was over the winter. He noted that more tools and treatments are available and that infections are resulting in far fewer hospitalizations and deaths. This isn't about infections. It's about serious disease, it's about hospitalizations, it's about deaths. That's what we need to pay attention to," he said of the focus. ... Our deaths are only a fraction, our hospitalizations are only a fraction and that's really the sticking point for this state. The pandemic took a toll on New Mexico early on because of the state's historical lack of resources, including nurses and its low ranking among states when it comes to hospital bed capacity. Health care officials and some elected officials promoted the mandates in hopes of limiting infections and preventing the overtaxing of a system already running at full capacity. Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 infection are currently low and only a small percentage of patients require ventilators, which state officials said means an evolution toward a milder illness from coronavirus infections. State epidemiologist Dr. Christine Ross, who will step down from her post in the coming weeks, said it has been a long and difficult public health period but that she was pleased to report what she called a welcomed difference from the severity of prior infections. What we're seeing with this wave is very different than what we've seen in the past, she said, pointing to multiple factors that range from the properties of the latest variant to what she referred to as a wall of protection created by vaccination and immunity resulting from infections and in some cases re-infections. Health officials did acknowledged the difficulty in analyzing data now because many positive infection tests conducted at home go unreported. While state data showed vaccinated and boosted people made up nearly two-thirds of COVID-19 cases reported over the last four weeks, Scrase said the numbers should not be considered a study of how effective vaccination might be because there are too many variables. With treatments now seen as a game-changer, Scrase said his next hope is that deaths caused by the virus can be prevented. New Mexico's coronavirus death toll is approaching 7,900 people, according to state data. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. The U.S. is discussing with its European allies a price cap on Russian oil. The goal is to keep Russian oil flowing into international markets but curb budget revenues from it to discourage Russia from continuing the war in Ukraine. Theoretically. The situation is not dissimilar to wanting to eat your cake and have it, too. On the one hand, both the U.S. and Europe, suffering the most severe consequences of sanction action so far, are aware that banning Russian oil from international markets would hurt them even more. On the other hand, paying for Russian oil at market prices is not a palatable option because oiland gasexport revenues make up a solid portion of Russias budget, and that budget includes defense spending, and much of that defense spending is going into what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine, which the West calls an unprovoked war. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen put it rather bluntly earlier this week: I think what we want to do is keep Russian oil flowing into the market to hold down global prices and try to avoid a spike that causes a worldwide recession and drives up oil prices, she said as quoted by the Wall Street Journal. But absolutely the objective is to limit the revenue going to Russia. One might wonder where the concept of the free market went, but in truth, the concept of the free market has been quite dead for a while now. The question is whether the idea that the U.S. and the EU have about an oil price cap could work. In other words, would Russia accept such a move? According to common sense, it would hardly welcome the idea of having a price ceiling imposed on its export oil cargos. According to the former chief economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Sergei Guriev, Yes, Putin could refuse to sell oil at this price. But, given that he is already desperate enough to sell to China and India at steep discounts, and todays energy prices far exceed production costs, this seems unlikely. Indeed, Russian oil is trading at a discount of some $30 or more to Brent crude. Whether there is desperation in the Russian oil equation is difficult to say, if we put emotions and wishes aside. It is clear Russia knew it would have to redirect flows to Asia from Europe should the latter try to punish it for its actions in Ukraineand it was prepared to do so. It is also clear, or at least it should be, that Russia cannot just redirect all the oil and fuel flows that currently go into Europe to India and China, at least not fast. What this suggests is that Russia may well be prepared to suffer some revenue pain while the redirection proceeds. Also, Russia tends to budget on the basis of quite low oil prices. For last year, for instance, it budgeted for $45 per barrel of Brent crude. Its actual oil revenues last year exceeded initial expectations by more than 51 percent. For 2022, Moscow budgeted for Brent at $44.20 per barrel. So, as Guriev notes, even with a price ceiling of $70 per barrel, Russia would be making a lot more from the sales of its oil than it budgeted for. China and India would only be too happy to pay even less for Russian oil. Yet the question remains whether Russia would be on board with the idea of having its opponents in this war tell it at what price to sell its crude. Until the ball goes to Russias court, however, the U.S. and the EU would have to figure out how to enforce a price cap if they agree on it. One way, according to the WSJ report, is to use the insurance industry and make it only insure Russian oil cargos below the price cap. Another is to impose secondary sanctions on Russian oil buyers, but that would have potentially unpleasant diplomatic consequences. The idea of a price cap on crude, not just Russian, was first floated in Europe earlier this year by Italys Prime Minister Mario Draghi. In May, following a meeting with the U.S. president, Draghi said both he and Biden were dissatisfied with the structure of global oil markets and had talked about setting a price cap on both oil and gas. The idea is to create a cartel of buyers, or to persuade the big producers, and Opec in particular, to increase production, which is perhaps the preferred path, Draghi said at the time, as quoted by the Financial Times. On both paths, theres a lot of work to do. Perhaps now that OPEC+ agreed to pump more oil, theoretically, this plan would be put on the backburner. A buyers cartel is certainly not something youd want to push into OPECs face right when you urgently need more oil. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The South American country of Guyana is undergoing rapid development as a result of a string of offshore oil discoveries by ExxonMobil, NYSE:XOM). Announcements by the company since 2017 have added more than 8 bn barrels of reserves, spread over 18 discoveries in the deep waters of that country. Thus far one FPSO has been ordered to serve the Liza Phase-1 subsea development with four separate drill centers and up to 30 wells. At peak production, Liza Phase-1 will pump out 220K BOEPD. Liza Phase-2 is on schedule to produce another 220K BOEPD, starting in mid-2022, from as many as 30 subsea wells. Payara a similar project to the other two, will bring another 220K BOEPD to market in 2024, from 45 subsea wells. Other projects are in various stages of pre-FID engineering. All told Guyana could be exporting nearly 700K BOEPD as the decade turns. With discoveries like this Guyana has rightly captured the worlds attention and helped to drive ExxonMobils stock to a recent multi-year high. Numerous other operators have come behind to probe the oceans depth for riches offshore Guyana and in neighboring countries. For example, a little farther down the South American continent, sandwiched between Guyana and French Guiana, lies the Republic of Suriname. Since early 2020, the Suriname buzz has been building as APA Corp, (NYSE:APA) and TotalEnergies, (NYSE:TTE) have hit a string of 5-consecutive discoveries in Block 58. The excitement in this country is a little more muted than that in Guyana as yet because thus far no big projects have met FID. That could be changing later this year with positive news from APA and TTE. What led to these discoveries? A World Oil article notes that in the mid-2010s Geologists began to suspect that drilling along what is called the African Transform Margin would lead to exploration successes. Oil operator Tullow, found success offshore Ghana with the discovery of its Ten complex. This spurred a rush of leasing from Cote dIvore to Sierra Leone, but results were mixed and new drilling trailed off in West Africa. Not long after many of the same international oil companies that had proved successful in West Africa and along the African Transform Margin were determined to apply those concepts to the South American Equatorial Margin (SAEM). As a result, companies licensed deepwater offshore blocks in Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana by early 2010. Tullow found success with pay in 2000 meters of water, offshore French Guiana in 2011, but was declared non-commercial after three other dry holes. Then things largely fell off until XOM arrived offshore Guyana in 2015. Which changed everything. APA Corp in Suriname APA Corp and partner/operator TotalEnergies are moving with all deliberate speed toward an FID on their first development offshore Suriname, following the announcements of a number of discoveries since late-2019. A total of 5-deep water discoveries have been announced in the last two and half years. Recently they announced a flow test at Sapakara South of ~4,800 BOPD. This was on a choke-they don't reveal the size, but the absolute open-flow rate is probably at least triple this figure. For those who are interested, flow tests are where petroleum engineers come to work. They are assessing a number of criteria, but at the heart of it they are calculating the size (in barrels) of the reservoir, and the rate at which it can be produced. Regardless, it doesn't take too many 15,000 BOPD wells before the excitement begins to build. Some of this excitement overflowed into the companys First Quarter conference call. John Christman, CEO commented in regard to an analyst question- With further information and analysis, we are increasing our estimate of the connected resource in place, in a single zone at Sapakara South 1, to more than 400 million barrels. We look forward to additional appraisals that should further increase the estimated resource in place at Sapakara South. Source For reference Shells, (NYSE:SHEL) most recent major project in the GoM, Vito, included putting in a floating production hub to extract 300 mm BOOIP. It takes more to turn the crank in Suriname, but as you can see we are at 400 mm BOOIP for Sapakara South, and in the comment above, Christman specifically led us to believe that number is going higher. It's been a while since I read a conference call transcript where the analysts were, trying as hard to tease information out of management, about the almost dead certain FID on the Suriname hub. Analyst fervor for details about the Sapakara South test was demonstrated by Doug Leggate, an analyst with BOA who queried, I wonder if you could give us a more fulsome update as to whether you feel like you are still making progress towards a development and FID this year. John Christman, CEO of APA commented, We prioritized a list of both exploration and appraisal targets that we need to drill. Obviously, the appraisal targets are helping us find connected volumes, which are critical to scope and scale and the exploration targets that are sizable, we also need to drill to make sure you would get the scope and scale right of that potential first FID. So things are on track. Company filings That was about as effusive as Christman got in spite of repeated attempts by a slew of analysts. You can't blame the analysts for probing. Once that almost certain FID has been announced, shares of APA are likely to go higher. If you look below, you can see why I am so confident that APA will announce an FID. You don't drill this many wells if you aren't getting prospective Drill Stem Tests-DST's. Apache had a bad drill stem test-DST, in 2017 offshore Suriname in Block 53, and took over two years to analyze the geophysical data before choosing to move the drilling focus to the Maka #1 in Block 58. Seven successes, one after another have been the result. You don't drill seven subsea high pressure, high temperature-HPHT wells in a field, to then declare it non-commercial. You don't do a second in-flow test (Krabdagu) if you aren't establishing the connectedness of the reservoir to earlier discoveries. These tests can cost millions of dollars worth of rig time and associated services, and are done only after careful consideration. The line of discoveries follows the trend established by ExxonMobil in their-so far 8 bn barrel cumulative Stabroek discoveries. Geologists refer to a trend like this as a channel. So far XOM has announced 18 consecutive discoveries in this block, offshore Guyana, and changed the course of that formerly-sleepy South American nation. The same thing is getting ready to happen in Suriname. It seems clear to me that at some point soon, APA and TotalEnergies will be announcing a billion barrel+ find and Vito style floating production hub with Floating Production, Storage and Offloading-FPSO offtake. It should also be noted that TTE (the operator of Block-58) has awarded a pre-FEED FPSO contract to Yinson. Another promising indicator for FID. About the Apache and TTE partnership and the impact on Suriname When the drilling began on the first well that would lead to the string of discoveries, there were concerns about a company the size of Apache being able to see it through financially in the case of a discovery. The announcement of Apache's (now APA Corp.) partnership with Total to develop Suriname Production Sharing Contract-PSC, has eased concerns about spending on a large project. The French company has a long history of bringing in MEGA projects successfully. Total became the operator of Block 58 and will carry 87.5% of the first $10 billion in gross spending, 75% of the next $5 billion, and 62.5% above that, along with other payments and royalties. Around $200 million is earmarked for exploration and appraisal in Suriname in Apache's 2022 budget. While Suriname is expected to make a more material contribution to Apache over the medium term, first oil is not expected at least until 2025 according to the operator, and drilling remains in the appraisal phase for now, which limits its near-term credit impact. The success of APA and Total in Surinames waters has brought in other operators like Chevron, (NYSE:CVX), ExxonMobil, (NYSE:XOM), Hess Corp, (NYSE:HES). CVX signed a PSC for Block-7 with the government of Suriname as noted in a recent Reuters article . Suriname is just beginning to be transformed by the prospect of wealth. APA Corp for its part has formed a new corporation, APA Corporation Suriname to manage its assets in the country. Managing this resource to the benefit of its citizens is definitely top of mind for Surinames leaders. President of Suriname, Chandrikapersad Santokhi noted in a recent article, carried in Kaietur News Online , We have the same goal and commitment to our current and certainly, our future generations, President Santokhi noted. But in addition to being able to provide for generations to come, the President urged too that the two countries be responsible in the development of the oil resources in an environmentally friendly and sound manner There is no question that the impending developments off Surinames coast are transformative for the country and the companies making it happen. Your takeaway APA Corp is trading at 3X operating cash flow-OCF at its current price. On a Price to Flowing barrels, it's at $47 per barrel, so still in a very attractive range to Brent. A PV-10 calculation values the company at ~$18 bn, a little less than its current EV. Let's remember that the coming reserves bump from Suriname is not factored to this estimate! What might Suriname add to the balance sheet? With 50% going to APA, let's assume they announce a billion barrels of reserves at some point. Simple math suggests the shares should rerate to the middle $60's with a 50% increase in reserves. Analysts are thinking along these lines with a median PT of $54, and an outlier of $90. I think whoever has made the $90 estimate is going off the extremely low cash flow multiple for the stock, and the buyback implications. With the share count being reduced to 308 mm almost certainly this year that gets you to its current price. The 290 mm guesstimate would take it toward $52. Now let's increase the multiple to 4X OCF. That gets it toward $77 with 308 mm shares outstanding and $82 with 290 mm outstanding. Getting into the analyst range with a modest bump in the OCF multiple is not wishful thinking for a company with the prospects of APA. One final guestimate here. What would another 100K BOPD do to cash flow a few years hence? At current Brent prices, it would take APA toward another $3.0 bn in cash flow, and drive the stock price over $100 per share at a 4X multiple. In recent trading shares of APA have reached the low $50s, logging a 40% rally in just under a month. I think APA presents a solid case for investors at current prices with a realistic prospect of a 50% return in one year, and a potential doubling in the event Suriname reaches FID. The risk of that not happening cant be completely discounted, and shares would take a hit in that event. By David Messler for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: RIYADH, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday a 10-million-U.S. dollar contribution to addressing the existing threats from the Safer oil tanker anchored off the coast of Yemen. The oil tanker, which is near Yemen's Red Sea port of Hodeidah, contains more than 1 million barrels of oil and has not been maintained since 2015. The kingdom's King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center said the potential oil spill resulting from further deterioration of the tanker could turn into a major environmental and navigational disaster that would cause widespread damage to the Red Sea coast, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Saudi contribution aims to support the efforts of UN organizations to develop an effective plan to identify and address the potential threats posed by the tanker. Saudi Arabia also calls on the international community to contribute urgently to support this initiative in order to prevent a serious environmental disaster from occurring. As a floating storage and offloading facility, the tanker has been anchored off Yemen's Red Sea coast for more than 30 years, but began to be left neglected when a civil war broke out between the Yemeni government and Houthi militia about seven years ago. The United Nations has tried to send inspectors to assess the tanker's condition or study ways to offload it, but the Houthis have denied the UN personnel access to the tanker, citing security reasons. FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) A federal judge has agreed to cut probation short for Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes, who pleaded guilty to operating a boat while under the influence of alcohol. Rhodes received a year of supervised probation in December for misdemeanor offenses at Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border. U.S. Magistrate Judge Camille Bibles in Flagstaff signed an order Thursday, agreeing to end Rhodes' time on probation. A federal prosecutor did not object. An attorney for Rhodes, Stephen Glazer, had filed a request earlier this week to cut the sentence short. He said Rhodes has not broken the law since he was cited last August. Rhodes also has maintained contact with the probation department, completed an alcohol awareness class and paid all fines. The Republican first-term sheriff is a nearly 30-year veteran of the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office. Rhodes was drinking while boating with his family at the lake while someone else was operating the boat. Later in the day, friends in another boat had trouble docking, and Rhodes agreed to help. Reports show he made at least three attempts to dock the boat and damaged two other vessels in the process. Rhodes has said it's a decision he deeply regrets. He issued a statement days after he was cited, acknowledging wrongdoing. Rhodes received two citations one for operating a boat under the influence and another for operating with a blood-alcohol content of at least 0.08%, the top legal limit for driving vehicles in Arizona. As sheriff, Rhodes is accountable only to the public. He cannot be disciplined or fired. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. SINGAPORE (AP) U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stressed American support for Taiwan on Saturday, suggesting at Asia's premier defense forum that recent Chinese military activity around the self-governing island threatens to change the status quo. Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Austin noted a steady increase in provocative and destabilizing military activity near Taiwan, including almost daily military flights near the island by the People's Republic of China. Our policy hasn't changed, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be true for the PRC, he said. Austin said Washington remains committed to the one-China policy, which recognizes Beijing but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei. Taiwan and China split during a civil war in 1949, but China claims the island as its own territory and has not ruled out using military force to take it. China has stepped up its military provocations against democratic Taiwan in recent years, aimed at intimidating it into accepting Beijings demands to unify with the communist mainland. We remain focused on maintaining peace, stability and the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, Austin said in his address. But the PRC's moves threaten to undermine security, and stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. He drew a parallel with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying that the indefensible assault on a peaceful neighbor has galvanized the world and ... has reminded us all of the dangers of undercutting an international order rooted in rules and respect. Austin said that the rules-based international order matters just as much in the Indo-Pacific as it does in Europe. Russias invasion of Ukraine is what happens when oppressors trample the rules that protect us all, he said. Its what happens when big powers decide that their imperial appetites matter more than the rights of their peaceful neighbors. And its a preview of a possible world of chaos and turmoil that none of us would want to live in. Austin met Friday with Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of the conference for discussions where Taiwan featured prominently, according to a senior American defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details of the private meeting. Austin made clear at the meeting that while the U.S. does not support Taiwanese independence, it also has major concerns about China's recent behavior and suggested that Beijing might be attempting to change the status quo. Wei, meanwhile, complained to Austin about new American arms sales to Taiwan announced this week, saying it seriously undermined China's sovereignty and security interests, according to a Chinese state-run CCTV report after the meeting. China firmly opposes and strongly condemns it, and the Chinese government and military will resolutely smash any Taiwan independence plot and resolutely safeguard the reunification of the motherland, Wei reportedly told Austin. Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Col. Wu Qian quoted Wei as saying China would respond to any move toward formal Taiwan independence by smashing it even at any price, including war. In his speech, Austin said the U.S. stands firmly behind the principle that cross-strait differences must be resolved by peaceful means, but also would continue to fulfill its commitments to Taiwan. That includes assisting Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability, he said. And it means maintaining our own capacity to resist any use of force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security or the social or economic system of the people of Taiwan. The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which has governed U.S. relations with the island, does not require the U.S. to step in militarily if China invades, but makes it American policy to ensure Taiwan has the resources to defend itself and to prevent any unilateral change of status by Beijing. Austin stressed the power of partnerships and said the U.S.'s unparalleled network of alliances in the region has only deepened, noting recent efforts undertaken with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN; the growing importance of the Quad group of the U.S., India, Japan and Australia; and the trilateral security partnership with Australia and the United Kingdom, known as AUKUS. He dismissed Chinese allegations that the U.S. intends to start an Asian NATO with its Indo-Pacific outreach. Let me be clear, we do not seek confrontation or conflict and we do not seek a new Cold War, an Asian NATO, or a region split into hostile blocs, he said. Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles told the forum that AUKUS, under which Australia will acquire nuclear-powered submarines from the U.S. with the help of Britain, was a technology-sharing relationship, and not in the set of arrangements as you would describe NATO. Australian abruptly pulled out of a deal with France for submarines to sign on to the AUKUS deal, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Saturday that he had agreed to pay Paris 555 million euros ($584 million) in compensation. France's new defense minister, Sebastien Lecornu, suggested his country was willing to put the matter behind it, saying the alliance with Australia was a long one, recalling the sacrifice of the young Australians who came to die on French soil during World War I. There are ups and downs in all relations between countries, but when there were real dramas, Australia was there, he said. Rising reported from Bangkok Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) A French parliamentary delegation pledged support for Taiwan during a meeting Thursday with the president of the self-governing island democracy that China claims as its own territory with no right to diplomatic recognition. Senator Joel Guerriau, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and the Armed Forces, told Tsai Ing-wen he would help Taiwan oppose its oppressors and promote Taiwans freedom. Tsai, who won a second term as president in 2020, emphasized the strong connection between Taiwan's high-tech economy and countries in the European Union. We expect Taiwan and France to continue to deepen cooperation in various fields," Tsai said. France assumed the presidency of the Council of the EU in January. The visit is the third by French lawmakers to Taiwan in recent months, and follows a meeting earlier this week between Tsai and a group of Slovak lawmakers who offered similar expressions of support for the island's democracy. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China is firmly opposed to any forms of official and political contacts between Taiwan and countries that have diplomatic ties with China." We urge the relevant party to avoid sending wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces, and take concrete actions to maintain the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations," Zhao said at a daily briefing. Taiwan has drawn increasing support from European nations in defiance of China, while current and retired U.S. politicians have also visited the island to show Washingtons backing. On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department notified Congress that it has approved a possible sale of $120 million in spare parts for ships to Taiwan. China strongly opposes such sales. French Senators Vincent Eble, Sylvie Goy-Chavent, Dany Wattebled and Ludovic Haye were accompanying Guerriau on the six-day visit. In February, the European Commission unveiled the European Chips Act aimed at enabling the EU to work more closely with Taiwan and other world leaders in the semiconductor industry. China routinely threatens retaliation against politicians and countries that show support for Taiwan, which has only informal relations with the U.S., France and most other countries as a result of Chinese diplomatic pressure. Beijing downgraded relations and blocked imports from Lithuania, a member of both the EU and NATO, after the Baltic nation broke with diplomatic custom by agreeing that a Taiwanese representative office in its capital of Vilnius would bear the name Taiwan instead of Chinese Taipei, which other countries use to avoid offending Beijing. Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. BOISE, Idaho (AP) Idaho lawmakers have hired a Utah company to appraise federal land in three counties to determine how much tax revenue the land would generate if it was privately owned and subject to property taxes. Republican Sen. Steve Vick and Republican Rep. Sage Dixon, co-chairmen of the Legislatures Committee on Federalism, signed the $250,000 deal for the study with Aeon AI last month. The Federalism Committee deals with state sovereignty issues. The contract covers federal land in three of Idaho's 44 counties Boundary County in northern Idaho, Canyon County in southwestern Idaho and Clearwater County in north-central Idaho. The deal with Aeon AI calls for an initial payment to the company of $20,000, followed by three payments of $35,000 based on meeting specific criteria and a final payment of $125,000. Lawmakers in return will get a land valuation, a planning tool, a visualization dashboard and a written report. The timeline in the agreement lays out a schedule for the work to be completed this fall. Aeon AI on its website says it uses real estate analytic software to provide real-time land valuations. About 63% of the land in Idaho is federally owned, but local governments cant collect property tax on that land. A federal program called PILT, or payment in lieu of taxes, is aimed at reducing the loss of those taxes by giving money to government entities within the state. Some Idaho lawmakers have said that the state should get more than it has historically received from the federal government and that the results from the Aeon AI appraisal could bolster that argument. The Idaho House and Senate last year passed a concurrent resolution tasking the committee with finding out how much money the federal public land would generate in property taxes if privately owned. Concurrent resolutions don't need a signature from the governor. The resolution doesnt say what the committee should do with the information after it has it. Jonathan Oppenheimer of the Idaho Conservation League said he didnt see much value in the report and said there was a risk it could be used as a club to try to privatize public lands. Part of the reason we are seeing such growth in the West is accessibility to these public lands," he said. "If there is more pressure to sell off or privatize public lands, it will have a negative impact on these growing communities. The PILT payments are made annually by the U.S. Department of the Interior and its agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management. The payments also cover federal lands administered by the Forest Service and other agencies. Idaho received $34.5 million in PILT payments last year. President Joe Biden in March signed an appropriations bill that included full funding for PILT this year, but payment amounts have not been finalized. The payments are calculated based on the number of acres of federal land within each county or jurisdiction and the population of those areas. U.S. lawmakers have at times criticized the PILT program and its payments as being insufficient or undependable, jeopardizing the ability of rural areas to pay for law enforcement, firefighting and other essential services. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. NEW ORLEANS (AP) A federal appeals court has put on hold a district judges order for Louisiana to redraw new congressional districts by June 20 to include a second majority Black district. The order late Thursday from the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals is the latest move in a legal battle between the Republican legislature and secretary of state and Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards. Edwards had vetoed the new districts drawn up after the latest census, saying that since Louisiana is nearly one-third African American, a single majority-Black district violates the Voting Rights Act. However, the legislature overrode his veto in late March. A 5th Circuit panel stepped in and paused the remap order Thursday night, hours after U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick refused to delay her deadline while it was appealed. Lawyers for Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin wrote in a motion filed Friday that Dicks order would itself require a racial gerrymander that would violate the Voting Rights Act. State Senate President Page Cortez and House Speaker Clay Schexnayder made much the same argument in a motion filed Thursday. Ardoin said Dick ignored legal precedent and election officials. On the record, there is no basis for allowing the State to conduct the coming election in likely violation of federal law and the rights of the States Black voters, responded attorneys for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which represents one of the two groups of voters who challenged the plan. Defendants point to nothing in the district courts order that indicates it made a mistake of law or fact, said lawyers for the other group. Cortez and Schexnayder said Friday that a special session scheduled for next week to revise House district boundaries should be canceled. Before the judicial redistricting process is complete, any special session would be premature and a waste of taxpayer money, they wrote. Edwards, who scheduled the June 15-20 redistricting session, said it's too early to cancel it. The appeals court is likely to act again before June 15, said a news release from his office. If Dick's order for a new map June 20 remains on hold, he told lawmakers in a letter, the session should be delayed until a definitive court decision is reached. While I am mindful of the costs to the taxpayers as pointed out in your press release, it is clear that the state would have saved the unknown thousands of dollars being spent on out-of-state lawyers if the legislature had originally enacted maps that comply with the Voting Rights Act and the standard of fundamental fairness," he wrote. It is not too late for the legislature to do the right thing. Court papers for Ardoin call the deadline unworkable an argument that Dick described as insincere and not persuasive. The state requires seven days notice of the start of the session and three days for bill reading, she wrote. That would require ten days total, and this Court gave the Legislature fourteen, she said. A friend-of-the-court brief from Alabama and 11 other states argued that Dick turned part of the Voting Rights Act from protection against discrimination into a tool for compelling racially discriminatory redistricting. The section makes it illegal to keep people from voting because of their race, but doesn't require "that wherever a majority-minority district can be drawn, it must be drawn, the states said. If it did, it would be unconstitutional, the brief contended. Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah joined with Alabama. Under Dick's order, to avoid liability, the State must consider race first and everything else second, they wrote. That cannot be the law. Kathryn Sadasivan, redistricting counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said the new map continues to pack Black voters from New Orleans and Baton Rouge into a single congressional district despite the significant changes in the Black population and the shared interests and needs of Black voters in Baton Rouge and the Delta parishes north of Baton Rouge along and east of the Mississippi River. She said Dicks 152-page ruling recognized that the single majority African American district dilutes Black political power. We are confident that the November primary election is sufficiently far away to allow this decision to stand, Sadasivan wrote. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. A West Virginia man was charged with murdering three co-workers at a Maryland machine shop as well as attempted murder and other charges, authorities said late Friday. The name of the alleged shooter, Joe Louis Esquivel, 23, of Hedgesville, West Virginia, was also released by the Washington County sheriffs office on Friday. Esquivel, who was hospitalized after a shootout with police, is currently being held by the Washington County Detention Center on no bond. Authorities say Esquivel arrived Thursday morning for his normal shift at Columbia Machine Inc. in the small rural community of Smithsburg in western Maryland. He allegedly worked until he left the building to retrieve a weapon, went back inside and fired on employees in the area of a breakroom. Police responded to a 911 call at about 2:30 p.m. The sheriff's office has not released a motive. Smithsburg police who arrived first on the scene found a wounded person outside the business. As deputies arrived, three additional victims, all deceased, were located inside, the Washington County sheriff's office said. Esquivel left the scene in a car and was quickly met by Maryland State Police. A Maryland state trooper who was injured in a shootout with the suspect was treated and released late Thursday, authorities said. The 25-year veteran of the Maryland State Police was shot when police said Esquivel fired multiple rounds at troopers. At least one trooper returned fire, striking the suspect, state police said. A search warrant was executed at the suspects West Virginia residence, and additional firearms were located, the sheriff's office said. Washington County Sheriff Doug Mullendore identified those killed in the shooting as Mark Alan Frey, 50, of Hagerstown, Maryland; Charles Edward Minnick Jr., 31, of Smithsburg, Maryland; and Joshua Robert Wallace, 30, of Hagerstown. Reached by telephone Friday, Nelson Michael, the father of Brandon Michael, 42, who was wounded in the machine shop shooting, said his son was still in the hospital, but he didn't know more about his condition. "Hes surviving, he said. Im glad hes alive, but its going to work on his nerves. I know that. Nelson Michael said he didnt know why the gunman shot the victims. Im not saying any more. Im just glad my sons alive, and I feel so bad for the families of the other ones, he said. Authorities said the investigation is ongoing. Mullendore said the suspect used a semiautomatic handgun, which was recovered after the shootout. Smithsburg, a community of nearly 3,000 people, is just west of the Camp David presidential retreat and about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Baltimore. The manufacturing facility was in a sparsely populated area northeast of the town's center with a church, several businesses and farmland nearby. Based in Vancouver, Washington, Columbia Machine manufactures equipment for concrete products, and its Smithsburg location builds molds and works on parts and repairs for other plants. The company's CEO, Rick Goode, issued a statement calling the deaths of three employees and the wounding of a fourth tragic. Our highest priority during this tragic event is the safety and wellbeing of our employees and their families, he said. Dennis Stouffer lived about a half-mile from Frey, one of the victims, and said he would see Frey at the mailbox when he drove by. He described Frey as a solid individual and a good guy. Stouffer said in a phone interview that Frey once made meat hooks for a deer-meat processing shop he used to run in Smithsburg. He didnt make a bunch of noise or anything. He just went about his work, Stouffer said. Speaking late Friday morning, Stouffer said the reason for the shooting remained a big mystery to people in the community. Were all in shock and disbelief, and thats an understatement, Stouffer said. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Just before the COVID pandemic broke out, the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Global Center for Health Security received a grant from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to strengthen infection control training, education and tools. The program was targeted to small, rural hospitals across the country that face some of the most persistent challenges in infection prevention and control, said Dr. Jana Broadhurst, director of UNMC's emerging pathogens laboratory. Broadhurst said the nation doesn't have enough airborne isolation rooms to meet a surge in demand from the threat of an airborne pathogen. Keeping up with training for such situations, finding protective gear especially the complex kind needed for such high-risk pathogens as Ebola and disposing of or decontaminating it after use also pose challenges. So the researchers partnered with a San Francisco-based engineering firm called Otherlab to develop new patient isolation care devices that addressed some of those challenges. Some testing was done on an isolation tent device during the West Africa Ebola epidemic in 2014 to 2016. That device, however, didn't make it into development. The researchers used that idea as a starting point. When COVID-19 arrived, the CDC expanded the scope of the program. The researchers and engineers now have laid the groundwork for four products in a family of devices called ISTARI devices, or Isolation System for Treatment and Agile Response to high-risk infections. The first device now has undergone all the testing and validation required for federal regulatory review as a medical device. It is being marketed under the commercial name Carecube by a company called Carecubes. "That's really exciting," Broadhurst said. "We feel close to having a revolutionary infection-control tool available, designed by intent for small rural critical access hospitals across the country." Specifically, the devices are negative air pressure tents, with air filtered though HEPA-grade filters and exchanged the number of times needed to meet hospital requirements for airborne infection isolation rooms. They have clear, flexible plastic walls so care providers, even family members, can interact with patients without protective gear. Also included are lean-in ports with arms and gloves and a hug suit, a full-length, flexible gown with its own filtration system that a provider can step into and reach the patient in the tent. The tent also has ports through which food, medications and other items can be passed without breaking containment and an interface for medical equipment that eliminates the need for complex decontamination or disposal. The original unit, Broadhurst said, is sized to be set up inside a typical hospital room. Smaller units are designed to be set up in an emergency room, and a transport device fits in the back of an ambulance or helicopter. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers, clinicians, businesspeople and everyday men and women spun out new ways to deal with the coronavirus. The result was a host of innovations, including new designs for masks and face shields, intubation shields for COVID patients, ultraviolet disinfection methods for protective gear and 3D-printed nasal swabs. Along with those came a flurry of new tests for the virus, some treatments and highly effective vaccines brought to market in record time. Some of the innovations, including a UV disinfection system and the intubation shields, largely went by the wayside as supplies of protective gear improved and knowledge about the disease increased. But others including the tests and vaccines likely will be around for as long as COVID-19 itself. Among the COVID tests was a saliva-based version developed by the University of Nebraska Medical Centers emerging pathogens laboratory, directed by Dr. Jana Broadhurst. The test still is used on campus and by partners in the region where access to high-quality testing remains a challenge. Lab staff developed the test to get around supply shortages that plagued the nasal swab and PCR-based testing early in the pandemic and meet the demand for screening programs in the community. That was a whole new regime of innovation that we and others around the country and world were grappling with during that really sustained high-volume testing phase of the pandemic, Broadhurst said. Work continues on tests, treatments and vaccines. Another group of UNMC researchers has developed a nasal rinse device that is an alternative to the long nasal swabs used in many PCR tests. Meanwhile, doctors, nurses and other providers came up with ways to perform procedures that were backlogged during the worst viral surges. They include expanding same-day surgeries such as knee and hip replacements and even some cardiac procedures. Similarly, bars and restaurants pivoted to takeout food and beverages and businesses shifted to remote or hybrid workplaces. In a way, the boom in innovation is no surprise. When things are going well, theres little need for new solutions. But a pandemic, like other disruptions, drives people to seek better ways to get things done. Everyone wants to innovate and make things that solve problems, said Michael Dixon, president and CEO of UNeMed, which helps UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha obtain patents and licensing. Many researchers, he said, dropped what they were working on in other fields to pitch in on pandemic projects. The same thing happened nationally. Surveys of scientists in 2020 and 2021 indicate that roughly a third of researchers in the U.S. and Europe contributed to the effort, according to Scientific American. Some of those efforts yielded products. Dixon said UNeMed saw more than twice as many new inventions 73 in the last two quarters of 2020 than in the first two quarters, marking the most productive six-month span in the organizations history. Shortly after the virus emerged, Doug Hannah, assistant professor for strategy and innovation at Boston University, began tracking organizations that popped up across the country to address pandemic needs. His database now includes 234 organizations reflecting around 500 innovations, including technologies such as UV disinfection and organizational innovations involving supply chains and the coordination of human capital. The challenges at the start of the pandemic, he said, involved addressing the fast-emerging needs for protective gear and more complex medical devices in the face of long lead times and a small number of suppliers. On top of that came new demands for such items as hand sanitizer and ventilators. Not only was it just replacing all the personal protective equipment and devices we couldnt get anymore but rather we needed to create new ones, Hannah said. A particularly interesting aspect of the response, he said, was its grassroots nature. People in their homes feeling powerless and seeking ways to protect themselves and their loved ones made due with items they had on hand. With millions of people experimenting with different ways to do things, using different supplies, Hannah said, youre going to come up with really clever ideas. Examples include a plethora of mask and face shield designs. People sewed masks for themselves and health care systems. They churned out face shields in garages and fabrication shops. In some sense, the grassroots response to the pandemic was a heck of a silver lining, Hannah said. It was one of the most impressive human mobilizations that weve had in two generations, and in some sense had a lot of parallels to the war effort 70 years ago. The other impressive innovation, he said, were the systems developed to coordinate the efforts of thousands of people who wanted to help. One of the best examples involved mask donations, using a kind of reverse supply chain to collect masks from individuals and deliver them to health care systems. The efforts, he said, ranged from individuals organizing on Facebook to GetUsPPE, a national group that collected and delivered some 17 million pieces of protective gear to those in need between March 2020 and June 2021. Hannah predicted that ventilation and clean air will continue to be important topics. A number of technologies around low-cost ventilation and air purification already have emerged from the pandemic. In March, the Biden administration launched a Clean Air in Buildings Challenge to improve indoor ventilation and reduce the spread of COVID-19 in buildings. Early studies by researchers at UNMC involving patients who had returned from a COVID-stricken cruise ship contributed to the eventual recognition that the coronavirus spreads through the air. The process by which innovations are brought to market also appears poised to change, Hannah said, with the Food and Drug Administration offering flexible funding and approval models that potentially could speed the process. Joe Runge, associate director of UNeTech, which coordinates the creation of business startups from research at UNMC and UNO, said the pandemic also has changed how inventors innovate. One example is 3D printing, which allows inventors to quickly build prototypes that allow them to ask and answer questions in the course of developing a product in ways they couldnt before. An example is a device called Microwash, a self-contained specimen container that can be used to squirt saline into a patients nose and collect what drains out for testing for viruses. Designed in a year, its now in clinical trials. Anticipating a fall surge of COVID, UNeTech is working to bring the product, invented by UNMCs Thang Nguyen and Dr. Michael Wadman, to market. Heres a look at a few more pandemic-inspired innovations, some of which met an immediate need but are no longer used and others that are meeting ongoing needs and could spark other uses in the future. Met an immediate need Before testing was widely available for surgical patients, Drs. Thomas Schulte and Michael Ash designed a plastic shield to protect health care workers from infectious particles during intubation procedures. Schulte is an anesthesiologist and director of peri-operative services at Nebraska Medicine and Ash is a Nebraska Medicine vice president. At the time, protective gear was scarce and was being conserved for nurses working with known COVID patients, Schulte said. Anesthesiologists were concerned about being exposed to aerosolized virus particles when they intubated patients. Researchers in China had developed a box-shaped shield. Schulte said their version was more angled and folded flat for storage. It served a great purpose in those early pandemic days, he said, but isnt used much anymore. Still, Schulte said he would do the work all over again, even if he knew it wouldnt become a routine part of life in the operating room. Its innovating and using your creativity to solve a problem or make something easier ... or a better model of it, he said. We were trying to do that. Similarly, another group of UNMC researchers developed a method of decontaminating masks with UV radiation. Dixon said UNeMed no longer is licensing the technology. It solved a big problem at that time, he said. They published the recipe, and people all over the world used it. Still in use While testing for COVID-19 was in short supply early in the pandemic, dozens of different tests now are available, including a multitude of at-home tests that look for the viruss proteins. The emerging pathogens lab that Broadhurst heads developed its saliva test, adapted from a Yale University design, by fall 2021. Not only is it still available for use by students, staff and faculty on campus, but its also offered through six partnerships with groups in Omaha, organizations serving immigrant groups in central and western Nebraska, and the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Rather than having their nasal passages swabbed, users simply spit through a short straw into a small tube. Test kits, which cost less than $2, include a tube, a straw and alcohol wipes. Samples dont need preservatives or cold storage. Broadhurst said the lab is now running a couple of hundred tests a week. Demand was much higher during last winters omicron surge, and the lab is prepared for future surges should they arise. The lab initially partnered with the Omaha Public Schools to conduct saliva testing in several South Omaha schools. Additional researchers led collection and testing of air, surface and wastewater samples. While the OPS program has ended, wastewater surveillance now continues in locations across the state under a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-based initiative thats administered through state health departments. Its really neat to see that technology blossom into a large-scale program, Broadhurst said. The researchers, working with UNMCs Dr. David Brett-Major, are now taking testing in a different direction. Through a recently launched Community Threat Assessment study, theyre seeking to get a pulse on shifting COVID-19 risk in the community from another surge and from new variants. To do so, theyre collecting information, finger-stick blood samples and saliva specimens from volunteers out in the community, working under agreements with partners such as the Omaha City Parks, Recreation and Public Property Department, malls and other venues. Through the study, Broadhurst said, the researchers hope to get an idea of how many infected people are moving around in the community and gauge the level of immunity in the community, among other measures. Innovations in care During surges of COVID-19, hospital beds were in short supply, and many elective procedures were canceled or postponed. So some surgeons adapted their procedures to be performed on a same-day basis without an overnight hospital stay accelerating a shift that already was underway. Dr. Clayton Thor, an orthopedic surgeon with CHI Health, recently estimated that most of his hip and knee replacement patients before the pandemic spent at least one night in the hospital. Now, roughly 80% to 85% go home the same day. Dr. Andrew Goldsweig, medical director for structural heart disease at Nebraska Medicine, said he is conducting same-day procedures for most operations to place devices that block off a potentially clot-producing appendage in the heart in patients with atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeats, and to patch holes between upper heart chambers. Both procedures are aimed at reducing stroke risk. The key change has been in the imaging used to guide the procedures. Previously, that involved threading an ultrasound device into the patients esophagus, which required general anesthesia and the help of another specialist. During surges, those specialists typically were busy intubating COVID patients. Now, Goldsweig is using a smaller device in a process called intracardiac echocardiography, or ICE. In it, the device is threaded into the heart through the same vein in the leg that Goldsweig is accessing to place the repair devices. Similarly, he has shifted to placing most stents in heart arteries by going through an artery in the wrist. Most of those patients also go home the same day. Weve moved everything to a less invasive, same-day kind of platform, he said. And less general anesthesia. The shift toward using ICE for imaging in such cardiac procedures, meanwhile, is helping to drive innovation in those devices. Goldsweig said he expects to be using new 3D ICE devices within the next couple of months. This made it happen faster, he said of the pandemic, and its here to stay. Theres no reason to go back. Weve got a better way now. Into the future The greatest innovation of the pandemic, however, was the mRNA vaccines, which were based on a technology researchers began developing nearly 20 years ago. What was unique about the vaccines was the ability of researchers to pivot to bring the technology to bear on the pandemic in such a short time, said Dr. Tyler Martin. A Nebraska native, Martin now runs the Lincoln-area biotechnology consulting firm Great Plains Biotechnology. He spent much of his career developing protein vaccines and vaccine adjuvants, which are added to vaccines to further stimulate the immune system. Teams that Martin led developed two of the four adjuvanted vaccines approved by the FDA, one against influenza and the other targeting hepatitis B. Martin said he estimated at the start of the pandemic that vaccine-makers would be lucky to produce a protein-based vaccine in two years. The fact that the mRNA vaccines worked so well and were so rapid to manufacture has really been a tremendous thing, he said. That success has spurred researchers and companies to pursue mRNA vaccines for a number of other infectious diseases, including flu and HIV. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced in March that it had launched a phase 1 clinical trial of three experimental HIV vaccines based on the mRNA platform. Martin said he thinks the mRNA technology will be useful for other conditions. Itll just be a matter of searching out where it is and where it isnt helpful, he said. And thats going to take some time and some experimentation. Researchers also are looking at using mRNA technology for cancer and gene therapy. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. BAGHDAD, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi parliament speaker has approved the resignation of all lawmakers of the Sadrist Movement, the biggest winner in the Oct. 10 elections, shows a video aired by state-owned al-Iraqiya channel on Sunday. The resignation came just after the Sadrist Movement's leader Moqtada al-Sadr, also a prominent Shiite cleric in Iraq, asked his bloc's members to resign from parliament to save the political process from an unknown fate, according to a written statement affixed with his seal and signature. The Sadrist Movement was part of the tripartite Saving the Homeland alliance, which also includes the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by Masoud Barzani, and the Sunni Sovereignty Alliance, co-led by Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi. The resignation is "a sacrifice from me for the sake of the homeland and the people to rid them of an unknown fate," al-Sadr said in his statement, noting KDP and Sovereignty Alliance are no longer allied with him. On Thursday, al-Sadr threatened that his bloc would be in the parliamentary opposition or completely withdraw from the political process unless a national majority government was formed, while directing members of his bloc to prepare their resignations. During the past months, the continuing disputes among the Shiite parties have hampered the formation of a new Iraqi government, as the parliament has been unable to elect a new president by a two-thirds majority of the 329-seat parliament under the constitution. If elected, the president, whose tenure is limited to two four-year terms, will then appoint the head of the government, or the prime minister. Al-Sadr had vowed to form a new national majority government from the winning parties in the elections after his followers took the lead with 73 seats in the elections. Al-Sadr's pro-Iran rivals and some other parties, however, want to form a consensus government to include all political blocs, as in the case of all successive governments since 2003. Omahan Erin Schuette will travel to Mobile, Alabama, on Monday to participate in the 65th Distinguished Young Women National Finals. The competition will be held June 23, 24 and 25 at the Mobile Civic Center Theater. Schuette is one of 50 representatives competing for more than $150,000 in cash scholarships and the opportunity to represent the program as the Distinguished Young Woman of America for 2022. She recently graduated from Millard West and will attend the University of Arizona in the fall with hopes of pursuing a career as a cardiologist. After her selection as the Distinguished Young Woman of Nebraska, Schuette began preparations for the national finals, which will include five categories of evaluation: scholastics, interview, fitness, talent and self-expression. During her two weeks in Mobile, Schuette will participate in team-building activities, complete community service projects, interact with the Gulf Coast community through various events and engage in hours of rehearsal in preparation for the three-night scholarship competition. We are excited to host these incredible young women who are leaders in their schools and communities, said Kendra Haskins, executive director for Distinguished Young Women. We know the future is in good hands. If selected as the programs overall winner, Schuette will spend the next year representing Distinguished Young Women across the country through various appearances and promoting the programs national outreach initiative of Be Your Best Self. The outreach program is designed to combat major issues facing children today, including childhood obesity and high school dropout rates, as well as encourage young people to take an active interest in their communities through service. Strike Out HD set for Saturday The Strike Out HD event hosted by the Omaha affiliate of the Huntingtons Disease Society of America will be held Saturday, at Maplewood Lanes. The event at 3030 N. 101st St. will start at 6:30 p.m. with a cost of $30 per bowler. All donations will go toward HDSA. Huntingtons disease is a fatal genetic disorder that causes the progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. It deteriorates a persons physical and mental abilities usually during their prime working years and has no cure. While HD might be rare, there are other families and friends here to support you within your very own community, said Camille Colletti, HDSAs Upper Great Lakes Regional Development Officer. With laughter, smiles, and a day of fun, Strike Out HD brings us all together to embrace our challenges because family is everything. Free Chromebook computers at Do Space Do Space is distributing 945 free Chromebook computers, mobile hotspots and Internet access to Omahans who do not have access to a computer and Internet service at their home. Individuals who are 18 years or older can apply to the Do Space Tech Pack program at dospace.org/techpack, or in person at Do Space, where paper applications will be available. Eligible participants must be Do Space members; but the membership is free. The program is supported by federal funds that will allow Do Space to continue advancing its work in the digital equity space, said Angela McGraw, director of Do Space. One of the key goals at Do Space and a reason why it was created was to bridge the digital divide in Omaha, McGraw said. This is a big step toward getting more free access to technology into the community for folks who need it most. The program will provide the computer and Internet access until June 29, 2023. Participants will also receive free technology tutoring and access to computer basics training classes. The application deadline is June 30, and required in-person orientation sessions, where Chromebooks will be distributed, will take place throughout the summer at Do Space. A maximum of two people per eligible household are able to apply. Selected participants will be contacted weekly. Each participant in the program must attend an orientation session, and the Chromebook and mobile hotspots will be distributed at the orientation. Participants who meet all the requirements of the program are eligible to keep their Chromebook at the end of the program. Requirements include: Completing quarterly surveys Attending a minimum of six Do Space classes, either in person or online Respond to bi-monthly Do Space check-in emails Adhere to Do Space Code of Conduct Mobile hotspot devices must be returned to Do Space at the end of the program. Questions regarding the program can be sent to techpack@dospace.org, at 402-819-4022, or by visiting our website at dospace.org/techpack. Head of Lincoln Literacy Council leaving Clayton Naff, who has led the Lincoln Literacy Council as its executive director since 2006, recently announced plans to leave the role in late August. The position is listed on the organizations website at LincolnLiteracy.org. Interested persons may send resumes and cover letters to: searchcommittee@lincolnliteracy.org. Applications will be accepted until the end of June, with interviews to follow. Naff will remain in office until a new executive director is hired and a suitable transition can be arranged. Meeting last week to discuss the qualities looked for in a new leader, staff and members of the Lincoln Literacy Board of Directors cited Naffs kindness and creativity, with one staff member likening Naffs management style to a quilter who has a plan in mind but who is ready to listen to what the material is telling him. Another employee, who started at Lincoln Literacy as a student, said he has a knack for seeing what people are capable of, regardless of their native language or place of origin. Born in California and raised in Philadelphia, Naff tallied varied experiences as a university news editor, foreign correspondent and science journalist, before transitioning into nonprofit leadership and eventually heading Lincoln Literacy. And yet for all that, nothing compares with the immensely gratifying experience Ive had leading this wonderful organization for the past 16 years, he said. CSM dance class helps with mental health Katie Ondracek understands the struggles with mental health. Ive been in the low, low with my own mental health. I was in in-patient rehab, and I found my way up, she said. Thats why the College of St. Mary occupational therapy doctoral student felt so strongly about hosting a summer dance camp to help children struggling with mental health challenges. One in five children shows signs and symptoms consistent with anxiety and depression. The program is part of her capstone project for her doctoral degree. Her Lets Dance! Kids Camp for Mindful Moves is running throughout the month of June at CSM. Theres a lot of evidence that shows dancing helps learning in the classroom, meeting new friends and self-esteem, said Ondracek, who will graduate from CSMs OT program in December. Theres also a lot of research on positive mental health strategies. Ondracek also knows from experience how dance can influence your life. I danced for 22 years, and I think that played a huge role in helping me find myself again and just having that self-confidence, she said. I feel like dancing just makes me feel like I can be myself. Im free. Its a big self-expression. Ondracek hopes the children will learn about their emotions and how to regulate them. Having kids able to be aware of how theyre feeling and change their thinking to a more positive thing, she said. Creighton professors earn $350,000 grant A team led by Creighton University faculty has received a $350,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to digitize a collection of priceless artwork and documents chronicling a landmark 19th century expedition into the American interior. The grant also allots funding for the development of K-12 curriculum tools that can incorporate the digitized paintings, journals, maps and essays into lesson plans to help further educate students on Native American culture and heritage. Creighton College of Arts and Sciences faculty members Simon Appleford and Adam Sundberg both associate professors of history and digital humanities will spearhead the project. A third College of Arts and Sciences professor, Ann Mausbach, will lead the development of the curriculum. Creighton students will assist throughout the process. This project will expose students in a really explicit way to some of the methods that we have in the digital humanities, Sundberg said. Its not just professional scholarship theyll be doing. Theyre going to be learning these practical skills and employing them on a potentially very impactful project. Creighton is partnering with members of the Omaha Tribe and Nebraska Indian Community College to ensure the project properly conveys cultural themes represented in the artwork. The original collection represents the most complete archive of material from the expedition of German nobleman Maximilian von Wied and Swiss painter Karl Bodmer across North America between 1832 and 1834. In their travels, the pair encountered more than 20 Indigenous Nations. Their work, titled The Natural Face of North America: A Public Portal to the Maximilian-Bodmer Collection, has been compiled as the result of a collaboration between Creighton, Omahas Joslyn Art Museum and the Nebraska Indian Community College. The Joslyns collection includes more than 1,000 objects from the expedition, including von Wieds handwritten, three-volume journal and more than 400 original watercolors and drawings by Bodmer. A major component of this project is working with these communities that Maximilian and Bodmer encountered the Omaha Tribe in northern Nebraska, the Mandan people and others, Appleford said. We want to work with them to make sure that what were doing how were framing the project, how were talking about the project and contextualizing the expedition reflects their perspectives. CARNE y ARENA arrives at Kaneko Kaneko art gallery has welcomed the Academy Award-winning virtual reality experience CARNE y ARENA. The exhibit, which highlights the harrowing journey of real refugees from Central America and Mexico to the United States, runs through Sept. 10. CARNE y ARENA is the work of director Alejandro G. Inarritu. The 20-minute solo experience is based on true accounts and blurs lines between subject and bystander as individuals walk in a vast space and thoroughly live a fragment of the refugees personal journeys. The experience won a special Oscar in 2017 for recognition of visionary and powerful experience in storytelling. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) A roadside historical marker installed less than a year ago to honor a gay rights pioneer has been removed after a state senator raised concerns with Pennsylvania's state history agency about the man's 30-year-old memories of an early sexual encounter with another boy. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission had the marker in honor of Richard Schlegel taken down June 3 from its location outside his former home, a block from the Capitol in downtown Harrisburg. The decision came about six months after state Sen. John DiSanto, R-Dauphin, wrote to say Schlegel's remarks in a lengthy piece about his life were reprehensible and would be considered criminal, regardless of sexual orientation. The commission's action and DiSanto's letter were first reported by Pennlive.com. Schlegel, who died in 2006 at age 79, is a former state highway department official who founded the Harrisburg region's first LGBTQ group. His unsuccessful effort to overturn his firing from an earlier federal job based on his sexual identity ended when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take the case in 1970. DiSanto said Tuesday he was alerted by a constituent about Schlegel's comments in a 1993 personal history posted online that Schlegel provided to the Philadelphia LGBT History Project. I think it demonstrates a history of him grooming young boys and being involved in pedophilia and sex acts throughout that, including ultimately helping to operate a magazine with young nudes and things like that, DiSanto said. The state Historical and Museum Commission has been seeking more markers about previously underrepresented people and groups, offering financial support for the markers if their subjects concern women, Hispanics, Latinos and Asian Americans, or if they are about Black and LGBTQ history outside Philadelphia. He is certainly an important figure in the context of Pennsylvania, said Barry Loveland, chair of the history project at the LGBT Center of Central Pennsylvania. He was the driving force behind the application to honor Schlegel. There were very few leaders, if you will, at that time people who were willing to stick their neck out and actually have their name known. Schlegel was fired in July 1961 from a civilian job with the Armys transportation office in Hawaii after his sexual activities surfaced during an investigation to qualify for a top secret clearance. He appealed his firing for immoral and indecent conduct to the U.S. Court of Claims, which upheld the dismissal on grounds that his sexual orientation in a government job would inevitably make the agency less efficient. Any schoolboy knows that a homosexual act is immoral, indecent, lewd and obscene, a claims court judge wrote in ruling against him in October 1969. Adult persons are even more conscious that this is true. In the personal history told to scholar Marc Stein, now a history professor at San Francisco State University, Schlegel recalled how he was subsequently hired in 1963 under then-Gov. Bill Scranton to fix a highways department fiscal and budgetary situation and give the governor greater control over the department. He was forced to resign two years later after postal inspectors informed his supervisors about mail he was getting for the Janus Society, an educational, social and advocacy group founded in Philadelphia during the early 1960s by gay and lesbian activists. The marker called Schlegel a trail-blazing activist whose job discrimination case produced key arguments that were valuable in later decisions. DiSanto's December letter to the commission described a section of the interview with Stein in which Schlegel recalled a sexual experience he had with a neighbor boy while living on a farm in Milroy, a small town some 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of State College. Schlegel's account suggests he sexually touched the boy when he was 16 and the other boy was 11 or 12. Schlegel may not have anticipated that his interview with Stein would end up available to anyone over the internet. He described his sexual history in frank terms, recalled controversies regarding gay publications in which he played a role, recounted his interactions with other prominent figures in Philadelphia gay culture in the '60s and 70s and related other stories from his personal and work life. Schlegel described how some of his acquaintances would photograph nude underage boys. In some cases, he said, he scolded them but at other times he described them to Stein sympathetically. When Stein said some of the photos he had seen in Gay International magazine were of quite young boys, Schlegel agreed. Young, young, young, he told Stein. Of course, there wasn't this national or international obsession with molesting kids at that point. A close friend of his faced criminal charges for taking photos of an underage boy at a home in rural Perry County in the late 1960s. Schlegel said he tried to intervene through the county prosecutor but it did not help his friend's case. The kid didnt seem to object, but that didnt make any difference, Schlegel told Stein. I mean Bob simply had no defense. He was convicted." Stein said in an interview this week that he was dismayed by the commission's decision and expressed doubt that the commission or DiSanto properly understood the legal and historical context in which Schlegel's decisions and actions occurred. He said DiSanto's charge that Schlegel's actions were criminal was made without doing sufficient homework to really establish that. As for the commission, he expressed doubts that their action in Schlegel's case followed consistent rules. So have they investigated every person on a historical marker in Pennsylvania to make sure that they never did something reprehensible for which they never expressed remorse?" Stein said. Loveland said he and the LGBT Center of Central Pennsylvania are considering the commission's offer to submit another nomination. But he said they are unsure how to accomplish that while excluding Schlegel, because his legal case provided the national importance to justify a marker. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. NUNN, Colo. (AP) A Texas 18-year-old was charged with first-degree murder Friday in the stabbing of her baby after giving birth on her own while visiting Colorado with family, prosecutors said. Leiyla Cepeda told an investigator the baby was quiet and not moving and did not seem to be breathing when she was born but declined to explain why the baby had stab wounds, according to court documents. In an interview with her mother present, Cepeda said she thought she had been pregnant but was not sure, explaining that a pregnancy test she had taken about three to four months before was negative. A coroner determined the baby was alive when born at the home of Cepeda's relatives in the small town of Nunn and died of multiple sharp force injuries, according to Cepedas arrest affidavit. A pair of scissors was found near the baby's body, the document said. It was not known if Cepeda, who has been hospitalized since giving birth, had a lawyer yet. She was 17 when the baby was born but turned 18 on Friday, Krista Henery, a spokesperson for 19th Judicial District Attorney Michael Rourke, said. She has been charged as an adult. While being questioned, Cepeda was asked what she was thinking when the baby was born, according to the arrest affidavit. She stated she had to figure out how to tell her mom," the investigator wrote. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. The first public hearing of the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack put a spotlight on two far-right extremist groups whose members are accused of plotting for weeks to stop the peaceful transfer of power. Top leaders and members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have been charged with seditious conspiracy in what authorities have described as an organized effort to subvert the election results and keep former President Donald Trump in office. Here's a look at the two groups and the accusations against them: WHO ARE THEY? Proud Boys describe themselves as a politically incorrect men's club for "Western chauvinists." Before the Jan. 6 insurrection, Proud Boys members mostly were known for brawling with antifascist activists at rallies and protests. Less than two months before the 2020 election, group members celebrated when Trump refused to outright condemn the group during his first debate with Democrat Joe Biden. Instead, Trump said the Proud Boys should "stand back and stand by." The Oath Keepers were founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, a former U.S. Army paratrooper and Yale Law School graduate. The antigovernment group recruits current and former military, police and first responders. Its members pledge to "fulfill the oath all military and police take to 'defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic,'" and to defend the Constitution, according to its website. *** WHAT ARE THEY ACCUSED OF DOING? Messages and social media posts detailed in court documents show how members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were discussing as early as November 2020 the need to fight to keep Trump in office. Days after the election, Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, then-chairman of the Proud Boys, posted messages online calling on his followers to fight the results. "No quarter. Raise the black flag," Tarrio said in one post. In another, he wrote that the Proud Boys would become "political prisoners" if Biden "steals the election," warning that the group "won't go quietly." "The media constantly accuses us of wanting to start a civil war," Tarrio wrote in another message. "Careful what the f-k you ask for we don't want to start one ... but we will sure as f-k finish one." Shortly before the riot, an unnamed person sent Tarrio a document that laid out plans for occupying a few "crucial buildings" in Washington on Jan. 6, including House and Senate office buildings around the Capitol, authorities say. The document entitled "1776 Returns" called for having as "many people as possible" to "show our politicians We the People are in charge." Tarrio was arrested in Washington two days before the riot and charged with vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church during a protest in December 2020. He was ordered to stay away from Washington and wasn't at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Other Proud Boys, however, met at the Washington Monument on the morning of the riot and marched to the Capitol before Trump finished speaking near the White House. As the angry mob swarmed the Capitol, Proud Boys members dismantled metal barricades, and directed and led members of the crowd into the building, authorities say. The Oath Keepers also spent weeks discussing trying to overturn the election results, laying out battle plans and purchasing weapons, authorities say. Two days after the election, Rhodes told followers in an encrypted group chat to prepare their mind, body and spirit for a "civil war." Rhodes urged members to go to Washington to let Trump know "that the people are behind him," and expressed hope that Trump would call up the militia to help stay in power, authorities say. Oath Keepers repeatedly wrote in chats about the prospect of violence and the need, as Rhodes allegedly wrote in one text, "to scare the s-out of" Congress. The group stashed guns in a hotel outside Washington as part of a "quick reaction force" that would come to their aid if needed, prosecutors say. Days before Jan. 6, one defendant suggested getting a boat to ferry "heavy weapons" across the Potomac River into their "waiting arms," according to prosecutors. On Jan. 6, Oath Keepers wearing camouflaged combat attire were seen on camera shouldering their way through the crowd and into the Capitol in a military-style stack formation. Rhodes isn't accused of going inside the Capitol building, but was seen gathered outside with several Oath Keepers after the riot, authorities said. *** WHAT WAS REVEALED IN THE HEARING? Thursday's House committee hearing highlighted how the Proud Boys were energized by Trump's comment to "stand back and stand by." A member of the Proud Boys told the committee that Trump's remark prompted membership in the group to skyrocket. The committee also showed how members of the Proud Boys were among those leading the charge into the Capitol, having marched there while Trump was still speaking on the Ellipse. Video shown during the hearing showed that Dominic Pezzola, a former Marine known as "Spaz" from Rochester, New York, used a stolen Capitol police riot shield to break a window, allowing the first rioters to enter the building. Pezzola has been charged with seditious conspiracy in the attack. A documentary filmmaker who was with the Proud Boys on Jan. 6 testified about witnessing a meeting the day before the riot between Rhodes and Tarrio at an underground garage. No new details about what the two extremist group leaders spoke about were revealed during the hearing and prosecutors have said only that one of the meeting's participants "referenced the Capitol." Publicly released video of the meeting doesn't reveal much about their discussion. The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have been charged in separate indictments and the Justice Department hasn't accused them of plotting with one another. But prosecutors have indicated there was at least some communication between the two groups. In one message, a man described by authorities as the leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers discussed forming an "alliance" and coordinating with the Proud Boys ahead of the riot, authorities have said in court documents. *** WHAT HAVE THE LEADERS SAID IN DEFENSE? Rhodes has said in interviews with right-wing hosts that there was no plan to storm the Capitol and that the members who did so went rogue. But he has continued to push the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, while posts on the Oath Keepers website have depicted the group as a victim of political persecution. Oath Keeper defendants have argued in court that the only plan was to provide security at the rally before the riot or protect themselves against possible attacks from far-left antifa activists. Text messages revealed in court documents show Oath Keepers discussing plans to provide security around Jan. 6 for longtime Trump political confidant Roger Stone and "Stop the Steal" organizer Ali Alexander. Defense attorney Nayib Hassan said Tarrio never instructed nor encouraged anyone to enter the Capitol or to engage in any violence or destruction on Jan. 6. Hassan also described prosecutors' arguments about the garage meeting with Rhodes as "frivolous at best." Tarrio went to the nearby hotel to get information about a potential attorney to represent him in the vandalism case, Hassan said in a court filing. A jury trial for Tarrio and four other Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy is scheduled to start on Aug. 8. The trial for Rhodes and four other Oath Keepers members and associates is scheduled to begin in Sept. 26. The seditious conspiracy charge calls for up to 20 years in prison. Children of all ages stretched their arms up high, holding signs scribbled in bright paint as the sun beat down on a crowd of more than 300 people in Memorial Park on Saturday. Their hardened faces reflected the words on white poster boards. We learned lockdown before ABCs. Make America safe again. Protect lives not guns. We demand safety. Their parents, educators and local officials stood with them to push for gun control following deadly mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas; Buffalo, New York; and elsewhere. The event was just one part of a national effort for gun reform organized Saturday by March for Our Lives, a student-led organization that was created after the 2018 shooting that killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Thousands of people rallied around the U.S. this weekend, according to the Associated Press. In the metro area, children steered the rally, which was sponsored by the Omaha Education Association. The rallys first speaker was Bryn Pick, a fourth grader at St. Cecilia Cathedral School. She said she was terrified when she found out the victims at Robb Elementary in Uvalde were the same age as her. Two teachers and 19 children were killed at the school. She said her mind started spinning with grief for the victims families. It just blew my mind, and we should be learning in schools instead of practicing hiding in closets and protecting ourselves just in case theres a person in the school with a gun, she said. Fear of guns has no belonging in schools. How many kids need to die because of guns before people start to realize its not the people, its the guns? Lucy Pfannenstiel, an incoming sixth grade student in the Omaha Public Schools, said shes lived most of her life knowing about school shootings, but she didnt think too much about them until it happened to students close to her age in Uvalde. It made me a little bit terrified, especially for my friends who live in a more underprivileged part of the city, she said. It was scary and I knew I had to do something, so I came to this. Lucy said the threat of gun violence has been present throughout her time as a student. She was only in second grade when a person was spotted near her elementary school with a gun. But when thinking about going back to school this fall, she said she has trouble feeling scared because she knows there are so many great teachers who will do anything to protect us students. Incoming sixth grader Lucky, whose mother asked The World-Herald to not publish her last name, was in fourth grade when she experienced her first lockdown after a person was spotted outside of her school holding a gun. We had to hide in our classroom for 30 minutes and it was very scary, Lucky said. It was honestly one of the scariest moments Ive had in school. They usually have drills, which arent a big deal, but when I heard this wasnt a drill, it was really scary and I couldnt believe it was happening. Lucky said shes frustrated and saddened by the lack of action as students continue to be killed and traumatized in school shootings. Its like they dont care that these kids have families and they have lives they want to live and things they want to do and they couldnt do it because they got killed by people with guns, she said. Local leaders in attendance Saturday called on Nebraska lawmakers and elected officials to implement solutions to help end gun violence. State Sen. John McCollister of Omaha said the state needs to consider adopting red flag laws, raising the firearm purchasing age to 21, closing loopholes at gun shows and enacting a waiting period for handgun purchases. McCollister has tried to implement gun control laws during his time in the Legislature. He is now running for the Metropolitan Utilities District board because of term limits. In my years, Im sorry to say, we have not done much (gun control) in the State Legislature. And thats terrible, he said. We do need to do better and Im hoping we do elect some state senators this year that will do a lot better job than I have done in my years in the Legislature. Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha, who is running for Congress in Nebraskas 2nd District, said gun violence isnt a partisan issue but an American issue, as political parties have come together before to create laws around gun safety. Its American when we actually stand up for leaders who are going to come together to take action on this, he said. It starts with action. Two gun control measure passed the U.S. House this past week, primarily on party lines. Both of Nebraskas representatives, Reps. Don Bacon and Adrian Smith, joined nearly all their Republican colleagues in voting against both measures, which stand almost no chance of passing in the Senate. The congressmen said the bills would do little to nothing to end gun violence. St. Cecilia librarian Sheila Turbes, who is a member of the gun reform organization Moms Demand Action, stressed that Congress needs to prioritize eliminating gun violence. She said she knows her current principal will never forget the fear she felt as a science teacher at Millard Public Schools in 2011, when a student fatally shot one administrator and injured another. The problem was easy access to an unsecured firearm, Turbes said. The solution is to not arm teachers and turn our schools into fortresses. After the speakers finished Saturday, the crowd continued the rally by standing along Dodge Street, pumping fists, yelling chants and jumping with their signs. Passing cars honked in support while drivers waved as they went by. Rhonda Malinga and her husband, Bevin, drove the roughly 53 miles east from Weston, Nebraska, to attend the rally in Omaha. Malinga said while they dont have children, they wanted to come to advocate for safety for their nieces and nephews, as well as all students in Nebraska. Malinga said she was in Florida with her nieces and nephews when the mass shooting happened in Parkland. She saw the effect it had on them as they were hesitant to attend school. There are so many of us that dont agree with a lot of things that happen and we dont say or do anything. Were just real polite about it. We disagree in our minds, and dont do anything, Malinga said. And this is the first time weve come out and done something like this, because we just felt like, if not now, when? Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. WASHINGTON (AP) Members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot said Sunday they have uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against former President Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The committee announced that Trump's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, is among the witnesses scheduled to testify at a hearing Monday that focuses on Trump's effort to spread his lies about a stolen election. Stepien was subpoenaed for his public testimony. As the hearings unfold, Rep. Adam Schiff said he would like the department to investigate any credible allegation of criminal activity on the part of Donald Trump. Schiff, D-Calif., who also leads the House Intelligence Committee, said that there are certain actions, parts of these different lines of effort to overturn the election that I dont see evidence the Justice Department is investigating. The committee launched its public hearings last week, with members laying out their case against Trump to show how the defeated president relentlessly pushed his false claims of a rigged election despite multiple advisers telling him otherwise and how he intensified an extraordinary scheme to overturn Joe Bidens victory. Additional evidence is set to be released in hearings this week that will demonstrate how Trump and some of his advisers engaged in a massive effort to spread misinformation, pressured the Justice Department to embrace his false claims, and urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject state electors and block the vote certification on Jan. 6, 2021. Stepien, a longtime Trump ally, is now a top campaign adviser to the Trump-endorsed House candidate in Wyoming's Republican primary, Harriet Hageman, who is challenging Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee's vice chair and a vociferous critic of the former president. A Trump spokesman, Taylor Budowich, suggested that the committee's decision to call Stepien was politically motivated. Monday's witness list also includes BJay Pak, the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta who left his position on Jan. 4, 2021, a day after an audio recording was made public in which Trump called him a never-Trumper"; Chris Stirewalt, the former political editor for Fox News; noted Washington elections attorney Benjamin Ginsberg; and Al Schmidt, a former city commissioner in Philadelphia. The panel will also focus on the millions of dollars Trump's team brought in fundraising in the run-up to Jan. 6, according to a committee aide who insisted on anonymity to discuss the details. The committee has said most of those interviewed in the investigation are coming forward voluntarily, although some have wanted subpoenas to appear in public. Filmmaker Nick Quested, who provided documentary footage of the attack, said during last weeks hearing he received a subpoena to appear. Committee members said they would present clear evidence that multiple GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., had sought a pardon from Trump, which would protect him from prosecution. Perry on Friday denied he ever did so, calling the assertion an absolute, shameless, and soulless lie. Were not going to make accusations or say things without proof or evidence backing it, said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. Lawmakers indicated that perhaps their most important audience member over the course of the hearings may be Attorney General Merrick Garland, who must decide whether his department can and should prosecute Trump. They left no doubt as to their own view whether the evidence is sufficient to proceed. Once the evidence is accumulated by the Justice Department, it needs to make a decision about whether it can prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt the presidents guilt or anyone elses, Schiff said. But they need to be investigated if theres credible evidence, which I think there is. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said he doesnt intend to browbeat Garland but noted the committee has already laid out in legal pleadings criminal statutes they believe Trump violated. I think that he knows, his staff knows, the U.S. attorneys know, whats at stake here, Raskin said. They know the importance of it, but I think they are rightfully paying close attention to precedent in history as well, as the facts of this case. Garland has not specified whether he would be willing to prosecute, which would be unprecedented and may be complicated in a political election season in which Trump has openly flirted with the idea of running for president again. No president or ex-president has ever been indicted. Richard Nixon resigned from office in 1974 as he faced an impeachment and a likely grand jury indictment on charges of bribery, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. President Gerald Ford later pardoned his predecessor before any criminal charges related to Watergate could be filed. Legal experts have said a Justice Department prosecution of Trump over the riot could set an uneasy precedent in which an administration of one party could more routinely go after the former president of another. "We will follow the facts wherever they lead, Garland said in his speech at Harvard Universitys commencement ceremony last month. A federal judge in California said in a March ruling in a civil case that Trump more likely than not committed federal crimes in seeking to obstruct the congressional count of the Electoral College ballots on Jan. 6, 2021. The judge cited two statutes: obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Trump has denied all wrongdoing. Schiff appeared on ABCs This Week, Raskin spoke on CNNs State of the Union," and Kinzinger was on CBSs Face the Nation." AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report. For full coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. The legal battle between former GOP gubernatorial candidate Charles W. Herbster and Nebraska State Sen. Julie Slama is scheduled for a hearing on Tuesday in front of a District Court judge. Herbster filed a defamation lawsuit against Slama in April, after the Nebraska Examiner reported allegations from eight women who said the candidate had groped them in recent years. Slama was the only named accuser at the time. Herbster, a Republican mega-donor and CEO of Conklin Co., has denied all the accusations and maintained theyre a hit job coordinated by political opponent Jim Pillen and Gov. Pete Ricketts, who supports Pillen. Ricketts has said he didnt have any involvement in the Examiners report, and Pillens campaign said it wasnt behind it. Slama answered Herbsters lawsuit quickly and filed a counterclaim alleging sexual battery. Slama had given notice to depose Herbster on May 6, but Herbsters campaign made it clear he didnt plan to attend the deposition. His legal team filed a motion to quash the deposition notice and seek a protective order that limits his deposition to scheduling at a mutually convenient time. It alleged the other side was playing politics by scheduling it just ahead of the May 10 primary. Slamas lawyers responded with a statement and objection in which they suggested they may pursue sanctions. Herbsters legal team moved to amend its original complaint, alleging in part that the defamation had been compounded by false statements from Slama and lawyer Dave Lopez since it was filed. They also drew connections between Lopez, the law firm he works for and Pillens campaign. They filed a motion, dated May 6, seeking a protective order against Slama and her legal team, arguing that they were attempting to try the case in the press. Slamas lawyers responded in a filing and called for that motion to be rejected. On May 10, Pillen beat out Herbster and other primary opponents to become the Republican nominee for Nebraska governor. In an amended response last month, Slamas lawyers revealed new details, including a more specific description of the allegations behind the senators counterclaim of sexual battery and a second counterclaim of false light invasion of privacy. Slamas team has moved to subpoena documents from several people affiliated with Herbster: Kellyanne Conway, Corey Lewandowski, David Bossie, Emily Novotny, Ellen Keast and Michelle Keithley. Conway, Bossie and Lewandowski are also well-known associates of former President Donald Trump, whose ties to Herbster defined the Falls City natives campaign for governor. Novotny was Herbsters campaign spokesperson and Keast was his campaign manager. Keithley is his executive assistant and issued a statement in support of Herbster after the allegations. Herbsters lawyers filed several objections after receiving notices of Slamas intent to issue those subpoenas. Slamas team still issued subpoenas without the portions that are under dispute, according to court documents, and filed a motion asking to issue its remaining requests. In May, Herbsters lawyers filed documents showing its intent to subpoena a long list of documents and communications. Though the case was filed in Johnson County, the hearing Tuesday will take place in the District Court of Gage County in Beatrice, the location of District Judge Rick Schreiners chambers. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. QINGDAO, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, met with Pakistani Chief of Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa on Sunday in east China's coastal city of Qingdao. Zhang noted that as all-weather strategic cooperative partners, China and Pakistan have maintained close coordination and firmly supported each other. Zhang said that China is ready to strengthen communication and cooperation, deepen practical exchanges, and work for closer military-to-military relations with Pakistan. Bajwa said the friendship between the two countries is unbreakable and strong as a rock. Pakistan is willing to strengthen dialogue and coordination with the Chinese military, carry out mutually beneficial cooperation, fight terrorist forces, and enhance the capability of both sides to cope with various security challenges. Bajwa added that Pakistan will work with China to safeguard the common interests of the two countries and contribute to regional peace. Late nights talking shop in their Lincoln apartments. Shooting the breeze over meals at the Capitol. Thats how State Sen. Mike Flood and former veteran Nebraska legislators Ed Schrock and Jim Cudaback recall Floods first years, 2005 and 2006, in the Legislature. Flood, a Norfolk civic leader, businessman, broadcaster and attorney, went on to become Nebraskas longest-serving speaker of the Legislature and one of the youngest (he says another speaker was a month younger). He was term-limited out in 2013 after two terms and, after a required break, returned to the Legislature in 2021 after winning an uncontested race. Now, he is the Republican candidate in a June 28 special election to fill out the remainder of Jeff Fortenberrys term representing Nebraskas 1st Congressional District. Fortenberry resigned after being found guilty of three felonies related to taking illegal campaign contributions. Early voting is already underway in the race. Flood, 47, also is the Republican nominee in the November general election for the seats two-year term that starts in January. In both races, hell face Democrat Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln. Flood said the hours spent listening to the stories of experienced lawmakers like Schrock and Cudaback helped him understand the workings of the Legislature and, in turn, become more effective at his job. He said hed bring the same approach to the U.S. House of Representatives. To be successful in the Legislature, its about relationships and earning peoples trust, Flood said. In Congress, Flood would represent all or parts of 12 eastern Nebraska counties, including the communities of Lincoln, Bellevue, Norfolk and Columbus. The 1st District seat is open for the first time since 2004, when Fortenberry was elected to the first of his nine terms. Leading figures in the Nebraska Republican Party, including Gov. Pete Ricketts and former Gov. Dave Heineman, threw their weight behind Flood even before Fortenberry was found guilty. Their concern had been that Fortenberrys indictment could lead to a Democrat taking the seat. Nationally, the Republican Party hopes to flip the House of Representatives red, and Republicans say holding onto the 1st Congressional District is key to doing so. The relationships Flood built in the Legislature have stood the test of time, his former colleagues say. (Mike) is very knowledgeable and engaged, he is very fair and capable, Schrock said. Id vote for him if I was in his district Id vote for him twice. Cudaback described Flood as someone who wasnt full of himself and was willing to learn. The thing I like about Mike is he can see the big picture, Cudaback said. Floods campaign page mirrors the language of current politics, describing the nation as being at a crossroads between prosperity and socialism; traditional values or liberal wokeness. Asked about polarization in politics and how, as a congressman, he would represent all the people of his district, Flood said: As a member of my party, I want to effect change that will help everybody in the district by creating opportunities, both economic development opportunities and educational opportunities and by making decisions that will make our nation safe. Ill do that by connecting with people and spending time with all the communities of the 1st District. The district leans Republican by 11 points, according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index. Floods business background is in communications and broadcast media. In 1999, he launched the Norfolk-based country music radio station US92. Since then, hes added another 14 radio stations and five television stations across Nebraska. His media network provides local content, from news to high school sports. These hyperlocal stations help strengthen their Nebraska communities, said Floods friend and business collaborator Dan Spray. Ive never met anyone as passionate about rural Nebraska or Nebraska in general as Mike, he said. Flood was born in Omaha and grew up in Norfolk. At one time, he had his sights on the Governors Mansion, not Congress. In 2012, Flood announced he would run to replace Heineman, who was being term-limited out. The night he announced his candidacy, his wife, Mandi, discovered a lump on her breast. It turned out to be a fast-growing cancer. Flood dropped out of the race to be with his family. Fortunately, we look back today and shes healthy, everyone is fine, he said. Flood said he is undaunted by the challenges of serving in Congress, which include splitting time between the district and Washington, D.C., and running on a two-year election cycle. His two children, ages 15 and 12, will finish out their school years in Norfolk. He says he relishes the idea of serving in Congress. I personally think it takes as much or more skill to be effective in the legislative branch than it does in any other. ... I enjoy the pluralized nature of being in the Legislature. There are so many different voices, he said. It really is the marketplace of ideas. As a state senator, Flood represents all of Madison County, where Norfolk is located, and part of Pierce County. Flood said his enthusiasm for the congressional seat has grown as he has campaigned across the district, meeting and talking with people. Its given my decision to run even more depth, he said. People are really wanting to have a conversation with their congressman. On policy, Flood said: Abortion: Should be banned in all cases except to save the life of the mother, with no exception for rape or incest. As speaker of the Legislature, Flood successfully promoted a bill that made Nebraska the first state in the nation to ban abortions upon 20 weeks proponents argued that is the point at which the fetus can feel pain. Flood took criticism in campaign ads by Fortenberry for voting to provide prenatal care to prospective mothers, regardless of their immigration status. Its a vote I dont regret, he said. There was only one choice and that is to be pro-life when its hard as well as when its easy. Immigration: Opposes citizenship and welfare benefits for anyone in the country illegally, including Dreamers those immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. He said Dreamers should have a way of continuing to live and work in the U.S. but without a path to citizenship and not before Americas southern border is secure. Flood favors finishing the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Climate change: Initially said that humans are the dominant cause, which is in sync with scientific findings. Flood subsequently clarified his views by saying humans may be a contributing factor. Other countries such as China and India need to take it as seriously as lawmakers in the United States, he said. Flood sees carbon sequestration as an economic opportunity for Nebraska. He supports the for-now derailed Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast, traversing Nebraska. As a civic leader in the Norfolk area, Flood has focused heavily on economic development in northeast Nebraska and has helped with an ambitious plan called Northeast Nebraska Growing Together. It aims to transform the region, focusing on information technology and young adults. The goal is to make the area attractive to 20-somethings and young families. It includes a scholarship program that provides students an education at Wayne State College, but requires that they live and work their senior year in Norfolk. Other legs to the program include the arts, housing, retraining workers whose existing jobs are disappearing and providing young families with free child care. Courtney Dentlinger, who has worked in economic development in Nebraska in various capacities over the years, including two years as Ricketts economic development director, described Flood as an effective partner. Hes very forward-thinking and pragmatic, she said. Hes great at building coalitions and getting things done. Hes really got Nebraskans best interests at heart. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Bloomington-Normal Galleries, museums Some cultural institutions are open or making plans to reopen under current COVID restrictions. Check with each facility for indoor, online or outdoor programming. Open facilities have face covering, distancing and other guidelines in effect; see websites or call for details. Angel Ambrose Fine Art Studio; 101 W. Monroe St. Suite 201, Bloomington; Open First Fridays 5-8 p.m. and by appointment; 309-825-4655; angelambrose.com. David Davis Mansion; 1000 Monroe Drive, Bloomington; open for tours, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat.; groups of 10 or less; $10 per person; $100 minimum; daviddavismansion.org; 309-828-1084. Eaton Studio Gallery; 411 N. Center St., Bloomington; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays; 5-8 p.m. First Fridays, or by appointment or ring bell; eatonstudiogallery.com; 309-828-1575. Illinois Art Station; 101 E. Vernon Ave., Normal; Gallery open Saturdays 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; illinoisartstation.org; 309-386-1019. Inside Out: Accessible Art Gallery & Cooperative; 200 W. Monroe St., Bloomington; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; Saturday 8 a.m.-2 p.m.; by appointment Sunday-Tuesday; and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. First Friday; insideoutartcoop.org; 309-838-2160. Jan Brandt Gallery; Normandy Village, 1100 Beach St., Building 8, Normal; by appointment; janbrandtgallery.com; 309-287-4700. Joann Goetzinger Studio and Gallery; 313 N. Main St. Suite A, Bloomington; open first Fridays 5-8 p.m., Saturdays 9 a.m.-4 p.m., also by appointment; masks and social distancing required; 309-826-1193. Main Gallery 404; 404 N. Main St., Bloomington; 12-5 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays; 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturdays; By chance or appointment at 309-590-6779. McLean County Arts Center; 601 N. East St., Bloomington; open; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday, 12-4 p.m. Saturday; masks and social distancing required; mcac.org; 309-829-0011. McLean County Museum of History; 200 N. Main St., Bloomington; 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday; closed Sundays, until further notice; reservations at education@mchistory.org or 309-827-0428; mchistory.org; 309-827-0428. Merwin and Wakeley Galleries; Illinois Wesleyan University; Bloomington; open; 12-4 p.m., Monday through Friday; 7-9 p.m., Tuesday evening; 1-4 p.m., Saturday through Sunday; iwu.edu/art/galleries; 309-556-3391. Prairie Aviation Museum; 2929 E. Empire St., Bloomington; opens April 2; hours 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; prairieaviationmuseum.org; 309-663-7632. University Galleries of Illinois State University, Normal; open; 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday, noon-4 p.m. Saturday, Sunday; 309-438-5487; galleries.illinoisstate.edu/about/visit/. Central Illinois Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, 212 N. Sixth St., Springfield; advance reservation required; adults $15, seniors $12, under 5 free; presidentlincoln.illinois.gov; 217-558-8844. Art Center at Greater Livingston County Arts Council; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday; noon-4 p.m. Sunday; 209 W. Madison St., Pontiac; pcartcenter.com; 815-419-2472. Contemporary Art Center of Peoria; Riverfront Arts Center, 305 S.W. Water St., Peoria; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; peoriacac.org; 309-674-6822. Dickson Mounds Museum; 10956 N. Dickson Mounds Road, Lewistown; open, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; free; illinoisstatemuseum.org; 309-547-3721. Illinois State Museum; 502 S. Spring St., Springfield; open, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; Monday-Friday, free; illinoisstatemuseum.org; 217-782-7386. Lincoln Heritage Museum; Lincoln Center at Lincoln College, 300 Keokuk St., Lincoln; 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 1-4 p.m. Saturday, closed Sundays, Mondays and on Lincoln College breaks; $4-7; museum.lincolncollege.edu; 217-735-7399. Peoria Art Guild; 203 Harrison St., Peoria; open; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-Friday or by appointment; peoriaartguild.org; 309-637-2787. Peoria Riverfront Museum; downtown riverfront Peoria; open 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday and Friday; 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Tuesday-Thursday; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday; and closed Sunday; adults $11, seniors, students $10, ages 3-17 $9; peoriariverfrontmuseum.org; 309-686-7000. Simpkins Military History Museum; 605 E. Cole St., Heyworth; Open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 1-5 p.m.; Free admission (donations accepted); Private tours, call first; 309-319-3413; Open House, 1-5 p.m., March 19, marking 63 years of collecting military items. Time Gallery; 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday; 9 a.m.-12 p.m., Saturday; Closed Sunday; Clock Tower Place Building, 201 Clock Tower Drive, East Peoria; 309-467-2331. U of I Krannert Art Museum; 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign; open; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; Thursdays until 8 p.m. when classes are in session; closed Sunday and Monday; kam.illinois.edu; 217-333-1861. Exhibits "Community: African American Experience During Migration"; through Spring 2022; Owens Gallery; "Design & Duplication: Treasures of the Peoria Riverfront Museum Collection; Gallery 2, through Fall 2022; "Archibald Motley's Bronzeville at Night"; through March 2023; "Creatures of Light: Nature's Bioluminescence"; through Sept. 5, Experience Gallery; "Modern Masters: Modern Masters from the Heintzman Collection"; through Sept. 11"; Peoria Riverfront Museum. "Stories of Survival; Object. Image. Memory."; through Jan. 22, 2023; Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. "To Know The Fire: Pueblo Women Potters and The Shaping of History"; through Sept. 3; "Latina Community 'Voces'"; through July 9; U of I Krannert Art Museum. "2022 Honoring the Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans"; through Nov. 12; Simpkins Military History Museum. "Edgewise"; second floor gallery; through Sept. 3; "Climate Change in Your Back Yard"; first floor Hot Science Gallery; through April 22, 2023; "NOIR II: The Migration"; second floor gallery; through Sept. 6; Illinois State Museum. "Embodied Remembrance; through June 24; Tamar Segev; Armstrong Gallery; "The Legacy Project"; through June 24; Dolan Gallery; Dave & Sean Fulghum; McLean County Arts Center. "Mike Baur and John Boylan"; through June 17; Gallery 3R; "Jill King: New Horizons"; through June 17; Preston Jackson Gallery; Contemporary Art Center of Peoria. "Prairie Flyers: A Century of Aviation"; through July 3; DeWitt County Museum. "Denise Treizman: In Between Living"; through July 31; "In Living Color"; Curated by Teen Art Group; through Aug. 10; University Galleries. "Members Show: Open Theme"; through July 9; group exhibit; Lincoln Arts Institute. "Vandana Bajikar"; through July; Time Gallery. Bloomington Pop-Up story time; 10 a.m. June 14, courtroom at the McLean County Museum of History, 200 N. Main St., Bloomington; ages 0-11; registration required. STEAM: Lego Construction; 10-11 a.m., June 15, McLean County Extension Office, 1615 Commerce Parkway, Bloomington; ages 5-12; free; registration required. Bike Care 101 with the WBRP Bike Co-Op; 2 p.m. June 15, WBRP, 724 W. Washington St., Bloomington; kids, teens and adults; registration required. On-The-Go Story Time; 10:30-11:30 a.m., June 17, Miller Park bookmobile stop, Bloomington. Pop-up Lego construction; 10 a.m., June 18, courtroom at the McLean County Museum of History, 200 N. Main St., Bloomington; ages 5-11; registration required. Normal Baby Rock; 10-10:30 a.m., June 13, Anderson Park, Normal; ages 0-2 with caregiver, all ages welcome. Clean Planet, Happy Planet, The Ecology Action Center; 1-2 p.m. June 14, Community Room, Normal Public Library. Bored Games; 2-4 p.m. June 15, Community Room B, Normal Public Library; recommended ages 10-13 but all teens and tweens welcome. LEGO My Library; 10 a.m.-1 p.m. June 16, Community Room, Normal Public Library; ages 2-12 welcome. A Peek Beneath The Beaten Path With Sugar Grove Nature Center; 10-11 a.m. June 17, Community Room, Normal Public Library; geared toward ages 5-10 but all welcome. Carlock Paint a birdhouse; 4-6 p.m., June 14 or 10 a.m.-noon, June 18, Carlock Public Library. Eureka Mystery Book Club June meeting; 10 a.m., June 13, Eureka Public Library. Master Naturalist program on wildflowers; 6 p.m., June 14, Eureka Public Library; registration required. Illinois Raptor Center's birds of prey; 11 a.m.-noon June 15, Eureka Lake Park Pavilion. Intro to Genealogy program; 2 p.m., June 15, in-person and online, Eureka Public Library. Teen movie night; 5 p.m., June 16, Eureka Public Library; ages 13-17. Crochet Crafternoon; 2 p.m., June 17, Eureka Public Library; registration required. Saybrook Summer Reading Program: "Reading is an Adventure!"; June 14-July 14, Cheney's Grove Township Library, Saybrook; all ages. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 100 years ago June 12, 1922: Well-known Bloomington man Moses Bierd, who was for many years employed as a city teamster, died in an accident near Taylor and Clinton streets. Bierd was thrown from his wagon after a horse got spooked; his two young sons were also in the wagon but survived the incident. A witness did not know what frightened the animal. 75 years ago June 12, 1947: Sister Aegidia of St. Joseph's Hospital is celebrating her 50th anniversary of entering the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis. Several other nuns also celebrated anniversaries. The day included a high mass, reception at the nurses' home and a moving picture that would be shown only for the sisters. 50 years ago June 12, 1972: A McLean County grand jury found in a new report that the county jail is an "antiquated structure" inadequate in many respects. Issues include sanitary facilities, window and electric lighting, size of prisoner cells, office facilities, space available for female prisoners, fire escape routes and recreation facilities. 25 years ago June 12, 1997: Owners of a proposed low-level nuclear waste site adjacent to Ellsworth have withdrawn the site from consideration. The 840-acre Fleming family farm was the only site offered for sale to the state for the facility. "This means we're all going to sleep at night," Mayor Shelly Hanover told The Pantagraph. Compiled by Pantagraph staff Darren Bailey has proven to fight for the people of Illinois by protecting their freedoms and constitutional rights. Darren was the only Illinois politician that fought for the people of Illinois during the COVID-19 lockdowns and mask mandates. He persevered through the court system against J. B. Pritzkers tyranny and unconstitutional over-reach of government. He won. Who is Darren Bailey? Darren Bailey is an Illinois senator that is fed up with the difficulties endured by Illinois and its citizens because of political corruption and bad leadership. He decided to run for governor after witnessing Illinois policies and that Illinois was headed for further ruin. Senator Darren Bailey is a family man of devout faith who truly cares about the people of Illinois by actively addressing their concerns. He does not work for the political elites. He is a third-generation farmer that understands agriculture. He cares about the working people and businesses that had their livelihoods impacted from lock downs and excessive taxes. As a state senator, Darren has voted no to each tax increase proposed. He believes in fiscal responsibility and being totally transparent on how our money is being spent. Senator Darren Bailey is who he says he is. Years of public service holds him true to his conservative values. Darren was a school board member for 17 years. He is an advocate for the future of our children. He encourages citizens to get involved in our local government to protect our children and our rights. He supports pro-life and the second amendment rights. Most importantly, he supports the people of Illinois. It is time to take Illinois back. Lets make Illinois a place where people want to come and stay. Vote for Senator Darren Bailey to be our next governor of Illinois. Donna Brent, Le Roy Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Access Bank has commissioned a new Agency Banking network at the Accra Technical University (ATU) in Accra. This is in line with the Banks vision of becoming the worlds most respected African Bank through strategic expansion and retail dominance. Through this expansion drive, Access Bank has brought banking operations close to the doorsteps of the student community and surrounding vicinity. The ATU Agency brings to five, the number of the Banks Agency networks and the fourth of its physical presence in tertiary institutions. Sharing his remarks ahead of the event, Managing Director of Access Bank Ghana Olumide Olatunji intimated that the launch of the ATU Agency will further deepen the Banks financial inclusion agenda and play a facilitating role in improving the banking experience of students on campus. He said this will grow the businesses of Small and Medium Enterprises and impact their financial lifestyle. In a short ceremony at the Accra Technical University on Friday, the Executive Director for Retail and Digital Banking Pearl Nkrumah noted that banking is not only about where one does a transaction but the experiences that come with the transactions. She said Access Bank Ghana offers that unique experience customers need through the provision of innovative banking solutions. This is another opportunity to bring best-in-class banking products and services to the doorsteps of students right here on your campus and indeed, the public. Over the past thirteen years, Access Bank has brought innovation to banking and the financial sector. Our range of specialized products including those targeted at the youth, among other groups clearly show that we are a Bank to reckon with for customers financial solutions. She explained that the Banks expansion drive is in line with its mission of becoming the worlds most respected African Bank As a Bank, we are pursuing our vision of becoming the worlds most respected African Bank, offering the best financial solutions. This ambitious vision comes with a lot of responsibility. It comes with a lot of hard work and commitment on our part as a Bank to ensure that our cherished customers get the best value from us. This expansion means that students of this great Institution will enjoy the benefits of having a physical banking experience right here; the experience will not be different for customers in this vicinity Pearl noted. Gracing the occasion, the Vice Chancellor of the Accra Technical University, Professor Samuel Nii Odai shared his excitement at the opening of the new banking facility. He said Access Bank has remained committed to its promise of establishing a physical presence at the university. He revealed that, many banks were contacted to help solve the problem of fee collection, but Access Bank has been one of the banks that responded to the call. He was optimistic that students will take the opportunity to open personal accounts and begin their future banking experience with Access Bank. The Chief Operations Officer of Access Bank Ade Ologun was hopeful that the entire ATU community will take advantage of the facility. We have brought the bouquet of all our unique banking products and services right here to you. It is our hope that you will take advantage of the presence of our Bank here to explore the beyond banking world Access Bank offers. Operating from 54 business locations across the country, Access Bank continues to build solid long-term relationships with customers based on trust, digital innovations, good customer service and transparency. The Bank has over the years developed a deep understanding of its customers, delivering excellent services and empowering them to achieve more through financial education. Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The World Bank says that additional policy reforms in investment and trade facilitation can further enhance trade flows between Ghana and the rest of the sub-region. In its Ghana Trade Competitiveness Diagnostics report, it urged the Government to among other things, take either administrative or regulatory steps to reduce port charges, revise outdated transshipment regime, reduce the number of police checkpoints and resolve the VAT charge on transit trade services. Several steps are required to simplify and harmonize import and export procedures, and to overhaul the governance framework of the Port of Tema, the report noted. While commending Ghanas progress in the transport and logistics services where maritime cargo volume increased by 7.6 percent on average per annum over the period of 2010 to 2020, the Bank has called for infrastructure investments that facilitate shipping through containers. The report titled, Strengthening Ghanas Trade Competitiveness in the Context of AfCFTA also revealed that Ghanas trade regime in goods was restrictive as far levels of tariff and non-tariff barriers (NTB) were concerned. In comparison with other countries as of 2019, the report showed that Ghanas trade-weighted Most Favored Nation (MFN) tariff rate was 10.57 per cent, higher than most comparators except for Kenya, which has a trade-weighted MFN of 13.35 per cent. The number of non-tariff measures (NTMs) imposed by Ghana is higher than in Nigeria and Cote dIvoire but below levels in Vietnam although further analysis is required to ascertain the extent NTMs are enforced in a discriminatory way, the report highlighted. Speaking at the launch of the report in Accra, Mr Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, said that regional integration, digital innovation, and trade policy was key to driving Ghanas economic transformation agenda. The country, he added, could strengthen its trade competitiveness and optimize benefits under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and the Global Value Chain (GVC) through the elimination of NTBs, implementing trade facilitation reforms and enhancing regulatory framework for services. Mr Herbert Krappa, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, said the findings of the diagnostics report were a wake-up call for government in pursuing its transformation agenda. Government will continue to intensify our best efforts at enhancing our merchandise trade competitiveness. We will continue to invest in trade-related infrastructure including ICT digital trade, he 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. Featured Video Akyem Akokoaso, a town in the Ofoase/Ayirebi constituency has been gifted with a new Police Station built by townsfolk with the support of the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah. Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Akuffo Dampare joined the MP to hand over the station to the District Police Command. At a brief exercise on Saturday, June 11, 2022, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said the facility is part of efforts to improve security in the District to complement investments in infrastructure and livelihoods. An integral part of the development of any community or country is security. That is why we have made frantic effort at providing this edifice to carter for the security needs of my beloved constituents especially those in Akokoaso and its immediate environs, he said. This the Ofoase Ayirebi MP charged constituents to also contribute their quotas by supporting the Police to effectively fight crime in the constituency since fighting crime is a collective responsibility. The IGP who officially opened the facility tasked his officers to discharge their duties with dignity and respect. He further urged his men to ensure that the facility and other resources made available to the service to fight crime in the constituency are properly maintained and taken care of. Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video THE GHANA Health Service (GHS) has urged the public to go back to the wearing of face masks in the light of the reported emergence of new strains of the COVID-19 Omicron variant currently in circulation across the country. The Omicron variant of COVID-19 was the main driver of the countrys fourth wave, peaking at more than a thousand new cases daily. Addressing the media Wednesday, Director-General of the GHS, Dr. Patrick Kumah Aboagye, recommended the wearing of face masks in schools, churches and other enclosed areas as a means to curtail the spread of the virus. According to him, the cases were identified through the testing of 12 suspected cases, including one case that was reported from the Western Region. While health officials work to contain the Monkeypox virus, COVID-19 infections are on the rise, with more cases of the Influenza A virus being reported at several health facilities, he said. As the infections begin to rise again, scientists at the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) say they have detected two new strains which are resistant to the vaccines currently available in the country. Emphasising on the importance of adhering to the established protocols, Dr. Yaw Bediako, a research fellow at WACCBIP, noted that If we look at the data, we cannot say that COVID-19 has skipped Africa. Zero prevalence rate, zero positivity of over 70 close to 80 percent means 8 out of 10 people have been within the past 6 months exposed to the virus, so we cannot say that the outbreak is over. Meanwhile, five cases of Monkeypox have been confirmed in the Eastern, Bono and Greater Accra Regions, the GHS has revealed. One of the cases was recorded in a Ghanaian who travelled to the United States of America from Ghana. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Reports reaching DGN Online suggest that some 16 soldiers on military operation are battling for their lives following an accident in the Eastern Region. The military vehicle they were traveling in somersaulted and landed in a nearby bush off the road, according to information. The officers were said to be returning from an operation in the Eastern Region when the unfortunate incident happened. Some of the soldiers were seen lying on the shoulder of the road with others helping to rescue members trapped in the mangled vehicle. The military later issued a statement clarifying the circumstances under which the accident occurred. It said the sixteen military officers from the Sothern Command of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) had been deployed for Operation Halt II duties to stop illegal mining on some river bodies in parts of the Eastern Region. The accident occurred on Wednesday 9 June 2022, along the Suhum-Anum Apapam Road when the military truck in which they were traveling suddenly developed a mechanical fault causing it to tip over. The injured soldiers were initially treated at Anum Apapam clinic before being evacuated to the 37 Military Hospital. The Military High Command has visited the personnel on admission and as of this morning, 12 out of the injured person had been discharged while the remaining four are in a stable condition and responding to treatment, the GAF said in the statement. The Ghana Armed Forces have expressed its appreciation to the residents of Anum Apapam and the surrounding areas and the Apapam Clinic Staff who came to the aid of the injured personnel, and also the National Ambulance Service for the swift evacuation of the victims to the 37 Military Hospital. GAF said it will continue to count on the support of all Ghanaians in curbing the illegal mining of water bodies and also in the fight against all other illegal activities. 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. Featured Video RAMALLAH, June 12 (Xinhua) -- A senior Palestine official said on Sunday that the unilateral Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories undermine the chances for peace and the two-state solution. Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), made the remarks during a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah with visiting U.S. senior diplomats ahead of an expected visit of U.S. President Joe Biden, according to an official statement carried by Palestinian state news agency WAFA. Attending the meetings were Al-Sheikh and other senior Palestinian officials and the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr. Al-Sheikh told the U.S. officials that Palestinians "need security and stability, ending the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories and establishing an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 border." He explained to the officials that it is necessary to abide by the peace agreements signed between the PLO and Israel and implement the UN resolutions "which have never been implemented." The meeting discussed the escalated tension in the West Bank amid the daily Israeli army raids on Palestinian towns and villages and the visits of Israeli radicals to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem, according to the statement. The two sides also discussed the expected visit of Biden to Israel and Palestine, the removal of the PLO from its terrorism list, and the reopening of the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem. Among the talking points were also the economic situation and the necessity of resuming U.S. aid to the Palestinians, especially in the light of the Palestinian financial crisis as Israel withholds its tax revenues. The Ghana Armed Forces has explained that a viral video of a number of soldiers involved in an accident, occurred on Thursday at a spot along the Suhum Anum Apapam road in the Eastern region. According to GAF, 16 military personnel sustained various degrees of injuries in the accident while on an operation (Operation Halt II), to stop illegal mining on some river bodies in parts of the Eastern Region. The injured were initially treated at the Anum Apapam clinic before being evacuated to the 37 Military Hospital for further treatment. There was no fatality. The disconcerting video of the accident seen by Graphic Online has some of the soldiers strewn about the accident scene, some with broken limbs while their colleagues in a second vehicle attend to them offering First Aid as they awaited ambulance services. Voices in the video suggest the driver may have lost control of the vehicle after hitting a bad patch of the road. The accident vehicle, a pick-up truck marked 81, with registration number 76 GA 39, and said to belong to the Southern Command, is seen turned on its side with some of the soldiers seen searching it if anyone was trapped under it. Below is a statement issued by the Ghana Armed Forces Public Affairs Directorate, signed by Naval Capt. Michael A. Larbi, Director of Public Relations. GAF PERSONNEL EMBARKING ON OP HALT II DUTIES INVOLVED IN ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENT AT ANUM-APAPAM In reference to a viral video depicting a road traffic accident involving some military personnel, the Ghana Armed Forces wishes to clarify that the personnel drawn from the Southern Command, were embarking on an operation (Operation Halt II), to stop illegal mining on some river bodies in parts of the Eastern Region. The accident occurred on Thursday 9 June 2022, along the Suhum Anum Apapam Road when the military truck in which they were traveling suddenly developed a mechanical fault causing it to tip over. About 16 military personnel sustained various degrees of injuries and were initially treated at Anum Apapam clinic before being evacuated to the 37 Military Hospital for further treatment. The Military High Command has visited the personnel on admission and as at this morning, 12 out of the injured personnel had been discharged while the remaining four (4) are in a stable condition and responding to treatment. The Ghana Armed Forces wishes to express its appreciation to the residents of Anum Apapam and the surrounding areas and the Apapam Clinic Staff who came to the aid of the injured personnel, and also the National Ambulance Service for the swift evacuation of the victims to the 37 Military Hospital. GAF will continue to count on the support of all Ghanaians in curbing the illegal mining on our water bodies and also in the fight against all other illegal activities Signed MA LARBI Naval Captain Director Public Relations Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Bishop Marcus Wiredu, General Overseer of The Golden Lampstand Ministries, has cautioned the youth to be careful with the choices they make today, as it can affect their tomorrow. "It is high time we took our actions of today serious before it affects our end," stressing a lot of youths are involved in many bad activities, ignoring the effect it would have on them afterwards, Bishop Wiredu said on Sunday. Preaching on the theme: Your Later End, Bishop Wiredu prompted the congregation to be cautious of the way they lived today, "if you are expecting a better end in life, you should start making the right decisions today". He revealed that a lot of youths were dying at tender ages than the adults today due to the kind of life they live, you smoke, drink, engaged in prostitution, and do all sort of things in the name of having fun, but in the latter end, you will face the consequences". "What you sow, you shall surely reap," he stated and cited an example of a celebrity who died of cancer as a result of the constant pill he was taking to bleach the skin. Bishop Wiredu, also the Founder of Hopefield Bible College, advised parents to speak up whenever the youths were going astray, quoting Proverbs 22:6 that train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he shall not depart from it, so why go against it". "Your latter end would be great if you so choose, but only with a life well lived in Christ", he counselled. He nevertheless encouraged that it was necessary to invest in today for a better tomorrow if one needed to enjoy the fruit of his or her labour. 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. Featured Video Preparatory works are ongoing on the 403 acres of land secured at Pokuase/Amasaman in the Greater Accra Region and Dedesua in the Ashanti Region for the implementation of two affordable housing pilot schemes. Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, the Minister of Works and Housing, who said this at a media briefing in Accra, said the Ministry had commenced active engagements with the Finance Ministry and the Lands Commission towards securing government acquired lands for the National Affordable Housing programme. The projects, part of the district housing programme, the Minister said, was to increase access to rental housing for public sector workers at the Metropolitan, Municipal and District level, create jobs and improve living conditions. He said the pilot phase would be implemented in 16 districts across the 16 regions of the country. Although the housing deficit in the country had reduced from two million to 1.8 million housing units, he said the housing delivery system had failed to meet the needs of the low-to-middle income group. Approximately, 12.7 percent of the total structures counted in the 2021 National Housing and Population census, were vacant housing units, giving a clear indication that Ghanas housing supply had outpriced the average person in Ghana, he noted. Speaking on the Rent Act, 1963 (Act 220) and the Rent Control Law, 1986 (PNDCL 138), Mr Asenso-Boakye said Cabinet had given policy approval for their review. The review would among other things, remove inherent constraints, stimulate private sector investment and offer protection to low-income and vulnerable tenants from abuse and arbitrary actions. To that effect, he said a Draft Rent Bill had been prepared and active stakeholder engagements had commenced. On the Saglemi Affordable Housing project, the Minister said government was committed to completing it and that Cabinet was currently reviewing various options towards the completion of the project. This government will not renege on its duty to ensure that, Ghanaians obtain value for money in the application of the taxpayers money, he added. 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. Featured Video UK Parliament has invited members of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Ghanas Parliament to a meeting over the anti-gay bill, Chair of the Committee, Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi, has revealed. He told TV3 in an exclusive interview that the lawmakers will be leaving Kotoka International Airport (KIA) on Sunday, June 12 and then walk into the meeting on Monday, June 13. The invitation came to the Speaker and the Speaker forwarded it to the Committee. Four members of the committee including myself and the ranking member will be attending this important meeting. We take off on Sunday, we were supposed to have gone today but because of flight arrangement we will go on Sunday so we walk into the meeting Monday morning and by Wednesday we are done, he said on Saturday, June 11. The controversial bill has divided opinion in Ghana. While some, particularly the religious and traditional groupings, supported the Bill and were hopeful of its passing, others say it could incur the wrath of the international community against Ghana. The bill is being promoted by Ningo Prampram lawmaker Samuel Nartey George and some of his colleague legislators. Source: 3news Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is expected to appear before Parliament on Thursday, June 16, to brief the House on the expenditure incurred by the Government since the outbreak of the COVID-19 in 2020. Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Majority Leader, said this when he presented the Business Statement for the fourth week ending Friday, June 17, 2022. He informed the House that the Leadership of Parliament was in consultation with the Minister for National Security to brief the House at a close sitting on matters pertaining to the security of the state, particularly regarding the recent spate of incipient terrorist attacks within the West African sub-region. He said the day of the briefing would be communicated to Members of Parliament during the coming week. Mr Afenyo-Markin encouraged the MPs to fully participate in the Green Ghana Day, a national tree planting exercise, by leading their constituents to make the initiative of government a success. He said the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources made a statement in Parliament on the 2022 Edition of the Green Ghana Day, as part of governments effort towards aggressive afforestation and reforestation to restore the lost forest cover and mitigate climate change. 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. Featured Video General Secretary of the largest opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has expressed worry about why some Ghanaian politicians and Journalists will prefer to praise a taxi driver who returned someone's money found in his car but will condemn Togbe Afede who refunded state cash he felt he did not need. Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he noted that he could not fathom why Ghanaians will choose to praise a taxi driver who returned money left in his car but rather unnecessarily chastise an accomplished statesman who refunded ex-gratia paid him by the state because he felt the country needs it more than him. " . . some of the people who are insulting Togbe Afede contributed monies for the Taxi Driver that he has done well, so what is the difference?" he rhetorically asked. According to him this is hypocrisy in its highest form especially when Journalists who are supposed to know better are even involved. The Paramount Chief of the Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV has refunded the GHS365,000 that was paid into his account as ex-gratia for being a member of the Council of State from 2017 to 2020. In a statement issued by the Agbogbomefia, he said he received monthly payments and allowances while being a member of the Council of State therefore he sees no need for the payment of the ex-gratia. I did not think the payment was made to trap me, as is being speculated. I believe it was paid to everybody who served on the Council of State. However, I thought that extra payment was inappropriate for a short, effectively part-time work, for which I received a monthly salary and was entitled to other privileges. So, I was very uncomfortable with it, Togbe Afede XIV said in a statement. He intimated that such actions should be praised to encourage others to save the public purse from all the unnecessary state spending and wasting of public funds. Watch video below Paul Adom-Otchere lives by his stomach Togbe Afede jabs Togbe Afede XIV, a former member of the Council of State, has for the first time spoken about comments by his 'friend' and host of 'Good Evening Ghana' programme, Paul Adom-Otchere, on his conduct as a member of the Council. The traditional ruler expressed his disappointment with claims that he attended lesser meetings while he was a member of the Council of State. Togbe Afede stated that the claims are untrue. He explained that during his time as a Council of State member, he was 'one of the active participants' in the Council's meetings. He stated that Adom-Otchere's conduct on TV was not surprising as he has done a similar thing in the past. Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Former National Organizer of the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Yaw Boateng Gyan, has suggested that the current leadership of the party should extend an olive branch to the wife of the founder of the party, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings as the party celebrates its 30th anniversary. According to him, the wife Jerry John Rawlings has contributed immensely to the growth and development of the party and if there is anytime for her to be recognized, then it should be now. Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he explained that the party is gathering momentum to win power in 2024 and they should not lose focus on certain key personalities whose major contribution and sacrifice has brought the party to its current state. "Though she has moved on to form her own political party now, it will still be prudent to invite her over to one of the party's programmes as it celebrates its 30th anniversary," he said. " . . for me, I think there is no harm in trying to invite the former first lady who equally happens to be the wife of the founder and leader of the party, Jerry John Rawlings". Watch Video Below Arise, Arise for Ghana today and forever!Thirty (30) years ago the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was birthed with the objective of delivering Unity, Stability and Development to all Ghanaians.Through the leadership of Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings (Rtd.), supported by his formidable team, the NDC emerged out of the PNDC as the vanguard leading the nation in the establishment of a new constitutional democracy, which guaranteed the rights and freedoms of all Ghanaians.On this solemn day, I commend our forebears who have sacrificed their all to get us here.The NDC genuinely believes that the essence of democracy is to make life better for all citizens. This is why every time it has had the privilege of leading this country, the NDC strives to create opportunities for all Ghanaians, irrespective of ethnic, religious or political affiliation.The NDC also believes democracy goes beyond enriching family and friends, because it involves using the nations resources responsibly to address the felt needs of all Ghanaians.Democracy, transparency and accountability are bed fellows, and therefore, while creating opportunities for all, leaders are also required to wage a strong battle against corruption.The NDC knows that a media cowed into silence and an intimidated citizenry do not constitute the appropriate resource for sustainable progress and national development.We believe, therefore, that the ability of citizens to express themselves freely is a right and not a privilege.This administration must learn to tolerate criticisms and enhance free speech while protecting journalists from harm.The NDC assures every Ghanaian of better years ahead. We have done it before; bringing tangible socio-economic infrastructure to your communities and ensuring the economy works for all of us and not just a privileged few.On this auspicious 30th anniversary day, June 10, 2022, I ask all NDC members and sympathisers including the youth of Ghana; and all Ghanaians to Arise, Arise for Ghana wherever we find ourselves.Ghana needs our collective and patriotic energies to rescue her from the decay we see today.Arise, Arise for Ghana! Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Kennedy Agyapongs declaration of his intentions to battle favourites, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Alan Kyerematen is one that elicited some shocking reactions as the Assin Central MP has always given indications of not just bowing out of parliament but bowing of politics. His decision to contest has thrown the otherwise two-horse race of the New Patriotic Party wide open with delegates now having to re-work their minds on who they will be voting for. Aided by accumulated wealth and enigmatic popularity, Kennedy Agyapong is not just going to give Alan and Bawumia a strong contest, but is also a likely winner for the flagbearer role of the party. So, in the event that Kennedy Agyapong wins the NPP primaries, who are the likely candidates to be his running mate for the position? Samuel Abu Jinapor The Member of Parliament for Damongo Constituency has a great relationship with Kennedy Agyapong and will also fill the question of who partners him from the north. Within the NPP, the Lands and Natural Resources Minister is deemed to be a bright spot from the northern side of the country and could one day ascend to the throne of presidency. From Deputy Chief of Staff to Lands Minister, Abu Jinapor has garnered enough experience for the role. Also, as lawyer, Abu Jinapor will reflect the legal side of a Kennedy Agyapong presidency. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia The 2023 Presidential Primaries of the NPP will be crucial because it presents the party a chance to dead the narrative that the party is reserved for persons from certain parts of the country. Already, whisperings from the camp of the Vice President indicate that he is set and ready to battle for the flagbearer slot of the party as he believes it is his time. With Ken, coming in, Bawumias road to victory has become more challenging but if you cannot be first, why not settle for second. The Vice President could reach an agreement with Kennedy Agyapong and become his Veep if Ken beats him at the primaries. With Bawumia, Ken has the right man to draw votes from the Northern Regions and the Muslims communities dotted around the country. Matthew Opoku Prempeh Kennedy Agyapong has a strong appeal in the Ashanti Region which may inform his decision not to pick a someone from Kumasi but if there is an opportunity to cement his victory in the region why not go for the medical doctor who is also a royal. The Member of Parliament for Manhyia South is said to be undergoing grooming to eventually become president and becoming a vice president candidate under Kennedy Agyapong will enhance his chances. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful Prior to the 2020 elections, rumours surfaced that Ursula Owusu was being groomed to replace Dr Bawumia when he moves up the ladder as the leader of the New Patriotic Party. The Minister for Communications is rising steadily within the party and there are predictions that she could be the first female presidential candidate from the two major political parties in the country. Aside the gender card, Ursula who is from the Eastern Region and grew up in the Greater Accra Region is seen as one who could help tilt the scale in the NPPs favour. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful is a three-time member of Parliament for Ablekuma West and a lawyer of high repute. Hajia Alima Mahama Hajia Alima Mahama brings the Tripathi benefits of gender, Muslim and Northerner. Currently, Ghanas ambassador to the United States of America, Hajia Alima has tonnes of experience and will appeal greatly to the above named demographic. With Kennedy Agyapong being more of a firebrand, the former Member of Parliament for Nalerigu Gambaga will bring her calming influence and the two could form a great duo. Hajia Alima has also gone through the mill, from MP to Minister and now to a diplomat. Source: ghanaweb.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Fossil fuel operations globally emitted about 120 million tonnes of the planet-warming gas in 2020. Scientists have for the first time used satellite data to detect a major offshore leak of the potent greenhouse gas methane, according to peer-reviewed research. The findings add a crucial tool to an expanding space-based arsenal for pinpointing previously invisible methane plumes from the oil and gas industry. Fossil fuel operations globally emitted about 120 million tonnes of the planet-warming gas in 2020, nearly one-third of all methane emissions from human activity, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The new study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters identified a plume from an oil and gas production platform in the Gulf of Mexico that spewed some 40,000 tonnes over a 17-day period in December. The platform, near Campeche in southern Mexico, is in one of the country's biggest oil producing fields. "Our results demonstrate how satellites can detect methane plumes from offshore infrastructure," senior author Luis Guanter, a professor at Valencia Polytechnic University, said in a statement. "It opens the door to systematic monitoring of industrial emissions from individual offshore platforms." Satellite-based methods for spotting methane leaks over land have developed rapidly in the last few years, training an uncomfortable spotlight on regulators and industry. But equivalent techniques have been lacking for leaks from offshore oil and gas operations, which account for about 30 percent of global production. While far less abundant in the atmosphere than CO2, it is about 28 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas on a century-long timescale. Huge short-term potential Up to now, ocean water's capacity to absorb short-wave infrared radiation has limited the amount of reflected light reaching space-based sensors. Guanter and colleagues overcame this problem with a new method for measuring solar radiation bouncing off the water's surface, called Sun-glint observation mode. Methane is responsible for roughly 30 percent of the global rise in temperatures to date. While far less abundant in the atmosphere than CO 2 , it is about 28 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas on a century-long timescale. Over a 20-year time frame, it is 80 times more potent. Methane lingers in the atmosphere for only a decade, compared to hundreds or thousands of years for CO 2 . This means a sharp reduction in emissions could shave several tenths of a degree Celsius off of projected global warming by mid-century, helping keep alive the Paris Agreement goal of capping Earth's average temperature increase to 1.5C, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Last year saw a record jump in the atmospheric concentration of methane, US government scientists reported in April. Methane is generated by the production, transport and use of fossil fuels, but also from the decay of organic matter in wetlands, and as a by-product of livestock digestion in agriculture. At last year's COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, more than 100 nations agreed under the Global Methane Pledge to reduce emissions 30 percent by 2030. But several major methane emittersincluding China, Russia, Iran and Indiafailed to sign. Explore further Methane emissions detected over offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico 2022 AFP Credit: University of Glasgow A "monkey media player" that lets zoo animals choose between video and sound files suggests they may prefer to spend more of their time listening than watching. The player is the latest development in ongoing zoo enrichment research from animal-computer interaction specialists at the University of Glasgow in the U.K. and Aalto University in Finland. Enrichment activities for zoo animals are important for maintaining their physical and mental health and improving their quality of life. Some zoos are already using computer-based, interactive enrichment systems with primates like gorillas, chimps and orangutans. The touchscreen systems are designed to entertain and engage the animals with interactions to stimulate cognition in ways comparable to activities they might undertake in the wild. The researchers set out to explore how a group of three white-faced saki monkeys at Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki would respond to being able to trigger audio or visual stimuli on demand, like a primate-focused Spotify or Netflix. The system is the first of its kind to offer monkeys a choice of stimuli. To do so, they built a computer interface contained in a small wood-and-plastic tunnel which they placed in the monkeys' enclosure. Infrared sensors created three equally-sized interactive zones inside the tunnel. When monkeys moved through an infrared beam, it would trigger either a video or a sound on a screen in front of them which played for as long as they chose to stay. The device was in the sakis' enclosure for a total of 32 days. For the first seven days, the tunnel was silent to allow them to get used to its presence. For the next 18 days, they could choose between an audio or video stimulus which changed every few days. Over the course of the experiment, those stimuli were rain sounds, music or traffic noise, or videos of worms, underwater scenes, or abstract shapes and colors. Each time they interacted with the system, it automatically recorded what was playing, and how long they spent in the interactive zone which triggered the content to play. Finally, for seven days at the end of experiment, the tunnel returned to being non-interactive once more. While the audiovisual stimuli elements of the tunnel were active, the sakis' interactions were mostly short, lasting a few seconds each time as they walked or ran through the systemmirroring how they interact with more familiar elements in their enclosure. Typical interaction example. Credit: University of Glasgow The sakis triggered audio stimuli twice as much in total as visual stimuli, but over time their interactions shifted. As the study progressed, their overall levels of interaction with both stimuli dropped, but their interactions with visual stimuli increased in comparison with the audio stimuli. In total, they listened to music most of the three audio files, and watched the underwater video most frequently. The research was led by Dr. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas of the University of Glasgow, along with colleague Vilma Kankaanpaa of Aalto University in Finland. It builds on the pair's previous research using a similar system which measured sakis' interactions initially with video alone and then with audio alone. This is the first time that the sakis had the option of interacting with both stimuli. Dr. Hirskyj-Douglas, of the University of Glasgow's School of Computing Science, said: "We've been working with Korkeasaari Zoo for several years now to learn more about how white-faced sakis might benefit from computer systems designed specifically for them. Previously, we have explored how they interacted with video content and audio content, but this is the first time we've given the option to choose between the two. "Our findings raise a number of questions which are worthy of further study to help us build effective interactive enrichment systems. Further study could help us determine whether the short interactions were simply part of their typical behavior, or reflective of their level of interest in the system. Similarly, their varying levels of interaction over time could be reflective of how engaging they found the content, or simply that they were becoming habituated to the tunnel's presence in their enclosure. While they chose audio more regularly than video, the results weren't statistically significant enough for us to know for sure what they prefer. "Animal-computer interaction is still an emerging field of research. The data we collected in this study will be part of further developments as we learn more about their habits and preferences. The ultimate goal for us is to bridge the gap between human understanding of how animals access and experience computer systems to create meaningful and relevant experiences for monkeys." Kirsi Pynnonen-Oudman, research coordinator at the Helsinki/Korkeasaari Zoo, added: "Very little research has been done on the Pitheciidae-family monkeys and their enrichment at the zoos. This study on the white-faced saki monkeys gives us valuable data how to use different enrichment items for these New World monkeys. They live in the lower canopy of the rainforest of Brazil, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela. In general, saki monkeys (Pithecia pithecia) are not very intensively studied, not in the wild, nor in the captivity. "This kind of new information will help the conservation efforts of this species both in in the wild and in captivity. Sakis have a breeding program, called the EAZA Ex situ programs, running in European zoos. The program coordinator visited our zoo recently and was very interested of the studies made on them using the computer based animal-driven choice tunnels." The research results will be presented at the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, which runs between 13 and 17 June 2022. An accompanying research paper, "Do Monkeys Want Audio or Visual Stimuli? Interactive Computers for Choice with White-Faced Sakis in Zoos," will also be made available online. Explore further Saki monkeys get screen time for more control over their lives in captivity RAMALLAH, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye on Sunday called for forming an international front to pressure Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories and protect the two-state solution. Ishtaye made the remarks during a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah with Maya Tissafi, assistant state secretary of the Swiss foreign ministry and head of the Middle East and North Africa Department, according to a statement from Ishtaye's office. "Forming an international front to exert pressure on the Israeli occupation is very important," said Ishtaye, who called on Switzerland to recognize the state of Palestine. He also called on Switzerland and the international community to pressure Israel to abide by and respect the signed peace agreements and stop all its measures and violations in the Palestinian territories. "Providing international protection for the Palestinian people is essential," Ishtaye noted. The statement said Ishtaye and Tissafi also discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations between Switzerland and Palestine. They highlighted the importance of joint coordination to support Palestine in creating job opportunities and economic development. Also on Sunday, Ishtaye said in an interview with the state-run Palestine TV that the European Union is scheduled to vote on resuming the European aid to the Palestinians on Monday. A total of 23 European foreign ministers sent a message to the EU saying the aid to Palestine should be resumed without conditions, according to the Palestinian prime minister. "We hope that the vote will come with satisfactory results regarding the aid that we have not received since 2021," Ishtaye noted. CAMBRIDGE School Superintendent Douglas Silvernell and Elementary Associate Principal Jerry Gibson argued in favor of keeping an associate principal position during Thursdays school board meeting. Gibson was hired in 2019 for a position that was expected to be transitional as Elementary Principal Colleen Lester approached retirement, Silvernell said. Lester announced her retirement last fall. Gibson will replace her as of July 1, at an annual salary of $98,000. There are a wide array of issues as we come out of COVID, Silvernell said. The students and staff need support for mental wellness and achievement gaps. One of Gibsons duties as associate principal was overseeing special education. Gibson was able to bring six special education students at out-of-district programs back to CCS, Silvernell said. The cost of the programs was state-aided, but its better for the kids to stay here, he said. We need a student services director, but that position was abolished 10 years ago. Gibson said hes designing a program to keep students at CCS that requires a great deal of oversight. We have 53 students that are potentially special ed, up from five or six referrals in his first year at the school. Were seeing a huge increase in need. If kids are struggling academically and emotionally, we refer them for services, he said. It takes a ton of parent communication. Part of a principals job is overseeing and evaluating teachers. Silvernell noted that many of the districts teachers are expected to retire in the next four to six years and the new teachers will need more support. I was doing administration of special education before Jerry came in, Lester said. If Jerry were alone having to do special education, I dont see how he could run all the meetings and be principal. Wed have special education teachers but not the administration piece. Some general education students are struggling because of how much school they missed during the pandemic. The school doesnt want to classify them as special education just so they can get services, she said. School board member Neil Gifford was concerned that the Cambridge Faculty Association had sent out an email suggesting that the board was considering abolishing the associate principals position when, to his knowledge, the board had had no such discussion. Silvernell replied that the position was intended to be temporary. If the school makes the associate principals position permanent, are we making a long-term solution to a short-term situation? school board member Shay Price asked. Whats our recovery time (from the pandemic)? The lack of a pupil services director is a problem weve had for a long time, Silvernell said. The school will use federal pandemic recovery funds to hire some short-term positions and teacher aides to help high school students, he said. The teachers need help, said school board member Caleb Breault. We need people, whatever the title, to help kids who need the most help. In other matters: During the public comment period, several people supported having an agricultural education program at the school. Ruth McCuin noted that several other schools in the area offer agricultural education. Our kids deserve the same opportunity, she said. CCS student Allison McLenithan attends agriculture classes and is an FFA member at Greenwich Central School, an experience she described as life-changing. Betsy Foot, a longtime agriculture instructor at GCS, said that 60 agricultural educational programs have started statewide since 2016, including programs in Hoosick Falls and Hudson Falls. The state offers grants of $10,000 per year for three years to start up agricultural programs. Its an awesome opportunity for Cambridge students, Foot said. Later in the meeting, Silvernell reported that an action team that is part of the schools strategic planning initiative will research agricultural education programs and do a presentation in the fall. Silvernell said he was horrified by the news from Uvalde, where an armed intruder killed 19 students and two teachers in a Texas elementary school. Weve done a couple of things in response, he said, without specifying them. Hell ask the schools insurance carrier to do a school safety audit. On the mascot issue, Silvernell said he had received no updates from the courts. Hell consult the schools attorneys about whether state Education Commissioner Betty Rosas order to remove the Indian name and imagery by July 1 remains in effect while the case is pending. At her last board meeting, Lester thanked the board for 13 years of support and the schools amazing faculty and staff. Shell stay on as a temporary gap-closing data analyst until July 31. The board hired five elementary teachers, two social studies teachers, one special education teacher, one speech pathologist, and one music teacher at salaries ranging from $45,095 to $57,661. The board approved a gay-straight alliance club and Students Against Destruction Decisions club starting with the 2022-2023 school year. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 LAKE LUZERNE Police on Sunday released the name of the man who died in the Hudson River on Saturday. Wilfredo Arizmendi, 48, of Hartford, Connecticut, was boating with his family on the Hudson River in the area of Davern Road in Lake Luzerne on Saturday when entered the water to swim, state police said in a news release. Arizmendi began to show signs of distress and was thrown a flotation device but struggled to stay above water, police said. State police responded at about 4 p.m. Saturday. The man was pulled back onto the boat and was rushed to Glens Falls Hospital, where he was later declared dead, according to police. The investigation is ongoing, state police said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 6 Angry 0 LAKE GEORGE With water quality threats facing Lake George varying in type and intensity at different points along its 32-mile length, the Lake George Association this week will present a series of educational programs to help property owners understand whats ailing the water quality in their neighborhood and what they can do to help. A walking tour will be held on Tuesday beginning at 4 p.m. The 1-hour tour will introduce the priority issues facing the bay. Attendance is limited to 12 participants and registration is required. The starting location for the tour will be provided upon registration. On Wednesday, 4-6 p.m. at the North Queensbury firehouse, the LGA will present a detailed presentation on the greatest threats facing Warner Bay and provide guidance on actions residential and commercial property owners can take on their properties as lake protectors to safeguard water quality. The Warner Bay events are hosted by Thalia Chase of Castaway Marina. QUEENSBURY A 44.1-acre solar farm has been proposed at the former Ciba-Geigy industrial site at 89 Lower Warren St. The location of the proposed project along the bank of the Hudson River is currently managed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation as an inactive hazardous waste site in the state Superfund program, according to the cover letter for the project. The proposed project from AC Power 31 LLC will be a solar energy facility and will include an approximately 5-megawatt ground-mounted solar energy system and other infrastructure connecting to the local grid. The solar farm will occupy 44.1 acres of the 62.72-acre parcel that is owned by BASF Corp. based in Toms River, New Jersey. Alex Caven, project manager for Tetra Tech who would be developing and constructing the farm, said in a cover letter for the project sent to the Queensbury Planning Board that the intent of the project is to generate and deliver renewable electric energy to the Queensbury community and general public benefit. There would be 11,804 solar panels installed over 9 acres of the property, according to documents on the Queensbury Planning Boards website. The project will also include the preparation of the property for the instillation of the panels, drivable areas on site for access, and access through a land parcel located east of the farm. There will be stormwater management, fencing and other landscaping included in the project as well. The location of the proposed project and access parcels fall in Queensburys Heavy Industrial District. According to the cover letter for the project, solar farms are allowed in this district by special permit and site plan approval from the Planning Board. John Strough, Queensbury town supervisor, said that he has been encouraging the BASF Corp. to pursue a solar energy project. He said that the location on Lower Warren Street is the ideal spot for a solar farm. He said BASF has been working on this proposal for about two years. It is an unobstructed parcel that receives plenty of sun due to its southern exposure, according to Strough. He said that the area is brownfield, so there isnt much else that could be done there. I suggested to them several years ago that they put solar there, because its a perfect place for solar, Strough said. I mean youve got that brownfield. What else is it good for? A public hearing on the proposed project is set for the June 23 meeting of the Queensbury Planning Board. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Queensbury Activity Center at Town Hall. Jay Mullen is a reporter for The Post-Star covering the city of Glens Falls, Warren County and crime and courts. You can reach him at 518-742-3224 or jmullen@poststar.com. Jay Mullen is a reporter for The Post-Star covering the city of Glens Falls, Warren County and crime and courts. You can reach him at 518-742-3224 or jmullen@poststar.com. Love 3 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Called the Protecting Our Kids Act, it passed the House with just five Republican votes, but Van Drew, R-2nd, said it is not expected to pass the Senate. The Protecting Our Kids Act would raise the age to 21 from 18 for buying semiautomatic weapons. It also would crack down on straw purchases of guns by one person for another, and on the sale of untraceable ghost guns without serial numbers, and institute new standards for gun storage. People who are determined to cause harm can do so with handguns and rifles, Van Drew said, and can modify them to shoot multiple rounds like semi-automatic weapons. He believes putting armed former police officers or veterans at the entry of every school is the best way to keep those intent on harm away from children. His Democratic opponent in the November general election is civil rights lawyer and former law enforcement officer Tim Alexander, of Galloway Township, who said he would have strongly supported the bill. Marches against gun violence planned in Ocean City and Atlantic City OCEAN CITY Like millions of Americans, Stefany Mayz watched in horror as news broke of yet When you hear that all it takes is a good person with a gun to stop a bad person with a gun, look at Buffalo, where a retired police officer was on site (as an armed security guard), engaged the individual with an AR-15 and he lost, Alexander said of the racially motivated shooting at a grocery store in a Black neighborhood that killed 10, including the security guard. The shooter, like the one at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, was an 18-year-old. Police armed with sidearms simply cannot compete with semi-automatic weapons, Alexander said. We say 18-year-olds can vote, go into the military and die for us or lose limbs for us. They can be tried as adults, Van Drew said. Are they or are they not adults? Are we going to change what adulthood is to 21 in general? Is that our goal? Constitutional rights cannot be taken away from law-abiding adults, Van Drew said. But Alexander said New Jersey has outright banned the sale or possession of AR-15s and other semiautomatic weapons, and should be a model for the rest of the country. Im careful to say what I propose isnt going to stop somebody with intent to harm people, but it is going to limit their ability to do this type of carnage, and equalize the firefight for law enforcement, Alexander said. How about try this? Take (semiautomatic) guns out of the equation. U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, D-3rd, voted yes on the Protecting Our Kids Act. I know not everyone agrees with me on what to do about gun violence, Kim said in a statement Thursday. But I hope everyone agrees that something needs to be done to protect our kids and communities. If protecting children is really our priority, Van Drew said Thursday, then Congress should pass a bill he sponsored, or one like it, to make sure no one with a firearm or other weapon ever enters a school again. Van Drews bill would require all schools to have just one entrance, which must be staffed by an armed officer who is either a retired police officer or military veteran, he said. All other doors in the school must be locked from the outside at all times, something that was not done in Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two adults died at the hands of an 18-year-old shooter using an AR-15 he had recently purchased legally. People have got to take it seriously, and it needs to be done, Van Drew said of keeping all other doors locked from the outside. The guard would visually inspect all who want to enter while they are still outside, and buzz them into an anteroom for further inspection and package inspection. All glass at the entrance and anteroom would have to be bulletproof, Van Drew said, and the guard would have to continually undergo certifications and prove they are up to the job. Thats keeping our schools safer, more than all of this other stuff, Van Drew said. The real problem is not the object, just like drunk driving isnt the fault of cars. Alexander said increased security at schools is important, but schools are already limiting entrances, screening entrants and conducting active shooter drills. It has been proven to not be enough, he said. They are still going to get in if they are intent on harm, Alexander said. Hardening the schools doesnt change human flaws and behavior. In this particular school (in Uvalde) the back door was somehow open. What good is all that if somebody leaves a door open? REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post 609-841-2895 mpost@pressofac.com Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. MIDDLE TOWNSHIP Police Chief Christopher Leusner has not been shy about sharing his concerns with the possibility that officers may now smoke weed off duty. Its not that the now-legal drug is so fundamentally different from an officer having an after-work beer or bourbon on the rocks, he said after a recent township meeting. Its that while there are ways to check whether someone has enough alcohol in their bloodstream to be considered drunk, traces of cannabis use will remain for up to 30 days, showing up in drug tests long after the effects have worn off. If an officer were involved in a traffic accident or a shooting, that visible trace of THC could pose a problem, Leusner said, including potential lawsuits against the township. In April, acting state Attorney General Matthew Platkin sent a memo to police chiefs across the state, advising them that an officers use or possession of legally purchased cannabis off duty could not lead to disciplinary action. Officials with the Attorney Generals Office said this was not a ruling or a decision, but rather an interpretation of the state law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy a year earlier. Leusner indicated the same thing this week. Hes interpreting the law that was passed, Leusner said. Hes passing along the guidance of what the law says. Unless the Legislature changes the law, we have to follow it. Projection: NJ cannabis could be a $2B industry in five years Edmund DeVeaux looks forward to a time when a cannabis store downtown in your community does The issue came up again at a Township Committee meeting last week, during which a resident asked what the township was going to do about it. Resident Stanley Doniger compared the matter to firefighters drinking at a firehouse and having an emergency. I know thats a slippery slope, Doniger said. I was wondering if the township was contemplating getting involved in that. There may not be much to do, said Mayor Tim Donohue. He said township officials are concerned, but may not be able to challenge a statewide law. Police officers are citizens just like everybody else. The laws are the same laws that apply to everybody else, he said. But with a substance that is illegal at the federal level and legal in New Jersey and multiple other states, there are several gray areas, he said. The township may not have the ability to actively defy state guidance, Donohue said. According to Leusner, there appears to be some interest in changing that part of the law, but until that happens, there is nothing he can do. In the April letter, Platkin said the ruling applies only to cannabis bought at a licensed dispensary. Weed bought on the black market could still mean disciplinary action against the officer. On-duty use is strictly forbidden. There should be zero tolerance for cannabis use, possession, or intoxication while performing the duties of a law enforcement officer, reads the April memo. The safety of our communities and our officers demands no less. But it may be difficult to be certain when someone is feeling the effects. The police will treat suspicion of on-duty impairment much the same way they do if an officer appears to be drunk, including documenting the incident. Since there is no weed breath test, and a blood test may show someone has gotten high over the past several weeks but not determine whether they were high when the blood was drawn, the department will rely on workplace impairment recognition experts. The department and others around the state face a similar dilemma over intoxicated driving. There is a challenge in front of the New Jersey Supreme Court over the use of drug recognition experts who are trained to determine whether someone is intoxicated based on observations. Annual report shows Middle Township police dealing with multiple changes MIDDLE TOWNSHIP After two challenging years, the Middle Township Police Department is look Critics of the system, including some defense attorneys specializing in intoxicated driving cases, argue the tests have a reliability of less than 50%. The science is not clear yet, Leusner said. He said he has shared his concerns with the officers in his department. The New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police has called for a change in the law, pointing to other states that have legalized weed and carved out exceptions for public safety, including for police officers. New Jersey PBA President Pat Colligan warned members against using the drug at all in his own memo, insisting there were too many unanswered questions from the state regarding the use of recreational cannabis by off-duty officers that could result in negative consequences. State Sen. Michael Testa, R-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, has also criticized the law, citing federal laws that prohibit marijuana users from owning a gun. According to Leusner, the interpretation of the attorney general is that the specific federal gun law does not apply to police officers. Contact Bill Barlow: 609-272-7290 bbarlow@pressofac.com Twitter @jerseynews_bill Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SPRINGDALE, Ark. As part of its continued commitment to addressing food insecurity, Tyson Foods announced that its grant of $45,000 awarded to Food Bank of Iowa has supported 38 mobile food pantries in three Iowa communities over the past year, aiding a total of 5,405 households. Food Bank of Iowa operates 45 mobile pantries in 30 of the 55 counties it serves. Mobile food distribution provides fresh produce, meat, bread and nonperishable items to Iowans facing food insecurity in locations that may not be served by a traditional pantry. Food is distributed in either a drive-through or farmers market-style. A Davenport man awaiting trial in two drug cases in which he is accused of selling meth, heroin and ecstasy was arrested Thursday by Davenport police after he allegedly sold heroin to a confidential source on three occasions. Courtney Edward McMillian, 43, is charged with four counts of possession with the intent to deliver heroin. Each of the charges is a Class C felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of 10 years. According to the arrest affidavits filed by Davenport Police Officers Robert Myers and Ryan Leabo, 1:45 p.m. on May 6, members of the Davenport Police Departments Tactical Operations Bureau were conducting an investigation into McMillian after information was developed that he was selling heroin. At that time, a confidential source was utilized to purchase 1.9 grams of heroin from McMillian in the area of 6310 Brady St. The controlled buy was recorded using an audio-video recorder. At 4:28 p.m. May 24, a confidential source was used to purchase nine-tenths of a gram of heroin from McMillian in the area of 1528 W. Locust St. The buy also was recorded. At 2:35 p.m. on June 2, a confidential source for police purchased eight-tenths of a gram of heroin from McMillian in the area of 1733 E. Kimberly Rd. The buy also was recorded. When officers arrested McMillian on Thursday, officers seized 2.8 grams of heroin from his sock. According to police, the typical dose of heroin is one-tenth of a gram, meaning that McMillian sold 17 doses to the confidential source and had in his possession at arrest 28 doses of heroin. During a first appearance hearing Friday in Scott County District Court, Magistrate Eric Syverud scheduled a preliminary hearing in the case for June 17 and set cash-only bonds totaling $40,000. McMillian was being held Friday night in the Scott County Jail. At the time of his arrest, McMillian was out on bond awaiting trial in two other drug cases. On March 10, 2020, he was arrested by Davenport Police for allegedly peddling meth and ecstasy. In that case, McMillian is charged with possession with the intent to deliver no more than 5 grams of meth and possession with the intent to deliver no more than 5 grams of ecstasy. He also is charged with taking contraband, a knife, into the Scott County Jail. Each of those charges is a Class C felony that carries a prison sentence of 10 years. He was released from the Scott County Jail after posting 10% of a $20,000 bond through a bonding company. The trial in that case is scheduled for July 11 in Scott County District Court. On Sept. 14, 2021, Bettendorf Police arrested McMillian for selling heroin after he was caught with 2.87 grams, or 28.7 doses, as well as some quantities of meth, Xanax and marijuana. According to the arrest affidavit filed by Bettendorf Police Sgt. Joshua Paul, in that case narcotics units had received information from multiple sources that McMillian was selling heroin, meth and crack cocaine. Additionally, several women reported having obtained heroin from McMillian in return for sex. At the time of his arrest in that case, McMillian denied selling drugs. However, during a search of his cell phone police found messages from people wanting to purchase heroin and meth. McMillian was released from the Scott County Jail after posting a $1,000 cash-only bond. McMillians trial in that case is scheduled for Sept. 19 in district court. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 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. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un doubled down on his arms buildup in the face of what he described as an aggravating security environment while outside governments monitor signs of a possibly imminent North Korean nuclear test explosion. Kims comments during a major three-day political conference that wrapped up Friday didnt include any direct criticism of the United States or rival South Korea amid a prolonged deadlock in nuclear diplomacy. Kim defended his accelerating weapons development as a rightful exercise of sovereign rights to self-defense and set forth further militant tasks to be pursued by his armed forces and military scientists, according to state-run Korean Central News Agency. The report on Saturday didnt mention any specific goals or plans regarding testing activity, including the detonation of a nuclear device. The plenary meeting of the ruling Workers Partys Central Committee also reviewed key state affairs, including efforts to slow a COVID-19 outbreak the North first acknowledged last month and progress in economic goals Kim is desperate to keep alive amid strengthened virus restrictions. (Kim) said the right to self-defense is an issue of defending sovereignty, clarifying once again the partys invariable fighting principle of power for power and head-on contest, KCNA said. The meeting came amid a provocative streak in missile demonstrations aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power and negotiating economic and security concessions from a position of strength. North Korea for years has mastered the art of manufacturing diplomatic crises with weapons tests and threats before eventually offering negotiations aimed at extracting concessions. In a move that may have future foreign policy implications, Kim during the meeting promoted a veteran diplomat with deep experience in handling U.S. affairs as his new foreign minister. Choe Sun Hui, who is among the Norths most powerful women along with the leaders sister Kim Yo Jong, had a major role in preparing Kim Jong Un for his meetings with former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 and 2019. Talks between Pyongyang and Washington derailed after the collapse of Kims second meeting with Trump in February 2019, when the Americans rejected North Koreas demands for dropping U.S.-led sanctions in exchange for limited disarmament steps. Choe replaces Ri Son Gwon, a hard-liner with a military background who during the meeting was announced as Kims new point person on rival South Korea. North Korea has a history of dialing up pressure on Seoul when it doesnt get what it wants from Washington. While KCNAs report on the meeting didnt include any comments specifically referring to South Korea, it said the participants clarified principles and strategic and tactical orientations to be maintained in the struggle against the enemy and in the field of foreign affairs. North Korea also announced a partial reshuffle of its military leadership to accommodate an influx of former counterintelligence officials named to key posts, in a possible step by Kim to further strengthen his grip over the military bureaucracy. South Koreas Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said it isnt immediately clear how North Koreas comments and personnel moves would affect relations with the South. The ministry said in a statement that the South would sternly respond in conjunction with its U.S. ally if provoked by the North. The ministry added that North Korean state medias lack of specific descriptions about the state of the economy beyond some agricultural and construction campaigns suggests the country is struggling to meet development goals Kim presented in a five-year plan in early 2021. North Korea has already set an annual record in ballistic launches through the first half of 2022, firing 31 missiles in over 18 different launch events, including its first demonstrations of intercontinental ballistic missiles in nearly five years. Kim may up the ante soon as U.S. and South Korean officials say North Korea has all but finished preparations to detonate a nuclear device at its testing ground in the northeastern town of Punggye-ri. The site had been inactive since hosting the Norths sixth nuclear test in September 2017, when it said it detonated a thermonuclear bomb designed for its ICBMs. The Norths unusually fast pace in testing activity underscores Kims dual intent to advance his arsenal and pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled nuclear diplomacy, experts say. While the United States has said it would push for additional sanctions if North Korea conducts another nuclear test, the divisions between permanent members of the U.N. Security Council make the prospects for meaningful punitive measures unclear. Russia and China this year vetoed U.S.-sponsored resolutions that would have increased sanctions, insisting Washington should focus on reviving dialogue. Kims pressure campaign hasnt been slowed by a COVID-19 outbreak spreading across the largely unvaccinated autocracy of 26 million people. During the meeting, North Korea maintained a dubious claim that its outbreak was easing despite outside concerns of huge death rates given the countrys broken health care system. North Korea has restricted movement of people and supplies between regions, but large groups of workers have continued to gather at farms and industrial sites, being driven to shore up an economy decimated by decades of mismanagement, sanctions and pandemic border closures. Kim during the meeting said the countrys maximum emergency anti-virus campaign of the past month has strengthened the economic sectors ability to cope with the virus. Kim has rejected U.S. and South Korean offers of vaccines and other help. GAVI, the nonprofit that runs the U.N.-backed COVAX distribution program for vaccines, believes North Korea has begun administering doses given by its ally China. But the number of doses and how they were being distributed wasnt known. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. A few years back, Kate Davis had an unexpected encounter with a huge man behind the counter of a convenience store while preparing to make a purchase. He leaned over the counter and looked her straight in the eyes. Youre Kate. Arent you? he said. Yep. Well, I have to tell you that my mother threw my owl away when I went to college, the big man said shaking his head sadly. You mean your paper mache owl? Davis replied. He nodded. Suddenly, Davis room exploded with her infectious laughter while Maizee the Peregrine didn't bat an eye from her perch in the middle of the living room. That's the funny thing about this Birds in Art Camp that weve done for years, she said. I tell them at the beginning that Im going to come to your house in 10 years and make sure that they still have the paper mache bird they make. I think they might believe me. Celebrating her 35th anniversary of Raptors of the Rockies this year, Davis never knows when shes going to meet one of the more than 137,000 people whose eyes and ears shes opened to the world of owls, peregrines and eagles. Last week, Missoulas Willard School was the 137th school that Davis birds have entertained and educated over the course of 1,829 programs. At the conclusion of every demonstration, Davis makes everyone promise they will go outside and try to hoot up an owl. And then together they practice imitating a Great Horned Owl. Every time I get goosebumps just listening to the chorus of hoots and knowing that many will venture outdoors and notice the magnificence of nature, she said, knowing the therapy that comes with being outside. This past year, Davis tapped into her own natural therapy pool after tragically losing both her mother and sister over a two-month span. My sister, mom and I went to look at the peregrines together all the time, she said. Its what I did in the spring and now theyre gone. The conversation has moved now to the picnic table just outside of Davis home southeast of Florence where, for the moment, the natural world has collapsed down a pair of piercing eyes and sharp beak balanced on pair of unexpectedly large feet with curled talons under a body covered with a mixture of white down and tiny little brown feathers. The baby peregrine named Mischa isnt a month old yet but she already has captured Davis heart. Its the second year that Davis has adopted a peregrine falcon into her family of raptors. Maizee joined the family last July and was imprinted in the same baby playpen in Davis home where Mischa now spends the night. This is the seventh bird that Ive imprinted in this living room, Davis said. They stay in the playpen at night, have their toys and then pretty much have the run of the place during the day. I have a hosing party every morning. For years, shes covered the bottom of the playpen with pads that she gets from Missoula Textile. This year when she went in to get a new batch, Davis received another reminder of the memories shes created in Montana and beyond. When I went in to pick up some pads, this gal said Oh my gosh, I saw when I was in school, Davis remembered, with a smile. I pointed at her and said 'You went to Lowell school, didnt you?' She said yes, Davis said. Of course, I totally guessed. She was like 35. But then Davis memory was jarred when the woman said her class had a song. Davis remembered the teacher had a guitar and the young kids went class to class selling Raptors of the Rockies pins for a dime and singing their song to pay for the $100 program fee. They were rapping with the raptors, she said. I still have the pin. Im going back to Missoula Textile (to) show her the pin and get her picture with it. There have been so many good things that happened over the years. Davis still flies Sibley, her 19-year-old peregrine thats starred in 672 programs, three television shows and 885 tours of the ranch. Sibley once nearly picked the hat right off the head of a reporter hoping for a picture in flight. Davis has no intention of going quietly into the night. Shes planning to work this year with her co-authors of Raptors of the West to create a second edition. Davis is also creating etching artwork of some of her favorite birdlife. Maizee is molting now but shell soon begin to learn to hunt. And it wont be long until it is Mischas turn. All my friends are retiring but I cant because I just got this bird, Davis said. She will be flying this fall. Right now, shes eating all she can so her feathers will come in nice and strong. And beyond that, there are people who want to learn the language of the owl. I learned a lot about birds and look at them more often now, a second-grade girl told Davis once in a thank-you note. When I go outside, now I look for birds. I love them. Thank you for teaching me how to speak owl, the girl wrote. It is fun to speak owl. Love 3 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. People attend an awards ceremony of Egypt's Entrepreneur Awards (EEA) in Cairo, Egypt, on June 11, 2022. The competition for Egypt's Entrepreneur Awards (EEA), aiming to spotlight some of the country's brightest minds, concluded on Saturday night with the announcement of the winners of the second edition. The event, which kicked off on March 26, focused on risk-takers, change-makers and innovators, as well as the most promising founders that create a positive influence in society, according to the organizer. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa) CAIRO, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The competition for Egypt's Entrepreneur Awards (EEA), aiming to spotlight some of the country's brightest minds, concluded on Saturday night with the announcement of the winners of the second edition. The event, which kicked off on March 26, focused on risk-takers, change-makers and innovators, as well as the most promising founders that create a positive influence in society, according to the organizer. Amr Mansi, founder of the EEA, told Xinhua during an awards ceremony held on Saturday night near the Great Pyramids that the main objective of the event is to celebrate those who are shaping today's economy and inspiring future generations to come. "These are the ambitious people who drive creativity and excel in everything they do. They are role models to others and therefore deserve recognition," he said, adding the platform has also got a lot of respect from the ecosystem. The event has witnessed the submission of hundreds of entrepreneurs in more than 17 categories, and 91 candidates were nominated for the final ceremony. "We were nominated for the best fashion category and it is a pleasure for us to join the competition," Amr Kawashti from In Your Shoe, a fashion brand, told Xinhua. "Such events are badly needed because they are giving exposure to people who are trying to make a change and this is what EEA is really doing," Kawashti said. Hatem Essawi, a cofounder of Studio Five company for architecture and interior design, said his company was among the EEA's top three finalists. "It was a long process to be part of this event, which is an acknowledgment of our hard work and appreciation of our uniqueness," he added. People attend an awards ceremony of Egypt's Entrepreneur Awards (EEA) in Cairo, Egypt, on June 11, 2022. The competition for Egypt's Entrepreneur Awards (EEA), aiming to spotlight some of the country's brightest minds, concluded on Saturday night with the announcement of the winners of the second edition. The event, which kicked off on March 26, focused on risk-takers, change-makers and innovators, as well as the most promising founders that create a positive influence in society, according to the organizer. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa) People attend an awards ceremony of Egypt's Entrepreneur Awards (EEA) in Cairo, Egypt, on June 11, 2022. The competition for Egypt's Entrepreneur Awards (EEA), aiming to spotlight some of the country's brightest minds, concluded on Saturday night with the announcement of the winners of the second edition. The event, which kicked off on March 26, focused on risk-takers, change-makers and innovators, as well as the most promising founders that create a positive influence in society, according to the organizer. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa) PORTSMOUTH The citys latest step toward combating gun violence is opting into a firearms buyback program. The goal is to reduce the number of guns sold illegally and prevent stolen firearms from being used for violence. Portsmouth residents can hand over a gun and receive money or a gift card in return no questions asked. Any day we can get one gun out of a kids hand is a victory in my book, said City Council member Chris Woodard, who voted in support of the program at the May 24 meeting. Council member Lisa Lucas-Burke credited the program with being a step in the right direction toward combating gun violence. Police Chief Renado Prince said he was initially opposed from his experience, guns handed over are typically those left behind after someone dies, not weapons being used for crime on the street. His perspective changed. Somebody said something to me, which was, What if that gun buyback program gets a gun out of the house that couldve been stolen and used in the commission of a crime, Prince said during the council meeting. It changed my whole world. The program is funded by the Hampton Roads Black Caucus, Prince said, which hosted a March buyback event in Norfolk. At that event, the caucus collected more than 30 guns and some ammunition, with money and gift cards provided in exchange. A buyback event for Portsmouth is planned for June 25. Prince said a police detective will be in an unmarked car to make sure exchanges go smoothly. The caucus has partnered with Pastor Barry Randall to help collect the guns, which are then destroyed. Ronald Taylor of the Hampton Roads Black Caucus said compensation typically ranges from $50 to several hundred dollars, depending on the type, condition and quantity of firearms turned in. Taylor said the program is funded with private donations to the caucus. Prince said the data showing the effectiveness of buyback programs is varied. But its about the effort to get that one gun off the street that could help prevent a crime, he added. Council member Bill Moody said studies show such programs arent effective at obtaining guns from those who will use them to harm others, but it cant hurt and perhaps it helps a little bit. He voted in support. The vote to adopt the program was divided, with Vice Mayor DeAndre Barnes and council members Mark Whitaker and Paul Battle voting against. Barnes said he doesnt want the program to promote a false narrative that it will reduce crime. Instead, the city should address the root cause of whats causing crime and preventing those involved in violence from choosing that lifestyle, he said. As sea levels rise, some of Virginias most valuable coastal wetlands, from the Chesapeake Bay marshes to the Great Dismal Swamp, are at risk of either being lost or migrating farther inland. New research published this month in Environmental Research Communications examines how wetlands are migrating across the U.S. Virginias immediate waterfront communities are not the only ones to think about. Areas as far westward as Richmond and Fredericksburg are also at risk, as they border the tidal James, York and Rappahannock rivers. In addition to providing habitats for wildlife, wetlands protect areas farther inland by easing the impacts of coastal flooding, whether the flooding comes from a large storm sending water onshore, or during quieter weather when onshore winds simply push bay and ocean water inland. The research in the report has been in the works for several years at the nonprofit Climate Central. Project manager Kelly Van Baalen discussed the approach to the study in a non-technical report to accompany the research. Overall, the report looks at the future of wetlands given three different factors: how fast sea levels rise, how fast wetlands can grow upwards, and whether or not there is land for wetlands to move into. The study nudges those parameters in different ways to understand how the wetlands will respond in the coming decades. For an existing wetland, its a race between how fast the wetland can grow and how fast the sea levels rise. If the wetland can keep up, it survives and, if it doesnt, it drowns. When considering how wetlands will migrate in a warming climate, the amount of sea level rise and the availability of open land give a straightforward first guess. Sea levels rise, so wetlands migrate farther inland. But there is an additional variable: Wetlands can also grow upward. Sediment builds up, plants grow and die, and the wetlands get taller because of that. In a worst-case scenario, where planetary warming continues most rapidly, sea level rise accelerates, and no effort is made to conserve open lands, Virginia could lose 42% of its wetlands by the end of the century. *** Tidal gauges in Norfolk, Yorktown and the Northern Neck show that sea levels have risen an average of 1 to 1.5 feet since the middle of the 20th century, meaning the role of coastal wetlands in protecting areas farther inland will become even more important in the decades ahead. Not surprisingly, if no land is set aside to allow the natural migration of wetlands inland, several counties in eastern Virginia will lose a majority of their wetlands to permanent inundation, putting current property holders at repeated risk of coastal flooding, and driving up flood insurance costs. Van Baalen notes that development of those wetland-adjacent areas prevents wetlands from migrating inland, whether thats because we build seawalls or because we turned those areas into shopping malls. If the land near wetlands is not developed, and the wetlands are allowed to migrate inland into those new locations, the total amount of wetlands may actually increase compared to today. But movement of wetlands into these new areas also has drawbacks, even if they have not been developed. As salinity levels climb, current farmlands will turn into wetlands, no longer being able to support agriculture. Coastal forests will transition to wetlands, leaving behind ghost forests, which is already a vivid reality from the Eastern Shore to the Outer Banks. Scientists at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William & Mary have examined these changes extensively. But Van Baalen sees ways that this research empowers local communities. The sea level rise rate and the accretion rate are significant, but less so than how much land is saved. And thats also hopeful because thats something that can be controlled at the local level, and its an easier management technique to just save land for the wetlands to move into, than to have to try to figure out how to augment sediment supply. The worst-case scenario is not the only option, as decisions made from the local to the international level will determine how much sea levels rise and how far coastal wetlands migrate. See the Climate Central interactive to examine and modify the different scenarios. DALEVILLE The Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution dedicated a memorial to a Botetourt County Revolutionary War hero in a ceremony Saturday. The two groups, along with the Historic Greenfield Preservation Advisory Council and Botetourt County, have been working on the memorial for more than two decades. In 2015, they celebrated the completion of the first phase. Saturdays celebration at Greenfield was originally scheduled for May 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Supporters, volunteers and descendants of the Preston family finally gathered this weekend to celebrate the completion of the monument. Preston is known as a leader and founder of Botetourt County. He built and moved to the Greenfield Plantation in the 1760s and lived there for 12 years. The plantation was made up of thousands of acres, including the present-day Botetourt County Administrative Center, where the county offices reside. Botetourt County Supervisor Steve Clinton said Greenfield, like it was in the past, is an economic engine. Along with the county offices, the area is home to multiple industries and a preservation area to remember its historic significance. Its living proof that economic development and historic preservation can coexist, Clinton said. Botetourt County officials and the Historic Greenfield Preservation Advisory Council have been working together for years to develop a larger historic park to recognize the significance of the area and the plantation. In 2016, the last two remaining buildings of the plantation a former slaves quarters and a summer kitchen were moved from their original location to the preservation area. Both are now on the National Register of Historic Places. Our vision is to present a broad representation of life on the home front during Col. Prestons time the homefront, not the battlefield, Clinton said. Our vision is that Greenfield will be dominated not by military figures winning and losing battles, but rather by everyday people overcoming and failing to overcome the challenges of everyday life on the frontier. Preston was most well known as the countys surveyor, where he acquired land that helped the county develop. At one time, Botetourt County stretched to what are now other states west of present-day Virginia. Daniel Thorp, Virginia Tech associate professor of history, said the memorial is a way for citizens to recognize Prestons role in building the nation. He was one of a brave generation that did in fact risk their lives and their fortunes on the treasonous act of establishing the United States, Thorp said. And for that, he is due our debt of gratitude. Thorp said the ceremony must also recognize the cost of that contribution, including to the Preston family but also the displacement of Native Americans and the work of enslaved people who helped build the area. Prestons first recorded purchase of enslaved people was in 1759. He bought 16 Africans from Ghana. Thorp said documents do not show where in Ghana they came from, how old they were or their genders. Preston brought them back to his Greenfield Plantation. Jack, one of Prestons slaves, could be one of the original group from Ghana, Thorp said. He is the forefather of a Baltimore family who still gathers for family reunions and is one of the largest families descended from Prestons slaves at Greenfield and his other home, Smithfield Plantation in Blacksburg. Another slave, Nelly, was born in Virginia and enslaved to the Preston family for more than 70 years. On a probate inventory form for Prestons grandson, the familys slaves are listed by name, age and value. Nelly was 70 years old and marked with a value of $0. They, and millions like them, built the United States, Thorp said. Everything about this country thats great today came at a cost. Its important that we understand that and that we honestly acknowledge the contributions of all of the people and the cost to all of the people. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Montgomery County Public Schools plans to host a number of community input sessions at each of its high schools on Monday and Tuesday to gather feedback on the superintendent search. Community forums will take place at Auburn and Blacksburg high schools at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively, on Monday. Then two more forums will take place at Eastern Montgomery and Christiansburg high schools on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. respectively. The forums mark the districts next step in its process to eventually find a new school leader. The GR Recruiting firm was hired as the school boards search consultant. MCPS stated on social media that the forums would give members of the public an opportunity to provide feedback on what theyre looking for in the next superintendent. The search for a new district chief was prompted by the firing well over two months ago of former Superintendent Mark Miear, who had served in the position for just over six years. The search for a new superintendent must be completed within 180 days of the school boards March 17 vote to terminate Miear. Among the latest developments in the process has been the districts advertising of an annual salary of $240,000 for the next superintendent. That amount is higher than the $217,542 base salary listed in Miears last contract with the district. Some of the advertised salarys supporters argued that the district needed to offer as competitive a figure as possible to more effectively attract ideal candidates. They also noted the urgency created by the timing of the search. Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Does anyone know what happened to the Roanoke Tea Party, which for a long time was the Roanoke Valleys most vocal political activist group? In case you hadnt noticed, its denizens have been exceedingly quiet of late. Theyve barely made a pipsqueak, or a Tweet, or a Facebook post about anything since Joe Bidens inauguration in January 2021. Thats unusual. We dont have to go back that far to recall when members proudly showed up at Roanoke County Board of Supervisors meetings, warning that the United Nations was trying to take over land-use planning on Bent Mountain, via a globalist plot known as Agenda 21. But now that were halfway through 2022, members of the group seem to have faded into the woodwork, or perhaps theyve crawled back under some rocks. Have they shown their faces at any local government meetings lately? Like they used to, proudly and ignorantly? Much remains unclear about the groups current status, but lets unpack what we do know. The Ramada Inn on Franklin Road, where the Roanoke Tea Party used to meet regularly, has closed. The city of Roanoke paid $3.6 million for that eyesore in April, and immediately announced plans to tear it down. The Roanoke Tea Party Facebook page has 2,400 followers but if you check it out, be careful not to confuse it with The Roanoke Teapot Party Facebook page. That pro-marijuana site has 1,081 followers. The Roanoke Tea Partys most recent Facebook post was made Dec. 21. Its headlined by a single word, Testing. And though theres no text whatsoever in the message, it garnered a few replies. One features a doctored photograph of Donald Trump wearing a military-style jacket, a Make America Great Again cap and neither trousers nor underpants. The post achieved nine Likes. At one time, the Roanoke Tea Party Inc. was a registered non-stock Virginia corporation, but that hasnt been true for years. The State Corporation Commission website lists it as Inactive as of March 17, 2015. The record also notes: Voluntarily terminated cannot reinstate. The groups Twitter account has been only slightly less dormant. As of Friday afternoon, the most recent Tweet by @roanoketeaparty happened more than three years ago, on Oct. 27, 2018. The Twitter account has 1,380 current followers. But the last time one of its Tweets garnered a Like or a retweet was in 2016. And although the Twitter handle points users to the groups website RoanokeTeaParty.com that page no longer exists. The only way one can find its most recent iteration is by searching on the Wayback Machine, an internet archive that saves old pages. From that, we can tell the most recent post to RoanokeTeaParty.com occurred Nov. 4, 2020, one day after the 2020 presidential election. At that point votes were still being counted, and the election had not been called for either candidate. Heres the post: As we predicted and so did a lot of people, Trump won initially and now the work of harvesting the farmed absentee votes to take him down has begun. We have a lot to talk about and plan for. Join us Tomorrow, Thursday November 5th at 6:30 pm. We will meet at the Ramada Inn on Franklin Rd. Nowadays when one attempts to visit RoanokeTeaParty.com, the page automatically redirects to HugeDomains.com, a Denver, Colorado-based company that bills itself as the the leading aftermarket for internet domain names. HugeDomains.com is asking $8,895 for the rights to the RoanokeTeaParty.com Curious, on Thursday I emailed four questions to Greg Aldridge, who at one time led the group. (He may still; but thats unclear.). Here are the questions: Can you tell me how that [domain-name loss] occurred? Is the organization still going, or is that defunct, too? If its defunct, what caused that? Do you have a new meeting place? Aldridge responded quickly, but without answers. Why do you want to know? he wrote back. I replied: Because Im writing a column about it. Aldridge responded again, But why do you want to know? At that point I dropped the inquiry out of a measure of concern. The questions were simple, honest and straightforward. They werent intended to trigger anyone, if they had. Aldridge seemed less inclined to let it drop, though. Friday, he replied again, unprompted. You want me to answer questions, yet you cant give me a straight answer to a single simple inquiry? Aldridge wrote. Come on dan. Are you really that pathetic? Perhaps my direct answer got caught in his spam folder, eh? Many factors could explain Adridges reluctance to answer. One is simple embarrassment. Its possible the recent and stunning growth of the populist, pro-Trumper QAnon movement has badly eroded membership in groups such as the Roanoke Tea Party. QAnons belief system is far stranger. Some QAnoners believe JFK Jr. faked his 1999 fatal plane crash into the Atlantic ocean. And that hes still alive, like Elvis, but remains in hiding, waiting for the right moment to emerge and become Donald Trumps next vice-president. Im not making that up. Hundreds of QAnoners gathered in Dallas last November waiting for that moment. But it never materialized. Go figure. Has QAnons craziness overwhelmed the Roanoke Tea Partys ability to attract populist attention with its own less-weird platform? Or, have all the Roanoke Tea Party members deserted for QAnon? Alternatively, did Roanoke Tea Party members all head underground after the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection? All seem possible but much remains unclear. Next I called HugeDomains.com, where I spoke to a nice fellow who identified himself as Ryan. He declined to give me his last name, citing company policy. HugeDomains.com acquired RoanokeTeaParty.com in May, Ryan told me. He refused to divulge the price his employer paid for the domain. Did Ryan know how the Roanoke Tea Party lost it? No, he said. Most commonly it happens when an owner fails to renew a domain name, he added. That puts it up for grabs, after a certain defined period. HugeDomains.com set its asking price based on a pricing formula calculated via an algorithm, Ryan told me. Just one of those factors is the length of time the Roanoke Tea Partys website had been up and running from 2009 to 2022. That price seems a little high, I told Ryan. How much would you take for it? We can talk about any offer, he replied. It would go to our review department. Friday, another guy at HugeDomains.com, Patrick, told me the least the company would accept is $8,050. Which prompts an idea. Crowdfunding the purchase of the Roanoke Tea Partys former website could be a lot of fun. Would any readers of The Roanoke Times be interested in contributing to such an endeavor? Let me know in an email. If theres enough interest maybe Ill start a GoFundMe page to raise the money. Whoever buys the domain will be able to control content on a new-and-much-improved Roanoke Tea Party website. And thats a stage on which all sorts of mischief could happen. Just for starters, the new owner could change the background color from MAGA red to soothing blue. Changes wouldnt necessarily be limited to the color scheme, of course. The new proprietors could dedicate all of RoanokeTeaParty.com in honor of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton two of the Roanoke Tea Partys favorite targets. The website could even post a nice portrait of Donald Trump, in orange coveralls and behind bars. Or a full-throated endorsement of gun control. Or actual fake news, with headlines like, Trump Co. to sell half-scale models of the Jan. 6 gallows brought to U.S. Capitol. Id wager Roanoke Tea Party members would snap up those lawn ornaments faster than you can say, Hang Mike Pence! Bonus! The new owners would control content on RoanokeTeaParty.com in perpetuity, provided they didnt neglect to periodically renew its domain name. Which would be pathetic, if it ever occurred. Contact metro columnist Dan Casey at 981-3423 or dan.casey@roanoke.com . Follow him on Twitter@dancaseysblog Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. HENRICO A Henrico County drug kingpin whose network led investigators to four major U.S. cities and into Mexico, and resulted in the seizure of more than 100 pounds of heroin and cocaine worth millions of dollars, pleaded guilty this week to operating a criminal enterprise and laundering his drug proceeds through shell businesses. Nikike N. Tyler, 43, of Henrico, was a major wholesale trafficker of heroin, cocaine and marijuana who coordinated with out-of-state drug suppliers for pounds of narcotics at a time, Henrico Assistant Commonwealths Attorney Susan Parrish said in a summary of evidence presented Tuesday. Tyler used the U.S. Postal Service in 2017 to arrange shipments of drugs to the Richmond area, and would coordinate with others to have the packages delivered to their addresses or to retrieve those packages on his behalf. As his operation progressed, Tyler enlisted accomplices to pick up and transport drugs by vehicle from various locations in the U.S., and they were delivered to various houses and storage units in the Richmond area, Parrish said in her summary. Tyler also enlisted accomplices to transport and deliver large sums of money, both locally and out of state, for payment of drug shipments. These individuals operated at Tylers direction and not on their own initiative, Parrish said. Tylers network was abnormal for the Richmond area due to the large volume of narcotics coming directly into the city, Henrico police narcotics Detective Clint Hoover said. The investigation led us directly to New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Texas and Mexico. During the course of the three-year investigation, law enforcement agencies seized 62 pounds of heroin, 44 pounds of cocaine, 264 grams of fentanyl and 2,233 pounds of marijuana linked to Tylers operation. In addition, about $1.8 million was either seized during the investigation or identified in illegal drug proceeds attributed to Tylers network, Hoover said. When reduced to common amounts sold on the streets to the user, that equates to about 56,000 units of heroin and about 100,000 units of cocaine, [with] an approximate value of $2.8 million in heroin and $2 million in cocaine, Hoover said. The investigation resulted in another benefit: More than 20 Richmond-area drug dealers who were directly associated with Tylers operation were arrested and charged, Hoover said. Hector Ruiz, one of Tylers major suppliers, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Richmond to distributing kilos of heroin in the Richmond area. Ruiz directed shipments of 20-30 kilos of heroin a week during a seven-month period beginning in December 2018. The heroin was supplied to Ruiz by a Mexican drug trafficking cartel, according to evidence. After Ruiz left Richmond, Tyler maintained a relationship with traffickers in Mexico and continued to receive shipments of heroin. Ahead of his scheduled week-long jury trial that was set for June 27, Tyler pleaded guilty Tuesday in Henrico Circuit Court to operating a criminal enterprise, conspiring to distribute heroin and cocaine, conspiring to distribute more than five pounds of marijuana and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Under terms of a plea agreement, Circuit Judge John Marshall sentenced Tyler to 65 years in prison with 42 years suspended, leaving him 23 to serve. Tyler was one of 13 people arrested in September on indictments returned by a Henrico grand jury in connection with Tylers drug operation. Aside from Tyler, only two other defendants have so far been tried and convicted. The drug and money laundering conspiracy involving Tyler and his accomplices dates to at least Sept. 30, 2015. It was on that date that Robert Redfearn, 49, of Washington, D.C. a longtime associate of Tyler who also has been charged was stopped by the Texas Highway Patrol in a vehicle leased by another man at Richmond International Airport, according to evidence. Texas troopers discovered 6 kilos of cocaine inside a door panel and also recovered $30,000 in cash and receipts for the rental car. Detectives later confirmed the cocaine was destined for the Richmond area at Tylers direction. Investigators learned a great deal about Tylers drug trafficking activities after his cell phone was seized in August 2017 by Hanover sheriffs deputies during a stolen vehicle investigation. Henrico detectives then obtained the phone from Hanover and executed a search warrant to examine its contents. Detectives earlier had obtained Tylers cell number through a separate drug investigation involving another man. A review of Tylers cellphone showed he gave daily directions to accomplices in coordinating drug sales and money transactions, Parrish said in her summary. In March 2020, Tyler leased a large warehouse in South Richmond and registered a company in his name as Beloved Produce LLC to operate at that location. A search warrant was executed there in September 2020 and investigators found two kilo presses and 6.7 pounds of marijuana. But no fruit was found, the prosecutor said. Detectives found that Tyler opened numerous bank accounts in his name over the course of the investigation to include business accounts for Beloved Produce, which largely was a shell business. Investigators were unable to locate any legitimate income for Tyler between 2017 through September 2021. His accounts were funded and paid primarily by large cash deposits often made by others [including himself and accomplices], Parish said in her summary. All deposits made were under the 10K reporting requirements and many were found to be broken up or spread between various institutions and accounts. Investigators also determined that Tyler had no record of paying taxes during their investigation. This case was not the typical drug distribution case we see, and it is a testament to the Henrico Police Department ... that the detectives were able to conduct this long term investigation over the course of three years that ultimately resulted in a kingpin being prosecuted and convicted, Parrish said in a statement. Tyler was a major drug trafficker in the Richmond region, and the impact of his organization cannot fully be calculated because drug use and addiction takes a toll on the entire community. Shirley Contreras lives in Orcutt and writes for the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society. She can be contacted at 623-8193 or at shirleycontreras2@yahoo.com. Her book, The Good Years, a selection of stories shes written for the Santa Maria Times since 1991, is on sale at the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society, 616 S. Broadway. FLORENCE, S.C. Florence City Council will discuss a resolution asking city staff to develop a comprehensive crime prevention strategy for the city at its 1 p.m. Monday meeting in council chambers at the City Center, 324 W. Evans St. The resolution calls for city staff to work with various organizations to develop a plan that combines deterrence, workforce training, employment, mental health counseling and other services to reduce gun violence in the city. According to the resolution, the city will work with Project Ceasefire and Project Safe Neighborhoods as well as local organizations. Project Ceasefire is run through the Office of the United States Attorney, District of South Carolina as part of another national effort called Project Safe Neighborhoods. Project Safe Neighborhoods is an initiative to reduce gun and gang violence. It started in 2001 and more than $2 billion has been used to hire new federal and state prosecutors, support investigators, provide training, distribute gun lock safety kits, deter juvenile crime and develop and promote community efforts to reduce gun and gang violence. Project Ceasefires goal is to deter gun crime, develop and promote community outreach efforts and provide training and support for other gun violence reduction strategies. The resolution also encourages residents to report information about crimes or suspicious activities to the Florence Police Department. In late April, Florence Mayor Teresa Myers Ervin, Florence Police Chief Allen Heidler and Florence County Sheriffs Office Major Michel M. Nunn discussed a weekend of gun violence that left four people dead in Florence County. A fifth Florence County resident was killed in gun violence in Myrtle Beach. There have been several more gun deaths in Florence in the past two months. The resolution comes a little more than a month after community representatives for Cease Fire USA criticized the Florence City Council for its inaction on gun and gang violence. The Rev. Leo Woodberry and others appeared before the City Council in November asking the city to establish cease-fire zones around the city to reduce gun violence. The City Council had not taken action on the issue of gun violence when Woodberry, the groups founder, and Democracy Center of Florence Program organizer Anthony Hall chastised the City Council for its inaction and announced the formation of a stakeholders group that would work with city and county officials as well as businesses and other organizations to establish cease-fire zones and reduce gun violence. At the meeting, Hall said the group recommended: An interconnected network of video cameras or systems to keep watch on high crime areas. A gunfire-noise-activated system that would alert 911 when it detected gunfire so police could be sent to the area. Training parents, churches and other organizations to teach children about non-violent conflict resolution and how to resist peer pressure. Developing tools to help people cope with the stress created by the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 14, Operation Cease Fire held an anti-violence rally at the Oakland Avenue Plaza in North Florence. Organization members placed Cease Fire Zone decals on the doors of some of the businesses at the plaza. The Cease Fire Zone stickers have been popping up at businesses in downtown, east and north Florence since the rally. At the rally, Woodberry, the groups founder said, Talking is not enough. We have got to get out. We have to organize. We are developing programs where we teach our children how to resist peer pressure and how to solve problems with non-violent conflict resolution. Solutions are already in place. We dont need studies; we need action. "The Dangerous Few: Taking Seriously Prison Abolition and Its Skeptics" | Main | Iowa Supreme Court refuses to extend Eighth Amendment juve mandatory LWOP prohibition to murder committed days after 18th birthday June 11, 2022 Oklahoma Attorney General requests execution schedule for 25 death row inmates Oklahoma, as detailed in this official accounting, has 42 men and one woman on their death row. And, as reported in this CNN article, the state's Attorney General has now asked for execution dates for more than half of them. The headline of the CNN piece is "Oklahoma AG requests execution schedule be set for 25 inmates following ruling on lethal injection protocol," and here are excerpts: Four days after a federal court ruled against death row inmates arguing Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol is cruel and unusual, the state's attorney general asked for more than two dozen executions to be scheduled. Executions in Oklahoma are scheduled by the state Court of Criminal Appeals. The motion from Attorney General John O'Connor requests executions take place every four weeks, starting no earlier than late August in order to give the Department of Corrections time to prepare. Federal judge Stephen P. Friot ruled Monday in a long-running case the state's lethal execution drug combination does not violate the Eighth Amendment guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment. Attorney Jennifer Moreno told CNN on Tuesday the plaintiffs are considering an appeal, saying the state's protocol "creates an unacceptable risk that prisoners will experience severe pain and suffering." The attorney general is asking for 25 prisoners to be scheduled for execution. One prisoner, Wade Greely Lay, is scheduled to have a jury trial next May to determine whether he is competent to be executed, and O'Connor says his execution date should be delayed until after the trial is concluded. If the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals schedules execution dates along the lines requested by the state AG, there could be executions scheduled in the Sooner State every single month from August 2022 through August 2024. Prior recent related post: June 11, 2022 at 09:33 PM | Permalink Comments The problem is not the scheduling of execution dates. The problem is the violent and often sadistic behavior for which juries imposed capital punishment. The other problem is that imposition of the juries' judgment has been delayed year after year by largely frivolous litigation having nothing to do with the killer's factual guilt. Posted by: Bill Otis | Jun 12, 2022 11:27:06 AM Post a comment Hong Kongs police chief has warned people not to watch or download a film about the citys 2019 anti-government protests if they are unsure about the potential legal risks posed by the Beijing-legislated national security law. Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu Chak-yee told the Post in an interview on Monday that his officers had watched the documentary, Revolution of Our Times, when it first appeared on the American streaming platform Vimeo on June 1. The title of the 2-hour documentary uses part of the signature protest slogan Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times, a phrase which is considered a violation of the national security law that was implemented in June 2020. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. But the commissioner remained tight-lipped about whether the film itself and its production team had violated the law or whether the forces National Security Department was looking into the matter. When asked if viewers could face legal risks by downloading, watching or sharing such materials, Siu said: If theyre not sure whether this would commit [offences under] the national security law, then I would advise them to try to distance themselves from doing such acts. While he did not comment on individual cases, the police chief added that determining whether a person had broken the law would depend on their actions and intentions. If he or she intends to endanger national security, then dont do it or else we will come and get you, he said. Legal experts had been divided earlier on whether such acts could breach the national security law. One argued that the legislation required a person to be knowingly and intentionally assisting or encouraging an offence, but agreed people could still be targeted by a public order law or film censorship regulations. Story continues Another said the broad nature of the laws provisions could theoretically cover all kinds of screenings, whereas reposting a link of the film on social media or renting a place to show the documentary would certainly be troublesome. The film, priced at US$11.29 for rent and US$18.89 for purchase, has been available worldwide since last Wednesday on Vimeo, a platform which is banned in mainland China, but not Hong Kong. While residents enjoyed freedom in Hong Kong, the police chief said it was not an absolute right, reiterating that endangering national security was a serious offence that could risk life imprisonment. Freedom is not absolute. You should not just talk about your own freedom. You have to talk about the freedom of others whether your acts will affect others rights and freedom as well. So you have to abide by the law, Siu said. The documentary was screened at the Cannes Film Festival last July and won the prize for best documentary at Taiwans Golden Horse Awards four months later. The film has not been shown in Hong Kong despite being screened in several countries, including Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. Separately, Siu defended several arrests made in connection with the commemoration of the anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown. Sections of Victoria Park, which was previously the site of an annual candlelight vigil, were closed off to the public on Saturday for a second year, after police arrested a man a day earlier over online calls to attack officers on the anniversary of the incident. The force also arrested another six people on June 4 for offences including allegedly inciting others to participate in an unauthorised assembly and possession of an offensive weapon. Siu said officers had acted in accordance with the law, adding that he would not rule out closing off parts of the park next year if people continued to incite others to break the law, as the force was duty-bound to protect the safety of others. People are trying to make use of this platform in order to incite others to stage unauthorised assembly. There is a possibility of some people committing or trying to commit violent acts, we cannot neglect this possibility, he said In an effort to strengthen the intelligence-gathering capability of the police, Siu urged residents to act as the forces eyes and ears by reporting any suspicious matters to the new counterterrorism hotline, which will launch on Wednesday. More from South China Morning Post: This article Hong Kong police chief warns viewers to avoid documentary about citys social unrest over concerns of possible national security violations first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2022. NAIROBI, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese donors are giving hope to young learners who attend the Mcedo Beijing school located in the sprawling Mathare slum of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Underprivileged children who have been enrolled at the school that is located on the eastern fringes of Nairobi give credit to the assistance received from Chinese donors over the years for renewing their thirst for learning and knowledge. Naftali Kizito, a class 8 student at Mcedo Beijing school told Xinhua during a recent interview that Chinese donations have transformed the school into a modern learning facility. "Before the donations, our classrooms were made of temporary structures. We now have buildings that make learning enjoyable," said Kizito. The 14-year-old added that thanks to the donations from Chinese benefactors, he is now on course to achieve his dream of becoming an engineer. "I thank the Chinese and I wish them more blessings so that they can touch the lives of more school children in Kenya," said Kizito. In 2007, the Chinese embassy in Kenya funded the construction of modern buildings at the Mcedo Beijing school. Later in 2012 with the initiative of the Chinese embassy in Kenya, the Kenya China Economic and Trade Association (KCETA) organized its Chinese member companies and raised financial resources to support the expansion of the school. As a result of financial assistance from Chinese enterprises based in Kenya, the student population increased from 360 to 526 students. Benedict Kiage, Director of Mcedo Beijing School said the learning facility has achieved remarkable outcomes due to donations from the Chinese community. "Despite pupils coming from low-income households, we have been able to offer adequate learning due to the assistance from the Chinese community," said Kiage. He observed that since 2007 more than 1,554 students from the Chinese-sponsored school have joined various tertiary institutions in the country. "We thank the Chinese for playing a role in nurturing students who are now supporting their families," said Kiage. According to Kiage, the KCETA also supported the school during the COVID-19 pandemic with personal protective equipment which reduced the school dropout rate. Mary Mwende, a class 7 student at Mcedo Beijing school, said the Chinese donations have made breakfast and lunch possible in the school, boosting her overall performance in class. "I am now able to concentrate in class more and my grades have improved," said Mwende. Mwende said that life is very tough in the Mathare slums but the school offers a sanctuary where students can learn and improve their prospects. She added that her dream after completing her studies is to become a musician. "My message to the Chinese is that I now have the passion to pursue my dreams," added Mwende. Michelle Achieng, a class 7 student at Mcedo Beijing school said that the Chinese donations have given hope to many students who live in the Mathare slums. "We appreciate the great work of the Chinese to ensure that all students have a desk to enjoy learning," said Achieng. 7 WeChat Pay HK 75 4.6 117 3000 133.59 9.38 11 7 13 123.3 21000 3.2%3 21,000 133.59 77.6 NFT 13 54.665 80009000 ... 2 94% JACKSON, Miss. (AP) Miracle Allen used her last tank of gas to drive an hour and 15 minutes to the closest clinic that would care for her and her unborn baby. Allen, 29, was four months pregnant when Hurricane Ida ripped through her Houma, Louisiana, community. She spent three nights in the remnants of a house with a torn roof and no electricity. Her car was all she had left. So Allen along with her 6-year-old daughter, her mother and a niece fled in it to the rural Mississippi town of Kosciusko, where family lives. Her first priority was finding a doctor to check on her baby boy. But the lone local obstetrician splits her work between two rural counties and wasn't taking new patients. Allen couldn't find another doctor even within an hour's drive certainly not one who'd take a patient without insurance or an ID, which was destroyed in her home by Ida. Finally, a Jackson-area hospital that turned her away suggested the Sisters in Birth clinic. On that last tank of gas, she arrived in a panic. Would they see her? Had the stress of the storm affected her pregnancy? Where would she go if this place turned her away? Almost all the mothers served at the clinic in Mississippi's capital are Black women without insurance, like Allen. Many havent been to a doctor for years, until they became pregnant and qualified for Medicaid. Most are at risk for conditions such as hypertension and heart disease. Nearly all have nowhere else to go. Clinic CEO and founder Getty Israel says Mississippi leaders are failing these women every day. As state Republican officials spend time and resources trying to ban abortion and awaiting a ruling that could overturn Roe v. Wade, advocates say nothing is being done to support women who choose to give birth. Were doing everything wrong, Israel said. Mississippi is pro-birth, but not pro-life. If we really are a pro-life state, we have to do more than try to end abortion and make sure that women are healthy. Mississippi has the highest infant death rate in the nation, and Black babies die at roughly twice the rate of white children, federal statistics show. Mississippi also ranks among states with the highest maternal death numbers, with Black women again disproportionately affected. And rural hospitals are closing at an alarming rate, leaving gaps in health care, while about 20 percent of Mississippi women are uninsured, according to census figures. All these issues plagued Mississippi before the pandemic, but Israel and others said COVID-19 made matters worse, with overwhelmed hospitals and a flailing economy. Israel opened her clinic amid the pandemic need, in June 2021. She wanted to teach patients, especially Black women who she's seen taken advantage of in the medical system, how to take control of their bodies and advocate for themselves. Sisters in Birth is a midwifery clinic that provides education and care to pregnant patients ultrasounds, prenatal vitamins, checkups with the nurse midwife and doctor on staff. But Israel also tries to focus on more than medical care; she said she takes a holistic approach to women's physical, social and emotional health. The clinic's community health workers help create eating and exercise plans, meet with patients at home, and join them in the hospital for labor. Employees help with enrollment in Medicai d and community college. In particular, Israel wants Sisters in Birth to address any health disparities before patients many of whom are at risk for complications given demographics and prior lack of access to care give birth and offer them social support. When Allen arrived, she was greeted by art of female activists on the comforting sea green walls: Toni Morrison, Dolores Huerta and Madonna Thunder Hawk. Magazines with Black women on the covers sit in front of colorful couches. Staff members agreed to see Allen a single mother and waitress who lost her job of 12 years during the pandemic without insurance. They helped her submit a Medicaid application, set up exercise and nutrition plans, and offered her gas money to get home. I felt like I could finally breathe, Allen said. Once she reached month seven, Allen said thanks to Sisters in Birth, she'd already had more medical care than in her entire last pregnancy. Israel calls her on days when the clinic is closed to check in. The stability has helped her transition to life in Mississippi finding a place to live, replacing documents, enrolling for food stamps all while pregnant. They know me by name when I walk in, she said. You dont have to remind them who you are and what youre going through. Now, Israel wants to expand but she needs money to do it. With the help of Mississippi's only Black and Democratic congressman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, she is pursuing $3 million in federal money from the Community Project Funding program to open Mississippis first birth center. She imagines a place where Black women can give natural births and reclaim their agency. Currently, there's a nurse midwife on staff one of a handful of midwives in Mississippi. Despite shrinking numbers, there's a rich history of midwifery in southern states. For generations, most Black babies were delivered by midwives because of racist policies that barred Black women from hospitals. In the late 1950s and 1960s, midwives were pushed out of the industry as hospitals became desegregated and white physicians sought control over the birth market. Israel wants to hire more midwives, for a total of four, and offer training. She also plans a cabin for women to stay so they're on site and supported before labor. Although Sisters in Birth does not provide abortions the clinic generally doesn't counsel women on them, either, as the focus is providing services to women who want to give birth Israel expects that if abortion banned, she'll see an increase in patients. Poor women who are now pregnant, because they cant get an abortion, will be looking for clinics like mine that dont have a limit on the number of Medicaid patients they accept, she said. Support makes a difference, whether a woman wants to have an abortion or not. She wants to be able to support more women, and for them to have the opportunity to give birth at the center instead of at hospitals. There, Israel said she often sees doctors pushing inductions and cesarean sections that arent medically necessary. Federal data show Mississippi has the highest rate of c-sections in the U.S. Black women have experienced the highest c-section delivery rates in the country since the 1990s. In 2018, a five-year study conducted by the federal government comparing birth centers with other forms of maternal birth care for women on Medicaid revealed a dramatic reduction of preterm, low-weight and cesarean births for patients at birth centers. The results showed a reduction in racial inequities there were no differences by race for rates of cesarean birth and breastfeeding, for example and Israel wants to replicate that for the women of Mississippi. Yasmin Gabriel of Jackson said she sought out Israel's clinic because she wanted to have a woman of color in the room when she gave birth. So often, we just get ignored, she said. I wanted our babies to come into this world without stress, without me having anxiety, because of the fact that Ive experienced other people not listening to our threshold of pain or listening to what we would desire. I just wanted to make sure that I had someone who looked like me who understood what I was going through." Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Emergencies come in many forms. It seems that with each passing year we hear of more natural disasters occurring across the country, from fires in the West to hurricanes in the South. Some of these areas are new to these types of crises. These emergency events may mean evacuating your home, and if you have pets, that can be even more challenging. The American Kennel Club recommends these measures to help keep you and your pet safe in case of a natural disaster. Obtain a rescue alert sticker: A rescue alert sticker informs people that pets are inside your home. The sticker should include the number and types of pets in the home, as well as the name and number of your veterinarian, and should be placed prominently near the front door to ensure it is visible to rescue workers. Arrange a safe place: If the conditions of a natural disaster are bad enough for you to have to leave, your pets need to leave as well. Do not leave your pets behind. Because not all shelters will accept pets, its important to determine where you will go ahead of time. This can include contacting your vet for a list of preferred boarding kennels and facilities, asking your local shelter if it knows of shelters that can provide temporary shelter or foster care, identifying hotels or motels outside your immediate area that accept pets, and asking your friends or relatives who live outside the area if they can take you and your pet in. Choose a designated caregiver: This can be tough, but it is important to choose someone to act as a designated caregiver to your pets. Choose someone who lives close by, is around during the day while you might be at work or has easy access to your home. Be sure the caregiver understands the number of pets and any special medical needs they may have and always inform them when their services may be required. Prepare an evacuation plan and kit: If the time comes for you to evacuate, plan for the worst-case scenario. Always follow the instructions of local and state officials and have the following emergency supplies already put aside: pet medications, photos of all your pets, disposable litter trays, kitty litter and scoop, paper towels, liquid dish soap and disinfectant, disposable garbage bags, bowls for food and water, water, a working flashlight, duct tape, permanent markers, baby wipes, and copies of medical and insurance information. In cases like these, it is recommended to have your pet microchipped. AKC Reunite, an affiliate organization of The American Kennel Club, serves as a national database for microchipped pets and provides recovery services for all microchipped animals 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. All animal species can enroll in AKC Reunite, regardless of age or size; microchips are about the size of a grain of rice and are easily implanted. In addition to a pets ID number and owners contact information, microchips contain a unique ID code that permanently links an owner to a pet if it is ever lost. More than 460,000 pets have been returned home to date. For more information, visit akcreunite.org. Here are the 15 most active dog breeds, according to the American Kennel Club: Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) Bridging the digital divide has become a priority for Louisiana since the COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the crucial role high-speed internet plays in the state's education and economic systems. Using federal funds, the state launched a $180 million program last year to provide underserved areas with high-speed internet. In March the Acadiana area welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris to Ville Platte to announce another $30 million federal grant to build fiber internet across 11 rural towns in the area. Although major federal investments are aiming to bridge that gap, the funds can only go so far without an increase in the number of workers capable of building and installing high-speed internet infrastructure, The Advertiser reported. We have so much work today that we cant keep up. Wed almost have to double our workforce without taking on any new clients, said Nathan Carbo, who runs internet infrastructure company System Services alongside his wife Kristin Carbo. I need 30 people yesterday, he added. Its a similar story for LUS Fiber, particularly after the city-owned telecom was awarded $21 million of that $30 million federal grant earlier this year and is asking for a $19 million piece of the states $180 million GUMBO program to expand in other rural Acadiana communities. Its hard finding the workers that want to work in the house and that can do the critical thinking side of troubleshooting this technology, but also be skilled enough to do the operational side of running those cables, dressing it in and making sure it looks nice, plus have that customer experience so that they can articulate how to use the product, LUS Fiber Director Ryan Meche said. So, there are a lot of pieces. But the issue is presenting an opportunity to invest in local communities and to develop a workforce that can capitalize on the need for workers who can install and repair high-speed internet infrastructure. Why dont we invest in our local communities and create jobs locally with all that were doing?, Nathan Carbo said. To that end, both the Carbos and Meche are working with South Louisiana Community College to launch a new fiber-optic install technician program this summer to meet the expanding workforce needs of the region and help residents develop skills to launch their careers. Weve been working with the industry now for just a little over two years to design a program that is versatile enough to produce entry level employees into each aspect of this industry, SLCCs Director of Transportation, Distribution, & Logistics Charlotte LeLeux said. The schools new fiber optic technician program is expected to launch at SLCCs Crowley campus in July, LeLeux said, with room for about 25 to 30 students to complete the 18-20 week course. It will cover how to splice fiber optic cables, how to hang cable on telephone poles, how to operate installation equipment and other skills. The goal will be to cover everything from construction to putting fiber in the home, LeLeux said, so that when theyre hired on by these companies, their training with them would be very minimal. "That would be a win for the college, a win for the student and a definite win for our industry partners, she said. Ideally, that collaboration is a path to building gainful employment opportunities locally, while also developing a workforce to meet the needs of increasingly connected communities in Acadiana. Were getting involved at the right time, so we can start building the (workforce) pipeline, start seeing whats working, so that, in so many years, well have a continuous pipeline, Meche said. It will be good for everybody, he added. I think itll create higher paying jobs, better quality of life. I think everyones gonna win from it. For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, The Advertiser. CAIRO, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Egypt has rehabilitated 210 km of its northern coast and pushed forward projects mitigating or adapting to the effects of climate change, the country's minister of irrigation and water resources said Sunday. Egypt is still working on restoring 50 km shores across the country as part of its strategy to preserve coastal areas from climate ramifications and protect existing investments in industrial, agricultural, and tourist zones, official Ahram Online news reported, citing the minister Mohamed Abdel-Aty. Meanwhile, Abdel-Aty's ministry has launched a climate adaptation project on the North Coast and the Nile Delta to counter sea-level rises, the impact of weather hazards on low-lying coastal areas, and seawater intrusion. The project, set to be completed by 2023, is being implemented over an area of 69 km in five coastal governorates, namely Port Said, Damietta, Daqahliya, Kafr El-Sheikh and Beheira, said Abdel-Aty, adding it includes the establishment of an early weather warning center in the Mediterranean. Additionally, the ministry was proposing a multi-year management plan to preserve investments and natural resources of the North Coast, according to the report. Egypt, which will host the 27th session of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in November, is seeking to promote its national green transition. WASHINGTON (AP) Senate bargainers on Sunday announced the framework of a bipartisan response to last months mass shootings, a noteworthy but limited breakthrough offering modest gun curbs and stepped-up efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, the accord was embraced by Biden and enactment would signal a significant turnabout after years of gun massacres that have yielded little but stalemate in Congress. Biden said in a statement that the framework does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades. Given the bipartisan support, there are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House, he said. Leaders hope to push any agreement into law rapidly they hope this month before the political momentum fades that has been stirred by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. Participants cautioned that final details and legislative language remain to be completed, meaning fresh disputes and delays might emerge. In a consequential development, 20 senators, including 10 Republicans, released a statement calling for passage. That is potentially crucial because the biggest obstacle to enacting the measure is probably in the 50-50 Senate, where at least 10 GOP votes will be needed to attain the usual 60-vote threshold for approval. Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities," the lawmakers said. The group, led by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., produced the agreement after two weeks of closed-door talks. The compromise would make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 available when they undergo background checks. The suspects who killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde were both 18, and many perpetrators of recent years' mass shootings have been young. The agreement would offer money to states to enact and put in place red flag laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns from people considered potentially violent, plus funds to bolster school safety and mental health programs. Some people who informally sell guns for profit would be required to obtain federal dealers' licenses, which means they would have to conduct background checks of buyers. Convicted domestic abusers who do not live with a former partner, such as estranged ex-boyfriends, would be barred from buying firearms, and it would be a crime for a person to legally purchase a weapon for someone who would not qualify for ownership. Congressional aides said billions of dollars would be spent expanding the number of community mental health centers and suicide prevention programs. But they said some spending decisions are unresolved, as are final wording on juvenile records and other gun provisions that might prove contentious. Yet underscoring election-year pressures from Buffalo and Uvalde, the parties shared desire to demonstrate a response to those shootings suggested momentum toward enactment was strong. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the accord a good first step to ending the persistent inaction to the gun violence epidemic" and said he would bring the completed measure to a vote as soon as possible. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has supported the talks, was more restrained. He praised the bargainers' work and said he is hoping for a deal that makes significant headway on key issues like mental health and school safety, respects the Second Amendment, earns broad support in the Senate, and makes a difference for our country. The agreement was quickly endorsed by groups that support gun restrictions including Brady, Everytown for Gun Safety and March for Our Lives, which organized rallies held around the country on Saturday. The National Rifle Association said in a statement that it opposes gun control and infringing on people's fundamental right to protect themselves and their loved ones, but supports strengthening school security, mental health and law enforcement. The group has long exerted its sway with millions of firearms-owning voters to derail gun control drives in Congress. The agreement represents a lowest common denominator compromise on gun violence, not a complete sea change in Congress. Lawmakers have demonstrated a newfound desire to move ahead after saying their constituents have shown a heightened desire for congressional action since Buffalo and Uvalde, but Republicans still oppose more sweeping steps that Democrats want and Sunday's agreement omits. These include banning assault-style firearms such as the AR-15 style rifles used in Buffalo and Uvalde, or raising the legal age for buying them. AR-15s are popular and powerful semi-automatic weapons that can fire high-capacity magazines and have been used in many of the nations highest-profile slaughters in recent years. One of them, the killing of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, occurred six years ago Sunday. Democrats have also wanted to ban high capacity magazines and to expand required background checks to far more gun purchases. None of those proposals has a chance in Congress. Highlighting that, the Democratic-controlled House approved sweeping bills this past week barring sales of semiautomatic weapons to people under age 21 and large-capacity magazines, and giving federal courts the power to rule when local authorities want to remove guns from people considered dangerous. Currently, only 19 states and the District of Columbia have red-flag laws. Those measures will go nowhere in the Senate, where Republicans can block them. The last major firearms restrictions enacted by lawmakers was the 1994 assault weapons ban, which Congress let expire 10 years later. For years, congressional Republicans representing rural, pro-gun voters have blocked robust restrictions on firearms purchases, citing the Constitutions Second Amendment. Democrats, whose voters overwhelmingly favor gun restrictions, have been reluctant to approve incremental steps that they have thought would let GOP lawmakers argue they have tried stemming the tide of violence without meaningfully addressing the problem. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sri Lankas prime minister says he may be compelled to buy more oil from Russia as he hunts desperately for fuel to keep the country running. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also indicated he would be willing to accept more financial help from China, despite his countrys mounting debt. And while he acknowledged that Sri Lankas current predicament is of its own making, he said the war in Ukraine is making it even worse and that dire food shortages could continue until 2024. Wickremesinghe was sworn in after days of violent protests over the countrys economic crisis forced his predecessor to step down. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) Sri Lanka may be compelled to buy more oil from Russia as the island nation hunts desperately for fuel amid an unprecedented economic crisis, the newly appointed prime minister said. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would first look to other sources, but would be open to buying more crude from Moscow. Western nations largely have cut off energy imports from Russia in line with sanctions over its war on Ukraine. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Wickremesinghe also indicated he would be willing to accept more financial help from China, despite his countrys mounting debt. And while he acknowledged that Sri Lankas current predicament is of its own making, he said the war in Ukraine is making it even worse and that dire food shortages could continue until 2024. He said Russia had also offered wheat to Sri Lanka. Wickremesinghe, who is also Sri Lankas finance minister, spoke to the AP in his office in the capital, Colombo, one day shy of a month after he took over for a sixth time as prime minister. Appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resolve an economic crisis that has nearly emptied the countrys foreign exchange reserves, Wickremesinghe was sworn in after days of violent protests last month forced his predecessor, Rajapaksas brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, to step down and seek safety from angry crowds at a naval base. Sri Lanka has amassed $51 billion in foreign debt, but has suspended repayment of nearly $7 billion due this year. The crushing debt has left the country with no money for basic imports, which means citizens are struggling to access basic necessities such as food, fuel, medicine even toilet paper and matches. The shortages have spawned rolling power outages, and people have been forced to wait days for cooking gas and gasoline in lines that stretch for kilometers (miles). Two weeks ago, the country bought a 90,000-metric-ton (99,000-ton) shipment of Russian crude to restart its only refinery, the energy minister told reporters. Wickremesinghe did not comment directly on those reports, and said he did not know whether more orders were in the pipeline. But he said Sri Lanka desperately needs fuel, and is currently trying to get oil and coal from the countrys traditional suppliers in the Middle East. If we can get from any other sources, we will get from there. Otherwise (we) may have to go to Russia again, he said. Officials are negotiating with private suppliers, but Wickremesinghe said one issue they face is that there is a lot of oil going around which can be sourced back informally to Iran or to Russia. Sometimes we may not know what oil we are buying, he said. Certainly we are looking at the Gulf as our main supply. Since Russias invasion of Ukraine in late February, global oil prices have skyrocketed. While Washington and its allies are trying to cut financial flows supporting Moscows war effort, Russia is offering its crude at a steep discount, making it extremely enticing to a number of countries. Like some other South Asian nations, Sri Lanka has remained neutral on the war in Europe. Sri Lanka has received and continues to reach out to numerous countries for help including the most controversial, China, currently the countrys third-largest creditor. Opposition figures have accused the president and the former prime minister of taking on a slew of Chinese loans for splashy infrastructure projects that have since failed to generate profit, instead adding to the countrys debt. Critics have also pointed to a beleaguered port in the hometown of then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Hambantota, built along with a nearby airport as part of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative projects, saying they cost too much and do too little for the economy. We need to identify what are the projects that we need for economic recovery and take loans for those projects, whether it be from China or from others, Wickremesinghe said. Its a question of where do we deploy the resources? The prime minister said his government has been talking with China about restructuring its debts. Beijing had earlier offered to lend the country more money but balked at cutting the debt, possibly out of concern that other borrowers would demand the same relief. China has agreed to come in with the other countries to give relief to Sri Lanka, which is a first step, Wickremesinghe said. This means they all have to agree (on) how the cuts are to take place and in what manner they should take place. Sri Lanka is also seeking financial assistance from the World Food Programme, which may send a team to the country soon, and Wickremesinghe is banking on a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund. But even if approved, he doesnt expect to see money from the package until October onwards. Wickremesinghe acknowledged that the crisis in Sri Lanka has been of its own making. Many have blamed government mismanagement, deep tax cuts in 2019, policy blunders that devastated crops and a sharp plunge in tourism due to the coronavirus pandemic. But he also stressed that the war in Ukraine, which has thrown global supply chains into a tailspin and pushed fuel and food prices to unaffordable levels, has made things much worse. The Ukraine crisis has impacted our ... economic contraction, he said, adding that he thinks the economy will shrink even further before the country can begin to recoup and rebuild next year. I think by the end of the year, you could see the impact in other countries as well, he said. There is a global shortage of food. Countries are not exporting food. In Sri Lanka, the price of vegetables has jumped threefold while the countrys rice cultivation is down by about a third, the prime minister said. The shortages have affected both the poor and the middle classes, triggering months of protests. Mothers are struggling to get milk to feed their babies, as fears of a looming hunger crisis grow. Wickremesinghe said he felt terrible watching his nation suffer, both as a citizen and a prime minister. He said he hasnt ever seen anything like this in Sri Lanka and didnt think he ever would. I have generally been in governments where I ensured people had three meals and their income increased, he said. Weve had difficult times. ... But not like this. I have not seen ... people without fuel, without food. Associated Press writers Bharatha Mallawarachi and Krishan Francis contributed to this report. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 What comes to mind in the month of June? Weddings. Vacations (and how to pay for record high gas prices if youre driving). Graduations. Time was when many commencement speeches at major universities were about America and its values and what graduates could expect in the future. In recent years, they have become a political capstone on the progressive ideas imposed upon them in their classes and textbooks. This year has been no different. While an occasional token conservative or Republican is invited, most speakers are liberal in their political beliefs and promote activist causes. Here are just a few examples from a long list. Augustana College: Dick Durbin (D-Ill). Bard College: Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior. Brandeis University: Deval Patrick, former governor of Massachusetts. Clark University: Mary Frances Berry, civil rights activist. Harvard Law School: Loretta Lynch, former U.S. Attorney General. There are many more you can Google, but the picture is clear. Most major universities, while giving lip service to diversity, dont believe in diversity of opinion. Perhaps the most troubling of this Junes commencement addresses was not just the main speaker at Harvards Law School commencement, but a prominent and soon-to-be powerful and influential person who attended. The main speaker was New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, whose preferred topic appeared to be LGBTQ-plus. She bragged that her deputy is an openly gay man. She also touted her countrys approval of same-sex marriage and its progress on climate change. This presumably is supposed to inspire graduates to embrace her views, if they dont already share them. Why wouldnt they after what theyve been taught, watched what is promoted in the media, and endured the peer pressure of like-minded students? Among those attending the ceremony was Supreme Court justice-designate Kentanji Brown Jackson. When Prime Minister Ardern reached the part in her address in which she referenced New Zealands ban on "military-style semi-automatics and assault rifles, Jackson applauded. As Congress debates which if any weapons to ban, this issue could come before the Supreme Court. It was inappropriate for Jackson to seemingly telegraph her opinion in advance. Notice how the justices never applaud at a presidents State of the Union Address. That should be Jacksons model. What a contrast between Arderns remarks and another commencement address delivered at Harvard on June 8, 1978 by Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn. His speech drew the ire of some faculty and The New York Times editorial page, because it didnt fit in with their ideological perspectives. While Solzhenitsyn called Western systems best, he indicted the West for its lack of courage: A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. The Western world has lost its civil courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, each government, each political party, and, of course, in the United Nations. Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling groups and the intellectual elite, causing an impression of loss of courage by the entire society. Of course, there are many courageous individuals, but they have no determining influence on public life. He added: Should one point out that from ancient times declining courage has been considered the beginning of the end? Solzhenitsyn was a modern prophet. Many speakers at recent commencement ceremonies are more pathetic than prophetic. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Did you vote Tuesday? Thats a question that usually breaks the ice with many people. But the answer No, its just a primary doesnt always wash. Weve seen candidates win races or beat strong opponents just because they were able to mobilize voters. And now, when there are greater restrictions on early voting in Iowa, thats even more important. More than 356,000 Iowans cast ballots on June 7, the state's second-highest turnout for a primary since 1994, when Gov. Terry Branstad narrowly survived a primary challenge from then U.S. Rep. Fred Grandy of Sioux City. Closer to home, turnout came in below the statewide average of 16.13 percent. A total of 8,865 Woodbury County voters, or 14 percent of those registered, participated. County Auditor Pat Gill said turnout was only slightly better than the last mid-term election in 2018. The local participation rate was disappointing, especially considering a competitive Republican race for Woodbury County Attorney and a Democratic contest for a county supervisor seat were both on the ballot. Additionally, two Sioux Cityans -- Democrat Mike Franken and Republican Jim Carlin -- competed for their respective party nominations for U.S. Senate. Heres the rub. Presidential years always produce larger turnouts. In 2020, A total of 45,641 ballots were cast in Woodbury County, or a whopping 76 percent of those registered, matching the statewide turnout. But in off years? In a primary? You probably get better turnout at your kitchen table. What those non-voters dont realize is primaries can have resounding effects on the final outcome. Say, for example, you have three candidates for an office and two are less-than-ideal. You figure the obvious one will win because thats the logical choice. But if one of those lesser candidates does a lot of campaigning, motivates his or her base and actually gets people to turn out, he or she could win. That one you thought would win is out and now youre stuck with the one you didnt think was very good. Do you switch parties? Or go with the one you didnt want? If you had voted during the primary, you wouldnt have to worry about someone slipping in. It isnt hard to see results that have surprised us. Or candidates that probably shouldnt have gotten as far as they did. But that comes down to voters. When issues can be decided by even one vote, its important to vote for those who best represent you. And that starts at the primaries. Even though you may be tired of politicians and their grandstanding, you need to realize the importance of every election. In these crucial times, we cant hope others will vote the way we want them to. It comes down to us. If you voted on June 7, thank you. If you didnt, well be watching in November and we dont want you to complain about the results if you were a no-show. Every vote counts. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 If your upcoming travel plans include outdoor adventure, make sure your familys skills, gear and intel are up to speed. Here are five ideas t CANBERRA, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Australia has reported its highest number of influenza infections in May on record. According to the latest data from the national disease surveillance system, 65,770 flu cases were recorded across Australia in May. It marks an increase of more than 100 percent from the previous May record set in 2019. As of June 5, 87,989 total influenza cases have been logged in Australia in 2022, according to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). Of those, 47,860, or 54 percent, were reported in the two weeks leading up to June 5 as winter set in. "From mid-April 2022, the weekly number of notifications of laboratory-confirmed influenza reported in Australia has exceeded the five year average," the NNDSS update said. There have been 27 influenza-associated deaths in Australia in 2022 and 733 cases have been treated in hospital, 6 percent of whom were admitted directly to intensive care. By comparison, there were fewer than 1,000 influenza cases in Australia in 2021 and more than 21,000 in 2020 as a result of restrictions introduced to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Experts have warned that, with restrictions now lifted, Australia is facing an influenza resurgence over winter which, paired with a spike in COVID cases, could put significant pressure on the health system. Jonathan Anderson, head of Medical Affairs at pharmaceutical company Seqirus, told an industry forum that the rest of the world will be watching how Australia copes with the spike. "Australia is in a unique position in that we are one of the first countries to face COVID and a simultaneous flu season that is similar to pre-COVID levels," he was quoted by the Australian Associated Press (AAP) as saying on Saturday. "It's clear that the rest of the world will be watching our flu season closely and learning from our successes or failures." British defense chief pledges to provide military aid for Ukraine Xinhua) 09:36, June 12, 2022 KIEV, June 11 (Xinhua) -- British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has pledged to continue providing military aid for Kiev while meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart here, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Saturday. During the talks held on Friday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov urged more defensive aid from Britain, saying that "we need more heavy weapons to continue the struggle." Wallace said Britain's support for Ukraine will continue, noting that cooperation between the two sides "will be as effective as possible." Last month, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the British government will provide 1.3 billion pounds (1.6 billion U.S. dollars) in military aid to Ukraine. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji) KABUL, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The Foreign Ministry of the Afghan caretaker government has welcomed a 30-million-U.S. dollar contribution from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Afghanistan expresses gratitude to Saudi Arabia for donating 30 million dollars to Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund through the Islamic Development Bank, the statement said. The statement added that Saudi Arabia "has always lent a helping hand to the people of Afghanistan in times of hardship." The donation came as the Asian country has faced economic problems after Washington's sanctions on the Taliban-run administration and freezing of more than 9 billion dollars of assets of Afghanistan's central bank. Defending Pennsylvania champion Captain Cowgirl poured it on through a :55.3 back half en route to a sparking 1:49.3 victory in Saturdays $133,830 PA Sire Stakes at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows. Sweet And Feisty captured the other division of the event for three-year-old filly pacers, known as the Adios Betty (June 11). Captain Cowgirl kicked off her sophomore campaign with a middling fourth-place finish in the PaSS opening leg, but she was all business in the Adios Betty even though winning driver Aaron Merriman altered his original intention to tuck. I was going to do that, but she felt so good I went on with her, Merriman said. Its hard to slow horses down at this level when theyre stirred up. The pace was just fine for the daughter of Captaintreacherous-Rideintothesunset, who not only set a lifetime mark, but she also turned in the fastest mile this season by a sophomore filly pacer on a five-eighths-mile track. Jim King, Jr. trains Captain Cowgirl, who now has banked $289,977 lifetime, for Jo Ann Looney-King and Kenneth Frieder. Sweet And Feisty entered the Adios Betty off a 1:50.4 triumph in a Stallion Series split, but owner/trainer Mitchell York said that wasnt the primary reason he promoted her to the Sire Stakes. We thought she had that kind of talent from the very beginning, York said of the daughter of Sweet Lou-Fast And Fiesty. But she ended up with two broken bones last year and couldnt race. We didnt know how she would come back. When Ronnie Wrenn, Jr. angled her off cover, Sweet And Feisty blew past pacesetter Lydeo and defeated her by a length in 1:52.3. Somesweetsomewhere completed the ticket. York indicated his filly will race primarily in Pennsylvania this year. $60,000 PA Stallion Series Three-Year-Old Filly Pacers Wrenn and trainer Ron Burke teamed for a pair of Stallion Series wins with Sweet Kisses and Galleria Hanover while Hood Party took the other division. When Sweet Kisses moved first-over from third, she gobbled up the leaders and scored in a career-best 1:51, four and three-quarters of a length better than Heartbreak Hotel, with Miss Helen Hanover third. I drove her once last year and liked her, Wrenn said. I think shed be competitive in the sires stakes, if thats what the connections choose to do. Burke Racing Stable, J&T Silva Purnel & Libby, Knox Services and Phillip Collura campaign Sweet Kisses. Wrenn and Burke each collected four wins on the 13-race card while Aaron Merriman fashioned a three-bagger. Live racing at The Meadows resumes Wednesday when the program features a pair of carryovers: $16,339.83 in the Jackpot Pick 5 (Race 4), $4,847.26 in the final-race Super Hi-5. First post is 12:45 p.m. (MSOA/Meadows) The 2022 Pepsi North America Cup has its set of finalists determined following a pair of $50,000 eliminations at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday (June 11) with Pebble Beach emerging victorious in one and Beach Glass claiming the other. Pebble Beach raced patiently in the first elimination as driver Todd McCarthy placed the odds-on choice in fourth to a :27 first quarter set by Market Based. Night Hawk then pulled out of third to press for the lead and soon cleared after a :55.1 half while McCarthy readied Pebble Beach for his attack. The Downbytheseaside colt edged first-over into the final turn, loomed toward Night Hawk by three-quarters in 1:23.1 and powered through the stretch mostly down the straight and narrow to post a 1-1/2-length win in 1:49.4. Night Hawk finished second, Max Max Hanover weaved through traffic for third and the remainder of the advancing spots were taken by Frozen Hanover and Kolby Two Step. That quite wasnt his go there on the front last week [winning the Somebeachsomewhere], but it worked out like that, Todd McCarthy said after winning the elimination. I was really happy with the way that he did it. Even being first-over tonight I was first-over a fair way out and was a little concerned about it, but he handled himself well and when I asked him at the top of the lane, he responded. Hes a little dude; hes such a cool horse to be around and is a lot of fun to drive. Winning his ninth race from 14 starts, Pebble Beach has now banked $431,750 for owners Patricia Stable, Joe Sbrocco, Country Club Acres Inc. and LAexpressfoderadeovolente. Noel Daley conditions the colt, who paid $3.90 to win. Driver Yannick Gingras, acquiring the drive on Brent MacGrath pupil Beach Glass, fired for the lead and kept his charge to task to take the second Pepsi North America Cup elimination in 1:51. Beach Glass overtook I Did It Myway to lead after a :26.3 first quarter and cruise under minimal pressure through middle fractions of :55.2 and 1:23.3. Spinning for home, the Somebeachsomewhere colt faced a pocket-popping challenge from I Did It Myway and held him at bay as he crept nearer to the finish to settle for second by three-quarter lengths. Ario Hanover hustled from last to take third with Ron and Fourever Boy rounding the finalists. Hes a very green horse Yannick said he was waiting on the horses a little bit and he had to shake him up, and we were feeling that was happening in the last couple of starts, trainer Brent MacGrath said after the race. He really needed this race bad and he needed to get stretched out like he did there tonight and woken up a bit he was good. Very good. Collecting his fourth win from seven starts, Beach Glass has now earned $80,750 for owner/breeder Schooner II Stable. He paid $3.60 to win. With the finalists in place, the field for the 2022 Pepsi North America Cup will receive their posts on Tuesday (June 14) in a special livestreamed draw hosted by Chad Rozema and Jason Portuondo. The draw is scheduled to take place at 12 p.m. (EDT). To view Saturdays harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results Woodbine Mohawk Park. Trainer Brett Pelling sent two undefeated three-year-old pacing fillies, Treacherous Dragon and Wickedly Innocent, into Saturday night's (June 11) $35,000 Fan Hanover eliminations at Woodbine Mohawk Park. One extended her unbeaten record while the other came up short by inches. In the first test, Boudoir Hanover grabbed early control for Todd McCarthy from post six and led the fillies past the opening panel in a quick :26. Favourite Treacherous Dragon and Tim Tetrick popped out from third and flew up to take control well before the :55.3 half. They hit three-quarters in 1:23.1 and could not be caught down the stretch, tripping the timer in 1:50.2. Prohibition Legal, last years OBrien Award winner as Canadas Two-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year, had a bit of traffic trouble down the lane and managed to sneak up the inside to finish a close second. Sea Silk got up for third while Boudoir Hanover held for fourth. Also earning a berth into next weeks final was Smuggle Tina. Treacherous Dragon is undefeated thus far in 2022 with tonights win her fourth in as many trips behind the gate. Pelling trains the daughter of Captaintreacherous for owner Hot Lead Farm of New Jersey. A winner of $299,000 during her rookie campaign, the filly was a $260,000 yearling purchase. Her dam is the $2.3-million winner My Little Dragon, who competed in the 2006 edition of the Fan Hanover and finished a close second in both her elimination and the final. Treacherous Dragons three-quarter brother is the $1.3-million winner Stay Hungry, who captured his elimination of the North America Cup in 2018 and was fourth in the final. When asked to compare her on the racetrack from her two to three-year-old season, Tetrick commented: Shes grown up a lot. Brett and his connections really took a wait and see approach last year at two and let her come into herself. This year were being a bit more aggressive with her and shes getting the job done, thats for sure. Her best game isnt on the front, shes really lazy. Turning for home and she sees them coming she digs in really well. In the second elimination, it was Queen Of Success leading the girls through a first quarter of :27.1. Dont Fence Me In and Scott Zeron came from third to first well before the :56 half. First-up and challenging was Lyons Serenity at the 1:23.2 third panel and that filly paced on by the leader as they headed down the stretch but she had plenty of company. Heavy favourite Wickedly Innocent had the lead briefly but James MacDonald and Silver Label came from second-last on the pylons at the top of the stretch and closed quickly to collar the favourite in the last steps to win by a neck in 1:50.4. Lyons Serenity, Queen Of Success and Free To Be Me all advanced to the final in that order. A homebred for Millar Farms of Stouffville, Ont., Silver Label is a daughter of Bettors Delight trained by Nick Gallucci. She and her stablemate Prohibition Legal both advanced to next weeks final. For Silver Label, the win was her second in three tries so far this year and her easiest trip of the 2022 season, according to her driver. Shes had a couple of tough trips [in her first two starts this year] she didnt deserve a third, noted MacDonald. Thats what great horses do; they bounce back. I didnt want to be hard on her tonight, I rolled the dice and got lucky. I rode the fence and slid out mid pack, Todd [McCarthy on Wickedly Innocent] was advancing quick enough that I could slide out on his back. Sometimes you dont have the best trip, you need a little bit of racing luck. The connections of both elimination winners were able to select their post positions for next weeks $401,000 final, which will be a feature on the undercard of North America Cup night next Saturday night. The field will align as follows: 1. Wickedly Innocent 2. Prohibition Legal 3. Treacherous Dragon 4. Silver Label 5. Lyons Serenity 6. Sea Silk 7. Queen Of Success 8. Smuggle Tina 9. Boudoir Hanover 10. Free To Be Me The Fan Hanover was established in 1983 to honour one of the greatest pacing mares of all time and still the only female to ever win the coveted Little Brown Jug. Over those almost four decades, the event has been captured by many of the sport's elite distaffers with another name to be added to that list next week. To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park. (Woodbine) Funatthebeach N has found a home at the MGM properties, scoring another impressive victory at MGM Northfield Park in the $200,000 Battle of Lake Erie on Saturday night (June 11). As the gate sprung, a host of leavers sprinted into the opening turn, with Nicholas Beach winning the early skirmish. Moving into the backstretch to the first quarter, Ocean Rock muscled his way to the top through a :25.2 first quarter. Tattoo Artist applied immediate pressure at the quarter pole, while Noble could never get a breather hitting the half in :52.3. Eventual winner Funatthebeach N was able to ride the coat tails of Jimmy Freight, both making a three-wide bid heading to three-quarters in 1:21. Turning for home, Jimmy Freight was able to clear Ocean Rock, but Funatthebeach N with fresh legs off a perfect third-over journey was able to clear Jimmy Freight, winning by 1-1/4 lengths in a career-best 1:49.2. "It was a stellar race, with no slouches," said winning driver Jordan Stratton. "The trip won the race; I was happy to follow Jimmy; it was the same trip as in the MGM Borgata." A New Zealand-sired import, Funatthebeach N has won the two richest races in North America this season for veteran pacers, the $549,5000 Borgata Series Final at MGM Yonkers Raceway and tonight's $200,000 Battle of Lake Erie at MGM Northfield Park. He is the richest horse in harness racing this year, with $515,825 in the bank in 2022. With the victory, Funatthebeach N has $849,574 in career earnings with 30 wins in 106 starts for owner/trainer Mark Ford. Snobbytown scores in inaugural $35,000 MGM Buckeye Distaff Snobbytown gave driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr. his fifth win of the Saturday night program in gate-to-wire fashion in the inaugural $35,000 MGM Buckeye Distaff for veteran Ohio-sired pacing mares. Screamin Demon left alertly through the first eighth of a mile, but approaching the quarter, Snobbytown would take the lead in a snappy :26.1. Wrenn was able to get a slight breather heading to the half in :54 dealing with pressure from local Adorabella. Wrenn stepped on the gas, moving past the three-quarter pole in 1:21.1, drawing off to win by two lengths in 1:50.1, just one-fifth of a second off the world and track record. Snobbytown is owned by Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, and J V Melillo and has $42,500 in the bank this season. Bythemissal, Gulf Shores victorious in OHSS The dominance of sire Downbytheseaside continued as two of his sons, undefeated Bythemissal and reigning Ohio champion Gulf Shores, won the two $55,000 divisions in the second leg of the Ohio Sires Stakes for three-year-old colt pacers on Saturday night (June 11) at Northfield Park. In the first division of six sophomore pacers, Terminator with Joe Bongiorno raced to the lead covering the first quarter in :26.4. As the field past the quarter pole, Ronnie Wrenn Jr. pulled Bythemissal from the fourth spot and shot to the lead. Bythemissal, the 1-9 favourite, passed the half in :54.2, leading Terminator and Buckeye Seaside. Aaron Merriman pulled Western Ready at the half and took aim on the leader, pulling with a neck as they passed the three-quarter pole in 1:21.3. As the pacers entered the final turn, Western Ready grabbed the lead as Bythemissal went off stride but came down pacing. The two battled through the final turn with Bythemissal sticking his head in front as the two hit the top of the stretch. He held on at the wire to win by a neck and then survived an inquiry by the judges. Trained by Ron Burke, Bythemissal tripped the wire in 1:50.1. Western Ready finished second with Terminator third. Now five-for-five in his career, Bythemissal is owned by Burke Racing Stable, Eric Good, Rich Lombardo Racing and Weaver Bruscemi. A four-time winner this year, the gelding has increased his lifetime earnings to $71,500. In the second division of five sophomore pacers, Sling Shock with Dan Noble grabbed the lead and controlled the pace through the three-quarters, hitting the quarter in :27, the half in :55.2 and three-quarters in 1:23. Wrenn pulled Gulf Shores as the field headed down the backstretch and reeled in the leader as they hit the final turn. The 4-5 favourite pulled away down the stretch to win in 1:51 by a 1-1/4 lengths over Fearful Intent and Sling Shock. Gulf Shores, last year's Breeders Crown runner-up, is trained by Brian Brown and owned by Country Club Acres, Crossover Racing and Wingfield Brothers. The win was the colt's first of the year in two starts after going six-for-10 as a freshman and raised his lifetime earnings to $523,867. The second leg of the Ohio Sires Stakes continues Friday, June 17 at Eldorado Scioto Downs as the three-year-old filly trotters take to the track. Live racing resume at MGM Northfield Park on Sunday (June 12) with the first post of 6 p.m. (EDT). Sunday's card features a Pick-6 (Race 8) carryover of $2,145. (With files from Northfield Park and Ohio Harness Horsemens Association) The $35,000 Roses Are Red eliminations on Saturday night (June 11) at Woodbine Mohawk Park saw the stakes reigning champion, Lyons Sentinel, and last years Horse of the Year in the U.S., Test Of Faith, prevail in impressive fashion. Test Of Faith was making her Canadian debut and clearly demonstrated her dominance to fans north of the border in the first elimination. In that test, it was OBrien Award winner So Much More and James MacDonald with control well before the :27.2 opening panel. Just past that point, Test Of Faith took over for Dave Miller and was well settled on top by the :56 half. The mares remained in single file by the 1:23.2 three-quarters. Down the stretch, several attempted to catch the leader but none were successful as Test Of Faith was a wrapped winner in 1:49.4 for Miller, who didnt move in the bike through the lane. Next across the line and qualifying for the final were So Much More, Amazing Dream N, Awesome Hill and Dabarndawgswatchin. Test Of Faith, who was 14-2-0 in 16 starts during her Horse of the Year campaign, notched her second win in her four-year-old season. The daughter of Art Major is owned by Melvin Segal, Kentuckiana Racing Stable and Eddie Gran and is trained by Brett Pelling. Shes a champion, shes just one of those horses a lot of people wait a lifetime to have," said Pelling. "Were blessed that weve had some great horses. Shes fabulous, everything about her is just glorious. We raced her at the Meadowlands three weeks ago and I didnt think she was airborne through the wire like she normally is. We found a bit of a problem with her and we feel we fixed it and thats why she was off. Shes such a professional, she could come off 30 days it wouldnt matter. She is so graceful; I enjoy watching her myself and being around her. The second split saw Gias Surreal leaving well from post eight to grab early control, but Kobes Gigi took over at the :27.3 opener and paced by the half in :55.2 with no one pressuring. But as they headed into the final turn, Gias Surreal popped out and hit the three-quarters in 1:23.1. As they headed through the lane, favourite Lyons Sentinel, who raced in fifth most of the race, flew on the far outside to hit the beam first in 1:50.1 for with Tim Tetrick aboard. Also qualifying for next weeks final, in order were Kobes Gigi, Gias Surreal, Fire Start Hanover and Lit De Rose. A winner now of more than $2.2 million to date in her career, Lyons Sentinel is owned by Threelyonsracing of Brantford, Ont. The five-year-old daughter of Captaintreacherous is trained by Jim King Jr. I thought she was just outstanding, King said after the race. When it comes time, she goes by them. Shes pretty special, were looking forward to a really nice year. She belongs to some people who absolutely love this game and they need something like this." Lyons Sentinel has a record of success on Canadian soil as shes the reigning Roses Are Red and Milton champion. She seems to be really happy when I bring her up here, laughed King. The top five finishers from each elimination will return next Saturday night, North America Cup night, for the $315,000 final. They will face the gate as follows: 1. So Much More 2. Test Of Faith 3. Lyons Sentinel 4. Lit De Rose 5. Dabarndawgswatchin 6. Fire Start Hanover 7. Awesome Hill 8. Kobes Gigi 9. Gias Surreal 10. Amazing Dream N AE. Karma Seelster To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park. (Woodbine) The county Planning Commission gave mostly positive feedback last week in getting a first look at a rezoning request for a speculative data-centers project on 88 acres in a county technology zone just south of the Village of Brandy Station. Applicant David Martin decreased the size of the three proposed computer-server warehouses on northern Brandy Road by nearly 200,000 square feet from his initial application when bringing the case before planners Wednesday in the county supervisors boardroom. We dont have a builder ready to break ground, Martin said in giving his presentation. The main goal is to prepare this property to get the interest of data center builders. The 765,000-square-foot proposal, down from the initial 945,000-square-foot ask, would sit in the eastern portion of Martins larger 351-acre property, all in a county technology zone, with access to fiber optics and power. The application includes construction of an electric substation on site, likely large enough to serve future users. Connecting to the recently upgraded Dominion high-voltage line in the area is the best case scenario, Martin told the planning commission. Once there is a builder, he plans to sell the land, at which point the project would be handled by the developer. Development analysis: upper limitThe entire parcel could be developed over time with more than a dozen data centers covering more than 4 million square feet, as shown in a February 2021 development analysis by engineers for the Martin project. Martin said on Friday the analysis map, titled Brandy Station Technology Park, was not being actively marketed by his real estate agent and was not a realistic scenario at this time. The map breaks the land into three sections showing it fully developed and potential square footage on each. The document was not shared with the planning commission Wednesday, though members asked what a full build-out might look like. Asked about that on Friday, Martin said in a phone conversation the development analysis was an upper limit, the maximum somebody could achieve. He said the concept was not realistic and those types of densities could not be achieved. Asked about how much land he would potentially sell to data center developers, Martin said only what the county supports. He said he would not mind living next to a data center, and that any future requests would require additional rezoning requests on a case-by-case basis. It makes more sense to have a data center campus, Martin said. The landowner added his other parcels contain much more opportunity for distance from neighbors and with fewer wetlands. As for the initial application, he opted for a less-dense version, Martin said, mentioning a tremendous amount of wetlands the project will navigate, with review from Virginia DEQ and the Army Corps of Engineers. Once you start building, you see (the projects) become less dense, he said in the phone call. The rezoning request was deferred until next month as the planning commission had a lot of questions. Areas of concern or to be further addressed included construction traffic, density, power, economic impact, community impact, traffic improvements, environmental impact and future scope. Project specificsMartin is president of AttoTek Inc., a software development firm located on the property, along with his residence of nearly 20 years. Of the 88 acres he envisions for the data center project, 50 acres is zoned commercial services and 38 acres is rural area. Located just north of Virginia State Police Culpeper Division headquarters, the mostly green land is now in use as low-impact agricultural. An estimated 10 percent wetlands, including a pond, comprise the larger parcel, in ag and rural areas zoning. Martin had 50 acres rezoned to commercial services 20 years ago and the entire parcel, since 2006, has been in a technology opportunity zone, making it eligible for substantial tax incentives from the county when developed. Culpeper attorney John J. Butch Davies III represented Martin for the initial rezoning and is back on the case. This plan did not occur overnight, he told the planning commission Wednesday. Its been evolving. There are several other sites in the county now under consideration that can be used for data centers, Davies said. Martins land is a little bit different, he added, because its in an area approved as a tech zone, one of five in the county along the 29 corridor. The contained campus proposed on Martins land would be bounded by the railroad and Hoffman Lane, a close neighbor of Shiloh Baptist Church. The data centers would be accessed at two points on Bel Pre Rd., along which Martin said he held a 50-foot right-of-way. This is a major advantage for the expected road widening that will result for for the data centers, he said. Davies said a berm and expanded forestry buffers are in the plans to expand setbacks with neighbors on the eastern edge. As for getting power to the site, Martin wants to minimize impacts to his neighbors, the lawyer added. There are interested parties in this property, Davies said. The real challenge is to have that sensitivity David has, he been there for a number of years and is only asking for a portion to be rezoned. Residents weigh inStevensburg resident Don Haight Jr. was the only person to speak at the public hearing, generally in favor of the Martin project. He railed against the board of supervisors for its recent rezoning approval of 243 acres from agricultural to light industrial along Route 3 for Amazon data centers. Neighbors have since sued the county over the two buildings that will cover 445,000 square feet. That property, a horse farm, neighbors the colonial manse at Salubria overlooked by Hansbrough Ridge on the Brandy Station Battlefield, site of North Americas largest cavalry battle 159 years ago. We must be living in some type of Twilight Zone, Haight told planners. He referenced comments made in April by board of supervisor members in approving the Amazon project that there were no other adequate places for data centers in the county. Haight spoke up for protecting farmland. Industrial spot-zoning will never be allowed in Culpeper CountyMany battles have been fought on these hallowed groundsthis is the latest one, Haight said, warning of more lawsuits. Longtime Culpeper resident Desy Campbell asked many questions about the speculative project via email to the county. We need to know what this looks like; who are the investors, what the financial benefits to them, how long is the term of investment, etc. Is there a decommissioning process at the end of the term? What happens when technology changes? When do they plan developing the remaining acres? How long will it take to get actual power to the sites power-thirsty buildings? How do they account for wetlands and large pond? How does a 4-foot-tall landscaped berm even begin to shield 45-foot-plus tall buildings? she asked. AttoTek has much information to divulge before the Board of Supervisors can review the request, Campbell said. Planners weigh inPlanning commission member Keith Price asked Martin to reach out to leaders at Shiloh Church about the project, to which the landowner agreed. Price told Martin the data centers would have a considerable impact on the view shed, especially bringing the utility lines to feed the site. The commissioner mentioned the Battlefields State Park approved by the General Assembly. Could have a huge impact, Price said. Historic groups have not opposed the Martin rezoning as they did in large force for the Amazon project. Martin told Price his project would not impact Fleetwood Hill. Planning Commission member Nate Clancy commented that data centers are land hogs. They need a lot of space. Is the intention to expand? he asked Martin at the meeting. The landowner responded that once power is in place the property would attract interest from others. Starting small is the way to go, but having a campus is better than one or two data centers in multiple locations, Martin said. Planning commission member Lance Kilby complemented the proposal for its economic development potential, being located in a tech zone and in compliance with the comprehensive plan. He inquired about the size of the substation. Martin said to the best of his knowledge, one substation would service the entire property. He mentioned the pond and 37 total acres of wetlands on the 350-acre site. Vice Chairwoman Cindy Thornhill said a lot of effort was put into the application. The concept is ok, but it doesnt satisfy me. It makes me ask more questions, she said, starting with the level of water runoff from the data center roofs and managing that. Bel Pre is a very rural road, Thornhill went on, asking if the taxpayers were expected to pay to widen it for his project. How do you get them to do more for the county? she asked of data center developers. What are we going to get in return for other some problems to solve? Martin replied they had not yet been able to quantify economic development ramifications, and said they are in negotiation with a builder and VDOT on road improvements. Chairman Sanford Reaves commented the proposal kind of takes my breath away a little bit, related to impacts on neighbors and power poles to get there. 1, 2, 3 (data centers) kind of got my attention there, Reaves said. Once the site is prepped, with power on site, Its best to get the most you can get, Martin replied. 1, 2, 10, 12 data centers are better to have located on a single campus. Once the power infrastructure is in, it can supply one, or 12-15, the landowner said. Reaves asked for a balloon test to determine visual impact of the high-voltage power poles. We do want to be as neighborly as we possibly can be. This is a city to me, Reaves said. Seems like will be a huge something there. The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Robin Burgess regularly gets calls from the memory-care facility with the message that her mother has fallen. The older woman, whos 74, sometimes slips trying to get out of bed or into her wheelchair. She cant always remember that she needs help, so falling is a constant threat. But the worst thing for Burgess and other family members is wondering what happens next. Unless she yells out, Im sure they dont know shes fallen, and she may lie there for who knows how long, the daughter said. Burgess has been told the staff checks on residents, at least every 90 minutes to 2 hours. But shes been there on Saturdays when there seems to be only one aide and one nurse tending to several dozen patients. If a resident is a two-person assist, as her mother is, two people have to help with tasks like getting in and out of the bathroom. That means theres no one else to look in on others, including a woman with dementia who needs help getting up off the floor. What adds insult to injury is that her mother is charged $8,400 a month for the room and care. But Burgess, who lives in Culpeper County, doesnt fault any of the health-care workers at the facility which isnt being named because the problems described there probably are pervasive nationwide. In the seven months her mother has lived there, Burgess said she hasnt met any nurses or aides who gave the impression they wouldnt do anything they could to help. There just arent enough of them, she said. Its not a person issue at all, its simply the lack of workers. Horrific shortages Finding workers for long-term care facilitieswhether they specialize in memory care or provide general treatment to older and disabled peoplehas always been a challenge, even before COVID-19. Elderly patients tend to have the most chronic health problems and need the most hands-on treatment, but health-care professionals say staff shortages in long-term care facilities have gotten progressively worse as the pandemic has worn on. The same crisis that weve had in the acute-care arena with the great resignation, where 20% of professionals left health care, that same kind of crisis is being seen across all areas, said Dr. M. Stephen Mandell Jr. Nursing facilities are no different. Its every bit as hard for them and maybe even more so sometimes. Mandell was the medical director at the Bowling Green Health and Rehabilitation Center in Caroline County about 11 years ago. More recently, hes represented Mary Washington Healthcare on a community council that shares information on ways to improve a patients transition from the hospital to nursing facilities and vice versa. When nursing homes have limited staff, they have to cut back on the number of beds they can fill and that action has a ripple effect, Mandell said. Patients leaving the hospitalbut not well enough to go homethen face limited options in terms of where they can go for rehabilitation. Thats already happening, according to the American Health Care Association, which represents 14,000 long-term care facilities nationwide. A recent AHCA survey noted that six of 10 nursing homes are limiting new patients because they dont have enough workers to care for them. Almost every survey respondent, or 98%, said its difficult to find staff, while 87% reported shortages between moderate and severe. While pandemic outcomes have improved this year to the point that fewer people are being hospitalized and dyingbecause of the availability of vaccines and more treatments60% of nursing home providers said their workforce woes have worsened in 2022. Im hearing about shortages that are horrific, truthfully, and its a bit of a perfect storm, said Dr. Zoila Ortega, the founder and president of Career Nursing Academy in Locust Grove. Her academy trains certified nursing aides, or CNAs, for nursing homes, as well as personal care assistants, or PCAs, who work in assisted-living facilities or in homes with private patients. Strain and drain The Free LanceStar contacted spokespeople and workers at local long-term care facilities, but didnt get any responses and reached out to people such as Ortega, who are familiar with the staff shortages. She said workers who remain are being taxed because theyre assuming more of the workload and facing physical and mental burnout. Tracey Bilodeau, a licensed practical nurse who lives in Stafford County, knows the feeling. Shes a home health nurse who cares for a paralyzed patient and said nurses who work in private homes face some of the same strain and drain as those in facilities. The work is constant, mundane and hard on a persons body. She knows an LPN who worked in a long-term care facility in New York and was trained to do various maneuvers alone, in case no one else was available. Bilodeau said the nurse can lower a bed, roll a 300-pound patient toward her and somehow rest their body against her knee while she does the necessary cleaning or treatments. God love her, Bilodeau said. Thats just a recipe for slipped discs and herniated discs and everything else. Im 65 years old and in good physical condition, but Im not 30 anymore. You have to be careful. During the first year of COVID, media reports cited a number of reasons for the decrease in nurses. Those nearing retirement age left careers earlier than planned and younger ones, with children at home, took different jobs so they wouldnt expose their families to a mutating virus. As the pandemic goes on and new issues surface, Bilodeau said she feels for her fellow nurses who still face the same grind. Theyre worn out, theyre COVID weary, the world is COVID weary, she said. Ive had it with masks and the idea of more vaccines and now monkeypox comes along. We were already dealing with so much stuff. More training Ortega has heard about facility supervisorsadministrators, directors of nursing and even human resource personnel with a background in health caregoing to work on the floor to care for patients, especially on holidays and weekends. When you hear these people are leaving their offices, their desks, and they have to go out there and work as CNAs, you know things are bad, she said. Ortega believes the answer is training more candidates and finding more creative ways to recruit nurses and aides. Her academy in Orange County specializes in helping those for whom English is not a first language as well as people who have what she calls a caregiving spirit but dont always perform well on written tests. She believes retirees and those whove left the military would be good candidates for jobs as nursing aides and would like to see programs developed to reach themand to cover their training while they work. The same could be done for 17-year-olds seeking summer jobs, Ortega said. Germanna Community College has a goal to double the number of nurses and health-care professionals it trains to more than 400 a year to help with the shortage. Earlier this year, Germanna and others in the Virginia Community College System asked the General Assembly to invest in efforts to boost nursing programs. Without it, the VCCS wont be able to fill high-demand nursing jobs by training more graduates who are ready for the workforce, said Dr. Patti Lisk, dean of Nursing & Health Technologies at Germanna. Simply put, this is a crisis that transcends geography, provider types and health-care settings, leaving a nursing workforce that cannot meet Virginias needs, VCCS spokesman Jeff Kraus said in February. Ortega described it another way. If nothing changes and you have to go into a facility 10 years from now, she said, there wont be people to take care of you. Panhandle teens looking to get to work in local fields learned about tractor safety during a workshop at the Legacy of the Plains on June 7. The teens, who had already earned a certificate for completing an online tractor safety training through the Nebraska Extension and Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Public Health, demonstrated their knowledge of tractor safety and complete an extensive driving test. The kids have done an online training, theyve gone through all kinds of materials online and have been tested on that, John Thomas, an extension educator at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center, said. They have a certificate they bring me from that says they completed it and then they do the hands-on test. The teens were asked a range of tractor safety questions including how would they check the oil and other fluid levels to did they look under the attached trailer for a sleeping dog before climbing into the seat. I asked them all kinds of questions, things they might encounter on a farm. What if their employer asked them to do something dangerous, for example, Thomas said. The kid needs to say, Sorry, that is hazardous, I respectfully cant do that. We want the kids to leave here feeling empowered to say that. After correctly answering the tractor safety and operation questions from Thomas, the teens were asked to hitch and unhitch a trailer to the tractor and drive the tractor, with the trailer hitched, through a standardized course. The course was laid out with orange cones for the young drivers to maneuver to demonstrate tight turns, and included a lengthy section of backing the tractor up to a cone. Tandon Bentley, 15, said he grew up driving tractors on the family farm and he is hoping this tractor safety certificate will encourage his employer to let him drive for him. Bentley backed the tractor and trailer perfectly and said the hardest part was mainly doing all the online stuff. Thomas said, A kid can work on their own farm with their parents, but if a kid goes to somebody elses farming operation, they need this certificate to use tractors for that guys insurance. Thomas explained that by earning certificates of completion from both the online and driving tests, along with a $25 application fee, the 1-4 and 15 year-olds can legally operate mechanized equipment on employers farms. Mandie Bentley, Tandons mom, said that once he earns the teen tractor safety certificate, it can be added to a learners driving permit. Well take the certificate to the DMV in the courthouse, theyll scan it and add it on to Tandons learners permit, she said. So it helps with your insurance and it means he can drive farm-plated vehicles, but there are still regulations since hes 15. So its a pretty big deal. Bentley and fellow student, Jay Peterson, exchanged a fist bump when Thomas announced they both passed the tractor driving test, mentioning that it never hurts to practice backing a trailer. The driving part was the most fun for the most part, Bentley said. I about smoked a cone, though. I had to save it because I was like about to run it over. Nicole Heldt is a reporter with the Star-Herald, covering agriculture. She can be reached at 308-632-9044 or by email at nheldt@starherald.com. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. LARAMIE, WYO. The Wyoming Natural Diversity Database released a new field guide on Wyoming thistles, designed to assist those who work or recreate outdoors in identifying native and non-native thistles. Titled Wyoming Thistle Field Guide and published in partnership with the University of Wyoming Extension, the pocket-sized guide features photos and descriptions of all 24 thistles found in the state, including the five noxious invasives. Author Bonnie Heidel, lead botanist for the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database, said that the purpose of the new publication is to bring attention to the bane and benefits of thistles. The guide is intended for statewide use by weed crews, landowners, educators, land managers and botanists. The keys, designed to guide users through the identification process step by step, are written for non-experts. Some of the most pervasive noxious weeds in the state are invasive thistles, Heidel said. If not identified and treated accordingly, invasive thistles can displace native species, degrade habitat quality, impact agriculture and reduce land value. Native thistles, on the other hand, provide benefits for wildlife, pollinators, and for rangeland health in general. Bird species and large herbivores, such as elk, also rely on native thistles as a food source. The big takeaway? Know the difference, said Heidel. Print copies of the publication can be purchased online for $4.50 plus shipping at the University of Wyoming Biodiversity Institute at wyobiodiversity.net or the Wyoming Weed and Pest Council (WWPC) at wyoweed.org. Designed for convenience in the field, the pocket-sized book features a ruler on the inside cover and sturdy spiral binding. A free digital copy of the guide is available online at bit.ly/wy-thistle-guide. For additional assistance with plant identification, please visit www.uwyo.edu/uwe/county to contact a local University of Wyoming Extension educator. On Saturday, June 4, my son Chris and I drove west on I-40 to Asheville in North Carolinas Land of the Sky. We had a good day in each others company, talking as we drove. Under no schedule, we stopped and walked through the Jamestown Flea & Farmers Market at Morganton. A nice fellow there had a booth selling reproduction helmets, swords, shields and similar stuff. I tried on a Spartan-style helmet. A little further up the road we stopped at an antique store near Black Mountain, then, at cousin Annas suggestion, we lunched at the Moose Cafe at 570 Brevard Road. Then we visited with Anna and her husband, John. Anna is the daughter of Paul Uncle Bud Rhodes, the fellow I wrote about in my May 1 column, he who flew into hurricanes deliberately. The weather Saturday, youll recall, was beautiful. Resisting a strong urge to take a nap, Chris and I headed back down the mountain on I-40 East. We were about at Swannanoa when a black bear crossed the interstate in front of us. My camera was on the floor behind me secured in a camera case, and I was not able to get to it easily, so there is no photo of the bear to go with this column. You will have to take my word for it or you can ask Chris. It is just a guess, but I would estimate that the bear weighed 250 to 300 pounds; it looked well-fed. It was black, so Im guessing it was a black bear. As to exact species, Im guessing it was an American Black Bear, Ursus Americanus, to use its scientific name. As to its gender, I have no guess. It crossed the highway maybe 30 yards in front of us, then crossed the median and then made it across the westbound lanes and disappeared back into the tree line. I was glad to see that it made it across the traffic. Mr. Bear Ill assume it was male was not wearing a green pork pie hat and a white collar and green four-in-hand tie as the folks at Hanna-Barbera Studios depict Yogi when he hunts pick-a-nick baskets with his diminutive pal, Boo-Boo. Cousin Anna and her husband, John, less than an hour before, had mentioned that they had seen bears from the back deck of their handsome home in Asheville. In West Iredell, I have seen deer in the woods and on our road, also rabbits, gray squirrels and an occasional opossum in our yard. And now and then, a small snake. Once, I may have seen a coyote near the Blue Door Cemetery. All in all, nothing to get really excited about. Bears are a different matter altogether. Being the stalwart researcher that I am, I consulted a well-known authority concerning American black bears. Things I found out: 1. Black bears are our continents smallest and most widely-distributed bear species. 2. They are omnivores. They will eat almost anything. 3. They are champion tree climbers. 4. They have much better eyesight and hearing than we do. 5. Their sense of smell is seven times that of your pet dog, which is already much better than yours or mine. 6. They are excellent swimmers and usually do well at the Summer Olympic Games. (I made that last part up.) 7. Their average lifespan in the wild is about 18 years and they usually breed in the June-July period; the sows (females) having their first litter at the age of 3 to 5 years. 8. American black bears typically avoid confronting humans. 9. However, if confronted, you should stand and face the bear directly, make yourself look as large as possible (spread your arms, a coat is even better) while making as much noise as possible. Screaming is permitted. 10. An American black bear can run at a speed of 25 to 30 miles an hour. For a distance of 100 to 200 meters, a black bear could beat the retired Jamaican sprinter and world record holder Usain Bolt in a foot race. You and I would do less well than Mr. Bolt, considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. 11. My sons car, in which we were seated, can probably go faster than Mr. Bear or Mr. Bolt, and has more endurance. I hope. Chris and I made it back to Statesville with no more wild animal encounters. We had renewed a friendship with relatives, had quality time together, had a terrific lunch and had a great tale to tell. All in all, to my way of thinking, we had had a four-star day. O.C. Stonestreet is the author of Tales From Old Iredell County, They Called Iredell County Home and Once Upon a Time in Mooresville, NC. Afghan security force members stand guard near the site of a blast in Kunar province, Afghanistan, June 12, 2022. Five persons were injured as a roadside bomb struck a vehicle of security personnel in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province on Sunday, police said. (Photo by Qazafi Mal/Xinhua) ASADABAD, Afghanistan, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Five persons were injured as a roadside bomb struck a vehicle of security personnel in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province on Sunday, police said. Provincial police chief Abdul Haq Haqani confirmed that the incident took place in the morning rush hour in the provincial capital Asadabad, injuring five security force members. In the meantime, eyewitness Naqibullah asserted that two persons were killed and five others injured in the blast. Afghan security force members stand guard near the site of a blast in Kunar province, Afghanistan, June 12, 2022. Five persons were injured as a roadside bomb struck a vehicle of security personnel in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province on Sunday, police said. (Photo by Qazafi Mal/Xinhua) Afghan security force members stand guard near the site of a blast in Kunar province, Afghanistan, June 12, 2022. Five persons were injured as a roadside bomb struck a vehicle of security personnel in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province on Sunday, police said. (Photo by Qazafi Mal/Xinhua) Afghan security force members stand guard near the site of a blast in Kunar province, Afghanistan, June 12, 2022. Five persons were injured as a roadside bomb struck a vehicle of security personnel in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province on Sunday, police said. (Photo by Qazafi Mal/Xinhua) The Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association announced that Grayhouse Farms of Stony Point earned the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairys 2022 Outstanding Dairy Farm Sustainability Award. In its 11th year, the award recognizes dairy farmers who are dedicated to socially responsible, economically viable and environmentally sound dairy production and exemplify a longstanding commitment to continuous improvement. Grayhouse Farms is in the upper echelon of dairy farming, said Jay Bryant, the associations CEO. They are committed stewards of their animals and their land and serve as role models for their fellow farmers. Congratulations to the entire Grayhouse Family on earning this national recognition for their commitment to sustainability. Grayhouse Farm is owned by Reid and Peggy Gray, along with their sons Jimmy and Andy. As third-generation dairymen, Jimmy and Andy have been integral in their farm and took over the day-to-day operations from their parents in 2017. They currently milk 1,120 cows in a new facility designed with cow comfort in mind. The farm deploys dozens of sustainability practices including cover crops, livestock exclusion fencing and 100% no-till farming while using nonproductive farmland for enhanced wildlife habitat. In addition to hosting community farm tours and conservation days, they share their lessons learned with fellow dairy farmers to inspire further adoption of sustainable farming practices. Grayhouse Farms has been a member of the association for 35 years and achieved its highest honor, Producer of the Year, in 2020. As the first dairy farm in North Carolina to receive this award, its truly an honor for our family to be nationally recognized for our commitment to the environment, Jimmy Gray said. My parents, my brother, Andy, and our families are tirelessly dedicated to being sustainable dairy farmers that leave our land better for the next generation. In addition to the award for Grayhouse Farms, the association was awarded the 2022 award for Outstanding Community Impact by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. This isnt the first time the association has been recognized for innovation. The association, alongside its partners at the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and Turkey Hill Dairy, was awarded the 2020 Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy Outstanding Supply Chain Collaboration Award for our shared Turkey Hill Clean Water Partnership. Learn more about our sustainability commitment at mdvamilk.com/sustainability. The year 1973 marks a pivotal moment in Mitchell Community Colleges history, signifying its transition from a private two-year institution to a public community college. This meaningful change in the Colleges history was brought about by the efforts of many individuals, but it occurred under the leadership of one former president, Dr. Barton Herrscher. Herrscher died May 22. Dr. Herrscher was instrumental in solidifying Mitchells future success, said Dr. Tim Brewer, current president of Mitchell Community College. His work transitioning the college from private to public was done so by embracing its history and heritage with an eye on student needs in the future. Contributing to his founding role as president, Herrscher served as a bold young visionary to foster lasting positive change as he guided a 120-year-old private Mitchell College through the transition of a new identity as a public community college. Herrscher was unanimously approved by the board of trustees in 1970 as the next president of Mitchell but it was not until February 1971 that Herrscher officially assumed the presidency at the age of 36. According to William Mooses A History of Mitchell Community College (2005), at an informal ceremony, former President John Montgomery literally gave Herrscher the keys to the building with Montgomery labeling himself as the happiest man in Statesville and the newly appointed Herrscher claiming himself to be the second happiest man in Statesville. Herrscher, who held the role of president from 1970 to 1973, assumed responsibility for the current conundrum that the college faced Mitchells need for a smooth transition from a private educational landscape to a public community college frontier. Montgomery had led the colleges decision to convert to a community college, but it would take an educator with applicable experience like Herrscher to make that decision fruition into a successful reality. Herrscher did, in fact, have that experience. Herrscher taught from 1958 to 1964 at Southern Methodist University, the University of California at Berkley, and in the Junior College District. In 1964, he took an interest in college administration and served four years as an associate dean of cultural and regional affairs; he completed his graduate studies with an doctorate at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1967. It is while serving as an adjunct professor at the College of William and Mary, Duke University, N.C. State University and Virginia Commonwealth University and through his work in 1968 with the Regional Educational Laboratory of the Carolinas and Virginia that Herrscher became familiar with Mitchell. From his experience, Herrscher brought to Mitchell what he referred to as a humanitarian approach to higher education; one that centered on putting the needs of the students first and the institution second to stimulate high quality educational progress. Known for his creativity and aid in the development of innovative programs, Herrscher championed a renewed direction with institutional responsibility in mind, offering community-focused, accessible education that accounted for the holistic student and their access to a variety of learning experiences. During Herrschers presidency, the college saw a driven focus on student needs such as improved student life on campus, increased financial aid opportunities and curriculum changes that were more responsive to a students individualized learning habits. Under Herrschers leadership, in 1971, Mitchell Community College is noted as operating in the foreground of educational reform in the country. Herrscher was constantly engaging in the community, speaking at a variety of events ranging from local to regional, and drawing attention to the colleges novel approach of offering each student a variety of ways to learn at their own pace. Herrschers individualized style of instruction at Mitchell was so innovative that it earned the college a mention on the front page of the Jan. 20, 1972 issue of The Wall Street Journal. Herrscher is recorded in a 1973 Message from the President addressing students in a statement that says, The extent to which you profit from college is dependent upon the extent of your involvement in college life. As such, my charge to you is to get involved. Yet it is Herrschers leadership during his role as president of the college that administered the educational opportunity for students at Mitchell to get involved in an individualized approach to their continued education. It is Herrschers leadership that left a legacy for the educational opportunities that Mitchell offers its students today. From curriculum courses that lead to transfer degrees to certifications and programs that develop Iredell Countys workforce, Mitchell Community College offers customized paths of education for the individual student, their needs and interests. Mitchell Community College thanks President Barton Herrscher for his leadership, his vision, and his passion which laid a foundation for the colleges present and future success. Information in this article has been acquired from William Mooses A History of Mitchell Community College (2005) and from archival materials sourced from the Mitchell Community College Huskins Library. Make a plan, go out and create more great masterpieces and its never too late to become the person you want to be were some of the words of advice and encouragement that South Iredell High Schools graduating class heard from the speakers during their commencement ceremony Friday morning. Viking Valley filled quickly as family and friends gathered to witness this special 56th annual graduation ceremony, a day that the more than 300 graduates had been waiting for. The buzz from the stands as they waited to see their graduate pass by and soon cross the stage reflected the excitement felt by each at this milestone occasion. The traditional Pomp and Circumstance began, and the students made their way across the field, around the track and to their seats, at which time the crowd erupted into loud applause and cheers. Following the presentation of colors by the South Iredell Marine Corps JROTC Color Guard, the singing of the national anthem by the schools concert choir, and the posting of colors, Ashley Crowley, a fellow senior, welcomed each to the celebration. Todays commemoration symbolizes both an ending and a beginning, Crowley said. It represents a shared history of knowledge, laughter and tears, and a future that awaits in seeking new ideas, friendships and opportunities. After welcoming everyone and introducing the platform guests, Principal Kelly Shoffner took a moment to speak to the students as she said she wanted to talk about what made each unique. She related each student to being beautiful mosaic tiles, noting what makes each different. Some have delicate brushstrokes, some have bold colors, and some have rough and bumpy textures. Some may have iridescent stones that reflect in the sunlight and some have prismatic crystals that project a wonderful light onto others, Shoffner said. All these tiles have developed over time. All are imperfect, but each is unique and special. Here at South they all come together to create a marvelous masterpiece. Class of 2022, you are a masterpiece. She then challenged each to go out and change the worlds mosaic. Keep your unique design, but also continue to be willing to alter your own tile as you continue to grow. Go out and create more great masterpieces. Go out and make this world a beautiful place where we can all be unique together. Returning to the podium, Crowley addressed the students and told the Class of 2022, We did it! and reflected on their past years and things they had learned. Noting when they first arrived at South Iredell, she said they were full of fear, anxiety and excitement for all that was to come. Who would we meet? What would we do? Their journey in high school continued when they faced the pandemic and, as Crowley said, realized that we had formed a new normal and we would never quite go back to the life that once was. However through it all, she noted that they learned to appreciate many things that they had previously overlooked, including time with friends and family, going to school, meeting new people, school activities and crossing the stage, which they would do this day. If COVID taught me anything, Crowley noted, it taught me that people can change for the good or the bad. So be good. She then told the class to look around and notice the change in the people around them, how they had grown up, accomplished goals and have set a path for their future, although it is never too late to become the person you want to be, she told them. Crowley reminded them it is never too late to turn your life around and further challenged the class to become the person you have always dreamed of being, but dont give up when it becomes hard or when your dreams change because sometimes that leads to the best ending. Several years ago, the school adopted a tradition of inviting an alumnus to return and be the special graduation speaker. This years guest speaker was Lt. Dylan Powell with the United States Navy, a South Iredell High School graduate, Class of 2012, and currently a flight instructor in Pensacola, Florida. Powell shared that when he was first asked to speak, he didnt know what to tell this group of people. He said they probably wouldnt remember much he said or anything about him, which he told them is OK, he didnt remember his graduation speaker either, but he did hope they would take a few words away with them. Trying to come up with what to share, Powell said he turned to my trusted friend Google. After much thinking, it came to him that he had been so focused on what to say, he had completely missed the simplest fact of just having a plan does wonders. He then shared a quote he found by Antoine de Saint Exupery, a French author and aviator, who said, A goal without a plan is just a wish. Challenging the students with the necessity to have a plan for the next chapter in their lives whether they intend to go to a four-year university, community college, technical school or enter the workforce. Intricate or basic, you need a plan, he told them. He continued by posing the question, what if that plan fails, after which he shared a story of his own plan to fly jets, which didnt work out. All through his ROTC and flight school days, he said he wanted to go jets and worked hard to reach that goal; however, when selection day arrived, he was given helicopters by the skipper. Hearing this, he said he moped around for days and was sad, which then turned to bitterness and then suddenly something clicked, he noted, and that feeling turned to acceptance. No one likes to fail, Powell said. It doesnt feel good, but what I have found is its not the act of failing that defines someone. What defines someone are the actions they take following that failure. As he concluded, he told them that even with all he had told them about planning to enjoy the now. Life is too short, and as we all know too well, we do not know what tomorrow holds, so embrace today and never let it go. Prior to the presentation of diplomas, the concert choir shared the song, A Just and Lasting Peace, after which a moment of silence was observed as the memorial guard walked on the field for the laying of flowers, which Shoffner said, represents the loss of school friends and family members who could not join us on this special day. Blue represents the family that we have at South, yellow represents hope, hope that the grief and pain of loss will be lessened through the symbolic gesture, and white flowers remind us that while our friends and family will be missed, our memories of them will live forever in our hearts. Then it was the time they had waited for, the presentation of diplomas. As the junior marshals read each name, the seniors came forward, crossed the stage, shook hands or gave hugs and received their diplomas. When the last name was read, the Class of 2022 stood and heard those words. Words declaring them to be the 56th graduating class of South Iredell High School, and telling them to move their tassels from the right to the left as the stadium once again roared with cheers from graduates and family alike. Someday, in the not so distant future, I expect my as-yet-to-be-conceived grandchild to climb upon me knee and say, Grandpappy, tell me about the time you lost a significant amount of hearing in your left ear. And Ill say, Boy, get your finger out of your nose, fetch your ol Grandpappy another one of those IPAs from yonder cooler and I will enlighten you as to this happenstance. I bet it was during the Great Robot War of 2035 when you worked as a correspondent for the merged CNN/FOX News media conglomerate reporting on how the humans eventually rose and triumphed over artificial intelligence run amuck during President Musks reign of terror, the youngster will say. No, it wasnt that, boy. Then I bet it was during the free-for-all of the 1970s when you were a kid hitching rides to all the big rock-and-roll shows and you once stood too close to the speaker when Foghat hit the opening notes to Slow Ride and after that, for decades, you said what? to nearly every question someone asked you. Am I right, Grandpappy? What? FOGHAT! SLOW RIDE! No, that wasnt it, you little snot-for-brains. It happened in betwixt those. It was a hog-calling contest what did it. And here is the true story with perhaps some exaggerated details It was the late spring of 2022. I was a small-town newspaper man who wrote humor columns and raised groundhogs on the side. Those were the good old days before the Great Robot War, when gas was only $5 a gallon, monkey pox was in its early stages and President Joe Biden had not been transformed into a cyborg. Our little town had successfully staged what many said was the finest Bigfoot festival on the east coast, cashing in on the thought-to-be mythical creature who would later emerge from the wilderness, hire an attorney and sue the city for copyright infringement, but thats another future tale from the past. Bigfoot fun was followed by the Livermush Festival or Liver Mush Festival because no one could seem to figure out if this hellish yet delicious combination of pig liver, hog snouts, cornmeal and spices was one or two words. Whether it be liver mush or livermush, people back before the Great Robot War loved it as much as they loved Foghats Slow Ride in the 1970s. So, there I was among four-or-five thousand pig-liver lovers, taking notes, snapping pictures and shooting videos because I no longer had enough staff to make somebody else do it. Up came the hog-calling contest. Four or five folks signed up to take the stage between the bluegrass bands sets to give their best hog call or pig squeal for a free T-shirt and $25. I figured this would make good video, maybe even turn me into a YouTube sensation, so I positioned myself at the front of the stage, ready to record the festivities and turn it into golden-fried content. Unfortunately, I was right next to a speaker the bluegrass band may have purchased at Foghats garage sale. When a woman who claimed to grow up on a farm in Illinois leaned into the bands multidirectional mic and let loose with a scream heard across two state lines, my left ear felt as if it had been hit with a ball-peen hammer. Later that evening, it was as if I was listening to the world through cotton balls. The next morning, my ear actually hurt. So, you little whippersnapper, thats how your Grandpappy lost a significant amount of hearing in his left ear. At a goldurned hog-calling contest. Wow, Grandpappy that was a great story. You want me to fetch you another one of those IPAs from yonder cooler? I heard that. Scott Hollifield is editor of The McDowell News in Marion and a humor columnist. Contact him at rhollifield@mcdowellnews.com. CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) Lesser prairie chickens once numbered in the thousands throughout the American West, thriving on the prairielands of eastern New Mexico and the American West. But in recent years, the chickens numbers declined amid growing development in the oil and gas and agriculture sectors throughout the region and conservationists worried the unique bird could be in danger of extinction. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed federal protections for the species last year under the Endangered Species Act, seeking an endangered listing for the bird in southeast New Mexico and West Texas and a threatened listing in the rest of the animals range which extends through Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas. A species is considered endangered by the agency when its extinction is believed imminent, while threatened means the animal could soon warrant endangered status. Both statuses results in the federal government developing a recovery plan and setting aside acreage deemed critical habitat of the species at risk. A final decision on the lesser prairie chickens listing was expected this month, records show, and it could restrict access to lands needed for the chickens recovery and impact some of New Mexicos biggest industries, the Carlsbad Current-Argus reported. Thats why conservation bank Lesser prairie chickens Conservation proposed a habitat conservation plan for the oil and gas industry. It was approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service on June 3. It would allow oil and gas operations to occur within areas where the chicken could dwell. Energy companies buy protections from the conservation bank for the areas known as strongholds, while conducting certain conservation practices on the lands amid their operations, and in exchange are exempted from future restrictions should the species ultimately be listed. They receive a permit for incidental take which refers to a number of birds that are allowed to be killed during development. The intention, said LPC Conservation Chief Executive Officer Wayne Walker, is to save the animal in danger of dying out while also allowing essential economic drivers to continue. That balance, he said, is essential as it enlists the help of companies that hold large swaths of land. We believe using a market-based business model is the best way to secure the desired outcomes for all involved to finally deliver quantifiable conservation benefits to the (the bird), he said. The species is a key indicator of the health of the southern Great Plains. LPC Conservation offers a legally defensible permit that should be of interest to this industry. The Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement that enrollees would be able to avoid future regulatory shifts while helping to conserve the bird. The agency also published an environmental assessment in May that showed take permits would impact up to 500,000 acres of chicken habitat in all five states 200,000 acres in the southern population segment in New Mexico and Texas and 300,000 acres in the northern population. When implemented, the agency estimates the plan would lead to the restoration and continued management of up to a million acres of chicken habitat. This would have no significant impact on the environment or human activity, per a report from the Fish and Wildlife Service, and no further analysis was needed. For more than two decades, we have prioritized efforts with our partners to employ all available tools to facilitate the conservation of the lesser prairie-chicken, the statement read. Working with others is essential to protecting ecosystems that benefit wildlife and economies. Locally, Carlsbad-based conservation non-profit CEHMM (The Center for Excellence) reported it undertook several projects to protect the lesser prairie chicken in early 2022. CEHMM offers conservation agreements also approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service for private and public lands. Similar to the habitat conservation plan, enrollees agree to conservation practices to avoid future regulatory burdens if a listing is approved. CEHMM reported it did not yet find any leks, or prairie chicken breeding grounds, during a week-long survey conducted March 23, per its report for the first quarter of 2022 published last month. The oil and gas industry so far enrolled 508,737 acres within the birds occupied range in New Mexico in CEHMMs program, per the report, while 891,293 acres were enrolled by ranchers and another 348,551 acres were enrolled by the New Mexico State Land Office. That means about 1.2 million acres were enrolled in total, just more than half of the 2.1 million acres CHEMM identified as the birds occupied range. Johnathan Hayes, executive director of the southwest region for the Audubon Society, said that effort to conserve the bird while protecting local industry was crucial to ensure local communities are impacted as little as possible by government decision-making. He said the Society supports the chickens listing, but hopes plans like LPC Conservations and others will provide economic support amid conservation efforts. The listing decision is the right way to go, but were recognizing that that does have a cost, Hayes said. We want to make sure the negative impact that happens to industry, that were allowing industry to have some ability to predict what those regulations will be and what that impact will be. Hayes said work to save the bird could also restore the land and ecosystem, supporting the broader environment from human impacts to climate change. Birds are the canary in the coal mine. This is a good example of us seeing the loss of suitable habitat that is driving the decline of these birds is absolutely an impact weve had on the landscape, the climate, he said. This isnt just about the bird. For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, Carlsbad Current-Argus. For more than two years, the main topic of conversation pretty much everywhere has been about the impact of COVID-19. Now that the worst of the pandemic seems to be over and people are traveling more freely again, another hot topic is on the tips of everyones tongues: expensive plane tickets. People are looking for flights sometimes their first in years in a rush of whats been termed revenge travel. Internet searches show sky-high airfares for many routes, yet travelers with wanderlust are opting to stomach the higher costs after being grounded for so long. The demand is off the charts, Delta Air Lines Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said at an industry conference last week, noting that fares this summer may be 30% higher than pre-pandemic levels. Its coming with leisure, its coming with premium customers, its coming with business, its coming with international. It doesnt matter what the category is. Global movement The trend is across geographies, though some places are more squeezed than others. Searches for a return economy-class ticket between Hong Kong and London on Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. in late June turn up prices as high as $5,360, which is more than five times the typical cost before the pandemic. Direct flights between New York and London around the same time cost more than $2,000 in economy. Ticket prices are really expensive these days, said Jacqueline Khoo, who works in tourism. Her company paid $3,632 for a colleagues return trip with Singapore Airlines Ltd. to Hamburg later this month. That used to cost about $2,000, she said. Its really amazing that an economy seat ticket would cost you so much. A Mastercard Economics Institute study found the cost of flying from Singapore was on average 27% higher in April than in 2019, while flights from Australia were 20% more. Increasingly, travelers are booking tickets months in advance as theyre worried about the cost of buying at the last minute, said David Mann, chief economist for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa at the institute. There are several reasons for the higher fares, not all of which are within the control of airlines. Giant jets parked Carriers are cautious about bringing back all their idled jets, even though most countries have eased cross-border restrictions. Thats particularly true for giant aircraft like Airbus SEs A380 superjumbos and Boeing Co.s older 747-8s, as airlines turn to more fuel-efficient models like A350s and 787 Dreamliners. The pinch is most acute in Asia, which was the slowest to ease restrictions, and as China, the biggest market in the region, remains essentially closed. After navigating varied and changing government policies for the past two years, it will take time for airlines to rebuild fleets given that many restrictions only eased in May, said Subhas Menon, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. Its still early days, he said. Were just in June, so its not like turning on the tap. Carriers also scaled down their networks during COVID-19, none more so than Cathay, which has been hemmed in by Hong Kongs onerous travel and quarantine rules. Thats left people considering lengthy journeys with one or more stopovers, whereas before they might have flown direct. British Airways Plc doesnt even fly to Hong Kong at the moment. With fewer planes in the skies, there are fewer seats to meet the recovery in demand, which in turn has pushed up fares. Skyrocketing fuel prices Russias invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated a steady rise in crude oil prices over the past 18 months. Jet fuel now represents as much as 38% of an average airlines costs, up from 27% in the years leading to 2019. For some budget airlines, it can be as high as 50%. Spot jet fuel prices in New York have soared more than 80% this year, though prices vary from region to region depending on refining costs and local taxes. Many U.S. carriers have been able to cover the increased fuel costs so far but only by passing them along to travelers in the form of higher fares. Some investors believe airlines may seek to boost fuel surcharges as a way to cope, analysts at Citigroup Inc. said in March. Most of Asias airlines dont hedge jet fuel, which means they are more vulnerable to price increases. Deep-pocketed travelers Higher ticket costs dont seem to be dissuading people from making trips now that many travel restrictions have eased. Some consumers are tapping dormant holiday budgets and upgrading to more expensive aircraft cabins for leisure trips, the International Air Transport Associations Director General Willie Walsh said last month. The so-called revenge traveler is an individual that has been emotionally affected by the lockdowns and has craved travel over the last two years and theyve dreamt about it, said Hermione Joye, sector lead for travel in Asia Pacific at Alphabet Inc.s Google. They are very spontaneous. Lack of staff Hundreds of thousands of pilots, flight attendants, ground handlers and other aviation workers lost their jobs over the past couple of years. With travel picking up, the industry now finds itself unable to hire fast enough to allow for seamless operations at its pre-pandemic levels. Singapores Changi Airport regularly voted the worlds best is looking to recruit more than 6,600 people. Many workers who were let go have found other, less volatile careers, and arent willing to come back to a cyclical industry. An operator at Changi is offering a joining bonus of $25,000 to auxiliary police officers, a job that pays a maximum of $3,700 a month. In the U.S., smaller regional airlines cant fly at full capacity because bigger carriers have hired away too many pilots. Hundreds of flights have been canceled in the UK, scuppering holiday plans and leading to long delays and scenes of passengers sleeping at airports. In Europe, major airports have faced delays and cancellations after failing to hire adequate staff. That has disrupted airline schedules and added to costs. Repairing balance sheets Aviation is a capital-intensive industry with historically wafer-thin margins. COVID-19 has made that operating climate even more challenging: globally, airlines lost more than $200 billion in the three years to 2022. Elevated fares provide carriers with a path to recover from losses and return to the black. Weve never seen a revenue environment like this, led by domestic leisure, American Airlines Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Robert Isom said at an industry conference last week. On top of that, we see large corporates coming back in. Small- and medium-sized businesses have been really off the charts for a number of months now. How much longer? Its unclear how long these high prices will persist, even as many travelers seem willing to pay up. The rise in prices is a short-term phenomenon, estimates Stephen Tracy, chief operating officer at Milieu Insight, a Singapore-based consumer insight and analytics firm. Lets all just hope that once these things equalize again, the prices come back down. I am fairly confident that they will. In a few cases, fares are actually lower than pre-pandemic levels, according to Michael OLeary, chief executive officer of Ryanair Holdings Plc. While theres a prospect of more fares returning to levels they were at before COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and virus outbreaks are still risks, he said. The Grand Island Public Librarys annual summer reading program kicked off at the end of May with the theme Oceans of Possibilities. But in case you havent heard, summer reading isnt just for kids, there are a lot of great activities for adults to dive into this summer. Even though it is only a couple of weeks in , weve already had two great programs for adults. Last Sunday, Jill Canfield from Arts and Drafts, presented a guided painting class. Participants painted along, creating a beautiful beach escape scene. On Monday bestselling author and University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor of English, Jonis Agee, came to our monthly book club to discuss The Bones of Paradise, the selection for the 2022 One Book, One Nebraska. Agee presented a fascinating discussion of her writing process and inspiration for her novels. Her visit was generously made possible by the Humanities Nebraska Speakers Bureau and support from the Grand Island Public Library Foundation. With two programs in the books, there are still many opportunities for adults to learn about a new subject or skill. Best of all: our programs are all FREE! Here is what is coming up for the rest of the summer. For history enthusiasts, our next Humanities Nebraska Speakers program is set for 2 p.m. Sunday, June 19. Learn all about true stories from World War II from presenter Charlotte Endorf, and her program, Kind Nebraskans: True Stories of World War II and the Holocaust. At 1 p.m. Sunday, June 26, we will host a Brown Bag Lunch & Learn. Bring your packed lunch and listen and learn all about the women of the Abbott Family, presented by Michelle Setlik of the Hall County Historical Society. In July, the book club will discuss Matt Haigs The Midnight Library at 5:30 p.m. Monday, July 11. The Midnight Library is a beautiful novel that examines how choices affect not only our life lived, but our lives as they could have been. Pick up a copy at the front desk and stop by to discuss. The Hall County Extension office will also offer programs for adults this summer. At 2 p.m. Sunday, July 17, Elizabeth Exstrom will present, Lets Talk About Houseplants, and at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 25, Cami Wells will share great recipes for cooking in your Instant Pot. We will also be hosting our first Community Art Show for adults 18 and older this summer. The show will run from Aug. 5 to Sept. 25. Watch our website, www.gilibary.org for more information and submission guidelines. The Childrens Art Show is currently ongoing and we have had some great submissions so far. We are excited to see what will be entered for the Community Show. And what would summer reading be without books and reading? Sign on to our Beanstack Reading program and keep track of your reading minutes. All participating adults will be entered in to drawings to win some great prizes at the end of the summer. Beanstack is accessible through your web browser, or through the app for Android and Apple mobile devices. Of course, there are also many great books to help you meet your summer reading goals. Stop by, pick up your next great reads, and register for the summer reading program. Follow our website and our Facebook and Instagram pages to keep up-to-date with all that is happening at the Grand Island Public Library, to read our library newsletter, and see some great book recommendations. Shaun Klee serves as the adult and technical services librarian for the Grand Island Public Library. Email him at ShaunK@gilibrary.org Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The United States generally imports about 100,000 barrels a day from Russia, only about 5% of Russia's crude oil exports, according to Rystad Energy. Last year, roughly 8% of U.S. imports of oil and petroleum products came from Russia. Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector. The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week and topped $4.06 on Monday, according to auto club AAA. Should the US ban Russian oil imports over Ukraine war? You voted: CHICAGO - Three men were wounded, one critically, early Saturday morning in a shooting near the Shedd Aquarium, Chicago police said. Initially, police said a 20-year-old man was walking on the sidewalk along the lake in the 1200 block of South DuSable Lake Shore Drive when he heard shots and felt pain. Responding officers found the victim with a gunshot wound to the chest, and applied a seal to his injury. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. Later, police said a 19-year-old man was shot in the face at the same location, and was taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital. A third victim, 18, suffered a leg wound and was reported in good condition at Stroger. No one was in custody for the shootings, and detectives were investigating. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 BAMBERGThe Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Connected Care Pilot Program will award $7,199,892 over three years to Palmetto State Providers Network, a consortium of health care providers led by Palmetto Care Connections (PCC), a statewide, non-profit telehealth network. The last few years have made it abundantly clear that expanding telehealth programs to every corner of our state is of the utmost importance in advancing our public health missions, said Governor Henry McMaster. This funding will have an immediate impact on expanding access, quality, and affordability of health care statewide and will help bring us closer to providing immediate health care access to the fingertips of all South Carolinians. This FCC funding represents the largest Connected Care Pilot Program award in South Carolina, and the second largest single Connected Care Pilot Program award in the nation, said Chairman of the PCC Board of Directors Rick Foster, MD. We congratulate Palmetto Care Connections and the health care consortium members on this extraordinary award and look forward to the positive impact that this pilot telehealth program will have on the health of underserved South Carolinians. Palmetto Care Connections is delighted to receive this FCC Connected Care Pilot Program award on behalf of six of our states health care provider broadband consortium members, said PCC Chief Executive Officer Kathy Schwarting. Our goal is that this pilot program will become a model for implementing remote patient monitoring and synchronous telehealth to improve the health and quality of life for underserved residents throughout the state. The funding will enable five Federally Qualified Health Centers and one hospital system to provide broadband internet access services, remote patient monitoring, and video consults to 5,000 primarily low-income South Carolinians suffering from chronic conditions and infectious diseases. In addition, the funding will provide health care provider broadband data connections, a connected care telehealth platform and data analytics to facilitate synchronous telehealth services for an estimated 18,000 patients in 13 counties, an overall average of 80 percent of which are low-income. The consortium members that participated in the funding request are Federally Qualified Health Centers - CareSouth Carolina, Eau Claire Cooperative Health Center, Little River Medical Center, Rural Health Services, and Tandem Health; and hospital system Tidelands Health. The counties that are in the health care organizations service areas to be impacted by the pilot program are Aiken, Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Fairfield, Georgetown, Horry, Lee, Lexington, Marlboro, Newberry, Richland and Sumter. PCCs telehealth pilot program is one of 107 projects serving patients in 40 states plus Washington, D.C. that was selected by the FCC for Connected Care Pilot Program funding. Established in 2010, PCC is a non-profit organization that provides technology, broadband, and telehealth support services to health care providers in rural and underserved areas in S.C. PCC co-chairs the South Carolina Telehealth Alliance, along with the Medical University of South Carolina, serving as an advocate for rural providers and partnering with organizations to improve health care access and delivery for all South Carolinians. PCCs Digital Inclusion Program provides a digital device, digital literacy training and assistance with obtaining low-cost internet service for residents of rural and underserved S.C. communities. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A new summer program will help six South Carolina State University students explore career options in health care fields in partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. University administrators recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) allowing students to join the Veterans Health Administration Health Care Talent Academy (HCTA). The six students will be exposed to various career opportunities through shadowing experiences this summer through the Columbia Veterans Health Care System. As an academic partner, SC State University will participate in the process of piloting the feasibility of career identification and creating a pipeline for potential employment from multiple academic programs, said Dr. Frederick M.G. Evans, SC States acting provost and vice president for academic affairs. This collaboration embraces the mission of SCSU in the preparation of students to learn, work, and succeed in a global society." Evans said applications for the summer HCTA program were open to all students in all majors who were in good academic standing at SC State. The six students selected are expected to begin their shadow experiences in June at the William Jennings Bryan Dorn Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Columbia. According to the MOA, the HCTA programs goals are to: Increase awareness, knowledge, and empathy of future health professionals toward health conditions common to veterans Increase the diversity of the recruitment pool of future researchers, physicians, and health care clinicians and workers Encourage student-observers of all backgrounds to consider a career in the health professions The HCTA is an early career exposure opportunity for student-observers to understand the underlying commitment of service to Americas veterans that fuels every VA employee and the thousands of American citizens who give freely of their time and talent to VA, the MOA states. The implementation of the HCTA will allow VA to prepare the next generation of health care professionals to carry on its mission. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The headline in the paper morning made me recoil. Another young boy had died in a wilderness boot camp -- a victim, like many before him, of abuse at the hands of those in charge of helping him. That was 20 years ago, but today TikTok is flooded by victims of wilderness therapy camps, now young adults, who describe what it was like to be kidnapped as a teen and taken far away to a place their parents were assured they would be "straightened out." Tony Haynes, 14, drowned after employees at an unlicensed boot camp in Arizona, run by a group called America's Buffalo Soldiers, stuck him in a bathtub half-conscious and turned on the shower. They left Haynes unattended in the tub, even though the boy had been vomiting and delirious after being forced to stand in 115-degree desert heat as punishment for asking to go home. The Phoenix boy's tragic death -- and charges that other children were also abused by camp drill instructors -- were investigated, and the camp's director was convicted of manslaughter and aggravated assault. To me, the story is all too familiar. Six years before Tony Haynes death, I wrote an expose for Vibe magazine about a new trend in managing America's rebellious teens -- "wilderness therapy" programs that promise to straighten out problem children with tough love, fresh air, and strenuous hikes through the desert. The camps were touted as an effective middle-ground solution for worried parents -- something in between institutionalizing problem kids and doing nothing. Hundreds of teens were sent off to camps like these, most because they were experimenting with drugs, doing poorly in school, defying their parents, or even just refusing to do their chores. Some parents paid extra for camp employees to "escort" their children to the camps -- that is, arrive at the family home in the middle of the night, wake the teenager, and drag him off to a helicopter standing by for the trip. The philosophy behind the wilderness stays was to remove the teens from whatever bad influences they were exposed to in their hometowns, and rely on camp counselors and the harsh elements of the desert to teach kids discipline and responsibility. Other goals were to build self-esteem though physical prowess and survival skills, and to make the teenagers long to get back home to air conditioning, ample food, and the other comforts of home. Unfortunately, some kids never made it home. At the time of my investigation, three teens had already died in three separate camps in Utah. Kristen Chase, 16, perished of heatstroke in 1990. Michelle Sutton, 15, died from dehydration in another camp the same year. And in 1994, 16-year-old Aaron Bacon endured a slow and agonizing death from a perforated ulcer, which counselors failed to treat because they believed the boy was faking his illness. Bacon's parents shared a diary with me that their son had been keeping up to the time of his death. His mother wept while describing Aaron as a wonderful child and an "old soul," a sensitive and politically aware teen who wrote poetry. She and her husband Bob turned to the wilderness program only because Aaron had begun experimenting with marijuana, and become despondent during his sophomore year in high school. "I was seeking a place where Aaron could go and get in touch with God and himself," Sally Bacon said. "Where he could get clearheaded and think about choices, about where his life was going. I was trying to help my child, and what they did to him is so horrible that I can't even talk about it." In one of Aaron's last entries, in handwriting that had begun to deteriorate, the teenager speculated that his parents would never have sent him to the camp if they'd known what it would really be like. "It's my 21st day here, and I'm in terrible condition," he wrote. "I feel like I'm losing control of my body.... I'm so scared of everything here -- staff, slick rocks, nights, the cold, everything. I couldn't tell at all that I would be doing this sort of thing from the catalog. I describe it as legal child abuse." Following Bacon's death, Utah state officials shut down several camps and adopted strict standards for regulating the private, for-profit camps in the mid-1990s. Things seemed to improve briefly, but it wasn't long before wilderness therapy programs and "boot camps" began to sprout up in other states (and even foreign countries) where regulations were lax or nonexistent. Talk Shows and Juvenile Courts Today, TV talk shows often promote boot camps as an effective fix for parents with rebellious teens. They invite camp drill instructors to the show who yell into the faces of the "out-of-control" kids and make them cry on camera. Many judges have also jumped on the boot camp bandwagon, often sentencing juvenile offenders to attend either state-run or privately run boot camps. Such was the case of 14-year-old Gina Score, who was ordered to attend South Dakota's state-run boot camp for girls after she'd been caught shoplifting, her parents say. Score, who weighed 226 lbs at 5 feet 4 inches tall, died of heat exhaustion two days into the program, when she collapsed near the end of 2.7-mile forced run. Staff members left the girl on the ground for three hours because they thought she was pretending to be ill. She died of heat exhaustion in a hospital later that day. The girl's death led South Dakota officials to re-examine state juvenile justice policies, and now fewer children in that state are being sent to boot camp. The national Youth Law Center filed a class-action lawsuit against the state on behalf of Score and other teens in boot camps and juvenile detention centers. As a result, South Dakota agreed to discontinue two practices the suit had criticized: placing both girls and boys in four-point restraints (spread-eagle), and locking juveniles in isolation cells for 23 hours a day for up to weeks at a time. Of course, not all boot camps and wilderness therapy camps are bad. Some juveniles have been shown to benefit from such programs, especially if the camps have highly-trained staff and comprehensive aftercare programs that offer follow-up counseling once the youth returns home. The nonprofit Anasazi Foundation in Arizona has been providing wilderness therapy for youth with substance abuse or behavioral problems for more than 40 years. Its founders, who say they repudiate the use of force against kids and base their teachings on Native American philosophy, have been outspoken against the "military mentality" of many boot camps. "We believe the wilderness can be a very safe place to work with young people," says Mike Merchant, the camp's chief executive officer. "It's not a place to break children down. The wilderness is an environment free from clutter and conflict, a place where they can sort through their problems." In general, though, the controversial nature and military mentality of these camps -- combined with many documented cases of abuse and even death -- should make parents wary of shipping their kids off to wilderness programs. Deborah Vargas, a former policy analyst for the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, advises parents to explore all other avenues -- including available community services and counseling -- before resorting to boot camps. If they are still determined to send their teen to such a camp, they should investigate it thoroughly in advance. There are dozens of state-run boot camps in the country, and dozens more privately run programs. According to the late Project NoSpank, a parent and teacher group that advocated against violence towards children, at least 45 young people have died at wilderness camps. One of those deaths was that of 15-year old William "Eddie" Lee, who was killed in September 2000 at the privately run Obsidian Trails Outdoor School, based in Bend, Oregon. Lee died of an injury to an artery in his neck caused when camp counselors pinned him to the ground for refusing to stick with the group. No criminal charges were filed. Lee's mother, who sent her son to Obsidian hoping it would improve his behavior and help him make a better transition into high school, filed a $1.5 million wrongful death suit and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. Tony Haynes, who died on July 1, 2001, is another boot camp casualty. The 14-year-old had been going to a wilderness camp on the weekends, and his parents hoped the five-week program would help their son even more. Haynes, who reportedly had a bad temper, had been picked up for shoplifting and had recently slashed the tires on his mom's car in an attempt to escape being sent back to the camp. "He was going to take his punishment like a man," the boy's grieving father, Gettis Haynes, Jr., of Missouri, told reporters. "I didn't think dying was included in that." Other deaths at wilderness camps and "troubled teen" residential facilities have been reported through 2022. At the very least, Vargas advises parents not to be naive about the camps' claims. "These programs promise parents who are at their wit's end a quick fix, but there is no quick fix," she says. "If you think that a four-month program in the desert is the solution, you're fooling yourself." Further Resources Youth Law Center Children's Legal Protection Center 417 Montgomery Street, Suite 900 San Francisco, CA 94104 Phone: 415/543-3379; Fax: 415/956-9022 Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) Main Administrative Office 1622 Folsom Street San Francisco, CA 94103 Phone: 415/621-5661; Fax: 415/621-5466 Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) 810 Seventh Street, NW Washington, DC 20531 Phone: 202/307-5911; Fax: 202/307-2093 Michelle Sutton Foundation (run by Cathy Sutton, mother of one of first wilderness camp victims) References Anasazi Foundation. Founding Philosophy. http://www.anasazi.org/philosophy.html Project NoSpank. Deadly Restraint. http://www.nospank.net/camps.htm Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse. Wilderness Death Camp Suit Settled. http://www.caica.org/NEWS%20DEATH%20EDDIE%201.htm Arizona Republic, "Director of boot camp where teen died released from prison," Feb. 20, 2010. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/02/20/... Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange. A Juneteenth celebration will take place at the Orangeburg County Fairgrounds on Saturday, June 18. Were going to push unity in our communities, said event organizer Cindy Evans. Theres still a lot to do as a human race, but were celebrating freedom today, she added. Last year, President Joe Biden signed Juneteenth into law as a federal holiday. Juneteenth is the shortened version of June 19, the day in 1865 when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, two months after the surrender of the Confederacy and two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. June 20 is the official federal day to commemorate Juneteenth this year. The Orangeburg Juneteenth celebration kicks off on Friday, June 17, with the Miss Juneteenth Pageant, which will take place online. A time hasnt been announced. A full day of Juneteenth festivities begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, with a parade down Russell Street in Orangeburg. Then, from 1 p.m. until 7 p.m., the Juneteenth celebration continues at the Orangeburg County Fairgrounds, located at 350 Magnolia St. There will be live music, performers, games, food, drink, Black-owned business vendors, cultural conversations, interactive spaces and more. Beginning at 5 p.m. until 7 p.m., the festival will feature an interactive roundtable discussion about women in politics, education, Black excellence and police brutality among other topics. At 9 p.m., there will be a fireworks display at the fairgrounds. Evans said this is the second time for the Orangeburg Juneteenth celebration to be held at the fairgrounds. She noted that Craig Wolley started a Juneteenth celebration a few years ago and he is a co-organizer for this years events. Admission to the Juneteenth celebration is free. There are 102 vendors registered for the event. Its always great when you can do something with and for the public, Evans said. For more information, visit the events website at www.ocjuneteenth.com. Contact the writer: mbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5545. Follow on Twitter: @MRBrownTandD Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 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. Doctors from the East Coast to the West Coast, as well as outside the U.S., flocked to see the Regional Medical Centers state-of-the-art Dialysis Access Institute last week. It means a lot to have doctors coming from all over to see what has been established and done. It is huge, said Dr. John Ross, the founder of the institute. On Thursday morning, the Dialysis Access Institute hosted several international physicians who are experts in the field of dialysis access. The doctors were in South Carolina for the Vascular Access for Hemodialysis Symposium in Charleston. During their visit, the physicians toured the DAIs facility and learned of the cases that are often sent to the institute in Orangeburg. What we have been doing is trying to show people what we are doing, how were doing it and why were doing it. Many companies have medical devices and when we learn how to use those devices appropriately or better than what they thought, they then bring in doctors to see how these devices could be used or how they could be incorporated in their practice to better serve patients, Ross said. Ross has been serving the Orangeburg community, along with connecting states and counties, as founder of the Dialysis Access Institute since 2011. He saw success shortly after opening the doors. I felt that this institute would be remarkably successful despite the location. We know that there is an increasingly large volume of dialysis access to be done. We needed to figure out a way to be able to do this very efficiently for the patients. If we were to build a building, have the appropriate, motivated personnel, and be focused on doing this, there was no way it could be a failure, it would be impossible, Ross said. Ross founded the institute in Orangeburg when he noticed that there is not a place for doctors to go to learn how to perform a dialysis-based operation. We learned how to do these operations a long time ago back in 1979 and we kept learning more about how to do the operations through repetition because there was nowhere to go to learn how, Ross said. Then we developed certain operations, prompting patients who were having trouble to come to Orangeburg. They eventually ended up hearing about us in a rural area. Then it made no difference whether you were downtown New York or whether you were in San Francisco or wherever. People felt that we were obtaining good results in what we were doing, so the patients were coming from far distances and other doctors they talk to each other and say Well, you might want to look at this place we have up in Orangeburg. They seem to be doing a really good job at taking care of these patients, Ross said. Ross said care for dialysis patients is a top priority because their life depends on the operations that the institute performs. He urges doctors to learn and understand what the best outcomes are for the patients. There will be some that do things quite a bit differently and it does not necessarily matter how they do it, as long as they get the appropriate outcome. Everything is about: Are you getting the appropriate outcome? There are many ways of doing these particular procedures, but you always have to look at your outcomes and see if we are doing it the best way we possibly can, Ross said. Ross continues to see a need for the institute. Right now, we were certainly the leader in trying to establish what we call the total access center where everything can be done under one roof. Other folks are trying to do this now and I think this is going to be the model for the future. I really do believe it, Ross said. I want this institute to grow and grow and grow. Lauren Pringle, a 2022 Claflin University mass communications graduate, is reporting for The Times and Democrat as a Lee Enterprises-sponsored summer intern. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 The Regional Medical Center board met behind closed doors last Monday to discuss plans for an ambulatory surgery center. There was no vote or public discussion during the meeting. RMC is challenging the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Controls decision to allow Ambulatory Partners LLC to build a private surgery center. An Administrative Law Court hearing was scheduled for January and then in April. The hearing was delayed to allow the hospital and doctors to try to settle out of court. An out-of-court settlement has yet to happen and the hearing has been rescheduled for Aug. 15, according to the ALC. Orangeburg general surgeon Dr. Dion Franga and Orangeburg radiologist Dr. Amit Sanghi of Ambulatory Partners want to build a $12.5 million, 16,640-square-foot facility to provide medical services to the Greater Orangeburg community. The surgery center would be located across from the Regional Medical Center. A week after the doctors asked the state to approve their plans for an ambulatory surgery center, the RMC also submitted an application to spend $2.4 million to develop an ambulatory surgery center. Ambulatory Partners has consistently said its center would benefit the community by capturing patients who seek care outside the community. RMC claims the center will harm the hospital financially. Ambulatory Partners has said both surgery centers are needed. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Luxembourg has about 15,000 registered stem cell donors, but since one in three patients still cannot find a compatible donation, the search for new donors never stops. The 'Plooschter Projet' ('Plaster Project') seeks to increase the number of stem cell donors in Luxembourg. To that end, members of the project regularly visit major events in the Grand Duchy where they inform people about the procedure and allow them to register for potential donations. On Saturday, a specific call for donations was launched in Schifflange to help find the right person to help 9-year-old Gabriel. In the span of just four hours, 270 people signed up for a potential donation. All blood samples are collected in an international databank, which then helps leukaemia patients from all around the world find a suitable donor. Every year, between 15 and 20 patients receive a stem cell donation in Luxembourg. People who want to sign up as donors need to fill out a short questionnaire concerning their health and provide a blood sample. However, the likelihood of being called up is low, as on average, only 5% of all registered donors provide one donation over the span of their life. Nevertheless, people are advised to only register if they are ready to commit in case of being called up. Celine Spithoven/RTL People need to respond to several criteria to be eligible as stem cell donors. They need to be aged 16 to 40, not have been pregnant more than twice, and weigh a minimum of 50 kilograms. Minors also need permission from their parents or legal guardians. The donation procedure itself is neither harmful nor dangerous. In 95% of cases, it is done via a simple blood sample. Donors thus receive medication to encourage the production of stem cells and later connect to a type of dialysis machine, which runs for three to four hours. In rare cases, stem cells have to be surgically extracted from bone marrow, which requires anaesthesia. Celine Spithoven/RTL Yannick Lieners, spokesman for the Plooschter Projet, explained that it is currently still the case that donors need to be either Luxembourgish or German nationals, or residents of either country. The Grand Duchy is working closely with the German 'Stefan Morsch Foundation', which means that potential donors who do not fit the profile have to be refused. Lieners elaborated: "We already sat down with the Ministry of Health to change this regulation, but unfortunately, nothing has happened thus far." At the moment, Luxembourg has 15,000 registered stem cell donors, which is considered insufficient since the chance of compatibility is 1 in 1,000,000. One in three patients in Luxembourg does not find a suitable donor. People interested in signing up as donors can do so in several of the country's laboratories. On facebook, people can also find information about events that the Plooschter-Project visits. Video report in Luxembourgish The Sweetwater County Sheriffs Office is disputing an ACLU report that alleged the agency advocated for inhumane policies and violated civil rights through its participation in a federal immigration enforcement program. An ACLU press release issued Thursday incorrectly said the office was included in a list of the 54 agencies that are among the most egregious in their violations of peoples civil rights and liberties. Sweetwater is not on that list. The sheriffs office said the claim was patently false. Its defamatory, and its a gross misrepresentation of the actual findings in the report, a statement from spokesperson Jason Mower said Thursday. Mower said he reached out to the ACLU the day the organization sent out the report and a release specifically naming the SCSO as one of the most egregious agencies. As of mid-day Friday, he said he had not heard back. The sheriffs office issued their release responding to the report Thursday. It also says the office has never been the subject of a civil rights violation claim resulting from its participation in the federal immigration program. ACLU spokesperson Janna Farley could not be reached for comment Friday. She told Oil City News that while she recognized the mistake, the ACLU believes no local law enforcement agencies should be working with ICE at all. The release remained uncorrected on the ACLU Wyoming website as of Sunday afternoon, four days after it was issued. The report looked at the implementation of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement program that allows local law enforcement to identify undocumented immigrants for arrest or potential deportation. Its dubbed the 287(g) program for the section of the law that authorized it. The Sweetwater County agency is the only participant in Wyoming, and a statement from Sheriff John Grossnickle said it has participated on a limited basis for more than 12 years. In total, 142 agencies across the country participate in the program and all but 10 of those are sheriffs offices. By participating in the programs Warrant Service Officer model, the countys jail houses undocumented immigrants convicted of felony-level crimes who are coming out of other prisons or jails. The offices agreement with ICE allows for stays of less than 48 hours, before they can be transported to an ICE facility in Utah or Colorado, where the deportation process may begin. Officers have to complete an eight-hour training on authorities and protocol to be credentialed in the program. Mower did not know how many of the SCSOs officers are credentialed. Mower said the office does receive money from the Department of Homeland Security for participating in the program, but did not know the exact amount or whether the money is dependent on how many people the office houses for ICE. The agreement also says that participating staff must report all encounters with asserted or suspected claims of U.S. citizenship to ICE immediately. According to the ACLU, researchers looked through local and national media coverage, ACLU court cases and reports, public records, agency websites and other sources to assess the agencies participation in the program. ACLUs Farley cited Sheriff Grossnickles signing of an April 2021 letter to President Joe Biden advocating for securing the southern border in the face of threats and dangers presented by illegal immigration. Two other Wyoming sheriffs Laramie Countys Danny Glick and then-Natrona County Sheriff Gus Holbrook also signed the letter, along with nearly 300 others. As a constitutional conservative and lifelong registered Republican, Sheriff Grossnickle isnt going to apologize for opposing illegal immigration and the relaxation by the current presidential administration of our nations border and immigration regulation and enforcement, Mower said in an email Friday. Farley also cited a lawsuit alleging a deputy slammed a jail inmate against a wall, kneed the inmate in the ribs and thigh and used derogatory names. The inmate was not incarcerated under the ICE program, Mower said. The deputy has denied those claims, and remains the only defendant in the case after a judge dismissed Sweetwater County. Mower said the department is dismissing the ACLU report and its allegations as indeed political propaganda, but that they do not plan to sue for defamation. Based on the reports results, the ACLU is recommending that the Biden administration end the program. It was expanded during Donald Trumps presidency, and continued under Biden despite a campaign promise to aggressively limit the program and others like it. According to their criteria, the report alleges 65% of participating agencies were found with patterns of racial profiling and civil rights violations. Fifty-nine percent of sheriffs, according to the ACLU, were allegedly found to have made anti-immigrant, xenophobic statements. The organization also recommended local and state governments pass legislation ending law enforcement participation. The ACLUs position is clear: eliminate the 287(g) program as a next-step toward abandoning once and for all any semblance or form of border and immigration regulation or enforcement in this country whatsoever, Mower said in an email. On that point, well just have to respectfully agree to disagree. In fiscal year 2021, ICE data says, participating agencies facilitated more than 150 arrests and 1,613 removals of undocumented immigrants. The other model, called Jail Enforcement, tasks officers with interviewing arrestees about their immigration status and removability, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Its not unusual for local law enforcement to help out federal agencies. Officers across the country can access a database of records and warrants from police, sheriffs and investigative departments and often help each other make arrests. The 287(g) legislation was enacted in 1996. Its stated purpose is to reduce foreign national criminal offenders released back into the community and to safely engage undocumented immigrants in jail. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 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. GILLETTE A sea of purple, teal and pastel-colored mats spilled across and beyond the hardwood floor covering the ground while the soft, droning hum of music quietly filled the room. One person stood atop each of those mats man, woman, yoga-lifer and relative novice alike focused on the single voice moving the crowd of about 25 individuals in sync. Together, they listened to the same instructions but spent those moments in their own worlds, moving and breathing at their own paces. They heard the same voice but listened to their own bodies and found the happy medium. Were not comparing ourselves to each other, the voice said. Were comparing ourselves to ourselves. In spirit, each person was unique. Superficially, they all shared a common experience of aging. After a two-year hiatus that began during the coronavirus pandemic, yoga has returned to the Campbell County Senior Center. And so have the dozens of seniors who attended the class before, along with others who have found it for the first time recently. Those 60 and older who bring themselves to the twice-weekly morning yoga sessions do so for various reasons. But for many of them, they also once again do so regularly, for the physical, mental and social benefits of the mindful exercise. Which voice one hears leading the group of seniors depends on whether they attend the Monday or Wednesday yoga class. On a Wednesday, that voice is likely to belong to Jerrica Huber, a physical therapist with Rehab Solutions, while the Monday class is instructed by Brianne Kartes, also a physical therapist. Those classes averaged about 25 to 30 or more participants before the hiatus and has already returned close to those levels. It gets pretty crowded, Huber said. They have an exercise room here, but its too small for this many people. The original yoga sessions grew out of the exercise room and into the spacious Senior Center dining room and the new iteration is once again in that larger space. Theres a new age connotation to yoga, which may cause a dissonance when thinking of the exercise that has enchanted a group of people entering their twilight years. Its new age, but its also age-old, having been practiced in other cultures for thousands of years. Regardless of the associations, its healthy for everyone, especially those seeking a low-impact but challenging workout. Its a gentler form of exercise, Huber said. Its not like running or lifting weights. Its much more gentle on the body. Charlie Anderson, 71, said he began practicing yoga in 1972, when he was starting law school. He said hes done yoga consistently throughout the years, and seen the opposing trajectories that come from improving with more practice while declining with age. Youve got two curves, Charlie said. You get better at it the more you do it, the more consistent you are. Then the older you get, it kind of takes it off on the other end. For Teri Anderson, 71, the social aspect quickly became the prevailing benefit to practicing yoga and attending the Senior Center classes. I started for exercise, she said. Then it became the yoga crew. She said several groups of people would linger around the dining room after the old yoga classes, sipping water and coffee, killing time until lunch rolled around. That post-class gathering in its own right hasnt returned yet, but like its attendees, it may be getting closer to what it was. Itll take a while, Teri said. And I may never get there, but its better than not doing anything. After just a few months back in practice, the classes and the participants are still coming into form, but so far, that return has happened more quickly than expected. The steady pace of time prevents anyone from stopping the first variable from increasing, but with dedicated effort, regular yoga sessions can give the body an edge in its race against time. So far, those practicing at the Senior Center have made strides in that regard. Weve actually had to make this class more challenging because theyre so good, Huber said. At first, we werent even sure if theyd be getting up and down off the floor I think over the past couple months theyve gotten stronger. Tom Price, 67, gave proof to that concept. It keeps me from slapping my pumpkin when I slip, Price said. Its good for my balance, thats for sure. Price began practicing yoga at the Senior Center when he was 60. Even in the few months back at it, he has noticed improvements to his health. He said his posture has already gotten more upright and his flexibility has improved. Ive got a bad shoulder and a bad knee and (yoga) keeps it flexible, Price said. They ache and stuff, but they dont hurt like they used to. The flexibility has been wonderful. I can get up off the floor. I dont have to have a skyhook to get myself back up, he added. Mark Richardson, 65, has seen the positive effects on his health too. It just helps with my back, my chiropractics and keeping me lined up, Richardson said. I have bad nerves in my shoulders and neck. The stretching helps me out. Im able to sleep better at night and stuff, because things arent going numb. It has helped him in other, less expected ways, too. I had a foot slide on the ice and I ended up in the warrior pose instead of the ground, he said, describing the surfer-like yoga position. The anecdotes and examples go on and on. Yoga is back at the senior center, and in a matter of months, so are the participants who made the classes so popular years ago. In general, theyre striving to do something better for their bodies, Huber said. Theyre working to make themselves stronger. So we keep pushing them to keep doing it. Thats the theory. For many, thats also the goal. Yoga, however, involves practice. The seniors who frequent the Senior Center yoga classes know that. And they dont mind that level of dedication to the craft. They embrace it. Thats what they proved before the classes went on pause two years ago. Now, theyre right back in the same building and almost back to the same form, proving it all over again. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 CHEYENNE It could be worse. Earlier this year, national publications like Governing.com noted the exit of dozens of legislators in some states. The reason given for these mass retirements was the toxic partisan atmosphere of the sessions. We saw the same vitriol and ugly threats in the legislative session here last winter. I have never seen or heard anything like it in my experience of more than 40 years covering the Wyoming legislature. Legislatures of the past, for the most part, have exhibited a camaraderie, mutual respect, civility and common decency. Sure there were blow ups. But they were temporary and not a pervasive toxic cloud over the proceedings. Given the recent sad history of the Legislature, I couldnt blame anyone for quitting or not running the first place. Who needs that kind of action. Still, the recent filings show only one of the 15 state senate seats up for election this year (out of 30) has no incumbent running. The number does not reflect the new redistricting map approved by the Legislature this year that added one senator and two house members. Sen. Jeff Wassenberger, R-Gillette, who retired, is the only senate incumbent who is not running again. Seeking his seat is the outgoing House Speaker Eric Barlow, also of Gillette. A veterinarian and rancher, Barlow earned a lot of praise for his performance as speaker the past two years particularly his handling of the relatively small but active Republican house extreme right wing. I would have expected Barlow, considered to be a moderate, to have some GOP primary opposition from that extreme right wing. It never happened and he is running unopposed barring a write-in candidate in the primary. Also unopposed is the current Senate Majority Floor Leader Larry Hicks, R-Baggs. Hicks, for some obscure reason, enraged the gun owners group with one of his bills. But they did not field a candidate to run against him. Another surprise was former Senate President Drew Perkins, R-Casper, who is running for another term. During the session last winter, Perkins spoke of his need to spend more time with his law practice suggesting that he would not run for reelection. Unlike Barlow and Hicks, Perkins, another moderate, faces a primary opponent. He is Bob Ide, a Casper businessman who has the endorsement of U.S. Rep Ron Paul and is not a traditional Republican. The 60-member Wyoming House (now 62), lost 15 incumbents who did not seek election, according to a rough estimate. Historically the house turnover is about 20% every two years. So this year is a bit above average even before the elections. One of the long-term legislators who quit is Democratic Rep. Cathy Connolly of Laramie. Connolly is the director of gender and womens studies at the University of Wyoming, a target of the extreme right wing. She served for 13 years and has been the house minority leader. While the political climate hasnt decimated the Wyoming Legislature, activists have had a hard time getting new people to run, particularly as minority Democrats. This dilemma is shared by other legislatures in the upper Midwest and some Western states. Its a matter of geography and demographics. Democrats historically are clustered in the cities while Republicans control the rural areas.That is the case in Wyoming and Iowa. That situation will not change, meaning Democrats have no chance in the foreseeable future of gaining a majority in the legislature of those two states and others as well. In Wisconsin, where the Democrats have been in the minority for more than a decade, nearly 30 legislators are not running for re-election this year. In Iowa, 40 percent of the Democrats in the state house are quitting. In Montana, a third of the Legislature is leaving. Democrats are being wiped out in rural America, according to published reports. In the Wyoming Senate, only six Democrats filed for 15 seats 16 if you count the new district No. 31 in Cheyenne. The number includes the two Senate Democratic incumbents, Chris Rothfuss of Laramie and Mike Gierau of Jackson. The two party system continues to be shaky. Joan Barron is a former capitol bureau reporter. Contact her at 307-632-2534 or jmbarron@bresnan.net. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0 Imagine going into labor on a snowy night in December. The wind is howling, making travel difficult to impossible. Its freezing and icy. Now imagine the closest labor-and-delivery unit isnt down the street, or even a short drive across town. Instead, its 90 or 100 miles down a highway thats slick with blowing snow. That scenario is a hypothetical today. But it could soon play out in a growing number of Wyoming communities. This spring, hospitals in Rawlins and Kemmerer announced they were cutting their obstetric services. When they do, seven of Wyomings 27 acute-care hospitals will lack labor and delivery services. There are multiple reasons for the loss of these critical services. Staffing shortages are a main driver. Some hospitals rely on traveling nurses to supplement their own staffing, but those nurses have grown in demand since the pandemic began. That means there is more competition for them, which translates to higher costs. Burnout has been cited as another reason. Many nurses are worn out after a grueling two years. Finally, training is an issue. Getting providers the experience they need to flourish has been a challenge. The result? Its getting harder and harder, as the head of the Wyoming Hospital Association said recently, for hospitals in our state to provide obstetric services. In the case of both Kemmerer and Rawlins, other hospitals are stepping up to help. Ivinson Memorial Hospital in Laramie, for example, will send its womens health team to see patients in Rawlins twice a month for now. That will at least partially address the matter of prenatal care. However, most deliveries will still occur in Laramie. Which bring us back to that icy highway. Even in the best of conditions, it takes about 90 minutes to drive from Rawlins to Laramie. But during Wyomings long winter, that stretch of Interstate 80 is often shut down by heavy snows and high winds. Getting from one town to the next by car becomes near impossible. Even when the roads are open, the drive takes longer. We worry that reality may extend beyond the towns that are losing or have already lost obstetric services. Because the difficulties that led to the cuts in Laramie and Kemmerer could mean services in other towns are eventually lost. Which means our state leaders need to step up and address this growing problem now. The first thing that needs to happen is an acknowledgement that this is a problem that can and should be tackled. That requires political will, as well as an acceptance that any solution wont be cheap. Before you question spending state dollars on the problem, remember that lawmakers this last session gave coal companies a $10 million-a-year tax break. If we can spend that kind of cash helping coal companies, surely there is the money to address the health and safety of pregnant women. It might require subsidizing air transport to get women in labor especially those needing emergency services to hospitals equipped to help them. Medical air transport is obscenely expensive, and we worry that if this issue isnt addressed, women risk going medically bankrupt for the mere fact that they needed an emergency C-section to save their lives or the lives of their babies. Lest you think thats big government, we already do subsidize air travel in Wyoming, but of the commercial variety. The solutions wont be cheap, but they should be discussed and then implemented. We are a state that values our rural communities, that praises small-town life. But people choose where to live, in part, based on the availability of medical services they need. If small-town hospitals continue to lose pregnancy care, people who want to start families wont stick around. Wyoming cant afford that. We need to act before more communities lose these precious services. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 TELECOMMUNICATIONS Services of T&T (TSTT) is expected to re-issue retrenchment notices to the 376 unionised workers by Friday giving them 45-day notices which will end July 15. TSTT and its recognised majority union, the Communications Workers Union (CWU) came to an agreement outside of the courts on Monday, that will see the organisation continue with its restructuring exercise without delay. The importance of providing nutritious meals for the health and development of the nations children through national school feeding programmes is underscored. Resilience building is in sharp focus as food production, quality, and availability due to high food prices caused by the disruption of supply chains are of concern. Food supply is impacted by extreme weather patterns, influenced by climate change and the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war. It was 110 days ago when five LMCS Ltd diversChristopher Boodram, Fyzal Kurban, Rishi Nagassar, Kazim Ali Jr and Yusuf Henryprepared to go out to the Berth 6 platform off Pointe-a-Pierre to work on that pipeline rising from the sea. Boodram would later recall boarding a barge, reaching the location, and diving into the water with the others to get to the entrance of a hyperbaric chamber (habitat). OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has called on United States authorities to investigate whether Attorney General Reginald Armour committed perjury and lied to a Miami court over his role as an attorney in the Piarco International Airport corruption case. This as she maintained at the UNCs Monday night forum that the AG has placed the country in a constitutional crisis and must be fired by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. Below is a version of my letter sent to the Environmental Management Authority (EMA), which has requested that complaints about noise pollution be sent directly to them: I am a long-standing resident of Lady Chancellor Apartments a 50-year-old apartment block situated approximately 400 yards from the Lookout on Lady Chancellor Road. Over the years I have watched, with dismay and utter impotence, the complete erosion of a quiet residential area into a noisy, public fete neighbourhood. A choose-your-own-adventure theatrical event is looking to reshape the narrative of border towns and be part of the revitalization of downtown Nogales by telling the stories of the people who have lived there for generations. Borderlands Theater is putting on Barrio Stories Nogales, on historic Morley Avenue in downtown Nogales, on June 17 and 18, and will include theater performances, projections of oral histories onto Morley Avenues historic buildings, music performances, childrens activities and more. The third installment of the Barrio Stories Project is the culmination of two years of research and community engagement, created in conjunction with Borderlands Theater ensemble and residents of Nogales. When this project first began, before the pandemic forced it to pause, Milta Ortiz, Borderlands Theater associate artistic director, started interviewing people in Nogales to gather the citys history. She had also done interviews in previous iterations of the project that focused on two of Tucsons historic Mexican-American neighborhoods Barrio Anita and the grounds of the Tucson Convention Center. Ortiz also worked with a class at Pierson High School, in the Nogales Unified School District, guiding the students in gathering oral histories to create a sense of place. A big emphasis of Barrio Stories is to celebrate and preserve the history, she said. So we talk to elders in the community about the way that things were to get people thinking about, why did this change, and how can we help and bring that energy back? Economic revitalization Along with the Borderlands theater ensemble, the students interviewed friends and family on both sides of the border. Those oral histories were edited and put together as a sort of video collage, which will be projected onto Morley Avenues historic buildings during the event. In one video, a Pierson High student listens to her grandmother and great-grandmother talk about when the maquiladoras first opened in Sonora, Nogales factories along the border that offered numerous jobs to provide cheaper labor for foreign companies, often from the U.S. One of the women remembered leaving the Arizona side for the work that was booming in Sonora. People crossed back and forth with ease back then, but by the time the older woman wanted to return to Arizona, she was told she could not. She never actually got her paperwork for citizenship here because she didnt need to, and then everything changed, Ortiz said. And now she cant really come over here and spend time with her family, because before, they used to cross the border like it was nothing. As in this one womans story, residents of Nogales have seen a drastic shift in their city over the years due to changes in border security and shifts in economic drivers. Barrio Stories Nogales is about envisioning a future where Morley Avenue and downtown Nogales are a hub for creative activity, locally driven commerce and unifying community events. This event is part of the effort to revitalize Morley Avenue, says Marc David Pinate, who is the events shadow theater director and worked with the high school students to turn the oral stories they collected into plays. One impetus for this entire project, which started four years ago, was talent flight, Pinate said, talking about the many young people who leave Nogales after high school because theres not enough to keep them there. As the artist with Borderlands got to better understand the Nogales community, it became apparent that many who have a stake in Morley Avenue would like to see more art events in the downtown area, as a way to revitalize the area for residents and to draw people from outside Nogales. This business-arts district is more aimed at the rest of Arizona, certainly Tucson and the Tucson-Nogales corridor, but even further up into Phoenix, Pinate said. Its an amazing culture already because its binational and everybody is bicultural, and its so fluid the way that everybody is bilingual and bicultural and can just go back and forth like nothing. Changing the narrative A second impetus for this project is to facilitate a narrative shift about the border, away from the idea that its a dangerous place to be feared, Pinate said. Apart from 17 partners on the project, including working with teens from the countys Gear Up Program, the project also has a steering committee that meets once a month, made up of elected officials, local business owners, representatives from the arts community, local students, representatives from the local historical society and more. Pinate asked Nogales City Councilwoman Liza Montiel, an active member of the committee, why she was so dedicated to the project, and she said the event was needed. Youre telling our story, he remembers her saying. Pinate worked with 10 students to help them turn the stories they gathered into a giant puppet play a teenage love story set in the tradition of the crowning of las reinas, the queens a tradition that now only has some vestiges of the festival the elders remember. The teens learned from their grandparents and great-grandparents that in the 50s, the Nogales border would open for four or five days, Pinate said. There was a parade that started on the Arizona side and went into the Mexican side and back again. And the stage where las reinas were crowned was right on the border line half the stage was in Mexico and half was in Arizona. These are stories these kids never heard about. One of the great results of this process with them has been their own learning in a much deeper way about some of the history of their town and some of their traditions, he said. Creative placemaking One thing Ortiz appreciates about Nogales, which she learned from doing the interviews for this event, is the strong fronterizo culture. Whats beautiful about a border is its a place of exchange, she said. People speak fluid Spanish-English like its one language. Its like a fixture. It really encompasses what a border town is. Thats a really interesting culture to experience and to think about the border as being a place of intercambio, exchange, of fluidity, of mixing, like the language does there. Theres a whole arm of theater about creative placemaking, Ortiz says, similar to creative place keeping, which Ortiz first heard coined by Roberto Bedoya, a writer and cultural activist who is a former executive director of the Tucson Pima Arts Council. This concept is about validating a place as your own, returning to it, she says. We had energy in this area, Ortiz said. We were there. We made it happen. And I dont know if its border issues, immigration issues that killed the energy, or fear of the narcos, but its about bringing back the energy that was once there and saying: This is a place to be. This is a good place. This is a place for us to gather. We used to gather here. Lets come back here. Contact reporter Danyelle Khmara at dkhmara@tucson.com or 573-4223 . On Twitter: @DanyelleKhmara If you go Borderlands Theater is putting on Barrio Stories Nogales on historic Morley Avenue in downtown Nogales on Friday, June 17, and Saturday, June 18. The event runs from 6:30 to 10 p.m. each day, and people can show up at any time throughout and can go both days to experience different things. The event is free, but donations are accepted. The first 100 attendees on both nights will receive a free poster. Schedule 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.: Pimeria Alta History Museum open to the public; La Linea Art Studio open to the public; and kids art activities and food trucks at Karam Park 7:00 and 8:30 p.m.: Heritage Talk Circle at Pimeria Alta Museum 7:20, 8:15 and 9:00 p.m.: Giant Puppet performances 6:40, 7:30 and 9:05 p.m.: Music performances by Renee Goust, Los Velvets, and Los Waldos on June 17 and The Jons, Los Nasdrovia and Priscilla Nefftys on June 18. 7:30 to 10:00 p.m.: Media artist Adam Cooper-Teran will have large scale projections of oral histories from multigenerational residents of Nogales, from both sides of the border, projected onto Morley Avenues historic buildings. 7:50, 8:20 and 8:50 p.m.: Shadow Theater performances. There will also be food trucks, local vendors, arts and cultural resource booths, activities for children and storytelling circles. For more information or questions go to borderlandstheater.org or call the Borderlands Theater Box Office at 520-276-9598. To volunteer to help with the event, go to tinyurl.com/zpsazfet or email Kaya Teyechea at k.teyechea@gmail.com. Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. PHOENIX A judge will decide this week whether there will be rules in place to run this years elections or whether there will be, as an attorney for the governor fears, chaos at the polls. Anni Foster, attorney for Gov. Doug Ducey, told a judge on Friday that Attorney General Mark Brnovich never approved a new Election Procedures Manual as the law required by Dec. 31. Instead, the attorney general waited four months before filing suit, accusing Secretary of State Katie Hobbs of failing to produce a legally compliant manual. And by legally compliant, Brnovich made it clear he believes that means what he decides is legal. In the meantime, Foster told Yavapai County Superior Court Judge John Napper, the state and the election officials in the 15 counties are in legal limbo. So she wants him to declare that the manual adopted in 2019 remain in effect and election officials can rely on them unless and until a new one is approved. Time is running out. The states primary is Aug. 2. Early ballots go out in less than a month. And its even more immediate, with several counties already having administered local elections this year. These elections are ongoing right now, Foster said. And she told the judge, it is inviting chaos in the 2022 election if he doesnt rule that counties should continue to follow the 2019 manual, which has the force of law. If there is no procedure manual in effect, then nobody knows what the rules are, Foster told Napper. That, however, is getting a fight from Assistant Attorney General Michael Catlett. He said there have been multiple changes in state law and various court rulings since then, all of which he said make the manual outdated. Napper, however, told Foster hes not sure he even has the power to issue such an order. He pointed out the only legal issue before him is Brnovichs lawsuit that does not seek to confirm the 2019 manual but to force changes he wants in the new one. And the judge also lashed out at Brnovich for putting him in the difficult position of trying to figure out now, just ahead of this years elections, how counties should be running the election. He got Catlett to acknowledge that Brnovich got the draft manual from Hobbs on Oct. 1, which was the deadline. And the deadline for adoption was Dec. 31. That probably would have been a good trigger point to file something, Napper told Catlett. Yet Brnovich did not file suit until April. The judge said there may be the basis for some of the claims by Brnovich that the items Hobbs included do not comply with the law and recent court rulings. But he was clearly not happy about being pressured to act now. I probably would have been more sympathetic for that argument if it was filed in November, he told Catlett. Catlett, however, said this isnt all the fault of his boss. He said if Hobbs believed that Brnovich was abusing his discretion in refusing to approve her changes, she could have gone to court herself long before now. At the heart of the fight is the Election Procedures Manual, essentially guidance and an explanation of state election laws that county recorders are supposed to follow. Arizona law requires the secretary of state to prepared a new one prepared every two years ahead of elections. It then is given to the governor and attorney general for their approval. Hobbs did just that, only to have Brnovich refuse to give it his legally required blessing until she made the changes he wants. And when she balked, he filed suit. At Fridays hearing, Napper made it clear that hes not buying many of the arguments by the attorney general that all the procedures and policy Hobbs has put in the manual for future elections do not comply with the law. He said Brnovich is off base with claims ranging from how counties verify signatures on early ballots to political party registration and campaign finance requirements. Napper also at times expressed frustration with the arguments being advanced by Catlett, saying he doesnt seem to understand the issues. Consider the issue of the wording that has to be on the envelopes that go out with the early ballots. Catlett objects to the fact that Hobbs is telling counties they should not use the words return to sender as instructions for what to do if the voter does not live there anymore. He told the judge that is contrary to what lawmakers directed. Napper said thats not exactly true. He said the law says it has to be that language or something substantially similar. In this case, the judge said Hobbs had information from the U.S. Postal Service that putting such language on the envelope could result in automated sorting machines might send the ballots back to the counties rather than on to voters. That, said Napper, would appear to provide sufficient reason for Hobbs to direct counties to use that substantially similar language, like return to post office, to ensure that voters would get their ballots. But Catlett continued to argue that the law was clear and that Hobbs could not dictate to counties what language they should use. He asked Napper to instead say the best Hobbs could do is provide a helpful example of what language would be similar. Other pending issues range from whether some votes cast in the wrong precinct can be counted to whether counties have to actually have an election worker staff ballot drop boxes or they can simply be electronically monitored. That, however, still leaves the question of what Napper actually can do about all this. I need someone to explain to me how this thing lands, the judge said. I dont know how this ends, he continued. Youve got a clock thats ticking. And Napper pointed out that Brnovich has not agreed to abide by any decisions he makes about what needs to be in the new Election Procedures Manual. Nor, the judge said, has Ducey whose signature also is necessary to put a new manual into effect, creating the possibility of ongoing litigation. The lawsuit is the latest in a series of disputes between Brnovich, a Republican contender for U.S. Senate, and Hobbs, a Democrat running for governor. That includes his efforts to have her declared criminally liable for taking down an online web site for candidates, a complaint that was handed to the Cochise County Attorney to investigate, and her complaints to the State Bar of Arizona that his office had been representing her and then took a contrary position in court, a case that resulted in a diversion agreement requiring Brnovich to set some clear lines between his role as prosecutor and his role as a defender of state agencies. 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 . Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writers: The statistics are sobering. The U.S. leads the developed world in mass shootings. The U.S. rate of death per 100,000 people from gun violence is eight times the Canadian rate and nearly 100 times the rate in the United Kingdom. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released updated official mortality data which showed 45,222 firearm related deaths in the U.S. in 2020, a new high, and the New England Journal of Medicine reports that firearm homicides are now the leading cause of death among U.S. children and adolescents, surpassing motor vehicle accidents. Given the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde, and Tulsa there are renewed calls for our elected officials to do something to address escalating gun violence. Polls show that almost 90% of Americans support red flag laws and closing background check loopholes, yet even such commonsense gun control measures are dead on arrival in the Arizona legislature. As recently as May 31, 2022, all 16 Arizona Senate Republicans voted against a measure that would require background checks for all firearm purchases. Why is that? We dont profess to have all the answers regarding gun violence, but we have a pretty good idea why popular commonsense measures to address gun violence fail. The way a representative democracy is supposed to work is each legislative and congressional district elects the candidate that is the choice of most voters but represents all constituents in the district, including those who voted for another candidate. But thats not how it works. Not all eligible voters are registered to vote, and not all registered voters vote, especially in primary elections. In Arizonas 2020 elections, which had historically high voter turnout (80% of registered voters voted in the general election), only 36% of registered voters voted in the primary elections, with approximately half (18%) voting in the Democratic Primary and half (18%) voting in the Republican Primary. Twenty-five of Arizonas 30 legislative districts (83%) are dominated by either Republican registered voters or Democratic registered voters and are considered noncompetitive. The candidate who wins the primary election in a noncompetitive district is always going to prevail in the November general election. So less than 20% of the voters select over 80% of our legislators. That means that in most Arizona districts if you only vote in the general election, your vote does not count. And who are these primary voters? Typically, primary voters are older and more ideologically partisan. So, the typical playbook for a Republican candidate is to treat the far-right primary voter base as the only important constituency and the typical playbook for a Democratic candidate is to keep the far-left primary voter base happy. The result is predictable. Elected Republicans cannot vote for commonsense gun control measures without incurring the wrath of party leaders and the Republican base and being thrown out of office in the next primary election, and elected Democrats are more incentivized to appeal to the Democratic base by demonizing their Republican colleagues than to work constructively on compromise gun control reforms. The case of Congressman Chris Jacobs of New York is illustrative of what happens to a Republican who has the audacity to express support for commonsense gun control measures. Jacobs is a Republican representing suburban Buffalo and a Second Amendment supporter who was endorsed by the NRA. However, following the deadly mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde he voiced support for limits on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. In a week his political career was over. Party leaders withdrew their support for his reelection campaign, and he was publicly lambasted for caving to the gun-grabbers by Donald Trump Jr. Shortly thereafter, realizing he had no way to win his Republican primary race, Jacobs abandoned his reelection campaign and announced We have a problem in our country in terms of both our major parties. If you stray from a party position, you are annihilated. Jacobs continued For the Republicans, it became pretty apparent to me over the last week that that issue is gun control. Any gun control. Since supporting sensible gun control measures is political suicide for an Arizona Republican running for statewide office or in a noncompetitive legislative race, it is wishful thinking to believe anything will change unless we reform our election system. Replacing taxpayer funded partisan party primary elections with open nonpartisan primaries would treat all candidates and all voters equally and allow candidates to focus on solutions to our problems instead of partisan primary voters and party leaders. If you are interested in learning more about the nonpartisan movement, please check out our web site at savedeomcracyaz.com. +3 +3 +3 +3 Sarah Brown Smallhouse is president of the Thomas R Brown Foundations, Don Budinger is chairman of Rodel Foundation of Arizona, Ted Hinderaker is a founding member of Hinderaker, Rauh and Weisman law firm, and Si Schorr is a senior partner (retired) of Lewis Roca law firm. Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. Q: Last fall, my wife and I traveled to eastern Europe for a river cruise. We missed our connection in London because of a flight delay. Our airline rerouted us to Paris and Prague, with the last leg on CSA Czech Airlines. Our luggage did not arrive with us. We immediately filed a lost luggage claim at the Prague airport. When the luggage still did not come the next day, and there was no word on when or if it would, we went shopping for clothes and toiletries. The luggage finally arrived late that same night. After the trip, we filed for expense reimbursement with Czech Airlines, since they were the ones that delayed our luggage. I filed by using their online form. I received an immediate canned response that they would process our claim as soon as possible. When I heard nothing further for three weeks, I followed up, again using their online form. I received the same canned response. After waiting almost three more weeks with no answer, I sent an email to their call center explaining the situation and asking about the status of my claim. (I got the email address from your website.) An airline representative said wait times were longer than normal but promised to get back to me as soon as possible. That was four months ago. I would simply like Czech Airlines to adjudicate the claim and decide what, if anything, they are going to reimburse. Dick Helms, Tucson, Arizona A: CSA Czech Airlines should have promptly processed your claim, as promised. High traffic and call volume is one thing, but the airlines cant use that excuse for months. Your claim just fell between the cracks, and the airline covered its incompetence with form letters. There was nothing unusual about your claim. You filed it on time, the items you purchased were reasonable, and you gave the airline all the documentation needed to process the claim. Usually, when a reimbursement claim goes sideways, its because someone bought something the airline wouldnt cover or filed the claim too late. I could see no evidence of any of that. The only place where I can find fault is where you allowed the drugstore to convert your dollars to korunas. Always let your bank do the conversion; otherwise, youll get hit with fees and an unfavorable exchange rate. You did the right thing by appealing to a manager, and Im happy that you found the executive contacts for CSA Czech Airlines that I list on my consumer advocacy site at www.elliott.org/company-contacts/csa-czech-airlines/. You used those contacts at the right moment, when it became clear that they would not process your claim quickly. I contacted the airline on your behalf. It found your claim and processed a refund of $414 for the clothing and toiletries. Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. You can read more travel tips on his blog, elliott.org, or email him at chris@elliott.org Tulsa World President Mark Lewis has announced two promotions in the advertising department. Misti Rinehart is now the Tulsa World advertising director, and Kathryn Bezler is now the Lee Enterprises South Region advertising operations director. The Tulsa World is one of 77 news organizations owned by Lee Enterprises in 26 states. Rinehart has worked in the media and advertising industry for 21 years. She started at the Tulsa World as an inside retail sales supervisor in 2016 before being named an outside media sales manager. She then became the manager of sales and events for the Tulsa World and the Oklahoma Weekly Group, which includes the Owasso Reporter, Skiatook Journal, Sand Springs Leader and the Wagoner County American-Tribune. Dedicated to the media community, she also serves as vice chair of the revenue and promotion committee for the Oklahoma Press Association. Having been born and raised in the Tulsa area, this is my home, said Rinehart, who is a member of the Quapaw Nation. I love the people here, and Im extremely passionate about serving and helping my community thrive. I know that marketing can be a stressful industry to work in, so I strive to ensure my Tulsa World family has a healthy work-life balance, in addition to the tools and resources needed for professional success. Bezler, who has been in advertising for 17 years, started at the Tulsa World in 2005 in the classifieds department. She was a sales leader before being named advertising operations manager. Her new role as South Region operations director serves Lee news organizations in Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, Nebraska and South Carolina. She was born in Dublin, Ireland, and became a United States citizen in 2021. My career with the Tulsa World has always been about learning, growing and what my contribution to the companys success is, Bezler said. So I am thrilled to be given this opportunity to expand my team, allowing us to share workflows for sales support and operations. The Tulsa World offers marketing strategies to local businesses with an expansive menu of options and capabilities as an Amazon Advertising partner and Google Premiere partnered full-service digital advertising agency. We have helped local businesses grow over the years with advertising in print and on our website, but now is the most exciting time to be marketing partners with the Tulsa World, Rinehart said. How we communicate and consume media has changed, and here at the Tulsa World we have changed to meet those demands. We continue our long-term commitment to deliver the right audiences for business owners in and around the Tulsa area. With an extensive and robust menu of services, we are able to work closely with our clients to help them reach and exceed their goals. Im excited for the future of Tulsa World. To learn more about advertising and marketing opportunities available from the Tulsa World, email advertising@tulsaworld.com. Subscribe to Daily Headlines Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. To the casual visitor, the Tulsa Performing Arts Center appears to be handling its business as usual. With the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions that forced the facility to close completely for months, then operate on a severely limited scale, the four main performance areas of the PAC are once again hosting everything from Broadway touring productions and symphony concerts to local theater shows and chamber music performances. But all it takes is a glimpse behind the curtains to reveal that the 45-year-old venue is feeling and showing its age, and the wear and tear of some 250,000 visitors attending more than 500 events presented here each year. The City of Tulsa, which owns the facility, recently approved a request from the Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust, the nonprofit organization that manages the day-to-day operations of the venue, for $5.5 million from the $43.9 million the city received as part of the American Rescue Plan Act. The act was created to help individuals, businesses and civic organizations with funds to help boost the economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The money will be used to address 32 building improvements and deferred maintenance projects that needed immediate attention in order for the facility to continue operations for the next three to five years. However, Mark Frie, CEO of the Tulsa PAC, said during his presentation to the city council in April that these immediate issues are in essence only a temporary fix, and that the only way for the venue to survive would be a drastic remodel, or the construction of an entirely new performing arts venue. Within a 10-minute walk from here, you can go to a number of world-class venues and attractions we have in the city today the BOK Center, the Bob Dylan Center, the OKPOP Museum that will be opening soon, Frie said. And if you look at PACs in similar cities, such as Kansas City, Nashville, Oklahoma City, we simply cant compete. If I was a promoter looking at bringing a show to one location in Oklahoma, and I looked at the Tulsa PAC and the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City, I would probably take my show to Oklahoma City, he said. I dont like to say that, because I love Tulsa and I love this facility. But to be honest, the Tulsa PAC does not look like a welcoming place. Accessibility issues The Tulsa PAC was built as part of a massive downtown development project in the mid-1970s that included the BOK Tower; both were designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki, best known for the original World Trade Center towers in New York City. Yamasaki designed the PAC in the Brutalist style, with a lot of concrete and few decorative flourishes. The Tulsa PAC was the only performing arts venue Yamasaki designed in his career, and the plan to have four performance venues contained within the relatively small footprint at the corner of Third Street and Cincinnati Avenue is one reason for the maze-like quality of the venues backstage area. It was also built before the advent of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which required public buildings to provide accommodations for those with physical challenges. Frie said the PAC was grandfathered in when the ADA became law, and while efforts were made to install such things as ramps, special seating areas and restroom facilities, much still needs to be done to help make the facility truly accessible. For example, staff members and frequent users of the PAC refer to the angled walkway that leads from the Stage Door entrance on Second Street to the backstage area as the Ramp of Death. Our industry is pushing for more diversity, and were going to have more and more performers with physical challenges, and we need to accommodate them, Frie said. But that ramp is scary for everyone. I have a lot of sympathy for the cellists and bass players with the symphony, having to navigate our backstage area with their instruments. Frie said the PAC Trust originally included ADA upgrades in its request, but the amount needed to cover the costs of the renovations approached $15 million. It made sense to divide the projects up, and approach the city with a request that would cover bringing certain aspects up to industry standards, and addressing some immediate safety issues, Frie said. He said the PAC Trust also approached the Tulsa County Commission, which also received American Rescue Plan funds, about helping to fund the ADA upgrades, but the commission declined to hear the proposal. Among these projects that are scheduled to be addressed are replacing the house lights in the Chapman, Williams and Doenges theaters, which are so old that replacement parts arent available; upgrading the buildings heating, air-conditioning and hot water systems, which are also outdated; and repairing the crumbling concrete stairs on the buildings west side. Safety concerns Most of the things that need attention are rarely seen by those attending performances at the PAC, but which are vital for safety concerns as well as helping to make the PAC able to deal with the technological demands of contemporary stagecraft. This includes upgrading all fire curtains in the theaters to industry standards, upgrading the rope winches used to raise and lower scenery in the Chapman theater, reinforcing the wall separating the orchestra pit in the Chapman from the audience, replacing exterior doors that are 25 years out of date and fixing the sewer line that has had repeated problems with breaking and leaking. Sewer lines are supposed to angle down, but the way the land here has settled, our sewer starts down, then angles up, Frie said. Its caused all sorts of problems over the years. We also have an HVAC system that uses steam heat and chilled water there are places that look like youre in a battleship, because of all the pipes and valves. One of those valves burst in January 2021, causing minor flooding in the lower-level theaters. Frie said most of these improvements can be done without greatly disrupting the PACs regular operations. Some will take some careful scheduling, such as repairing the concrete in our loading dock, Frie said. But the PACs loading dock is also a reason why a brand-new performing arts center may soon be seen as a necessity. The PAC has a single loading dock, located at the top of a curved ramp on the buildings west side. We can only load or unload one truck at a time, Frie said. This summer, were going to have (the Disney musical) Frozen here, and that show fills 20 semi-trucks. We also have only one freight elevator, so if were trying to load a show like Frozen out, and the ballet or Theatre Tulsa is trying to load their next production in, the logistics are kind of a nightmare. Planning for the future Frie gives credit to the PAC staff and the facilitys user groups that over the years have worked to overcome the challenges of putting on shows in the PAC. But the time is coming when the city will need to make a commitment to provide Tulsas performing arts companies a world-class facility. We need to start having these conversations, Frie said. Our goal is to raise half of the money needed for a new performing arts center privately. We have a development team in place, and weve had some positive response from major donors. A new performing arts center is estimated to cost upwards of $300 million. Frie said one solution to creating a new center would be first to construct a medium-sized, 1,200- to 1,400-seat theater at a new location. The current PAC could continue operations until this phase of the project was completed. A medium-sized theater is something the major companies have wanted for years, Frie said. And it would allow us to keep operating during construction, whereas a full remodel of the present facility would require us to shut down for months, even years. And that could be devastating, he said. The Broadway series accounts for 80 percent of our earned revenue. And most of our revenue goes to fund programs, whether its our events like the Imagination Series, the Orbit Initiative, the Discovery Awards or for facility grants that make it more affordable for local groups to use the PAC. Weve never had any sort of revenue reserve we can tap for things like this. On the other hand, Frie said, the economic impact of the arts in Tulsa is undeniable. The most recent study by Americans for the Arts determined that Tulsa-area nonprofit arts and culture organizations had an economic impact of nearly $229 million for the regions economy in 2021, supporting more than 7,800 full-time jobs and generating $21 million in tax revenue. Tulsa has always shown that the arts are important, Frie said. Investing in the sort of world-class facility that the Tulsa performing arts company deserves is an investment that will certainly pay off. If we dont step up our game, he said, Im not sure how long we can continue to be the home for the performing arts in Tulsa. Featured video: Stay up-to-date on what's happening Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Hundreds of Oklahomans packed the River Spirit Casino Resort theater Saturday night to cheer on their local titleholders as they fought for the title of Miss Oklahoma. After a demanding competition week filled with private interviews, on-stage questions, advocacy for a social cause, and talent and fashion segments, a beginning class of 36 competitors dwindled to one as Megan Gold was crowned Miss Oklahoma 2022. Gold is a recent OU journalism graduate and works as a meteorologist at KOTV, channel 6. The Miss Bricktown contest titleholder will succeed Miss Oklahoma 2021 Ashleigh Robinson. During the talent portion of the semi-finalist competition, Gold performed Dueling Banjos by Eric Weissberg on the flute. The performance won her an overall talent title in the second preliminary competition night, and she also took home a red carpet award during the first preliminary night. For her social impact initiative, Gold decided to start with grandpa and grandma by advocating for seniors who face food insecurity through Meals on Wheels. One in 10 Oklahoma seniors struggles with hunger, according to the Oklahoma Food Bank, and Gold said her grandpa, Wilson, was once one of those seniors. (Wilson) was my hero, and I loved my afternoon visits to see him. But on a particular visit, my family noticed he was eating Vienna sausages and M&Ms for dinner, and that wasnt the nutrition that he needed to stay healthy, Gold said. So, I knew it was time to get involved not only for Grandpa, but for other seniors in similar situations. Its my mission to advocate for the silent, forgotten group, because they took care of us, and now its time that we take care of them. Gold said she knows Oklahoma seniors have been through a lot, and pride can make it difficult to come forward with this challenge. She said it is the job of younger generations to check on their grandparents and neighbors who might not feel comfortable asking for help. As Miss Oklahoma, Gold said she will work to uphold the traditions of the Miss America organization and take what she has learned from past titleholders to heart. My goal is not to change the title, but to add to it, Gold said. There have been so many incredible ladies standing here that Ive been able to go have coffee with to learn about their years of service, and (I) have things I could do differently but also (can) build on the things that they did. Gold will represent Oklahoma in the Miss America competition, which will be held in Uncasville, Connecticut later this year. Oklahoma Citys Bella Brown took the title of Miss Oklahomas Outstanding Teen Saturday afternoon. She will compete in the Miss Americas Outstanding Teen pageant from Aug. 10-12 in Dallas. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) J. Joseph Joe Grandmaison, a larger-than-life Democratic operative who ran numerous campaigns and served as an appointee under three presidents, has died. He was 79. Grandmaison died from the effects of Parkinsons disease Saturday at Wentworth Senior Living, his brother said. With the passing of Joe Grandmaison, New Hampshire has lost a political legend," said U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. Grandmaison led a number of campaigns and was an informal adviser on others. He was credited with counseling Democrat Bill Clinton to declare victory early in the evening in the New Hampshire primary. Clinton declared himself the comeback kid by taking second place, and went on to the first of two terms in the White House. He grew up on working class neighborhood known as Crown Hill in Nashua, which shaped him. He never stopped believing that not everybody in life gets dealt a fair hand, and that government needs to be there in order to deal with the adversity or unfairness that most people experience at some time, said his brother, Phil Grandmaison. That's why he was a Democrat. Grandmaison got his political start working on the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern in 1972, then managed Michael Dukakis successful campaign for Massachusetts governor two years later. That was just the start of many campaigns with his fingerprints on them. Phil Grandmaison described his brother as a political fighter who made fast friends, even across party lines. He was easy to meet. You were apt to know him for a lifetime, once you got to know each other. But in politics, he was a rough competitor, he said. Later, Grandmaison served as President Jimmy Carters co-chair of the New England Regional Commission and Clintons director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. He twice served on the board of the Export-Import Bank under Republican President George W. Bush Joe was one of a kind, said George Bruno, who preceded Grandmaison as state party chair. He was as comfortable campaigning the streets of Nashua or Berlin as he was with the president in the White House. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. The body of a man believed to be a boater missing since May 27 was recovered Saturday evening at Grand Lake, Grand River Dam Authority Police said. The body was recovered after a boater about 8 p.m. contacted police after seeing the body in the water along Langley bluff, about a mile north of Pensacola Dam. Officers made recovery a short time later, in a water depth of 90 feet. The males clothing matches the description of Troy Young, 48, of Bixby. GRDA Police have been searching Grand Lake for Young since the morning of May 28, after recovering his boat near the entrance of Ketchum Cove. Young was last seen in that boat, a 24-foot blue Yellowfin, leaving Cedar Port Marina, at approximately 10:30 p.m. May 27. The official identification of the body will come from the Oklahoma Medical Examiner, GRDA police said. She would be 55. That fact alone since in her mind she'll always be young is hard for Denise Milner's mother to grasp. But even harder to picture, she said, is what her daughter's life might look like now. "She had a lot of interests and was good at most things she tried," Bettye Milner said. Denise could've chosen just about any direction in life. And thinking about how that choice was so cruelly taken away, Milner added, is not any easier after 45 years. This Monday will mark the 45th anniversary of what have become known as the Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders, in which Denise Milner, 10, and two other Tulsa-area scouts were killed on their first night at Camp Scott in Mayes County. Lori Farmer, 8, and Michele Guse, 9, were found slain with Denise the following morning, June 13, 1977. Interest in the case spiked again recently ahead of the anniversary, thanks in large part to a new ABC News/Hulu docuseries. Bettye Milner was interviewed for the series. The longtime Tulsan, who now lives in Mansfield, Texas, near her two daughters and four grandchildren, has given many interviews over the years. But she's never sought the spotlight. And with 2022 having brought so much of it, the 77-year-old said she has grown weary. Attention on the case has also been boosted by DNA results recently made public that point to longtime main suspect Gene Leroy Hart. Hart, who died in 1979 while in prison on unrelated charges, was tried and acquitted for the slayings. The latest testing was officially inconclusive, but it was able to rule out all potential suspects except Hart, authorities said. Milner said she made up her mind about Hart's guilt in 1979 after sitting through every day of the trial. She hasn't wavered since. She said she hopes if anything the DNA results can change the minds of those who believe in Hart's innocence. Milner moved to Texas in 2019, she said, to be close to her daughters and their children. Up until then, she'd lived in the same home in Tulsa for 51 years. It was the same house where Denise grew up, and where she was living at the time of her death. In the end, Milner was ready to leave. "And I don't miss it," she said. She's never felt a strong tie to any place just because of its association with Denise. In fact, she's visited her grave only once since the funeral, preferring not to think of her as being in it. Rather, it's with family surrounding her that Milner feels the strongest connection to her late daughter. Her oldest grandchild is named for Denise. Another, Morgan, has inherited a lot of her spirit, she said. "She has the same personality," Milner said. "She wants to be a part of everything; she tries to join everything like Denise did." Milner said 45 years feels like a long time in some ways, yet in others, not so much. Her daughter's murder "is not immediate anymore," she said. At the same time, "I can't get past the things that happened to her. I try not to think about it, but it's always there what she went through." If the docuseries was a painful reminder of that, so, too, unfortunately, is the daily news, Milner said. "Seeing all the things happening in the world now, how kids are being harmed, it just makes it all fresh." Tulsa World Newsroom podcast: Questions still remain about the Oklahoma Girl Scout murders 45 years later Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Wayback machine: The 14 candidates in the 2nd Congressional Districts June 28 Republican primary and the 13 contending for the GOP nomination to finish Jim Inhofes U.S. Senate term are a lot by recent and even not-so-recent standards, but there was a time when such crowded elections were almost routine. Some crowded fields occurred early: The largest in state history appears to be the 28 Democrats stampeding for the states at-large U.S. House seat in 1912. Fourteen Republicans filed for the U.S. Senate in 1920. One of them, J.W. Harreld, went to Washington; sadly, Dynamite Ed Perry did not. The real heyday for Oklahoma political primaries, though, began with the Great Depression in 1930 and continued into the early 1960s. In 1932, 25 Democrats filed for the newly restored at-large congressional seat, and 15 ran for corporation commissioner. In 1936, 23 Democrats filed for the vacant CD 5 spot; amazingly, R.P. Hill won without a runoff. That same year, 16 Democrats and 12 Republicans filed for the at-large slot, which despite the heavy competition was won all 10 years of its existence by Will Rogers (but not that Will Rogers). Famous and catchy names were a prominent if usually unsuccessful feature of this period. At least three Will Rogers (including two in one race) and a William J. Rogers ran during the 1930s, but only one was ever victorious. Also appearing at various times were Robert E. Lee, William Cullen Bryant, Sam Houston III, Oliver Cromwell, James Nance Garner, Brigham Young, John Paul Jones and Daniel Boone. None were the original article. In the tradition of Dynamite Ed Perry, Oklahomans would also be asked to vote for Plowboy Edwards, Cowboy Pink Williams, Fence-cutter Roger Willis and Snake Arbuckle. The states most famous political nickname, Alfalfa Bill Murray, does not seem to have ever appeared on the ballot as such. The pinnacle of mass office-seeking was probably 1954. That year, 16 Democrats ran for governor, 12 for insurance commissioner, 10 for lieutenant governor, 10 for corporation commissioner, nine for U.S. Senate and an incomprehensible 24 for secretary of state. The size of primary fields declined steadily after that. Until this year, the last state or federal race with at least 14 entrants was the 1978 Democratic lieutenant governor battle. All of that said, the all-timer may have been Tulsas 1992 nonpartisan, winner-take-all mayoral special election. Fifty-four people put their names in the hat for that one; then-acting Mayor Susan Savage won with 41% of the vote, with future mayor Dewey Bartlett Jr. a distant second. Campaigns and elections: Democrat Kendra Horn, who will face the survivor of the 13 Republicans contending for nomination to finish U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofes term, blasted the four upper-tier contenders who participated in a televised debate last week as extremists and political panderers. Oklahomans need a problem-solver who will work across the aisle to get things done. In Congress, I had 25 bipartisan bills signed into law in a divided government and thats exactly what Ill do in the U.S. Senate. U.S. Sen. James Lankford was endorsed by several state agriculture groups and the National Right to Life. Tulsa County Commission candidate Bob Jack released a list of endorsements that includes the Tulsa and Glenpool Fraternal Order of Police lodges, five current legislators, three former county commissioners, former mayors of Tulsa, Bixby and Jenks, and current City Councilor Jayme Fowler. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas endorsed Republican state superintendent candidate Ryan Walters. Meetings and events: Gubernatorial candidate Connie Johnson and U.S. Senate hopefuls Dennis Baker and Jo Glenn will speak to the Creek County Democratic Party at 6 p.m. Thursday, at Josephs in Drumright, 54580 Highway 16. Randy Krehbiel, Tulsa World Featured video: Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Cast of thousands was an advertising catch phrase for the 1925 film version of Ben Hur, but a wag might say it applies almost as well to Oklahomas 2nd Congressional District Republican primary. With 14 entrants, the CD 2 primary isnt as crowded as the Ben Hur set, but it does rather resemble the movies famous chariot race. Pre-1994 election results below the state level are not readily accessed, but this appears to be the largest field for a Republican election in Oklahoma since 1936, when 15 ran for corporation commissioner. And it appears to be the most for either party since 1954, when 24 Democrats ran for secretary of state and 16 ran for governor. To complicate the CD 2 race even more, the district stretches from the states northeastern corner to the Red River west of Lake Texhoma, with no dominant media market. None of the entrants is all that well known outside their home area, except perhaps former state GOP Chairman John Bennett. In the controversial Bennetts case, that notoriety might not be an entirely good thing. All of the candidates have pledged undying fealty to former President Donald Trump, opposition to anything and everything current President Joe Biden is for, and devotion to the 2nd Amendment. All of this adds up to the likelihood that no candidate will win a majority on June 28, which means an Aug. 23 runoff between the top two. The ultimate survivor, though, is almost certain to win the Nov. 8 general election against Democrat Naomi Andrews and independent Ben Robinson. The Republican CD 2 field includes six current or former state legislators, a police chief, a former investigator, two pharmacists, two eastern Oklahoma tribal officials, at least four military veterans and one candidate who says hed like to win but mainly wants Bennett not to. Here, in alphabetical order, is a rundown of the field: Guy Barker, 32, Monkey Island: A former Tulsan now serving as secretary-treasurer of the Quapaw Nation, Barker has an engineering degree from Oklahoma State University and a law degree from Oklahoma City University. He has financial interests in oil and gas and agriculture. John Bennett, 47, Vian: The fiery ex-Marine is among the leaders of an anti-establishment Republican faction that tried to oust U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe and James Lankford from the party because they ultimately did not support the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. He served five times in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Josh Brecheen, 42, Coalgate: The former aide to the late U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn served two terms in the state Senate, where he earned a reputation for hard line opposition to abortion rights. OSU graduate. Operates a trucking and heavy-equipment company. David Derby, 46, Owasso: A pharmacist and former state representative with a background in forensic science. During five terms in the Oklahoma House, Derby specialized in prescription and illegal drugs and in updating state technology. Avery Frix, 28, Muskogee: Fresh out of the University of Oklahoma when first elected to the state House, Frix is giving up a safe seat after just three terms. His time in the Legislature was marked by his attention to transportation and getting cost of living increases for state pensioners. A Choctaw citizen. Pamela Gordon, 63, McAlester: A former teacher, forensic investigator and executive director of McAlester Defense Support Services, a business group associated with the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant and other area defense industries. Says her first act if elected would be to call my commander, and my commander is going to be Donald Trump. Rhonda Hopkins, 47, Rose: An unsuccessful candidate for the state House in 2016 and 2018 and for CD 2 in 2020, Hopkins has not been as visible as most of the other candidates. She is a certified nursing assistant. Clint Johnson, 49, Tahlequah: A Vian native, Johnson served in the Marines and with the Cherokee County Sheriffs Office and as a district attorneys investigator. He later trained law officers in Iraq. Johnson owns a Cherokee County ranch. Wes Nofire, 36, Park Hill: The former professional boxer is a member of the Cherokee National Council, where he ruffled feathers with his criticism of the U.S. Supreme Courts McGirt decision. Hes also sponsored legislation to ban abortions within Cherokee jurisdiction. Marty Quinn, 62, Claremore: Term-limited state senator and former House member with an insurance background. Originally from southwestern Arkansas, Quinn also has experience in ranching and property management. My bottom line is always the taxpayer, he says. Dustin Roberts, 38, Durant: Term-limited state representative and assistant majority floor leader. Navy veteran. Store owner. Choctaw citizen. Military issues are among Roberts priorities. Describes himself as not one to seek the microphone to throw bombs at the opposition. Chris Schiller, 45, Muskogee: Owns and operates Economy compounding pharmacies in Muskogee and Tulsa. His interests include addressing manufacturing and supply chain issues and making the prescription drug business more responsive to consumers. Johnny Teehee, 57, Muskogee: The Muskogee police chief talks a good deal about being raised by his traditional Cherokee grandparents in Vian. Teehee made national news last year when he agreed to speak at the funeral of a Nebraska teen killed in a shootout with Muskogee police. Teehees family also owns Chets Dairy Freeze, a longtime Muskogee institution. Erick P. Wyatt, 43, Kingston: A combat veteran who says his epitaph should be Does not play well with others, Wyatt is a governmental minimalist who would do away with or drastically reduce several federal agencies. Mostly, though, he says he doesnt want Bennett to win. The two have an ongoing quarrel about Bennetts military record and work history. Featured video: Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Cashless Fair offering products at affordable prices to factory workers was organized at Linh Trung 1 Export Processing Zone in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday morning. The fair is among a series of activities to celebrate this years Cashless Day, which has been marked every June 16 by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper and the State Bank of Vietnam since 2019. Opening from 8:00 am, the Cashless Fair attracted many workers at Linh Trung 1 Export Processing Zone, their family members, and local residents. People visit the stall of VNPT at the Cashless Fair in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, June 12, 2022. Photo: Quang Dinh / Tuoi Tre Aside from buying various products using cashless payment, visitors to the fair had an opportunity to play multiple games and win a lot of discounts and gifts. One of the highlights of the fair was the 270-square-meter stall of Saigon Co.op, which offered food and essential consumer products at 10-50 percent off. Buyers had lots of cashless payment options to choose from, with services offered by Sacombank, HDBank, ACB, MBBank, BIDV, NAPAS, VNPT Money, MoMo, and Zalo Pay, among others. A man receives a gift offered by NAPAS at the Cashless Fair in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, June 12, 2022. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre Cashless payment is an important and necessary solution and a must-have trend of the world, Nguyen Nguyen Phuong, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade, said at the event. The Cashless Day and related activities have been creating favorable conditions for this form of payment to further develop in Vietnam, Phuong added. The main goal of the Cashless Fair is to give workers the opportunity to familiarize themselves with cashless payment methods and purchase products with many incentives, according to Tran Xuan Toan, member of Tuoi Tres editorial board. The stall of MoMo e-wallet at the Cashless Fair in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, June 12, 2022. Photo: Quang Dinh / Tuoi Tre People visit the stall of ACB at the Cashless Fair in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, June 12, 2022. Photo: Quang Dinh / Tuoi Tre Nguyen Nguyen Phuong, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade, speaks at the Cashless Fair in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, June 12, 2022. Photo: Quang Dinh / Tuoi Tre Tran Xuan Toan, member of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspapers editorial board, speaks at the Cashless Fair in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, June 12, 2022. Photo: Quang Dinh / Tuoi Tre Visitors are instructed on how to use a cashless payment service at the Cashless Fair in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, June 12, 2022. Photo: Minh Duy / Tuoi Tre People buy products at the stall of Saigon Co.op at the Cashless Fair in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, June 12, 2022. Photo: Quang Dinh / Tuoi Tre The SHB stall at the Cashless Fair in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, June 12, 2022. Photo: Quang Dinh / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Here are todays leading news stories: Politics -- Vietnamese State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, along with incumbent and former leaders and officials, attended a ceremony marking the 110th birthday of Chairman of the former Council of Ministers Pham Hung in the late leaders hometown in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long on Saturday. -- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Saturday offered incense and flowers at the Dong Loc T-junction national historical relic site in memory of heroic martyrs who sacrificed their lives for national liberation, as part of his working trip to north-central Ha Tinh Province. COVID-19 Updates -- The Ministry of Health documented 710 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, raising the national tally to 10,731,244, with 9,547,919 recoveries and 43,083 deaths. Society -- Police in northern Hung Yen Province confirmed on Saturday they had apprehended five inmates after they broke out of prison early on Thursday morning. -- Competent authorities managed to rescue 11 people after a fire broke out at a bakery in Thu Duc City under Ho Chi Minh City early on Saturday morning. -- Two out of 17 cars of Ho Chi Minh Citys metro line no. 1, which are being kept at Long Binh Depot in Thu Duc City, have been smeared with paint and graffiti, the project developer said on Saturday. -- A resident in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City has handed over a rare monitor lizard weighing 1.3 kilograms to the citys forest protection department after the animal got into his house about 10 days ago. -- One person was killed on the spot after a tipper truck hit a motorbike along a section of National Highway No. 51 in southern Dong Nai Province on Saturday morning. Sports -- Vietnam will play Saudi Arabia in the quarterfinals of the 2022 AFC U23 Asian Cup in Uzbekistan at 11:00 pm on Sunday (Vietnam time). The match will be aired on VTV6 Channel and FPT Play. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A man in Ho Chi Minh City has handed a clouded monitor, which strayed into his house, to local forest rangers, as a move to contribute to protecting rare and endangered wild animals. Dang Van Ka, a resident of Binh Tan District, transferred the animal, weighing about 1.3 kilograms, to the municipal Forest Protection Department on Saturday. The clouded monitor was sent to the citys Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Center on the same day for necessary care before it can be released back to nature, the department said. The animal, with the scientific name Varanus nebulosus, belongs to the endangered, rare, and precious wildlife species of group IB that needs to be protected under a decree issued by the central government in 2019, according to local rangers. Ka Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper the same day that he suddenly found the animal clinging on the curtains of his house door when he returned home about ten days ago. Ka and a friend of his then caught the animal and put it in a cage. After an online search for relevant information, Ka identified the stray animal to be a clouded monitor, among the endangered wildlife, so he decided to contact the department for the handover. This image shows Dang Van Ka pointing his hand to the door curtains where the clouded monitor clung on after straying into his home in early June 2022. Photo: Ngoc Khai / Tuoi Tre I do not know where the animal came from, Ka said. I think someone might have raised it before it escaped from its cage. I handed the animal over to the agency so that it can return to its natural habitat soon. Last month, the department also received three wild animals voluntarily transferred by residents in District 7 and Thu Duc City. They included a pig-tailed macaque, a red-faced monkey, and a yellow mountain turtle, which are endangered, rare, and precious wildlife species, too. Transporting, trading, capturing or killing wild animals or parts thereof is a criminal offense in Vietnam punishable by between six months and 12 years in prison, according to the Penal Code. Since 1994, Vietnam has been party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international agreement between governments with an aim to protect endangered plants and animals. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Even Nine-owned Pedestrian TV has come to the defence of Rebel Wilson after the Sydney Morning Herald published a column that lamented giving the star a two day deadline to comment on her relationship with girlfriend Ramona Agruma. Its 2022. We all know by now that outing people is super wrong. Everyone should be able to come out on their own terms, no matter how famous they are, Pedestrian TV wrote. Rebel owning her queerness and coming out via her own socials is awesome. But its sad to think she may have felt pressured to come out before she was ready. Those views were reflected widely yesterday online after columnist Andrew Horney wrote, it was with an abundance of caution and respect that this media outlet emailed Rebel Wilsons representatives on Thursday morning, giving her two days to comment on her new relationship with LA leisure wear designer Ramona Agruma, before publishing a single word. On Friday Wilson confirmed Agruma as her Disney princess on social media, thus denying the newspaper any kind of scoop. But a fierce backlash emerged online when it was clear the announce was not entirely of her own timing. The pile-on against the Herald was widespread, and filed by international media: News.com.au, The Australian, SKY News, Variety, CNN, BBC, EW, Yahoo, The Independent, Metro, Newser, Stuff.co.nz., Just Jared. The backlash prompted editor Bevan Shields to defend their actions. To say that the Herald outed Wilson is wrong. Like other mastheads do every day, we simply asked questions and as standard practice included a deadline for a response. I had made no decision about whether or what to publish, and the Heralds decision about what to do would have been informed by any response Wilson supplied, he wrote. Wilson made the decision to publicly disclose her new partner who had been a feature of her social media accounts for months. But on social media others rejected Shields explanation too. Wilson described the situation as a very hard situation which she endeavoured to handle with grace. Thanks for your comments, it was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) June 12, 2022 Updated: Andrew Hornery has apologised in a new column. My email was never intended to be a threat but to make it clear I was sufficiently confident with my information and to open a conversation. It is not the Heralds business to out people and that is not what we set out to do. But I understand why my email has been seen as a threat. The framing of it was a mistake. The Herald and I will approach things differently from now on to make sure we always take into consideration the extra layer of complexities people face when it comes to their sexuality. He added, we need to make it clear that a deadline is not an ultimatum. In trying to tell the story within the story, which is what Private Sydney does, the tone of my column on Saturday was also off. I got it wrong. I allowed my disappointment to cast a shadow over the piece. That was not fair and I apologise. As a result, the Herald will take down Saturdays column and replace it with this one. TotalEnergies chief Patrick Pouyanne hailed a deal to expand production in the world's biggest natural gas field in Qatar but told AFP on Sunday that more projects are needed and consumers will still have to "turn down the heating" to ease the growing price crisis. The chairman and chief executive of the French multinational that is one of the world's most powerful energy companies said putting two billion dollars into a joint venture with Qatar Energy was the company's response to doubts expressed after it ended investment in Russia. The deal for a 6.25-percent stake in the North Field East project was announced Sunday barely two months after TotalEnergies said it would pump no more money into Russia where it has huge natural gas interests. Pouyanne, who has headed TotalEnergie since 2018, told AFP the deal was part of a "success story" with Qatar, where it struck a first accord in 1986. "It comes at the right time. Some were asking the question what would TotalEnergies do in place of Russia? This is the answer," he said in an interview. "We have announced projects in the United States. We wanted another one. We have added Qatar to the portfolio." The company is determined to remain a leader in liquefied natural gas (LNG), he stressed. Pouyanne said his company would help build a new LNG train, or production factory, for North Field East but the speed of recovering the $2-billion investment would depend on market prices. - Consumers beware - Higher energy prices have gripped Europe with some governments wondering how they will get through the next winter without Russian supplies which are being cut because of the Ukraine war. Qatar, one of the world's top three natural gas producers with the United States and Australia, has warned it cannot send more in the short term. Pouyanne said that consumers "who want electricity all the time", must use less. "What consumers can do is turn down the heating a bit in Europe. At the moment there is no heating because it is summer. But my advice is not too much air conditioning either," he said. Story continues Pouyanne also said more investment in production is needed to "bring prices down". The new natural gas complex in Qatar will only be ready at the end of 2025 or early 2026, he said. "We need more to stabilise the market. That's important." TotalEnergies, like Qatar Energy, also wants more medium- and long-term contracts in Europe. European governments have in recent years refused long-term deals so they can take advantage of market falls. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has forced them to change their policy and many have made approaches to Qatar in recent months. Qatar is attractive, Pouyanne added, because it sells to China, Japan, South Korea and India in Asia, but can also provide Europe. "Competitive production costs, liquefication costs that benefit from economies of scale and a good position, that is why Qatar has become a leader for liquefied natural gas." tw/hc People travelling to the United States will no longer have to show proof of a negative COVID test. The change was announced by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday and came into effect on Sunday morning. Testing requirements for people entering the US from abroad was one of the last remaining government mandates to limit the spread of coronavirus. According to an official, speaking under the condition of anonymity, the CDC will review testing requirements every 90 days. President Joe Biden's government put in place testing requirements last year, as it lifted the ban on non-essential travel from several countries in Europe, as well as China, Brazil, India and Iran. The initial requirements allowed people who were fully vaccinated to show proof of a negative test within three days of travel, while unvaccinated people had to present a test taken within 24 hours of travel. However, the US experienced a surge in cases due to the Omicron variant and the requirements were toughened, meaning travellers had to test within 24 hours of arriving in the US, regardless of their vaccination status. Airlines and tourism groups have been calling for the restrictions to be lifted, arguing that it is discouraging people from booking international trips. "I'm glad the CDC suspended the burdensome coronavirus testing requirement for international travellers, and I'll continue to do all I can to support the strong recovery of our hospitality industry," the senator for Nevada, Cortez Masto, said in a statement. The latest change comes six weeks after a federal court ended the CDC's mask requirements for mass transit, including trains, planes, buses and transit hubs, saying the agency exceeded its authority. The Biden administration is appealing the ruling. Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his advisers have been arguing in recent days that they dont want to cede any territory to Russia in the ongoing war in Ukraine. And though that view is widely held in Ukraine, they could be trapping themselves in political quicksand. Zelenskys position, which he and his advisers have repeated countless times, is well supported throughout the country, to be sure. Ukrainians overwhelmingly dont want to give up any land to Russia82 percent of Ukrainians are against it, according to a Kyiv International Institute of Sociology poll conducted in May. Zelensky has said Ukrainian fighters are capable of pushing back Russian forces, and even suggested they want to push Russia back to not just pre-February 2022 bounds, but wind the clock all the way back to before Russias incursion in 2014, as well. But Zelensky and his advisers must one day confront the realities of the war and actually approach a negotiating table once more and consideror maketerritorial concessions, that could leave Zelensky on the precipice of political turmoil, according to Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Zelensky is going to have to make some really difficult decisions between what kind of concessions to make versus protecting positions of principle, and what kind of concessions he might want to make that could be acceptable to the Ukrainian public, Pifer told The Daily Beast. I think thats going to be a really, really hard decision if they get to a point in a negotiation. Smoke rises from a Russian tank destroyed by Ukrainian forces, on the side of a road in Lugansk region on Feb. 26, 2022. Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty And yet, Zelensky knows its a matter of when, not if, hell be back at the negotiating table. Zelensky said last week he thinks the war will be decided on the battlefield, but admitted eventually he will be trying to make a deal once more. Victory must be achieved on the battlefield, Zelensky said. But any war should be ended at the negotiating table. Early on in the war, Ukrainian officials came to negotiations with the Russians to see if some kind of peace or deal could be reached. But Zelenskys choice to entertain the idea that Ukraine could reach a deal with Russians has been met with reproach from Ukrainians questioning his judgment. Story continues As the war has raged on and Ukrainians have fallen victim to Russian atrocities, Ukrainians are only likely digging their heels in. The attitudes have hardened in Ukraine, both in the government and among the people, and so even if Zelensky wanted to make some of the concessions he might have been considering 10 or 11 weeks ago, Im not sure that the Ukrainian population would accept that now, Pifer said. The consequences for Zelensky could play out in a number of ways. Politically, Zelenskys standing has been shape-shifting since the beginning of his time in office. Before Putin invaded Ukraine in February, his domestic approval ratings were tanked. Even in the buildup to the invasion, world leaders questioned his judgment when he sought to deny the seriousness of Putins plans for Ukraine and didnt call up his reserves quickly enough. But when the war began, Zelensky met the moment, breaking out into the streets and fighting alongside his citizens. He became a peoples president. And although he has his finger on the pulse of the Ukrainian people and the state of their resolve to beat back Russia, its not clear how long the afterglow of wartime political hero will last, especially when he has to start making decisions that are politically fraught in reaching a real peace. And if Zelensky even approaches a negotiating table, his political future might be shot, according to Orysia Lutsevych, the head of the Ukraine Forum in the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House. This could actually be the beginning of the end of Zelenskys popularity if he goes into negotiations, Lutsevych said. He has a very fine line to walk when there is some kind of negotiated settlement. A residential building damaged by a missile on Feb. 25, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Pierre Crom/Getty Entering political negotiations with Russia at this point would be akin to political suicide, agreed Olena Lennon, adjunct professor of Political Science and National Security at University of New Haven. If Zelensky started making concessions now, he knows full well where the public opinion is and that there would be a backlash. It would be the end of his career, Lennon said, suggesting that a class of veterans might bubble up to challenge Zelensky. If he were to make any concessions, there would be a massive social movement against it. In addition to any social or political movement against negotiations, given how invested Ukrainian fighters have been in the war, and how laser-focused they are on pushing Russia out, if concessions were on the table, some kinetic fighting might continue no matter what Zelensky decides to do politically, Lennon said. Guerrilla warfare could become a real possibility if political leadership started making concessions to Russia, Lennon told The Daily Beast. Large numbers of Ukrainians have either joined territorial defense forces or enlisted in the army. Many more are armed and have military experience. So there is a very high possibility that Zelenskys administration could be threatened in a military coup if they started making concessions to Russia. The Biden administration, for its part, is trying to stay out of it. We will not push Ukraine to make concessions, and we have consistently stated that sovereign states have the right to choose their own alliances and make their own decisions about their security, a State Department spokesperson said. We believe it is for Ukraine to define what it considers success. We are focused on giving Ukraine as strong a hand as possible on the battlefield and at the negotiating table, the spokesperson said. Zelensky intimated that the successes in this war must first come on the battlefieldwins that havent come to fruition just yet. Just last week, Russian and Ukrainian troops have been battling over the contested and strategically important city of Severodonetsk, just the latest back-and-forth fighting that could determine the future of the war. A poster of Russian President Vladimir Putin is used as target practice along a trench on the frontline with Russia-backed separatists near Zolote village, in the Luhansk region, on Jan. 21, 2022. Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Zelensky is likely in a safe space politically now, as conversations about battles coming to a close and concessions arent yet on the table, said Andrew Lohsen, a former monitoring officer at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. Right now were not at a point where any sort of Ukrainian territorial concessions are in the cards, Lohsen, a former State Department analyst, told The Daily Beast. Until we get to a stage in which Ukraine is really facing mounting logistical problems or the inability to actually field a competent, defensive force, I dont think we'll have much talk about territorial concessions. Ukrainian officials likely wont be pushing for negotiations in the near term, because they still think they can push Russians back and are still concerned about giving Putin what might look like a reward for invading, according to Bill Taylor, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who served as interim charge daffaires in Kyiv from 2019 through 2020. They dont sound like theyre ready to have negotiations at this point, Taylor told The Daily Beast. They know that some Ukrainian territory can be won back on the battlefield, and they also know that some Ukrainian territory, maybe Crimea, is going to take a much longer time and theyre willing to accept, I think, that its going to take a longer time. Negotiation at this point would lock in the Russian control over portions of southeastern Ukraine, Taylor said. So the UkrainiansZelensky and the peopleare not yet willing to have this because they dont want to, a) give up claim and, b) they dont want to reward the Russians for invading them. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Press conference during Kultaranta Talks, hosted by Finnish President at the Presidential Summer residence Kultaranta, in Naantali HELSINKI (Reuters) -Security concerns raised by Turkey in its opposition to Finland's and Sweden's NATO membership applications are legitimate, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday during a visit to Finland. "These are legitimate concerns. This is about terrorism, it's about weapons exports," Stoltenberg told a joint news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto while visiting him at his summer residence in Naantali, Finland. Sweden and Finland applied to join the Western defence alliance last month, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But they have faced opposition from Turkey, which has accused them of supporting and harbouring Kurdish militants and other groups it deems terrorists. Stoltenberg said Turkey was a key ally for the alliance due to its strategic location on the Black Sea between Europe and the Middle East, and cited the support it has provided to Ukraine since Russia sent troops into its neighbour on Feb. 24. Moscow calls its actions a "special military operation". "We have to remember and understand that no NATO ally has suffered more terrorist attacks than Turkiye," Stoltenberg said, using the Turkish pronunciation of the country's name, as preferred by Turkey and its President Tayyip Erdogan. Stoltenberg and Niinisto said talks with Turkey would continue but gave no indication of progress in the negotiations. "The summit in Madrid was never a deadline," Stoltenberg said, referring to a NATO meeting in Madrid at the end of June. (Reporting by Anne Kauranen; Editing by Catherine Evans) Jihadi bride Shamima Begum fears she will be executed after being told she is to stand trial for terror offences, reports have stated. Begum, who fled the UK at the age of 15 to join ISIS, was stripped of her citizenship in February 2021 and has been unable to return to the country. Officials in Rojava a self-governing region in north-eastern Syria run by Kurdish forces claim to have abolished the death penalty but Begum still fears she could be executed. Speaking from the al-Roj prison camp in Syria, she told the Mail on Sunday: No, no, I dont want that, that cant happen. I dont want to be tried in Syria. Now 22, Begum said she has reformed her ways since she joined the terrorist group in 2015. She added: "I was an angel, you can ask my mum, I was an angel. "I did not like my primary school because I faced some racism there, not constantly, but at a young age one thing is enough. "Not bullied, but little comments and stuff and favouritism with teachers to white kids over non-white kids." Begum also claimed that she had been groomed online before leaving the UK with her friends, Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana. In 2019, she was found nine months pregnant and said she had previously lost two children. A source told The Sun that Begum does not have faith in the justice system in Rojova. They said: "Begum has convinced herself shell pay the ultimate price if she is tried and found guilty of terrorism offences in Syria. "Shes very frightened and concerned. Shes been told she will be put on trial in Rojava, probably as one of a group of women accused of terrorist offences." The source told the paper that her trial is likely to take place in September or October. "Rojava authorities dont advocate the death penalty but that has failed to convince her she wont escape such a punishment," the source said. "And even if she does, shes facing a life jail sentence." Tasnime Akunjee, a solicitor who has previously acted for Begum, said: "I feel her fears are justified. The justice system there is somewhat meagre." Austria's Stefan Lehner defeated a field of 1,240 players to win his first bracelet in Event #16: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em at the 2022 World Series of Poker at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas. He triumphed at a final table featuring former bracelet winners David Miscikowski, Joey Weissman and Davide Suriano, before defeating Toby Boas heads-up to take home $558,616. Meanwhile, Boas would have to settle for second place for $345,244, but can take solace in the fact he ladered from start-of-day short stack to record a new career-best cash. Event #16: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results Place Player Country Payout (USD) 1 Stefan Lehner Austria $558,616 2 Toby Boas United States $345,244 3 Nathan Russler United States $248,298 4 David Miscikowski United States $180,795 5 Alex Foxen United States $133,300 6 Kevin Stevens United States $99,535 7 Joey Weissman United States $75,282 8 Nicholas Dolen United States $57,683 9 Davide Suriano Italy $44,785 Winner's Reaction "I don't have the words for it I think," he told PokerNews. "At the beginning I was second in chips but then I was short stacked all the time. SO I played very well and I'm very happy that I have this [bracelet] now." Just three days after landing in Las Vegas for the 2022 WSOP, Lehner's victory came in his first tournament of the summer but said he felt no pressure playing for the bracelet. "When you know that almost every time you need to do in this spot, then it's not so tough to play. I do a lot of theory, so it's just about staying calm." The Austrian's previous best WSOP result was a fourth-place finish during the 2021 WSOP Online Fifty Stack for $105,507, but says that this was a completely different environment. "It's totally different. Playing against real people is great, playing against people from different nations. You get to have reads on the players - and that's real poker." Final Table Recap David Miscikowski started the final table as chip leader, and he wasted no time extending it after making flush over flush against Lehner in a hand that knocked the Austrian down the chip counts having himself started second in chips. Miscikowski then sent Davide Suriano to the rail in ninth before Nicholas Dolen was felted in eighth by Alex Foxen. Foxen now occupied second rung in the ladder, behind Miscikowski, and eventually moved ahead while former bracelet winner Joey Weissman was eliminated. As the blinds continued to increase, so did the size of the pots. Kevin Stevens' elimination alone was enough for Nathan Russler to move into the chip lead with close to half the chips in play. Alex Foxen Foxen's time in the chip lead was short-lived as he was eliminated in fifth, before a third double of the final table saw Toby Boas took over as chip leader. This was Boas' third double of the final table, having started the day as the short stack, and increased his lead with the elimination of Miscikowski in fourth. At this point, it looked like a race to the bottom for Boas' opponents Lehner and Russler as they looked to avoid finishing third against the overwhelming chip leader. Lehner had been nursing his short stack for some time now, and would double twice to stay afloat. He was then fortunate not to bust after the river saw him chop against Russler to stay alive. Another double for Lehner saw Russler pushed to the brink, and he exited in third place. The early stages of heads-up were a back and forth affair, with Boas opening a 2:1 chip lead. Pivotal Hand The turning point heads-up came where Boas had bet 4,500,000 on a board of and Lehner called. With around 16 million chips in the middle, Boas shoved the river and Lehner called for his last 11,450,000. Boas showed for five-high while Lehner showed for two pair and moved into the lead Following this, Lehner would push ahead in pursuit of victory, and despite a double from Boas, it wasn't enough to prevent Lehner from taking down the tournament, the bracelet and over half a million dollars in prize money. The 2022 World Series of Poker at Ballys and Paris Las Vegas continued today with more exciting four-card high roller action. Event #19: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller attracted 264 total entries to create a prize pool of $6,237,000, and after just over ten hours on the penultimate day, the field has been whittled down from 28 to only five remaining contenders. Fabian Brandes bagged the chip lead with 13,175,000, while reigning WSOP Player of the Year Josh Arieh (8,900,000) will be taking the second-biggest stack into the final day and will be looking to win a fifth bracelet. The remaining three on the leaderboard are all fairly close in chips with Tong Li (6,350,000), Sam Stein (5,875,000), and reigning WSOP No-Limits VELO Player of the Year Scott Ball (5,300,000) going for gold as well. Although the remaining five players have locked up at least $342,590, all eyes will be on the $1,467,739 first-place prize and coveted WSOP bracelet. Seat Assignments For the Final Day Seat Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Fabian Brandes Austria 13,175,000 66 2 Scott Ball United States 5,300,000 27 3 Tong Li China 6,350,000 32 4 Josh Arieh United States 8,900,000 45 5 Sam Stein United States 5,875,000 29 Final Table Results and Remaining Payouts Place Winner Country Prize (in USD) 1 $1,467,739 2 $907,132 3 $644,365 4 $465,717 5 $342,590 6 Jonathan Depa United States $256,582 7 Emmanuel Sebag United States $195,713 8 Gregory Shuda United States $152,091 Action of the Day The day started swiftly with a few eliminations, and Keith Lehr (25th - $50,575) busted just before the three-table redraw as the remaining players shuffled seats. Brazilian Yuri Dzivielevski (24th - $50,575) made his exit next, and he was soon followed by Frank Crivello (23rd - $50,575) and Noah Schwartz (22nd - $50,575). Several eliminations later led to only two remaining tables, and Daniel Negreanu (16th - $57,738) was the next to hit the payout desk after he couldnt find improvement despite many outs. Ben Lamb (15th - $67,313) ran kings into aces and didnt improve, Aaron Mermelstein (14th - $67,313) lost the rest of his short stack to bust, and Chance Kornuth (13th - $80,105) came up short of the final table despite his recent hot streak. Stephen Hubbard (12th - $80,105) and Jonas Kronwitter (11th - $97,266) were sent to the rail next, before Jared Bleznick (10th - $97,266) was eliminated on the unofficial final table bubble. The nine remaining players converged on a single table led by Fabian Brandes, who would hold onto the lead through the end of the night. Like many German top pros, the high-stakes PLO cash player resides in Vienna, and although he doesnt have an extensive tournament resume, he will be in pole position to snag a maiden WSOP bracelet. Fabian Brandes Once the unofficial final table began, a short-stacked David Williams (9th - $120,457) was the next player to find himself without any chips. Gregory Shuda (8th - $152,091), a player without a long list of results like his opponents, made a deep run and the bracelet seemed like a real possibility, but he was eliminated on the river by Arieh. Emmanuel Sebag (7th - $195,713) was next to go when his kings found themselves against Brandes' aces. Jonathan Depa (6th - $256,582) came into the day with the second-biggest stack, but near the end, he was whittled down to under a few big blinds, and he ultimately became the last elimination of the day before the remaining players bagged and tagged to return for the finale. The final table will have cards in the air at 4 p.m. local time on Sunday, June 12, and the live stream with cards-up coverage will be hosted via PokerGO on a delay of 45 minutes to one hour. There are 53:42 minutes left in level 29 at blinds of 100,000-200,000 with a big blind ante of 200,000. Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team returns to bring you updates until a champion is crowned. The 53rd annual World Series of Poker at Ballys and Paris Las Vegas continues today with Event #23: $3,000 6-Handed Limit Holdem. Cards will be in the air at 3:00 p.m. PT today as this event kicks off. Ryan Hansen is the current defending champion, having won $109,692 in last year's event as well as his first WSOP bracelet. Hansen bested a field of 162 entries that ended in an intense heads-up battle with Kosei Ichinose en route to victory. Players will start the day with a stack of 40,000 chips and blinds will be 200/300 during Level 1. The levels will be 60-minutes, with a 15-min break after every two levels. Day 1 is set to play a total of ten levels before bagging up for the night and the late registration period will be open until the end of Level 8 (approximately 12:00 a.m.) Stay tuned in to PokerNews at 3:00 p.m. today and over the rest of the tournament for all of the live updates on all of the action. UK tech companies have raised more venture capital funding in the first five months of 2022 than in the whole of 2020, according to new figures. The 12.4 billion in funding raised so far this year puts the UK second only to the US in terms of start-up investment, and ahead of the likes of China, France and India. The figures have been analysed by the UKs Digital Economy Council, based on data by Dealroom and released ahead of the start of London Tech Week on Monday the annual celebration of the UK tech sector where industry and government figures discuss the future of the industry. They show that 950 UK tech start-ups have raised 12.4 billion this year, compared to 12 billion raised across the whole of 2020. The UK is now home to 122 unicorns start-ups valued at one billion pounds or more with more than 20 cities and towns now home to at least one unicorn. London, Bristol and Oxford were also named in the top 20 cities in Europe for investment. Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who will deliver the opening remarks on the first day of London Tech Week, said: It is a staggering achievement that UK tech companies are attracting more investment than countries more than ten times our size. This is a huge vote of confidence in the talent behind great British tech and the innovative, competitive market that we have here. Russ Shaw, founder of industry groups Tech London Advocates and Global Tech Advocates, said: As we head into London Tech Week, its great to see the strength and resilience of the entire UK tech ecosystem, not just Londons. Data like this is important to showcase where we are but it also helps motivate us to do better we want to see more diverse founders and more impact companies launching to take on the difficult global situations were facing. And if theres anywhere that can do that successfully, its UK tech. By Sarah Marsh and Tsvetelia Tsolova SOFIA/SKOPJE (Reuters) -German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday called on Bulgaria to lift its veto on EU accession talks for North Macedonia, saying the bloc should avoid dashing the membership hopes of countries in Western Balkans. Scholz, visiting Sofia as part of a two-day tour of the region ahead of an EU-Western Balkans leaders' summit on June 23, said he sensed a "new willingness" by the EU to expand after Russia's invasion to Ukraine. The war has lent new urgency to the process of trying to tie the Western Balkans closer to the 27-member bloc in a bid to counter Russian and Chinese influence. The German chancellor has made the matter a foreign policy priority, and fashioned himself as a mediator during his trip. "I see chances for progress," Scholz said in a news conference with Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov. "We will stay in close exchange in coming days." Petkov reiterated Bulgaria's stance that North Macedonia must meet three conditions related to historical and cultural disputes between the two countries, urging Brussels to guarantee they were met. The issue is sensitive for Bulgaria's domestic politics. This week, one of Petkov's four coalition partners quit, accusing him of being ready to lift Bulgaria's veto in disregard of national interests, among other allegations. Earlier on Saturday, Scholz visited North Macedonia, which has already carried out many reforms in its bid to become an EU member, such as changing its name to meet Greek objections. Speaking in Skopje alongside North Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski, Scholz said Russia's invasion of Ukraine made it important for Europe to stand together. On Friday, he visited Serbia and Kosovo, which declared independence from Belgrade in 2008. He urged the leaders to reach an agreement on normalising relations. Shortly before returning to Germany, Scholz said the will among many EU members to get the Western Balkans into the EU was stronger than it had been "for many years". (Reporting by Sarah Marsh in Skopje and Ivana Sekularac in Belgrade; additional Reporting by Tom Sims in Frankfurt; Editing by Jason Neely and Clelia Oziel) The details of how a 22-month-old Waco girl was shot with a family members unsecured firearm a month ago remain unclear, according to police. But the childs father is now wanted, accused of delaying potentially lifesaving care by six minutes, and the family member responsible for the firearm was arrested Friday on a murder charge, also accused of endangering the child, police announced Saturday. Police are seeking to arrest Jaylon Thornton, the father of 22-month-old Zillyana Thornton, on a first-degree felony charge of injury to a child by omission in her shooting death on the afternoon of May 11 at a home in the 3500 block of Alta Vista Drive. After the child was shot, Thornton was preparing to take her to a hospital but exited the car to retrieve a bag of marijuana and tell Elias Julian Espinosa, a 25-year-old family member of the child, to leave with the marijuana, according to a Waco police press release. While Espinosa left and Thornton waited for the childs mother to arrive, Thornton again delayed by going into the house to get house keys, according to the press release. The delays added up to six minutes, police reported. Medical records and doctors analysis showed Zillyanas heart was beating for 33 minutes after she was shot, and the autopsy determined that her wounds were not immediately fatal, the police press release says. If she had received medical aid earlier, she would have had a better chance for survival. Shortly after the shooting, police arrested Espinosa on a third-degree felony evidence tampering charge. Police said the gun involved in Zillyanas death was Espinosas and that he may have cut a surveillance video feed showing the driveway of the home. Espinosa was released on bond last month but arrested again Friday on a first-degree felony charge of murder. The statute he is charged under indicates police believe his actions related to commission of another felony contributed to Zillyanas death. The statute states, A person commits an offense if he commits or attempts to commit a felony, other than manslaughter, and in the course of and in furtherance of the commission or attempt, or in immediate flight from the commission or attempt, he commits or attempts to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual. Investigators also have determined the gun involved in the shooting was on a couch, unholstered and without any other external safeties, at the time of the shooting, according to the press release Saturday. Espinosa physically removed himself from its immediate vicinity, failing to supervise the weapon, the press release says. These actions resulted in the shooting which caused Zillyanas death. The gun had been reported stolen out of Corpus Christi, and additional charges are pending, according to the press release. Previous reports indicated it was stolen out of Killeen. Waco and McLennan County residents who plan to travel this summer should take COVID-19 precautions in airports and follow CDC guidelines for their destination, local experts said. Even though commercial airliners have filters and are considered safe, people should wear masks and social distance in airports, said Vaidehi Shah, senior epidemiologist with the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District. Shah said Friday that exposure to the virus is still possible while standing in lines in the airport or sitting in groups to wait for flights. She recommends that people going through airports keep about 6 feet between themselves and travelers they do not know well and also wear a well-fitted mask. Masking is still a good idea (in airports), Shah said. The science has not changed. Even though a federal court recently struck down the mask mandates for air travelers, those who fly to vacation destinations may still chose to voluntarily wear a well fitted mask, and Shah encourages this. Dr. Marc Elieson, a hospital physician and director for inpatient medicine at Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center in Waco, agrees with Shah about taking COVID-19 precautions while traveling. Even though the airlines have lightened requirements, its wise to wear mask for (a few) hours, while going through airports and flying, Elieson said Friday. Elieson also said it is wise to get a primary series of COVID-19 vaccine and a booster when eligible. According to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, anyone who received a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine is eligible for a booster five months after the initial series. Those who may be immunocompromised, or who are over 50, may receive a second booster, Shah said. Those who are fully vaccinated and up-to-date with boosters can return to normal activities as before the pandemic, Shah said. For people who are not vaccinated or up-to-date with their boosters, avoid crowds especially indoors, continue masking, distancing and hand washing, Shah said. People who travel out of town this summer should understand and follow the precautions the CDC recommends for their destination, said Dr. Benjamin Wilson, a family practice physician with Waco Family Medicine. Waco Family Medicine designated Wilson to keep up with all things related to COVID-19 and make recommendations for the practice. Wilson suggests that people search online for CDC community COVID-19 level and chose a link to the CDCs tool for COVID-19 County Check. The state and county a traveler plans to visit may be selected. If a traveler knows the city or resort they plan to visit but not what county it is in, another quick check in an online search engine will provide this information. The CDCs COVID-19 County Check tool will tell whether COVID-19 is low, medium or high in the destination county and provide recommended precautions. Wilson said not every county in the country is at the low level, like McLennan County, and he recommends that travelers take the CDC advice on masking, distancing, hand sanitizers and so forth. Across the country, we no longer need to mask at all times in all places, Wilson said. Im grateful to the CDC that they have outlined when and where people should take precautions. Wilson acknowledges that people are tired of masking and tired of the precautions. There are times when its much more important to follow the precautions, he said. The COVID-19 County Check tool on the CDC website will help people to understand what precautions are best. State and local COVID-19 case trends Across the state, Texas Department of State Health Services report a seven-day moving average of around 1,700 cases at the end of March increasing gradually to around 6,700 cases Wednesday. Locally, the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District reported 45 new cases Friday, with six hospitalized and none on ventilators. The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county continues to be among the lowest reported in the entire pandemic, according to health district data. Fewer than ten people in the hospital for COVID-19 across the county since June 2, as reported by the health district, has not been seen since before the first surge in the summer of 2020. Shah, the epidemiologist with the health district, said the omicron variant and three sub-variants are now the most prevalent. The omicron variant continues to be highly transmissible, but produces a milder form of the disease as seen this past winter, she said. Confirmed cases, as reported on COVID-19 dashboards, include only people who are tested in labs. Home test kit results are not reported. Home test kits and underreporting Dr. Ari Rao, a Central Texas pathologist with Baylor Scott and White Health, said the antigen home tests are quite reliable. CDC has determined that negative tests (with a home antigen test) should be confirmed by a second test repeated in 24-48 hours, Rao said. Positive results, especially in symptomatic patients, are highly reliable. Wilson emphasizes that instructions and conditions described in a home test kits directions must be followed to get a reliable result. Because home test kit results are not reported to county or state health agencies, those who receive a positive diagnosis from only a home test will not be reported in the county, state or national numbers, Wilson said. Shah said she acknowledges the undercounting. But the benefits of having access to at-home tests far outweigh the disadvantage of undercounting the number of cases of COVID-19, Shah said. At this stage in the pandemic, she said public health officials are certain that there will be outbreaks and clusters in various parts of the country. Our focus is to contain these outbreaks as soon as possible by testing, isolation and quarantine, Shah said. Undercounting is a disadvantage but effective vaccine coverage and manageable hospital capacity helps us overcome it. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Fourth of July flags Williams Creek Baptist Church will have its ninth annual Fourth of July Field of Flags event July 4 at 12525 Elk Road in Mart, near the intersection of Highway 84 and Farm-to-Market Road 939. There will be a flag ceremony at 11:30 a.m., followed by a hot dog meal with homemade ice cream at 12:15 p.m. For more information, call 254-863-5755 or 254-715-2309. Nightly I-35 exit closure The Texas Department of Transportation plans to close the northbound exit for Fifth and Fourth streets and University Parks Drive, Exit 335A, nightly from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Friday. The closure will allow work to continue on paving the northbound frontage road. Drivers will be directed to use the exit for 18th and 17th streets, Exit 334A. Signs will be in place to inform and direct drivers. Schedules are dependent on weather, field conditions and work progress. Quilters guild The Homespun Quilters Guild will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday at New Road Church of Christ, 3100 S. New Road. Speaker Judy Steward will teach on the Stack-n-Whack technique. Visitors are welcome. Waco Herb Society The Waco Herb Society will hold its June meeting at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Harrison Senior Center, 1718 N. 42nd St. The Waco Herb Society is open to any person interested in growing and using herbs. Visitors are welcome. For more information, call 254-744-6128. Flag retirement ceremony Lake Shore Funeral Home and Crematory, 5201 Steinbeck Bend Drive, will have a Flag Day celebration followed by a flag retirement ceremony at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Feel free to bring a torn or tattered flags if they need to be respectfully retired. Submit printed or typed items to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco, 76702-2588; or email goingson@wacotrib.com. GASTONIA, N.C. (AP) A 17-year-old boy has been charged in a shooting that wounded three people at a North Carolina mall, police said. Two men and a woman were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening after they were shot in the parking lot of the Eastridge Mall in Gastonia on Friday, according to Police Chief Travis Brittain. Two of them fled into the mall's food court area after being shot, police said. Police found a handgun in the food court. The Charlotte Observer reports that investigators are trying to determine if the teenage suspect and any of the victims knew each other. The teen was arrested on felony charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, after police found him in a wooded area near the mall Friday. Police did not release the suspect's name because he is a juvenile. For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, The Charlotte Observer. At noon, Pate visited the Black Hawk County Courthouse to oversee the audit for the combined Waterloo precincts 1-2 and 3-1. The ballots 276 in total were counted by hand and matched to the results from Tuesday night. According to Pate, this is the first time the Secretary of State has done a random audit during a primary election. Measures like this, he said, help to assure voters of the integrity of Iowas elections. CEDAR FALLS A company that provides Waterloo with electric scooter rentals has hopes of bringing them to Cedar Falls. However, an in-person meeting last month with representatives from Bird, the Santa Monica, California-based micromobility company, has been described by city officials as nothing more than informational. No additional meetings are known to have been scheduled to further discuss the idea. A city spokesperson confirmed Friday no action is being taken at this time. On the other hand, none have indicated the door is closed, and it could be a topic of discussion down the road. A Bird spokesperson described its conversations with the city as active and noted it would be happy to share more (with The Courier) as conversations progress. If pursued, the program would be implemented at no cost to the city. Bird is working closely with the city of Cedar Falls to bring our eco-friendly e-scooters to the area, said the company spokesperson in an email. With its focus on sustainability and resiliency, Cedar Falls is a natural fit for our shared e-scooter program. Providing residents in cities like Cedar Falls with a fun and sustainable transportation option is core to our mission of reducing reliance on gas powered vehicles. Central Rivers Area Education Agency chief administrator announces retirement After seven years at the helm of Central Rivers Area Education Agency, Chief Administrator Sam Miller is retiring at the end of the 2022-23 school year. City officials pointed out during a December goal-setting session that consideration should be given to more creative, more futuristic-style transportation options, as opposed to solely fixed bus routes. The program likely would not help people without a personal vehicle to get places because of the limitations on where the scooters can be ridden. Andrew Shroll, chair of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, attended the meeting with the company, and attendees got to actually try the scooters out. He said Tuesday a trial period would most likely be the path forward if the City Council would choose to go in that direction. Cedar Falls sweeps West despite Wilsons big night at the plate WATERLOO -- The Cedar Falls softball team picked up some much needed confidence with wins of 7-5 and 13-7 over the Waterloo West Wahawks, Thursday. Shroll told advisory committee members he didnt personally see a use for the scooters in Cedar Falls at the present time. Some committee members pointed out some problems in larger cities with scooter littering. But Shroll also said they potentially could be used by tourists, and speculated they could probably be parked outside places like the Tourism & Visitors Bureau and hotels, and on College Hill for students to travel back and forth between there and downtown. I dont think its something that will be coming anytime soon, said Councilor Dustin Ganfield, who also attended the meeting with the Bird representatives. The chairman of the Community Relations and Planning Committee projected the program might be a topic of discussion 12 to 24 months down the road, noting there doesnt seem to be an immediate need. He added that infrastructure would need to be put in place before its introduction. Waterloo is in the middle of a two-year pilot program that began last June. Two private operators, Bird and Helbiz, now offer electric scooter rentals in Waterloos urban core and surrounding neighborhoods. Users download an app and then locate the scooters on a map. The map also shows approved drop-off locations and places where riding is off limits. It costs $1 to start a trip, and the average trip costs about $5, said organizers involved in the launch of the Bird scooters in Waterloo. An ordinance had to be developed by the city and passed before scooters were allowed on city streets. Love 0 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. CEDAR FALLS Steve Bernard has been in the utilities sector for a few decades. But never before has the Cedar Falls Utilities general manager seen Midwestern communities prepare for possible rolling power outages like they will do this summer. Precautions have been taken in western states like California for years. But Bernard says its now possible while still highly unlikely in his opinion that Iowa utility companies could be forced to implement limited, controlled outages for about an hour at a time. We hope we dont have to go down this path, but we think that its better for us to be prepared and to make our customers aware of the situation, he said. CFU, in a news release, describes the potential energy shortfall forecast by regional power grid operator Midcontinent Independent System Operator as the reason for this shift in 2022. The operator services 42 million people across the central parts of North America and warns it may not be able to generate enough electricity during peak demand times this summer. CFU and the regions other utilities could be called upon by MISO to run local electric generating plants and cut energy demand, but the rolling blackouts would be necessary in an emergency to prevent long-term damage to the electric grid, said CFU in the news release. Central Rivers Area Education Agency chief administrator announces retirement After seven years at the helm of Central Rivers Area Education Agency, Chief Administrator Sam Miller is retiring at the end of the 2022-23 school year. For many years, the MISO region had the capacity to produce more electricity than needed by customers, the release said. The excess energy capacity has been shrinking. This is largely due to retirements of fuel-dependent plants fired by coal, natural gas, or nuclear fuel due to economic, regulatory, and environmental pressures. There have been large additions of wind generation to the electric grid, and significant additions of solar arrays are expected soon. However, wind and solar are intermittent and unpredictable resources that do not provide certainty when planning for days with high electric demand, CFU added. Bernard said the worst case scenario could happen if the weather doesnt cooperate if there are extra warm days for stretches, causing more energy to be spent, and if wind is very light, meaning less energy can be generated. Weather is the crucial factor, he said. A challenging summer also could erupt if plants and generators go down at unexpected times. If problems arise, calls first will be made to customers, starting with large businesses, to reduce their energy usage to help maintain grid reliability. UNI celebrates the start of construction on Applied Engineering Building expansion Local and state leaders broke ground Thursday on a $44 million expansion of UNI's Applied Engineering Building, formerly known as the Industrial Technology Center. During peak demand times, CFU may suggest residential customers make efforts to reduce energy use. One way is to turn off the air conditioner or turn the temperature up to 78 degrees or higher. Another idea is avoiding the use of large appliances like a washer, dryer and dishwasher during peak usage hours. But in the more extreme example, Bernard said, outages would be rotated throughout different parts of town. Customers likely would feel the impact sometime between the late morning and early evening, but its unlikely a sector of town would experience two of these approximately hour-long blackouts on the same day, said Bernard. Power would be maintained at MercyOne Cedar Falls Medical Center (Sartori Memorial Hospital) and key public safety facilities. If people have critical medical or communications equipment, CFU said, it is important they be prepared with a battery backup or an alternative location to power it up. Its a first-of-its-kind event, Bernard said. Weve never had to prepare like this in Cedar Falls. CFU will be providing advanced notices as much as possible through CFU2Go app and automated calls and messaging. If you dont have an updated phone number on file, we ask you get that addressed, he added. To check or update a phone number listed in your CFU account, call CFU customer service at (319) 268-5280. Or customers can log in to their online utility account at cfu.net and check their My Profile information. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. WATERLOO The Waterloo Public Library has announced activities happening the week of June 12-18: Monday 6-7 p.m. Bookaholics Book Club: Each month, adult members read one fiction or nonfiction title and meet virtually to discuss it. This month its Dopesick by Beth Macy. Email Dusty at dsanboeuf@waterloopubliclibrary.org at least one day before the event to get the virtual meeting details. Tuesday 10-11 a.m. STEM Activities by AmeriCorps in library Meeting Room AB for second to fourth graders, part of the Youth Summer Library Program. Tuesday 5:30-6:30 p.m. DIY Custom Fishing Lure Drop-in, create custom fishing lures or keychains just in time for Fathers Day in the library Hive Main Room. Teens and Adults can engrave a custom message onto metal blanks using the librarys cricut machine. Wednesday 10:30-11:30 a.m. Coffee and a Classic Book Club, a new book club for adult lovers of the classics. This month its A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Meet in person at the librarys second floor conference room each month to discuss books deemed one of the classics. To participate, email Haley at hbunnell@waterloopubliclibrary.org Thursday 1-6 p.m. Fairy Campsite Drop-in Craft Event, a miniature arts and crafts event that is part of the Teen Summer Library Program. Gather in the librarys Meeting Room AB. Thursday 5-7 p.m. $5-a-Bag Book Sale: Friends of the Waterloo Public Library members-only preview event. Yearly memberships will be sold at the door for $15. Seniors may purchase a membership for $10. Saturday 9 a.m.2 p.m. $5-a-Bag Book Sale: Public Sale. All proceeds benefit library events and programming. The book sale will be located in the basement of the Waterloo Public Library. Saturday 10:30-11:30 a.m. Reptiles, Snakes, and Spiders, Oh My! Reptile enthusiast Lindsay Butikofer will bring various lizards, snakes, and arachnids to Meeting Room AB allowing participants to learn, discuss, touch, and even hold some reptiles as part of part of the Youth Summer Library Program. Those who would like to touch the animal should arrive a little early to sign a waiver. Saturday 1-3 p.m. Paver Paint: Come to the Hive to turn cement pavers into book covers for unique outdoor decoration, bookends, home decor and more as part of the Adult Summer Library Program. Pavers, stencils, paint, and transfer paper will be provided. Creations can either be taken home or left at the library for application of an exterior weather varnish. Participants will be contacted when theyre ready to pick up. Registration is required and its limited to 10 participants. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Russia is a great power! We live in a unique country where many peoples, cultures and religious confessions coexist peacefully. Endless plains, bewitching mountains, rivers, lakes, seas all this is our Motherland, our beautiful land. Today, on the Day of Russia, I want to sincerely congratulate all its inhabitants. In this difficult time, every holiday is special in a special way. And among others, June 12 takes pride of place, because it is on this day that we honor our dearest. Russia has always been feared and respected. Enemies tirelessly plotted, and friends stood nearby. We have gone through a series of difficult trials, huge victories and great achievements. But no matter what overtakes us, one thing has always remained unchanged the unity and strength of the spirit of the proud peoples. The country is experiencing unique events, where once close friends have become irreconcilable enemies. Evil tongues threw all their efforts in order to achieve one single goal to destroy what has been built for centuries. There is a fight for our values, for the life and freedom of Russia. The enemy will certainly fall, because we have the truth and noble goals behind us. The strategic course pursued by the President of the Russian Federation, Supreme Commander Vladimir Putin, contributes to strengthening the countrys international prestige. This is very important in the current realities, as the policies of some countries are trying to undermine the historical influence. That is why we fully support the President and confidently follow the designated course. I sincerely wish the inhabitants of our great Motherland Russia, good health, happiness, prosperity and a peaceful sky above their heads! Happy holiday, dear compatriots! Kadyrov WtR We continue to record the facts of criminal actions by the Kiev regime against civilians, as well as the use by Ukrainian armed formations of educational institutions and other social infrastructure for military purposes: in Slavyansk, Donetsk Peoples Republic, the buildings of boarding school No. 1 and the High Voltage Research Institute house servicemen of AFU units (General N. Batyuk Street), weapons and ammunition depots are equipped, and MLRS are placed in the adjacent territory; Nationalist battalion fighters have equipped firing positions in schools No. 17 (Olimpiyskaya Street) and No. 9 (Kutuzova Street), and placed American-made artillery guns in the immediate vicinity of the schools; in Privole, Donetsk Peoples Republic, AFU units are stationed on the territory of Lyceum No. 7 (Shakhterskaya Street) and School No. 29 (Lomonosova Street), while checkpoints and firing points have been equipped along the perimeter; in Pokrovsk in the Donetsk Peoples Republic, neo-Nazis have equipped a stronghold in school No. 9 (Vozrozhdeniya Street), placing sniper positions and large-calibre machine guns on the top floor and heavy equipment and MLRS in the yard, while residents of nearby houses are being held in the gymnasium under the pretext of providing security; in Kostantinovka, Donetsk Peoples Republic, AFU units have equipped barracks and firing positions in the buildings of schools No. 11 (Bohdana Khmelnytskogo Street) and No. 17 (Vinnitskaya Street); in Nikolaiv, on the territories of schools No. 40 (Baltiyskaya Street), No. 43 (Bohoyavlensky Avenue) and Lyceum No. 25 (Aivazovsky Street), AFU servicemen have equipped mortar emplacements and weapons and ammunition depots; in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukrainian nationalists have equipped strongholds and ammunition depots in the building of School No. 35 (Naberezhnaya Pobedy Street) and in Pershovensk in Dnepropetrovsk Region and on the territory of a church (Molodezhnaya Street). These facts once again demonstrate the Ukrainian authorities complete disregard for the norms of morality and the provisions of international humanitarian law. This is happening with the tacit consent of the countries of the so-called collective West, which continue to turn a blind eye to the numerous war crimes of the Kiev regime. Top News Today High-precision air-based missiles near Andreevka, Kharkov Region, have destroyed a foreign mercenaries deployment site. In addition, over the past day, high-precision air-based missiles have hit 9 areas where AFU manpower and military equipment concentration, 5 firing positions of multiple-launch rocket systems and 1 Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile system. Russian air defence means have shot down 2 MiG-29 aircraft near Snegirevka, Nikolaev Region, and 1 Su-25 aircraft near Alexandrovka, Kharkov Region, over the past 24 hours. Also 12 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles have been shot down. In addition, 3 rockets of Ukrainian Uragan multiple-launch rocket system have been intercepted near Dolgenkoe, Sukhaya Kamenka and Malaya Kamyshevakha in Kharkov Region. Ukrainian armed formations continue to use educational institutions and other social infrastructure for military purposes. Footage of combat operations of the Russian Armed Forces Acacia self-propelled artillery crews and repair units during the special military operation has been published. In Kharkov Region, with the support of the Russian Armed Forces, they have started rebuilding a music school that was damaged by artillery strikes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. More than 360 tonnes of basic necessities and food have been handed over to the population of the Donetsk Peoples Republic and Kharkov and Kherson regions in 24 hours. Over 7,000 people have been evacuated to Russia from dangerous areas of Ukraine and the Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republics. #MoD #Russia #Ukraine #HumanitarianResponse #HumanitarianAid @mod_russia_en WtR Briefing by Russian Defence Ministry The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation in Ukraine. Kalibr high-precision sea-based long-range missiles near Chortkov in Ternopol Region have destroyed a large warehouse of anti-tank missile systems, portable anti-aircraft missile systems and artillery shells supplied to the Kiev regime from the USA and European countries. High-precision air-based missiles have hit 2 command posts, 15 areas of AFU manpower and military equipment concentration. The following have been destroyed: 1 Buk-M1 missile launcher near Barvenkovo in Kharkov Region, 1 airspace control radar near Slavyansk in Donetsk Peoples Republic, 1 target detection and tracking radar of S-300 anti-aircraft missile system near Krivoi Rog, and 2 batteries of multiple launch rocket systems near Zvanovka in Lugansk Peoples Republic and Zakotnoe in Donetsk Peoples Republic. Operational-tactical and army aviation have hit 3 strong points and 25 areas of AFU manpower and military equipment concentration. The attacks have resulted in the elimination of more than 150 nationalists, 6 tanks, 5 field artillery mounts and 10 special vehicles of various purposes. Fighter aviation have shot down 2 Su-25 aircraft of the Ukrainian air force in the Raigorodok and Cherkaskyi districts of Donetsk peoples republic. Russian air defence means have shot down 1 Su-25 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force near Dolgenkoe, Kharkov Region. Also, 8 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles have been shot down near Borovenki, Druzhba in Luhansk Peoples Republic, Vladimirovka in Donetsk Peoples Republic, Brazhkovka, Bolshye Prokhody in Kharkiv region, including 1 Bayraktar TB-2 near Velikaya Kamyshevakha. In addition, 2 Tochka-U ballistic missiles and 3 Uragan multiple-launch rockets have been intercepted Kakhovka and Chernobaevka, Kherson Region, near Dolgenkoe, Sinichino, Kharkov Region, and Popasnaya, Lugansk Peoples Republic. Missile troops and artillery have hit 248 areas of manpower and military equipment concentration, 21 command posts and 37 firing positions of AFU artillery units. The attacks have resulted in the destruction of more than 320 nationalists, 5 armoured vehicles, 6 field artillery mounts and mortars, 15 special vehicles and 5 ammunition and fuel depots. In total, 201 Ukrainian airplanes and 130 helicopters, 1,188 unmanned aerial vehicles, 338 anti-aircraft missile systems, 3,514 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 508 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,870 field artillery and mortars, as well as 3,570 units of special military vehicles were destroyed during the operation. Top News Today Kalibr high-precision sea-based long-range missiles near Chortkov in Ternopol Region have destroyed a large warehouse of anti-tank missile systems, portable anti-aircraft missile systems and artillery shells supplied to the Kiev regime from the USA and European countries. Fighter aviation have shot down 2 Su-25 aircraft of the Ukrainian air force in the Raigorodok and Cherkaskyi districts of Donetsk peoples republic. Russian air defence means have shot down 1 Su-25 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force near Dolgenkoe, Kharkov Region. Footage of another group of DPR servicemen training at a branch of the Russian Armed Forces International Mine Action Centre deployed in the Donetsk Peoples Republic, as well as Ka-52 attack helicopter crews engaged in combat operations to destroy AFU strongholds has been published. Russian Defence Ministry has published another video about heroes of the special military operation. @mod_russia_en #MoD #Russia #Ukraine #Briefing @mod_russia_Enjoy WtR Basta Russofobia! Italy demands to investigate the genocide of Russians in Donbass by the Ukrainian authorities. This initiative was made by the activist and leader of the political organization United Italy Amedeo Avondet. He launched a petition to the European Court of Human Rights. An international investigation can finally show the world what really happened in Ukraine for eight years, the report says. WtR Trainer Eric Reed says if there is anyone to blame for Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strikes poor performance in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, just point the finger at him Woodworkingthat most fundamental of age-old tradeswould seem to be having a renaissance. After all, it's a slow craft whose sometimes rough-hewn results can't help but appeal to modern hipsters with a taste for authentic, handmade goods. Unsurprisingly, the Bay Area maker community supports a number of contemporary woodworkers, each of them with a unique approach ranging from classic carpentry to more glamorous, Instagrammable spins. Also not surprisingly is the concentration of these urban carpenters and artists across the bridge in Oakland, where cheaper rents, a slower pace, and a strong sense of solidarity among creative folks is luring fabricators of all stripes away from the city. But wherever they live and work, these craftspeople share in common a hardy devotion to their trade, often working 12 hours each day in their studios, many of them housed in warehouses, drilling, carving, and shaping humble wood into beautiful, masterful designs. We caught up with five local artisans who are revolutionizing the traditional craft to learn about their community and their inspirations. Florian Roeper Florian Roeper combines feminine sensuality and masculine dynamism when shaping his contemporary tables (you might recognize his California design), seating, and even special edition skateboardswhich often employ metal patinas atop locally sourced hardwoods such as walnutfor Studio Roeper, which he launched 2003. With a background in sculpture and painting, the designer also translates his passion for raw yet sophisticated materials in spiral sculptures and graphic high-gloss epoxy resin paintings. His work has been commissioned by clients including Ken Fulk, Louis Vuitton, and the Four Seasons. // studioroeper.com Rough draft. "I went to art school thinking I would study graphic design, but I was immediately fascinated by furniture design and building things with my hands." On Oakland. "It feels more relaxed and free over here. I'm surrounded by artists and designers in Oakland and that inspire me to live here." The renaissance of woodworking. "I think the real issue is that woodworking is becoming too abundant. People think they can just slap a live edge slab on a pair of metal tubing legs and call themselves woodworkers. A good comparison is fast foodit's quick and cheap, but the quality it is not very good sometimes, and not healthy." Aleksandra Zee If you're interested in art and design and you're on Instagram, then there's a solid chance you already know Aleksandra Zee, the quintessence of the IG influencer who's mastered the concept of the personal brand. Notable for her signature chevron-print wall pieces, Zee, who launched her studio in 2011, works with wood as a painter would with colors upon a canvas. Her delicate and yet powerful craft has captured the attention of clients who hang her pieces in places you'll no doubt recognize, including Kimpton's Buchanan Hotel, the Joshua Tree House, and the new Mission women's club, The Assembly. In 2017, Zee was forced to leave her San Francisco studio, which she shared with fellow woodworker and mentor Katie Gong, due to affordability. // aleksandrazee.com, instagram.com/aleksandrazee Rough draft. "I got started working for Anthropologie as a display artist and fell in love with being in the shop. I figured out quickly that I wanted to be making work on my own and wanted to pursue that. So I quit, and worked as a waitress for about three years while I grew my business." On Oakland. "Oakland is becoming a paradise for me creatively. It is a slower life, quiet and calmer. The community out here is also so inspiringthere are so many incredible makers that keep me pushing the boundaries of my own work. I love it here." The renaissance of woodworking. "I wouldn't say that all of sudden woodwork is relevantwoodwork and working with your hands has been an appreciated craft and trade for centuries. I think that the over-saturation of poorly made goods is leading people to want to own better made things." Paul Munson (Courtesy of Paul Munson) A well established craftsman in the industry since 1995, Paul Munson launched his eponymous furniture line in 2007, drawing from influences ranging from Art Deco to Arts and Crafts to contemporary. His latest collection, Radiuscomprised of tables, a dresser, credenza, and etagere designed with a Midcentury Modern essenceis customizable online with different sizes and finishes with the aim of bringing bespoke furnishings to everyone. // munsonfurniture.com Rough draft. "A local chair maker was kind enough to give me some bench time and instruction for some time behind the broom. After that I met a couple in the Castro who became my patrons for the next 11 years, making custom furniture, case goods, and mill work for themselves and their friends." On Oakland. "When I started my own shop, West Oakland was an affordable place to do it, with plenty of available industrial buildings to choose from. So you had a lot of makers establishing shops here....There is a lot of power in having so many different craftspeople nearby. There is collaboration, sometimes outright as in finding a metal fabricator for part of a project, and sometimes more subtle like sharing project details or stories of inspiration over a coffee or a beer." The renaissance of woodworking. "I think woodworking has always been relevant, but I do see things changing. Consumers are thinking more about sustainability, buying products that are made to last, and considering where and how those products are made." Katie Gong Among the Bay Area's most established woodworking mavens, Katie Gongknown for her fluid knotty sculptures, interior design for businesses including Birba and Anchor Public Taps, and simple furnishingshas worked in San Francisco, the East Bay, and back again. In SF, she became studiomate and mentor to Aleksandra Zee before the two moved to Oakland to share a warehouse space in 2016. But the following year, she returned the city, opening a solo studio at a creative co-op building in the Tenderloin. Her signature look is modern-rustic with the suggestion of sexy elegance. Look for her work on the walls of Upper Market bar Blackbird, in a new exhibit called TiedTied, starting April 21st. // katiegongdesign.com Rough draft. "I grew up always making things. My grandfather and my father are both carpenters and contractors, and they really encouraged me to build my own creations and to take things apart to see how to put them back together." Hanging on to SF. "Many woodworkers have their studios in the East Bay because it simply got really expensive to do so in San Francisco. There was a mass exodus of creatives a few years ago, and people were able to get more space for their money. I got really lucky. My partner, Brett Walker, and I were able to work with the city and find a building in the Tenderloin District, called Get High on Mountains. It is an art cooperative that we started as a way to try to hold onto the remaining creatives in San Francisco and to provide them with stable studios in the city. The renaissance of woodworking. "As well as many of the trades, woodworking is so relevant today because there is an audience for fine craft and the story about where goods come from and how they are made. People are interested in purchasing locally made items that tell a story instead of buying imported goods. We as artists and makers are only able to survive because of this kind of patronage." A person in custody and another is dead after a stabbing Saturday in Northeast Albuquerque. Albuquerque police spokeswoman Rebecca Atkins said officers responded to a stabbing in the 600 block of Madison NE, near Washington and Lomas. One person was transported to the hospital and later died, another individual has been detained, she said. This is an active ongoing investigation and more details will be released as they are available. Atkins gave no other details. Copyright 2022 Albuquerque Journal Police are looking for a man who allegedly shot and killed a person with a sawed-off shotgun late Thursday night at an apartment complex in Northeast Albuquerque. Christopher Wade, 31, is charged with an open count of murder, tampering with evidence and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the death of 43-year-old Dustin Banteah. Wade is currently serving a three-year supervised probation sentence after taking a plea deal in a 2019 domestic violence case. Wade called his probation officer around 4 a.m. on Friday and left a message that he was sorry, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Metropolitan Court. New Mexico State Police found Wade's car abandoned near Santa Rosa and received reports of a shirtless man walking along Interstate 40 in the area. Police responded around 11:30 p.m. to the Sun Plaza Apartment at Montgomery and Jefferson NE in Albuquerque after a 911 caller reported her neighbor was outside with a sawed-off shotgun, according to the affidavit. While on the phone, dispatchers heard a gunshot ring out followed by the woman screaming. Police said officers found Banteah dead in a grassy area of the complex with a gunshot wound to the chest. The neighbor told police she and her boyfriend heard fighting in the apartment above them and went to check it out. She said a woman answered the door before Banteah and Wade came out of the apartment and Wade was swinging a sawed-off shotgun around, according to the affidavit. The neighbor told police Wade said something and Banteah freaked out, leading to a fight in the courtyard. Police said the neighbor went inside and her boyfriend told them he watched as Banteah ended up on the ground taunting Wade to shoot him. The man told police Wade then shot Banteah. The woman in the apartment with Banteah and Wade told police they had been having a barbecue but she was too drunk to remember too much from the night. Inside the apartment police found the furniture in disarray and broken glass from cannabis pipes and alcohol bottles near a pool of blood. Copyright 2022 Albuquerque Journal MORA Alyssa Sanchez stood in the ruins of her home in the rural community of Abuelo, pointing out the twisted remains of a house, barn and vehicles destroyed by wildfire on May 1. Sanchez, 29, grabbed only some clothes and a few personal items when she evacuated April 22, expecting to be back in her home in a week or two. She was shocked to learn that everything was gone. I never thought my house would burn, she said. Abuelo lies in a valley south of Mora surrounded by steep hills studded with blackened Ponderosa pines. Scars of the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire twist like black serpents across the hillsides. Sanchez said she has had no success so far getting relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They took pictures so they know what it looks like, she said of FEMA officials who visited the site. If she doesnt get compensation, Ill fight them. Sanchez now is considering whether to join at least 60 others who have signed a retainer with two attorneys laying the groundwork for a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service, which oversaw the prescribed burns that ignited the fire. The blaze has drawn comparisons to the 2000 Cerro Grande Fire that destroyed more than 200 structures in Los Alamos and was also sparked by a prescribed burn set by a federal agency. Federal legislation passed that same year was able to stem a wave of lawsuits, and U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan has introduced a measure modeled on the 2000 law to make northern New Mexico residents whole and perhaps keep them from having to go to court for relief. But lawyers who met with affected residents Thursday warned that the legislation may not pass as easily as the one in 2000, and they advised residents not to count on being made whole through that process. First steps The Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire, New Mexicos largest recorded wildfire, has grown to more than 318,000 acres in four counties as of Friday, and was 65% contained. Sanchez works at Hatchas Cafe in Mora where about 40 people jammed a dining room Thursday evening to hear the two Albuquerque attorneys discuss their litigation plans. The Forest Service may or may not pay you we just dont know, attorney Mark Dow told the ranchers and homeowners eager for information about how the federal government might respond to the massive wildfire. Id rather see us all get paid, Dow said. Im not sure its going to happen. In any event, we dont trust the Forest Service. Dow and Albuquerque attorney Antonia Roybal-Mack filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the U.S. Forest Service. It alleges the agency failed to respond to a request for detailed information about the controlled burn that ignited the fire. Dow and Roybal-Mack submitted a request May 4 under the federal Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, seeking the agencys plan for the prescribed burn and other information. To file suit against the Forest Service, attorneys must show that the agency violated its own rules and regulations when it ignited the prescribed burn near Hermits Peak, Roybal-Mack said. The FOIA lawsuit is a necessary first step in filing a mass tort against the U.S. Forest Service on behalf of people damaged by the fire, she said. The lawsuit will put pressure on the federal government to establish an effective claims process, the attorneys said. Document everything A Mora native, Roybal-Mack said members of her own family were displaced by the fire. Her father, who owns a large chicken farm near Mora, had to evacuate his farm just as hens were laying chicks, costing the lives of many of his birds, she said. Her mother continues to feel ill effects from the heavy smoke that blanketed the Mora valley, she said. The lawsuit will face some critical obstacles given the rural nature of the region, where many residents have inherited property passed down for generations, Roybal-Mack said. During the hourlong meeting at Hatchas Cafe, Roybal-Mack advised Mora residents to document their damages to the extent possible. You want to take pictures, she said. In three years, you may not remember everything that happened to you. Document everything. A key challenge will be to establish valuations for lost property, Roybal-Mack said. How do you value 300 acres of Ponderosa pine thats never going to come back in your lifetime, she said. Establishing clear title to property also will be difficult for many. Farms and ranches passed down through generations often lack clear titles. Many dont have deeds, or good deeds, she said. Still, other landowners are reluctant to seek help from the government. It goes against their core values and beliefs to rely on the government, she said. Lessons from Cerro Grande Dow, 70, has decades of experience with wildfire litigation dating back to the Cerro Grande Fire in 2000, which burned about 48,000 acres, destroyed over 200 structures in Los Alamos and forced the evacuation of more than 18,000 residents. Cerro Grande caused more than $1 billion in damages, including damage to property at Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to a 2002 LANL report. Congressional action followed swiftly after the 22-year-old fire. Then-Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., introduced the Cerro Grande Fire Assistance Act six weeks after the National Park Service initiated a prescribed burn that ignited the fire at Bandelier National Monument on May 4, 2000. President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law on July 13, 2000. The act established the Office of Cerro Grande Fire Claims, directed by FEMA, to pay claims. Congress initially appropriated $455 million to pay Cerro Grande claims and two additional appropriations totaling $128 million through February 2003. FEMA ultimately paid an estimated $587 million for more than 14,000 claims, according to a 2003 General Accounting Office report. The Cerro Grande Fire Assistance Act expedited the process of making claims, getting them considered and settled quickly, said former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-NM, who was a congresswoman at the time of the Cerro Grande Fire. Normally, citizens have to go through a lengthy process to sue the federal government for liability. The act was approved with bipartisan support from Wilson and then-U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and then-U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. We also benefited from the very strong leadership of both Sen. Bingaman and Sen. Domenici who made sure the Act was incorporated in appropriations bills, Wilson said in an email. Bingaman and Domenici did the heavy lifting, she said. Bingaman also recalled that the act established an effective claims process following the Cerro Grande Fire. That was sure my impression at the time was that FEMA had been very responsive and that the legislation had provided the resources necessary to allow FEMA to be very responsive, Bingaman said in a phone interview Wednesday. New Mexicos congressional delegation introduced a bill in May that bears similarity to the Cerro Grande Fire Assistance Act. Lujan said in May that he modeled the Hermits Peak Fire Assistance Act on the 2000 Cerro Grande act, noting that both fires were ignited by prescribed burns directed by federal agencies. While we dont know the full extent of damage from this catastrophic fire, Im introducing legislation that would require FEMA to fully compensate New Mexico residents and business owners whove been impacted, Lujan said. The Hermits Peak Fire Assistance Act would require the federal government to cover the costs of the Hermits Peak Fire, including uninsured property loss and lost wages. House and Senate versions of the bill were introduced May 11. Both bills remain in committee. The Congressional Budget Office has not issued cost estimates for the measures. Dow agreed that the claims process was fairly smooth following the Cerro Grande Fire. FEMA set up a single claims office in Los Alamos and brought together representatives of 20 or more major insurance companies, Dow said. Los Alamos residents tend to be affluent and comfortable working with government agencies, he said. By contrast, people damaged by the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire are largely rural farmers and ranchers scattered over a vast area of the state, he said. In some cases, people may not be able to return to their homes because fire has damaged the land and watershed beyond use, he said. People that have been there for generations are now displaced, he said. Not only do they lose the value of their farm or their ranch or their home, but they cant go back and rebuild there. Itll take 10 years for it to come back.